Israel invests heavily in public diplomacy worldwide, pouring hundreds of millions of euros — alongside contributions from private donors — into efforts to shape its global image. Yet the European Leadership Network (ELNET), the largest and most influential pro-Israel lobbying organisation in Europe, has attracted remarkably little scrutiny over its 18-year history, even as public interest in Israel’s overseas activities has grown.
This cross-border investigation analysed large volumes of public records across multiple countries and languages, supplemented by targeted inquiries and interviews. The findings call into question ELNET’s claims of independence, political neutrality and commitment to democratic values.
They uncover previously unreported connections with Israeli government bodies and expose overlaps between ELNET’s leadership, the administration of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli settler lobby. In addition, ELNET’s U.S. funding streams reveal a notable dependence on right-wing donors to sustain its European operations.
The team’s first publication, in Mediapart, shed light on the opaque nature of ELNET’s diplomatic activities.
It revealed that Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs provided ELNET France with €72,000 to fund an event of the newly launched Global Women’s Coalition Against the Use of Sexual Violence as a Weapon of War, hosted in the French Senate. While the event publicly championed goals such as “promoting international justice for victims”, internal MFA documents described objectives including “promoting legislative changes at the national level” and “strengthening Israel’s political and image status abroad”.
Further reporting by the team uncovered a series of irregularities in ELNET’s public disclosures — from the failure of its French branch to register as an organisation receiving foreign funding, to instances of German parliamentarians neglecting to declare ELNET-sponsored trips as potential political contributions.
More to come soon…