The powerful pro-Israel lobby pulling the EU’s strings

We've all heard about the American Israel

Public Affairs Committee, or APEC, the

powerful pro-israel lobby group shaping

US politics. But little is known about

its main counterparts operating across

the Atlantic in Europe and England that's

quietly pulling strings in both the EU

and British parliaments. So who's

behind the group, what do they want and

why are they operating under the radar?

Meet El Net, Europe's most influential

Israel lobby group. El Net, which stands

for European Leadership Network, presents

itself as an NGO promoting shared

democratic values between Europe and

Israel. But a closer look reveals an

entirely different agenda. Founded in

2007 with offices across Europe and

England, El Net's purpose is to align

European MP's with pro-israel narratives

and to ensure that Tel Aviv's interests

get a direct line into European

decision-making. The man behind it?

Ranan Elias, who first dealt with

European affairs at AIPAC and later at

the Israeli National Security Council.

His words in 2008 were clear. If

groups like ours had even 10% of the

budget of US pro Israel lobbies, we

could change European policies. And

that's exactly what Elnat has been trying

to do.

But how is El Nat influencing European

and British politicians?Simple

direct engagement. El Nat cultivates

personal ties with key figures and

individual lawmakers. As a core tactic,

it sends lawmakers on luxury, all

expenses paid trips to Israel, framing

them as educational experiences. In the

first seven months after Tel Aviv

launched its genocidal war on Palestine's

Gaza on October 7th, 2023, Elnet

arranged over 20 trips, sending nearly

300 parliamentarians from both the

EU and the UK to Israel. But these

trips aren't just for show. They're

designed to get MPs on board with

Israel's narratives and to push Tel

Aviv's agenda into related policies.

Among the many attendees were UK

politicians Andrew Percy. And Anthony

Higginbotham, who declared that the

troops were donations. Numerous UK Labour

Party members also received money from

Elnat amid Israel's ongoing war on Gaza.

A 2024 report by Declassified

UK revealed that nine Conservative

MPs received funds from pro Israel

groups, including Elnat, and key figures

like John Woodcock, the Baron of Walney,

joined Elnat's online briefings about Tel

Aviv's atrocities in the Palestinian

enclave. El Net's lobbying led to

increased support among EU politicians

for Israeli policies that had previously

come under heavy criticism from some EU

member states and neutralized opposition

to Tel Aviv's actions in Palestine, such

as those related to its illegal

settlements or its brutal war on Gaza.

El Net Israel CEO Emmanuel Navon says

parliamentary delegations to Israel

directly impact the level of support Tel

Aviv receives from Western countries. In

May 2024, he told supporters that El Net

had influenced the European Parliament's

resolution conditioning a Gaza

ceasefire and the release of Israeli

hostages and the defeat of Hamas.

Now, this resolution would never have

been passed without the many years of

work done by El Net or those

parliamentarians that have literally

turned them around as pro Israeli as

being pro Israel after visiting Israel.

So the question now is, besides Israel,

who else is funding El Net?

Unsurprisingly, tracking the money leads

us back across the Atlantic to the US. El

Net's primary funding comes from private

donations often linked to anti Muslim

groups and prominent pro Israel and pro

Republican billionaires. For years, El

Net has copied the modus operandi of the

US's Israeli lobbies. The group's US

based fundraising arm called Friends of

El Net or Fel Net. Is led by former

Israeli diplomat David Siegel, who also

overseas a majority of El Net's budget.

Fel Net raised over $7,000,000 in

2022, a million more than in

2021. Other donors include Bernie Marcus,

the co-founder of Home Depot, and

billionaire Larry Meisel, as well as the

Lisa and Michael Lafell Foundation linked

to billionaire investor Michael Lafell.

Funding also comes in from American

billionaires tied to various

transatlantic groups promote

Islamophobia. And finance illegal Israeli

settlements such as Miriam Adelson and

Nina Rosenwald. Still, since

Elnet's budgets and donors are only

partially disclosed and information about

the exact allocations of funds remains

scarce, the influence of the group's

undisclosed contributions on European

policy making warrants further

scrutiny.

Elnet's lobbying also extends into. The

tech, defense and business sectors. The

lobby group uses its influence to secure

lucrative trade deals with EU countries.

These deals promote the use of Israeli

defense and tech firms in sectors like

cybersecurity, AI and Agritech.

In 2017, Alnet successfully lobbied for

the continuation of the European Israeli

Association Agreement, which is a legal

framework aimed at fostering political

dialogue and Economic cooperation between

Tel Aviv and the EU. These efforts help

Israeli companies access EU funding and

markets. So after peeling back a

few layers of Elnet's vast

operations across Europe, we have to ask

who's really benefiting more from this

lobby group, Europe citizens or Israel?