Arms dealer among shadowy pro-Israel figures who financed Werritty

British Scandal Linked to Pro-Israel Groups - Resignation of Defense Secretary Linked to Shadowy Pal's Trips
Kevin O'Sullivan in Forward, October 28, 2011

The scandal that led to the recent resignation of Britain’s high-powered defense minister has laid bare a seamy underside to the funding and influencing of politicians in the United Kingdom, and the donors of some of the country’s key pro-Israel groups appear to be near the center of the affair.

Liam Fox, who resigned his defense post October 14, has been forced to explain the nature of his relationship with Adam Werritty, a longtime personal friend, after it was revealed that Werritty had been traveling abroad while representing himself as an official emissary of the defense minister with Fox’s knowledge. Werritty’s travels included forays to Iran, where he reportedly met with opposition activists, and to Israel, where he is said to have met with Israeli intelligence agents, including the director of the Mossad.

With no official position, Werritty could not pay for his travels via the government. In fact, his travel was funded by a nongovernmental organization he established in which three of the six principal donors are linked to pro-Israel organizations...

In the United States, the pro-Israel lobby is large and vocal, and wields considerable influence in the national body politic. It also operates fairly openly and has been subject to frequent scrutiny. But across the Atlantic, Jewish interest groups have traditionally operated far more quietly and have been subjected to much less examination...

Now the focus has shifted to Pargav, the not-for-profit organization that Werritty set up to fund his travels on Fox’s behalf. Among its major donors is Mick Davis, chair of the board of trustees of the Jewish Leadership Council and chairman of the United Jewish Israel Appeal. Davis, 52, is also chief executive of the mining company Xstrata, listed in the top 100 companies on the London Stock Exchange, with a market value of about $65 billion.

The millionaire businessman has declined to go into detail about why he decided to donate money to Pargav. But he has also paid about $240,000 to the Conservative Party and $12,000 to Education Minister Michael Gove, another staunchly pro-Israel Cabinet minister.
The second donor, Chaim ‘Poju’ Zabludowicz, is a flamboyant ex-arms dealer who contributed slightly less than $5,000 through his investment firm, Tamares. The London-based billionaire, who counts Madonna as a close friend, is also a key figure in BICOM, which is regarded roughly as the trans-Atlantic equivalent of Washington’s American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

The third notable donor is financier Michael Lewis, a former BICOM deputy chairman who gave $47,000 to Pargav.
All three men — who are understood to be close friends — have since distanced themselves from Werritty. But the fact remains that their money helped fund, at least in part, some of his 18 trips abroad on Fox’s coattails since 2009. In total, Werritty was present at about 40 of Fox’s 70 recorded engagements, domestic or otherwise, while Fox was in office.

Another aspect of the affair focuses on Howard Leigh, who is the Conservative Party’s treasurer and is also vice president of the Jewish Leadership Council, a body with representatives from community and religious groups, including Davis. In his role as Conservative Party treasurer, Leigh reportedly encouraged wealthy donors to fund Fox’s interests and office; in turn, Fox introduced them to Werritty.
The outcry over these donations has led to calls for a central registry of lobby groups, which the government is under mounting pressure to create. Kehoe said that his group, BICOM, would view any move toward such a registry as “perfectly reasonable...”

Last February, Werritty arranged a dinner attended by Fox, Matthew Gould, who is Britain’s ambassador to Israel, and senior Israeli political figures at a security conference in Herzliya, Israel. Sanctions against Iran were reportedly discussed at the dinner. Crucially, it is understood that Israeli intelligence agents, including then-Mossad chief Meir Dagan, also attended the meeting...

Werritty was CEO of the charity the Atlantic Bridge, which was founded by Fox to promote close relations between America and the U.K. The Atlantic Bridge was found last year to be operating with political purposes in violation of U.K. rules. The Charity Commission, the country’s regulatory body for charities, ordered it to cease its activities “immediately.” The Atlantic Bridge’s trustees closed the charity in July...

Jewish communal leaders hope that the scandal won’t sully the reputation of pro-Israel groups...Lee Scott, a Jewish member of Parliament from Ilford North, just outside London [said] “Normally there’s stuff put up on blogs, some of it quite nasty, but there’s been nothing I’ve seen so far. I think we need to wait a few more weeks to fully understand if there will be any effect.”
Contact Kevin O’Sullivan at feedback@forward.com

Full report in Forward 04 Nov 2011