Interpal have no case to answer

As written on these pages earlier this week, the meeting between the Israeli ambassador and Treasury minister Ivan Lewis is nothing more than tea between friends.

Press speculation has had it that the government, intelligence services and Charity Commission were all ready to put the boot into Interpal. There seems to be no grounds for this on all three counts.

The Sunday Telegraph had reported that Gordon Brown was under "massive domestic and international pressure" to investigate Interpal. As a result, Interpal have written to the Chancellor.

The Scotland on Sunday that same day said "a number of senior Labour figures are keen to revisit the allegations, partly because of pressure from foreign counterparts chiefly in the US and Israel".

However, a source close to the Prime Minister has dismissed the rumours with recognition of the source of them:

"The adverse comments relating to Interpal in the press are without doubt the work of the 'usual troublemakers' and such rumours have no substance in reality. The government has no issue with Interpal, nor are there any attempts to interfere in the work of the Charity Commission."

The Charity Commission themselves have said they will not be cowed:

"The Charity Commission is an independent regulatory body and would profoundly resist all attempts by UK government, foreign governments or any other body to unduly influence its decision making process."

Intelligence sources have also denied having a hand in the recent speculation after the Sunday Telegraph reported that "ministers agreed to talks after the intelligence services advised them to look again at the issue". I understand that the Muslim Contact Unit at Scotland Yard are unaware of any such information being passed and said:

"The Metropolitan Police Muslim Contact Group is working very closely with Muslim community groups, mainly but not exclusively in London, to tackle the terrorist threat. There is a clear recognition that Interpal's work in the Occupied Territories and Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon is an important part of the wider efforts to address one of the perceived root causes of dissatisfaction among, particularly, Muslim youth."

The press speculation can therefore be said to be tosh. This was established by contacting the relevant people concerned. None of the mainstream media bothered themselves to do that this week.

Meanwhile, I understand that Interpal are looking into legal action against Stephen Pollard, the Jerusalem Post and Telegraph. The latter had agreed in an out of court settlement in 1997 not to print such allegations against Interpal again.

Pollard has now taken off his "a vote for Galloway is, quite literally, a vote for terror" comment from his website and issued a half-baked apology (hat tip to Islamophobia Watch).

For more background on the Interpal story see Board of Deputies apologise to Interpal, GG nominates Interpal as BB charity, Knives remain out for Interpal and Israeli embassy repeats Interpal terror claim. BOND, the UK's largest network of NGOs, has done a lot of advocacy in defence of Interpal (hat tip to Khan of Worms for that one).