The Green Party mayor of Hackney, Zoë Garbett, is facing calls to resign after writing to the Israeli city of Haifa about ending a historic twinning agreement, with a deadline of October 7 for a response. The date marks the third anniversary of the Hamas-led attack on Israel in 2023, in which more than 1,300 people were killed and 250 taken hostage.
Council vote to end twinning
This week, Hackney Council voted to begin the process of ending the twinning bond between Hackney and Haifa, which dates back to 1968. In a letter sent on Wednesday to Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav, Mayor Garbett cited a controversial UN report claiming Israel had committed genocide and said the Jewish state was “at odds with our anti-racist values”. She requested any views by October 7.
Hackney Council told the Mail that there had been an “error” regarding the date. The Express has contacted the council for comment.
Outrage over date choice
Phil Rosenberg, President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said: “Whether this was deliberate or the product of staggering insensitivity, it is an appalling choice of date. That nobody involved in drafting or approving a letter about Israel recognised its significance speaks volumes about Hackney Greens’ attitude towards this issue and their local Jewish community.”
Martin Sugarman, chair of the Hackney Anglo-Israel Friendship Association, which oversees the twinning, was copied on the letter. He said: “The Green Party mayor must resign over this and immediately apologise to the Jewish community and to Israel. If October 7 was chosen deliberately, then it is vile and sinister. It could barely be more offensive. If it was somehow done in error, then it is staggering to think no one in the council realised the significance of that date. Heads must roll over this.”
Calls for resignation
A Jewish Leadership Council spokesperson called the date “crass and shockingly insensitive”. They added: “In choosing this date of all days as a deadline, the mayor of Hackney has taken her politics of division a step further in a sickening attempt to mock and torment Israelis in their grief, and bringing insult to the memory of those murdered and kidnapped by Hamas on October 7.”
Lord Pickles, the former UK Government Special Envoy for Post-Holocaust Issues, said: “The decision to end the consultation on the anniversary of the largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust is either provocative or insensitive crassness. Either way, it is a new low for the Greens.”
Nivi Feldman, former head of the UK Hostages and Missing Families Forum, said the council should “be ashamed” and called for the mayor to resign. “At a time when hostages and their families are still trying to heal from unimaginable trauma, and antisemitism continues to rise across the UK, Hackney Council has chosen division over dialogue,” he added.
