The Israel lobby in the United Kingdom comprises individuals and groups seeking to influence British foreign policy in favour of the State of Israel, bilateral ties with it, Zionism or the policies of the Israeli government. As any lobby, such individuals and groups may seek to influence politicians and political parties, the media, the general public or specific groups or sectors.
History
According to Donald P. Wagner writing in Sojourners magazine, what came to be known as "Christian Zionism" emerged in England in the early 19th century when Restoration of the Jews to the Holy Land and futuristic interpretation of apocalyptic texts merged. In 1839, the evangelical Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, called on Parliament to support the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine.Wagner, Donald E, Short Fuse to Apocalypse?, Sojourners Magazine (with registration), July–August 2003. During the 1840s, Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, supported a "Jewish entity" allied to the Ottoman Empire as a counterweight to Egypt.
The journalist Geoffrey Wheatcroft writes that perhaps the "first lobbyist on behalf of the land of Israel" was Theodor Herzl, who, after publishing his book The Jewish State in 1896, and organising the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, in 1897, met Cabinet ministers and other European officials.Geoffrey Wheatcroft, Most favored nation, Boston Globe, 2 April 2006. The Russian Zionist Chaim Weizmann began the process of convincing Arthur Balfour that Palestine should be the Jewish national home and the "British Zionist movement began actively lobbying the British government." The British Palestine Committee in Manchester also "lobbied for the mandate and Jewish rights in Palestine."The Balfour Declaration, November 2, 1917, Zionism-Israel.com.
At this time the dominant organisations of the Jewish community in England, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Anglo-Jewish Association, were the "institutional stronghold of the anti-Zionist camp" and formed a Conjoint Foreign Committee to lobby the government on behalf of persecuted Jewish communities abroad and to oppose the efforts of Weizmann and his allies.Todd M. Endelman, The Jews of Britain, 1656 to 2000, University of California Press, 2002, 171, 193-194 , In 1917, Weizmann and a small group of Zionists, in what Ahron Bregman called "a brilliant exercise of sustained persuasion, lobbying, and influence", persuaded the British government to publish the Balfour DeclarationAhron Bregman, A History of Israel, Macmillan, 2003, 16-18 , which supported "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people." (Weizmann later became the first President of the State of Israel.) Leaders of Board of Deputies of British Jews and of the Anglo-Jewish Association considered the Balfour Declaration a "veritable calamity" that would stamp "the Jews as strangers in their native lands."
According to the author Ritchie Ovendale, Britain, which held the British Mandate of Palestine ratified by the League of Nations after the First World War, abandoned its Zionist sympathies, "which had been secured by the Zionist lobby", because of fears of coming war with Nazi Germany. In 1939 Britain limited Jewish immigration to Palestine, thereby, Ovendale argues, becoming to Zionists "the principal enemy." In 1942, he writes, Zionists shifted their focus to influencing the United States through use of the "Zionist vote."Ritchie Ovendale, The English-speaking Alliance: Britain, the United States, the Dominions and the Cold War 1945-1951, Routledge, 1985, page 92
Contemporary period According to the journalist Rupert Cornwell, lobbying activities in relation to Israel, as with other issues, tend to be less formalised and on a smaller scale in the UK than such lobbying in the United States. According to Hannah Weisfeld, the director of the British pro-Israel, pro-peace organisation Yachad, there is no culture of lobbying in the UK, in contrast to the US.
British foreign policy is of much less importance to Israel than that of the United States, both because of the latter's much greater economic and military strength and because of the substantial and persistent military aid it supplies to Israel. However, Britain retains some ability to influence international affairs through its membership of the United Nations Security Council, its period of membership of the European Community and its historic role in the Middle East.
Organisations and activities Generalists The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council are the leading bodies of the Jewish community in Britain. Consequently, their remit is wide and lobbying is a minor part of their role. Within lobbying, they are distinctive from smaller groups in lobbying, at least on occasion, a wide range of audiences.
Board of Deputies of British Jews The Board of Deputies of British Jews is a forum for the views of most organisations within the British Jewish community, liaising with the British government on that basis. The Board states that the community "has a very strong attachment to the State of Israel" and articulates the community's concerns and positions on Israel to parliamentarians, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, media and other faith groups. Its programme of engagement with embassies also encompasses ties between other countries and the State of Israel.
