British Friends of Israel
British Friends of Palestine
The following is a compilation of information about the members of Parliament who belong to these two lobbying groups via the groups attached to each of the three parliamentary parties. The lobbies are NOT equal, so how can the UK Government treat the two sides equally?
British Friends of Israel
- The Zionist lobby in general
- Comment: in Wikipedia
- Labour Friends of Israel
- Comment: in The Independent and The Guardian
- Members:
- Conservative Friends of Israel
- Comment: in The Guardian
- Members:
- David Cameron
- ‘Over 80% of Conservative MPs’
- Liberal Democrat Friends of Israel
- Comment
- Members: only three members are listed.
The Zionist case for Israel also gets very strong support for BICOM (Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre), a powerful organisation with ten members of staff. The equivalent organisation in the USA is AIPAC (The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which describes itself as “America’s pro-Israel lobby”)
British Friends of Palestine and the Middle East
- Labour Friends of Palestine
- Comment:
- Conservative Friends of Palestine – doesn’t seem to exist, though it’s attracted twice as many searches on Google as Conservative Friends of Israel. (Try it: google for “Conservative Friends of ” and look at the numbers.)
- Liberal Democrat Friends of Palestine
- Comment: in The Liberal Democrat Voice
- Comment: a LibDem MEP and member praises Nick Clegg: “Nick Clegg is the first of the main political leaders to demand that we back our words with some deeds. His call today for suspension of the enhancements to the EU-Israel agreement, and for an arms embargo, is hugely welcome. It draws a line in the sand and sends out a message that we should no longer accept that Israeli government actions are those of a ‘normal’ democratic partner.”
- 27 Dec 2009, Letter to the Observer: “An appeal for the victims of Gaza”, signed by Nick Clegg, three other members of the LibDem shadow cabinet, and 23 other MPs, Peers or MEPs.
- Britain-Palestine All-party Parliamentary Group
- “To foster good relations and understanding between Britain and Palestine and to promote a just and durable peace in the Middle East.”
- The Council for Arab-British Understanding
- “Founded in 1967, CAABU is jointly chaired by a British MP from each of the three main parties and has over 120 Parliamentary members.”