Labour Friends of Israel

In December 2006, I emailed a group called "Labour friends of Israel" as follows:

Subject: B'Tselem annual report
Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2006 07:01:13 +0000
From: Joe McGonagle
To: mail@lfi.org.uk

Hello,

Israeli civil rights organisation "B'Tselem" published it's
annual report two days ago. Some of the low-lights are:

* 660 Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces, at least
322 of which were not involved in active hostilities at the time,
and 141 of which were minors. This is in comparison to a total of
23 Israelis killed by Palestinians including 17 civilians, one of
which was a minor.

* Israel demolished in the order of 300 Palestinian homes,
rendering about 1,800 Palestinians homeless. The Palestinians
didn't demolish any Israeli homes.

The report can be read in all of it's gory detail at:

http://www.btselem.org/english/Press_Releases/20061228.asp

Please can you advise:

1) What pressure LFI is bringing to bear on Israel to curtail
their inhumane activities against the Palestinians?

2) Does LFI regard B'Tselem as a reliable source of information?
If not, why is that?

3) What are LFI's views about the contents of B'Tselem's annual
report?

Regards,

Joe McGonagle
(UK voter, Stoke-on-Trent)

Guess what? No response.

Taking a look at the members list of LFI is reminiscent of the "cash for Honours" scandal. Elsewhere, I mentioned a reported scam whereby US grants to Israel were being filtered back to lobby groups and political parties in the USA. Could something similar be happening here? Let's hope the "cash for honours" investigation turns something up.

Joe McGonagle

Israeli and Lebanese silence

In September last year, I sent a letter to the Lebanese Embassy, and emailed the Israeli Embassy and the British Foreign Office, requesting each of their perspectives on the incident which triggered the Israeli attack on Lebanon. I received the following from the UK FCO:

Dear Mr McGonagle

Thank you for your email of 30 September about the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hizbollah on 12 July.

The Israeli authorities are clear that the two Israeli Defence Force (IDF) soldiers were abducted by Hizbollah from Israeli territory during an IDF patrol in Zar'it close to the Lebanese border. We are not aware of claims to the contrary by the Lebanese government. Once the soldiers were captured, some IDF personnel went into Lebanon in pursuit, some of whom were killed.

Steven [removed]
Head, Correspondence/Parliament Unit
Middle East Peace Process and Near East Teams
Arab/Israel and North Africa Group
Middle East and North Africa Directorate

W.2.80
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
King Charles Street
London SW1A 2AH

Email: [removed]@fco.gov.uk

I have had absolutely no response from the Lebanese or Israeli embassies. I find that difficult to understand - if either the Lebanese or the Israelis wanted to clarify the situation, this was their opportunity. I am inclined to put down the Israeli lack of response to embarrassment, but what of the Lebanese response? This really does call into question all of the rumours spreading about the trigger event, and I can quite understand why HMG take the view which they do in the absence of any official refutation from Lebanon.

Joe McGonagle