English Labour and the Israel Lobby
It’s no surprise that Tory MSP Jackson Carlaw supports the genocidal Israel apartheid state (Herald on Sunday, June 2). His English Tory Party is in Israel’s corner - nearly 2/3 of Tory MPs are in the Israeli Embassy front group, Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI).
The Israel Lobby’s penetration of English Labour is just as deep with over half of the Labour Shadow Cabinet listed as supporters of Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) including four LFI Vice Chairs (VC). These include Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves (VC), Yvette Cooper and David Lammy, all candidates for the four “great offices of state,” - Prime Minister, Chancellor, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary.
Interestingly, LFI deleted its public list of parliamentary supporters in the run-up to the July 4 election, presumably to protect them from challengers who oppose Israel’s genocide. Jess Phillips, an ardent LFI supporter, is facing a challenge in her Birmingham constituency from Jody McIntyre, a Palestinian solidarity activist. Phillips was a key player in the fabricated antisemitism campaign against Jeremy Corbyn. Nearly ¾ of Labour members believe the anti-Semitism campaign was invented.
Then there’s the money. A fifth of sitting Labour MPs have been funded by pro-Israel groups to the tune of £280,000. Starmer has hauled in £4.5 million from Gary Lubner, a wealthy Israel lobbyist who’s promised to donate another £6 million before the July 4th election.
The money’s working. When running for leader in 2020, Starmer said “I support Zionism without qualification,” and after October 7th he declared on national radio that Israel had the “right” to starve everyone in Gaza.
The Israel Lobby tried to court the SNP without success. If more English Labour MPs from Scotland are elected, they’ll undoubtedly be pressured to fall into line. Michael Shanks, Scotland’s second English Labour MP, already has.