A north-London-born IDF veteran now serving as head of international relations for Israel’s trade union federation has called for workers organisations in the UK to end their outright hostility to the Jewish state and enter into a new era of dialogue and engagement.
Lieutenant Peter Lerner – one of the Israeli military’s most effective spokespersons during a military career of 25 years – took up the post with the Histadrut, the federation of labour in Israel, six years ago.
Speaking to Jewish News after arriving the UK for a series of meetings with UK trade union representatives and politicians organised by the Britain-Israel Trade Union Dialogue (BITUD), the Kenton-born 51-year-old said relations between the Histadrut and its “sister organisations” in countries such as the UK could be described as “good, bad and ugly.”
Jewish News has taken a lead in exposing how trade unions such as the National Education Union, and Unite under its previous leadership had emabarked on hardline anti-Israel stances, dictated by far-left leaderships.
But other unions, including the powerful GMB union, have actively sought to prevent such a stance, recognising the link between extreme criticism of Israel and antisemitism.
Continued communal involvement in the union movement in the UK was highlighted in recent weeks, with over one thousands Jewish teachers believed to be members of the NASUWT teaching union.
But addressing this “ugly” side of the trade-union movement, which has seen Israel overwhelmingly shunned and condemned, he said:”It is very easy just to make statements or pass motions, but this doesn’t really change anything.
“How do we change? I think the changes through dialogue. I think the change comes through understanding.
“Come to Israel, meet Israelis, speak with Palestinians. Listen to the people.”
Reflecting on the mass anti-Israel protests he adds:”It’s not enough just to wave flags shout in the streets. It doesn’t do anything except perhaps give you a warm, fuzzy feeling.
“I think that the people are suffering, Israelis and Palestinians alike, and the unions, and the trade union movement more broadly, can be a tool for transition to building bridges between Israeli workers Palestinian workers.”
He urges the UK unions to recognise they are the”extensive sister organisation to the Histadrut.”
“I think it’s very valuable to iron out some of the differences we have. What needs to be the accepted rule is that we are able to talk,” adds Lerner.
“A whole bunch of things that are relevant to us, are relevant to them as well, in all of the sectors. ”
Peter Lerner at trade union event
Lerner is clearly at ease in his role with the Histadrut, a job offered to him after his retirement from the military at the age of 45.
Fierce loyalty to the state of Israel has seen him serving 355 days in reserve duty shortly after October 7.
But when the trade union job came along, Lerner’s wife was quick to tell him it suited his political and professional skills down to the ground.
“For me, the connection between my military life and my trade union life, they’re intertwined, and they’re deeply connected,” he says, over coffee in a central London hotel.
“One of them is to speak up for my country, and the other one is to speak up for the community of Israel workers, and they are a significant part of the country.”
For several years Lerner was a regular face on television as the IDF’s foreign affairs spokesperson, displaying both a calmness and assuredness often in the face of hostile media interrogation.
It was the perfect training ground for his new role, seeking to forge closer links between the Histadrut and a global trade union movement that has often adopted policies that call for a complete boycott of Israel, and whose support for the Palestinian cause is at times fanatical.
But Lerner avoids going on the offensive when asked for his observations on the response of UK trade unions to his organisation’s attempts to engage.
There are, he says, “conversations that are happening out in the open” and some UK unions “we are openly engaged with, and they listen to us and talk to us.”
Lerner is adamant the best approach for everyone moving forward is through engagement rather than boycotts.
“We live in a time of populist politicians, a time where it’s very easy to dictate these types of fringe ideas that then become more centralised and more widespread,” he observes.
“I think that the biggest problem is the uneven-handedness approach to how we can contribute. ”
Former Labour Party leader and now Independent MP Jeremy Corbyn – who attended the Durham Miners’ Gala – addresses a march in central London organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Lerner recalls attending with “pride” an International Labour Organisation event in solidarity with the Palestinians last year.
At the event, he recalls how a colleague from one trade union approached him and asked what he was doing at such an event.
“I said ‘What are you talking about?’ ,” he remembers. “‘The Histadrut does more for Palestinian workers than all the people together in this room’.
“Together with German unions and Swedish unions we were doing occupational health training and upskilling for Palestinian workers. We were giving them an understanding of workers’ rights when they came to Israel to work.
“You can go to a million solidarity events, all the protests that you want to go to, and you are not having any effect.”
