What did Lisa Nandy talk about with Israeli officials? I tried to find out

Reality as presented by much of the British media goes through many contortions to obscure the genocide in Gaza. When the government and establishment are engaged in denial on this level, for this long, many morbid symptoms occur. Mostly, it involves demonising the messenger, and silencing the voice of Palestinians.

Take a recent example. In newspapers and parliament, the biggest scandal of the spring and early summer was the broadcast of two documentaries on the Israeli war against Gaza. 

Not the genocide in Gaza. But the presentation of the genocide in a way that might reveal the truth of Israel’s crimes.

Both films presented the story from the point of view of Palestinians. One, Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone, was shown briefly before being blocked from the BBC iPlayer. 

The other, Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, was kept off the BBC for months, then banned, then shown on Channel 4 in July.

Apparently, because of an outcry from Israel and pro-Israel complainants, the films were deemed unbalanced and editorially flawed due to a number of spurious claims.

Then, to top off this manufactured scandal, the BBC broadcast of the Glastonbury festival inadvertently allowed millions to see that artists and audiences at the famous music event support Palestine and were very much against Israel’s genocide. 

That we were able to see this, including the bands Kneecap and Bob Vylan, was deemed a grave mistake, sparking a witch-hunt led by Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, who wanted people sacked for their role in broadcasting the pro-Palestine artists at Glastonbury.

Witch-hunt over Glastonbury

I wrote a freedom of information (FOI) request to the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) earlier this summer seeking information on Nandy’s correspondence with Israeli officials regarding the banned BBC documentaries, and also Nandy’s intervention demanding punishment for those involved in the BBC’s broadcast of Glastonbury.

Nandy’s outrage over Glastonbury, including Bobby Vylan’s infamous chant, “Death, death to the IDF” (Israeli army), can be contrasted with her failure to condemn Israel’s mass slaughter of Palestinian civilians, including more than 20,000 children.

“I have asked the question to the board [of the BBC]. Why has nobody been fired?” Nandy told the Times. “What I want is an explanation as to why not. If it is a sackable offence then obviously that should happen.”

I received a reply to my FOI request from the DCMS late last month. Instead of providing information about Nandy’s contacts with Israeli officials, I was given a long-winded explanation of why this could not be provided under the UK’s Freedom of Information rules.

The only correspondence released was a banal email chain about arrangements for the far-right Israeli ambassador Tzipi Hotovely’s meeting with Nandy in July (already in the public domain, thanks to an FOI request in Israel).

Hotovely once called the Nakba – the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948 – an “Arab lie”, and is a long-time opponent of the creation of a Palestinian state.

The DCMS spokesperson wrote: “We have dealt with your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act). I can confirm that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport does have information within scope of your request.

“However, we consider some information to be exempt from release under section 27 (International relations)(1)(a) of the Act. Section 27(1)(a) considers information exempt, subject to both the prejudice test and the public interest test, if the release of information would be likely to prejudice (a) relations between the United Kingdom and another state, in this instance, Israel.

“The department considers that the release of this information would likely prejudice the relations as covered by the exemption.”

Protecting UK ties with Israel

The DCMS letter continued explaining that transparency was important, but not more important than our ties with Israel: “Whilst considering the above arguments, the department has considered the stronger, more specific public interest in protecting relations between the United Kingdom and Israel.

“Ultimately a relationship with other states that is prejudiced is clearly not in the public interest and in this case, we have decided the balance of interest lies in withholding the information you have requested.”

Pro-Israel businessman Stuart Roden provided support for Nandy’s role as shadow international development minister worth £40,000

There is a circular argument to the withholding of the correspondence between Nandy and the ambassador and other correspondence that I requested.

The DCMS claims that releasing it would prejudice UK relations with Israel. But the mass protests about UK complicity in Israeli’s genocide are precisely demanding an end to the UK’s close relations with Israel.

Polls show big majorities believe that the UK should stop supplying weapons to Israel and support sanctions against Israel. But the government refuses to take any concrete actions against Israel on trade, ending all weapons supplies, or in support of legal cases for crimes against humanity against its leaders.

Nandy’s office accepted a policy adviser from well-known pro-Israel lobbyist Trevor Chinn from March 2023 to March 2024, valued at £19,000, according to the members’ register of interests. Another pro-Israel businessman, Stuart Roden, provided support for her role as shadow international development minister in 2024, worth £40,000.

Eurovision and the World Cup

I asked the DCMS whether the UK would be following the lead of Spain, Slovenia and other European governments calling for Israel to be removed from the 2026 Eurovision song contest and the 2026 World Cup, in the same way Russia was removed from those major events following its invasion of Ukraine.

The department replied: “Participation in international sports events is a matter for the relevant international sport federations, and the national representatives to those federations.”

Israel’s place in Eurovision has become increasingly controversial and toxic, but it is an emblem of its claim to be just another western democracy, despite its military rule and illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and ethnic cleansing in Gaza. The DCMS washes its hands of this, saying: “It is for the European Broadcasting Union, in consultation with its members, to decide which countries are allowed to participate in Eurovision.”

Another case of the UK failing to act against Israel in a meaningful way that will hold it accountable for genocide and ongoing war crimes.

Nandy is the secretary of state for culture and media in the UK, but appears to expend a lot of energy protecting Israel from the free expression of artists against genocide and filmmakers who are documenting the genocide, while failing to use her office to hold Israel to account.

The public interest is to know why.