Longstanding Israel lobbyist will co-lead foreign interference group in parliament

There have already been signs that the government’s new ‘foreign interference’ probe will ignore meddling on behalf of Israel. And the election of a pro-Israel lobby figure as co-chair of a new parliamentary group makes that seem a near certainty.

A dark lord of the Israel lobby

John Woodcock, who is not Jewish, has long lobbied for the interests of the Israeli apartheid state. In just the last year of genocide, he has been to Israel twice, while also travelling to the US and Saudi Arabia. But despite his clear links to foreign interference in the UK, he has now become the co-chair:

of a new All-Party Parliamentary Group on Defending Democracy.

The remit of this group will align with the ‘Defending Democracy Taskforce‘, whose main aim is to:

protect the democratic integrity of the UK from threats of foreign interference

The taskforce and those around it are supposedly the:

main shield against attacks from abroad on the UK’s democratic institutions and processes

And Woodcock’s role in that is a cause for great concern.

He is a former chair of the ‘opaquely funded’ Labour Friends of Israel lobby group. And he also has links to both the fossil fuel and arms trade lobbies.

Inside the Labour Party, he rallied against Jeremy Corbyn until his 2018 suspension over sexual harassment allegations, which pushed him to leave and support Boris Johnson.

The proud supporter of war criminals got a peerage for his service to the rich and powerful, becoming ‘lord Walney‘. And in a highly controversial move, he became an ‘anti-extremist‘ advisor, despite having no relevant experience.

Unsurprisingly, Woodcock used his advisory role to call for harsh consequences against civilians who took direct action against companies complicit in Israel’s war crimes in Gaza and beyond. He eventually lost his job, but kept pushing hard for a crackdown on free speech, particularly on the settler-colonial occupation of Palestine.

Woodcock has faced accusations of racism and Islamophobia. And he positively oozes Israeli propaganda talking points and utter hatred for people showing solidarity with Palestine. Amid the genocide in Gaza, he has used his position in the Lords to argue for Israeli occupation officers to keep studying in the UK.

The other co-chair isn’t much better, either

Joining Woodcock at the head of the team will be former advisor to Theresa May and architect of her 2017 election failure Nick Timothy. Timothy just got £145,000 from the Daily Telegraph for a few months’ propaganda. One piece for the right-wing rag led to accusations of antisemitism.

Unsurprisingly for a supporter of Israel, however, Timothy has weaponised accusations of antisemitism against those he dislikes. But he thinks notoriously racist football hooligans from Israel should have permission to roam our streets.

Timothy also denies that the settler-colonial project of Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza. But at the same time, he is a major gaslighter, claiming the people calling out Israeli war crimes are themselves genocidal. And he was perfectly happy repeatedly calling China’s treatment of its Uyghur community genocide.

The Uyghur community has received horrible treatment, with some dying from bad conditions in prison. But there are no apparent reports of murder, except the roughly 200 deaths during the July 2009 riots.

In short, Woodcock and Timothy together make up exactly the kind of team you would not want to put in charge of looking into foreign interference in British politics. Because impartiality and balance are not words that either of them understand. Yet here we are.

Featured image via the Canary