Chancellor Rachel Reeves told a pro-Israel event at the Labour Party’s annual conference that she would “always be a friend of Israel”.
At Labour Friends of Israel’s reception on Tuesday night, Reeves, who was the organisation’s vice-chair before entering government, said her support for Israel would remain unshaken.
She said that “no words will do justice” to the horrors of October 7, “the biggest loss on a single day of Jewish people since the Holocaust”.
“I was with you here last year to mark that anniversary … I'm here with you again today. I'll be here with you next year and a year after, year after that and year after that. I'll always be a friend of Israel,” she told the audience of around 500 people.
“I'll always be a friend of everybody in this room. The last two years have been years of indescribable sorrow, and we see what is happening in the Middle East, the aggression of Iran and others in the Middle East. And we feel your pain.
“I know that in the last couple of years … you haven’t always been pleased with decisions, with this government. I understand. I feel your pain.
"But, knowing me, you always have a friend of the Jewish community in this country.”
Decrying the spike in antisemitism in the UK since 2023, she went on: “I stand with all of you through that. I know that when you drop off your kids at school, when you go to the synagogue, when you go to the community centre, when you wear the Star of David, you suffer abuse. And that shouldn't happen in this country.”
Reeves also paid tribute to Nova festival survivor Shaun Lemel, who shared his story with an audience that included the prime minister’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeny, Chief Whip Jonathan Reynolds and ministers Andrew Western and Kate Dearden and other MPs and peers.
“It can't be easy to tell that story and to relive those memories, but it's incredibly important that you do so people never forget what happened on October 7, and a huge thanks to you ... It means a huge amount to us that you would spend time with us, and it reminds us of everything that you've gone through”, said the chancellor.
Lemel told the crowd: “At 6:18, I was dancing, having the time of my life. At 6:20, hundreds of rockets started flying over our heads, colouring the sky with black trails. The music stopped. People started running for their lives.”
“I survived thanks to my friend Guy who saw me unconscious, woke me up and dragged me to the car so I could escape. I survived thanks to Nadav, who as rockets we flying over our heads, lay on top of me and shielded me with his body, knowing I couldn't protect myself, friends who risked their lives to save me.”
And Lemel spoke with intense honesty about his struggles with coming to terms with what he experienced, saying: “I was lucky to survive and continue with my life. But also, I want to be honest with you, sometimes, without warning, something small – it can be a sound, a smell or a sudden feeling – takes me straight back to October 7. In an instant, I'm there again, terrified, helpless.
“It took me a week to step outside my parents’ house. It took me even longer, but I managed to rebuild myself. I understood life is short, and I chose to aim to aim high. I owe it to my friends who are no longer here to honour their memory by loving my country and trying every day to be the best version of myself.”
The crowd then heard from Baroness Chapman, the international development minister, who said that meeting Israeli hostage families in May 2025 was "something I will never forget" and said she was committed to working to set their loved ones free.
Referencing the US-Israeli agreed peace deal announced yesterday she added: "We will do everything we can to secure that peace."
And Labour MP Damien Egan, whose husband is Israeli, attacked the union-backed motion passed by Labour’s conference, which called Israel’s actions in Gaza a genocide and made no reference to Hamas.
“I thought it was shameful. I think more importantly, it does absolutely nothing to advance the goals that the government and we in this room will all share,” he said.
“LFI has long supported a two-state solution, achieving the Palestinian people's right to self-determination, securing Israel's future as a Jewish and democratic state, a home for Jews and a home for Arabs. Ensuring that another generation of Israelis and Palestinian children do not have to endure the pain and suffering and loss that their Parents have endured”.
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