Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel will arrive in Manchester on Sunday to attend an event sponsored by the British Conservative Party amid rising concerns over antisemitism and strained bilateral ties.
The visit comes just days after the Yom Kippur synagogue attack in Manchester and amid tensions in relations between the two countries over the UK government’s recognition of a Palestinian State.
Israel’s second-highest diplomat will deliver the keynote speech at the Conservative Friends of Israel event held as part of the Conservative Party Conference, and is scheduled to meet with the party’s chair and opposition leader Kemi Badenoch, but will pointedly not hold meetings with any government officials.
She will also address a rally in Manchester marking two years since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel, which triggered the ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza, and, in an add-on to her schedule, is now also scheduled to visit the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue, where two people were murdered in the Thursday holiday attack.
“I am arriving in the United Kingdom at an especially sensitive and painful moment just days after the murderous terrorist attack on Yom Kippur near a synagogue in Manchester,” Haskel said Friday ahead of her departure. “We must stand shoulder to shoulder with our brothers and sisters here and state clearly that antisemitic incitement taking place in the U.K. is costing human lives.”
Almost 300,000 Jews live in the United Kingdom, according to the World Jewish Congress.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited London in September at the invitation of the Jewish community amid a sharp rise in antisemitism in Britain and held a tense meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer which was only announced after his arrival.
