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Category: israel

  • “I am not a hero. I am terrified” – Palestinian doctor on the horrors of Israel’s genocide

    Palestinian doctor Ali Tahrawi, who has so far survived Israel’s genocide and its targeting of healthcare workers, has published a moving, harrowing message to the world – and to its ‘leaders’ who collaborate in Israel’s genocide.

    Ali Tahrawi: I am terrified

    I am not a hero. I am terrified, terrorized; as I sit on my couch, watching a drone gets closer to my house. I feel unbearably helpless before my dying patients. Countless times, I’ve failed to piece together the shattered bodies of children.

    I am a human being, abandoned by other humans; left to be torn apart by mad beasts and forced to beg for mercy from a pig, a butcher, who has unleashed hell on me and my family. What a sick, unbearable joke.

    Gaza is being wiped out as I write this. The explosions haven’t stopped since morning, and the sky’s been all day thick with smoke. And that yellow coward [Trump] claims to be Gaza’s “peace man”? No; you are cursed by everyone in Gaza: by all the mothers, all the children, and every soul burned by the hell you’ve unleashed upon us.

    Translation of what Ranaa wrote after seeing footage of a stray dog trying to eat an old woman in the street: “This is my mum, it’s her, it’s her. I swear to Allah, she’s my mum.”

    A nurse was shot this morning in the head by occupation forces while on duty at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. His name is Marwan Abdeen.

    My neighbour Ahmad, who suffered a head injury in the market attack, died this morning.

    Three young men; my closest neighbours; Abood, Sari, and Ahmad, were all martyred in a single day, in separate attacks.

    May they rest in peace. And may those who killed them rot in hell.

    I’m going now to offer condolences to Ahmad’s family. Two days ago, on my way to the hospital, I offered condolences to Sari’s family.

    But there’s no one left from Abood’s family to console; they were all martyred. Gaza’s sky is never free of smoke, nor of souls rising.

    Ahmad’s brother told me they had to carry him from the market, through our street, to reach the hospital. He also told me that Ahmad had just welcomed a baby daughter one week ago.

    Ahmad had been planning to evacuate with his mother, who suffers from brain tumours and a stroke, and who
    can’t even find paracetamol for her headaches

    Ali Tahrawi closed his message with some words for fascist US president Donald Trump and his supporters:

    Trump [said]: “I challenge the Palestinians to take responsibility for their destiny, because this is what we are offering them; we are giving them responsibility for their destiny.”

    Damn you, and every corrupt leader like you. You turned our homeland into hell, and now you pretend to care about our lives; even daring to say that if we are erased, it will be our responsibility, simply because we demand justice before peace.

    Damn you and your so-called peace. Damn your nations that failed to save mine.

    World, I speak with absolute honesty: what is happening to us in Gaza is far worse than genocide, far worse than hell. It’s indescribable. They are killing everyone and destroying everything at a speed we’ve never seen before; all because Trump wanted to brand himself a “man of peace.”

    And I have a message for you, Mr. Trump: fuck you. Fuck every Arab and Muslim leader who stood by in silence and now dares to pretend that Israel and the US want peace for us. Fuck all the cowardly leaders who are talking about you like if you were a god, offering us mercy and redemption.

    And fuck anyone who ever believed you were a man of peace. I curse this complicit world.

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Horrific video shows Gaza nurse shot in head through window by Israeli drone

    Horrific CCTV footage from a Gaza hospital shows the moment when Palestinian nurse Marwan Abdeen was shot in the head, through a side-room window, by an Israeli drone yesterday.

    Western ‘mainstream’ media have ignored it:

    Marwan Abdeen: shot by an Israeli drone

    Marwan Abdeen reportedly survived the attempted murder, with the bullet grazing his head and causing a relatively superficial wound:

    As author Assal Rad pointed out, while Al Jazeera has mentioned the attempted murder – Abdeen apparently survived with only a superficial wound after the bullet grazed his head – western media are silent:

    She added, before reports that Abdeen survived the attack:

    Israel can assassinate a doctor and it’s not even a news story.

    Irish Healthcare Workers 4 Palestine condemned the attack and called on government to finally take meaningful action and on supporters to lobby their political representatives:

    Attacking healthcare workers is a war crime under international law. The International Committee of the Red Cross notes that:

    In times of armed conflict, international humanitarian law (IHL) provides rules to protect access to health care. These rules bind States and non-State armed groups

    Israel is a rogue and terror state – and Marwan Abdeen is another victim of it.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • International athletes call for FIFA and UEFA to suspend Israeli clubs and national team

    Nearly 50 prominent athletes of various nationalities and backgrounds, including France’s Paul Pogba and Morocco’s Hakim Ziyech, have signed an official petition calling on FIFA and UEFA to ban all Israel clubs and national teams from international competitions, citing what they described as:

    war crimes and systematic violations against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

    FIFA and UEFA see calls to ban Israel from international competitions

    The initiative, launched by the Athletes 4 Peace coalition, emphasised that the signatories, despite their different affiliations and beliefs, are united in their conviction that sport should be an advocate for justice and humanity, not a tool for normalising human rights violations.

    According to the French website RMC, the list includes big names in the world of sports, most notably French star and 2018 World Cup winner Paul Pogba, Moroccan Hakim Ziyech, Dutchman Anwar El Ghazi, and Malian duo Cheikh Diabaté and Cheikh Doucouré. British boxer Zach Shealy and coach Nigel Pearson also signed, along with former English cricketer Moin Ali and his compatriot Ajaz Patel, rugby player Ellis Makani, and equestrian champion Khadija Malah.

    Official petition and mounting pressure

    The New Arab reported that the athletes had submitted an official petition to FIFA and UEFA. It demands that FIFA and UEFA bar the occupation from participating in tournaments, in a move similar to the sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

    This demand is in line with previous calls by eight UN experts. On Tuesday 23 September, they called on the international and European federations to take a similar stance. Meanwhile the British newspaper the Times previously revealed that a number of European clubs have expressed their refusal to face Israeli teams and have begun to address UEFA to find a legal mechanism to prevent this.

    Actions by sports federations and bodies

    Recently, the possibility of a vote within UEFA to suspend the participation of Israeli clubs and the Israeli national team has been raised as a legal measure in response to growing criticism of Israel’s continued participation amid the situation in Gaza.

    Turkey has also taken a clear stance. The president of the Turkish Football Federation Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu has called on FIFA and UEFA to take action, saying that the time has come to take strict measures against Israel’s participation in the game.

    Several media outlets and sports analysts have joined the growing calls to stop Israel’s participation. They have argued that sport cannot remain silent in the face of human rights violations.

    International and Arab positions

    The Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom noted in a previous report that US pressure prevented the suspension of the occupation’s membership. However, at the same time, it pointed out that UEFA is considering options that could lead to the exclusion of the occupation’s clubs and national team from continental competitions.

    In 2024, Arab football associations, including Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), sent a joint letter to FIFA demanding that it bar the occupation’s national team from participating. This move prompted FIFA’s disciplinary committee to open a formal investigation into the occupation’s violations and discrimination.

    Palestinian call to speed up decision on Israel’s FIFA/UEFA ban

    The Palestinian Football Association issued a statement formally demanding the suspension of Israeli sports teams and players from international competitions until Israel stops its crimes in the Gaza Strip.

    The statement stressed that allowing Israel to participate in sports while continuing its systematic violence undermines the foundations of justice and the principles on which international sports federations are based.

    Feature image via screengrab.

    By Alaa Shamali

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Israeli bombing isolates Al-Helou Hospital in Gaza City

    Ismail al-Thawabta, director of the Government Media Office in Gaza, announced that the Israeli army directly targeted Al-Helou Hospital in Gaza City with two missiles, trapping patients and medical staff inside and preventing them from entering or leaving. He emphasised that the siege imposed on the hospital is exacerbating the suffering of hundreds of civilians trapped inside.

