Revealed: The secretive group taking MPs on propaganda trips to Israel
Source said visit organised by ELNET for Labour staffers had ‘clear agenda’ to shape policies of next government
Hello again and happy polling day. Unlike many other news organisations, Dark Arts will not be endorsing any political party, meaning readers will need to look deep into their consciences and find an answer to that one on their own. But do remember to take ID to your local polling station when you go and vote this rabble out, though.
Our main story today, courtesy of openDemocracy investigations editor Martin Williams, is about a group that organises trips to Israel for MPs and their staffers – and refuses to reveal how it is funded. As voters head to the polls, Dark Arts thought it would be worth sharing the story to highlight the pretty clear consensus among the outgoing government and its likely successor on the major foreign policy issue of the moment – and the work that goes on behind the scenes to protect that consensus.
We’ve also got a final look at the money shaping this election before the contest concludes. Spoiler: most of it went to Labour. A shorter edition this week as Dark Arts is working away on a major investigation due out early next week – so stay tuned for that.
General comments and tips to me at ethan.shone@opendemocracy.net, but any tips relating to the story below can go straight to martin.williams@opendemocracy.net.
Inside MPs’ trips to Israel
When a delegation of Labour Party advisers flew to Israel last year, it was meant to be an opportunity to improve dialogue and understanding in the Middle East.
The trip was planned and paid for by a little-known organisation called the European Leadership Network (ELNET), which claims to be “independent” and “impartial”. But one adviser told openDemocracy that its real purpose quickly became apparent.
“It was marketed as a bringing together of minds from different sides,” he said. “But there was a clear and obvious agenda to make sure people had a pro-Israel stance going into government.”
The advisers were taken to see the Iron Dome defence system, briefed by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF), and introduced to a series of Israeli politicians and diplomats. According to one of the advisers, one of the Israeli politicians told the delegation: “What the Arabs need to understand is that we’re here now and they need to get over it.”
The adviser, who spoke to openDemocracy on the condition of anonymity, added: “We were all sitting there thinking ‘what the fuck?’.”
After returning to London, some advisers began to wonder who was funding ELNET. But ELNET’s finances are a mystery; it refuses to declare its major donors, and its UK branch – headed by former Labour MP Joan Ryan – has repeatedly ignored questions from openDemocracy.
ELNET, which was founded in 2007, has branches across Europe and Israel and describes itself as “the most influential pro-Israel advocacy organisation in Europe”. It even counts the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs as one of its “partners”. It has also promoted highly controversial views – including recently telling supporters that there is “no starvation in Gaza” and saying the IDF should not worry about killing innocent civilians who live near Hamas terrorists.
Despite this, ELNET has managed to secure access to the highest levels of British politics. Rishi Sunak and David Cameron have both attended its events; Sunak went to the group’s reception to mark the anniversary of the Abraham Accords less than two weeks after he became prime minister in 2022, while Cameron was interviewed as part of its online discussion about Islamist radicalisation. Labour grandee Peter Mandelson and the government’s adviser on political violence and disruption, John Woodcock, have each also joined at least one of ELNET’s online briefings about the ongoing atrocities in Gaza.
The organisation also takes delegations of MPs, peers and parliamentary staff on trips to Israel, some of which were registered with the UK’s Electoral Commission in accordance with the rules. It has boasted in meetings that these trips are so influential that they have “literally turned [politicians] around as pro-Israeli”. The group also promises to “fight” the “damaging statements by Western leaders” who criticise the IDF.
Although ELNET has remained silent about its funders, an investigation by openDemocracy can reveal that it has accepted money from American billionaires – including some who have previously supported Donald Trump and poured money into his election campaigns. They include Bernie Marcus, the co-founder of Home Depot, who has pledged to do “everything” he can to get Trump re-elected later this year.
Marcus was one of the largest donors in the 2020 US election, giving millions to Trump’s campaign. He has said his donations for this year’s elections will be “in line” with this, adding that he will likely continue to support Trump despite his criminal conviction. In November 2016, the billionaire also defended Steve Bannon, the former executive chairman of alt-right website Breitbart News, whose appointment as Trump’s chief strategist had sparked a backlash. Marcus claimed Bannon had been “demonised” in the media and was a “passionate Zionist and supporter of Israel”.
Between 2020 and 2022, Marcus’s philanthropic foundation gave some $300,000 to ELNET’s American fundraising arm, known as Friends of ELNET. On its website, ELNET explains: “Every dollar of your contribution goes directly to funding our European efforts to broaden and deepen relationships between Israel and Europe.”
