What the Priti Patel scandal tells us about the dark operations of the UK's powerful Israel lobby

Dirty tricks and opaque dealings characterise the workings of lobbyists, writes Jonathan Cook

https://www.thenational.ae/opinion/comment/what-the-priti-patel-scandal-tells-us-about-the-dark-operations-of-the-uk-s-powerful-israel-lobby-1.675000

Priti Patel attends a remembrance service in Essex on Saturday. David Mirzoeff / PA via AP

The scandal surrounding Priti Patel, who was forced to resign as Britain’s international aid minister last week after secret meetings with Israeli officials during a “family holiday”, offers a small, opaque window on the UK’s powerful Israel lobby.

Ms Patel’s off-the-books meetings with 12 Israelis, including prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, were organised by a British lobbyist in violation of government rules requiring careful documentation of official meetings. That is to prevent conflicts of interest and illicit lobbying by foreign powers.

Government protocol was flouted again when Ms Patel headed to the Golan Heights, occupied Syrian territory, escorted by the Israeli army. There she was shown an Israeli military field hospital that patches up Syrians, including Al Qaeda-affiliated fighters, wounded in Syria’s civil war.

Afterwards, Ms Patel pressed for the Israeli army, one of the most powerful in the world, to receive a chunk of Britain’s overseas aid. Meanwhile, she has sought to cut aid to the Palestinians, including to vital projects in Gaza. A clue as to how she reached such absurd “humanitarian” priorities is provided in the figure of Stuart Polak, mentor on her Israel “holiday”.

The honorary president of Conservative Friends of Israel, Lord Polak has recruited four-fifths of Conservative MPs, and almost every government minister, to a group whose explicit goal is to advance Israeli interests in Britain. The prime minister, Theresa May, is regarded as one of Israel’s most fervent supporters in Europe.
That should be a cause for public indignation – no other foreign state enjoys such unabashed, high-level political support.
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Another window on Israel’s meddling opened briefly last week. The BBC’s political editor, Laura Kuenssberg, took to Twitter to relay a damning comment from an unnamed “senior” member of Ms Patel’s party. In a clear reference to Israel, she observed: “The entire apparatus has turned a blind eye to a corrupt relationship that allows a country to buy access”.

A short time later, presumably under pressure, Ms Kuenssberg deleted the tweet. The BBC has not reported the comment elsewhere and the senior Conservative has not dared go public. Such, it seems, is the intimidating and corrupting influence of the lobby.

More than a decade ago, two leading American academics wrote a study of the Israel lobby’s role in the United States, Israel’s chief patron for half a century. It was a sign of the lobby’s influence that John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt could not find a publisher at home. They had to turn to a British journal instead.
The Israel lobby’s strength in western capitals has depended precisely on its ability to remain out of view. Simply to talk about the lobby risks being accused of perpetuating anti-Semitic tropes of Jewish cabals.

But professors Mearsheimer and Walt described a type of pressure group familiar in the US – and increasingly in European capitals. Everyone from Cuba to health insurers and arms manufacturers operate aggressive lobbyists in Washington to secure their interests.

What is special about the Israel lobby in the US – an amalgam of hawkish Jewish leadership organisations and messianic Christian evangelicals – is the fear it exploits to silence critics. No one wants to be labelled an anti-Semite.
Rarely identified or held to account, the lobby has entrenched its power.
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That is under threat, however. Social media and Palestinians with camera phones have exposed a global audience to systematic abuses by the Israeli army the western media largely ignored. For the first time, Israel supporters sound evasive and dissembling.
Meanwhile, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strident efforts in the US Congress through 2014 and 2015 to prevent a nuclear accord with Iran dragged the lobby even farther out of the shadows.

The Israel lobby’s dirty tricks in the UK were exposed earlier this year too. A TV documentary showed Conservative party officials colluding with the Israeli embassy to “take down” Alan Duncan, a foreign office minister who supports the Palestinian cause.

