Episode 72: The Balfour Project of normalization

First aired on June 10, 2023

Arthur Balfour is a name that rings through history for his role as Foreign Secretary of Britain in 1917. He issued a statement of the British intention to assist in the invention of a Zionist regime in Palestine.

There have long been calls for accountability for Britain's role in establishing the squatter entity on top of Palestine, and much of the discussion centers around Balfour's fateful letter. It seems that the righteous indignation many feel about this is being taken advantage of.

Now an organization calling itself the Balfour Project and claiming to work for a greater understanding of Britain's role in the colonization of Palestine actually seems to be a British establishment vehicle for normalizing Israel.

The Balfour Project, which has been able to gain the support of key Palestinian figures, is headed by Vincent Fean, former British Ambassador to Libya. Parallel to his role at the Balfour Project, Vincent Fean was, until recently, an advisor to the private intelligence firm MS Risk.

The CEO of MS Risk is Liam Morrisey, who at the same time serves as a lieutenant colonel in the British Army. One of MS Risk's functions is "reducing the impact of direct and indirect terrorist threats."

Another key figure at the Balfour Project is Andrew Whiteley, who describes himself as a conflict reduction strategist. He is the founder of a consulting firm named Geo-Political Advisory Services. The Scottish registration documents for the Balfour Project clearly state that its aim is conflict resolution, a byword for normalization with Israel.

The Balfour Project has regularly hosted former Israeli ambassadors over the years and proudly sponsors students as part of a Peace Advocacy Fellowship.

Pride of place on the website is given to a post celebrating a letter of encouragement to the Balfour Project signed by 23 prominent Israelis. These exact names are not easy to track down, though.

The current programs manager at the Balfour Project is Martha Scott-Cracknell, who is also simultaneously the project manager at the pro-Zionist normalization operation, The Forum for Discussion of Israel-Palestine. FODIP (as it is known) is funded by key Israeli lobbyist Trevor Pears and shares an office address with Israeli lobby groups. Why would the allegedly pro-Palestinian Balfour Project share an employee with such an organization?

In the 2020 Balfour Project annual report, it is stated that Matan Rosenstrauch was appointed as a consultant to strengthen relations with the Jewish community. He is currently listed as the Balfour Project's Peace Advocacy Fellowship Coordinator.

Simultaneously with that job at the Balfour Project, Rosenstrauch works for the Israeli political party Meretz. The party was part of the Israeli government coalition backing Prime Ministers Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett.

So the Balfour Project employed someone simultaneously employed by an Israeli governing party.

Perhaps all is not it seems...