Mick Hartley

Channel 4's Dispatches on Monday, with the Daily Mail's Peter Oborne, exposed Britain's Israel lobby: "one of the most powerful and influential political lobbies in Britain….despite wielding great influence among the highest realms of British politics and media, little is known about the individuals and groups which collectively are known as the pro-Israel lobby". Or, as a breathless fan puts it on Oborne's Wiki entry:

On 16 of November, 2009, Oborne roles out another brave episode "Inside Britann's Isreali Lobby". He fearlessly examines and questions the unethical approach of some pro Isreali business persons, mainly orginated from Isreal, and Isreali politician, who are placing politician and media organisations like BBC under their influence through lobbying. The main objective of lobbying is articulated to control the modern Political system and the media in the interests of Isreali. Anyone journalist wishing to report against immoral practices of Isreal and its 'secret friends' has to think twice.

So now we know why Britann and Isreal are so close. [Is Israel real? Or is Isreal rael? Discuss.]

Lobbying, of course, is an established part of the UK political scene. As David Cesarani points out, the same accusations of secrecy and undue influence could readily be applied, say, to Michael Ashcroft, Rupert Murdoch, the arms industry, the Saudi Arabians – and the list could go on and on. Yet somehow it's only the Israelis, the Jews, who are brought to account for operating in this shadowy underhand way. That such a portrayal happens to coincide with the standard anti-Semitic trope we know so well from the Protocols…well…just keep repeating over and over, To be anti-Israel isn't necessarily to be anti-Semitic, and the scruple will pass.

[T]he evidence he [Oborne] amasses comes mostly from publicly disclosed sources, such as the register of MPs' interests. Political donations have to be made public, too, and these lists provide much of his ammunition. Like many who claim to expose the secretive behaviour of lobbyists, it turns out that much of what they do is already open to scrutiny. With manipulative skill Oborne builds up the frisson of exposing a conspiracy while using publicly available information as evidence and, the ultimate chutzpah, at the same time as declaring that the lobby is doing nothing wrong.

A second strand to his thesis is that pro-Israel campaigners target the media and crush any criticism of Israel. But anyone who remembers the coverage of Israel's assault on Gaza or the battering of Lebanon in 2006 may wonder what more the media could have done to show the appalling effects of Israeli military tactics. […]

We have thus left the reality in which Israel is internationally isolated and regularly pounded by the UN, and in which sincere men and women support Israel because they think it is an embattled democracy that shares many of the values held dear in Britain, as well as facing many of the same foes. Guided by Oborne and Jones we are drifting into the world of fantasy and phobia.

Despite their proclaimed efforts to avoid such an outcome their shallow and irresponsible polemic will do more damage than good. It will only reinforce the very fears that cause British Jews to rally behind Israel, right or wrong.

See also here.

Update: and here – "Antisemitism and the reported world". Two CiF articles critical of the Dispatches documentary. Phew.