A WESTMINSTER group focused on Israel has refused to reveal how it is funded.
The all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on Israel has been reported to Parliament’s standards watchdog, facing questions about its finances.
APPGs are groups for MPs and peers who meet to discuss specialist topics, often focused on countries or specific political issues.
The APPG on Israel is chaired by Bob Blackman, a Conservative MP, and Damien Egan, a Labour MP.
It has extensive links with a company called Cedars Oak Ltd and has previously accepted money from the Israeli government.
Cedar Oaks Ltd is registered both in Britain and in Israel. According to publicly available data published in Israel, it has no income and no expenses.
It is owned by Lord Mendelsohn and Lord Polak, who former Tory minister Alan Duncan (below) last year said should be removed from the House of Lords because “he is exercising the interests of [Israel], not that of the parliament in which he sits”.
The group recently published a report on Hamas’s attacks of October 7, 2023, in which resulted in 1182 deaths and the capture of 210 hostages.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign against Palestinians has resulted in more than 50,000 deaths, the invasion of Syria and Lebanon and the country’s rulers facing accusations of genocide in international courts.
It was funded by Cedars Oak Ltd, but this is excluded from the group’s latest entry – published after the report – in the Register of All-Parliamentary Groups.
Both Lord Roberts, the report’s author, and Talia Ingleby, who works for Lord Mendelsohn, the APPG and Cedars Oak Ltd, were gifted “fact-finding” trips to Israel by Cedars Oak Ltd during the period the document was being researched and written.
According to Cedars Oak Ltd’s latest UK accounts, the private company owed £89,451 at the end of 2023.
Campaigner Gary Spedding has reported the APPG to the UK Parliament’s Standards Commissioner, raising concerns about Cedars Oak Ltd’s funding and questioning whether it has benefitted from funding from the Israeli government.
Foreign governments were banned from funding APPGs in 2023 through the provision of secretariat services, though they are able to give gifts including, for example, the funding of a dinner hosted by the group and its embassy.
Spedding asked the Commissioner to look into “why the APPG has not included in its registerable benefits declaration any mention of the financial support provided by CedarsOak Ltd in relation to the recently published report of the APPG”.
The National understands the APPG is within the 28-day period for reporting interests to the register.
The APPG on Israel has been asked why the gifts from Cedars Oak have not yet been recorded on the register and where the company’s funding comes from.
The APPG on Israel did not respond to requests for comment.
A spokesperson for the Standards Commissioner said they “cannot answer as to whether a complaint has been received” if it is not reported on its list of ongoing investigations.
At the time of writing the watchdog had only two ongoing investigations, neither of which related to people associated with the APPG on Israel.
