Pro-israel lobby groups feed UK media
A leaked internal email has revealed how a UK-based pro-Israeli lobbying group has been feeding British mainstream media the BBC, Sky News and the Financial Times.
The email, which was mistakenly sent to members of the press by the current CEO of elitist pro-Israeli lobbying firm, Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM), exposed how BBC, and Sky News editors “changed their narrative” on stories in favor of the Zionist regime after meeting with BICOM representatives.
BICOM’s CEO Lorna Fitzsimons is a former Member of British Parliament (MP) from the Labour party and the known supporter of undemocratic policies of neo-Conservatives, who conspire wars across the globe.
She had told a conference in London last year that “public opinion does not influence foreign policy in Britain. Foreign policy is an elite issue”.
In the email, published by the prisonplanet.com website, Fitzsimons reveals how BICOM officials regularly meet with editors and journalists from the BBC, Sky News and the Financial Times to ‘brief’ them on how to frame issues relating to Israel in order to ensure that, “the most objectively favourable line was taken.”
“Throughout the weekend, BICOM staff were in contact with a whole host of BBC and SKY news desks and journalists, ensuring that the most objectively favourable line was taken, and offering talking heads, relevant to the stories unfolding,” wrote Fitzsimons.
“BICOM’s Senior Analyst Dr. Noam Leshem, briefed the BBC World News Editorial Board on Saturday afternoon regarding the fall-out from the israel Egyptian Embassy siege”, Fitzsimons said.
“After contact with the BICOM Media Team, SKY News changed their narrative in explaining the prior events in the [Middle East] region which lead up to this weekend”, added the BICOM chairwoman.
Later in the email, Fitzsimons reveals how BICOM “had regular contact with the Editor at Large of Prospect Magazine, David Goodhart, helping to inform him about the forthcoming UN vote on Palestinian statehood.” She also notes how BICOM was able to get its talking points out via an article she wrote for the Huffington Post.
Fitzsimons then boasts about how a BBC reporter was chaperoned by BICOM during a visit to the occupied Palestinian territories.
“BICOM has one of BBC News’ key anchors on a bespoke delegation. When planning her very first trip to the region, Sophie Long got in touch with BICOM to see if we could help her out with meeting in the region.
Sophie is now spending three days of her trip with BICOM Israel, taking a tour around the Old City, meeting Mark Regev and Dr. Alex Yacobsen, as well as visiting Ramallah and Sderot”, she wrote.
Do you think it’s likely that Long’s impartiality regarding Israel was affected by the fact that she enjoyed three days of hospitality on behalf of a vehemently pro-Israeli lobby group? Does this correlate with the BBC’s taxpayer-funded mandate to provide unbiased news coverage?, prisonplanet.com website said in its report.
Fitzsimons also reveals how she personally, “briefed Jonathan Ford, the Financial Times leader writer on how to write his articles as far as issues related to Israel are concerned”.
The wording in all these examples clearly suggests that the likes of Sky News, the BBC and the Financial Times are subordinate to BICOM and freely dispense with any balanced objectivity to prostitute themselves as mouthpieces for this lobbying firm, the report said.
This is an outrageous admission of how powerful lobby groups are insidiously controlling the media agenda in the United Kingdom – particularly as it relates to Israel and Iran.
The revelation is particularly significant since warmongering neo-Conservatives in the U.S., UK and Israel have stepped up their rhetoric against the Islamic Republic of Iran on the eve of the publication of a report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities, which has been engineered by themselves in a bid to launch another war against another oil-rich country.
BICOM is bankrolled by billionaire Chaim “Poju” Zabludowicz, ranked 18th on a list of the wealthiest people in the United Kingdom, who have direct influence on all three main political parties in the UK through his financial contributions.
