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Israel Lobby and the European Union Citation for published version: Cronin, D, Marusek, S & Miller, D 2016, The Israel Lobby and the European Union. Public Interest Investigations, Glasgow. <http://powerbase.info/images/0/06/PII_IsraelLobbyEUreport2016_Cronin_Mursak_Miller.pdf> Publication date: 2016 Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication Publisher Rights CC BY-NC-ND University of Bath Alternative formats If you require this document in an alternative format, please contact: [email protected] General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 29. Sep. 2021 British Cataloguing-in-Publications Data. Further information A catalogue record for this report is available from Website: www.spinwatch.org the British Library. Email: [email protected] Mail: Spinwatch, Box 1, c/o Govanhill Baths ISBN 978-0-9570274-7-3 Community Trust 99 Calder Street, Glasgow G42 7RA Copyrights Public Interest Investigations © 2016. All rights reserved. No part of this publication maybe reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form of by any means without the prior permission from the copyright holder. Disclaimer Views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the individual contributors and do Public Interest Investigations is an not necessarily reflect those of Public Interest independent non-profit making organisation. Investigations. Founded in 2004, Public Interest Investigations promotes greater understanding of the role Order copies of PR, propaganda, lobbying and of the This report is available for download free of charge power networks that they support, through via: www.spinwatch.org | www.europalforum.org.uk its website Spinwatch (spinwatch.org) and its investigative wiki site Powerbase (powerbase. Acknowledgements info). This report is based on research by a variety of Public Interest Investigations researchers and by the authors. The authors would like to acknowledge the following people who have advised and helped in the production of this report. We thank colleagues at Spinwatch including Tamasin Cave, Will Dinan, Eveline Lubbers and Andy Rowell, but especially Melissa Jones for editorial assistance. For research, advice and other help, Hilary Aked, Alex Doherty, James Gallagher, Tom Griffin, Josh Leeson, Narzanin Massoumi, Tom Mills, Jamie Stern-Weiner and Charlotte Young. Thank you to Dr Adeeb Ziadeh for EuroPal Forum is an independent organisation taking the time to read the report and for providing advocating Palestinian rights and working to invaluable feedback. build networks throughout Europe to achieve a positive and accurate public opinion on Finally, thank you to EuroPal Forum and particularly Palestine. It aims to promote dialogue and to Zaher Birawi for his help with the publication and understanding between Palestinian and launch of the report. European decision makers. EuroPal Forum works towards a just European foreign policy Conflict of interest statement upholding human rights of the Palestinian Public Interest Investigations gratefully people and their right to self-determination. acknowledges financial and in-kind support from www.europalforum.org.uk EuroPal Forum. This report was also made possible by funding from Friends of Al Aqsa and Islam Expo as well as drawing on more general fundraising and donations to Public Interest Investigations. No funding agency has had any role in study design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, or writing of the report. EuroPal Forum was responsible for design and editorial layout of the report. For the transparency policy of Public Interest Investigations and a list of grants received see: http://www.spinwatch.org/index.php/about/funding Printed and bound by Ashford Colour Press Ltd Gosport, Hants PO13 0FW Contents List of figures 4 List of tables 4 Notes on the authors 5 Introduction 6 Methods 11 Investigations Documentary sources Following the money Contents of this report 13 Chapter One: Europe’s new ‘Friends of Israel’ 14 European Friends of Israel Friends of Israel Initiative Right-wing politics Funding Chapter Two: Entrenching the lobby in Brussels 27 AJC Transatlantic Institute Israel Allies Foundation Europe Israel Press Association European Foundation for Democracy European Coalition for Israel European Leadership Network Jewish News One and the European Jewish Parliament European Strategic Intelligence and Security Centre Chapter Three: EU-Israeli trade relations 50 Growing EU-Israeli trade in weapons The lobby’s role in warming relations EU announces new guidelines The lobby redoubles its efforts Chapter Four: Criminalising resistance 57 