Post · Bonfire social

Democracy v lobby power

Ever wondered why European politicians keep backing #Israel even as public opinion turns against its genocidal war in #Gaza? Groups like #ELNET play a huge role - organizing VIP trips to Israel for lawmakers, pushing ready-made talking points that equate criticism with #antisemitism, and even influencing arms deals worth billions. While polls show most Europeans want sanctions, politicians stay silent, fearing backlash or economic ties.

[…] ELNET, whose former CEO, Emmanuel Navon, presented it to the Knesset as the European equivalent of the powerful American lobby #AIPAC, operates six branches in Europe - in Paris, London, Brussels, Rome, Warsaw, and Berlin - in addition to its main headquarters in Israel. Among other activities, ELNET organizes delegations for hundreds of parliamentarians, distributes advocacy materials, promotes arms deals, and acts against pro-Palestinian movements across the continent. In recent months, a group of journalists from Germany, Israel, France, and the U.S. conducted a comprehensive investigation into the organization, aiming to shed light on its activities. The investigation, based on dozens of interviews and thousands of documents, exposes how the organization operates and its close ties with senior officials in #Netanyahu’s government and other right-wing bodies. In the few mentions of ELNET in the Israeli media, it is typically presented as a nonprofit or international/European organization focused on strengthening relations between Europe and Israel.

Hebrew https://www.mekomit.co.il/%D7%97%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%A4%D7%94-%D7%9B%D7%9A-%D7%A2%D7%95%D7%91%D7%93-%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%A0%D7%98-%D7%94%D7%90%D7%99%D7%A4%D7%90%D7%A7-%D7%A9%D7%9C-%D7%90%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%A4%D7%94/

ELNET’s “Wall of Questions” ( #Fragenmauer https://fragemauer.de) Campaign: In #Germany, ELNET’s public campaign explicitly states that calling Israel’s actions in #Gaza a “genocide” is antisemitic. The campaign provides “answers” that dismiss such claims as baseless and motivated by hatred of Jews, without engaging with the legal or factual basis for the genocide accusation ⁠