{"id":184883,"date":"2019-03-09T07:07:49","date_gmt":"2019-03-09T07:07:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=184883"},"modified":"2019-03-11T07:32:43","modified_gmt":"2019-03-11T07:32:43","slug":"israel-lobby-funders-back-breakaway-british-mps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=184883","title":{"rendered":"Israel lobby funders back breakaway British MPs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Asa Winstanley \u2013 The Electronic Intafada Feb 27, 2019<\/strong><\/h1>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A multi-millionaire pro-Israel lobbyist is funding the UK Parliament\u2019s new Independent Group, it was revealed this week.<\/span><\/p>\n

Others are likely to follow.<\/span><\/p>\n

David Garrard told newspapers he had already donated to the MPs who broke away from the opposition Labour Party and the ruling Conservative Party.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Independent Group is expected to eventually register as a party.<\/span><\/p>\n

Garrard has for many years been a major<\/a> financial<\/a> backer<\/a><\/strong><\/span> of Labour Friends of Israel, a front group for the Israeli embassy<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, and was recently appointed to its board<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Prior to left-wing Palestine solidarity activist Jeremy Corbyn<\/a> becoming party leader in 2015, Garrard donated almost $2 million to Labour under former leaders Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband.<\/span><\/p>\n

Garrard was so dismayed after Corbyn\u2019s leadership election in September 2015, that he called in a loan<\/a><\/strong><\/span> of more than $2.5 million he had made to the party.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite this, Labour was last year reported<\/a><\/strong><\/span> to be Britain\u2019s richest party, thanks to a massive influx of members enthused by Corbyn\u2019s popular, moderately socialist agenda.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite leaving the party, Garrard has continued to fund individual anti-Corbyn MPs within Labour.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Independent Group was formed last week by eight Labour MPs who quit the party, while alleging that Labour is now \u201cinstitutionally anti-Semitic.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While they were still in Labour, Garrard funded two of these eight.<\/span><\/p>\n

Campaigning against Corbyn<\/h2>\n

The \u201cmoderate\u201d faction was soon joined by three defecting Conservatives who agree with the group\u2019s anti-Brexit stance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ian Austin, another anti-Corbyn MP, also quit Labour last week. But he has not formally joined the Independent Group, as he disagrees with its views on Brexit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Garrard has also donated<\/a><\/strong><\/span> almost $28,000 since May 2016 to Austin \u2013 a leading supporter of Labour Friends of Israel<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

As Austin explained to Sky News<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, \u201cI\u2019ve been campaigning against Jeremy Corbyn\u2019s leadership for years.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The majority of the Independent Group remain part of Labour Friends of Israel \u2013 despite no longer being members of the Labour Party.<\/span><\/p>\n

Labour Friends of Israel\u2019s chair Joan Ryan resigned from Labour a week ago<\/a><\/strong><\/span> citing Corbyn\u2019s \u201chatred for Israel\u201d and alleged failure to combat anti-Semitism.<\/span><\/p>\n

Along with Ryan, the Independent Group MPs still listed as supporters<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>of Labour Friends of Israel are: Luciana Berger, Mike Gapes, Chris Leslie, Angela Smith and Chuka Umunna.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before she first entered Parliament in 2010, Berger for years worked<\/strong><\/span><\/a> as the director of Labour Friends of Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

Millionaire funding<\/h2>\n

The official register of donations to members of Parliament shows that in 2016 and 2017, Garrard donated almost $9,000 to Ryan<\/strong><\/span><\/a> and more than $50,000<\/a><\/strong><\/span> to Chuka Umunna and his office.<\/span><\/p>\n

Umunna is currently being touted<\/a><\/strong><\/span> as a possible new leader of the Independent Group.<\/span><\/p>\n

The latest register<\/a><\/strong><\/span> shows Garrard has also donated almost $20,000 to deputy Labour Party leader Tom Watson \u2013 who has long opposed Corbyn.<\/span><\/p>\n

Garrard, a property tycoon<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, told The Sunday Telegraph<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/a> and The Observer<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/span> this weekend that he had \u201calready done so\u201d when asked if he would financially back the new Independent Group.<\/span><\/p>\n

Labour has \u201cbeen hijacked by an ultra-left cabal\u201d who want to \u201cturn our nation into a socialist republic,\u201d he claimed. He also repeated the right-wing smears about alleged anti-Semitism<\/a><\/strong><\/span> that have dogged Labour for nearly four years.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another millionaire former Labour donor signaled his intention to switch his financial backing to the new group this weekend.<\/span><\/p>\n

