The Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM) is a UK based organisation which acts to promote awareness of Israel and the Middle East in the UK. BICOM issues materials on the history, economy, culture and politics of Israel, the Middle East peace plan, terrorism in the Middle-East, UK-Israel relations and foreign policy and the future of Palestine. A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... Palestine (Hebrew: , Palestina; Arabic: ‎ Filastīn or Falastīn) is one of several names for the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the banks of the Jordan River with various adjoining lands. ...

BICOM is positioned as a "pro-Israel British lobby group". BICOM's chief executive, until July 2006, was Danny Scheck, a high-level official of the Israeli foreign ministry on a two year leave of absence. He was previously the chief spokesman and director of the press division of Israel’s foreign ministry.[1] He left to become the Israeli ambassador to France.[2] An ambassador, rarely embassador, is a diplomatic official accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization, to serve as the official representative of his or her own country. ...

Establishment and funding

"The need for a body able to orchestrate British Jewry’s political and public relations became apparent to Kerner (head of the United Jewish Israel Appeal) following the outbreak of the second intifada in September 2000, with its disastrous impact on Israel’s image. The day after the intifada began, some 50 leading Jews were summoned to a briefing with the then Israeli ambassador."

"That evening a group of them raised an initial £250,000 fund for pro-Israel lobbying and public relations. First to wave his chequebook was Poju Zabludowicz, a little-known name at the time but now an emerging figure who recently entered the Sunday Times Rich List with an estimated £2 billion, and who owns 40 per cent of downtown Las Vegas."

"As Middle Eastern peace prospects sank beneath the continuing violence, the emergency campaign for Israel morphed into a permanent new body, the British-Israel Research and Communications Centre (Bicom). While a debate goes on in the community’s upper echelons over whether Bicom should remain a mainly-behind-the-scenes player focussing on media or a more upfront pro-Israel lobby similar to the American AIPAC, it has become a potential recruitment ground for a new generation of lay leaders..." ^[1] U.S. President George W. Bush addresses AIPAC members in Washington on May 18, 2004. ...

References

1. ^ "So they say they’re in charge", The Jewish Connection, 12/05/2006

External links

• Organization website
• Entry at Social Science Gateway