It is noteworthy that Ms Patel’s downfall came about because of social media. Israeli officials like police minister Gilad Erdan were so unused to scrutiny or accountability themselves that they happily tweeted photos with Ms Patel. Mr Erdan is a key player in the lobby, running a “smear unit” to target overseas critics of Israel.

We may never know why Ms Patel so grossly flouted ministerial rules or what she quietly promised in those meetings in Israel. Colleagues have hinted that, in a pattern familiar from US politics, she hoped to win over the lobby and its wealthy donors for a future leadership bid.

There is no way to know, given the lobby’s penchant for secrecy, whether Ms Patel simply proved less adept at treading a path marked out by former Conservative and Labour party leadership hopefuls.

There is growing hysteria about foreign interference in US and European politics. Is it not time for western states to show as much concern about the malign influence of Israel’s lobbyists as they do about Russian hackers?

COMMENT:

DEAR MY RESPECTED READERS, IT WOULD BE VERY NICE TO GO THROUGH THE ARTICLE ABOVE. AFTER HAVING DONE IN AM SURE YOU WOULD BELIEVE THAT IN THIS FAST CHANGING WORLD NONE IS A FRIEND MORE SO A BEST FRIEND AND A TRUSTED ALLY.READING THE ARTICLE WOULD BE VERY ESSENTIAL TO UNDERSTAND THE ISSUE CLEARLY.

MY COMMENT IS THAT IN GENERAL WHICH EVER COUNTRY AND POLITICAL PERSONS COMES IN CONTACT WITH THE MOST DISGUSTING DIRTY COUNTRY RUSSIA EXCEPT A VERY FEW ALL BECOMES BLOOD SUCKERS TO THE EXTENT THAT EVEN SUCKS THE BLOOD OF PARENTS AND CHILDREN.  YOU MY FRIENDS MUST HAVE NOW FOUND THE GLARING EXAMPLE THAT IS HAPPENING IN US AND UK.

IMAGINE TO DAY AFTER ONLY HALF A CENTURY THIS STINKING DIRTY VICIOUS SNAKE ISRAELI Zionist AFTER BEING FED WITH BREAD BUTTER MILK AND HONEY HAVE STRUCK THE COUNTRIES THAT DID SO MUCH FOR IT TO THE EXTENT PARDONED IT EVEN WHEN THIS BASTARD SONS OF SWINES KILLED THE CITIZENS OF THOSE COUNTRIES. WHAT AN IRONY OF FACT TO OBSERVE.

I DID ONCE BEFORE WARNING THE COUNTRIES THAT THIS LONE ZIONIST STATE OF TERRORISTS PM NETANYAHU THE WANTED GENOCIDE CRIMINAL TOOK OATH TO AVENGE THE DEATH OF HOLOCAUST NOT FOR THE COUNTRIES FAULT BUT TO HIDE THE ZIONIST’S CAUSE OF THE HOLOCAUST (  PLEASE READ MY LAST BLOG THE REASON IS GIVEN IN ELABORATE). BUT NONE TOOK NOTE OF IT. WHAT HAPPENED IS THESE COUNTRIES ARE REELING WITH PAIN AND FEAR OF THIS ISRAELI ZIONIST VICIOUS SNAKE BITE.

LET ME WARN AGAIN THE COUNTRIES WHICH FOR AWAY THIS TIME WOULD BE STRUCK AT ANY FUTURE TIME. GET THESE ZIONISTS OUT OF THE COUNTRY SOON AS ADOLF HITLER DID. BUT DONE TOUCH THE SANER JEWS. DON’T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE AS HITLER DID.

