“We witness the killing, maiming, and destruction on a daily or even hourly basis, and we know that our government is complicit in it…” This statement was extracted from a report published by a British site at the end of October 2024, which explicitly accuses the British government of complicity in the ongoing Israeli destructive war on Gaza and the crimes committed against civilians.

This British complicity, though not new, raises questions about the reasons behind the provocative silence of successive British governments towards Israel’s ongoing crimes against the Palestinians for more than 80 years. This report attempts to answer these questions by tracking the extent of the Zionist lobby’s infiltration into various aspects of life in Britain.

In the following paragraphs, we will track the history of the Zionist lobby in Britain, how it has managed to infiltrate political, economic, and social life, the arms of this Zionist lobby in Britain, and its symbols, culminating in the nature of the work carried out by the Zionist lobby to influence London’s policies domestically and internationally.

The Emergence of the Zionist Lobby in Britain

Britain played a pivotal role in the Zionist project to establish a state for the Jews in Palestine, evident before the issuance of the “Balfour Declaration” in 1917, continuing to the present, according to the book “The Zionist Lobby and Public Opinion in Britain: Influence and Impact” by the Palestinian researcher Nawaf Yusuf Al-Tamimi.

Theodor Herzl wrote in his book “The Jewish State”: “Since joining the movement (Zionism), I have directed my focus towards Britain; because I realized that Britain is the global center of gravity, and Great Britain, free and ruling overseas, would understand our objectives, and starting from there would give wings to Zionist ideas to fly high and far.”

Indeed, Al-Tamimi states in his book, “From an early time, Zionist organizations worked on infiltrating British political circles to form lobbying groups, whose main task was to maintain the momentum of British support, official, public, and media, for Israel and its policies at all times, under any circumstances.”

According to the book “The Zionist Lobby and Public Opinion in Britain,” the history of Jews in Britain began in 1066 when the first Jewish migrations arrived in England following the Norman conquests, reaching into the twentieth century.

Britain witnessed successive waves of Jewish migration from Jewish refugees fleeing persecution in Russia, and waves of Jews fleeing Nazi Europe, before and during World War II.

The Jewish community focused throughout these historical periods on establishing its institutions and organizations from synagogues, schools, orphanages, centers for caring for the special needs, homes for the elderly, associations to support the poor, which formed the initial building blocks for the emergence of politically active Zionist organizations.

According to what was written by Donald Wagner in “Sojourner Truth Magazine,” what became known as “Christian Zionism” appeared in England in the early 19th century to advocate for returning Jews to the Holy Land according to a futuristic interpretation of the biblical texts.

British journalist Geoffrey Whitcroft wrote that perhaps “the first lobbying group in favor of the land of Israel was Theodor Herzl who met with government ministers after publishing his book ‘The Jewish State’ in 1896 and organizing the first Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, in 1897.”

However, the initial nucleus of the Zionist lobby in Britain began forming before the issuance of the “Balfour Declaration” in 1917, when the British government declared “the right of Jews to establish a national home in Palestine.”

During this period, leaders of the Zionist lobby in Britain began to move in public, political, and academic circles and trade unions in Britain to rally support for implementing the contents of the “Balfour Promise.”

In the 1970s, the early beginnings of the formation of local organizations for the Zionist lobby in Britain occurred when the “Zionist Federation” and the “British Jewish Council” united and established the first British public relations organization supporting Israel, known as the “British-Israel Public Affairs Committee.”

Arms of the Zionist Lobby in Britain

The Board of Deputies of British Jews

The Board of Deputies of British Jews (Board of Deputies of British Jews) is the main representative organization of the Jewish community in the United Kingdom, established in 1760 and considered the oldest Jewish representative body in the United Kingdom.

The Council consists of representatives from many Jewish institutions in Britain, including synagogues, social organizations, and schools.

It clarifies the interests and positions of the community regarding Israel to parliamentarians, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, media, and other religious groups. Its program also includes dealing with embassies, including relations between other countries and the State of Israel.

