Rachel Reeves: ‘I am an unapologetic Zionist’

I am the first Labour chancellor to address this lunch since Gordon Brown in 2007.

It’s such a privilege to follow Gordon, Tony Blair, Isaac Herzog, and Keir last year in making this address.

I want to thank Jon Pearce, who had stood down as chair in order to became parliamentary private secretary to the prime minister, for his dedication and leadership.

And let me congratulate LFI’s new parliamentary chair – my friend and constituency neighbour, Mark Sewards MP.

I know Mark has spent time in Israel, is a determined friend of Israel, and will be an important voice for LFI in the months and years to come.

I also want to pay tribute to LFI’s chair in the House of Lords, Meta Ramsay, and its vice-chairs: Luciana Berger, Damien Egan, Sharon Hodgson, Steve McCabe, Catherine McKinnell and Peter Prinsley.

I’d like to thank all the team at LFI, so ably led by Michael Rubin, as well as the chair Adrian Cohen, for your work on behalf of the vital and longstanding relationship between progressives in Britain and Israe in the cause of peace, coexistence and a two-state solution; and in the fight against the evils of antisemitism.

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This is a fight in which so many are engaged.

I’d like to especially pay tribute to the work of the Jewish Labour Movement, the Board of Deputies, the Jewish Leadership Council, the Community Security Trust and Lord John Mann, the government’s independent adviser on antisemitism.

We also have in this room some courageous men and women who led the battle against antisemitism in the Labour party: my friends Ruth Anderson, Ian Austin, Luciana Berger, Louise Ellman, Margaret Hodge and Joan Ryan.

Keir and I have not forgotten how difficult those years were.

I haven’t forgotten the shame, dismay and frankly the disgust I felt as the Labour Party, my party, our party, was polluted by antisemitism.

The hurt that was done to so many good friends.

One of the core reasons that I am so proud to serve under Keir’s leadership is because of the work he did to address that to tear antisemitism out of Labour at the root.

But I know that we can never be complacent in the fight against antisemitism.

That the scars from those years run deep.

There can be, and there will be, no complacency.

We will remain vigilant and determined to stamp out antisemitism, wherever it appears.

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Let me also extend a warm welcome to Simon Walters, the British Ambassador to Israel.

And, most of all, I want to say how immensely grateful I am to Marc Levy, the chief executive of the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester and Region, and Alan Levy and Rabbi Daniel Walker of the Heaton Park Synagogue, for travelling down to be with us today.

I’d also like to pay tribute to Mark Adlestone, chair of the Jewish Rep Council.

We were all horrified by the attack which occurred at Heaton Park on Yom Kippur, and I’d like to pay tribute to all of them for their leadership, and to courage and resilience of the congregants and community.

In particular, I want to share how personally deeply moved I was by Rabbi Walker’s resolve and honesty when he spoke to Emma Barnett on the BBC last month.

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I want to say a special word about Sir David Garrard, our longstanding lunch sponsor, who passed away earlier this year.

David’s generosity – with his time, support and encouragement – was boundless.

His tenacity – as many of us experienced – was awe-inspiring.

I knew him best as a longstanding friend and champion for a moderate, decent Labour Party – and I hope we in government are doing some justice to his passion.

His commitment to Israel, to the Jewish community and to our country was unsurpassed.

We all miss him very much and I know you’ll all want to join with me in sending our love to Ava.

May his memory be a blessing.

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It’s thanks to LFI that I have had the privilege to make four visits to Israel – the first in 2005, before I entered Parliament.

LFI gave me the opportunity to visit Yad Vashem, to see the pioneering work of Israeli businesses and start-ups, and to meet Israeli and Palestinian political leaders, thinkers and commentators.

And they affirmed my belief in the importance of the Jewish homeland and my understanding of the complexities of the conflict.

The last two years have been difficult and dark times for Israel and for the Jewish community here at home.

None of us will forget the feeling of horror as we saw those grainy social media images coming out of Israel on the morning of 7 October 2023.

None of us will forget the stories of the horrors inflicted on those border communities by Hamas terrorists.

