Friends of Israel Initiative
The Friends of Israel Initiative is a neoconservative Israel lobby group founded in 2010 by former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar and a number of other right-wing public figures and former politicians mostly from Spain, Italy and the UK. It says it ‘aims to create a network linking private and public figures who agree with the idea of an Israel fully anchored in the West’. [1]
Origins and launch
Friends of Israel was reportedly established by Dore Gold, President of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and a former adviser to Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu. [2] According to its own account the Initiative was ‘formed from a group of high level personalities supported by a large network of influential opinion formers such as William Kristol, Dore Gold, Alan Mendoza, Joao Spada, Eliot Abrams, Allen Roth, Pablo Kleinman, Jeffrey Gedmin, Robin Shepherd, among many others.’ [3]
Its web domain friendsofisraelinitiative.org was created on 4 March 2010. It was officially launched in Paris on 31 May 2010 – the same day that Israeli soldiers boarded the Mavi Marmara in international waters and shot dead nine activists on board. The launch meeting was addressed by Dore Gold. A statement was released to the press stating that it was being launched in response to an ‘unprecedented delegitimation campaign against Israel, driven by the enemies of the Jewish state and perversely assumed by numerous international authorities.’ [4]
The group was launched in the UK in Committee Room 14 of the House of Commons on Monday, 19 July 2010. The launch was hosted by the Conservative MP Robert Halfon, Political Director of Conservative Friends of Israel. It was attended by José María Aznar, Marcelo Pera and Andrew Roberts. It was promoted as a 'parliamentary discussion on "The Friends of Israel Initiative & The Geopolitics of Western-Middle East Relations"'. [5]
Leadership
The Initiative is led by the former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar, a supporter of the Iraq War and President of News Corporation. Its other founding members are John R. Bolton, Former US Representative to the UN; Alejandro Toledo, Former President of Peru; David Trimble, Former First Minister of Northern Ireland; George Weigel, Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center; Marcello Pera, Italian philosopher and politician; Fiamma Nirenstein, Italian politician, journalist and author; Andrew Roberts, British historian and writer; Carlos Bustelo, Spanish Industry Minister from 1977 to 1980; and Roberto Agostinelli, Managing Director at Rhone Group. [6]
Notes
- ↑ PDF Copy of The Friends of Israel Initiative > Featured Events & Activities > José María Aznar Promotes the Friends of Israel initiative <http://www.friendsofisraelinitiative.org/event.php?c=31> created 14 July 2010.
- ↑ Paul Reynolds, ‘Israel hopes inquiry will turn spotlight on activists’, BBC News Online, 14 June 2010
- ↑ PDF Copy of The Friends of Israel Initiative > The Initiative <http://www.friendsofisraelinitiative.org/about-initiative.php> created 15 July 2010.
- ↑ ‘Aznar, Trimble to launch new pro-Israel project’, The Jerusalem Post, 31 May 2010; p.5.
- ↑ Henry Jackson Society, HJS Event: The Friends of Israel Initiative [Accessed 22 July 2010]
- ↑ PDF Copy of The Friends of Israel Initiative > About > Founder Members <http://www.friendsofisraelinitiative.org/about-advisors.php> created 15 July 2010.
