Reut Institute

The Israel Palestine Mission Network (IPMN) of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has hit back strongly at a smear campaign from a major pro-Israel group aimed at portraying it as “anti-Semitic.”

In responding to allegations from the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), IPMN stated:

Israel’s Reut Institute, which notoriously called on Israeli government agencies to “sabotage” and “attack” the Palestine solidarity movement – and then tried to conceal it – is claiming credit for “price tag” attacks on The Electronic Intifada, the Palestine Return Centre, the Irvine 11 and others.

An anti-Palestinian conference due to take place in the UK tomorrow has barred The Electronic Intifada from attending the event, despite admitting other journalists will be given free entry.

“The Big Tent For Israel” in Manchester will bring together an alliance of pro-Israel groups specifically to combat the increasingly successful Palestinian campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS). New Israeli ambassador Daniel Tuab is due to address the conference as keynote speaker, according to its program.

The event is focused on a 2010 report by influential Israeli think tank the Reut Institute, which named London as the “hub of hubs of delegitimization”.

The Reut Institute, a Zionist think tank with close ties to the Israeli government and military establishment, predicts Israel’s new anti-boycott law may backfire.

Gidi Grinstein, the founder and president of Israel’s Reut Institute argues that US President Barack Obama should support the Palestinian Authority’s unilateral efforts to seek recognition of a Palestinian state at the UN in September. The reasons he gives, however, have nothing to do with supporting Palestinian rights, but precisely with negating them