Hackney Council to end 58-year twinning with Haifa after review vote

Hackney Council will end its 58-year twinning agreement with Haifa after a review triggered by a vote on 28 July. The decision follows arguments from Mayor Zoë Garbett that the link conflicts with the borough’s anti-racist commitments. Haifa’s mayor, Yona Yahav, has invited Garbett to visit the city to see its society firsthand, calling the move a distortion of reality.

The twinning began in 1968 to foster exchanges between residents. In recent decades, it has mainly involved medical staff swaps between Homerton Hospital and Rambam Medical Centre, though these paused during the Covid-19 pandemic. The council says the relationship has been largely dormant since.

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Why the council is cutting ties

Garbett said the decision reflects Hackney’s stance on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The United Nations has reported that Israel’s actions may amount to genocide. The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) has urged councils to sever all ties with Israel, citing the death toll in Gaza and the occupation of the West Bank, which the International Court of Justice has ruled illegal.

Haifa, though not in the occupied territories, is home to Elbit Systems, a major arms supplier to the Israel Defence Forces. The PSC also points to the expulsion of around 60,000 Palestinian Arabs from Haifa in 1948 and ongoing discrimination against Palestinian citizens. Yahav disputes these claims, describing Haifa as a model of coexistence between Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze and Bahá’ís.

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For more than a century, Jews, Muslims, Christians, Druze and Bahá’ís have lived alongside one another here, not as an abstract ideal but as a way of life.

Yona Yahav, Mayor of Haifa

Criticism and next steps

The decision has drawn criticism from Hackney Labour, which called the move contradictory. A spokesperson said the council is reviewing twinning arrangements while simultaneously proposing to end the Haifa link. They questioned the purpose of the review if the outcome is already decided. The party has demanded an investigation into how the initial consultation deadline of 7 October 2026 was set, coinciding with the third anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel.

Garbett apologised to Yahav for the original deadline, calling it a regrettable oversight. The council has not responded to requests for comment on the Labour party’s criticisms. A cross-party working group will now review the decision, with formal consultation expected before the twinning is officially terminated.