“It is difficult to gain a clear picture of the extent of the Israel lobby network, not least because of the lack of regulation and the unlikelihood of those responsible for it being willing to discuss their activities publicly.”
…. and would like to recommend (apologies if you’ve already done so) a recently published book by Hil Aked entitled: “Friends of Israel: The Backlash against Palestine Soludarity” (Verso, 2023).
Despite the obvious difficulties involved in establishing a “clear picture” of the UK “ branch” of the Israel Lobby, imo Aked does a pretty good job of mapping out many of its most active members in the UK as well as their links to overseas, mostly US, collaborators.
His writing is informed by power structure research, he takes a principled Anti-racist position in his analysis and he uses a number of key concepts to understand what the Lobby is .. and isn’t, namely: ‘social movements from above’; ‘state-private networks’; ‘new public diplomacy’; and ‘manufactured civil society’.
Finally, he provides a considerable number of tables listing those Pro-Israel organisations known to have participated in/ contributed to a range of Lobby initiatives, including by way of example:
- Bodies know. To have participated in the Fair Play Campaign/ Israel Advocacy Forum
- Basic data on key British pro-Israel organisations
- Pro-Israel advocacy links to donors of Israel studies posts at British universities
- Members of thr Anti-Boycott Coordinating (ABC) Conmittee circa 1975
Thanks for your article. Well argued presentations for truth must overcome unfair fear.
Al Jazeera's investigation was great. I posted long ways back and you encourage me to repost. Interestingly, they were under enough pressure to remove the American version, which was even better - I assume the Qatar govt got something from the USA. Al Jazeera also did the wonderful expose of the takeover of the Labour Party through anti-Semitic propaganda. I should repost that too - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elp18OvnNV0
A lot of words and research, intellectual analysis and well-sourced insights here. But it completely overlooks the single most important component of "The Israel Lobby" and its influence in the UK and US: The Israel Lobby *is* the UK and US's still wholly-owned subsidiary and pet. The Israel Lobby could no more drive US and UK public policy, international policy than Lipton influences Unilever policy or a cat influences it's owner's policies.
Nothing is done without the parent state's approval. Nothing. Including the influence operations. And the parent states own the "Palestinians" and their influence operations. And by influence in both Israeli and "Palestinian" subsidiaries that includes diplomacy and war-making. Policy-making by other means.
Your otherwise well-structured and articulate presentation ignores the most important paradigm shift that further research and understanding reveals by focusing on the tail that is moving rather than the dog that is wagging it.
Now if you take what you wrote and shift it to conform with the real world power dynamic paradigm in play you'll be able to reveal the real global geopolitical gamesmanship operating in "The Israel Lobby." Or the "Palestinian" Lobby. Or the ISIS Lobby, for that matter, the US/UK headchoppers, which is what Benghazi was really about. The US/UK War Lobby, if you come right down to it. War being geopolitics by other means. And profitable. That revelation will help bring Propaganda in Focus.
Thanks for this informative analysis.
I noted this paragraph …
“It is difficult to gain a clear picture of the extent of the Israel lobby network, not least because of the lack of regulation and the unlikelihood of those responsible for it being willing to discuss their activities publicly.”
…. and would like to recommend (apologies if you’ve already done so) a recently published book by Hil Aked entitled: “Friends of Israel: The Backlash against Palestine Soludarity” (Verso, 2023).
Despite the obvious difficulties involved in establishing a “clear picture” of the UK “ branch” of the Israel Lobby, imo Aked does a pretty good job of mapping out many of its most active members in the UK as well as their links to overseas, mostly US, collaborators.
His writing is informed by power structure research, he takes a principled Anti-racist position in his analysis and he uses a number of key concepts to understand what the Lobby is .. and isn’t, namely: ‘social movements from above’; ‘state-private networks’; ‘new public diplomacy’; and ‘manufactured civil society’.
Finally, he provides a considerable number of tables listing those Pro-Israel organisations known to have participated in/ contributed to a range of Lobby initiatives, including by way of example:
- Bodies know. To have participated in the Fair Play Campaign/ Israel Advocacy Forum
- Basic data on key British pro-Israel organisations
- Pro-Israel advocacy links to donors of Israel studies posts at British universities
- Members of thr Anti-Boycott Coordinating (ABC) Conmittee circa 1975
Well worth a read!
Thanks for your article. Well argued presentations for truth must overcome unfair fear.
Al Jazeera's investigation was great. I posted long ways back and you encourage me to repost. Interestingly, they were under enough pressure to remove the American version, which was even better - I assume the Qatar govt got something from the USA. Al Jazeera also did the wonderful expose of the takeover of the Labour Party through anti-Semitic propaganda. I should repost that too - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elp18OvnNV0
Labour suspends another MP For criticising Israel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlzE5o4ZZ4Y
A lot of words and research, intellectual analysis and well-sourced insights here. But it completely overlooks the single most important component of "The Israel Lobby" and its influence in the UK and US: The Israel Lobby *is* the UK and US's still wholly-owned subsidiary and pet. The Israel Lobby could no more drive US and UK public policy, international policy than Lipton influences Unilever policy or a cat influences it's owner's policies.
Nothing is done without the parent state's approval. Nothing. Including the influence operations. And the parent states own the "Palestinians" and their influence operations. And by influence in both Israeli and "Palestinian" subsidiaries that includes diplomacy and war-making. Policy-making by other means.
Your otherwise well-structured and articulate presentation ignores the most important paradigm shift that further research and understanding reveals by focusing on the tail that is moving rather than the dog that is wagging it.
Now if you take what you wrote and shift it to conform with the real world power dynamic paradigm in play you'll be able to reveal the real global geopolitical gamesmanship operating in "The Israel Lobby." Or the "Palestinian" Lobby. Or the ISIS Lobby, for that matter, the US/UK headchoppers, which is what Benghazi was really about. The US/UK War Lobby, if you come right down to it. War being geopolitics by other means. And profitable. That revelation will help bring Propaganda in Focus.