In 2018, Lucas accepted a £10,000 donation from Lisbet Rausing, but the billionaire Swede has also given over £400,000 to three Labour MPs.

These include the current Labour Foreign Minister, Ed Miliband, who received over £250,000 from Rausing. In 2014, Miliband was taken to Tel Aviv to meet with Benjamin Netanyahu. Jennifer Gerber, a former adviser to Andy Burnham, said of the trip: “It was a privilege for Labour Friends of Israel to join.”

In the past, Miliband has said that he owes a “debt” to Israel. He was joined on the 2014 delegation by Douglas Alexander, another Andy Burnham cabinet pick. Labour Friends of Israel, a pressure group which paid for the trip, has consistently refused to disclose its funders.

Lisbet Rausing gave Labour MP Steve Reed, a long-time ally of Morgan McSweeney, over £150,000. A former Labour frontbencher who served under Ed Miliband told me that McSweeney’s inner circle “ruled with a rod of iron” and “talked openly of taking over the party”.

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In March, then Labour minister Steve Reed presented the Foreign Interference Bill in Parliament. He did not declare his own affiliation to Labour Friends of Israel or donations received from the group. He also failed to mention a previous meeting with six pro-Israeli lobbyists.

Labour MP Fred Thomas received £15,000 from Caroline Lucas donor Lisbet Rausing. He also received £4500 from David Kogan, who the Labour government later made Independent Football Regulator chair.

Kogan has previously described himself as a “long-time Labour Party supporter”. Thomas was a co-chair of the Defence Technology all-party parliamentary group, which was shut down last year whilst being investigated for receiving money from a state-owned Israeli arms firm.

Thomas was also funded by the scandal-ridden Labour Together think tank, who gave him £10,000. Gary Lubner, the Brentford FC shareholder who financed Andy Burnham’s leadership bid, donated £15,000 to Thomas. Serial pro-Israeli lobbyist Stuart Roden gave £5000.

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In 2018, Lisbet’s sister, Sigrid Rausing, also gave then Green Party MP Caroline Lucas £10,000. But in 2024, Sigrid gave £150,000 to Keir Starmer’s Labour Party. Her Sigrid Rausing Trust has funnelled over £1.8 million into Hope not Hate.

Hope not Hate has a history of close links to both the Labour Party and the lobby. Alison Phillips resigned as a director of the organisation on July 16^th. Four days later, she was appointed as Andy Burnham’s deputy chief of staff.

Former Hope not Hate director Ruth Anderson was promoted to the Labour frontbench by Andy Burnham in July. Lisa Nandy donor Simon Tuttle was a director until last month. And convicted sex offender Liron Velleman, who was a political organiser for Hope not Hate, also served as a Labour councillor.

The Sigrid Rausing Trust has also given £100,000 to the New Israel Fund, which says that it works to “strengthen Israel’s democracy”. In March, the elected Israeli government passed the Death Penalty Act, which in practice applies only to non-Jews.

Caroline Lucas also received £10,000 from Matthew Oakeshott, another prominent political donor. As well as supporting the Greens, Oakeshott has pumped hundreds of thousands of pounds into both Labour and the Liberal Democrats. Before the Zionism Is Racism motion was passed, were the three parties planning an electoral coalition?

Last year, Labour’s Secretary for Sport Lisa Nandy chose Kogan as her preferred candidate for Independent Football Regulator chair. But in 2020, he had made two donations to Nandy’s Labour leadership campaign. Both donations were undeclared.

All political donations above £1500 must be declared on an MP’s register of interests, even if split into smaller payments, but Kogan had made one personal payment to Lisa Nandy of £1450, and another from his company, David Kogan Ltd. Nandy was later found to have “unknowingly” broken the rules.

In response to the Nandy scandal, Kogan vowed to quit his new role as Independent Football Regulator chair if politicians attempted to interfere in cases.

Last month, after Manchester City FC were found guilty of 114 counts of financial impropriety, Andy Burnham said he would be “really concerned to lose” their Emirati owners.

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Nandy’s 2020 leadership campaign was also funded by Howard Bernstein, the former chief executive of Manchester City Council. Bernstein was the council’s named contact in a “sweetheart deal” with Manchester City FC’s Emirati owners. After leaving the council, Bernstein became a strategic adviser at the club’s parent company.

Bernstein, who passed away in 2024, was also a vice-chair of the Jewish Leadership Council. Victor Blank, another JLC vice-chair, has previously funded three groups linked to the Israeli military. Between 2021-23, he also donated £175,000 to Labour’s ex-Chancellor Rachel Reeves for “staffing costs”.

Another JLC vice-chair was Jonathan Kestenbaum, the ex-Israeli soldier who funded Starmer’s Labour leadership bid. In his “IDF diary”, Kestenbaum described “chasing a nine-year-old boy who broke a 30-day curfew to try to retrieve bread from a gutter”. He’s now a Labour peer.

Trevor Chinn, another major donor to Keir Starmer’s 2020 leadership campaign, was also on the JLC board. So was Louise Ellman, a current director of Labour Friends of Israel. And Monroe Palmer, now Honorary President of Liberal Democrats Friends of Israel.

Secretary for Sport Lisa Nandy was previously chair of Labour Friends of Palestine. But in March 2023, she received a £7000 donation from ex-Labour Together director Trevor Chinn. In 2013, Chinn said: “I’ve spent my entire life working for Israel.”

