Conservative Friends of Israel is coordinating a high-profile
delegation to Israel next week for four senior Conservative MPs
and two Conservative Peers. The trip is CFI’s 14th delegation
since the General Election in May 2015.
Delegates include former Secretary of State for Education, Rt.
Hon. MP, former Secretary of State
for Work and Pensions, Rt. Hon. MP, and former Secretary of
State for Northern Ireland, Rt. Hon. MP. The delegation
will be led by CFI Parliamentary Chairman and former Secretary of
State for Communities and Local Government, Rt. Hon. Sir
MP.
During the visit, Sir Eric will plant a tree in the Lord Sacks
Forest in Jerusalem, in honour of his knighthood. CFI presented
Sir Eric with the gift following his investiture in February
2016, stating that in his honour, a garden of trees will be
planted by the Jewish National Fund (JNF) in Jerusalem.
The itinerary also features a series of high-level meetings with
Israeli government representatives, politicians, journalists and
academics, as well as strategic briefings with the Israel Defense
Forces (IDF).
The group will visit Save a Child’s Heart in Holon, an Israeli
NGO that provides life-saving heart surgery for children from the
Palestinian Territories and developing countries across the
world. The parliamentarians will also meet with British
Ambassador H.E. David Quarrey and Israeli high-tech innovators.
Delegates will meet with senior Palestinian Authority
representatives and businesspeople in the West Bank, and visit
Israel's southern communities on the Gaza border.
The visit comes at an important moment for UK-Israel relations,
with both countries marking the centenary of the Balfour
Declaration this year, and working together to lay the groundwork
for a post-Brexit trade agreement. This week, British Prime
Minister and Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu met for the first time at 10 Downing Street,
and agreed to establish a new UK-Israel Trade Working Group to
strengthen the bilateral trade and investment relationship.
The trip will be one of several coordinated by CFI in the coming
months to promote closer UK-Israel ties and deepen existing
cooperation between the two countries.
