The UK and Israel this week celebrated 70 years of diplomatic ties. Over the past seven decades, the UK-Israel friendship has gone from strength to strength, with record levels of trade, a flourishing science and tech partnership, and cooperation in national security. Long may it continue.
Middle East Minister James Cleverly penned an article this week to mark the occasion, where he underlined: “Much changes over a 70 year period but some things do not change. We will continue to cherish our friendship with Israel, stand united in the struggle against the insidious forces of hate and antisemitism and work towards an even brighter and better future for us all. Here’s to the next 70 years! Am Yisrael Chai”.
Ambassador of Israel H.E. Mark Regev said: “For 70 years, the Israel-UK partnership has brought tangible benefits to both our democracies. We can be confident it will continue to do so in the seven decades to come”.
From Churchill to Thatcher to Johnson, Conservative Prime Ministers and the Conservative Party have been staunch supporters of Israel and worked tirelessly to deepen our relationship. CFI is proud to have taken hundreds of Conservative parliamentarians to Israel on delegations since our establishment in 1974.
We celebrated the anniversary this week with a video webinar with Ambassador of Israel H.E. Mark Regev and Conservative parliamentarians. The Ambassador thanked CFI for its work in strengthening the UK-Israel relationship, stating: “CFI is there 365 days a year, working for the friendship and cooperation between our two democracies… Today, as we celebrate 70 years, the relationship is in a very, very good place”.
Here are some highlights from the past 70 years of friendship…
1950: In 1950, the UK formally recognised the State of Israel. Israel opened diplomatic relations with the UK, moving staff to the former home of novelist and illustrator William Makepeace Thackeray. It officially became Israel’s embassy in 1952 and has remained so ever since.
1956: Conservative Foreign Secretary Sir Harold Nutting became the first British politician to visit the newly-formed State of Israel.
1961: In 1961, Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, met with the former Prime Minister of the UK, Winston Churchill, whilst on a private visit to London. The two men maintained a friendly and warm relationship throughout their lives. Churchill was a staunch friend of Israel throughout his life and referred to himself as “a Zionist from the days of the Balfour Declaration”.
1973: Prime Minister Edward Heath welcomed Israel’s Prime Minister Golda Meir to Number 10. Golda Meir was Israel’s first and the world’s fourth female leader.
1975: UK voted against infamous motion in the UN that “Zionism is racism”.
1979: Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher welcomed Israel’s Prime Minister Menachem Begin to 10 Downing Street. Begin was one of the first foreign leaders to be welcomed to Number 10 after Thatcher’s election victory.
1986: Margaret Thatcher became the first British Prime Minister to visit Israel while in office, meeting Israel’s Prime Minister Shimon Peres while there. Upon arrival, she was greeted by 25,000 cheering residents. Thatcher was a deep admirer of Israel’s “pioneer spirit”.
1995: HM Queen Elizabeth II received President Ezer Weizman to London. This meeting marked the first State Visit of an Israeli President to the UK.
1996: Prime Minister John Major met Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres. This came just four years after Major welcomed Peres to Downing Street, in Peres’ previous role as Foreign Minister.
2008: Gordon Brown became the first British Prime Minister to address Israel’s Knesset in Jerusalem, delivering a speech to the gathered members.
September 2011: The Government amended Universal Jurisdiction legislation to protect Israelis from prosecution, used by anti-Israel activists to obtain arrest warrants for alleged war crimes aimed at Israeli dignitaries who visited the UK.
October 2011: The UK Israel Tech Hub was launched by the British Embassy in Israel and was the first of its kind in the world to promote partnerships in technology and innovation between countries. The hub has generated 175 tech partnerships in deals worth £85 million since it was established.
May 2013: BIRAX, the Britain Israel Research and Academic Exchange Partnership, was launched to fund cutting-edge research to tackle some of the world’s most challenging conditions and diseases. The initiative has awarded over £13 million to more than 20 research projects bringing together scientists in Britain and Israel.
March 2014: David Cameron addressed Israel’s Knesset in Jerusalem, in his landmark visit to Israel as Prime Minister, where he hailed his “unbreakable” support for Israel and asserted he would “always stand up for the right of Israel to defend its citizens”.
March 2014: Following then-Prime Minister David Cameron’s visit to the country, Israeli pharmaceutical company Teva announced £12 million investment in clinical development in the UK and and additional £600,000 to support research into dementia. Teva supplies one in seven of the NHS’s proscription medicines.
February 2016: The UK and Israel strengthened cyber security collaboration with the Government’s launch of the UK-Israel cyber-physical initiative.
March 2016: UK’s largest ever export deal to Israel took place as Rolls-Royce signed a £1 billion agreement with Israeli airline El Al to provide Trent 1000 engines for El Al’s new fleet of Dreamliner aircraft.
December 2016: Then-Prime Minister Theresa May announced at CFI’s Annual Business Lunch in December that the UK was adopting the broad definition of antisemitism drawn up by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) – the first country in the world to do so.
July 2017: The UK Government announced an unprecedented £3 million in funding towards peaceful coexistence projects for Israelis and Palestinians.
November 2017: Theresa May invited Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to London, where the UK and Israel celebrated the centenary of the Balfour Declaration “with pride”. 100 Conservative parliamentarians co-signed a CFI-coordinated letter celebrating the Balfour Declaration, published in The Telegraph.
February 2018: The UK and Israel’s Science Ministers sign joint declaration to increase cooperation, building on the research and innovation strengths of both nations.
April 2018: Over 50 Conservative parliamentarians celebrated Israel’s 70th birthday, at a lunch hosted by CFI with the Ambassador of Israel, H.E. Mark Regev.
June 2018: HRH The Duke of Cambridge, Prince William, travelled to Israel for the first official Royal visit in the Jewish State’s 70-year history. HRH reflected on the country’s “essential vibrancy” and that: “the ties between our two countries have never been stronger”.
January 2019: The UK agrees one of the first post-Brexit free trade deals in principle with Israel.
January 2019: Jeremy Hunt became the first Foreign Secretary to recognise that Britain’s 1939 White Paper capping immigration to Palestine was a “black moment” in history, speaking at CFI’s Parliamentary Reception.
July 2019: Then-Home Secretary Sajid Javid made a historic visit to Jerusalem’s Western Wall while Home Secretary, the first by a British Minister in 20 years. At CFI’s Conservative Party Conference reception in October 2019, Mr Javid reflected on his visit, stating: “It shouldn’t have taken two decades, but I know that many more Conservative Cabinet Ministers will follow on from that”.
July 2019: “Passionate Zionist” Boris Johnson became Britain’s new Prime Minister, pledging to support Israel and the Jewish community.
September 2019: The Royal Air Force (RAF) and Israel’s Air Force (IAF) conducted their first ever joint exercise, Cobra Warrior.
December 2019: Israeli exports to the UK grew by 286% in the past decade, figures from Israel’s Foreign Trade Administration reveal. Bilateral trade between the countries exceeds a record $10 billion.
December 2019: Prime Minister Johnson underlined in the Queen’s Speech debate that the Government will stop public bodies from developing their “own pseudo foreign policy against countries” and stop them from boycotting Israeli goods.
January 2020: HRH The Prince of Wales, Prince Charles visited Israel to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Before delivering his speech, he met with Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin and Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, where they planted an English OakDeciduous tree in the President’s residence.