Lisa Nandy was appointed to the Labour Together board on the SAME DAY as Trevor Chinn. She previously accepted £40,000 from Stuart Roden, another major Labour Party donor. Roden gave £80,000 to Bridget Phillipson, Burnham’s new pick for party chair.

Shortly after Labour’s 2024 election victory, megadonor Stuart Roden held two private meetings with then Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotovely. Roden has also previously funded Labour MP Luke Akehurst, described by ex-IDF officer Shai Masot as “one of the best on the inside…of the party”.

After the link between Lisa Nandy and David Kogan was revealed, the decision was handed over to Labour MP Stephanie Peacock. Peacock has previously accepted donations from Google and the Betting & Gaming Council. She was also a member of the Football Governance Bill Committee.

David Kogan has openly admitted that he is a “long-term Labour Party supporter”. Keir Starmer later described his own involvement in Kogan’s appointment as an “unfortunate error”.

Labour MP Joe Powell is another who received financial support from David Kogan. Powell has also been funded by David Sainsbury, a key donor to Andy Burnham’s “leadership campaign”. Powell has described Labour’s recognition of Palestine as “essential to the long-term security of Israel.”

Kogan has also funded Labour MP Matthew Patrick. In March 2024, Patrick was taken on an all-expenses paid trip by the Labour Friends of Israel pressure group. He has also been financed by serial lobbyist Jonathan Mendelsohn.

Labour MP and former Hope not Hate director Anna Turley accepted a £5000 donation from Kogan. Turley has previously worked in the office of ex-Labour Friends of Israel vice-chair Conor McGinn. In January, McGinn was charged with sexually assaulting a woman on a night out.

In August 2024, and then Parliamentary Secretary for the Treasury Emma Reynolds registered a £7625 donation from David Kogan Ltd. Shortly after taking office, Andy Burnham promoted Reynolds to Treasury Chief Secretary.

Independent Football Regulator chair David Kogan previously served as a senior executive at the Wasserman Media Group. Founder Casey Wasserman has funnelled millions of dollars to the IDF. In December, war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu thanked him for his “great support” for the Israeli state.

From 1998-2015, Kogan served as chief media rights adviser to the Premier League. An Irish Times article once described him as “a key architect of [the league’s] global financial success.”

Now, with Andy Burnham’s political legacy at stake, all eyes are fixed on the Manchester City decision.

Days before the Manchester City guilty verdict, chairman Khaldoon al Mubarak met with Andy Burnham’s Trade Secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, at Downing Street. According to Electoral Commission records I have viewed, Reynolds has previously accepted £3500 of flights and accommodation paid for by the UAE government.

In 2018, Reynolds, a former Labour Friends of Israel vice-chair, was hosted on another overseas trip by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Before entering Parliament, he worked as an assistant to James Purnell, now Andy Burnham’s chief of staff.

Purnell resigned as chief executive of corporate lobbying firm Flint Global to join Team Burnham. Last June, Purnell hosted Reynolds and fourteen arms industry executives at an initially undeclared dinner.

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Since Labour came to power, the firms that attended the dinner have been awarded 186 government contracts worth a total of £3.1 billion. Both Reynolds and Purnell gave speeches. A government spokesman described the failure to declare the meeting as an “administrative error”.

In 2023, Reynolds spoke alongside Josh Simons, who gave up his parliamentary seat for Burnham, and ex-Labour peer Peter Mandelson at a Labour Together event. The controversial organisation, now called ThinkLabour, contributed £22,186 to Burnham’s leadership campaign.

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Labour’s deputy leader Lucy Powell has previously accepted £3500 worth of hospitality paid for directly by the UAE government. More recently, Manchester City FC have gifted Powell tickets on five separate occasions. In July, Andy Burnham promoted Powell to Education Secretary.

Powell’s deputy leadership bid received £10,000 from Labour Together donor Martin Taylor. In May, Powell was given FA Cup final tickets for Man City vs. Chelsea, paid for by the FA. In March, she was gifted Carabao Cup final tickets for Man City vs. Arsenal.

In 2018, then Labour MP Ian Austin accepted a donation worth £3800 from the UAE Foreign Ministry. Under Burnham, he now serves as Trade Envoy to Israel. Austin was re-appointed to the role by Reynolds, Burnham’s Trade Secretary and another recipient of a UAE government donation.

With the Prime Minister facing demands to disclose details of any meetings he had with the Manchester City owners, this story is not going away any time soon.

Labour peer and former Home Secretary David Blunkett was a central donor to Andy Burnham’s by-election campaign. On the same day as Burnham’s victory in Makerfield, upon which he automatically vacated his previous post as mayor of Greater Manchester, he also registered £27,000 in “mayoral campaigning donations”. Again, this included thousands from Blunkett.

But Blunkett was simultaneously serving as vice-chair of the United Arab Emirates APPG.

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In 2023, Blunkett, a long-standing supporter of Labour Friends of Israel, proclaimed that MPs calling for a ceasefire in Gaza were engaging in “gesture politics” and should “grow up”, and that Keir Starmer was right to reject such calls.

After Burnham served as his private parliamentary secretary, Blunkett says that the two “became close”. Both were key supporters of Tony Blair’s invasion of Iraq, and Burnham consistently voted against an inquiry into the Iraq invasion.

Former LFI chair Steve McCabe also served on the board of the UAE parliamentary group. In February 2023, he registered a £6051 donation from the Emirati Foreign Ministry. That same month, he led the “largest LFI delegation in a decade”, delivering a personal gift from Keir Starmer to Israeli President Isaac Herzog.

