Dr. Miri Weingarten of Physicians for Human Rights-Israel was booted from not one but two scheduled talks at UK-based hospitals. The British Medical Journal reports:

The Jewish Chronicle criticised the Zionist Central Council for attempting to stifle free speech rather than attending the lectures and challenging the speaker. Its editorial concluded: “The sound of shot feet resonates throughout north-west England” (Jewish Chronicle, 30 Oct, p 30).

Karen Solomon of the Zionist Central Council said, “Miri Weingarten is known in Israeli circles as anti-Israel. Originally we had no intention of stopping the meeting, but we believe that anything political should not be held on NHS premises.”

Asad Khan, a consultant physician at Fairfield General Hospital and organiser of Ms Weingarten’s lecture tour, said, “The whole idea that PHRI [Physicians for Human Rights-Israel] is antisemitic or even anti-Israel is ludicrous, given that the organisation is overwhelmingly comprised of Jewish Israelis, of whom Miri is one. This was a medical meeting by invitation only in a hospital and was no business of the general public.”

Also in the UK, Channel 4 has a new investigative documentary on the role the pro-Israel lobby plays in funding the Tories.

At least half of the shadow cabinet are members of the Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI), according to a Dispatches programme being screened on Channel 4. The programme-makers describe the CFI as “beyond doubt the most well- connected and probably the best funded of all Westminster lobbying groups”.

Inside Britain’s Israel Lobby claims that donations to the Conservative party “from all CFI members and their businesses add up to well over £10m over the last eight years”. CFI has disputed the figure and called the film “deeply flawed”.

The program also delves into other unsurprising-for-American facts like the connection between at least one influential billionaire donor and West Bank interests, and the conflict of interest with media outlets.

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