A SCOTTISH Labour MP has been slammed for taking an all-expenses-paid trip to Israel funded by a Zionist lobbying group.
Graeme Downie was flown out to the Middle East by lobbying group Labour Friends of Israel (LFI), which also paid for his accommodation and food during his visit.
The new MP for Dunfermline and Dollar (below) visited Israel and the illegally-occupied West Bank during the trip, which took place in September last year, before Hamas’s attacks on October 7 sparked the devastating bombardment of Gaza.
According to Downie’s entry in the register of members’ interests, the “fact-finding” trip cost a total of £2200 and saw him meet Israeli and Palestinian politicians, academics, activists and diplomats.
LFI, which is run as a limited company, does not reveal who funds it though its website notes it “does not receive any money from the Israeli government or the Israeli Embassy” and is bankrolled by “the generosity of members of the Jewish community and those who share our commitment to the State of Israel”.
According to its latest accounts, the company had £94,059 in the bank at the end of December 2022 and employs four members of staff.
Downie has faced criticism for the trip with campaigners claiming it called into question his “integrity and impartiality when it comes to Israel”.
Gerry Coutts, of the campaign group Scottish Friends of Palestine said: “How can Graeme Downie claim to serve the interests of his electorates while being actively courted by pro-Israel lobbies?
“He accepted a fully funded trip to meet with Israeli officials which further puts in question his integrity and impartiality when it comes to Israel, the world’s longest illegal occupation, a well-documented apartheid regime that now stands accused by the International Court of Justice of committing a genocide against Palestinians.
“The Labour Party has a long history of supporting the Israeli colonisation of Palestine. LFI has existed since the 1950s and does not disclose where it gets its funding but has close ties with the Israeli state.
“What we see here is a foreign state cultivating politicians early on in their careers to serve its interests.”
A spokesperson for Downie said “The trip was undertaken in September 2023 and involved a visit to Israel and an UNWRA refugee camp in the West Bank for meetings with politicians from the Palestinian Authority, third sector groups and charities along and Israeli government officials.
“All declarations have been made in line with parliamentary rules to ensure transparency.”
Downie, a former Labour councillor in Fife, was the only Scottish MP to have recorded gifts from LFI in the latest Westminster register of interests but several other English MPs have.
Labour have faced criticism for their stance on Israel, with the party accused of a sluggish response to concerns the country is committing war crimes in its assault on Gaza.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy has cancelled the previous Tory administration’s objections to international arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders – but has been dragging his feet on whether the UK should ban arms exports to Israel.
LFI was approached for comment.