From 2019-24, McCabe received over £10,000 worth of donations from LFI. At the lobby group’s 2021 annual lunch, he declared that he was working with Keir Starmer to make Labour a “home for friends of Israel.”

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Ex-Conservative minister Leo Docherty was another vice-chair of the UAE parliamentary group. In 2024, Docherty said that he was “immensely proud of the F-35 project” and described the Israeli state as “an extremely important ally”. He now works for surveillance firm Palantir.

In May 2023, then Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood praised the UAE for “discreetly shaping” events in the region. From 2021-23, he received donations of over £19,000 from the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 2017, Ellwood described himself as a “longstanding friend of Israel”.

Days before the Manchester City verdict, chairman Khaldoon al Mubarak met with Burnham’s Trade Minister Jonathan Reynolds. In 2018, Reynolds was hosted by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He had previously worked as an assistant to James Purnell, another former LFI chair and now Burnham’s chief of staff.

Connections to Abu Dhabi are raising serious questions for the Labour Prime Minister. In the end, it was the Mandelson-McSweeney corruption scandal that brought down the Starmer administration. But now, can Burnham survive the Emirati debacle?

At the age of 17, David Garrard volunteered for military service with the IDF. According to the Times, the trip was the “start of a lifelong devotion to the state of Israel”. In 2015, Garrard gave Andy Burnham £35,000 as he attempted to take control of the Labour Party.

Garrard, who passed away last year, was previously an executive director of the Labour Friends of Israel lobby group. Over a fifteen-year period, the former IDF operative donated approximately £1.5 million to Labour. Although born in the UK, Garrard later “acquired” Israeli citizenship.

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In 2016, Garrard gave over £10,000 to then Labour MP Ian Austin. Austin also accepted a donation from the Australia Israel Cultural Exchange, a think tank co-founded by Benjamin Netanyahu. He now serves as Burnham’s UK Trade Envoy to Israel.

Pat McFadden also received over £10,000 from Garrard. McFadden, a former vice-chair of LFI, has previously been described as “the most powerful Labour politician most have never heard of”. Upon taking power, Burnham promptly appointed him to cabinet.

McFadden previously served as a deputy to disgraced Epstein-associate Peter Mandelson. Mandelson’s other deputy at the time was former Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy. In March 2015, Garrard gifted Lammy £7500.

Labour peer and newly-hired Palantir executive Tom Watson received £40,000 from David Garrard whilst serving as an MP. Addressing an Labour Friends of Israel lunch in 2016, Watson said it was a “special pleasure” to have Israeli ambassador Mark Regev in attendance. The Telegraph reported Garrard’s IDF stint as the start of a “lifelong attachment to the Israeli cause”.

Labour’s former Chancellor Rachel Reeves received even more, £44,000, from Garrard. Reeves has also been heavily financed by Victor Blank, vice president of the Jewish Leadership Council. Last year, Reeves praised Garrard for his “unsurpassed commitment to Israel”.

Under Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, Garrard said that Labour had been “hijacked by an ultra-left cabal” who wanted to “turn our nation into a socialist republic.” He immediately demanded the return of a £2 million loan. But under Starmer, Garrard rejoined.

The year after Burnham’s failed leadership bid, then Labour MP Chuka Umunna received £25,000 from David Garrard. On May 12th of this year, Umunna was spotted entering Downing Street. No. 10 insisted he was there for a “routine” visit. By July, Andy Burnham was Prime Minister.

Yvette Cooper also received £25,000 from Garrard. Under Keir Starmer, Cooper secured the proscription of Palestine Action. Then, shortly after Burnham took power, and despite her links to private healthcare donors, she was made Health Secretary.

Joan Ryan received over £18,000 from Garrard. Whilst serving as a Labour MP, Ryan was revealed to be talking to Israeli spy Shai Masot “most days”. She is now CEO of the UK branch of ELNET, a lobby group which lists the Israeli Foreign Ministry as one of its “partners”.

Ex-Labour minister Ivan Lewis received £10,000 from David Garrard. Lewis, a former LFI vice-chair, was suspended from the party in 2017 after allegations of sexual misconduct. According to his LinkedIn profile, Lewis is now a special adviser to the “Africa Israel Partnership”.

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Stuart Roden

In 2023, Phillipson registered two £40,000 donations from Roden, the co-founder of Hetz Ventures, a Tel Aviv-based venture capital firm he set up with London-born former Israeli intelligence officer Judah Taub. According to a Declassified UK report, Roden’s Hetz firm employs:

an array of former Israeli soldiers, many of whom have served in elite intelligence units.

Last year, leaked diaries revealed that Roden had been conducting private meetings with then Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotolevy, and Phillipson is not the only recent Burnham appointment he has bankrolled.

Lisa Nandy

Labour MP Lisa Nandy, who also held “secret” meetings with Israeli ambassador Hotolevy, received a £40,000 in-kind donation from Roden in 2024, as well as a policy adviser paid for by serial pro-Israeli financier Trevor Chinn the year before. Now, she is Burnham’s Culture Secretary.

After a Freedom of Information request into Nandy’s meeting with Hotolevy, the Labour government refused to provide further details. Instead, Nandy’s department said that they would prioritise:

protecting relations between the United Kingdom and Israel.