None of us will forget meeting the families of the hostages, hearing their pain and anger and seeing their courage and fortitude.

And personally, I will never forget those days, at Labour Party conference in Liverpool:

Hearing the details of the atrocities unfold;

Speaking to friends with family unaccounted for.

And amid all that pain, it was a very important moment for me, to be able to join many of you in this room at the LFI vigil that week in Liverpool – to give you my unqualified support and solidarity.

My support and solidarity has not wavered and it never will.

Last year, we heard from Mandy Damari at this lunch.

And over the past two years, I also had the privilege to meet Sharone Lifschitz, Noam Safir, and Steve Brisley.

Their courage, and the depth of their love for their family, in the cruellest of circumstances, made a deep impression on me.

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Just after I was first elected to parliament, I accompanied a group of schoolchildren from schools in my Leeds constituency to Auschwitz on a trip organised by my friend Karen Pollock and her team at the Holocaust Educational Trust.

I remember it profoundly:

It was a cold and bleak February day;

And a deeply moving day.

We paused at the end of the tour for a short service of reflection.

We intoned the words we repeat every Holocaust Memorial Day: never again.

And, then, two years ago, Hamas inflicted the greatest loss of Jewish life on a single day since the Shoah.

Hamas’ intent was to murder Jews for being Jews.

It murdered little children and Holocaust survivors, pensioners and peace activists, partygoers at the Supernova music festival, and young men and women serving on the border, attempting to preserve the fragile ceasefire which Hamas had repeatedly broken.

It engaged in the premeditated rape, torture and mutilation of Israeli civilians.

And it proudly gloried in and celebrated its pogrom.

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And those crimes led to a war that has subjected the people of Gaza to two years of hell.

While Hamas’ leadership hid in a tunnel network the size of the London Underground, it used the people of Gaza, their schools and hospitals, as human shields: “Necessary sacrifices,” in the words of Yahya Sinwar.

Human shields to safeguard its arsenal of weapons, to imprison the innocent hostages it sought to trade for killers held in Israeli prisons, and to protect its brutal, authoritarian and corrupt grip on power.

Resulting in thousands of innocent Palestinian deaths.

Over the past two years, the actions of the Israeli government are not and must not be beyond criticism.

This Labour government has not shied away from that.

The scenes from Gaza on our televisions are shocking and heart-breaking.

No parent doesn’t feel pain and empathy when they see other people’s children suffering.

The ceasefire agreed in October has provided a glimmer of hope.

The joy and relief we all felt when we saw the hostages back home in Israel with their families and loved ones.

The much-needed space to get more aid flowing into Gaza to meet the plight of its people.

And the opportunity to begin the process of reconstruction.

As the prime minister and foreign secretary have said, Britain will work with our international partners, as well as with private sector and international development finance and financiers, to support the challenge of reconstruction in Gaza.

The challenge is huge.

Rubble must be cleared, infrastructure repaired, healthcare restored and homes rebuilt.

But it is a challenge the international community must meet if the people of Gaza are to live in the dignity, safety and security to which they have every right.

That requires the Israeli government to lift all restrictions on the flow of humanitarian assistance.

And that requires – as this government and our allies have repeatedly said – that Hamas is disarmed and plays no part in the future governance of the state of Palestine.

It also demands that the family of Ran Gvili, waiting almost 800 days for his return from Gaza so that they can lay him to rest and begin to grieve, are made to wait no longer.

We must bring the hostages home – every last one.

But we have work to do here in the UK too.

I am proud to be part of a government that has committed to making sure every child in British schools – whether that school currently has to follow the national curriculum, or not – will be taught about the Holocaust.

And I was proud, at last year’s budget, to announce funding to preserve Holocaust survivor testimony in the eightieth anniversary year.

Those funds will support the Holocaust Educational Trust, as they scale up their incredible Testimony 360 virtual reality programme, in addition to their Lessons from Auschwitz programme, taking over 2,500 young people from all over the UK to visit.

But I know that there is much more to do, to tackle the evil of antisemitism in our society today.