    Israel bombs Al-Helou Hospital in Gaza City

    According to eyewitnesses speaking to Anadolu Agency, Israeli forces are currently stationed around the hospital, located in the Al-Nasr neighborhood west of Gaza, as part of their ground deployment across several key axes within the city. This comes amid continued aerial and artillery bombardment and the bombing of residential buildings and civilian facilities, as part of Israel’s ongoing efforts to impose control over the city and displace its residents.

    Al-Thawabta explained that doctors and patients at Al-Helou Hospital are living in “tragic” conditions amid a state of panic and fear, after the occupation cut off the hospital’s internet and communications network in order to isolate it from the outside world and stop the provision of humanitarian medical services to civilians. He stressed that targeting medical facilities constitutes:

    a full-fledged war crime and crimes against humanity.

    It adds to a long series of violations against the health sector in Gaza since the outbreak of the siege.

    Destroying hospitals and rendering them out of action

    The media official revealed that since the start of the genocide on 7 October 2023, the Israeli army has destroyed or rendered 38 hospitals completely out of service. This is in addition to targeting 96 healthcare centers and destroying or damaging 197 ambulances. It has led to the near complete collapse of the health system in the sector.

    At the same time, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said that Israeli drones bombed the vicinity of Al-Shifa Medical Complex, Gaza’s largest hospital. It confirmed initial assessments indicating that it is difficult for patients to reach the complex as a result of the continuous bombing. The ministry added that it had lost contact with medical staff inside the hospital for hours, raising serious concerns for the lives of both staff and patients.

    The ministry pointed to the seriousness of the health situation inside Al-Shifa, where Israel has trapped 12 newborns in intensive care units, with no possibility of transferring them or providing them with the necessary medical supplies due to the bombing and siege.

    Doctors and local officials warn that the continued targeting of hospitals and health infrastructure in Gaza threatens an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe. It’s at a time when the number of wounded and displaced persons is increasing and the most basic health and humanitarian care is lacking.

    Feature image via screengrab.

    By Alaa Shamali

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • ‘If I’m killed on this mission…’: Global Sumud Flotilla sets sail for Gaza despite Israel’s threats

    The Global Sumud Flotilla has embarked on the most dangerous leg of its mission to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip and deliver life-saving aid to Palestinians in the midst of genocide. As of Monday morning, over 40 vessels with delegations of peace activists from around the world are just over 300 nautical miles from Gaza, and will be entering the “high risk” zone within the next 24-48 hours. Naval ships from three countries—Spain, Italy, and Turkey—are now accompanying the humanitarian fleet as a security escort. Calling in from the Mediterranean Sea, flotilla members Iara Modarelli and Leila Hegazy speak with TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez about the current status of the Global Sumud Flotilla and the critical days ahead.

    Guests:

    • Iara Modarelli is a broadcast journalist and humanitarian from Spain who is sailing with the Global Sumud Flotilla
    • Leila Hegazy is a musician and social media creator from the United States who is sailing with the Global Sumud Flotilla.  

    Additional Links/Info:

    Credits:

    • Studio Production: Maximillian Alvarez
    • Post-Production: Cameron Granadino
    • Audio Post-Production: Stephen Frank
    Transcript

    The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.

    This post was originally published on The Real News Network.

  • Israel prepares to intercept the Gaza humanitarian flotilla as it approaches the coast of Gaza

    On Monday, the Global Sumud Flotilla sailing to break the siege on Gaza announced that it was only a few days away from reaching the shores of the Strip. It confirmed that its ships would enter the “high-risk zone” within two days.

    Humanitarian flotilla nearing the shores of the Gaza Strip

    The Global Sumud Flotilla, a component of the international coalition, said on its Instagram page that:

    Our lead vessels, OHWAYLA & ALL IN, are now just 366 nautical miles from Gaza, with an estimated arrival in 3 to 4 days.

    The statement explained that:

    Our fleet now stands at 44 vessels, strengthened by the recent launch of two new boats sailing towards the fleet.

    It added:

    In just two days, the flotilla will enter the high-risk zone. Our determination is absolute, but this is the moment where your global vigilance and solidarity are needed most.

    The fleet continued, saying:

    Join us. Stop the Genocide. Keep your eyes on Gaza.

    In this context, the official Israel state channel Kan reported on Sunday that Israel is preparing to intercept the ships coming as part of the international flotilla, in a move that could repeat the scene of the takeover of the ships Madleen and Handala in June and July.

    Israel making military preparations to intercept the flotilla

    This comes amid Israel’s military preparations to intercept the Global Sumud Flotilla. The Israeli broadcaster said that the naval commando unit had carried out field exercises in recent days, allegedly to:

    minimize harm to participants while taking control of ships at sea.

    On Friday, the Maghreb fleet revealed that unidentified military aircraft had flown over its ships for the second time in a week while in Greek territorial waters.

    Dozens of ships have been sailing towards Gaza for days, loaded with vital humanitarian aid, especially medical supplies, in an attempt to break the 18-year Israeli blockade. On board these ships are more than 500 activists and solidarity supporters from 40 countries, and multiple continents.

    This is the first time that dozens of ships have sailed together toward Gaza, at a time when the 2.4 million residents of the Strip are experiencing a suffocating humanitarian disaster. Israel has tightened its blockade since 2 March by closing all crossings and preventing food, medicine, and aid from entering, exacerbating the famine despite the accumulation of relief trucks at the border.

    Feature image via Al Jazeera/Youtube.

    By Alaa Shamali

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Activists just smashed up the site of another F-35 part supplier enabling Israel’s genocide

    Early on Friday 26 September, activists targeted the Glasgow site of Walker Precision Engineering: smashing its windows and coating its interior with paint.

    Walker Precision Engineering holds contracts with Israel-arming multinational arms manufacturers Leonardo and Thales, as well as BAE Systems.

    Precision Engineering: activists target supplier to arms manufacturers

    Walker Precision Engineering are also a member of Scotland’s military-industry lobbying body ADS Scotland. ADS Scotland has met 52 times with Holyrood MSPs since October 2023. It has pressured the Scottish and UK governments for increasing state powers to surveil and criminalise anti-genocide and anti-Zionist protestors.

    Leonardo is a key UK contributor to the F-35 fighter jet construction. The UK industry supplies 15% of their total components. Crucially, the UK government has made these components exempt from its Israeli ‘arms embargo’. This has left 91% of all UK to Israel military exports intact.

    Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) has described F-35s as:

    the UK’s most significant arms supplies to the Israeli military.

    Israel has used them to drop the 2000 pound bombs which have flattened Gaza, and murdered up to 680,000 Palestinians (as of September 2025). Leonardo’s production facility in Edinburgh is the supplier of the F-35’s laser targetting system.

    The supply chain of Israel’s genocide

    Thales is a French arms manufacturer with facilities in Glasgow. Thales produce the UK ‘Watchkeeper’ drone, through a joint venture with Israeli arms company Elbit Systems. It’s based on Elbit’s Hermes 450, which Israel has used extensively to attack Gaza.

    In 2017, Walker Precision Engineering purchased a Basildon-based military assembly centre from Leonardo. It owns this through its subsidiary ‘Walker Guidance Systems’, who supply “critical airborne and guidance products” to Leonardo. In 2023 Leonardo spent £16m on supplies from the Basildon site. In 2017, Walker Precision Engineering also secured £4m of investment from the Business Growth Fund (BGP) to expand the Carmyle site’s supply networks with Thales.