A FEW WORDS OF THE INDIAN,  THESE PEOPLE ARE  BASICALLY EXCEPT A FEW, ALL ARE TRAITORS SAME AS THE ZIONIST OF ISRAEL. THEY ARE VERY SWEET TO TAKE WITH BUT WOULD DIFFIDENTLY STRIKE WITH IT FANGS WIDE OPEN WITH VICIOUS POISON. IT DID WITH US ONLY VERY RECENTLY A WOMEN OF INDIAN FOREIGN EMBASSY IN USA CAUGHT BY US POLICE COMMITTING CRIME. ITS REACTION WENT BACK TO INDIA AND ACTION THERE WAS TAKEN IN VIOLATION OF ALL DIPLOMATIC TERMS AND CONDITIONS AGAINST US.

BEFORE, DOING FOR  COVERT OPERATION UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF A ZIONIST PM OF UK WAS NOT VERY SURPRISING TO ME AT LEAST. AN ADVICE BE ON THE GUARD OF THE INDIAN BLOOD GENERATION. I WOULD ASK THE GERMAN AUTHORITIES TO RETHINK ABOUT ACTION AGAINST  ADOLF HITLERS WRONG DOINGS ON THE CONTRARY CLEAN UP THE BATTLE FIELD AND BE PREPARED TO FACE THE WITH THE REAL KILLERS OF THE HOLOCAUST.

SEE WHAT HAPPENED TO US AND UK IN COLLUSION WITH THE ENEMY COUNTRY. SAME OR DIFFERENT FORM MIGHT HAPPEN BUT WOULD HAPPEN FOR SURE.

Turkey’s Coup Is A Nail In The Coffin Of Democracy, Says Top Turkish Novelist

Elif Shafak is a Turkish novelist and essayist whose celebrated works include The Bastard of Istanbul and The Architect’s Apprentice. The WorldPost spoke with her in the wake of the coup attempt in Turkey.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/turkey-coup-elif-shafak_us_578d06ece4b0fa896c3f68c5?section=us_theworldpost


In the end, as the public poured in the streets to resist the military, there appeared little public support for the coup despite the deep polarization in Turkish society that has resulted from Erdoğan’s steady march toward strongman powers. Why was that?

The coup attempt was a terrible tragedy that caused hundreds of people to die and made everything worse. In one night, Turkey went 20 years back. This will leave deep scars in the society that won’t heal for decades to come. 

The last thing Turkey needs is a military dictatorship. Turkey’s intellectuals opposed the coup. In order to understand our antipathy against coups, one must bear in mind Turkey’s political history. This is a country that has gone through three military takeovers, each worse than the one before. The 1960, 1971 and 1980 coups all shattered democracy and generated massive human rights violations. Today, even people who do not like the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, will defend civilian rule against any possible coup because we do not want yet another military dictatorship. 

On the one hand, it was admirable that many people went out on the streets to stop the tanks. On the other hand, there is the danger of “mass psychology,” which could easily go awry. Social media today is throbbing with jingoism, anger, hate speech. Even journalists, writers, poets, intellectuals are under attack by people looking for “traitors.” From now on there will be a further increase in nationalism, religiosity, intolerance, paranoia, and, of course, masculinity. 

‘All these power struggles have ruined what little chance for democracy this sad, lonely country ever had.’

It is understandable that the military would be purged after a coup attempt, but why the judiciary? What is the connection?

The AKP government sees the coup attempt as a major operation against them. They think there is a sinister organization with connections inside different state apparatuses. That is why thousands and thousands of people in the judiciary and police forces have been sacked, removed, detained. The problem is, while some of these people might sympathize with the putschists, many others are probably completely innocent and had no clue what was happening. And that is very scary. Everyone and everything is lumped together. At times of enormous political turbulence such as this, nuances are easily lost. “Are you one of us or are you one of them?” This is the only question hovering in the air. Who is “us” and who is “them” you cannot even begin to question. We are heading into a Kafkaesque world. 

For those of us outside Turkey, blaming the coup on Fethullah Gülen, an elderly cleric living in exile in Pennsylvania, seems odd. Is there any truth to this charge in your view?

Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

“In one night, Turkey went 20 years back,” Elif Shafak said of the coup attempt. 

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I don’t know whether he is personally involved in the coup, but it is clear that many of the putschists were army officers connected with the Gulen community. Some veteran journalists, such as Ahmet Sik, have made extensive research on these connections. We need more objective research in order to understand fully. Whoever was behind the coup, I strongly condemn. The Parliament was bombed with elected representatives inside, civilians were shot, low-ranking soldiers were used as pawns, hundreds were killed... how could any of these be accepted? Whoever did this, they drove a nail into the coffin of Turkish democracy.  

What is the Gulen brand of Islam and what is the basis of the split with AKP and Erdoğan?

The two were close companions in the past, and then they have had several fundamental splits with regards to both domestic and foreign policy issues. The Gulenists talked about interfaith dialogue, encouraged education. But in the meantime, some of them tried to infiltrate the state institutions, purging opponents who dared to criticize them, even arresting critical journalists. There was a sharp contradiction between what they said they believed in and what was happening behind the scenes. And no transparency. All of these were totally unacceptable. It is wrong for a faith-based community to be so deeply involved in the state apparatuses. I am very critical of the AKP’s authoritarian tendencies, however, there’s a major difference: the AKP is elected by the people. Whereas the Gulenists are not elected or anything, and yet they still want to govern behind the doors. This is totally wrong. For me the gist of the story is that power corrupts and the struggle for power equally corrupts. I personally do not want any group in Turkey to be too powerful because whoever has a bit of power craves more and then more and is never enough. All these power struggles have ruined what little chance for democracy this sad, lonely country ever had.

‘This used to be a country with aspirations to join the EU. Right now, it clearly feels like yet another chaotic place in the Middle East.’

Looking at the event in historical terms, was this failed coup attempt the last gasp of Ataturk’s secular vision of Turkey? Democracy has been saved, but it will be an illiberal democracy? 

There was already a rise in illiberal democracy in Turkey. There was already a rise in authoritarianism. The country was already sliding backwards and now this! The ballot box in itself is not enough to render a system a “democracy.” A true democracy needs separation of powers, rule of law, freedom of speech, women’s rights, LGBT rights, free and diverse media and independent academia. Without all these institutions and values you can only have “majoritarianism.” And majoritarianism is not the same thing as democracy. 

What is your fear and hope for Turkey now? 

There is more to fear at the moment than to be hopeful for. Turkey is a beautiful country, sui generis in many ways, but the social and political changes are deep, scary. This used to be a country with aspirations to join the EU. Right now, it clearly feels like yet another chaotic place in the Middle East. Turkey’s liberals and democrats are the loneliest minority in this land. If you do not want to belong in any group, tribe, party or community, you will be misunderstood by everyone. How can one become and remain an individual in a society that has no room and no respect whatsoever for individuality?

ALSO ON WORLDPOST:

COMMENT:

The highly admired and coveted novelist the author very articulately wrote the article. Wherein she hardly left any scope for general people to understand the entire thing as to why it happened. As its detail real explanation would hardly be finished in thousands of pages and surely there is no scope for that to write and even for the readers to read so she has cut the real story short to suit the desire of the masters money paid for.

People say it is a coup or as they feel like they have the right to pass their opinion. Question arises why the international superpowers are worried about it? Is it because of Democracy? Those who know the facts would reject such a notion straight away.

It is because of fear that Turkey a very strong ally of West might not jump in to the lap of Russian block after EU played with it by hanging a carrot in front of  it and making it do what even  worst enemy would not do.

Then comes the Zionist Nazi’s Bastard  Netanyahu engaging the Kurd against Turkey’s government to pull it down and be the power of the Mid East to be the muscle man and rule over the Muslims countries. Israel is afraid of two forces in Mid East, These two are Turkey and Egypt but strong allies of US.

