Funded by Israel lobby, insider Werritty seems to have pushed Brits to allow Israeli arms sales

I’m trying to keep up on the Israel angle in the Fox-Werritty scandal in the British aisles. Well, the Independent has reported that Adam Werritty, the ultra-connected friend of Liam Fox, the disgraced former Defence Minister, sat in on arms discussions in Sri Lanka that involved Israel.

Mr Werritty was a regular visitor to Sri Lanka and Israel and had received payments from the Good Governance Group, which offers advice on international security, and the company Tamares Real Estate, which belongs to Poju Zabludowicz, the chairman of Bicom, an Israeli lobbying group….

A Sri Lankan official with knowledge of [a meeting in Dec. 2010] said: “People in government are unhappy that restrictions had been placed on sales to Sri Lanka, a Commonwealth country, based on propaganda. “This is a point which had been made to Mr Fox and his chief adviser, Mr Werritty. It was pointed out that it was inevitable that we would turn more towards China because that country has supported us through bad times as well as good. We have also good relations with Israel as well although there have been some difficulties over technology transfers. Mr Werritty has many contacts in the political and defence field in Israel and people here could talk about mutual acquaintances.”

More on the British Israel lobby and the dough-flow. From a site called Zimbio, and a writer called Elephant Hunter. Seems reliable… Begins with a reference to Pargav, the group that was getting money to Werritty:

one of Pargav’s backers was Tamares Real Estate. Tamares is evidently the largest landowner in Las Vegas including the Nevada Hotel and Casino, the Vegas Club, the Gold Spike and the Queen of Hearts Hotel and Casino in its portfolio. Its owner, Finnish billionaire Poju Zabludowicz is a major Conservative party donor, last year donating £131,805 to the party according to the Times.

And this is where the can of worms gets more interesting; Mr. Zabludowicz is also Chairman of BICOM (Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre). Interestingly, the Times describes BICOM as one of the common threads running through Mr. Werritty’s network of political friendships….

According to an article in “Powerbase,” Tim Llewellyn, “a former BBC correspondent and Middle East expert” had this to say about BICOM:

“Organizations such as the British Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM) have hundreds of thousands of pounds at their disposal, much of it coming directly from the United States, which sends a third of its whole, global foreign aid budget to Israel’s six million citizens (the real figure, including loan guarantees, tax breaks for charities and defence deals, could be as high as $10,000m annually..”

“This great flow of funds bypasses most ordinary Israeli citizens and poor and needy Jews in Israel and elsewhere and goes straight to the projection of Zionist causes and colonialism wherever it might be needed. These funds prop up, here in the United Kingdom, not just BICOM, but organizations such as Labour Friends of Israel, close to the heart of Tony Blair, the Jewish Agency (whose raison de vivre is to get as many Jews as possible to go to Israel), the World Zionist Organisation, Paoli Zion, a Labour Party affiliate, the Council of Christians and Jews, which keeps the Church of England leadership at Lambeth Palace in close self-restraint about Israel’s crimes against Christians and Christian institutions.^”