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Luke Akehurst

For at least two years, Phillipson was benefitting from quarterly payments from Chinn, again for “staffing costs”. During her deputy leadership bid in 2025, she also received support from Labour First, a group run by ex-Israel lobbyist and now Labour MP Luke Akehurst.

Akehurst, who has also been funded by Roden, was quick to celebrate Burnham’s appointment of his “friend” Phillipson as party chair. Former Israeli embassy officer Shai Masot once described Akehurst as:

one of the best on the inside … of the [Labour] party.

ELNET UK

In 2023, lobby group ELNET UK paid for a member of Phillipson’s staff to visit occupied Palestine. Described in financial disclosures as a “study tour”, they were accompanied by Akehurst. A staffer for Burnham’s new Defence Secretary, Wes Streeting, also travelled with the group.

ELNET lists the Israeli Foreign Ministry as one of their “partners”. A 2024 trip organised by the lobby group was led by Jeffrey Epstein “pal” and disgraced ex-Labour peer Peter Mandelson. Mandelson described Burnham’s new chief of staff, James Purnell, as “one of my boys”.

Other donations

In October, Phillipson received £40,000 from megadonor David Sainsbury and £15,000 from his daughter, Francesca Perrin. Phillipson has also admitted to accepting £14,000 in donations from Waheed Alli, Keir Starmer’s largest personal donor, for “lobby journalist” events.

In 2022, Phillipson accepted £15,000 from ex-Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy. Earlier this year, Murphy’s Arden Strategies lobby firm was caught offering companies access to a VIP dinner with “top advisers” to Starmer and Rachel Reeves in exchange for £30,000.

In the run-up to the 2024 general election, Arden helped raise funds for more than 30 Labour Party candidates. Their clients include arms manufacturer Northrop Grumman, which supplies weapons components to the Israeli military.

In November, Phillipson stood for deputy leader of the Labour Party. She received another £10,000 for her campaign from Murphy, a former director of Labour Friends of Israel. In 2015, Murphy promised to:

support Israel long after my political career is over.

Coup complete

In October 2024, Phillipson posted a short update on her personal website titled:

Good to meet with Andy Burnham.

At the time, Starmer had only been Prime Minister for three months.

Now, just two years later, Burnham has ousted Starmer and Phillipson is Labour Party chair. The Burnham coup is complete.

Published in the Canary.

Eyebrows were raised, however, at the ministerial re-appointment of Sarah Sackman, Keir Starmer’s ex-solicitor general and a key supporter of Lammy’s jury proposals. Sackman has previously worked as a foreign law clerk at the Israeli Supreme Court, and her grandfather once served as an ambassador for the settler state. Last week, Burnham extended her role in government with a re-appointment at the Ministry of Justice.

Sackman’s funders

At the end of June, and just eleven days after Burnham’s by-election victory in Makerfield, Sackman registered two new donations, each of £1250, from veteran pro-Israeli bankroller Trevor Chinn.

Sackman has long been a favourite of wealthy lobbyists, receiving tens of thousands of pounds from ex-Labour Friends of Israel chair Jonathan Mendelsohn, former Israeli soldier Jonathan Kestenbaum, and the Grabiner family. Anthony Grabiner, who is not amongst Sackman’s donors, was one of the UK Lawyers for Israel patrons recently subject to a “legal intimidation” complaint.

What do Sackman and Burnham really care about?

On Wednesday, at an event organised by Jewish Care, a charity whose Life President is former Tony Blair bankroller Michael Levy, Sackman announced:

It was wonderful to welcome the Prime Minister back to Jewish Care in Golders Green this morning … As Andy said, this time we are going to get this right.

However, a professed passion for reforming the care system is not the only thing the pair have in common. One of the funders of Burnham’s 2015 Labour leadership campaign was Michael Sternberg, who has also financed the current Courts Minister.

From 2015-2024, Sackman was vice-chair of the Jewish Labour Movement, which states that one of its aims is:

to promote the centrality of Israel in Jewish life.

In 2015, Sackman said:

The issue of Israel is something that is deeply personal and emotional.

Sackman’s opposition to the ICC

In May 2024, Sackman opposed International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Yoav Gallant, saying:

I trust the Israeli people to hold their leaders to account.

A 2025 Penn University poll recorded that 82% of Jewish Israelis supported the forced expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza. 47% agreed that the Israeli military should kill all inhabitants of enemy cities. This is the nation Sackman “trusts” to hold war criminals Netanyahu and Gallant to account.

Before entering politics, Sackman worked at Matrix Chambers with former attorney general Richard Hermer, who once declared that he has “dear family members” serving in the Israeli military. Last week, Burnham replaced Hermer with Ellie Reeves, a long-time supporter of the Labour Friends of Israel lobby group.

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Burnham continues Starmer’s legacy

Starmer will always be remembered for the military and diplomatic support he consistently lent to the Israeli state. But in December 2024, just over one year into the Gaza genocide, Sackman insisted that Starmer’s administration had “broadly got it right” on the issue of Palestine.

She made the comments in a public conversation with Adrian Cohen, LFI’s lay chair. Last Thursday, the controversial lobby group published a new paper suggesting that a ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements is “practically and politically impossible”.

LFI-affiliated MPs continue to dominate the Labour cabinet. On the issue of Palestine, Sackman’s re-appointment sends a loud signal to those who thought Burnham might change course.

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Published in the Canary.

Here are the names of Burnham’s Lobbyists:

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This is the scandal Burnham does not want voters in Makerfield to know about.