    The activists’ statement read:

    We have targeted Walker Precision Engineering for its complicity in the genocide of Gaza, that Israel has been charged with by South Africa and 11 other countries in the International Court of Justice. We won’t rest whilst efforts to annihilate Palestine are being knowingly enabled by companies on our doorstep. Every business that is part of this supply chain, including Walker Precision Engineering, shares responsibility for, and profits from, this genocide. By carrying out this action, we are directly responding to calls from Palestine to stop the flow of arms and technology from Scotland to Israel. Walker Precision Engineering has blood on its hands and will remain a target until it ceases all business with Leonardo and Thales.

    Feature image supplied. 

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • What Fresh Hell Is This?

    Friday saw two announcements: Keir Starmer is to introduce compulsory digital ID cards in the U.K., and Tony Blair was put forward by the White House to be the colonial administrator of Gaza for five years.

    The political economy of the world appears locked in a vertiginous downward spiral. You don’t have to scratch very hard to find that Tony Blair’s hand is also behind the compulsory ID plan. He has been pushing it for nearly thirty years, and now it comes with added links to Larry Ellison, Palantir and Israel.

    The government will be able to garner and centralise knowledge of everything about you.

    The post What Fresh Hell Is This? appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • ‘No Doubt They Will Attack’: Max Blumenthal Meets Iran’s President

    Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived late to a September 24, 2025 meeting with American antiwar figures on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. He had come from a fateful tete-a-tete with Emmanuel Macron, where he attempted to cajole his French counterpart into delaying expiration of the JCPOA nuclear deal rather than instituting snapback sanctions. Pezeshkian’s lobbying was fruitless; the Europeans had already decided to ratchet up the economic war on Tehran. Meanwhile, Israel was preparing for another attack on Iran with American support practically guaranteed.

    “No doubt they will attack Iran. And we will defend ourselves vigorously,” Pezeshkian declared to his audience of about 25 antiwar journalists, activists and think tank analysts gathered inside a conference hall in a Midtown Manhattan hotel.

    The post ‘No Doubt They Will Attack’: Max Blumenthal Meets Iran’s President appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Israeli Threats To Seize Gaza Aid Flotilla

    Israel is reportedly preparing to take control of ships belonging to the the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) which is expected to reach the coast of Gaza within four days, according to the official Israeli channel Kan.

    If these threats are carried out, the move would repeat the scenario of the Madleen and Handala ships, which attempted to reach Gaza to break the blockade and deliver humanitarian aid. Both were intercepted last June and July, respectively.

    Channel Kan said: “Israel is preparing to confront a maritime flotilla called the Global Sumud Flotilla and take control of it, as it is expected to reach Gaza’s shores within four days, coinciding with the Jewish Yom Kippur holiday (from Wednesday to Thursday).”

    The channel added that “around 50 ships have set sail from Greek coasts towards Gaza, in what is seen as the largest attempt so far to break the naval blockade imposed on the strip.”

    The post Israeli Threats To Seize Gaza Aid Flotilla appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • In Berlin, 100,000 Demonstrate For Gaza

    On Saturday, 100,000 people joined the “Together for Gaza” demonstration in Berlin, filling the wide avenue between the Brandenburg Gate and the Victory Column. It was the biggest Palestine solidarity event that Germany has ever seen.

    People had come by bus and train from across the country to speak up against the German government’s ongoing support for genocide. Some of the country’s biggest lefty hiphop acts like K.I.Z. and PTK performed onstage alongside speakers from the human rights organization Medico International and the Global Sumud Flotilla.

    In polls, up to 80 percent of German citizens say they think Israel’s “military actions” are not justified, and that Germany should reduce or altogether stop weapons shipments to the country.

    The post In Berlin, 100,000 Demonstrate For Gaza appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Gaza Is Not Rwanda: Its Suffering Should Not Perpetuate That Of Congolese

    Since the Gaza Genocide began, many people have likened it to the 1994 Rwandan Genocide and likened Gazans’ suffering to that of Rwandan Tutsis in 1994. Those making this comparison now include Navi Pillay, head of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, which last week concluded, in a 71-page report, that Israel is indeed guilty of genocide.

    This conclusion is of course a good thing, long overdue, but the comparison is pernicious, no matter how well-intentioned. It perpetuates the narrative that has dominated the African Great Lakes Region for 30 years, allegedly justifying the sacrifice of millions of Congolese lives.

    The post Gaza Is Not Rwanda: Its Suffering Should Not Perpetuate That Of Congolese appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Big problem with conference passing the genocide motion is we know ‘Labour’ will ignore it

    Palestine Solidarity Campaign and others have understandably shared the ‘victory’ at the Labour Party conference in the success of getting an emergency genocide motion past the first obstacle in the party’s processes.

    Labour conference genocide motion: will probably be ignored?

    It’s a symbolic victory, certainly – particularly as it was achieved despite Starmer’s faction trying to force delegates toward an alternative, approved and entirely neutered motion.

    But what passes for Labour’s leadership has already said, in as many words, that it is entitled to ignore any motions it doesn’t like, especially on Israel. At Labour’s conference in 2021, delegates overwhelmingly passed a motion to require the party, in government, to act against apartheid Israel. It then went on to say that it didn’t have to listen to what conference decided anyway, despite party rules declaring conference the sovereign body – because, ridiculously, this only meant that conference was sovereign while it was actually in session.

    War criminal collaborator Starmer will ignore this one too and continue collaborating in Israel’s slaughter of innocent Palestinians.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Starmer silent as Labour Conference recognises Israel’s genocide

    On 29 September, a motion passed at the Labour Conference which means the party has now recognised Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian population in Gaza. While the UN had already acknowledged the same thing, the UK government published a report denying that the genocide is happening. This latest development will put additional pressure on prime minister Keir Starmer to recognise the genocide. For the moment, however, the Labour leader is quiet on the matter.

    Historic recognition of Israel’s genocide – but Starmer silent

    The passed motion places a demand on Labour to “ensure individuals and corporations in the UK are not involved in aiding and assisting the genocide”. Additionally, there is the expectation that the government should “apply sanctions to put pressure on the Israeli government to respect international law”.

    Those who have spoken out include Ben Jamal (director – Palestine Solidarity Campaign):

    This is a huge defeat for the government, with the Labour Party finally accepting that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

    This historic vote must now become government policy: imposing comprehensive sanctions on Israel and a full arms embargo.


    While Starmer has not made an official statement, the Green Party issued the following:

    By agreeing that the Israeli regime is committing genocide in Gaza, Labour members have exposed their leadership for not only denying what the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry concluded, and most of the public believe, but also of complicity by continuing to arm Israel.

    Keir Starmer and his ministers must not waste another second in calling out this act of genocide, end immediately the supply of all arms to Israel and impose strict sanctions on the country. It is clear from today’s motion, passed by a majority of Labour members, that conference would be the right time and place to do this.

    Others are speaking out to demand that Starmer aligns the Labour government with the expectations of the UN’s verdict:


    Featured image via Keir Starmer / Labour

    By Willem Moore

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Human Rights Group Visits Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, Calls for His Release

    Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, has lost about 55 pounds since Israeli forces abducted him in December, and is suffering from a serious case of scabies, according to Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI), which visited him last week. The renowned pediatrician was given a new pair of clothes for the first time on September 25, the morning of his visit with…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Spain stops the US using its bases to fuel Israel’s genocide, as Unite falters

    Spain has taken steps to stop its US ally from using Spanish bases as a stepping stone to fuel Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

    Newspaper El País has reported that:

    Spain has vetoed the transit through the bases of Rota (Cádiz) and Morón de la Frontera (Seville) of planes or ships from the United States loaded with weapons, ammunition, or military equipment for Israel.

