Scumbag Politicians

The headline in the BBC News runs: Priti Patel held undisclosed meetings in Israel. The article went on to say that:

The International Development Secretary held undisclosed meetings in Israel without telling the Foreign Office while accompanied by an influential pro-Israeli Conservative lobbyist, the BBC has learned. Priti Patel met the leader of one of Israel's main political parties and made visits to several organisations where official departmental business was reportedly discussed. According to one source, at least one of the meetings was held at the suggestion of the Israeli ambassador to London. In contrast, British diplomats in Israel were not informed about Ms Patel's plans. Ministers are by convention supposed to tell the Foreign Office when they are conducting official business overseas.

Clearly she was up to no good and surprisingly the final part of the article alludes to her possible motives:

The UK currently sends about £68m a year to support the Palestinian territories, most of it from DFID's budget. Some of the money is given directly to the Palestinian Authority, the rest through the local UN agency or individual groups.

Critics claim that instead of just supporting Palestinian refugees and institutions, the money has also been used to pay salaries to Palestinians jailed for terrorism-related offences. 

Ms Patel has long been a critic of this funding. She tightened up the guidelines on Palestinian spending last year, focusing more on health and education, but one Foreign Office source said that she had recently tried to go further, presenting a paper to the prime minister and the foreign secretary for yet more restrictions on the funding.

"But they were not particularly impressed by her arguments," said one Foreign Office source. Another said: "She has been trying this for some time. She has been pushing to get her hands on the PA aid budget and we have been pushing back." 

Others suggested Ms Patel was getting close to CFI in preparation for a future leadership contest. One Whitehall source said: "I have always understood it to be part of her leadership ambitions, if she has got people from CFI who are prepared to put money into her." 

Not surprisingly, Israel works unrelentingly to reduce support or funding for the beleaguered Palestinians while supporting the ambitions of politicians like Priti Patel who are staunchly pro-Israel. Western politicians who are foolish enough to be openly critical of the Israeli government's policies would, one suspects, be actively undermined in all sorts of ways by the Israelis. They have no moral qualms, believing that any activity furthering the interests of Israel is a good thing.

Meanwhile, I quite like this cartoon that says a lot in a very compact way: