Luke Akehurst, at The Blogs

Jan 31, 2022, 5:40 PM

Amnesty’s apartheid slur is an attack on Jewish self-determination

Amnesty International’s new report labelling Israel as “apartheid” inside both pre-1967 Israel and the West Bank is not a helpful contribution to building peace and bringing about a solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. It even undermines the prospects of the specific...

Oct 13, 2020, 5:08 PM

Four ways the Abraham Accords dismantle the anti-Israel camp’s narrative

Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Kingdom of Bahrain, Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of the State of Israel, U.S. President Donald J. Trump and Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the United Arab Emirates sign papers during the Abraham Accords Signing Ceremony at The White House on September 15, 2020, in Washington, DC. (Oliver Contreras/SIPA USA via Jewish News)

I don’t think many people engaged in the debate about Israel and the Palestinians have really absorbed yet the full significance of the Abraham Accords, the peace deal struck in Washington DC between Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain on 15 September. On...

Aug 25, 2020, 1:29 PM

Why protesters’ ‘disarm Israel’ slogan is morally repugnant

Last weekend the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) was loudly campaigning in high streets and on social media, using the slogan “Stop Arming Israel”, for a UK arms embargo on Israel. They were joined in this action by the Campaign Against the Arms Trade and War...

Jul 7, 2020, 2:07 PM

Nandy’s call is music to the BDS movement’s ears

Lisa Nandy at the Jewish Labour hustings (Marc Morris Photography via Jewish News)

Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy’s call for a ban on settlement goods if Israel proceeds with extending sovereignty/annexation in the West Bank is not OK. I believe Nandy herself is a genuine two-stater who does not realise that what she is calling for intrinsically delegitimises...

Jun 15, 2020, 5:16 PM

PSC campaign exposes the absurdity of divestment

People campaigning to boycott Israel (Jewish News)

Disappointingly the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) won a Supreme Court case in April that overturns the Government’s regulations preventing Local Government Pension Schemes – the huge pension funds for all council staff in the UK – from divesting from companies on the basis of their...

Feb 17, 2020, 4:07 PM

Labour’s policy on Israel and the Palestinians should not be dictated by PSC

Bizarre as it may seem, the Jewish community may have reason to be cautiously optimistic about Labour’s leadership election. The “continuity Corbyn” candidate, Rebecca Long-Bailey, trails Keir Starmer after the second stage of the contest, nominated by only 164 CLPs (Constituency Labour Parties) to his...

Feb 10, 2020, 12:01 PM

Why does PSC laud a man who thinks Israel shouldn’t exist?

Omar Barghouti finally made it to the UK for a visit at the end of January after visa issues meant he could not attend the Labour Party Conference last year, so missed what now turns out to have been Jeremy Corbyn’s swansong. Barghouti is a...

Nov 21, 2019, 6:58 PM

Labour’s manifesto is a blueprint for boycotts and bullying of Israel

Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn during the launch of his party's manifesto in Birmingham. PA Photo. Picture date: Thursday November 21, 2019. See PA story POLITICS Election. Photo credit should read: Joe Giddens/PA Wire

Labour’s Election Manifesto doesn’t have all the extreme policies about Israel passed at its September conference, but the text nonetheless contains all the material required for a complete reversal of current UK-Israel relations and a pivot towards anti-Israel policies that Jeremy Corbyn has personally advocated...

Nov 15, 2019, 1:38 PM

New Labour cohort of outspoken anti-Zionists could deepen malaise

Palestine flags are waved during the Labour conference 2019 (Jewish News)

As well as being mired in institutional antisemitism, Labour has a Leader with a deep background of anti-Israel activity, and the party took a sharply more radical position on boycotts at its annual conference. But what’s going on in terms of Labour’s personnel, its potential...

Sep 27, 2019, 4:35 PM

Labour draws inches closer to Israel boycott policy

There has understandably been a lot of coverage of antisemitism and extreme anti-Israel discourse going on around the Labour Party Annual Conference in Brighton this week. There was certainly a lot to talk about: a fringe meeting featuring high-profile people expelled from Labour for antisemitism...

About Me

Luke Akehurst has been the Director of We Believe in Israel since 2011. We Believe in Israel is a broad coalition of over 19,000 supporters of Israel. Outside of work he was a Councillor in Hackney in East London for 12 years, has stood for Parliament twice and serves on the Labour Party National Executive Committee. He was previously an award-winning Director at global PR company Weber Shandwick.