Dispatches investigates one of the most powerful and influential political lobbies in Britain, which is working in support of the interests of the State of Israel. Despite wielding great influence among the highest realms of British politics and media, little is known about the individuals and groups which collectively are known as the pro-Israel lobby. Political commentator Peter Oborne sets out to establish who they are, how they are funded, how they work and what influence they have, from the key groups to the wealthy individuals who help bankroll the lobbying. He investigates how accountable, transparent and open to scrutiny the lobby is, particularly in regard to its funding and financial support of MPs. The pro-Israel lobby aims to shape the debate about Britain's relationship with Israel and future foreign policies relating to it. Oborne examines how the lobby operates from within parliament and the tactics it employs behind the scenes when engaging with print and broadcast media. Peter Alan Oborne (born 11 July 1957) is an English journalist and political commentator. He was educated at Sherborne and Cambridge. A Daily Mail columnist and author of The Rise of Political Lying, he is particularly known for acerbic commentary on the hypocrisy and apparent mendacityof contemporary politicians.[1][2][3] Oborne read history at Christ's College, Cambridge, taking a BA[4] degree in 1978. He is the author of a highly-critical biography of Tony Blair's former spin doctor Alastair Campbelland, in a different vein and contrast, a generous biography of the cricketer Basil D'Oliveira (for which he won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year in 2004) whose selection for England to tour South Africa in 1968 caused that country's apartheid regime to cancel the tour. He is also a vocal critic of the Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe and author of a pamphlet, published by the Centre for Policy Studies about the situation in the country entitled A moral duty to act there.[5][6] In April 2005 he presented the Channel 4 programme in the Election Unspun[7] series, Why Politicians Can't Tell The Truth,[8] examining how the major political parties in the UK allegedly pursue an agenda designed to appeal only to a narrow band of floating voters expected to be decisive in the UK General Elections of 2005. In May 2007 he presented a Dispatches programme on Channel 4 called Gordon Brown: Fit for Office?[9] On Monday 20 June 2005 he wrote an article for London's Evening Standard with the title "Why the US is now our great enemy".[10] In this article he argues how, although he and his generation were brought up to love the US, today they are the greatest threat to world civilisation.Global warming is the hinge point he describes around which this ally has turned into 'the biggest threat'. In April 2006, it was announced that Oborne was taking up a new position at the Daily Mail as a political columnist, while retaining his connection with The Spectator as a contributing editor. Fraser Nelson of The Scotsman replaced Oborne as the Spectator's political editor. On Monday 7 July 2008, Oborne presented a Dispatches programme on Channel 4 called It Shouldn't Happen to a Muslim.[11] In this film and the accompanying leaflet Muslims Under Siege[12] co-written with television journalist James Jones, it was argued that the demonisation of Muslims has become widespread in British media and politics. The pamphlet was serialised in the The Independent[13] and prompted heated debate in the following weeks. In February 2009, Oborne renewed his attack on MPs for alleged abuses of the 'additional costs allowance' (ACA).[2][14][15][16] Oborne's extensive contacts on the right of British politics mean he is now generally regarded as one of the foremost conservativecommentators in the country. He is regularly lampooned in the satirical magazine Private Eye as 'Peter O'Bore'.[17] As of 2009 he also contributed to Charlie Brooker's Newswipe on BBC Four. Most of a segment, discussing cross-party collusion and corruption, had to be removed due to its potentially libellous nature. Peter Oborne was on the Orwell Prize's Journalism shortlist for 2009.[18] Oborne has argued that much of late 20th/early 21st century disenchantment with politics is due to a postmodern design of political agendas and programmes with subsequent implementation that denies the existence of an 'independent reality'. That is, that there is something that is called truth.[19] Truth gives way to (mere) credibility.[20] Commensurate with the evaporation of truth is the condensation of narrative as a setting for events. This worldview is then put to use in legitimating claims of acting in 'good-faith' or within/according to 'The rules' (said 'rules,' of necessity, formulated, accidentally or otherwise, to admit more than one interpretation) when such actions are confronted by moralchallenge.[21] He cites New Labour as now the 'front-wave' with the architects of this 'new reality' such as Peter Mandelson.[22][3] (Oborne's 4 March 2009 Keith Joseph Memorial Lecture at the Center for Policy Studies was built upon this theme[23]). He has underlined, strongly, the 'capturing' of the 'independent' institutions of mainstream media (MSM) in the implementation.