UKIP Friends of Israel
The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) Friends of Israel group was launched at the party's annual conference in September 2010. The creation of the group was reportedly authorised by the party's national executive committee in 2005. Michael Brodsky, director of public affairs at the Israeli embassy, spoke at the launch and Christian Friends of Israel distributed material.[1]
According to its old website, 'as a libertarian, capitalist, democratic party, UKIP is a natural friend of the world's only Jewish state'.[2] Its new website states that its aims include fostering links by organising delegations to Israel, providing information about 'Britain and Israel’s mutual security concerns' and opposing 'taxpayer-funded EU interventionism in the Middle East.[3]
The organisation's mission statement argues:
- Little attention is paid to the fact that an independent Palestinian state has existed under the name of Jordan since 1946, and that the Palestinian leadership has consistently rejected a two-state solution whenever it has been offered, choosing instead to resort to terrorism.[4]
UKIP FOI claims to have 'compiled a dossier on two prominent Islamic NGOs which receive EU funding', Islamic Relief Worldwide and Muslim Aid, which were used by UKIP MEP Mike Nattrass as the basis for questions submitted to the EC calling for funding to these groups to be halted due to alleged 'terror-financing' links.[5]
UKIP Friends of Israel helped to arrange for UKIP leader Nigel Farage to speak at a Jewish Chronicle event in July 2013.[6]
People
- Julian Conway - Director[7]
- Jacob Campbell - Press Officer[8]
- Michael McManus - Parliamentary Attache
- Shneur Odze - Outreach Coordinator
- Curtis Sinclair - Web Manager[9]
- Elizabeth Burton - Secretary[10]
Events
UKIP Party Conference 2013 Fringe Event
- 20 September 2013
- Guest speaker: Raheem Kassam, political commentator, broadcaster and campaigns specialist. Organised by Julian Conway. [11]
Contact
- Current website: http://foi-ukip.org
- Old website 1: http://foiukip.blogspot.co.uk/
- Old website 2: http://www.ukipfoi.moonfruit.com
Notes
- ↑ History, UKIP Friends of Israel
- ↑ About, UKIP Friends of Israel
- ↑ Objectives, UKIP Friends of Israel
- ↑ Mission, UKIP Friends of Israel
- ↑ Jacob Campbell, UKIP Euro-MP slams EU funding for ‘terror-linked’ NGOs, Times of Israel, 2 November 2012
- ↑ The Jewish Chronicle's audience with Nigel Farage, TheJC.com, 12 July 2013
- ↑ Julian Conway, The Commentator
- ↑ Jacob Campbell, The Commentator
- ↑ Committee, UKIP Friends of Israel
- ↑ Home, UKIP Friends of Israel
- ↑ Friends of Israel in UKIP Fringe Meeting with Raheem Kassam at Conference 2013 Wherevent, accessed 7 October 2014