    This includes shipments heading both directly to Israel and to the apartheid state as the final destination.

    Spain apparently doesn’t plan to carry out inspections, and will not ask what arms are present on US boats. But it says the US would severely damage the countries’ relationship if it tried to deceive its NATO ally.

    In March and April, the Spanish government apparently asked the US not to fly six F-35 planes to Israel over its territory. These planes have participated in the decimation of Gaza since 2023, and the UK government has faced intense criticism for continuing to supply parts for such aircraft.

    Spain has also cancelled arms deals with Israel, supported international efforts to hold the settler-colonial power to account, and currently has a ship ready to rescue members of the humanitarian flotilla after a likely Israeli attack.

    European dockworkers prepare action. Where are UK unions?

    In recent days, Italian dockworkers have spoken to trade unionists from other countries, including Spain, Greece, Germany, France, Cyprus, and Morocco. They’re aiming to coordinate efforts to limit arms shipments to Israel, particularly as the apartheid state ups its attacks on the Global Sumud Flotilla aid mission.

    In Italy, one union leader has stressed:

    If they attack the flotilla there will be a general strike and, if Israel doesn’t alter course in Gaza, a total trade blockade

    Italian dockers have been a shining light in recent weeks, with massive protests rocking the country and pushing the right-wing government to send a ship to accompany the flotilla and rescue humanitarians following probable Israeli piracy.

    However, while UK trade unionists favour action to prevent arms going to Israel, UNITE has actually faced criticism for ‘undermining’ such efforts:

    Featured image via YouTube screenshot/Reuters

    By Ed Sykes

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Questions raised as ‘senior Palestine Solidarity Campaign officials’ attend Israel lobbyists’ panel

    Reports that “senior officials with the Palestine Solidarity Campaign” (PSC) were at an Israel lobby event on 28 September have shocked anti-genocide campaigners.

    PSC: WTF!?

    The “opaquely funded” lobby group Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) held an event at the Labour conference on Sunday. This is the group that claims to back a “two-state solution” to Israel’s colonial occupation in Palestine, but which recently opposed Britain’s recognition of a Palestinian state. This exposed what most people already know – LFI has no real commitment to peace in the region. The truth is that decades of Western support for Israel’s ongoing oppression of Palestinians has made a two-state solution near-impossible. Liberal Zionists like LFI, and their useful political allies in the West, only keep talking about two states to pretend they support peace while actually doing nothing meaningful to achieve it.

    The apparent PSC presence at the panel simply adds to previous scrutiny over its apparent links with Zionists, discouragement of support for Palestine Action, and overly timid or controversial positions aiming to preserve relative acceptability in establishment circles.

    Open University Friends of Palestine was one group that expressed its disappointment about the PSC’s attendance. While accepting that “details are still thin”, it said:

    We demand answers.

    It added that PSC’s presence “legitimises” LFI, a racist propaganda organisation that has been championing the denial of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. And it suggested that the PSC had “undermined” the pro-peace movement by ‘capitulating’ to lobbyists.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/DPLauwVCufK/

    Lobbying matters

    LFI, which has very close ties to the Israeli state, has invested a lot of money in getting British MPs on side for genocide. Its supporters now dominate the top team of the current Labour government under genocide apologist Keir Starmer. The prime minister and key cabinet members have fully embraced the pro-Israel lobby. And that’s hardly surprising when you know how important such lobbyists were in their hostile takeover of the Labour Party. As journalist Alan MacLeod has written, for example, LFI “was crucial in smearing and defeating the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn”.

    There are some voices in Labour trying to pull the party to a humane position on Gaza. But the party elites seem unlikely to listen. Because half of Starmer’s cabinet has received money from the pro-Israel lobby, the party got £4m from a dodgy hedge fund which “stood to profit” from Israel’s war crimes, and Starmer has spent the last year continuing Britain’s shameful participation in the Gaza genocide.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Ed Sykes

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Activists just targeted genocide and climate crisis financiers Barclays and Blackrock across five countries in one morning

    On Monday 29 September, climate justice activists joined underground group Shut The System (STS) in international direct action against the financial system’s complicity in the climate crisis and imperialism. In the major financial centres of Paris, Hamburg, Geneva, Vienna and London, activists took aim at Barclays, Europe’s largest banking investor in fossil fuels and BlackRock, the world’s second largest investor in fossil fuels.

    Barclays and Blackrock: investing in climate collapse and genocide

    In London, STS graffitied messages and threw paint over the multi-million pound properties of two senior staff members at Barclays: CEO Vimlesh Maru and global head of sustainable finance Daniel Hanna:

    Devonport - the Hyde Park Estate building in London sprayed with red paint.

    Interior of a building doused in red paint.

    Days before, activists sent letters to their neighbours, inviting them to a phony cocktail party hosted by the Barclays executives. These outlined Barclays continued investments in genocide and climate collapse:

    Letter which reads: Dear Neighbour IT'S PARTY TIME !! Dear neighbour, You are cordially invited to my cocktail party on Saturday 4th October at 12.00 midday, 'What are we celebrating?' I hear you ask. Well let me explain. As an executive at Barclays for the past two years, I've gone from success to success, profiting from other people's misery. From financing the collapse of our climate, to funding the genocide in Gaza, whatever the atrocity, I've been there to make a shed-load of money whilst innocent women and children die.

    Alongside the disruption at homes of senior staff, activists super-glued door locks and graffitied multiple Barclays branches across the UK. This included branches in London, Brighton, Norwich, and Malvern.

    In Paris, activists from Carnage Total covered the entrance of Barclays’ French headquarters in paint:

    Barclays building in Paris doused in paint.

    Activist dousing a Barclays building in Paris in red paint.

    Meanwhile, Shut Elbit Down sprayed blood-red paint over the entrance of BlackRock’s Vienna office. They graffitied it with “BlackRock finances genocide”, calling out the complicit company.

    Activists in Hamburg, Germany graffitied “Free Sudan, Congo, Gaza” at Barclays consumer bank Europe’s office:

    Red graffiti outside the Barclays building in Hamburg that reads: "Free Sudan, Congo, Gaza".

    The German division was acquired by BAWAG Group but maintains previous products and branding as part of a transitional period until 2026.

    Time to divest from deadly fossil fuels and the arms trade

    Later that morning, act now! blocked the entrance of Barclays’ Geneva office by dispersing bags of coal on the ground and holding up signs asking the bank to “Stop financing climate change, invest in our future!”:

    Activists lay out in front of Barclays' office entrance in Geneva with a line of coal in front of them.

    The activists aim to force these investors to align their practices with credible pathways to tackling climate collapse. As a first step, they demand immediate divestment from coal, the most polluting fossil fuel. They also urge immediate divestment from arms companies supplying Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

    A spokesperson from Shut The System UK said:

    Seeing the deadly investments of elite banks, it’s not surprising more people are taking action against them. Already, Shut The System has forced three financial institutions to shift. As civilians, we have no choice but to fight for a fair economy designed for humanity and nature’s flourishing, replacing the lethal illusion of infinite growth for growth’s sake alone. These actions mark the start of even greater escalation, unless financial institutions make an urgent step-change in practices.

    Meanwhile, a spokesperson from Carnage Total (XR) in France said:

    Who is responsible for the climate catastrophe and the ongoing genocide in Palestine? Barclays is one of the culprits. In order to shame them into action we have covered the entrance of their Paris headquarters in paint. What happens tomorrow is up to them: hard commitments to peace and a sustainable economy or continued anger at their failure to act responsibly with regards to fossil fuels and the Israeli government.

