Pro-Israel Lobbying in UK Politics is Very Real. So Why Can't We Debate It?

We have ignored the role of Israel in our political system for far too long. For the sake of British democracy that has to change, argues Owen Jones in his latest scathing column for Zeteo UK.

Pro-Palestine protesters rally near the Houses of Parliament in London on 4 June 2025. Photo by Rasid Necati Aslim/Anadolu via Getty Images

This was always going to be the most predictable parliamentary “debate” imaginable. More than 118,000 British citizens had signed a parliamentary petition calling for a public inquiry into “reported Israeli state-linked and pro-Israel lobbying activity in UK politics”. The backdrop, of course, is British complicity in Israel’s genocide – and, more broadly, the decades-long apartheid, occupation and colonisation endured by the Palestinian people.

Petitions passing 100,000 signatures are put forward for debate by MPs. But most of our representatives did not so much debate the issue last week as reach for well-rehearsed smears.