Another family foundation, chaired by billionaire homebuilder Larry Mizel, has given at least $30,000 to Friends of ELNET between 2019 and 2022. Mizel previously donated to Trump’s 2016 election campaign and served as his finance chairman in Colorado.
Other donors to Friends of ELNET have included the Lisa And Michael Leffell Foundation, which gave $50,000 in 2017 to promote “foreign policy development”. Michael Leffell is a billionaire investor who has funded Republican politicians and donated $1m to the United Democracy Project, the independent expenditure arm of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
According to the latest financial filings, Friends of ELNET brought in more than $7m of revenue in 2022. This was up by almost a million dollars from the year before. Speaking to supporters in December, the group’s chief development officer, Jay Haberman, described 2023 as “a year of record-breaking achievement for ELNET, largely driven by the war” and called on wealthy supporters to donate or transfer stocks to meet its $9m target.
It is unclear exactly how much of this money is earmarked for the UK. A new London office was set up in 2021 and, so far, it has only been required to publish one year of its accounts on Companies House, which are made up to 30 November 2022. This document shows it had £88,585 in members’ funds, but few further details are provided.
openDemocracy was able to identify certain donations made to Friends of ELNET only due to the US’s stricter finance rules, which require charitable foundations to declare who they have donated money to. There is no obligation for ELNET to declare other sources of income.
UK laws are also lax on political donations. Although foreign donors are banned from giving cash to MPs or political parties, funding for overseas visits can come from any source, meaning ELNET’s trips are fully within the rules.
Since the Hamas terror attacks of 7 October, ELNET has positioned itself at the centre of the PR battle over Gaza. In a series of briefings over Zoom, it has promoted controversial claims that undermine international peacekeeping efforts and defend Israeli action.
The head of ELNET’s branch in Israel, Emmanuel Navon, described the UN as “a lost cause” that has been “hijacked” by autocratic regimes. He also said: “Trying to say that the civilian population [of Gaza] has absolutely nothing to do with Hamas is factually wrong.”
Another ELNET spokesperson raised the possibility of making “humanitarian aid limited unless you liberate hostages”. And, amid widespread concern about famine in Gaza, the president of Friends of ELNET, David Siegel, recently told an audience: “There is no starvation in Gaza.”
In 2021, the organisation appointed the former head of the Israeli Defense Intelligence, Amos Yadlin, as chair of its Forum of Strategic Dialogue. Yadlin has given numerous briefings to ELNET supporters, which have included claims that international law permitted the IDF “to target Hamas and not be too much worried about who is around them”. He added: “They of course will cry that they are dying of hunger, but don’t take it too seriously.”
During one briefing, supporters and Western politicians were invited to talk directly with an IDF spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner. Labour peer Peter Mandelson, who was on the call, raised a question about humanitarian aid and afterwards concluded: “The [Israeli] government might be better off if it listened more to the IDF… If you can pass on that one.”
Since 7 October, ELNET has continued its efforts to bring international politicians to Israel. A recent briefing by the organisation states that “close to 300 parliamentarians and leaders” visited Israel in the first seven months after Israel’s attacks on Gaza began. Attendees have included a cross-party delegation from the House of Lords, including Mandelson, former Conservative leader Michael Howard and the former chair of the Vote Leave campaign, Gisela Stuart.
Six Conservative MPs have also been on ELNET trips to Israel since October 7. Andrew Percy, Lisa Cameron and Antony Higginbotham declared these to the Electoral Commission as donations, while Shaun Bailey, Tom Hunt and Matthew Offord recorded them in Parliament’s register of interests because they did not reach the value threshold for the Electoral Commission. DUP MP Jim Shannon and two members of the Welsh Senedd also attended trips, with each fully declaring these.
Last year, before the current war, a delegation of Labour Party advisers went on an ELNET trip to Israel. The parliamentary register of staff interests reveals that attendees included an adviser for shadow health secretary Wes Streeting, shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson, and shadow trade minister Gareth Thomas. Sources who went on the trip told openDemocracy they were accompanied by Luke Akehurst, a professional pro-Israel advocate who sits on Labour’s National Executive Committee and is an election candidate for the party.
Labour’s leader, Keir Starmer, has previously taken a strong stance on the risks of British politics being influenced by funding from overseas. In 2022, he promised to “protect our democracy from the flood of foreign money drowning our politics”.
Yet ELNET UK is part of an international organisation that has been directly funded by American billionaires.
One Labour staffer who went on an ELNET trip, who did not want to be named, said: “I can’t imagine people would be happy knowing that ELNET had taken money from supporters of Trump.”