Asked for his message to rank-and-file union members in the UK Lerner is just as assertive. “Come to Israel.
“Understand you can be critical. War is hell, trust me, I know, it is devastating for everybody.
“We didn’t want this war, but it is a reality that has been brought on us. ”
Lerner continues to explain why he believes the conflict is a just one.
“If you just argue ceasefire now, without bringing 59 hostages home first, and making sure that Hamas never have that capability to do it again, you’re handing the initiative over to Hamas once more,” he says.
“And for us as an Israeli society, that’s unacceptable. It’s impossible.
“It’s something that doesn’t matter where you are on the political spectrum in Israel.
“That’s a reality we can’t accept because 1200 people butchered murdered and raped on that day, the 7th of October, many of them from our peace camp, many of them deeply involved in supporting the two-state solution.”
Peter Lerner joins anti-Netanyahu protest
He says later in our conversation: “I would argue that Israel helped Hamas build this apparatus of terrorism and death and destruction because they were trying to avert war.
“So they fed the money, and they left things that happened because we didn’t want to be at war.
“We thought, that by giving Hamas money, by channeling the money from Qatar to Hamas, they would be content. And they would build their country.
“They would build their statehood. They’d build it.
“We didn’t think that they would set aside their jihadi ideology. But we thought between ideology and actuality, there was a distance, and that’s one of the key failures of October 7th.”
Lerner’s knowledge of the central role trade unionism has played in Israel’s history has been an asset for the Histadrut, during a period of upheaval and uncertainty within the Jewish state.
He speaks enthusiastically of a growth in membership over a sustained period for the now 850,000-strong union federation, meaning 25% of Israel’s workforce is represented.
The war in Gaza has presented obvious challenges, not least the workforce who have had to relinquish membership while in the army, and around 100, 000 Palestinians who have been prevented from working in Israel following the October 7th attacks.
Despite this Lerner says the Histadrut is still growing year on year by around three percent, and adds: “That is a force to be reckoned with. That is the source of our power, the source of our legitimacy, but also the source of the ability to create good deals despite the right wing, the most extreme right-wing government in the history of the country. ”
He adds:” We come to the table with a pragmatic approach of what’s good for workers is good for the country, what’s good for the workers is good for the economy, what’s good for the workers is good for society. ”
Lerner points to the historic agreement achieved by public psychologists, long overlooked in pay talks, in the latest agreement. “Some of them will receive up to a 40% pay increase. Imagine what a 40% wage increase means to you. It’s life-changing.”
He also suggests the strength of the Histadrut in turbulent times has been its ability to unite voices from all across Israel’s political spectrum – from the left-wing Hadash party containing Communist and Palestinian voices to centre-right representatives from Likud.
“At a time where the world had this view of Israel as being on the way towards the far right, the problem when they see Israel equals Netanyahu equals Israel, I think, no, that is not representative,” reasons Lerner.
“You know, probably at least half of our members voted for this government.
“But the vast majority of them still want the social democratic model in Israel. They want good services. They want a decent education. They want good health services.”
Responding to the suggestion that the Histadrut has proved more effective at maintaining unity within its ranks than the Board of Deputies has in the UK, he says: “The ability to accept those divergent views is, I believe, the strength of an organisation.
“At the end of the day, you organise, you unionise, you negotiate, but you represent everybody.
“And our political body is made up of all of the political parties in Israel, from Hadash to everything in between. How do you manage to bridge all of those differences? For us, it’s easy, because we have a very, very unified goal.”
This has included calling two general strikes, in March 2023 in opposition to the judicial overhaul promoted by Netanyahu’s government, and more controversially last September, in response to the ongoing war’s failure to bring home more hostages.
Lerner describes the strike as “challenging” but explains “the trigger for that was our judgment that Netanyahu has his priorities wrong.”
“I think he should be putting the priorities of getting hostages higher, of course, so ending the war to get the hostages home.
“And the trigger for that was the six hostages that were found and then assassinated in the tunnel. ”
But October 7th has also damaged relations with Palestinians and their trade union organizations. Lerner says the silence displayed by these organizations following the Hamas massacre was at the centre of the breakdown in relations.
The Palestinian PGFTU union acted as ” if October 7 never happened” while condemning “everything else that happens after October 7 in the war”, Lerner , who previous spoke at one of their conferences, said.
