A new British documentary on the pro-Israel lobby in England should re-title itself to “This Is How Lobby’s Work.” The documentary, aired on the Dispatches program, explores the use of money and luncheons to gain influence in British politics. Well, I hate to break it the show’s producers, but that’s what lobbies do. The Israel lobby is no less and no more guilty of using campaign contributions to attempt and influence policy makers.
After watching over 45 minutes of accusations and hearsay on the influence of the lobby, the documentary calmly ends with narrator Peter Osborne saying:
“In making this program we haven’t found anything even faintly resembling a conspiracy but we have found a worrying lack of transparency. The influence of the pro-Israel lobby continues to be felt.”
Speaking as a journalist, it’s pretty irresponsible to accuse an organization or an institution of any wrongdoing and only reconcile those concerns in the closing paragraph.
Among the Israelis interviewed, Prof. Avi Shlaim provides his input. For those of you who don’t know, Shlaim is a leading critic of Israel as a New Historian and he lives in England.
Aside from being a cheap shot on Israel, the documentary also includes thinly veiled antisemitism with its frequent allusions to financing and that the lobby “gave” certain politicians money, without specifying the funds are campaign contributions and don’t go towards the politicians’ personal bank account. The documentary characterizes the Israel lobby as puppeteers, an old visual used to condemn the Jews for generations. The documentary opens and closes with the waving of a British flag that has a Jewish star superimposed on top. Not too subtle.
Criticizing the documentary, David Cesarani writes:
“Finally, Oborne and Jones dispute whether British and Israeli foreign policy interests should go in step. They suggest that the amity is false and based on the money power of the hidden lobby or the result of kowtowing to America, which is pretty much the same thing in their world. Oborne never pauses to explore whether Israeli friendship might be a strategic asset at a time when the UK and Israel face the same threats in the Middle East.
Throughout this masquerade Oborne presents just one side of a complicated picture. This is nowhere more so than in the depiction of the pro-Israel lobby as a controlling force in British Jewish life. In fact, the Jews in this country are bitterly divided over Israel. Nor do they agree about Britain’s foreign policy. Every point of view is vented, none is suppressed.”
The pro-Israel lobby deserves criticism for many things. Some of those criticisms are indicative of all lobbies (ie. the influence of money) while others only apply to the Israel lobby (ie. demanding the withdrawal of an expected White House appointment from earlier this year). Instead of providing an honest criticism of the Israeli lobby, this documentary characterizes regular lobbying activities as solely applicable to the Israel lobby and fails to provide any balance whatsoever.