Israel’s agents of influence in Britain

http://www.redress.cc/global/redress20090209

By Redress Information & Analysis

9 February 2009

A guide to Israel’s stooges and agents of influence in British politics and society, from the three main political parties to the church, the media and education.

Of all the mysteries, contradictions and irrationalities in international relations, one stark fact stands out: the unconditional support given by the United States and Britain to Israel, a criminal, racist, rogue state. It is unique in that there is no other example of rational states behaving so irrationally. On the surface of it, it makes no sense whatsoever, politically, strategically, economically or morally.

Politically, US and British support for Israel is an open, festering sore in their relations with the Arab world. In the case of Britain, support for Israel also generates resentment within, and contributes to the alienation of, its large Muslim community.

Economically, the Anglo-American symbiosis with Israel is anathema to common sense. The Arab world is not just a major source of energy for the US and Britain, but with its 300-million-plus population it also represents a huge market for American and British goods. Israel, on the other hand, has no strategic resources to offer and it represents only a tiny market for exports, having a population of merely six million. Even its much-vaunted hi-tech industry is there by the grace of US production licences.

Strategically, London’s and Washington’s love affair with Israel also resides in the land of the absurd. Israel is strategically predominant in the Middle East, and has been so since it was implanted on the region in 1948, thanks to US taxpayers’ dollars. But its predominance is built on straw. With all its military strength, Israel will never control the Middle East. Not even its nuclear arsenal will give it real control. All that its 200-plus nuclear warheads will do is encourage its neighbours to acquire a deterrent, be it nuclear, biological or chemical.

Morally, Britain’s and the US’s unconditional backing of Israel is plainly repugnant. By supporting Israel, London and Washington are in fact sanctioning a criminal, racist, rogue aggressor-state that is committing war crimes, illegally occupying others’ territories and illegally colonizing occupied territories, contrary to international law.

So, what is it that makes the US and Britain so beholden to Israel? Some argue that it is guilt over the Holocaust. But this is a hollow non-argument. For one thing, neither Britain nor the US played a part in the Nazi atrocities in Europe; on the contrary, they were instrumental in defeating Nazi Germany. Furthermore, Israel’s claim that it represents the memory of the victims of Nazi Germany is a complete fraud. As Norman Finkelstein argues in The Holocaust Industry, the Israeli-inspired emphasis in Europe and the US on the Holocaust and on reparations serves more to enhance the status of Israel and Jewish elites in the diaspora than to honour the memory of its victims. The victims of the Holocaust will be turning in their graves at the sight of Israel’s behaviour, the same Israel whose Zionist founding fathers collaborated with the Nazis.

This leaves just one explanation for the irrational Anglo-American support for Israel: the infiltration of Israeli agents of influence into the British and US governments. In the US, the influence of the Israel lobby on the government is well documented. However, in the case of Britain the work of Israeli agents of influence in corrupting the elected government receives much less attention, even though it is as serious as the power of the Israel lobby over the White House and Capitol Hill. As Stuart Littlewood points out:

The corridors of power at Westminster are swarming with Israel supporters, even though the British public has little sympathy for the rogue regime.

The Israel lobby has now achieved a dangerous numerical advantage at the heart of Britain's security establishment thanks to the appointment of Kim Howells, formerly minister in charge of Middle East affairs and a one-time chairman of Labour Friends of Israel, to the chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee.

This committee has oversight of the Security Service (MI5), the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and the work of the Joint Intelligence Committee and the Intelligence and Security Secretariat, which includes the Assessment Staff in the Cabinet Office. The committee also takes evidence from the Defence Intelligence Staff (DIS), part of the Ministry of Defence.

The nine members of the committee are:

* Dr Kim Howells MP (Chair)

* Michael Ancram MP

* Sir Alan Beith MP

* Mr Ben Chapman MP

* Lord Foulkes of Cumnock

* George Howarth MP

* Michael Mates MP

* Richard Ottaway MP

* Ms Dari Taylor MP

These people have access to highly classified material. So who are they and why should we trust them? Sir Alan Beith, for example, presides over the Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel, whose aims and objectives are:

* To maximize support for the State of Israel not only within the Liberal Democrats but within Parliament itself.

* To influence the party’s Middle East policy.

* To liaise with Israeli politicians and government.

* To provide parliamentarians with briefing material for parliamentary debates, questions to ministers and public appearances.

* To rebut attacks on Israel in the media, Parliament and the party.

* To arrange and accompany Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel delegations to Israel.

* To keep in regular contact with the Embassy of Israel.

It is time for the British public to wake up to this national scandal. Thanks to Israel’s agents of influence, politicians and other key figures in the British political system are taking decisions and making policies on behalf of Israel that are not in the British national interest. British politicians elected by the public to represent them and to safeguard British national interests are instead acting as agents of influence for Israel, a foreign power whose behaviour and values are loathsome in the eyes of the British people.

But who are these agents of influence? Some enter the British civil service directly and work their way into sensitive positions, where they can influence policy on behalf of Israel, even if this is against Britain’s national interests. A case in point is that of the civil servant Mike Michaels, who in the 1960s facilitated British nuclear sales to Israel without ministers’ consent. Others use political parties as gateways into politics.

Below, we name and shame some of the most rabid Israel agents of influence at the heart of the British government, politics and society, from the three main political parties to the church, the media and education. This is work in progress. With your help, we shall continue to name and shame these Israeli stooges and agents of influence so that the public can call them to account.