The campaign against Hamas The campaign against Hizbullah Waging war against Iran Chapter Five: Silencing dissent 66 The ‘New anti-Semitism’ Censoring criticism of Israel Blaming ‘radical Muslim elements’ Conclusion 75 List of figures Figure 1: Map of known donors to the Israeli lobby in Brussels 10 Figure 2: Timeline of the Israel lobby in Brussels 27 Figure 3: Selected grantees of all known funders of the Friends of Israel Initiative and American Jewish committee (2009-2013 excluding donor advised funds) 32 Figure 4: Selected grantees of the Hochberg Family Foundation between 2009-2013 in US$ 43 Figure 5: Key American funders of the Israel lobby in Europe and affiliated organisations 46 Figure 6: All known American funders of the Israel lobby in Europe that are also financing settlements in occupied Palestine (excluding donor-advised funds) 72 List of tables Table 1: Known funders of the Friends of Israel Initiative (2010-2013) 24 Table 2: Known funders of the American Jewish Committee between (2009-2013) 29 Table 3: Known funders of the Israel Allies Caucus Foundation Inc. in Washington (2009-2013) 35 Table 4: Known funders of the Friends of the European Foundation for Democracy (2009-2013) 39 Table 5: Known donors to Friends of ELNET (2009-2013) 41 4 Notes on the authors David Cronin is an Irish journalist and political activist living in Brussels. He is the author of Corporate Europe: How big business sets policies on food, climate and war. (Pluto, 2013). His earlier book is Europe’s alliance with Israel: Aiding the occupation. (Pluto, 2011). David tweets @dvcronin. Sarah Marusek is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Religion Studies at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. She holds a PhD in social science from the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. Her doctoral research focused on Islamic activism in Lebanon and was funded by the generous support of the Mellon Foundation. She is co-author of both The Henry Jackson Society and the degeneration of British Neoconservatism: Liberal interventionism, Islamophobia and the ‘War on Terror’. (Public Interest Investigations, 2015); and How Israel attempts to mislead the United Nations: Deconstructing Israel’s campaign against the Palestinian Return Centre. (Public Interest Investigations, 2015). David Milleris Professor of Sociology in the Department of Social and Policy Sciences at the University of Bath. He is RCUK Global Uncertainties leadership Fellow (2013-2016). In 2004 he co-founded Public Interest Investigations, a non-profit company of which Spinwatch. org and Powerbase.info are projects. He tweets @ Davidmillerbath. Recent publications include: The Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre. Giving peace a chance? (Public Interest Investigations, 2013, co-author); The Henry Jackson Society and the degeneration of British Neoconservatism. (Public Interest Investigations, 2015, co-author); How Israel attempts to mislead the United Nations: Deconstructing Israel’s campaign against the Palestinian Return Centre. (Public Interest Investigations, 2015, co-author); Stretching the sociological imagination: Essays in honour of John Eldridge. (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, co-editor); The new governance of addictive substances and behaviours. (Oxford University Press, forthcoming, 2016, co-author); 5 Introduction According to British author George Orwell, political speech is ‘largely the defence of the indefensible’. For example, in political speech the bombing of civilians may be called ‘pacification’, their forcible displacement the ‘transfer of population’, and their imprisonment without trial or execution the ‘elimination of unreliable elements’.1 Orwell’s essay on ‘Politics and the English language’ was first published back in 1946; however, during the summer of 2014, Israel and its Western allies used a similar kind of political speech to distort reality. A United Nations (UN) inquiry found that Israel’s military assault resulted in the death of 2,251 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly civilians, and 73 people in Israel, mostly soldiers;2 nevertheless the Israelis named it ‘Operation Protective Edge’. Palestinian children living in one of the most densely populated places on earth could be targeted, the Israeli military argued, because they were being used as ‘human shields’.3 And any pause in the massacre was hailed as a ‘humanitarian ceasefire’.4 Israel’s political speech was echoed at the highest levels of European governments. As Israel began its assault on Gaza in July, French President François
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