Hotbeds of anti-Semitism in British academia
Second only to the 2016 media attention surrounding the debate on anti-Semitism in the Labour Party, was the issue of anti-Semitism in British universities. One case that got early media attention in the past year, also connected to the Labour Party, concerned the Oxford University Labour Club (OULC). It led to an investigation by a Labour member of the House of Lords, Lady Royall.CIA: UK armed, encouraged Arabs against Israel in 1948
Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) has now announced its decision to drop its investigations into the anti-Semitism at OULC, with no consequences meted out to those involved. Baroness Royall responded by saying that she is “deeply disappointed by the outcome and fears that it will further harm relations between the Jewish community and our party by confirming a widely held view that we do not take anti-Semitism seriously.”
In October, the House of Lords held a meeting to discuss anti-Semitism. Twelve members took part in the debate. They asked the government what steps it proposed to take to combat anti-Semitism, with particular emphasis on higher education.
A private meeting was also held at the House of Lords in October; hosted by the peer who has over the years been spouting the most hate against Israel, Lady Tonge, together with The Palestinian Return Center. It marked the launch of a campaign to ask Britain to apologize for the Balfour Declaration. At this meeting a number of extreme anti-Semitic remarks were made, including comparing Israel to the Islamic State movement and blaming Jews for the Holocaust.
Only recently it became known that in 2009 Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn had undertaken a trip to Syria together with Lady Tonge -- then still a member of the Liberal Democrat Party -- to meet President Bashar Assad. This trip was funded by the same Palestinian Return Center that initiated the above-mentioned incitement meeting at the House of Lords.
New evidence has emerged to corroborate claims that Great Britain encouraged Arab resistance to the establishment of a Jewish state in 1948, and even helped arm Arab forces for what became the Israeli War of Independence.NGO Monitor: EU Funding to NGOs Active in Anti-Israel BDS Campaigns
A recently declassified CIA document dated January 27th, 1947 summarizes an interview agents held with a Lebanese newspaper publisher following a meeting with Grand Mufti Haj Ami El-Husseini, a Nazi sympathizer during World War II and one of the leading voices against the formation of a Jewish state in 1948.
According to the report, Afif Tibi, who is described as a former Nazi collaborator and owner of a Beirut newspaper, met with the Mufti in late 1946 to discuss the possible partition of the British Mandate for Palestine, established by the League of Nations as the future “national home” of the Jewish people.
During Tibi’s talk with the Mufti, the Mufti claimed that British authorities in the Mandate were “in continuous touch with” him, “and are actually encouraging him to denounce partition”.
“The Jews should not under any circumstances be allowed to assume real power in any section of the country, for the simple reason that they would immediately launch themselves on a program of armament, would attack neighboring land, and would face the Big Four Powers [US, UK, USSR, China] with the accomplished fact of a very much larger Palestine.”
According to the Mufti, the UK was enabling Arab forces to arm themselves against the possible establishment of a Jewish state.
Executive Summary
Twenty-nine out of 100 EU grants administered through EU regional funding programs designated for Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza funnel funds to organizations that actively promote BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) – totaling €16.7 million out of €67.1 million (roughly 25%).
Forty-two out of 180 EU grantees in total support BDS – through participation in activities and events, signing of petitions and initiatives, and/or membership in explicit BDS platforms.
A number of organizations were funded through more than one EU grant, sometimes as part of the same program (“Double Dipping”).
The EU expressly opposes BDS. When confronted by evidence of funding for NGOs with agendas or values that contradict EU policy, the EU’s recurring response is that it “funds projects submitted by NGOs, in line with [the] EU’s fundamental principles and values, but not NGOs themselves.”
A grant titled “Performing Arts: A Pathway Towards Self Expression and Democracy” amply demonstrates this flawed logic. In 2014, during their participation in the EU’s Cultural Programme, all twelve beneficiaries of this grant initiated a group statement calling for a cultural and academic boycott of Israel.
Nine BDS-supporting organizations were the recipients of the EU’s Partnership for Peace Program- a program designated for joint projects involving Israeli as well as Palestinian organizations, meant to “build trust and understanding between societies in the region.”