The staffer claims that, shortly after they returned from the trip, a senior figure at the Israeli Embassy asked them: “Did you enjoy the trip we sent you on?” It was not clear what the embassy figure meant by this, but the staffer told openDemocracy: “My assumption was that it had been paid for by the embassy.”
According to ELNET’s Navon, parliamentary delegations directly impact the level of support that Israel gets from Western countries. In May, he told supporters online: “A few months ago the European Parliament passed a resolution with a very large majority that conditioned any ceasefire on the release – the immediate and unconditional release – of all Israeli hostages and on the defeat of Hamas.
“Now this resolution would never have been passed without the many years of work done by ELNET. All those parliamentarians that have literally turned them around as pro-Israeli, as being pro-Israel, after visiting Israel.”
ELNET UK did not respond to openDemocracy’s request for comment.
Show me the money: Week 3
The trend continues. In the first three weeks of the election, Labour has raised almost £9m. This doesn’t include any donations made after the election was announced but before the Electoral Commission’s official election reporting period began. Knowing the canny operators at Labour HQ, Dark Arts would be very surprised if the party didn’t receive some big donations during that brief window.
The latest donations data release reveals trade union Unison injected a significant amount into Labour’s campaign in week three (13-19 June), boosting the total amount unions have given the party to just over £2m. For context, billionaire Lord Sainsbury has given Labour more than that on his own (£2.5m), while financiers like Martin Taylor, Stuart Roden and Danny Luhde-Thompson have given almost as much as the trade union movement combined (£1.5m). When so much of Labour’s cash comes from wealthy individuals, and in particular wealthy individuals with connections to finance, we are forced to consider whose interests the party is likely to represent in government.
At this point, you’ve almost got to respect those few Tory donors who are hanging in there*. Most of the party’s money in week three came in from friendly societies – groups set up with an official connection to the party that take in ‘small donations’ and then funnel those to the party proper. The National Conservative Draws Society is a kind of Tory lottery, whose funds go to the party rather than, like, sports centres or whatever it is that the National Lottery funds.
Here are the main donors for each major party from week three of the campaign:
Labour - £3,343,918
UNISON: £1,490,000
Stuart Roden: £500,000
Anthony Gormley: £500,000
Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW): £314,471.35
Conservatives - £374,999.99
Jersey House Developments: £100,000
National Conservative Draws Society: £100,000
The Spring Lunch: £70,000
Richard Simon Wilson: £50,000
Liberal Democrats - £193,944.80
Stephen Fitzpatrick: £100,000
James E Moore: £40,000
Stephen Dawson: £21,444.80
Donlow Fininvest Limited: £20,000
Reform UK - £99,000
Tangerine Holdings: £25,000
Charlie Mullins: £20,000
Oakpark Alarms Security Services: £20,000
Fergus CM Hall: £18,000
Greens - £20,000
Elizabeth Reason: £20,000
Workers Party of Britain - £12,000
Desmond Godfrey Sullivan: £12,000
QUICK HITS:
A family affair: Just how cosy are relations between some of the major lobbying firms and Labour’s leadership? Despite the hectic nature of the final days of an election campaign, Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer were able to give two lucky youngsters a “special intro to life on the campaign trail and our democracy” on the Monday before polling day, as senior party figures campaigned in Oxfordshire. The kids belonged to Westminster lobbying power couple Stuart and Kamella Hudson, both former Labour advisers and now partners at Brunswick and FGS Global respectively. The latter firm has seconded a staffer to Reeves’ office for the last few months. Stuart shared an admittedly very cute picture of the two young boys smiling between the soon-to-be PM and chancellor on LinkedIn. Who says Labour has lost the youth vote?
Here we go: Big transfer news that you won’t get from Fabrizio Romano. Hanover Communications has bolstered its attack with the marquee signing - for an undisclosed fee – of former Conservative minister for sport, and chair of the fan-led review into football, Tracey Crouch. Hanover has a sports-focused arm that works with “brands, rights holders, sports teams, sponsors and broadcasters”, offering a range of services including “strategic comms, fan engagement, sponsorship activation, public affairs and crisis comms”. Hanover’s public affairs clients include Sky TV.
Now this
Read: This quietly furious dismantling of the last 14 years of Conservative-led government by William Davies in the LRB
Listen: Go on then – doubling down on the LRB, their podcast mini-series looking in-depth at the key issues that shape (or at least, should shape) elections has been really interesting
Watch: The great big Portillo moment that will be the BBC’s coverage of the election - and, to get you in the mood, the actual Portillo moment in 1997