You don’t need me to tell you that the last two years have brought heightened anxiety, distress and fear to the community.

Should your kids wear their uniform to and from school?

Will your parents face insults as they leave shul?

How are your grandchildren coping with the protests on their campus?

All those fears and anxieties were realised by the horrific attack which occurred at Heaton Park.

No other community in Britain has to live like this.

Nor should they.

And neither should the Jewish community.

The record increase in antisemitic incidents we have seen since the 7 October attacks is a stain on this country.

This is a situation we cannot and will not accept.

We are all tremendously grateful to Sir Gerald Ronson, Mark Gardner and the CST for the work you do – keeping us safe today and keeping the community safe every day.

But I don’t think we should settle for a country where Jewish schools, community centres and synagogues have to be protected by a ring of steel and security guards around the clock.

We must tackle the root causes of antisemitism, not simply laud those who confront the symptoms.

That means recognising that hatred of the world’s only Jewish state rests at the core of modern antisemitism.

That we must reject, wholeheartedly, the belief that there is something inherently wrong about the right of the Jewish people to self-determination.

And that doing so is a precondition to driving antisemitism off our streets, out of our schools, and away from our campuses.

Let’s be clear:

We all respect the right to protest.

It’s a fundamental part of who we are as a country.

But we must also be clear that the first anti-Israel protests occurred while Israel was still under attack.

That the words, actions and behaviour of some of those who have protested against Israel over the past two years have strayed into – and even been driven by – hate, by prejudice and by antisemitism.

Ripping down pictures of children kidnapped by Hamas.

Chanting “death to the IDF” and “globalise the intifada”.

Equating the actions of Israel with those who murdered six million Jews.

Propagating dark conspiracies about the supposed power of the “Zionist lobby”.

Stirring the pot of community tensions to prevent Israeli football fans travelling to our second biggest city.

Demanding that Jewish musicians, comedians and artists engage in some kind of performative denunciation of Israel before they are allowed to perform.

Does anyone seriously think these are not antisemitic acts?

Antisemitism is a crime.

Gaslighting Jews simply compounds that crime.

We must speak out because every word has consequences and every silence too.

That means we must not tacitly accept the distortion that Zionism is something to be apologised for or worse yet a label to be surrendered to conspiracy theorists and antisemites.

That progressive friends of Israel – whatever their criticism of particular governments – must be willing to say, unapologetically:

I am a Zionist; And that I am a Zionist not in spite of my belief in democracy and freedom and equality, but because of those beliefs.

Confronting the roots of antisemitism is a great moral challenge – for all of us.

As the late Rabbi Sacks reminded us: “Antisemitism is not a Jewish problem. It’s a problem for society. Wherever antisemitism flourishes, society is in danger.”

A society in which antisemitism thrives is one in which disinformation replaces truth, extremism supplants moderation, conspiracy theories unseat reason, blame usurps responsibility, and hate takes the place of tolerance.

These are the stakes.

I know the pain and anger so many of you feel about the rise in antisemitism we’ve seen in this country.

I share that.

Antisemites alone are responsible for their heinous action but government and society have responsibilities too: to protect, to prevent, to punish.

We in government are all conscious that the attack in Manchester happened on our watch.

And I promise you – we take our responsibilities seriously.

I know that you want more than warm words and sympathy.

You want robust action.

So do I.

And that is what we are taking.

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As the prime minister has announced, we are acting to bolster security at Jewish venues, providing £10m in emergency funding towards communal security.

We are giving the police the new powers they need to tackle protests that cause repeat disruption to communities and intimidate worshippers.

And I want to put on record my thanks to our Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood for her work in this area.

And we are undertaking an emergency review of antisemitism in the NHS led by John Mann, commissioned by Health Secretary Wes Streeting, rolling out strengthened mandatory antisemitism training immediately across the NHS, and NHS England is looking again at its uniform guidance to ensure patients and staff always  feel respected in NHS settings. 

This is the beginning – not the end – of the action we will take to keep the community safe.

We know too that we must combat the scourge of extremism which drives antisemitism from wherever it hails.