Relations have yet to be repaired over what he says was “a basic level of humanity that is missing in the conversation.”
Peter Lerner and IDF Spokesperson Daniel Hagari. Courtesy: Peter Lerner/X
Throughout the past 18 months, Lerner has been unafraid to voice his own criticisms around the way the Netanyahu government has conducted the war in Gaza, both in terms of the impact on the military through poor statements made repeatedly through ministers and in terms of a lack of overall strategy.
“I think there’s a lack of strategy, structure and leadership”, he says, recalling an op-ed he wrote for the Jerusalem Post expressing his concerns.
“Civilians like me dropped everything to come to serve the country in the time of its most devastating reality,” says Lerner.
“You call on us to put our lives on hold, and we expect you to act responsibly to achieve the military goals.
“What I felt is the strategy of communicating Israel in wartime has to be effective, not only with talented spokespeople, but its strategy needs to identify and contain people of senior positions.
“With ministers airing their thoughts, if the thought has not got a direct connection to policy and action, then keep it to yourself.
“Israeli politicians have the need to air their thoughts twice a day, and it does damage anywhere, everywhere, and it does damage in the ability to achieve the war goals.
“So my frustration was words ministers said such as saying we’re going to cut off their electricity, when it was a redundant claim, because Hamas, when they fired 3500 rockets in the first few hours of October 7, cut off nine out of 10 lines feeding Gaza.
“So it was cut off, not because of Israel. Another minister was saying we’re going to drop bombs on Gaza while another minister was saying there are no innocent civilians…these types of things.
“How does the war effort benefit if we are in a just war – and I believe that we are, we have no choice. ”
Expalining his own decision to make himself available for military service after the October 7th attacks he says:”“I had to do something for my family. I had to do something for my community, and I had to do something for the Israel that I see myself part of.”
Asked if he believes the IDF has lost the right to describe itself as a moral army as a result of its conduct in the Gaza war, Lerner is careful with his reply.
He says he believes it is a tragedy Egypt did not open a humanitarian corridor for the women and children of Gaza to allow them to escape the conflict.
But he says: “Every civilian life lost in this war is tragic, including workers for humanitarian organisations, the medical services.
“This is the nature of warfare since the dawn of war, as civilians will get caught up in it.”
But returning to the death of aid workers in Gaza he says:”As a trade unionist, workers who work in the humanitarian field need to be safe.
“When you are working as a firefighter in a building that’s on fire and you run into that building to save lives, you’re putting yourself at risk.
“So humanitarian workers working in a war zone are constantly at risk. The military needs to do everything it can to make sure mistakes like this don’t take place.”
He adds:”I believe that the military has come to the correct conclusions.
“They fired one major from his role and reprimanded a colonel for his role. What I understand now is the military Advocate General is reviewing it to see if there’s any need to open a criminal investigation.”
As for an end to the conflict and the release of the remaining hostages, Lerner says “that needs to be achieved through international support, through extensive negotiation” and, of course, the end of Hamas as rulers of Gaza.
“Those need to be the fundamental terms,” he says. “If we can’t reach that, we’re going to be in a very, very bad situation. ”
He adds of the long-suffering hostages and of Israel’s prime minister: “I hope that those will be brought home, that they will be prioritized over politics and personal survival of politicians. ”
Peter Lerner
Lerner, who says he first experienced antisemitism in the UK somewhere in Mill Hill when a girl approached him and slapped him around the face calling him a ‘Jew’, says he is also concerned about the impact Israel’s military action has on diaspora communities.
“Antisemitism is out in the open as a force,” he says. “I think that Israel needs to do a better job of understanding what happens abroad when there are actions.
“It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t defend ourselves. There needs to be a much better approach to engage, to listen, mostly to listen to the pains that are going through the Jewish community outside of Israel, where of course most of the world’s Jews live.”
He adds: “There is room for protests, but it needs to be managed in a way that does not single out the Jewish community.
“And even if Jews are supportive of an Israeli government protecting Israel, they still need to be able to feel safe.
“You know, it’s worrying, it’s painful, and I think Israel has a responsibility also towards the Jews and diaspora.”
Unsurprisingly, Lerner ends by saying trade unions, and Jewish activists within the movement, must now also play a “vital role” in efforts to fix this damaging state of affairs.