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Last week, it was revealed that United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) had flagged Mandelson’s bimonthly conversations with Tamir Hayman, a former Israeli military intelligence chief. Earlier this year, we learnt that UKSV’s recommendation that Mandelson not be granted security clearance was overruled by Foreign Office officials.

However, less attention has been paid to Policy Network, the Mandelson-led think tank whose list of former directors reads like a Who’s Who of Labour Party grandees. The organisation has previously been criticised for obscuring how much it was receiving from specific funders, although David Sainsbury was confirmed as a core donor. Sainsbury has also financed Labour Together, giving £125,000 in March alone. In 2021, Peter Mandelson’s Policy Network merged with Progress, another Labour Party-linked operation which had received tens of thousands in donations from Mandelson and Tony Blair, amongst others. Progressive Britain is now led by Adam Langleben, a former national secretary of the Jewish Labour Movement.

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One of Policy Network’s co-chairs was Patrick Diamond, a former Special Advisor to Mandelson. In the early 1990s, according to Diamond’s Wikipedia page, he spent time living and working at an Israeli colony called Lahav. Strangely, no other reference to his time at Lahav can be found online. Like the IDF stint of Labour peer Jonathan Kestenbaum, unreported in the British media until my investigation last month, and the list of Labour Friends of Israel parliamentary supporters, scrubbed from the internet during the 2024 general election, it seems that links to the settler state have become less of a boasting point for senior Labour politicians.

Kibbutz Lahav, situated just 5km from the illegal Eshkolot settlement, was originally set up in 1952 by the Nahal, an IDF program that combined military service with the establishment of settlements. During the Gaza genocide, the IDF’s Nahal Brigade was being led by Nochi Mandel, a religious nationalist Israeli settler who signed a letter calling for Gaza to be deprived of aid. Mandel was only sacked, however, after an air strike on a World Central Kitchen convoy killed seven aid workers, including three British citizens.

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Policy Network’s second co-chair was Roger Liddle, a Labour peer and former Special Adviser to Tony Blair. In 2010, Liddle’s entrance to the House of Lords was officially “supported” by Mandelson. Later, during Keir Starmer’s first years in power, his “supper parties” would regularly host the Epstein-associate’s network, with Mandelson, Wes Streeting, and Morgan McSweeney amongst attendees. McSweeney’s inner circle would also be present: Matthew Doyle, Matt Faulding, and Matt Pound.

A former Labour frontbencher who served under Ed Miliband told me in February that McSweeney’s inner circle “ruled with a rod of iron” and “talked openly of taking over the Party”. Wes Streeting now wants Starmer’s job. His partner, Joe Dancey, is an ex-aide to Peter Mandelson.

Jonathan Mendelsohn, an ex-chair of Labour Friends of Israel, was another director of Peter Mandelson’s Policy Network. Mendelsohn has donated to a string of Labour Party MPs (sometimes through his Red Capital Ltd. operation) that includes ex-Health Minister Wes Streeting and current Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper. He also funded former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. In 2007, the Jewish Chronicle lauded the lobbyist’s influence, saying: “At ease in the corridors of power, Mendelsohn has the contacts and know-how to advance Israel’s case in his [Labour Friends of Israel] role.” When Gordon Brown appointed Mendelsohn as Labour’s director of general election resources, he was criticised for promoting an individual who had previously lobbied on behalf of the Ladbrokes betting firm.

In July 2008, Brown, a long-standing supporter of Labour Friends of Israel, became the first British Prime Minister to address the Israeli Knesset, declaring proudly: “My father…had a deep and life long affection for Israel.”

Other Policy Network alumni include Stephen Hockman, one of the three UK Lawyers for Israel patrons accused of “using their professional seniority” to intimidate others in a legal complaint issued last week, and Liam Byrne, a parliamentary supporter of Labour Friends of Israel who has previously accepted transportation paid for directly by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Labour Party hierarchy are now desperate to distance themselves from the Prince of Darkness, but the true extent of his influence is a story still waiting to be told.

Published in the Canary.

Hope not Hate have come under fire in recent days for their intervention in the hotly-contested Makerfield by-election, with some interpreting their leaflets in the area as a direct endorsement of Labour candidate Andy Burnham. On the surface, Hope not Hate is a charitable organisation opposing far-right extremism, but they also have a political wing with direct connections to Labour Party grandees and pro-Israeli lobbyists. Burnham may be packaged as an anti-establishment “saviour” today, but he is also the man who voted to invade Iraq and lauded the Israeli state as a “democracy that has a long history of protecting minorities and promoting civil rights”. Perhaps it is no surprise, then, that Nick Lowles’ operation is so keen to see him back in Parliament.

The Hope not Hate Charitable Trust’s total income in 2024 was £984,868. Of this, £787,858 was given to Hope not Hate Ltd., the vehicle used for political campaigning. Indeed, the two organisations were considered so similar, the Charity Commission had to get involved. In January, they concluded their investigation, and the Hope not Hate Charitable Trust changed their name to HOPE Unlimited.

