{"id":111589,"date":"2017-01-13T13:26:51","date_gmt":"2017-01-13T21:26:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=111589"},"modified":"2017-01-13T13:26:51","modified_gmt":"2017-01-13T21:26:51","slug":"al-jazeera-investigations-the-lobby-p1-young-friends-of-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=111589","title":{"rendered":"Al Jazeera Investigations \u2013 The Lobby P1: Young Friends of Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><A HREF=\"http:\/\/www.unz.com\/isteve\/this-week-in-fake-news-hate-hoaxes-part-2\/#comment-1725743\">Comment<\/a>:  Al-Jazeera released a story where an undercover reporter penetrates into the Israeli Lobby in England.<\/p>\n<p>Al Jazeera Investigations \u2013 The Lobby P1: Young Friends of Israel<br \/>\n&#8220;In the first of a four-part series, Al Jazeera goes undercover inside the Israel Lobby in Britain. We expose a campaign to infiltrate and influence youth groups, including the National Union of Students, whose president faces a smear campaign coordinated by her own deputy and supported by the Israel Embassy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><iframe width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ceCOhdgRBoc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Al Jazeera Investigations \u2013 The Lobby P2: The Training Session<br \/>\nIn part two of The Lobby, our undercover reporter joins a delegation from the Israeli Embassy at last year\u2019s Labour Party Conference. The programme reveals how accusations of anti-Semitism were made against key Labour Party members \u2013 and how a former official at the Israeli Embassy was upset when her background was revealed.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><iframe width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Vuk1EhkEctE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Investigative journalism &#8211; a dying art.<\/p>\n<p>* That&#8217;s the series I referred to last week, when an Israeli Embassy staffer was filmed telling a Tory MPs aide which government ministers he&#8217;d like to see &#8216;taken down&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-4098082\/Astonishing-undercover-video-captures-diplomat-conspiring-rival-MP-s-aide-smear-Deputy-Foreign-Secretary.html<\/p>\n<p>An un-named minister from the Cameron years is quoted in the same piece.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Last month Theresa May, like David Cameron each year before her, spoke to the annual lunch of the Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI).<\/p>\n<p>She oozed praise for Israel as a democracy, spoke of the constant terrorist threat they face, and condemned the way that Palestinians supposedly incite violence and anti-Semitism.<\/p>\n<p>Her own policy that considers Israeli settlements on Palestinian land illegal received only a passing mention.<\/p>\n<p>The reason is clear: the Conservative Party wants pro-Israel donors\u2019 money, and principle in the Government\u2019s foreign policy has been relegated.<\/p>\n<p>Matters deteriorated further over Christmas after US Secretary of State John Kerry\u2019s forceful condemnation of the extremism and conduct of Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s Israeli government.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of agreeing with his comments \u2013 which are identical to her own policy \u2013 she criticised Kerry.<\/p>\n<p>Behind this inconsistent and concerning attitude lies a serious and troubling problem. British foreign policy is in hock to Israeli influence at the heart of our politics, and those in authority have ignored what is going on.<\/p>\n<p>For years the CFI and Labour Friends of Israel (LFI), have worked with \u2013 even for \u2013 the Israeli government and their London embassy to promote Israeli policy and thwart UK Government policy and the actions of Ministers who try to defend Palestinian rights.<\/p>\n<p>Lots of countries try to force their views on others, but what is scandalous in the UK is that instead of resisting it, successive Governments have submitted to it, taken donors\u2019 money, and allowed Israeli influence-peddling to shape policy and even determine the fate of Ministers.<\/p>\n<p>Even now, if I were to reveal who I am, I would be subjected to a relentless barrage of abuse and character assassination.<\/p>\n<p>The CFI is not affiliated to the Conservative Party. It is incorporated in a way that means it is not to transparent about donors. Yet it arranges for the support of MPs and funds regular visits to Israel which distort the truth. Cameron turned a blind eye to Israeli misconduct \u2013 if he ever cared about it \u2013 because he was persuaded any criticism would reduce Party donations.<\/p>\n<p>It now seems clear people in the Conservative and Labour Parties have been working with the Israeli embassy which has used them to demonise and trash MPs who criticise Israel; an army of Israel\u2019s useful idiots in Parliament.<\/p>\n<p>This is politically corrupt, and diplomatically indefensible. The conduct of certain MPs needs to be exposed as the poisonous and deceitful infiltration of our politics by the unwitting agents of another country, which acts in defiance of international law, and whose government Kerry called its most extreme ever.<\/p>\n<p>We need a full inquiry into the Israeli Embassy, the links, access and funding of the CFI and LFI, and an undertaking from all political parties that they welcome the financial and political support of the UK Jewish community, but won\u2019t accept any engagement linked to Israel until it stops building illegally on Palestinian land.<\/p>\n<p>This opaque funding and underhand conduct is a national disgrace and humiliation and must be stamped out.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Back on topic<\/p>\n<p><i>&#8220;School officials immediately denounced the document <b>as a hoax<\/b> and began an investigation.&#8221;<\/i><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Comment: Al-Jazeera released a story where an undercover reporter penetrates into the Israeli Lobby in England. Al Jazeera Investigations \u2013 The Lobby P1: Young Friends of Israel &#8220;In the first of a four-part series, Al Jazeera goes undercover inside the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=111589\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-israel"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=111589"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111590,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111589\/revisions\/111590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=111589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=111589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=111589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}