A Labour Friends of Israel trip last year. (Photo: LFI)
Parliamentary candidates went on paid-for trips to Israel ahead of the general election, Declassified has found.
Over a dozen new MPs accepted funding from pro-Israel lobby groups before they were even elected to parliament.
The donations were provided by the Labour and Conservative Friends of Israel groups, which aim to promote Israel’s interests in Britain but do not disclose their own sources of funding.
Twelve successful Labour candidates and three Conservatives travelled to Israel with these organisations in the year leading up to Britain’s general election.
The total cost of the trips was over £30,000, with some of them taking place amid Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and being described as “solidarity” missions.
The revelation comes in the first MPs’ register of interests for the new parliament, which was released this month.
Andrew Feinstein, an arms trade expert who stood as an independent candidate against Keir Starmer, told Declassified: “It is deeply disturbing that the Friends of Israel organisations are attempting to cultivate politicians in Britain even before they are elected”.
People take part in a pro-Palestine march in central London organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, July 6, 2024
LABOUR Friends of Israel’s former chair Lord Walney called on ministers today probe candidate intimidation in the run-up to the general election.
The government’s so-called independent adviser on political violence alleged that a series of events before July 4 were part of a “concerted campaign by extremists.”
Aka John Woodcock, the former MP — who switched to Boris Johnson’s Tories in 2019 — has urged parliamentarians to to take a “zero-tolerance approach” with pro-Palestine groups and climate protesters, as well as accepted Israel lobby funding amid the Gaza genocide.
In a letter shared with the BBC, he has called on Yvette Cooper and Security Minister Dan Jarvis to commission a short inquiry to find out if groups in different constituencies were working together and to document what he calls the “dark underbelly” of abuse.
He wrote that evidence in the past few months suggested an intentional campaign “by extremists to create a hostile atmosphere for MPs” within their constituencies to pressure them to “cave in to political demands.”
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It comes as pro-Israel Labour figures were accused of mischaracterising questioning by Palestine protesters in a bid to shirk political accountability for their support of the ongoing Gaza massacre.
Wes Streeting, Peter Kyle and Jonathan Reynolds leave Starmer’s first cabinet meeting. (Photo: Alamy)
Declassified Exclusive: Labour’s top team has accepted over £600,000 from pro-Israel funders.
Pro-Israel lobbyists have donated to 13 out of Labour’s 25 cabinet members since they were first elected to parliament, Declassified can reveal.
The list of recipients includes prime minister Keir Starmer, his deputy Angela Rayner, chancellor Rachel Reeves, foreign secretary David Lammy and home secretary Yvette Cooper.
Jonathan Reynolds, who will oversee arms exports to Israel as UK trade secretary, is another beneficiary, alongside Labour’s election mastermind Pat McFadden, whose responsibilities now include national security.
Some of the donations were provided by Labour Friends of Israel (LFI), a lobby group which takes MPs on “fact-finding” missions to the region.
Reeves, McFadden, Reynolds and technology secretary Peter Kyle were recently listed as vice-chairs of LFI.
Other major funders include pro-Israel businessmen Gary Lubner, Trevor Chinn, and Stuart Roden.
The total value of the donations amounts to over £600,000.
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Vote For Genocide Vote Labour.Zionist Keir Starmer is quoted “I support Zionism without qualification.” He’s asked whether that means that he supports Zionism under all circumstances, whatever Zionists do.
Labour’sdeputy leader, Angela Rayner, has been criticised after saying she wants police to “shoot your terrorists and ask questions second.”
Speaking to Matt Forde’s Political Party podcast, Rayner said she was “quite hardline” on law and order and suggested police should “antagonise” criminals.
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Among those criticising Rayner was the former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, who said: “Is Angela suggesting a mandatory death sentence for suspected (but not convicted) “terrorists” ?” she tweeted.
Rayner was also criticised by the leftwing grassroots group Momentum. Sonali Bhattacharyya, of Momentum’s national coordinating group, said: “These remarks are deeply concerning. It was this approach that led to the assassination of Jean Charles de Menezes.
“You can’t kneel for racial justice one day, then praise shoot-to-kill powers for the police the next.
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Zionist Labour Friends of Israel supporter Rayner is calling on police to kill and harass innocent people. She’ll be pleased with Israel’s continuing genocide – Gazans are called terrorists after being murdered just like Jean Charles de Menezes. Fascists who disregard basic human rights should not be elected to political office.
11/06/24 I found this article useful to research this further ;)
DECLASSIFIED Exclusive: Declassified is publishing the full list of British MPs who received funding from pro-Israel lobbyists.
David Lammy, Keir Starmer, Yvette Cooper and Rachel Reeves have all been funded by Israel lobbyists. (Photo: Stefan Rousseau / Alamy)
Some 180 of Britain’s 650 MPs in the last parliament accepted funding from pro-Israel lobby groups or individuals during their political career, Declassified can reveal.
That includes 130 Conservative MPs, 41 Labour MPs and three Liberal Democrats.
Three members of the DUP, two independents and Reform’s only MP complete the list.
The total value of the donations from pro-Israel groups, individuals, and Israeli state institutions amounts to over one million pounds.
Between them, the politicians made over 240 paid-for trips to Israel, at a cost of over half a million pounds.
Some of those trips involved visits to the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and a small number were co-sponsored by groups which do not form part of the Israel lobby.
Remarkably, fifteen MPs have accepted funding to travel to Israel amid the Gaza genocide.
Huda Ammori, the co-founder of the direct action network Palestine Action, told Declassified: “Accepting funding from a lobby group on behalf of the perpetrators of a genocide should immediately bar anyone from standing as an MP.
“To see how politicians continue to travel to Israel and engage with the genocide lobby explains why our government continues to defy international law by facilitating Israel’s war crimes”.
The full list of MPs can be accessed at the foot of this article. Around 47 of them are not standing for re-election.
No MPs from the Scottish National Party, Sinn Fein, Plaid Cymru, SDLP, Alba, Greens, Alliance or Workers Party received hospitality or funding from the lobby.
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Labour Friends of Israel (LFI), another opaquely funded parliamentary group, counts some 75 MPs as supporters or officers.
The organisation recently removed the list of its parliamentary backers from its website, but this can be viewed here.
LFI has paid for 32 of Labour’s sitting MPs to travel to Israel since they were first elected, contributing over £64,000 to the visits.
In Al Jazeera’s 2017 documentary, The Lobby, LFI’s Michael Rubin privately acknowledged the group’s ties to the state of Israel.
“We do work really closely together,” he said. “It’s just publicly we just try to keep LFI as a separate identity to the [Israeli] embassy”.
David Mencer, a former director of LFI and David Lammy’s unsuccessful campaign to become London mayor, is now a spokesman for the Israeli government.
Further trips to Israel have been funded by the Liberal Democrats Friends of Israel and Northern Ireland Friends of Israel.
Many of these delegations are jointly funded by the Israeli foreign ministry, indicating a close level of cooperation with the Israeli state. Over 40 MPs have accepted funding from Israeli state institutions.
Other pro-Israel lobby organisations that have funded MPs’ trips to Israel include the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the Australia-Israel Cultural Exchange, Elnet UK, the Jewish National Fund and the National Jewish Assembly.
Zionist Keir Starmes is quoted “I support Zionism without qualification.” He’s asked whether that means that he supports Zionism under all circumstances, whatever Zionists do.