Over at Hope not Hate Limited, the links to the Labour Party are numerous and undeniable. The board of directors includes Alison Philips, the current CEO of Labour Together (now re-branded as “Think Labour”), Jon Cruddas, a former Labour MP and “Friend of Israel” who was part of the Morgan McSweeney-assisted 2008-10 campaign to get Margaret Hodge elected for Labour in Barking & Dagenham. That campaign was also backed by Hope not Hate. Labour peer Ruth Anderson, formerly known as Ruth Smeeth, was a director of Hope not Hate from 2010-15. She has previously worked for a string of pro-Israeli organisations including Labour Friends of Israel, the Jewish Labour Movement, BICOM, CST, and the Board of Deputies. But from 2011-15, Smeeth was also a director of the Hope not Hate Charitable Trust.

When it comes to pro-Israeli lobbying efforts in the UK, Hope not Hate has a major blind spot. In their 2019 annual report, Hope not Hate included the following tweet as an example of left-wing antisemitism:

“We need to stand up against the Zionist lobby in the UK they are not putting Britain first but Israel first, why are we allowing them to dictate British politics when they put Israel’s interests above any other interests, their agenda is making other nations sons die for Israel.”

As Rusere Shoniwa, a former supporter of the charity, noted at the time:

“This tweet, directed expressly at the Zionist lobby (and therefore possibly, by extension, Zionism) and the state of Israel, its main promoter, is political speech which cannot, prima facie, be imbued with hostility to Jews as Jews. Zionism is a political ideology whose proponents are not all Jewish. Indeed, some Jews are strongly opposed to it.”

Another Labour peer who has been consistently praised by Hope not Hate is Margaret Hodge. Hodge calls herself a “a committed Zionist” and is another long-time supporter of Labour Friends of Israel.

In 2019, with Margaret Hodge as vice-president and Ruth Smeeth as national parliamentary chair, the Jewish Labour Movement elected Liron Velleman as their Policy Officer. Velleman later served as a Political Organiser for Hope not Hate. In March, Velleman was sentenced for child sex offences after sending videos of his penis to what he thought was a 13 year old girl. The judge condemned his “reckless, vile and frankly devious interest in children”.

In 2017, Jewish News named Liron Velleman on their list of “30 under 30”: “His style of Israel advocacy is sensitive and effective. Professional but always able to put others at ease, Liron is best known for his ability to do everything he says he will, and more besides.”

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The same day Smeeth stepped down from Hope not Hate Ltd, Jemma Levene was appointed as a director. Levene, a blogger for the Times of Israel, is currently the Chief Operating Officer of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, the propaganda outfit set up by Morgan McSweeney and Imran Ahmed with Labour Together money.

In 2024, Imran Ahmed e-mailed Efrat Hochstetler, an official at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, thanking her for her “continued support”. Days earlier, he had met with Sawsan Hasson, the Israeli Embassy Minister of Public Diplomacy. Hasson promised to find funders for CCDH.

Hope not Hate Limited’s list of current and previous directors also includes Simon Tuttle, a funder of McSweeney’s Labour Together project, and Labour Party MP and chair Anna Turley, another supporter of Labour Friends of Israel and the Jewish Labour Movement.

In recent days, Andy Burnham has been vocal about his record on Ukraine, but quiet about his documented support for the genocidal settler state. Like Hope not Hate, the double-standard is telling.

In 2015, leadership favourite Burnham said: “I’ve always been a friend of Israel…that will never change.” There is no reason not to believe him.

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Published in the Canary.

The organisation has desperately been trying to rebrand this month, with a different name, “ThinkLabour”, and brand new website. Alison Phillips, the organisation’s CEO, told journalist Peter Geoghehan yesterday: “ThinkLabour is a very different organisation today compared to Labour Together then and what was done does not reflect and represent what we stand for and how we operate today under my leadership.”

However, ThinkLabour has the same company number as Labour Together Limited, still registered as operating on Companies House. Alongside Alison Philips, the active directors are registered as Mike Craven, appointed in March 2024, and new addition Nicholas Forbes, appointed on May 12th.

Although the relaunch was announced on May 14th, with ThinkLabour promising to be “a unique political organisation dedicated to helping Labour govern confidently”, Kestenbaum remained a director until the beginning of the following week. In Kestenbaum’s written account of his Israeli military service, he describes “chasing a nine-year-old boy who broke a 30-day curfew to try to retrieve bread from a gutter,” and “rounding up a group of elderly Palestinians who slipped into a field at night to pick a bucket of tomatoes”.

In one anecdote, he remembers detaining a group of teenage Palestinians and then being asked by another officer: “How many dogs have you brought?”

Kestenbaum writes: “Once the man opposite you is a dog, anything goes.”

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In his diary, he refers to the Israeli state as “our country”, and a 1988 article in the international edition of the Jerusalem Post reports that Kestenbaum had “settled in Israel three years ago”. On Companies House, however, Kestenbaum’s nationality is listed solely as British. He now joins a long list of former Labour Together directors that includes Trevor Chinn, Morgan McSweeney, Josh Simons, although his positions at Five Arrows Limited and the JPMorgan Japanese Investment Trust are still extant.

In 2010, Kestenbaum was nominated by the Labour Party hierarchy to the House of Lords. Ed Miliband, Labour leader at the time, is one of those reported to be eyeing Keir Starmer’s position, particularly if Andy Burnham loses the Makerfield by-election.

Like Starmer, Miliband is a long-time supporter of Labour Friends of Israel. At the lobby group’s 2011 annual lunch, Miliband declared: “I’m grateful to Israel, I respect Israel, I admire Israel and that is why I’m proud to be here to be [as] part of Labour Friends of Israel…

Under my leadership, I will ensure that the Labour Party remains a strong and steadfast friend of Israel.”

