‘Pro-Israel MPs tried to shut down Israel lobby debate’ – MEND

British Muslim group MEND (Muslim Engagement and Development) has dissected the attempts of pro-Israel MPs to shut down a debate on Israel’s influence in UK politics.

The sick farce is the latest instalment in the Starmer regime’s cover-up of Israel’s interference. The government commissioned a report into foreign political interference without mentioning Israel at all. The report, unsurprisingly, made zero references to Israel, whose lobby funds a majority of government ministers.

Israel lobby shut down debate

The debate took place because it was demanded by well over 100,000 people. Yet the attempts to shut it down were as shameless as the rest of the cover-up. An X thread by MEND lays out the scandal, starting with the gross disparity in speaking time allocated to those who want scrutiny of the lobby:

2/14 Let’s start with the shambolic treatment of the MPs who backed scrutiny – they were given a measly 15 minutes of speaking time. In stark contrast, those opposing the public’s call were given significantly more:
https://t.co/4Qqu3yjTZV

— MEND Community (@mendcommunity) June 24, 2026

Then, the all-too predictable tactic by MPs in Israel’s pocket: dismiss the idea of scrutiny as ‘antisemitic’ and ‘blood libel’:

4/14 Sammy Wilson (DUP) compared the petition to medieval Black Death accusations against Jewish communities. He didn’t mention: he accepted a week-long trip to Israel worth £3,810, fully funded by the Israeli Embassy. He failed to declare this conflict of interest during the…

— MEND Community (@mendcommunity) June 24, 2026

And, time after time, the Israel lobby’s funds and freebies to its parliamentary shills was listed in detail:

6/14 Richard Tice (Reform) called the motion “antisemitic in its very motivation.” What he didn’t mention: he accepted a free trip to Israel funded by the newly-formed Reform Friends of Israel – a group headed by a media adviser to Israel’s president. Also undeclared.…

— MEND Community (@mendcommunity) June 24, 2026

Again and again:

8/14 Frith also tried to deny Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, despite the fact that just this week, a UN commission of inquiry said “Israeli authorities and security forces have deliberately targeted Palestinian children resulting in genocide.”
https://t.co/12tpwSzulD

— MEND Community (@mendcommunity) June 24, 2026

And again. And no wonder, given the huge extent of Israel-linked funding in the Commons:

10/14 180 out of 650 MPs – one in four – have taken funding from pro-Israel lobby groups during their tenures. Yet when 118,000 Brits ask Parliament to look into this, they were compared to Nazis. The question isn’t whether lobbying happens. The question is: why can’t we talk…

— MEND Community (@mendcommunity) June 24, 2026

The extent of that influence may explain why its exposure by investigative journalism has been wilfully ignored for almost a decade:

12/14 As Independent MP Iqbal Mohamed said, “we rightly sanction Russia for undermining democratic institutions… yet when substantial evidence of foreign influence concerns Israel, our principles of transparency and accountability appear to vanish.”

— MEND Community (@mendcommunity) June 24, 2026

Lobbying is ‘normal’ in UK politics. But the cover-up of the UK’s most organised and influential lobby is not:

14/14 This is not about Jewish people – who MUST be protected like others from hate. This is about standing up for our democracy and opposing crimes against humanity. MEND commends the public’s demand for transparency, and we too will push for greater transparency around Israeli…

— MEND Community (@mendcommunity) June 24, 2026

UK politics is occupied. This occupation has driven a war on UK rights and the UK’s direct and political collaboration – not just in genocide but in foreign wars and the destruction of sovereignty and privacy.

This country will not be a democracy until the influence of Israel and other lobby groups is laid bare and its practitioners are held to account.

Featured image via the Canary