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spinwatch: The Israel Lobby And The European Union [07.10.2016]

New report on Israel lobby in Brussels’ reveals links to US Islamophobia industry and illegal settlements

by David Cronin, Sarah Marusek, David Miller

Researched and written by Public Interest Investigations/Spinwatch and published by EuroPal Forum, the report reveals the extent to which noted American funders and proponents of the Islamophobia industry in the United States and Israel’s illegal settlement project in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem are also financing the expanding Israel lobby in Brussels.

The report, which took more than two years to complete, uncovers the matrix of relationships within the Israel lobby – a social movement that overlaps considerably with the transatlantic Islamophobia industry. For example, key backers of the Israel lobby in Brussels include:

• Irving Moskowitz, a California-based bingo multimillionaire who openly finances the Judaisation of east Jerusalem and West Bank settlements
• Sheldon Adelson, an American casino billionaire who uses his Israeli media empire to support long-time friend Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
• Nina Rosenburg, heiress to the Sears Roebuck fortune who was dubbed by journalist Max Blumenthal as ‘the sugar mama of anti-Muslim hate’
• Daniel Pipes, labeled by the Center for American Progress as part of a network of ‘misinformation experts’ that ‘peddle hate and fear of Muslims and Islam’
• Paul E. Singer, right-wing American billionaire who is the third largest donor to the 2016 Republican presidential campaign

'The Israel Lobby and the European Union' report challenges the secrecy surrounding this transatlantic network. It identifies where pro-Israel groups receive their funding and how some of their donors have facilitated Israel’s illegal colonisation of the West Bank, including east Jerusalem; examines how the lobby has persuaded European law-makers to refrain from sanctioning Israel over its human rights abuses; and analyses how Israel’s supporters have been trying to undermine grassroots campaigning for justice in Palestine.

This seminal report raises questions about not only the influence of right-wing American activists on EU policy, but also how EU institutions have accommodated the smear campaign that the Israel lobby is conducting against the Palestine solidarity movement.

 (ts)