{"id":198248,"date":"2025-06-19T22:21:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T22:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/198248\/"},"modified":"2025-06-19T22:21:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T22:21:16","slug":"outrage-in-brent-over-decision-to-twin-london-borough-with-nablus-in-west-bank-the-jewish-chronicle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/198248\/","title":{"rendered":"Outrage in Brent over decision to twin London borough with Nablus in West Bank – The Jewish Chronicle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cHad we been, we would have organised some opposition, we would have expressed our view that we don\u2019t want to be twinned with a hotbed of anti-Jewish terrorism. In what world would I, a gay Jewish atheist, be welcome there?<\/p>\n

\u201cWould my Hindu and Christian neighbours? I fear that any cultural exchanges that take place between Nablus and Brent would be very much one-way.\u201d<\/p>\n

A petition on the borough\u2019s website calling on the council to immediately halt the process of twinning has so far been signed by more than 1,300 people who live, work, or study in Brent. The petition alleges that the twinning was done for \u201cpolitical symbolism\u201d, is \u201csectarian in nature\u201d and that minority populations resident in Brent, including Jewish, Hindus, Christians, and members of the LGBT community, were not consulted before the vote.<\/p>\n

It argues that Brent\u2019s residents, especially children, should not be exposed to the rhetoric of militant groups residing in Nablus such as Lions\u2019 Den (Areen al-Usud), which is based primarily in Nablus\u2019 Old City. The petition also cites a 2022 Carter Centre report that found seven of Nablus\u2019 15-member council are backed by or affiliated with Hamas.<\/p>\n

Brent Council has voted to twin with the West Bank city of Nablus (Photo: Getty)Getty Images\/iStockphoto<\/a> <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ian Collier, 70, a Brent resident for his entire life, is fronting the petition. \u201cThe twinning is a very divisive and thoroughly unhelpful move,\u201d he told the JC. \u201cIt basically throws Brent\u2019s Jewish community under the bus. We could have chosen to twin and exchanged culturally with any number of neutral municipalities around the world. Instead, Nablus was chosen, a place in which many Brent residents would not be welcome.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe council should be prioritising stability and cohesion within the borough above all else, not opining on geopolitics. It\u2019s a politically motivated decision and purely sectarian.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in 2022, the council\u2019s own equalities impact assessment report on the proposal to twin raised concerns that it may risk \u201ccompounding antisemitism\u201d and that \u201cthere may be some anxiety from some groups that the twinning may demonstrate greater support for one group over another\u201d.<\/p>\n

Israel supporters outside Brent Civic Centre[Missing Credit]<\/a> <\/p>\n

In December last year, the council voted to consider twinning. Labour council leader Muhammed Butt told the BBC this month that the decision to go ahead had \u201cfollowed a period of public engagement, including a petition signed by more than 2,000 residents\u201d.<\/p>\n

Wembley Hill ward councillor Ihtesham Afzal, organiser of the twinning campaign, said the scheme would \u201craise awareness about what\u2019s happening in Palestine\u201d.<\/p>\n

Writing in the Kilburn Times last month in an article titled \u201cOn the right side of history\u201d, Afzal wrote that he was \u201cproud\u201d to spearhead the campaign that he said amounted to a \u201cpowerful statement of solidarity, compassion, and our borough\u2019s unwavering commitment to international justice\u201d.<\/p>\n

He wrote: \u201cIn a time when the international community has failed to hold Israel accountable for decades of illegal occupation, settlement expansion, and human rights abuses, we must do what we can with the powers we have.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said through twinning, Nablus and Brent could do \u201ccultural exchanges, sharing art, history, culture, tradition, poetry, language along with architecture.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be collaborating for the mutual benefit of both Brent and Nablus.\u201d<\/p>\n

On July 7, Brent council will be meeting to discuss the de-twinning petition and hear from at least one speaker who opposes the twinning.<\/p>\n

Afzal and Brent Council Labour Group were approached for comment.\u200b<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cHad we been, we would have organised some opposition, we would have expressed our view that we don\u2019t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198249,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[2796,748,393,4884,257,80376,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-198248","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-brent","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-london","13":"tag-nablus","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114712365308459899","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}