In her speech before the Board of Deputies of British Jews on February 18, 1990, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said, “I believe that most people in this country have a deep and constant admiration for the Jewish people and what has been accomplished in Israel.”

The Jewish Leadership Council

The Jewish Leadership Council aims to promote the interests of the organized Jewish community in Britain. Its mission is to work through its members to ensure continuity in the United Kingdom, in this generation and future generations, for the mainstream Jewish community confident in its support for Israel.

According to sociologists Tom Mills, Hillary Acked, Tom Griffin, and David Miller, who write in Open Democracy, “Pro-Israel lobbying has always been an important part of its work.”

In December 2006, a non-charitable company, the Jewish Activities Committee, was established as a means to deal with political operations. The founding directors of the company were Trevor Chin, Henry Grunwald, then vice-president of Bicom Brian Kerner, and Bicom president and main financier, Finnish billionaire Bojo Zabludowicz.

Its affiliate organization, Fair Play, later launched the Stop the Boycott campaign with Bicom, where the Jewish Activities Committee served as a means for donations.

The Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland

The Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland, established in 1899, describes itself as “the leading popular organization in the United Kingdom in the field of defending Israel” which “celebrates Israel and challenges our enemies.”

It aimed to promote the idea of establishing a national homeland for Jews in Palestine, in response to the Zionist movement led by Theodor Herzl. The Federation is part of the national unions established to support the idea of Zionism in Europe and beyond during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and it played a prominent role in supporting international efforts to achieve this goal.

The organization was concerned with supporting awareness and promoting Zionism among Jewish communities in Britain and Ireland, by spreading ideas and principles of Zionism, organizing events, and fundraising to support Jewish settlements in Palestine.

The organization considers itself a gathering organization for the Zionist movement in the United Kingdom, representing more than 30 organizations and more than 50,000 affiliated members, and its activities include: training, campaigns, media engagement, lobbying, combating the boycott movement, and working with students and cultural events.

Jewish Workers Movement

World War II created a difficult situation for English Jews, as the British government considered all German Jews in Britain spies representing the enemy, and as a functional group always working in the service of whoever pays their wages, and Zionist groups in Britain did not oppose this work.

In 1942, an important development occurred in the structure of the British Zionist Union, as the Zionist Workers Movement, which had strong ties to the British Labour Party, joined it, according to the encyclopedia “Jews, Judaism, and Zionism” prepared by the late Egyptian thinker Abdel Wahab El-Messiri.

This was an indication of the increasing importance of settlers, especially since most of them were from the Zionist Workers Movement, and also on strengthening the link between Zionists in Britain and different political forces, as the Labour government of Clement Attlee, which came to power in 1945 before the end of World War II, ended in his era the armed clash between settlers and the British in Palestine.

Before the partition of Palestine in 1948, and during the Labour Party conference in 1947, the representative of the Zionist Workers Movement in his speech addressed to the conference (which he attended as a visiting observer) called for a decision on the Palestinian issue that respects the spirit of the party’s pre-election promises, i.e., recognizing the rights of Jews in all of Palestine.

Conservative Friends of Israel

The group “Conservative Friends of Israel” (Conservative Friends of Israel), referring to the British Conservative Party, is a parliamentary lobbying group founded by former MP Michael Fidler in 1974, described by conservative historian and politician Robert Rhodes James as “the largest organization in Western Europe dedicated to the cause of the people of Israel.”

The organization boasts that its membership includes 80% of Conservative MPs and has the ability to summon government ministers for lunch and dinner, enjoying amazing access to government decision-making places, with long queues of people seeking to enter its famous party at the annual Conservative Party conference.

In 2005, the organization identified its areas of activity in supporting Israel, promoting the British Conservative Party, combating terrorism, combating anti-Semitism, and promoting peace in the Middle East. According to their website, “more than two-thirds” of Conservative MPs were members of the Conservative Friends of Israel in 2006.

In 2007, the political director stated that the group includes more than 2,000 registered members and supporters. In 2009, at least half of the shadow cabinet were members of the group, according to a documentary produced by Dispatches.

