Antisemitism in UK Politics reveals the face of Israel's lobbying powerhouse BICOM

from the Labour Party inquiry into ‘antisemitism and other forms of racism’, conducted by former director of human rights group Liberty, lawyer Shami Chakrabarti, was published on Thursday (30 June) at an event marked by controversy. Members of the BICOM, Britain Israel Communication and Research Center (a Pro Israeli Lobbying firm in the UK) Senior Management Team attended the launch of the report where a Jewish Labour MP, Ruth Smeeth, was subject to abuse and fled the room in tears, and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn used language that equated Israel with ISIS. Both caused a significant political and media backlash.

After attending the launch of the report, BICOM released a statement very quickly in reaction to the findings of the report. This statement was sent to a large number of journalists, and shared on BICOM’s social media channels - it was seen on Facebook by over 12,000 people so far. Director of We Believe in Israel, Luke Akehurst also released a statement, condemning Jeremy Corbyn’s comparison of Israel and ISIS.

James Sorene, BICOM's CEO was interviewed live on CNN by Richard Quest in the evening. That interview. Both their statements were picked up by a number of national outlets, including the Daily Mail Online, The Times, the Daily Mirror and trendy website Buzzfeed. Significantly, James Sorene's quote was included in a story by the Press Association, which meant it was reproduced by a number of local newspapers. Professor Alan Johnson wrote an opinion piece that was published on Friday (1 July) on the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. "Instead of educating Labour members about the new anti-Semitism plaguing the party, the Chakrabarti Inquiry wrote it off as 'a series of unhappy incidents,' thus missing a major teachable moment." 

BICOM who is becoming increasingly prominent in the UK as an advocate and lobbying powerhouse for Israel is funded by wealthy British and American Jews like multimillionaire and former |goldman Sachs banker Edward Mizrahi, who became Chairman of BICOM in 2013 having been a Board member since 2011. Spanish born, he co-founded Eton Park Capital in 2004. He has since left Eton Park to found Ronit Capital. He is particularly active across various Jewish and Israeli charitable organisations and is chair of Governors at Naima JPS and co- chair of Governors at Immanuel College. Another prominent and influential member of BICOM, is James Sorene, a former Senior Civil Servant for the UK Government and Head of Communications and Official Spokesperson for Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. Prior to that, he held senior positions in communications at the Department of Health and the Home Office.

The Guardian has described it as an "influential Jewish lobby group".

The London-based Jewish Chronicle reported that Brian Kerner, former chair of Joint Israel Appeal argued that there was "the need for a body able to orchestrate British Jewry's political and public relations" after the year 2000 outbreak of the Second Intifada. The day after it began, fifty Jewish leaders met with the Israeli ambassador and "raised an initial £250,000 fund for pro-Israel lobbying and public relations." BICOM was founded as a consequence. The article also noted that "a debate goes on in the community's upper echelons over whether BICOM should remain a mainly-behind-the-scenes player focusing on media or a more upfront pro-Israel lobby similar to the American AIPAC..."

According to a 2002 article in The Guardian BICOM and the Board of Deputies of British Jews had "adopted aggressive media strategies to defend Israel and attack its critics in Britain." In 2002 leaders of the British Jewish community called in two high level American strategists "to conduct research into the extent of hostility to Israel in Britain with a view to the British Jewish community launching a big public relations drive." In particular, focus groups were "said to have found particular hostility among professional and academic groups."^[28] The American paper The Forward reported that in 2005 Steve J. Rosen, then American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy director, led an ambitious and "semisecret" effort to start similar pro-Israel lobbying organizations in the United Kingdom due to rising antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment. In early 2008, The Jewish Chronicle reported that a new, yet unnamed London-based organisation would examine whether Israel received fair media coverage, but that it would not compete with BICOM.

In the autumn of 2008 a senior Israeli government official shared his opinions on competition between BICOM, which he said wants to maintain its primary role in the UK, and the US-based Israel Project. He stated that BICOM charged that the Israel Project doesn't understand how to work with British journalists and said "We don't want to get into this. We work with both organisations." The Israel Project denied there was competition and BICOM declined to comment saying "We don't respond to speculation.