    Echoing this, a spokesperson from Shut Elbit Down in Austria added:

    BlackRock is a multinational investment management corporation responsible for managing over $12.5 trillion in assets as of 2025. While it has a key role and responsibility in tackling the climate crisis, it votes against climate resolutions and greenwashes funds. Furthermore, it invests in arms companies directly aiding the Gaza genocide like Elbit Systems, Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Raytheon, which is why we are taking action now.

    The action ends Shut The System’s ‘Summer of Sabotage‘ the group on 18 August. To launch it, activists cut electric cables at the London offices of JP Morgan Chase, Allianz, and Barclays. Since then, STS activists have returned more than 200 times to spray paint, glue locks, cut power and Wi-Fi at Barclays’ buildings across the UK.

    Featured images supplied.

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Security assault protester at Israeli weapons factory in Newcastle as police stand by

    A protester at Israeli-owned weapons factory Pearson Engineering in Newcastle was assaulted by security, and instead of helping him, Northumbria Police piled in on the beating.

    Pearson Engineering: security assault pro-Palestine protester

    In footage shared by Newcastle Palestine Solidarity, a protestor at Pearson Engineering was forced to the ground and piled on by security while police stood by and watched it happen:

    Pearson Engineering is actually owned by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, an Israeli arms manufacturer. Of course, the Israeli state is listed on Companies House as having the controlling stake in the firm, situated on the Armstrong Works in Newcastle.

    Groups such as Newcastle Palestine Solidarity and People Against Rafael have been protesting the site to highlight the fact that Newcastle council are allowing arms, which are part of the genocide in Palestine, to be manufactured in the city.

    Northumbria Police stand idly by… and then pile on

    Despite fellow protestors imploring police officers to help the activist on the ground, they instead focused on stopping the other protestors from recording the assault. One officer shouted, “do not approach my officers!” while the protestors could be heard desperately trying to explain:

    that’s security, not officers. They’re assaulting him! Turn around and look that’s security.

    When told to put his camera down, the protestor filming pointed out “he’s being assaulted by police officers”, and police do nothing.

    Security can then be seen dictating to the police the arrest of the assaulted protester. It’s at this point that police officers do turn around, but only so more police can pile on top of the assaulted activist.

    An officer (collar number 3802) can even be seen punching the activist in the back while he’s on the ground, already not moving. Instead, officers screamed at other protestors to put their phones down.

    Fellow protestors who managed to get closer to the assault alerted the officers and security, who are still on top of the activist, that he couldn’t breathe. That’s because at this point, an officer (2438) was attempting to cover his mouth. They eventually got him to his feet.

    UK cops: servile protectors of Zionist arms dealers

    In the chaos, two other activists were arrested for attempting to help their comrade on the ground, and the press photographer (who was filming) was shoved out of the way and into a road for still attempting to film while they assaulted a protestor.

    Finally, an officer (1247) screamed at them to get back again, this time whipping out his baton, though the protesters did not at any point threaten violence.

    Newcastle Palestine Solidarity said on Instagram:

    The security violently assaulted our comrade, initiating and dictating his arrest, with Northumbria Police obediently facilitating. This is the lengths the Zionist arms dealers and police will go to, allowing the weapons to keep flowing so that more Palestinians can be slaughtered.

    The group implored:

    Why are peaceful activists arrested for protesting genocide whilst violent security of an Israeli owned factory are given the green light to physically attack? Why does Northumbria Police protect not only private genocidal property, but also violent criminal security thugs who are assaulting the public?

    Last week, People Against Rafael took to the Tyne Bridge for a peaceful protest. They stood along the bridge and informed commuters about the Israeli government-owned arms factory that many probably don’t know is on their doorstep.

    The group’s next action will be a march at 12pm on 12 October, starting from Grey’s Monument. This will take the form of a funeral procession around Newcastle city centre, to mark two years since the genocide began.

    Feature image via screengrab.

    By Rachel Charlton-Dailey

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • US fuelling Israel’s bloody regional rampage is about ‘dominance and submission’, US diplomat says

    As Israel’s crimes and impunity in Southwest Asia continue, a US diplomat has given some very candid assessments about his own country’s role. And it offers us some rare honesty about the empire’s cold decision-making process.

    The stick, the carrot, and the fight for dominance

    Western billionaires have overwhelmingly backed Israel’s genocidal rampage throughout Southwest Asia in the last two years. And US envoy and ambassador Tom Barrack suggests Washington fuelling Tel Aviv’s multinational forever-war is simply about the empire’s “interests”. In short, it wants its friends to dominate in the oil-rich region, and its foes to submit.

    Barrack insisted in an interview with Emirati media outlet the National that “there’s never been peace” and “will probably never be peace” in the region because:

    somebody wants dominance, which means somebody has to submit. In that part of the world, submit, there’s no Arabic word for submit. They can’t wrap their head around submit.

    In the first instance, Barrack’s outrageously racist remark that there is no Arabic word for “submit” reveals the Orientalist and profoundly racist attitude American diplomats hold towards their oil barons. And, of course, the  reference to ‘somebody who wants dominance’ is the billionaire class, via US wealth and Israeli crimes. That would leave ‘somebody that has to submit’ is everyone else. Ceasefires, he said, are “not going to work”. The only solution is a win-lose situation.

    Groups resisting Israel’s war crimes, he clarified, have no incentive to put down their weapons “when Israel is attacking everybody”. In fact, their justification for resistance simply gets “better and better”. That includes Hezbollah in Lebanon, which “runs the best municipalities” and pays its troops well, and isn’t going anywhere any time soon. This in turn seems to be why the US government currently prefers to avoid direct involvement itself, instead preferring to outsource the task to Israel. As he asserted:

    We’re not going to go take Hezbollah out with our troops, with CENTCOM. Israel will just continue on.

    Israel is very much the empire’s stick in the region, but there’s a carrot too, in the form of lucrative deals for ruling elites that toe the line. And that’s the case for local dictatorships submitting to US interests:

    if you look at what’s worked, ‘benevolent’ monarchies work, right? They’ve worked in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE.

    (That particular section may have caused discomfort for the Emirati paper, as it later disappeared from the final edit of the interview.)

    The US values war crimes, because they serve billionaire interests

    Although the US has numerous allies in Western Asia, including Israel and the Gulf dictatorships, Barrack insisted:

    I don’t trust any of them.

    He continued by stressing that:

    Our interests are vectors, right? There’s metrics. There’s things that we’re aligned with and there’s things that we are not aligned with… We find alignment of the necessity of interests and we bond together.

    And continuing to back Israel’s regional rampage of impunity is very much part of those interests. Commenting on Israeli actions, Barrack said:

    it seems as though they’re marching towards a resolution of the entire problem, which is what Gaza is, right?

    But Iran continues to be an obstacle for Israel’s dominance, he admitted, suggesting further attacks on Iran could still be on the cards for Israel:

    I would imagine that just getting Gaza under control, and Hezbollah under control, and the Houthis under control is not fruitful if you don’t get the Iran regime under control… I wouldn’t rule that out.

    The green light for what Israel’s doing, of course, is massive and ongoing US support:

    Israel is a valued ally. We subsidise them $4 or $5 billion a year. It has a special place in America’s heart.

    In 2025, humanity has a big dilemma. The US is the world’s richest country and biggest military spender, and billionaire rule there is currently out in the open. And the billionaire class is trying to cement the notion, through the US and Israel, that ‘might is right’ – that ordinary people need to accept dystopia or face the consequences. Power and money are speaking – or, more accurately, screaming – and leaving blood and destruction in their wake. So if humanity is going to challenge this machine, it’s going to have to do a whole lot better.