Israel got Egypt compromised but their crude Mossad tactic like a coward failed to do so with Turkey. Moreover, they had to beg apology for their heinous criminal activities grossly violating International law against Turkey. Israel as is known is well known as lone genocide committal terrorist country in the world  and its PM Netanyahu is an International well reputed assassin and is a wanted genocide criminal. Israel’s ministers were, and is even now US listed terrorist leaders.

If we draw the attention of the respected reader’s to past episodes of this PM of Israel you all would agree that he is not a Jew but a Zionist leader wants to avenge the killing of Jews by Adolf Hitler and in the list is US, UK French and Germany mainly. To absolve the name  of Zionists name for being the cause of the Holocaust.

 It is worth mentioning that Holocaust was because of the disgusting activities of the Zionists after the WWII that led to unimaginable torture of the Germans. Because a committee of Zionists were formed by the victors of the WWII and the Zionist committee suggested inhuman torturous punishment for the German. This infuriated Adolf Hitler and he became obsessed to punish the Jews instead of only Zionist. It was his mistake.

Zionists are criminal extremist element a sect claims to be Jews but in reality are not. Jews have no connection with them but are shitty scared of them of  being killed by their intelligent organization MOSSAD and AIPAC.

This Netanyahu wanted to become a great leader by taking the revenge to show the world Zionist that Zionist were not responsible for the Holocaust. I warned the countries by name and see it did happen.

By this time in collusion with Russia struck both US and UK politically by Netanyahu's followers Zionist. These Republican Party Zionist are all involved even the speaker of the congress and the senate leader. Israel and Russia had the EU in the list so also France. Can it be still denied?

 Further elucidation is not necessary. Netanyahu's day dream did not end, He collaborated with a particular Muslim country to bomb Iran as per his previous demand against US government’s decision yet calling itself as the best friend and trusted ally of US. This bloody Netanyahu kept covert connection with Russia and is engaged in double crossing.

To keep Turkey safe if the government took steps that is their internal mater. As far as EU is concerned it is their fault. To think Turkey being a Muslim country should be held at abeyance till Turkey decides to give up. 

But it misfired and now EU should be worried and that is what they are doing. These EU countries got away for this time from the claws of the Zionists they would not till they get  rid of the best friend and most trusted ally. This Zionist state of the terrorist   has become more problematic then any problem in the entire world.  

Trump absolves Putin and shoots himself in the foot

CNN 4 hours ago

https://www.yahoo.com/news/m/c2677407-ef52-33e5-95d2-2a74913c5611/ss_trump-absolves-putin-and.html

Trump continues to give legitimacy to a leader with a well-documented history of abusive behavior without any clear payback at this point -- as Richard Nixon sought with détente in the 1970s or Ronald Reagan with Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987. 

Nixon and Reagan each softened their tone toward the Soviets in exchange for major arms control agreements -- although neither ever ignored the underside of communism. Indeed, they were both careful to acknowledge publicly the unacceptable parts of Soviet behavior so they could enter into the negotiations with legitimacy among US allies and so that the Soviets understood the United States would not simply cave to every demand. 

Trump has systematically undercut ...

COMMENT

IN SIMPLE WORD THE REACTION OF THE PRESIDENT REGARDING RUSSIAN MEDDLING IN 2016 US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, HAS CRYSTAL CLEARLY PROVED HIMSELF AS A FILTHY TRAITOR.

 WHO SHOULD FACE THE FIRING SQUAD INSTEAD OF IMPEACHMENT?ALL THOSE WHO COLLUDED WITH THE ENEMY COUNTRY TO DESTROY THE MOTHERLAND SHOULD BE TRIED AND HANGED BY THE NECK WITHOUT ANY MERCY.

 THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY  OF NATIONS VERY MUCH UNDERSTANDS THE AMERICAN NATION JUST HATES WITH DISGUST TO SEE THE FACE OF THIS TRAITORS  COMMITTING TREACHERY WITH THE MOTHERLAND.