© Matt Dunham / AlamyMichael Gove was receptive to Israel’s concerns.
Benjamin Netanyahu's government waged a secret campaign to stop Britain boycotting trade with Israel, Declassified can reveal.
Leaked files show Israeli officials held a high-level "sensitive" meeting about the issue with Conservative politician Michael Gove when he was justice secretary in 2015.
The discussion focussed on how to combat the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, which targets products made on illegally occupied Palestinian land.
It was part of a series of Israeli steps that included attempts to defund British charities and commission advice from powerhouse law firms.
The leaked emails and memos originate from a hack of the Israeli ministry of justice by a group called "Anonymous for Justice". The dataset was subsequently published by Distributed Denial of Secrets.
Palestine Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal told Declassified:
"The revelation that Israeli ministers secretly lobbied Michael Gove is deeply concerning both in confirming the willingness of UK governments to support Israel's attempts to avoid accountability for its violations of international humanitarian law, and to subvert British democratic processes".'Unusual window of opportunity'
Israel's lobbying campaign was led by its justice minister Ayelet Shaked, who met Gove in London in November 2015.
© Reuters / Corinna Kern / FileIsraeli Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked in Tel Aviv, Israel.
The issue was consequently high on Shaked's agenda, with the Israeli government fearing that the labels would help pro-Palestine boycott campaigns.
Gove "enjoyed" meeting Shaked and specifically requested "more information" from the Israeli embassy on the labelling issue, the leaked emails show.
Israel's foreign ministry then arranged for an analysis to be prepared for Gove "as soon as possible" on the imminent EU measures.
"I am aware of the workload, but there is an unusual window of opportunity here", noted one Israeli official, apparently referring to Gove's openness to guidance.
Gove, already a "proud friend of Israel" at the time of the meetings with Shaked, last year tried unsuccessfully to push a bill through parliament banning public bodies from boycotting Israel.
'Unnecessary and discriminatory'
Within days of the meeting, the Israeli authorities had prepared a paper for Gove on the implications of the EU's labelling guidelines.
The paper sought to provide Britain's justice secretary with potential avenues for contesting or circumventing the measures, referring to recent jurisprudence on related matters in British and European courts.
Shaked also penned a personal letter to Gove about the guidelines, arguing that "this action is... clearly a political measure whose main objective is to exert pressure on Israel".
The labelling of Israeli settlement products, she claimed, was "being advanced by BDS groups" and any implementation of the guidelines "might encourage activity against the State of Israel".
Comment: Israel is special and should never be subjected to campaigns to influence its criminal behavior.
"In light of the above", Shaked declared, "I respectfully request that... you advocate for the UK to exercise prudence and restraint if your country chooses to implement what we deem to be a politically motivated, unnecessary and discriminatory" labelling policy.
In an earlier draft of the same letter, Shaked was even more forthcoming about the Israeli government's desire to block the new measures.
"I respectfully request that as a senior legal official you advocate for the UK to refrain from implementing" the labels, she wrote.
The UK government published voluntary guidelines for labelling products from illegal Israeli settlements in 2009.
It continues to provide guidance on "accurate labelling of settlement goods so as not to mislead the consumer" but has "no plans to ban imports from the Occupied Palestinian Territories".
Anti-Israel agenda
While meeting with Gove, Shaked also raised concerns about "a list of NGOs" being funded by the UK government.
The complaint was apparently linked to an Israeli memo which noted how Britain was "providing significant funds, directly and indirectly, to NGOs that promote and participate in BDS campaigns against Israel".
These organisations, the memo continued, "often employ rhetoric accusing Israel of 'apartheid', 'ethnic cleansing' and 'war crimes'".
Comment: Maybe because they are factual?
They were therefore pursuing "highly divisive agendas that may undermine the UK's longstanding policy" of supporting "a two state solution" as well as Britain's "repeated declarations denouncing BDS".
UK funding was even suspected to have "enabled several NGOs to act against the State of Israel in the International Criminal Court" such as the Palestinian human rights organisation, Al-Haq.
The memo consequently recommended that Britain "consider initiating an independent review of UK funding to NGOs" which could investigate whether these funds were being used "to support an anti-Israel agenda".
Among the twelve NGOs on Israel's hit list were Christian Aid, Islamic Relief Worldwide and Rabbis for Human Rights.
Whether the Israeli government succeeded in convincing the British authorities to defund these NGOs remains unclear.
UN database
The Israeli government's effort to counter boycotts in Britain continued into 2019.
That year, Israel's ministry of justice commissioned advice from powerhouse law firm Crowell & Moring on how to "mitigate or reverse the impact" of "a [UN] database of companies undertaking activities in the settlements".
The database, which had been requested by the UN Human Rights Council in 2016, would go on to identify 112 businesses complicit in illegal Israeli settlements. They included several UK-based firms such as digger manufacturer JCB.
The move once again drew the ire of the Israeli government, with Netanyahu declaring his administration would "fight" it "with all our strength".
As part of this counter-attack, the Israeli authorities commissioned expert legal advice on how to mitigate the impact of the database both in Britain and elsewhere.
Finalised in 2019, the legal review noted how there were no "defined vehicles... to require UK individuals and companies to refuse to participate in or cooperate with foreign boycotts... not sanctioned by the UK government".
There were, however, "ways in which pressure can be brought to bear and/or action that could potentially be taken in the event [... that] entities take steps to boycott particular countries, companies or products".
These measures included "lobbying the UK government" given it "traditionally has been supportive of action to prevent boycotts against Israel and anti-Semitic behaviour is in the forefront of our current news agenda".
To this end, Crowell & Moring suggested that the Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI) and Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) lobby groups could be used to exert the required pressure on the UK government.
The law firm also suggested that the Israeli authorities could seek a judicial review of any measures implemented in support of establishing or promoting the database.
The UK government has always opposed the UN's database, despite regarding Israeli settlements as illegal under international law.
Comment: Doublethink at its finest
Palestine Solidarity Campaign's Ben Jamal commented: "The advice to the Israeli government to use groups like LFI and CFI raises further questions about the role such groups play in shaping UK policy in support of Israel regardless of its abuses of human rights and international humanitarian law".
The Conservative Party, which denied Declassified access to its annual conference this week, did not respond to a request for comment.
Israel's embassy in London and its justice ministry were also approached for comment.
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