    Featured image via YouTube screenshot/Al Jazeera English

    By Ed Sykes

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • VIDEO: ‘They don’t want Gaza to exist/I’ve got a magic marker so you call me terrorist’

    The Starmer regime arrested more than a hundred protesters outside his party conference in Liverpool on Sunday – mostly pensioners and disabled people – for peacefully holding placards in a protest against his proscription (terrorist ban) of Palestine Action, a non-violent group that took direct action against Israeli-owned and linked arms factories. Sunday’s arrests came on top of more than 1,100 arrested in two similar London demos.

    When 150,000 far-right gathered in London to chant hate and beat up anti-racists, there were twenty-three arrests.

    As one peaceful activist was arrested on Sunday, his resistance was not violence but a song:

    They are pulverising Gaza
    They don’t want it to exist.
    Well I’ve got a magic marker,
    so they call me terrorist
    for opposing genocide.

    Solidarity forever.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Jordan executes 2 farmers, former soldiers, for entering Israeli ‘buffer zone’

    Abdullah and Nibal Al-Madahinah.

    The Jordanian army has shot dead Abdullah and Nibal Al-Madahinah, two Jordanian farmers and former soldiers, in the northern Jordan valley – home to some of Jordan’s poorest people. Their ‘crime’ was to enter a secret “buffer zone”, on their land, created to defend Israel. The pair were killed on Saturday.

    Echoing Israeli propaganda against Palestinians in Gaza, according to local reports, the Jordanian regime – which brutally repressed protests in Abu Sayyidou triggered by the killings – smeared them as ‘ISIS’.
    Their blood exposes the truth the regime wants hidden: Jordan kills its own people to “secure Israel” and silences all who resist.

    Jordan’s army has imposed the unofficial ‘buffer zone’ along its border with Palestine, with no official announcement of its existence but enforced with lethal force against the local population. After the murders local people erupted in protest, blocking roads and chanting against the regime’s collaboration with Israel.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • UN Declares Genocide In Gaza While 250 US Lawmakers Are In Israel

    On the same day the UN released its report, approximately 250 US state legislators, representing all 50 states and both parties, were in Israel for a “50 States, One Israel” conference sponsored by the Israeli government. The Jerusalem Post (9/15/25) characterized it as “the largest-ever delegation of US lawmakers” to Israel.

    According to ethics disclosures reported in the Boston Herald (9/14/25), Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Alan Silvia’s trip to Israel for the conference cost $6,500. The Herald said Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs would “reimburse, waive or pay for travel expenses, though it was unclear what portion of the costs the government planned to cover.”

    Quoting Rep. Ilana Rubel (D-Idaho), Boise State Public Radio (9/17/25) reported that no Idaho taxpayer funds were used to send any of five Idaho state legislatures to the conference.

    The post UN Declares Genocide In Gaza While 250 US Lawmakers Are In Israel appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Israel’s educide in Gaza sees academics forced to sleep in cemeteries with their children

    In the heart of a cemetery in Khan Yunis, Dr Raghad Hamad, an academic at Al-Aqsa University, lay on the cold ground with her family. She fled northern Gaza to escape Israel’s bombing, only to find herself among the graves, trying to turn a concrete wall into a shelter and the open sky into a roof that would protect her children from fear.

    She hugged her children and hid there trembling, as if she wanted to convince them that life is possible even in the presence of death. Her scene was not just a fleeting moment, but a painting that encapsulates deep human suffering, where the search for safety becomes a daily battle and the right to shelter becomes an unattainable dream.

    Gaza’s educide: life alongside death

    The cemetery was not just a place to sleep, but a harsh symbol of the paradox of Gaza. When the living find their only refuge among the dead, death itself becomes a refuge from a harsher life. The image of Raghad and her family among the gravestones has become a symbol of a life under siege, embracing death in order to survive.

    It is a moment where symbolism and reality merge, where the living become neighbors of the dead, and where death becomes more merciful than displacement in the open. This scene encapsulates the meaning of the place: Gaza, searching for life, finds itself forced to share it with the dead.

    University halls: now the graveyards of Gaza’s minds

    Raghad was not just a displaced person; she was a university professor with advanced degrees who had dedicated her life to building minds and graduating new generations. Today, she sits on the soil of cemeteries instead of university halls, and embraces her children instead of her students. The irony here is even more painful. The guardians of knowledge have become refugees searching for the most basic necessities of survival.

    This loss is not hers alone, but represents the collapse of an entire society. When the academic and medical elite are displaced, the future is shattered. Future generations are robbed of their right to education, health, and knowledge. The tragedy of Gaza does not stop at human beings, but extends to the loss of human knowledge, which is the cornerstone of any renaissance.

    A cry that sums up the story

    We found no home and no tent; all we have left are graves.

    With this short sentence, Raghad summed up her story. Her few words conveyed what dozens of reports could not: a muffled cry that sums up the journey of displacement and betrayal. It transformed her individual experience into a collective testimony to the magnitude of the tragedy.

    From lecture halls to graveyards, the distance between knowledge and death was reduced to a single moment. Here, the story needs no exaggeration or embellishment. It suffices to be told as it is, to serve as irrefutable evidence of the cruelty of war and silent testimony to the pain of an entire nation.

    Human knowledge buried under the rubble

    Dr. Raghad’s story does not stop at the borders of Gaza, but goes beyond them to pose a question to the world: how can knowledge live among the dead? When academia is displaced to the graveyards, the loss is not only to a besieged society, but to all of humanity, which sees human knowledge buried alive under the rubble.

    This is not just a story of displacement, but a mirror of the fate of minds in conflict zones. Raghad’s story has become a global cry against the death of education and the displacement of talent, and against a future stolen from the hands of children and students. It is a testimony that exposes the world’s silence and confronts it with the truth: Gaza is not only losing its homes, but also its minds.

    Feature image via Middle East Eye/Youtube.

    By Alaa Shamali

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • BREAKING: Spain joins the Hague Group to hold Israel accountable over Gaza

    Comprising 34 countries, Spain has announced its intention to join the international coalition to hold Israeli occupation accountable, known as the Hague Group.

    Spain to join the Hague Group

    The Spanish government has announced its accession to an international coalition of 34 countries, known as the Hague Group, led by South Africa and Colombia, to impose economic sanctions on the Israeli occupation and ensure it is held accountable for the massacres committed in the Gaza Strip.

    The decision came during the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where Spain also announced its participation in the donor group tasked with financing the Palestinian Authority, alongside countries such as France and the United Kingdom.

    The new coalition’s program includes a series of measures, including:

    • Banning the export of military equipment to the Israeli occupation.
    • Preventing military shipments from passing through member states’ ports.
    • Terminating public contracts with institutions that support the occupation.
    • Demanding that Israel be held accountable before the International Court of Justice.
    • Imposing an oil embargo and additional punitive measures if the occupation continues to ignore the calls of the international community.

    This step comes in the context of mounting international pressure on Israel to ensure respect for international law and Palestinian rights, amid growing calls to end impunity for ongoing violations in the Gaza Strip.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Alaa Shamali

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Basque women’s basketball team Lointek Gernika refuses to play Israeli club

    Basque women’s basketball team Lointek Gernika has announced its refusal to play its scheduled Women’s Eurocup game against Israeli club Elitzur Ramla because of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.

    Lointek Gernika: taking a stand

    The Basque team beat Greece’s Pas Giannina in the cup on Wednesday by 94-61 (184-118 on aggregate) in the second leg of the Women’s Eurocup, securing a spot in the ’round robin’ stage where it is competing against Hungary’s NKA Universitas Pecs and Portugal’s Sportiva Azoris Hotels – and Elitzur Ramla.

    Lointek Gernika president Gerardo Candina told Radio Bilbao that the club is aware that governing body FIBA might punish Lointek for its principled action against the “brutal genocide in the Gaza Strip” but that the club will not be deterred:

    Let FIBA act as it has to act. We, for our part, will not play the game… We are absolutely against [the genocide] and I think everyone has to realize this.

    Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ (image: Wikimedia).

    Basque town Gernika is the subject of Pablo Picasso’s famous painting Guernica, which depicts the 1937 fascist bombing attack on the town and the horrors it inflicted on the town’s people, including a woman in agony as she holds her dead child in her arms. A year ago, the people of the town stood in heavy rain to form a giant Palestinian flag bodies in solidarity with the Palestinian people against Israel’s genocide:

    According to pro-Palestine groups, the refusal is the first of its kind by a European team and will hopefully trigger further refusals as sport’s governing bodies continue to drag their heels on banning Israeli clubs and making Israel the pariah it should be – and as fans of other Spanish basketball clubs are already demanding.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Belfast Palestine activists joined by Lowkey as they face court once again

    Rappers, Palestine activism, and farcical British state repression seem to be inseparable this week. Not only were Kneecap in court facing absurd terror charges for waving a flag around, three activists for the direct action group BDS Belfast were facing a magistrate on accusations of criminal damage for stickering. The latter were supported in-person by the politically aware hip-hop artist Lowkey, who had been performing in Belfast the night before.

    The alleged damage relates to the campaigners placing stickers on Sodastream products in a west Belfast branch of Sainsbury’s. Sodastream – which is made in so-called Israel – features a claim on its packaging that states it is:

    produced by Arabs and Jews working side-by-side in peace and harmony.

    This blatantly misleading boast is now being challenged by the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), who have worked in harmony with BDS Belfast to bring the matter to the attention of the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA), on the grounds that it is untrue, and therefore false advertising. The notion that Palestinians – described by Sodastream as “Arabs”, eliding their core identity – and Jews working in “harmony”, as an ongoing holocaust is perpetrated in Gaza, is clearly an absurd claim.

    Israeli-made Sodastream funds genocide yet it’s Belfast activists in court?

    The activists’ primary objection to the product, however, is that its sale funds the ongoing genocide, apartheid and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians every time proceeds are sent back to the Zionist pseudo-state.

    BDS Belfast have a stated aim of ceasing the sale of all ‘made in Israel’ products in Ireland, in much the same way import of apartheid South Africa goods were halted in 1987. This followed a refusal of Dunnes Stores workers in 1984 to handle anything produced under that racist regime, after they were directed to do so by their union IDATU. Unions in Ireland have sadly failed to issue similar instructions to workers today, despite an ongoing genocide and the likes of Desmond Tutu and Noam Chomsky having previously described Zionist apartheid as even worse than its South African predecessor.

    However, in court seven at Laganside Courts, the magistrate ruled that a two week postponement was necessary, as no means were available for the Sainsbury’s witness – a member of staff at the Kennedy Centre branch of the supermarket chain – to appear anonymously. The witness had claimed that hiding her identity was essential to protect her from potential harassment. The activists have pointed out that they always emphasise that the blame for the presence of Zionist products lies with senior management, not rank and file staff.

    Any ruling against the group could have significant repercussions for similar actions across Britain. Stickering to raise consumer awareness of what exactly is being purchased has a noble history, with its use being another tool that activists deployed against the apartheidists in Pretoria, as South African fruit and veg was labelled by activists. Animal rights activists have routinely sought to raise awareness of the harms done by the factory farming industry through stickers on meat products in supermarkets.

    Protests against Zionist products sweep the world

    Outside court in Belfast, one of the accused – Martin Rafferty – spoke of the drawn-out nature of proceedings, estimating authorities had dragged him to the court nine times for this matter with still no ruling. He went on to say:

    We started doing this in Belfast, then it spread to Derry, then it spread to Strabane. Then it spread across the water, over to England, Scotland and Wales, and then it spread over to Europe. Now it’s throughout the world. They’re trying to make an example of us, they’re trying to intimidate people.

    This was reiterated by Lowkey, who said:

    What’s happening here is they’re trying to establish a precedent which will be used to beat others in different ways, and protect the flow of capital from the Zionist entity back and forth to places like this.

    He went on to perform an a cappella version of his song Long Live Palestine before the crowd of around 50 supporters.

    Also facing charges, Eoin Rua Davey pointed out how the “oppressive judicial system” trying the campaigners was a British court in a still occupied six counties, just as Palestine remains occupied by so-called Israel.

    Yasmary Perdomo, also accused, read a poem. One section lamented the failure to act by so many:

    The world does know
    Some speak up, some are silent
    Some people polish their ‘it’s complicated’ grin
    Some turn away
    Others that should know better, don’t do better.

    The final ruling is now expected on 9 October. It will be another litmus test for the fading British justice system, following the proscription of Palestine Action. That the state views a sticker on a box as a more concerning form of criminal damage than that done to Gaza ought to raise further alarm about the priorities of Britain’s ruling class, and its increasingly authoritarian means of enforcing them.

    Feature image via screengrab.

    By Robert Freeman

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • When cancer becomes good news amid Israel’s genocide in Gaza

    In Gaza, where the smell of gunpowder mixes with the moans of the sick and the cries of the displaced, writer and poet Amal Abu Assi penned one of the most brutal and painful testimonies of genocide, a testimony in which cancer of the body intersects with the cancer of occupation.

    Israel’s occupation and displacement: more cruel than cancer

    Amal Abu Assi said that the tumour that doctors had been warning her about for years had finally made itself known. But the shocking irony is that she did not feel the impact of this news as she did when she received the news of her forced displacement from northern Gaza to the south. There, amid the ruins of her dream and her home, she realised that illness might be easier on the heart than uprooting a person from their land.

    She wrote with pain:

    I understood the meaning of displacement very well when the news of my cancer was easier on my heart than the news that I had to move to the south, leaving my lofty dream standing alone in northern Gaza.

    Thus, she weighed illness on one side and displacement on the other, discovering that Israel’s occupation is more cruel than cancer, and that uprooting a person from their land and their dreams is more painful than removing a tumour from their body.

    Gaza: a city fighting death on more than one front

    Her words are not just a passing confession, but a mirror of the reality of an entire people being pushed into the open. Amal asks herself with painful sincerity: should she rejoice that her steps are now closer to heaven, bringing an end to this long tragedy? Or should she grieve because she does not yet know how many steps remain, nor when the door of life will close?

    Amal Abu Assi, whose body shares the pain of her bleeding land, sums up the tragedy of all Gazans: between the destruction of homes, the loss of dreams, and the absence of security, there is no longer any difference between death from a tumour inside or a shell outside.

    She concluded with a cry that every Gazan knows:

    Only those who have experienced the harshest degrees of oppression, grief, and injustice can understand this pain. Only the people of Gaza can understand this pain.

    It is the testimony of a woman, but it is also the testimony of a nation. Amal Abu Assi, with her exhausted body and full heart, presents a concentrated image of Gaza as a whole: a city fighting death on more than one front, insisting, despite the bleeding, to remain alive, witnessing, and resisting.

    Amal Abu Assi: a testimony that transcends the individual

    Amal Abu Assi’s story is not just a tale of a cancer patient in a genocide. It is a testimony of an entire nation, a testimony of the bleeding of the body and the bleeding of the land, of a woman whose body shares its pain with her city. She writes from the heart with the fire to document a complex human moment: a moment in which illness becomes a minor detail in the face of the loss of homes and dreams.

    With her sincere pain, Amal sums up the image of Gaza: a city clinging to life despite the rubble, hunger, cold, and disease. Her words do not belong only to a personal experience, but echo collectively for all those who have lost their homes, their dreams, and their security.

    Amal Abu Assi, writer and poet, no longer writes only literary texts, but also a testament to her homeland, an elegy to life, and a new statement of resilience.

