MPs in the UK Parliament will debate the Balfour Declaration in Parliament later this month.
Caroline Ansell MP secured a 90 minute debate in Westminster Hall at 9.30 am on Wednesday 16 November to mark and celebrate the Centenary of the Balfour Declaration.
The Balfour Declaration, published on 2 November 1917, was a letter addressed by Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to the Zionist Federation that proclaimed Britain would support the establishment of “a national home for the Jewish people”. This declaration paved the way for Israel to be reborn as a nation.
CUFI-UK, together with Israel Britain Alliance and its partners, are calling upon supporters to contact their MP urging them to attend the debate.
It follows plans by anti-Israel campaigners to call for Britain to apologise for the Balfour Declaration. The Balfour-apology campaign was launched in the House of Lords in October by Baroness Tonge, who thereafter resigned from the Liberal Democrats. It followed calls by Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, who said Britain should apologise during his speech at the UN General Assembly in September.
Pro-Israel, Christian and Jewish groups are planning major celebrations for the Centenary in November 2017 and have expressed serious concerns about these calls to apologise.
To counter some of these calls, and to mark one hundred years in 2017 since the Balfour Declaration was signed, CUFI-UK launched the year-long #IAmBalfour campaign, which provides an opportunity for supporters of Israel to make their own personal declaration in support of the Balfour Declaration.
Christians United for Israel UK
