'Conspiracy of silence': Parliament set to debate Israeli influence on British politics

'Conspiracy of silence': Parliament set to debate Israeli influence on British politics Fleur Hargreaves on Fri, 05/29/2026 - 14:00 Government agrees to debate on ‘pro-Israel lobby activity in UK politics’ after more than 116,000 sign petition Protesters take part in a march organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in central London on 11 October 2025 (Henry Nicholls/AFP) Off Politicians are set to discuss Israeli influence on British politics and democracy after a government petition garnered more than 100,000 signatures, mandating a debate in parliament. The petition has been scheduled for debate in parliament on 22 June after receiving more than 116,000 signatures. The petition raises concerns about "reported Israeli state-linked and pro-Israel lobbying activity in UK politics” and emphasises the importance of “determin[ing] the scope and impact of such influence campaigns”. “We feel that the horrific devastation in Gaza, the ongoing suppression of Palestinians in the West Bank, and the UK’s political response underline the urgent need to scrutinise how pro-Israel organisations, networks, and lobbying efforts may shape government decisions, party policy, and public debate,” it reads. Petitions posted on the UK government website that gain more than 100,000 signatures must be debated in parliament, while at 10,000 signatures, the government must issue a response. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The government has previously rejected the proposal for an investigation into Israeli lobbying, claiming it was “already taking action to address this”. However, campaigners and politicians say examining the web of lobby groups, party factions, corporate entities and political bodies that make up Israel's influence operation in the UK is crucial for the health of democracy. The government's initial response pointed to the Rycroft review into foreign financial interference in UK politics, which does not mention Israel but rather focuses on Russian, Chinese and Iranian influence. 'Unless we are prepared to have a transparent, open and frank conversation ... we will continue to have nothing better than the best democracy money can buy' - Andrew Feinstein, Shadow World Investigations Petition author Andy Kalil told the National that it was “a whole load of hot air and deflection”. “Given the extreme conflict of interest between pro-Israel lobbying donations and the government’s positions on Gaza, the West Bank, Iran, and southern Lebanon, I believe this should be treated as a political scandal on the scale of [Peter] Mandelson,” Kalil said. More than half of the governing Labour Party’s cabinet members have received donations from pro-Israel lobbyists, with one such lobbyist, Trevor Chinn, donating £175,000 between 2017 and 2020 to Labour Together, the think tank behind Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s campaign to become Labour leader. The funding appears to have bought Chinn top-level access as he has met privately several times with the former British foreign secretary, David Lammy. Andrew Feinstein, author and co-founder of Shadow World Investigations, told Middle East Eye that Israeli influence on British politics posed a “massive challenge to British democracy” adding that “unless we are prepared to have a transparent, open and frank conversation not only about the Israel lobby, but about the influence of all money in politics, we will continue to have nothing better than the best democracy money can buy.” Money and elections Chinn's donations were part of the more than £700,000 that the think tank failed to declare to the Electoral Commission during Starmer’s leadership campaign, resulting in a fine of over £14,000. After the undeclared donations were exposed in Paul Holden’s book The Fraud, Labour Together reportedly paid a PR firm to investigate journalists behind the leak and then tried to destroy evidence of its smear campaign against them. The funding facilitated a campaign to undermine and unseat the then Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, a vocal critic of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, and replace him with Starmer, who said in October 2023 that Israel has a “right” to cut off Gaza’s water and power. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The think tank was also connected to a series of secret “astroturf” campaigns to attack independent media and oust left-wing figures from the Labour Party, from organisations like Centre for Countering Digital Hate and Stop Funding Fake News, created by senior Labour Party figures Steve Reed and Imran Ahmed. British Muslims are not invaders of the UK. This is our home too Read More » Wresting power back to the Labour right, Starmer replaced left-wingers with a new intake of MPs, of which one in three came from a background of lobbying, and a quarter received funding by pro-Israel groups. One MP, Luke Akehurst, who was parachuted into a Labour safe seat in Durham in 2024, previously ran an organisation called We Believe in Israel, which describes itself as a “movement to support Israel” in the UK. Meanwhile, around 80 percent of Conservative MPs are members of Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI), which provided £330,000 in funding for 118 MPs to visit Israel on 160 occasions. Neve Gordon, an Israeli professor of international law at Queen Mary’s University, told MEE that because interference from China, Iran and Russia was considered to be against British interests, they have faced greater scrutiny despite being less influential. Meanwhile, “the impact of the [Israeli] lobby is played down” as it “allows the British government to pursue its own interests” while also “hiding those interests”. "Instead of changing British policy … [the Israeli lobby] is aligned with British policy,” he said. Corbyn has described being asked in a Parliamentary Labour Party meeting during his time as leader if he would provide unconditional support for Israeli military action. He told MEE that throughout his time as leader he was “up against enormous hostility and pressure” because of his “different approach to foreign policy” and noted that lobbying comes not only in the form of “political pressure, but commercial pressure too". Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, met several times with Home Office officials and lobbied the government during its crackdown on direct action group Palestine Action, which had targeted the company. Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist organisation - a decision since declared unlawful by the High Court, but is nevertheless being appealed by the government. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Antisemitism accusations Critics have argued that a major strategy of pro-Israel lobby groups in the UK is the conflation of criticism of Israel with antisemitism. Leah Levene and Jonathan Rosenhead from the organisation Jewish Voice for Liberation (previously Jewish Voice for Labour) pointed to organisations that apply pressure to various institutions, including UK Lawyers for Israel, which has been accused of “legal intimidation” of opponents to Israel’s genocide, and Campaign Against Antisemitism, whose prosecution of pro-Palestine figures was labelled “abusive” by a judge. UK minister praises Israel's 'commitment to robust democratic governance' after flotilla row Read More » Other groups like the Board of Deputies and the UK's chief rabbi have succeeded in establishing themselves as “the representatives of all Jewish people”, Levene and Rosenhead said, flattening out disagreement within the community from anti-Zionist Jews like them into one consensus. These organisations “come down like a ton of bricks” on any opposition. “If people don’t get the opportunity to see another point of view, that also impacts on our democracy” in silencing dissent, they added. Hil Aked, author of the book Friends of Israel: The Backlash Against Palestine Solidarity, explained to MEE that “the development of the Zionist project is intertwined with the history of the British empire” and its organisers have “consistently made their case by appealing to the interests of the British state”. Aked pointed out that the 1917 Balfour declaration which “paved the way for the Zionist project” was passed by the same politicians who supported the 1905 Aliens Act, the first piece of anti-immigration legislation, which aimed to stop Jewish refugees fleeing persecution coming to the UK. “This shows us that Zionism and antisemitism are not inconsistent and that Zionism in Britain is not somehow a foreign phenomenon” but actively “fostered” by the British government. Occupation News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0