In 2006, members of the British Conservative Party established the group “European Friends of Israel,” also known by its acronym “EFI,” one of the most influential lobbying groups in Brussels, which includes the main institutions of the European Union.

UK Lawyers for Israel

UK Lawyers for Israel (UK Lawyers for Israel – UKLFI) is a British non-profit organization established to support Israel through legal means and defend Israel-related issues in the United Kingdom and internationally.

The organization provides legal support to combat anti-Israel campaigns and counter positions it considers hostile to it in various fields, such as academia, economy, and media.

The organization aims to protect the legal rights of Israel and Jewish communities supporting it in the United Kingdom, using British and international laws to confront what it considers illegal or unfair threats.

The organization’s activities include providing legal consultations, raising legal awareness among Israel supporters, and filing legal cases when it sees a threat to Israel’s interests or the Jewish community, such as countering the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaigns targeting Israeli institutions.

Parliament in the Grip of the Zionist Lobby

For decades, the Zionist lobby in Britain has infiltrated the circles of the House of Commons, and this has not been hidden from those interested in political and party affairs, both inside and outside Britain, to the extent that many MPs boast of defending Israel.

In June 2024, the “Declassified” website revealed that about 180 MPs out of 650 MPs in the expired British Parliament had received funding from pro-Israel lobbying groups or pro-Israel individuals during their political careers.

This includes 130 Conservative MPs, 41 Labour MPs, and three MPs from the Liberal Democratic Party. The list also includes three members from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), two independents, and the only member of the Reform Party.

The total value of donations from pro-Israel groups, individuals, and Israeli government institutions exceeded one million British pounds. These politicians made more than 240 funded trips to Israel, at a cost exceeding half a million British pounds.

Funding During the Genocide in Gaza

Some of these trips included visits to Palestinian territories, and a few were sponsored by groups not considered part of pro-Israel lobbying groups. Notably, the website says, fifteen MPs received funding to travel to Israel amid the ongoing events in Gaza.

In a statement to Declassified, Huda Ammori, co-founder of the direct action network Palestine Action, said: “Accepting funding from a lobbying group representing those responsible for crimes should disqualify anyone from running as a member of parliament.”

She added: “Seeing politicians continue to travel to Israel and deal with the pressure lobby clarifies why our government continues to defy international law by facilitating Israeli actions.”

It is worth noting that no member of the Scottish National Party, or Sinn Fein, or Plaid Cymru, or the SDLP, or the Alba Party, or the Green Party, or the Alliance Party, or the Labour Party, received any hospitality or funding from pro-Israel lobbying groups.

Who Funds MPs’ Trips to Israel?

One of the most prominent entities supporting British MPs’ trips to Israel is the group “Conservative Friends of Israel” (CFI), a parliamentary group that does not disclose its funding sources.

According to the British website, about 80% of Conservative MPs are members of CFI. Over the past decade, this group has funded trips for a number of MPs more than any other entity in Britain.

Recently, “Declassified” revealed that the “CFI” group funded 118 current Conservative MPs to travel to Israel on 160 occasions, providing more than 330,000 British pounds for these visits. This organization also enjoys close access to Whitehall and organizes private meetings for ministers.

On the other hand, “Labour Friends of Israel” (LFI), another non-transparent parliamentary group regarding its funding sources, supports about 75 MPs as supporters or officers.

Recently, the organization removed the list of MPs supporting it from its website, but it can be viewed here. LFI funded trips for 32 current Labour MPs to travel to Israel since they were first elected, contributing more than 64,000 British pounds for these visits.

In the 2017 Al Jazeera documentary “The Lobby,” Michael Rubin from LFI particularly acknowledged close relations between the organization and the state of Israel. He said, “We work closely together, but publicly we try to keep LFI as a separate entity from the [Israeli] embassy.”

David Mincer, the former director of LFI and campaign manager for David Lammy’s unsuccessful bid for London mayor, now works as a spokesperson for the Israeli government.

Additional trips to Israel were also funded by “Liberal Democratic Friends of Israel” and “Northern Ireland Friends of Israel.”

Many of these delegations were jointly funded by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, indicating a high level of cooperation with the Israeli state. More than 40 MPs accepted funding from Israeli government institutions.

