Participants: Chloe Smith MP, Nigel Adams MP, Aidan Burley MP, James Morris MP, Neil Parish MP, Heather Wheeler MP.
CFI led a delegation of six Conservative MPs to Israel for a business and security orientated trip during the Whitsun recess.
During the visit, the group met with Members of the Knesset and Foreign Ministry officials, with a packed itinerary that included a briefing with Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, leading Israeli spokesman Mark Regev, in addition to a round-table meeting with MK’s Nachman Shai, Daniel Ben-Simon, Yoel Hasson, Yariv Levin, Anastasia Michaeli, and Majalli Wahabi. Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Israel, Matthew Gould, hosted a private dinner for the delegation during which he spoke warmly about UK-Israel bilateral relations.
The visit to Sderot included a whistle-stop visit to a school, during which the MPs spoke with older students about everyday life in the town and handed out toys and learning materials to younger children.
While in Jerusalem, the MPs had the opportunity to explore the historic Old City and were given a tour of the security barrier.
On their visit to the Palestinian Authority, the delegation met with Samir Abdullah, previous Minister of Housing, and had lunch with a group of leading Palestinian businessmen, before visiting Rawabi in the West Bank, which is set to become the first new Palestinian-planned city.
Other events on the visit included a tour around Israel’s renowned Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, a business visit to Israel HealthCare Ventures to learn about Israel’s high-tech medical industry, and dinner with Israeli journalists, Alon Ben David and Yaron Deckel.