And that means taking seriously the threat posed by Iran, to Israel’s security and to our own.

The security services have warned of a “wave of Iranian transnational aggression”, stretching from Australia to the Netherlands, Spain and the streets of Britain.

At the same time, Iranian-supplied ballistic missiles and UAVs continue to be used by Vladimir Putin to terrorise and kill civilians in Ukraine.

And the president of Iran is boasting that it will rebuild its nuclear facilities “with greater strength”.

We are taking action with our allies to help curb this danger.

Together with France and Germany, we have instituted the snapback sanctions to ensure the regime doesn’t succeed in its ambition to attain nuclear weapons.

We have imposed new sanctions against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and placed Iran, together with Russia, on the most stringent, enhanced tier of the new Foreign Influence Registration Scheme.

And, in line with our manifesto commitment, we will be introducing legislation for a new state threats proscription-like tool.

Beyond Tehran, the Middle East is changing.

I saw that for myself in the Gulf last month.

New opportunities for regional cooperation to confront shared challenges, in the fields of climate change, AI, energy and water scarcity are emerging;

Greater trade and tourism, economic links and infrastructure developments offers the prospect of more jobs, new businesses and greater prosperity;

And the new emphasis placed on interfaith dialogue and tolerance by states such as the UAE, symbolised by the Abrahamic Family House, holds out the hope of new bonds between Arabs and Jews.

The government supports the widening and deepening of the Abraham Accords.

It recognises that normalisation and greater regional security collaboration are key to advancing the prospects of a two-state solution, as is the inclusion of the Palestinians in the Accords.

Last time I spoke at this lunch, we were privileged to be joined by Merav Michaeli, the then leader of the Israeli Labor Party.

Since then, Labor has merged with Meretz to form the Democrats – Progressives in Israeli domestic politics have endured a challenging few years.

But the cause of peace, as the late Shimon Peres argued, has to be advanced not simply by governments, but by peoples.

That’s why the government backs the establishment of an International Fund for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, of which LFI has been such a powerful proponent both under this government and those of our predecessors.

Learning from the experience of the International Fund for Ireland to foster the values of coexistence, trust and reconciliation, to build new constituencies for peace and to construct the civic society foundations for a future political agreement.

Two states for two peoples.

The prime minister pledged last year that Britain will host an inaugural meeting about the fund.

And I can confirm today that Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper will host representatives from Israeli and Palestinian civil society in March at Lancaster House to support the establishment of an international fund and ensure civil society groups are at the forefront of our efforts to advance long-term peace and a two-state solution.

We know that, as Yitzhak Rabin believed, for Israel “there is no path that is without pain, but the path of peace is preferable to the path of war”.

We will be with Israel on that path.

And friends – you don’t need me to tell you that these questions – of antisemitism and Israel’s right to exist – are making themselves felt today in our domestic politics.

On the left, we see political parties adopting the populist narratives of those who previously shouted in the streets, advocating Britain’s withdrawal from its international commitments, and even denying Israel’s right to exist.

And on the right, well you’ll forgive me for not repeating the allegations about Nigel Farage in the Guardian.

But, the fact that accounts of such disgusting racism are being played out at the highest levels of British politics – racism which we’d hoped to have defeated decades ago – is simply terrifying.

Don’t let anyone forget how high the stakes are – the perilous moment that we find ourselves in.

Keir and I certainly won’t.

We will keep up the fight for a politics of moderation and fairness, and never resiling from Britain’s values and our obligations.

Be in no doubt, Israel has many friends in the Labour Party.

It always has had.

Manny Shinwell, Nye Bevan, Ian Mikardo, Barbara Castle, Dick Crossman, Harold Wilson, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown: among the giants of our movement, there have always been – and always will be – Labour Friends of Israel.

And I am proud to be among them.

So let me wish to all of you who will be celebrating Chanukah – chag sameach – and to close today with this pledge:

I will always be your friend.

I will always be a friend of Israel,

An ally to the Jewish community here at home,

And I will always stand with you and beside you in the battle against intolerance, hate and antisemitism.

Thank you.