How long before American journalists catch up with the frank discussion of the Israel lobby that is now beginning in England? The Guardian has a big piece on a report on the British TV program Dispatches which presented a documentary on the power of the pro-Israel lobby in the UK. Unlike the US where AIPAC throws all its politicians into one basket be they Democrat or Republican, the British Zionists have them broken down by party. So there is the Conservative Friends of Israel, Labour Friends of Israel, and Liberal Friends of Israel which was the first to break ground.
The pro-Israel lobby … is the most powerful political lobby," Michael Mates, a Conservative MP and privy councillor, told the film-makers. "There’s nothing to touch them."
William Hague fell out with CFI [Conservative Friends of Israel] after describing Israel’s 2006 attack on Lebanon – in retaliation for a Hezbollah raid – as "disproportionate" and allegedly faced threats to withdraw funding from Lord Kalms, a major Tory donor and CFI member, the film reports.
[Leader of the opposition David] Cameron later gave an undertaking not to use the word again, the programme claims. At a CFI dinner this June the party leader made no mention of the death toll in the Gaza war – 1,370 Palestinians and 13 Israelis. Instead he commended Israel because "it strives to protect innocent life".
Weiss: This reminds me of a brag Ari Fleischer, Bush’s former press guy, made at a Jewish Cincinnati campaign event 5 years ago: he took particular pride in the fact that he had never used the words "cycle of violence" in any press conference. Oh and read about the Labour Party, and see how the Guardian itself is compromised:
Labour Friends of Israel, another key group, is described as being "less unquestioning in its support of the Israeli government than CFI". But it has taken more MPs on free trips to Israel than any other group – more than 60 since 2001.
CFI has also flown over 30 Tory parliamentary candidates to Israel on free trips in the last three years.
Dispatches describes how when the presenter Jonathan Dimbleby criticised a pro-Israel campaign against the BBC’s Middle East editor, Jeremy Bowen, Dimbleby was the subject of a complaint and, according to the programme, is now under investigation by the BBC Trust.
Bicom, [British Israel Communications and Research Centre] like the party-affiliated groups, organises briefings and trips to Israel for journalists, including Guardian staff. It sought to dismiss the significance of [its Finnish leader Poju] Zabludowicz’s interest in a shopping mall in Ma’aleh Adumim, a settlement built on territory occupied in the 1967 war and which Israel would hope to retain.
The programme also describes how Cameron allegedly accepted a £15,000 donation from Zabludowicz. Zabludowizc, the film reveals, has business interests in an illegal West Bank settlement. He also gave £50,000 to Conservative Central Office. Zabludowicz says his contributions "are a matter of public record".
According to the Times of London, Zabludowicz, 56, owns 40% of downtown Las Vegas including half a dozen casinos. His father Shlomo built the family business around Soltam, an Israeli arms company before entering the hotel and casino business. BICOM appears to be a British version of The Israel Project.