    Featured image supplied

    By Alaa Shamali

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Three-quarters of Gaza’s children are suffering from malnutrition – with virtually no families left food secure

    New data released by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) shows that children in the Gaza Strip are facing “extremely dangerous” humanitarian conditions, with Israeli military operations continuing for the second consecutive year and an accompanying severe shortage of food, medicine, and psychological care.

    Growing hunger and widespread malnutrition among Gaza’s children, says IRC

    A rapid needs assessment, which covered 469 displaced families in Gaza City, Deir al-Balah, and parts of Khan Yunis, revealed that one in three children under the age of three had not eaten anything in the 24 hours prior to the survey.

    Nearly three-quarters of families with young children reported clear signs of malnutrition, while only 1% of families were classified as food secure.

    The report noted that families are forced to skip entire meals or reduce food portions, with an almost complete absence of protein, vegetables, and fresh fruit.

    Rise in injuries and amputations

    In parallel with the food crisis, the IRC has observed a 48% increase in child protection cases in recent weeks.

    The report stated that most injuries among children are caused by shrapnel, with a notable increase in amputations. It is estimated that there are around 4,000 children with amputated limbs in the Gaza Strip since the start of the genocide, which is the highest rate in the world relative to the population.

    Senior vice president for crisis, recovery and development at the IRC Kieran Donnelly said:

    These are children who have lost limbs, who wake up screaming from nightmares, who no longer feel safe even within their own families. Our teams are doing everything they can to support them, but without safe access and basic supplies, their recovery is at risk of stalling.

    The report noted that children who have lost family members show more severe psychological symptoms, including anxiety, nightmares, fear of being alone, and sudden outbursts of aggression.

    The organisation’s teams have also observed an increase in some children resorting to begging or child labour, while others cling to positive activities such as drawing and playing to mitigate the effects of trauma.

    Severe shortage of humanitarian services

    The IRC confirmed that prosthetics and rehabilitation are virtually non-existent in the sector, while psychological support for children is almost non-existent.

    The near-total blockade on humanitarian access also hinders the delivery of basic supplies, while safe spaces are overcrowded and the education system is on the verge of collapse due to worsening hunger and malnutrition.

    The committee concluded its report by calling for the opening of urgent and unconditional humanitarian corridors to allow access to food, healthcare, and protection for children, stressing that an immediate ceasefire remains a prerequisite for protecting them from further harm and ensuring the continuation of relief operations.

    Feature image via BBC News/YouTube.

    By Alaa Shamali

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Defend Our Juries just started pro-Palestine Action protest at Labour conference

    Around 100 people have been sitting down outside the Labour Party conference in Liverpool this Sunday 28 September, silently holding signs saying: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action”:

    Labour Party conference sees Palestine Action ban protest

    This simple action has led to the arrest of over 1,500 people since 5 July. The majority of arrests have been elderly protesters. It has included priests, vicars, healthcare workers, teachers, former magistrates and military personnel, and disabled people.

    If Merseyside Police decide to go ahead with mass arrests of peaceful protesters, it will be acutely embarrassing for the government on the first day of its conference. The mass protest is confronting MPs, cabinet members, as well as members and delegates at as they walk into conference with the consequences of the Labour’s unprecedented and widely condemned decision to outlaw a protest group as ‘terrorists’ for the first time in British history.

    Amnesty International who have issued an unprecedented urgent appeal to their members worldwide over the treatment of Defend Our Juries ‘Lift The Ban’ protesters, have written to the Merseyside Police and are in attendance as observers.

    Labour silencing solidarity with Palestinians amid its participation in genocide

    This mass action to challenge the Palestine Action ban and Labour’s complicity in Israel’s genocide comes after Labour officials shut down discussion on its policies regarding Palestine at conference. It refused to allow a single motion on Palestine. Party officials blocked all 30 of the motions on Palestine which Labour members put forward for debate.

    Even the former Labour leader Neil Kinnock, who has previously been a vocal supporter of Starmer, recently spoke out against the ban. He said Palestine Action are not terrorists and that the government has “blunted” terror laws by designating the protest group terrorists. In a split with Starmer, Kinnock said:

    I want effective action against terrorists, not against protestors.

    Polling reported by LabourList and the Telegraph showed over 70% of Labour members oppose the ban on Palestine Action. At its recent annual conference, the TUC unanimously passed a motion demanding the government lift the ban on Palestine Action. Not one of the 48 trade unions objected to the motion.

    Authoritarian abuse of the Terrorism Act

    When Jack Straw brought in the Terrorism Act 2000 he assured the House of Commons that it would never be used against a domestic protest group. The Labour Party have broken this promise.

    Many Labour Lords and MPs feel the government has misled them. They have called on ministers to rethink the “unsustainable and unworkable” and “authoritarian attack of the right to protest”. The New York Times has published the intelligence services assessment on Palestine Action. This undermines the government’s claims that the group poses a danger to the public. Lawyers have accused former home secretary Yvette Cooper of conducting “a cynical media campaign”.

    A spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said:

    We’ve come remind everyone that the Labour party is in breach of it’s duty to act to prevent genocide under international law. Instead it made the cowardly decision to ban the direct action group that was trying to prevent genocide.

    Labour members and trades unions are overwhelmingly against their party’s complicity in genocide and the ban on Palestine Action. Yet party officials have shut down all the debates that members wanted to have on these issues during their conference.

    Labour also reneged on Jack Straw’s promise that the Terrorism Act he introduced would never be used against a domestic protest group. This sets an alarmingly authroritarian precedent and unless the law is redrawn and the ban overturned, any group that this government or a future government does not like could be treated as terrorists.

    Instead of shutting down protest, it’s time the Labour Party took the responsibility to prevent genocide seriously and impose blanket sanctions on Israel including stopping the flow of arms from factories in this country.”

    Former Labour members and the public ‘deeply ashamed’ of government’s complicity

    Amongst those sitting today is Keith Hackett. Police recently told the 71-year old former Labour councillor he could legally display a poster in support of the proscribed Palestine Action group in his front window. Keith said:

    I’m risking arrest today under terrorism legislation because as a former Labour councillor in Liverpool I am deeply ashamed of how Labour are acting. If they want to start turning the party around and win back the support they have lost they need to stop their complicity in this genocide and end the ban on Palestine Action. They need to recognise that direct action has been a fundamental part of the gains that have been in the labour movement.”

    Tayo Aluko, 63, actor, writer, and singer from Liverpool who is sitting in protest today, said:

    This government, like all authoritarian regimes in modern times, wants to plant fear in the citizens so that it can continue to let their friends and paymasters get away with genocide. This is a time for bravery, as was shown by people who went before us, so that we can enjoy the freedoms we have today, which are now under threat. I feel I have no choice but to stand up and be counted.

    Protecting free speech and human rights? Only when it’s convenient

    The UN Commission of Inquiry found that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza on multiple counts. Yet the Labour government continues to say that:

    any formal determination as to whether genocide has occurred should be made following a judgment by a competent national or international court.

    As the UN Commission report noted:

    Since at least January 2024, when the International Court of Justice ordered its first provisional measures, all states… have been on notice of a serious risk that genocide was being or would be committed

    This thereby triggered the responsibility of states to prevent genocide under the Genocide Convention. The UK government has therefore been negligent of its obligations under the Geneva Convention to prevent and punish genocide.

    Prime minister Keir Starmer, in his recent press conference with US president Donald Trump, said:

    free speech, it’s one of the founding values of the United Kingdom and we protect it jealously and fiercely and always will.

    Anyone watching the state’s recent mass arrests under terrorism legislation of over 1,500 people for peacefully holding cardboard signs might find that difficult to swallow.

    Feature image supplied.

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.