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Hijacking Britain: A Close Look At
The Pro-Israeli Lobbies Inside Britain

By Ershad Abubacker

13 October, 2010
Countercurrents.org

The US is considered by many as the backbone of Israel and the mother
of many evils in Middle East. With the presence of various pro-Israeli
lobbies and pressure groups rallying around the corridors of power in
Washington to press their case, they have been highly successful not
only in setting the agenda in favour of Israel, but also makes sure
that the Palestine voice is not heard. Many believe that this is a
typical phenomenon in Washington and hence an internal issue of the
United States. But the pro-Israeli lobbies are a decisive factor in
most European countries and its influence is felt manifold in Britain.

These pro-Israeli lobbies are a coalition of wealthy individuals and
organizations who actively work to shape British foreign policy in a
pro-Israeli direction. Though the percentage of British Jews who
wholeheartedly support the pro-Israeli lobby in very minimal, they
have been highly successful in portraying their cause to be of great
concern to the majority of the Jewish community. The lobbies has got
great influence and access to all major parties including the Labour
and Conservative to the extent that they shape the foreign policy the
United Kingdom, much as their counterparts in the United States.

Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) is one of the most active
lobbying groups in UK with major stakes in the Conservative Party. In
2009, few months after Israel's brutal Operation Cast Lead that saw
more than 1400 Palestinians killed and thousands injured, Conservative
Friends of Israel held its Annual Lunch for its Conservative
politicians and businessmen. David Cameroon who was star speaker for
the day made no reference to the widespread killing of innocent
civilians and massive destruction in Gaza that happened six months
earlier. Instead he praised Israel and commented that Israel strives
to protect innocent life. Thanks to the estimated £10 million
bankrolled in the last eight years to the Conservative Party, Mr.
Cameroon continued to say that 'if I became Prime Minister, Israel has
a friend who will never turn his back on Israel.'

This is not something particular to the Conservatives, but is in line
with the Labour Friends of Israel stance that UK shall continue to
foster strong relationship with Israel as it is being a close ally of
the UK with regular warm and productive exchanges at all levels. Back
in the nineties pop music millionaire Michael Levy was made the
special envoy to the Middle East under Tony Blair in return for the
estimated £15 million he had raised for the Labour Party in the prior
elections campaign. As he was not part of any ministry he had a free
hand at doing whatever he intended to do on behalf of the pro-Israeli
lobby. An unelected friend of the Prime Minister having so much
influence over British policies in the Middle East did damage the
reputation of Britain in the Middle East and hence the negotiations he
had with Israel and its Arab neighbors on behalf of Britain are still
kept secret.

Money plays a big part in the lobbying game and millions of pounds in
donations from businessmen and others are flown into the bank accounts
of these politicians and political parties. Aside from raising cash,
some of the pro-Israeli lobbies in parliament also pay for and arrange
trips to Israel. They have send almost as many MPs and candidates on
trips to Israel as have been made by all MPs to the United States and
Europe combined over the last eight years. These MPs get enormous
donations to their party funds and it would be stupid to believe that
these contributions come with no strings attached. These MPs then
become passionately concerned about Israel and that is reflected in
the foreign policies of the United Kingdom. Moreover, financial
pressures are also exerted by these lobbies to coerce any dissent
within these parties to fall in line to the Israeli policy.

The influence of these lobbies is not restricted to bankrolling
political parties and favours extracted in return. They also try to
define the debate in order to limit the options that British
politicians can choose when it comes to issues pertaining to Middle
East. The hand of CFI in shaping up the British opposition against the
UN resolution following judge Goldstone's Report criticizing Israeli
human right abuses in Gaza is a classic example of their clout.

There are various other pro-Israeli lobbies including Britain Israel
Communication & Research Centre (BICOM), Jewish Leadership Council,
Zionist Federation of Great Britain, and Board of Deputies of British
Jews. Their activities include, but not restricted to, getting the
Israeli message across the British Universities, silencing any
criticism of the Israeli policies inside Israel and elsewhere and
engaging in successful Public Relations campaign to shape the media
coverage of Middle East conflict. High profile members of these
pro-Israeli lobbies even own business units in the Occupied
Palestinian territory that is considered as illegal under
international law. This would tend to indicate in which direction the
message of these lobbies are going.

Israel is really fighting the war on two fronts, the first is the
military campaign being waged in the occupied territories against the
Palestinian people and the second is the Public Relations (PR)
Campaign being waged throughout the world media to ensure continuous
support for Israel's military occupation. In addition to the military
occupation in the West Bank and Gaza, Israel is also involved in an
attempt to ideologically occupy the world media and these lobbies are
the key functionaries in that respect. Sophisticated media outlets in
UK including The Guardian and the BBC have been at the receiving end
of these censorships. These have gone to the extent that the
journalist get to the feeling that it's not worth the trouble and
better stay away from reporting the truth about Middle East. BBC,
which had previously run emergency appeals for disasters around the
world including Palestine past, declined to air a humanitarian plea
for Gaza victims in the 2009 January Israeli invasion under the
pressure of pro-Israeli lobby.

These institutional frame works of Israeli lobbies and their political
interest in combination with Israeli Public Relations department shape
media coverage of the Middle East. At the same time progressive Jewish
organizations opposing Israeli government policies, let alone scores
of Muslim organizations, that strive to bring out the ground reality
rarely make it through these institutional filters.

Finally, if any news stories critical of Israeli policy do surface
there are hosts of media watch dog groups that monitor and pressure
journalists and media outlets, and most important of which is
HonestReporting. There are active pro-Israeli organizations that very
effectively monitor (read harass) journalist and their editors and try
to make sure that the coverage is objective, by which they mean is
pro-Israel. There are even pressure groups to write campaigns and
letters to editors and news outlets asking to boycott certain news
agencies, demanding the stories to be changed or the reporter to be
fired. This becomes so twisted, that the dearth of reporting, the
absence of images, lack of analysis, the void of voices of describing
the experience of Palestinians under occupation is so vast that the
people has no idea that a military occupation is going on.

Britain cannot wash her hands off from the plight of Palestinians
today for its involvement in creation of the state of Israel. Now
Zionism is becoming more pervasive in British politics as is already
rampant in the United States. It would need huge amount of mettle both
from the British politicians and the media to stand against this high
profile pressure group. And the act needs to be done soon, before it
would become an obsession and a moral liability for the British
parliament to support anything and everything that Israel does
according to the whims and fancies of its insane leaders.


Ershad Abubacker is a Research Analyst based in Chennai. He can be contacted at [email protected]