[24] I await tonight’s Dispatches programme on C4. with that familiar dread and sinking feeling. I now see things in an entirely different light. I now realise that the power of this unique cabal is so vast and unprecedented in its truly demonic power – a power given to no other lobby – that both the Labour government and Tory opposition slavishly and unquestioningly support Israel’s military actions and that the Guardian and the BBC have found themselves totally unable to publish or transmit anything other than wholehearted support for Israel. I now realise that, every day, a cowed and intimidated Guardian publishes story after story in support of Israel, focusing relentlessly upon the beleaguerment of its citizens under the onslaught from Hamas while never carrying anything in favour of the Palestinians, presenting the Middle East entirely through a pro-Israel prism and never even reporting the Palestinian point of view except for a few contemptuous references suggesting that they are always lying. I now realise that every day a cowed and intimidated BBC transmits only the most admiring reports of Israeli soldiers being put in harm’s way by their commanders in order to avoid killing Palestinian civilians wherever possible, and that its Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen is guilty of the most flagrant admiration for the Israel Defence Force and of presenting a version of Israel’s history which is drawn entirely from a Jewish perspective. I now realise that Britain has been forced to endorse the most drastic and gung-ho action possible against Iran to stop it from going nuclear – part of the approach to the region which, in the memorable words of no less an authority than the former British ambassador to Iran, has been promoted by British Jews who are acting against the national interest of Britain and in the interests of another country. I now realise that both Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Tory foreign affairs spokesman William Hague have done nothing other than mouth off in support for Israel’s actions in Gaza or in the settlements, with Miliband in particular denouncing the Goldstone report and voting against it at the UN, and are loud in their grotesquely lop-sided and obsessional condemnation of the Palestinians and the Arab world for being the cause of the Middle East conflict. I now realise that Miliband, Hague, the editor of the Guardian and the Director-General of the BBC are all tragic, broken figures who have been so badly traumatised by the truly diabolical power of this lobby that they are helplessly unable to do anything other than pump out pro-Israel propaganda, and weakly protest at the truly demented and hysterical frenzy of smears, libels, insults, ad-hominem attacks, fabrications, distortions and, well, sheer undiluted bigotry and hatred that are daily hurled at these defenceless individuals by these rich and powerful Jews. I now realise just how successful the British Israel lobby has been in -- as the programme so brilliantly conveyed -- treacherously subverting British politics and intimidating the media to realise its diabolical aim of harnessing politicians and journalists to Israel’s cause, an aim in which it has which it had such conspicuous success. And just how has this lobby managed to gain so much power over Britain’s ruling and media class, far more so than the poor old Arabs have ever managed? Ah well, there’s one vital thing Peter Oborne forgot to tell us. You see, the Jews have all the oil. A propos, in view of Oborne’s suggestion that pressure from pro-Israel donors upon the Tory party silenced criticism of Israel’s Operation Cast Lead in Gaza by the Tories’ foreign affairs spokesman William Hague, it is instructive to see what Hague actually said about that operation. He first called for restraint from Israel: ‘We deeply regret the loss of civilian life in Gaza today. We call on the Israeli government to show restraint. At the same time we call on Hamas to stop the rocket attacks which are an unacceptable threat to Israel’s security, so that the ceasefire, which Hamas failed to renew, can be urgently restored’. A few days later, he amplified this when he called upon Israel to stop its action against Hamas: ‘I am gravely concerned about the continuing violence in Gaza and the numbers of civilians killed and injured. The crisis is exacting a terrible human toll on both sides and it is imperative that further loss of life is avoided. I join the Security Council’s call for an immediate ceasefire and call on Arab countries to use their influence to urge Hamas to end rocket attacks on Israel. I also call on Israel to work with the international community so that the humanitarian relief so desperately needed in Gaza can be provided. The British Government must work with the United States and other members of the Middle East Quartet to secure an early return to negotiations in 2009. The only long-term solution is a negotiated two-state agreement that achieves a viable and secure Palestinian state living alongside a secure Israel with her right to live in peace and security recognised by all her neighbours. The world looks to the new President of the United States to place these negotiations at the top of his foreign policy agenda and to pursue them with vigour and determination from the very outset.’ He also condemned the Israeli shelling of the UN headquarters and joined the outcry over the ‘humanitarian crisis’ in Gaza: William Hague, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, said: ‘The shelling of the UN Headquarters in Gaza is unacceptable. This undercuts efforts to bring relief to the people of Gaza and is against Israel's own interests. The UNWRA provides food and aid to over a million Palestinian refugees in Gaza. The suspension of its operations will bring more misery to civilians. We desperately need a ceasefire by both sides, not further escalation. Both sides must meet their obligations to protect aid workers at all times.’ He also, as reported here, called for alleged Israeli ‘war crimes’ against the Palestinians to be investigated. Given that Hague allied himself to some degree with the disproportionate canards of anti-Israel hysteria over Cast Lead and went along with at least some of the blood libels used to defame Israel– not mention the more extreme denunciations emanating from the Labour Foreign Secretary David Miliband -- can there ever have been in fact a weaker and more ineffective pressure group than Britain’s Israel lobby?Dispatches
PROGRAMME NAVIGATION
Inside Britain's Israel Lobby
Peter Oborne
Peter Oborne
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Peter Alan Oborne 
Born 11 July 1957 Nationality British Residence United Kingdom Alma mater Cambridge University (Christ's College) Profession Journalist Supports West Ham football team Contents
[hide][edit]Career
[edit]Postmodernism
[edit]Publications by him
[edit]Criticism of him
[edit]See also
[edit]References
[edit]External links
Preceded by
Tom BowerWilliam Hill Sports Book of the Year winner
2004Succeeded by
Gary Imlach
Protocols of the Elders of Oborne
It’s no good saying wait and see before getting upset because there’s plenty there already...
The inevitable baying mob on the C4 website sets the scene. The gist is that the Jewish lobby is a sinister secretive conspiracy influencing political decisions and forcing our trembling government to support the brutal Zionist entity against the interests of the UK. Furthermore, Jews will try silence such accusations with charges of anti-Semitism, so remember to ignore whatever Jews say in their malevolent attempts to shut down this perfectly reasonable and well-intentioned debate.
Peter Oborne has written some explanatory notes, (takes forever to load) which make his position quite clear. He airs his views on Jonathan Dimbleby, Jeremy Bowen and the Balen report, and concludes that the BBC is muzzled by this crippling Zionist stranglehold.
(Take the influential and intimidating words you are reading right now as proof of this. Sense the powerful ominous Jewish threat impliedly lurking behind them and wonder at the unimaginably emasculating effect they are having on the BBC)
So the lobby is uncovered, but wait. There is another disturbing Jewish tactic. People are asking “So what?” “So what if there’s a lobby group? Aren’t there countless other lobby groups?” For example the Muslim, Palestinian, Gay and Lesbian, Hunting/anti hunting lobbies?
Anyone who saw the report Our World by Emily Buchanan on BBC News 24 the other day extolling the benefits of Sharia in the UK, not just for family courts, but for Sharia friendly finance, might have pondered over the government’s keenness to establish London as the World hub of Sharia finance. The film was at pains to point out that the little things we ignorant Islamophobes might fear about this development are mere overreactions to the threatening behaviour of a few unrepresentative radicals and pure racist scaremongering. Surely, if there was anything to worry about, Peter Oborne would be onto it? Fatwa permitting.
A sole dissenting voice came from an Iranian lady whose apostacy had drawn death threats. She explained that, amongst many other unenlightened principles, under Sharia a woman’s word is worth half a man’s .
Now it seems, under the UK’s newly unenlightened principles, a Jew’s word is worth nothing at all.
It’s the lobby, the evil sinister lobby; it’s in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and you’d better believe it.
Everything is now illuminated
After watching Peter Oborne’s ‘Dispatches’ programme on the power of the Israel lobby in Britain, the scales have fallen from my eyes.
In respect of tonight’s TV programme on the allegedly malign influence of the Israel lobby in Britain -- previewed here in today’s Guardian by presenter Peter Oborne -- readers may find enlightening these comments by Robin Shepherd, who takes issue with Oborne’s claim that he is not peddling ‘Jewish conspiracy theory’, and Tom Gross, who observes that there is no effective British pro-Israel lobby.
Monday 16 November 2009
Inside Britain's Israel Lobby Peter Oborne and his background.
Categories: 1957 births | Living people | British journalists | Old Shirburnians | Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge
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