Among the other organizations that funded MPs’ trips to Israel are the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the Australia-Israel Cultural Exchange, Elnet UK, the Jewish National Fund, and the National Jewish Association.

“Zionist” Individual Donors

Labour and Conservative MPs also received funding from individuals directly associated with Zionist lobby groups in Britain.

Among these are Trevor Chin, a veteran activist in pro-Israel lobbying groups, who funded eight members of the Labour front bench led by Keir Starmer, including his deputy Angela Rayner, as well as Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves, Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy, and Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting.

Chin provided 50,000 British pounds for Starmer’s campaign to lead the Labour Party. These donations were not disclosed until after Starmer’s victory.

Among other donors to Labour MPs are David Minton, the former director of the British-Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM), and Red Capital, a private company owned by former LFI president Jonathan Mendelson.

Several individuals associated with the Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI), such as Trevor Pears, Michael Lewis, David Miller, and Lord Calms, also donated to prominent figures in the Conservative Party.

Hil Acked, author of “Friends of Israel: The Backlash Against Palestinian Solidarity,” told Declassified: “These large donations may clarify the influence of the Israel lobby, or simply that many British politicians adopt pro-Israel positions and are happy to accept pro-Israel money.”

He added: “In either case, it is clear that a significant part of the British political elite remains linked to the Zionist movement, even as Israel continues to commit violations against Palestinians in Gaza.”

The Israeli Lobby in the Media

In 2014, a Channel 4 investigation revealed that most mainstream British media “adopt a pro-Israel line,” according to the “Middle East Monitor” newspaper.

Robert Murdoch, whose media empire “News International” controls between 30% and 40% of British newspapers, does not hide his sympathy for Israel. In addition to Murdoch’s press, the Telegraph Media Group and Express newspapers tended to support Israel. “Associated News Papers” did so as well.

However, two important media organizations, the “Guardian” newspaper and the British Broadcasting Corporation, consistently strived to present fair reports on the Middle East and strongly present the Palestinian viewpoint equal to the pro-Israel government line. However, they faced ongoing pressures and harassment at times from the Israeli government itself and from lobbying groups.

It is worth noting that the “Guardian” newspaper was more involved in the establishment of Israel than any other British newspaper. Its editor, C.P. Scott, was active in the Balfour Declaration in 1917, where he introduced Chaim Weizmann, the leader of the Zionist movement and the first president of the state of Israel, to prominent members of the British government.

The War on Gaza in the British Media

The Media Monitoring Center of the Islamic Council in Britain revealed that the media in the United Kingdom used language biased towards Israel regarding the attacks on the Gaza Strip, according to a report issued by the center in August 2024.

The report indicated that British media used the terms “massacre, slaughter, and brutality” to describe attacks against Israelis in 70 percent of about 177,000 news broadcasts, compared to the phrase “what is said to be a massacre” to describe assaults on Palestinians.

It explained that these media outlets published 176,627 news broadcasts and 25,515 written news articles about Gaza during that period, noting that news about Gaza was 6,000 percent less before that date.

The 28 media outlets presented the Israeli attacks on Gaza to their readers and viewers as a “war between Israel and Hamas” 76 percent of the time, while the phrase “occupied Gaza” appeared only 28 times in all the news.

The report noted that all the news broadcasts included statements related to Israel’s right to defend itself five times more than those related to the Palestinians’ right to defend themselves. It pointed out that publications related to Palestinian rights only appeared 7 percent of the time in extreme right-wing media news.

The report emphasized that Israeli casualties were mentioned in 2 out of every 3 emotionally charged news broadcasts, while this rate dropped to 1 out of every 10 news broadcasts when it concerned Palestinian casualties.

It added: “In a sample of 100 randomly selected cases, the word ‘brutality’ was used 73 times in favor of the Israelis and only 6 times for the Palestinians in Gaza, the word ‘massacre’ 77 times for the Israelis and 13 times for the Palestinians in Gaza, and the word ‘slaughter’ 69 times for the Israelis and 14 times for the Palestinians.”