Hackney Council de‑twinning with Haifa

In July 2026 Hackney Council in East London moved to end its sixty‑year sister‑city partnership with Haifa, Israel. After the Green Party took control of the council in the 2024 local elections, officials proposed terminating the link as a protest against Israel’s war in Gaza, describing the arrangement as dormant since the pandemic.

The council voted on 28 July to formally terminate the twinning. An initial public‑consultation deadline of 7 October – the anniversary of the 2023 Hamas attacks – sparked criticism from British‑Jewish groups and accusations of political insensitivity. The council apologized, characterising the date as an administrative error, and shifted the response deadline to 14 October. The decision is part of a broader review of Hackney’s twinning programmes under the Green‑led administration’s human‑rights agenda.