Jewish Leadership Council The Jewish Leadership Council aims to forward the interests of the organised Jewish community in Britain. Its mission is to work, through its members, to ensure the continuity in the UK, in this and future generations, of a mainstream Jewish Community (that) is, inter alia: confident in its support for Israel.
According to the sociologists Tom Mills, Hilary Aked, Tom Griffin and David Miller, writing in OpenDemocracy, "Pro-Israel lobbying has always been an important part of its work. In December 2006 it established a non-charitable company, the Jewish Activities Committee, as a vehicle to handle political operations. The company's founding directors were Trevor Chinn, Henry Grunwald, BICOM's then vice-chair Brian Kerner and BICOM's chairman and main funder, the Finnish billionaire Poju Zabludowicz. That same month the JLC co-founded the Fair Play Campaign Group with the Board of Deputies, aiming 'to coordinate activity against boycotts of Israel and other anti-Zionist campaigns'. According to the JLC's website, the Fair Play Campaign Group 'acts as a coordinating hub' and 'keeps an eye out for hostile activity so it can be an early-warning system for pro-Israel organisations in the UK'. Fair Play later launched the Stop the Boycott campaign with BICOM, with the Jewish Activities Committee acting as a vehicle for donations."
The Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland The Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland, founded in 1899, describes itself as "the UK's leading Israel advocacy and grassroots organisation" which "celebrates Israel and challenges our enemies." It describes itself as an umbrella organisation for the Zionist movement in the United Kingdom, representing more than 30 organisations and over 50,000 affiliated members. Its activities include: training, campaigning, media engagement, lobbying, combatting the BDS movement, working with students and cultural events.
Politics
A number of groups lobby the government, politicians and political parties on behalf of Israel. Many politicians express their support through national political party "Friends of Israel" groups. The journalist Peter Oborne and the politicians Tam Dalyell and Jenny Tonge are among those who have described this as an "Israel lobby" or "Jewish lobby", an allegation described as antisemitic by anti-racist and Jewish communal organisations such as the Community Security Trust.
In 2003, Tam Dalyell, a member of Parliament (MP) for the Labour Party, said the prime minister and party leader, Tony Blair, was unduly influenced by a "cabal of Jewish advisers" in forming his Middle East policy towards Iraq, Syria and Iran. Dalyell initially named several influential British advisers of Jewish heritage,Dalyell's 'Jewish cabal' remarks denied, BBC News, 4 May 2003. but later focused on Middle East envoy, Lord Levy, and mostly Jewish advisers to US President George W. Bush. Eric Moonman, president of the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland and a former Labour MP, said he was seeking advice on whether there was a case for referral of Dalyell to the Commons' commission for racial equality."Dalyell may face race hatred inquiry", The Guardian, London. 5 May 2003."Dalyell steps up attack on Levy", The Guardian, London.6 May 2003. He was also criticised by Dave Rich, who rejects the claim there are UK "AIPAC-style" lobbies.
The former Liberal Democrat MP Jenny Tonge, Baroness Tonge, said in 2006: "The pro-Israeli lobby has got its grips on the Western world, its financial grips. I think they've probably got a grip on our party." An all-party group of Lords led by the former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, said her "irresponsible and inappropriate" comments "evoked a classic anti-Jewish conspiracy theory." Defending her comments, Tonge said that Walt and Mearsheimer's article "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy" that appeared in the 23 March 2006 issue of The London Review of Books provided evidence supporting her assertion that the "'Israel lobby' had a disproportionate voice in Anglo-American foreign policy." Tonge was reprimanded by the Liberal Party leader Menzies Campbell, who commented "I defend absolutely your right to express your views on the Middle East, including legitimate criticism of the state of Israel. But I do not believe that the remarks you used fell within that category." He added that the remarks had "clear anti-Semitic connotations" Jon Benjamin, chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, was quoted as saying: "If someone makes comments that are so at odds with what the party feels, and hopefully at odds with common decency, then one would hope that they are no longer made welcome in the party itself."
In 2006 Chris Davies, a Liberal Democrat member of the European Parliament (MEP), wrote to a pro-Israel constituent that she "enjoyed wallowing in her own filth". In a later message to her he complained about Israel's "racist policies of apartheid" and stated "I shall tell them that I intend to speak out against this oppression at every opportunity, and I shall denounce the influence of the Jewish lobby that seems to have far too great a say over the political decision-making process in many countries". As a consequence of the outcry raised by the attack on the constituent, Davies resigned soon after as leader of the Liberal Democrats group in the European Parliament.