Labour Together has long been tainted by Morgan McSweeney’s concealing of over £730,000 in donations whilst serving as director, using the organisation as a vehicle to propel Starmer into power, but the think tank’s downfall has been accelerated by revelations that former director Josh Simons set private investigators on journalists reporting on McSweeney’s actions. Geoghehan’s report revealed that McSweeney and Paul Ovenden, Starmer’s former head of communications, were told about Labour Together’s infamous “investigation” two years ago.

Simons has now resigned his parliamentary seat in order for Labour “saviour” Andy Burnham to have a clear run at Starmer. In the past, Simons has received donations from Mike Craven, a former press officer to Tony Blair and the second current Labour Together Limited director.

Upon their launch, ThinkLabour said: “this is much more than a new logo or a change of name”. But on Companies House - for now, at least - they are still Labour Together Limited, with Simons, McSweeney, et al. amongst their alumni.

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Before considering the democratic implications of an MP essentially attempting to donate their seat to the mayor of Greater Manchester, it is worth reminding ourselves of how Simons secured the Makerfield constituency in the first place. At the time, Simons said that he was “honoured to be selected”, but no selection contest ever took place. Indeed, when local publication the Manchester Mill contacted Jenny Bullen, then the deputy mayor of Wigan council, her response was curt: “Makerfield constituents want a local candidate and have made that abundantly clear. Nothing else to say, bye bye.”

Despite the desire for a quick coronation, Burnham will not face an easy ride in Makerfield. At the 2024 general election, Reform UK increased their vote share in the constituency by 18.7%, and at the local elections this month, Labour lost ALL of the 22 Wigan council seats they were defending. Reform gained 24 seats.

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Like Burnham, Simons has his own links to the Israel lobby. In February, it was revealed that he had failed to properly declare a donation from Trevor Chinn, the former Labour Together director and funder who, after being nominated by Labour Friends of Israel, received an Israeli Presidential Medal of Honor for “skills and work to the benefit of the State of Israel”. In 2013, Chinn told an LFI meeting: “I’ve spent my entire life working for Israel, for a better image for Israel, for success for Israel.” At the 2024 conference of the Jewish Labour Movement, Simons spoke alongside former Israeli spy Assaf Kaplan at an event that promised to teach the audience “how to run a good campaign”.

Last June, Simons received £5000 from Mike Craven, a former press officer for Tony Blair. Craven, still listed as a director of Labour Together Limited on Companies House, has previously attacked Jeremy Corbyn “and the far left” for not recognising the Israeli state’s “right to exist”. Then, in October, Simons received £30,000 from Francesca Perrin, a Labour Together donor who also served as a director until her resignation three weeks ago.

Simons is a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Israel, which states its purpose in the following terms: “To create a better understanding of Israel and to foster and promote links between the UK and Israel; to unite parliamentarians from across both Houses who are proud to be friends of Israel; and to make the case for Israel and for the UK’s bilateral relationship with the Jewish state.” The Israel APPG’s co-chair is Damian Egan, a vice-chair of the Labour Friends of Israel lobby group. Egan is married to Yossi Felberbaum, a former IDF soldier who used to recruit officers from the deadly Unit 8200.

Simons has previously mentioned having “friends and family in Israel”, a state with compulsory military service, and in a parliamentary debate with Conservative MP Kit Malthouse last June, he asserted his “right to claim citizenship in Israel”. Two months later, Simons was part of a group of “Labour Friends of Israel-affiliated MPs” who confronted National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell in a “testy and emotionally charged conversation” regarding the government’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state.

Some have posited that Simons may be giving up his seat for Burnham as a way of seeking “redemption” for his actions at Labour Together. Perhaps there is also a desire to avoid the fall-out from recently released Subject Access Requests from Labour Together, which relaunched with the new name “Think Labour” (but the same company number) this week.

On Thursday, former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn had his Subject Access Request, which came in at a whopping 583 pages, returned to him. We learn that in January 2024, whilst serving as a director of Labour Together, Josh Simons sent an e-mail to an unknown recipient: “I f***ing hate Jeremy Corbyn.”

All in all, sounds like a lovely guy.

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Still reeling from a self-inflicted crisis over his appointment of Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the US, and with his Labour Party losing almost 1,500 seats at local elections on 7 May, many of his own cabinet members have turned against him, conceding that: “There is a sense that it’s over.”

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As well as his position on the NEC, Mason serves on London Labour’s regional executive committee and is standing for re-election as a councillor in Ealing. In the video, taken from an online meeting of former UJS campaigns officers, Mason says that he was encouraged into the political sphere by “one of [his] closest friends, in Israel now”.

He was referring to Yair Zivan, his predecessor at the Union of Jewish Students. Zivan left the UJS to work as a Press Officer for the IDF. He then became a Foreign Affairs Adviser and International Media Spokesman to former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid.

The meeting was also attended by Izzy Lenga. As previously reported, Lenga has participated in Israeli military training. She is also standing for re-election today in Camden, where she is Labour’s Chief Whip.

Mason was previously national secretary of the Jewish Labour Movement under alleged predator Ivor Caplin’s chairmanship and while now convicted sex offender Liron Velleman was their youth officer. The JLM specifies that one of its objectives is “to promote the centrality of Israel in Jewish life”.

