Shades of the hijackers passport found in the WTC rubble, methinks.

The Daily Telegraph, owned by Conrad Black, is part of the Hollinger Group, which also owns the Jerusalem Post, a right wing Israeli newspaper. (Tip: Ha'aretz is more liberal and objective, plus of course there's all the Israeli peace group websites which totally reject the Sharon vision). Their share value is doing very badly, as the financial press reveal, so a boost in sales would be warmly welcomed.

Influential chickenhawk Richard Perle is also a director of Hollinger and a personal friend of Conrad Black. Both are chums of Ariel Sharon.

Black's wife, Barbara Amiel, frequently writes for the Telegraph and has been described as "a zionist fanatic". Read her work and make your own conclusions. Certainly the Telegraph is pro-Sharon and reserves its bile for Zimbabwe. Had Mugabe's goons killed a British UN worker the Telegraph would have had pages of scathing condemnation. When Israel shot Briton Iain Hook, a senior worker in the Occupied Territories, the Telegraph briefly reported and then moved on.

While the Daily Telegraph is more fusty old colonel than neo-Labour, Blairs' and Conrad Blacks views on the Middle East mesh perfectly. The Telegraph was a prime cheerleader for invading Iraq, a policy strongly supported by Ariel Sharon. Israel will now get to siphon oil from a new pipeline straight from Iraq. Neighbouring Syria loses out now that the Iraq/Syria pipeline has been blown up. Israel's position as regional superpower (complete with huge arsenal of weapons of mass destruction) will be cemented for the near future.

Blairs position on the Middle East is surely influenced by his Middle East advisor, Lord Levy. After all, that's what he's for. Lord Levy is one of the most important fundraisers for the Labour Party, and he gained his title right after the '97 election. Levy also acted as fundraiser for Ehud Barak, former Israeli Prime Minister, with whom he has close ties. He has a luxury villa in Tel Aviv and his son Daniel worked for Israeli Justice Minister Yossi Beilin.

All these people share a very common vision of an expanded Israel, which is rejected by many Israeli's and much of the rest of the world - rather like the invasion of Iraq.

The Galloway smear is a sinister example of the depths to which they will sink to achieve that vision.



Hi Conrad,

Just a quick word of thanks for your marvellous smear of Galloway. Ariel sends his thanks too, and asks if you found the forged papers better than the Niger/Iraq papers he helped provide.

Lets hope so!

All the best,

Richard.

ps.
Ariel says the $12billion won't cover all the new settlements we've got planned (once we've "cleansed" those Palestinians) so could you lean on Tony Blair for some more? Shouldn't be a problem. After all, he kept his mouth firmly shut about that British UN chief we gunned down, so he's obviously on board for the full ride. Greater Israel here we come!