The Member of Parliament for Finchley and Golders Green, Mike Freer, has hosted an all-day event in Parliament to celebrate the one hundred year anniversary of the Balfour Declaration.
The event was held by the Jewish News and BICOM (Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre) and was attended by senior diplomats, MPs, journalists and academics. The Secretary of State for International Development, the Rt. Hon. Priti Patel MP gave a keynote speech describing the close ties between the Israel and the UK. As well as marking the centenary, attendees discussed pressing issues affecting Israel and the wider Middle East.
Commenting, Mike said, “It is a great pleasure to help mark the centenary of this important moment in our history. Israel has come a long way since the days of Balfour and is a real success story. I am proud that the UK and Israel have a shared history and I look forward to a prosperous shared future”.
The Balfour Declaration came in the form of a letter dated 2 November 1917 from the then Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour to Lord Walter Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community, and enshrined the British Government’s support for a Jewish national home.