Former Israeli intelligence officer Assaf Kaplan, first hired by Starmer’s Labour in December 2020, spoke at JLM’s 2024 conference at an event on “how to run a good campaign” alongside Josh Simons, Starmer’s ex-cabinet member who was forced out of a job after revelations about his hiring of private investigators, whilst serving as a director of Labour Together, to smear journalists who were looking into Morgan McSweeney’s dodgy dealings. The other two speakers at the event were Christabel Cooper, then a Director of Research at Labour Together, and Nathan Boroda, a Labour councillor from Bury. Attendees were promised that they would “discover the keys to running a successful campaign” with the opportunity to “join seasoned experts as they share insights, tactics, and best practices”. But with the party taking an almost entirely negative approach in the lead-up to today’s local elections, current London councillors tell me that this campaign has been an unmitigated disaster.

Michael Crick described Peter Mason as “plugged into [the] McSweeney clique”. Morgan McSweeney famously concealed over £700k in donations to Labour Together. One of the donors he collaborated with was Trevor Chinn, who received an Israeli Presidential Medal of Honour in 2024. Labour Friends of Israel, a lobby group that refuses to disclose its donors, nominated Chinn for the award.

Labour councillor for Cricklewood Anne Clarke accepted an LFI-funded trip in July 2023 and met with Israeli President and genocidaire Isaac Herzog. She is also standing for re-election today.

Through his position on Labour’s NEC, Peter Mason was one of the individuals reported to have blocked Andy Burnham’s candidacy bid for the Gorton and Denton by-election. Keir Starmer cannot bear a threat to his own position, even if it means driving the party into the ground.

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Novsarka was already on stand when the jury entered, a court officer with handcuffs on her belt sitting a short distance behind him. Novsarka is not accused of violence, or even of providing material support to a proscribed organisation. Rather, the claim is that during the Gaza genocide, Novsarka’s online posts praising the Palestinian “resistance” were a coded invitation to others to support Hamas, proscribed in the UK its entirety by then Conservative Home Secretary Priti Patel in 2021.

Prosecution barrister Tom Williams got straight to the point, beginning with private messages the police had obtained from Freeman’s phone using Cellebrite software. Notably, the messages are from before Patel’s proscription of Hamas’ political wing. “You were a supporter back then, weren’t you?” Williams asked.

“No”, Novsarka replied.

“And you’re still a supporter now, aren’t you?” Williams continued.

“No”, Novsarka repeated.

“Where do you differ then? Williams asked.

“I agree with them on certain points, such as resisting against the genocide,” Novsarka replied. “I disagree, for example, with innocent civilians being harmed under any circumstances.”

The prosecution referred to a poem Novsarka had reposted: “Everyone has a bullet or a gun in their hand.”

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“You think people should take action after watching your videos. Do you agree with that principle?” the prosecutor asked.

“Yes, and I wanted to educate people”, Novsarka replied.

“And your phone was your gun?” the prosecutor asked.

“Yes, to amplify the voices of the Palestinians”, Novsarka replied.

The prosecution turned their attention to another private message recovered from Novsarka’s phone, in which he told friends: “We have a duty to humanise and glorify the resistance.”

“Were posting videos a part of that?” Williams asked.

“No. I was documenting the fact that there was still a fightback, that the Palestinians were still surviving”, Freeman replied. “This was about explaining to the public: no-one is coming to save the Palestinians. World leaders had openly said at the time: ‘We know what is happening, but we are not going to call for a ceasefire.’”

Williams then asked why the defendant had posted under the pseudonym “Majid Freeman” rather than his full name, Majid Novsarka.

“I receive so many death threats from Zionists for speaking out for Palestinians, and that’s why so many people don’t!” Freeman replied. “I wanted to protect my family.”

Just before midday, the jury were excused for a short break. One observer in the public gallery commented that the prosecution barrister was becoming “visibly frustrated”.

When the trial resumed, more social media posts were presented on the jurors’ screens. When the prosecution reached row 59 of the “timeline”, Novsarka addressed the jury directly. “This is a perfect example of the point I’m trying to make. Row 58 shows a video I shared from Al Quds Brigades [the armed wing of Fatah]. Row 59 shows a video shared from Al Qassam Brigades [the armed wing of Hamas]. If the UN had intervened, I would have been sharing their videos too!

In all of my posts, I used the hashtag ‘#gazaresists’, not ‘Hamas resists’.”

The prosecutor asked about comments on some of Novsarka’s Instagram posts which praised Hamas specifically. “Most come from countries where Hamas is not a proscribed organisation”, Novsarka replied.

Novsarka picked up the evidence bundle and again addressed the jury directly. “Between rows 108 and 109, there may have been up to 50 posts showing atrocities [that are not included here].

We have to show the whole picture. We can’t just show Palestinians dying non-stop. They are also able to fight back.”

When the prosecution finished their cross-examination at 3.15pm, defence barrister Hossein Zahir KC told the judge that he would be brief in his follow-up.

“Do you use the red triangle emoji to represent Hamas?” he asked.

“No”, Novsarka replied.

“Were you using red triangles to invite support for Hamas?” Zahir asked.

“No”, Novsarka replied.

“In supporting ‘the resistance’, were you inviting support for Hamas as an organisation?” Zahir asked.

“No”, Novsarka replied.

“That’s all my questions, Your Honour”, Zahir said.

Judge Andrew Smith KC turned to address the jury. On Tuesday morning, he explained, both sides will give their closing speeches. Then, they would be invited to begin their deliberations.

“Imagine if we didn’t have juries”, an observer in the public gallery noted.

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