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The Israel lobby in the United Kingdom (also called the Zionist lobby)〔Alan Hart former Panorama and BBC Middle Eastern Affairs refers to it as the Zionist Lobby Zionism / The Enemy〕 is the diverse coalition of those who, as individuals and as groups, seek to influence the foreign policy of the United Kingdom to strengthen bilateral ties with Israel, or in support of Zionism, Israel, or the specific policies of its government. The term ''Israel lobby'' itself has been subject to debate and criticism over its clarity and exact definition. Such lobbying in the United Kingdom is far less formalised than in the United States, where lobbying groups or associations may constitute formal entities, and where lobbying in the US with regard to support for Israel is far greater. ==History== What came to be known as "Christian Zionism" emerged in England in the early 19th century when Restoration of the Jews to the Holy Land and futuristic interpretation of apocalyptic texts merged. In 1839 the evangelical Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury called Westminster Parliament to support creation of a Jewish state in Palestine.〔Wagner, Donald E, (Short Fuse to Apocalypse? ), Sojourners Magazine (with registration), July–August 2003.〕 During the 1840s Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston supported a "Jewish entity" allied to the Ottoman Empire as a counterweight to Egypt.〔Clifford A. Kiracofe, (Commentary ), The Daily Star, April 27, 2002.〕 British Journalist Geoffrey Wheatcroft writes that perhaps the "first lobbyist on behalf of the land of Israel" was Theodor Herzl who, after publishing his book ''The Jewish State'' in 1896, and organizing the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland in 1897, met in person British Cabinet ministers and other European officials.〔Geoffrey Wheatcroft, (Most favored nation ), Boston Globe, April 2, 2006.〕 Russian Zionist Chaim Weizmann began the process of convincing Arthur James Balfour, a British Lord, that Palestine should be the Jewish national home and the "British Zionist movement began actively lobbying the British government."〔(Zionism & Israel Information Center )〕 The British Palestine Committee in Manchester also "lobbied for the mandate and Jewish rights in Palestine."〔(The Balfour Declaration, November 2, 1917 ), (Zionism-Israel.com ).〕 Some groups like the influential Board of Deputies of British Jews and Anglo-Jewish Association were the "institutional stronghold of the anti-Zionist camp" and formed a lobby committee to oppose the efforts of Weizmann and his allies.〔Todd M. Endelman, ''(The Jews of Britain, 1656 to 2000 )'', University of California Press, 2002, 171, 193-194 ISBN 0-520-22719-0, ISBN 978-0-520-22719-4〕 In 1917 Weizmann and a small group of Zionists "in a brilliant exercise of sustained persuasion, lobbying, and influence" persuaded the British government to create the Balfour Declaration〔Ahron Bregman, ''(A History of Israel )'', Macmillan, 2003, 16-18 ISBN 0-333-67631-9, ISBN 978-0-333-67631-8〕 which supported "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people."〔 (Weizmann later became the first President of the State of Israel.)〔 However, leaders of Board of Deputies of British Jews and of the Anglo-Jewish Association (who at the time were non-Zionist) considered the Balfour Declaration a “veritable calamity” that would stamp "the Jews as strangers in their native lands."〔 According to the author Ritchie Ovendale, Britain, which held the British Mandate of Palestine ratified by the League of Nations after World War I, abandoned its Zionist sympathies "which had been secured by the Zionist lobby" because of fears of coming war with Nazi Germany. In 1939 Britain limited Jewish immigration to Palestine, thereby becoming to Zionists "the principal enemy." In 1942 Zionists shifted their focus to influencing the United States through use of the "Zionist vote."〔Ritchie Ovendale, ''(The English-speaking Alliance: Britain, the United States, the Dominions and the Cold War 1945-1951 )'', Routledge, 1985, page 92 ISBN 0-04-327078-6〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Israel lobby in the United Kingdom」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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