The UK-Israel Parliamentary Friendship Group met this week with cross-party parliamentarians from both countries joining together to celebrate the UK-Israel bilateral relationship and the Abraham Accords.
The UK participants featured seven Conservatives including CFI Parliamentary Chairmen, Rt. Hon. Stephen Crabb MP (Commons) and Rt. Hon. The Lord Pickles (Lords), and were joined by the UK’s Ambassador to Israel H.E. Neil Wigan.
The event ended with a memorable Chanukah candle lighting and singing of Maoz Tsur in the Knesset led by Israeli group Chairman MK Oded Forer. While lighting the candle, MK Forer spoke of his hope that the light would “shine from the eternal city of Jerusalem to all over the world”.
The UK parliamentarians learned how the UK Parliament had presented Israel’s Parliament, the Knesset, with a special bronze Menorah in 1956 to celebrate the country’s eighth anniversary of independence. The Menorah, modelled on the golden candelabrum that stood in the Temple of Jerusalem, was designed by Benno Elkan, a Jewish sculptor who fled from his native Germany to the UK.
Rt. Hon. The Lord Pickles spoke about how the Abraham Accords “offers an opportunity to spread peace and prosperity in a very unstable region”, and that “we live in exciting times”.
Lord Polak quoted Rabbi Sacks, who passed away recently, stating: “There are always two ways to live in a world that is often dark and full of tears. We can curse the darkness or we can light a light, and as the Hasidim say, a little light drives out much darkness, may we all help light up the world”.
