British MP probed for hiding payments from anti-Israel group

Crispin Blunt, a director of the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians, has reportedly been tardy in declaring income from the organization.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

A longtime British MP is currently being probed for hiding income that he received from a vehemently anti-Israel group that he directs, the Jewish Chronicle reported Sunday.

The investigation by the Standards Commissioner is looking into Crispin Blunt for being tardy in declaring at least 10 payments from the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) that came to over £20,000, from last August until this June. In one case, he reported the income almost 11 months late, the JC said.

Blunt also did not register the fact with the proper authorities that he is one of two directors of the British lobbying group.

The ICJP, which calls Israel an “apartheid state,” promotes lawfare against Israel, such as by filing cases in the International Criminal Court in the Hague for alleged “land theft.” Immediately following the IDF’s three-day Operation Breaking Dawn against the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization earlier this month, the ICJP termed the pinpoint airstrikes a “violation of international law” and “a breach of rights of [the region’s] Palestinian residents.”

It also called for the Metropolitan Police’s War Crimes Unit “to investigate the recruitment of British citizens to the IDF in full combat roles via the Mahal programme.”  Mahal is an option for young non-Israelis who are potentially eligible for immigration to join the Israeli army for a voluntary 18-month term of service.

Blunt has long been a vocal critic of Israel, saying as far back as 1999 that the Palestinian people have suffered “a Holocaust of equal proportions” at Israeli hands.

He has defended Israel’s most implacable foes as well. Last November, acknowledging during a House of Commons debate that Hamas’ indiscriminate launching of missiles into Israel was “unlawful,” he claimed it would be better if they hit “legitimate targets” in Israel. “Under international law,” he said, Hamas has “a legal right to resist.”

In December, he criticized the UKs decision to ban Hamas in its entirety, and not only its “military wing.”

Blunt appears to have also been involved with the Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU), an NGO that is “prepared to stand up for Arab and Palestinian rights” and works to counter the “Israel lobby,” according to NGO Monitor.

Blunt’s November remarks led to calls for the Conservative lawmaker to be expelled from the party. In May, Blunt announced that after a 25-year career in politics, he would not run for re-election in two years’ time.