Michael Foster<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, who was suspended from Labour in 2016<\/a><\/strong><\/span> for abusing Corbyn and his team as Nazis, told The Sunday Telegraph<\/em> of the new group that he \u201cwould support them in any way that I could.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Other Israel lobby funders seem likely to follow Garrard.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Sunday Times<\/em> this weekend named<\/strong><\/span><\/a> Trevor Chinn and Jonathan Goldstein as two other \u201cpotential donors\u201d to the group \u2013 although it cited no evidence.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chinn is one of the leaders<\/strong><\/span><\/a> of BICOM<\/strong><\/span><\/a> and Goldstein is chair<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>of the Jewish Leadership Council<\/strong><\/span><\/a> \u2013 both are British pro-Israel lobby groups.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chinn donated more than $6,000<\/a><\/strong><\/span> to Labour Friends of Israel\u2019s chair Joan Ryan in 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n

He donated<\/strong><\/span><\/a> a similar amount to deputy Labour leader Tom Watson in 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although the Independent Group has signaled its ultimate intention to set up a new political party, it is not yet registered as one.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even though most voters in practice vote for a party rather than individual MPs, there is no requirement<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>that lawmakers who quit their party resign their seats in Parliament and stand in a by-election.<\/span><\/p>\n

Historically, however, some MPs who left their parties have chosen to resign<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the Independent Group\u2019s MPs have rejected calls that they resign and seek re-election, with one ironically justifying<\/strong><\/span><\/a> this refusal to face a democratic vote because it would supposedly \u201ccrush the birth of democracy.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

David Garrard<\/h2>\n

Garrard quit Labour in April 2018<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

More than a decade ago, he was embroiled in the \u201ccash for peerages\u201d scandal<\/strong><\/span><\/a> during the government of Tony Blair.<\/span><\/p>\n

Garrard was one of four controversial names nominated by Blair to be \u201clife peers\u201d in the House of Lords, the UK\u2019s unelected upper chamber.<\/span><\/p>\n

The four were rejected, and it was later revealed they had previously loaned millions to the Labour Party, raising the question of whether they had effectively paid for the nominations<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Garrard denied any wrongdoing. Although Blair was questioned three times by police, and two of his aides were arrested, no one was ever charged<\/strong><\/span><\/a> with a crime.<\/span><\/p>\n

Israeli embassy front group<\/h2>\n

These revelations about Israel lobby funding for the new group come soon after speculation by some in Labour of Israeli involvement in the splinter group.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ruth George, a Labour MP, was forced to apologize<\/strong><\/span><\/a> after reports on a Facebook comment thread in which she had stated that \u201csupport from the state of Israel\u201d for the new group \u201cis possible\u201d and that she \u201cwould not condemn those who suggest it, especially when the group\u2019s financial backers are not being revealed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2017, an undercover investigation<\/strong><\/span><\/a> by Al Jazeera revealed that Labour Friends of Israel is effectively a front for the Israeli embassy.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the group\u2019s staff privately admitted that<\/a><\/strong><\/span>, although \u201cpublicly we just try to keep the LFI as a separate identity to the embassy,\u201d they work \u201creally closely together.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Labour Friends of Israel chair Joan Ryan would speak to Israeli embassy agent Shai Masot<\/strong><\/span><\/a> \u201cmost days,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The documentary also revealed that the Israeli embassy was trying to engineer the creation of a \u201cYoung Labour Friends of Israel\u201d grouping within the UK\u2019s main opposition party, to counteract strong grassroots support for Palestinian rights.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shai Masot was expelled from the UK<\/strong><\/span><\/a> after the scandal broke in 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n

More recently, Israel has used its Act.IL app<\/a><\/strong><\/span> to stoke opposition to Corbyn, accusing him of anti-Semitism and falsely claiming he had compared Israel to Nazi Germany.<\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Joan Ryan remains Labour Friends of Israel\u2019s chair<\/strong><\/span><\/a> despite quitting the Labour party.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Asa Winstanley explains how a breakaway group of MPs is being generously funded by a donor closely associated with an Israeli embassy front group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-184883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Israel_Anti-Semitism_Zionism_and_US-UK_allies"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=184883"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":184927,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184883\/revisions\/184927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=184883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=184883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=184883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}