LondonMetric, the landlords of Elbit’s ‘UAV Tactical Systems’ drone factory, has sold the site on after a targeted direct action campaign calling on them to cut ties with Israel’s largest weapons company. After struggling to find a buyer, LondonMetric have now relinquished their interest in Elbit Systems, despite what it claims is a strong commercial potential of the site. Business at ‘UAV Tactical Systems’ has been regularly disrupted and prevented due to its production of Israeli military drones [1].
The result comes after concerted efforts by Palestine Action, joined by the Youth Front for Palestine (YFFP), against the offices and premises of LondonMetrics.
Seven US and European investment banks have been propping up Israel’s brutal genocide in Gaza to the tune of nearly $20bn. And a certain notorious company in particular is dripping in bankrolling complicity: Goldman Sachs.
A new investigation has revealed the scale of seven financial institutions role financing Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Netherlands-based financial research group Profundo conducted the vital new research, with Dutch NGOs BankTrack and PAX have publishing its critical findings.
Significantly, the groups have uncovered that a small number of investment banks have played a crucial role in helping Israel meet the “significant funding needs” for its genocidal assault on Gaza.
The life expectancy of Palestinians in Gaza was slashed nearly in half amid the first year of Israel’s genocide, a new study finds, taking decades off of the average life of a person in the besieged enclave. An article published online in The Lancet finds that life expectancy across the population dropped by 34.9 years between October 2023 and September 2024, going from 75.5…
Stormzy appears to have deleted posts supporting Palestine just as McDonald’s launches a campaign to “Order Like Stormzy.” Middle East Eyereported that the Instagram post in question was a post calling for Free Palestine where Stormzy wrote in the caption:
In the future, if there is ever a clear injustice in the world, no matter how big or small, 100 times out of 100 I will be on the side of the oppressed. Unequivocally. As I always have been. Social media is a brilliant way to stand up for what is right, but there are also a whole load of other ways to do this.
It particularly rankles when Stormzy, who has stood on the side of the oppressed time and time again, folds for perhaps the ultimate symbol of corporate capitalism.
Stormzy: Ronald made me do it
The advert features people having Stormzy’s voice coming out of their mouths as they order the same items. By the by, Stormzy’s order – nine nuggets, fries, barbecue sauce, a sprite, and an Oreo McFlurry – isn’t even specific enough to warrant an advertising campaign of this size. That’s to say nothing of Stormzy conveniently hiding his previous support for Palestine as soon as that McDonalds cash came calling.
McDonalds has been on the boycott list since October 2023, with the group Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) releasing a statement saying:
McDonald’s Israeli franchisee has supported the Israeli occupation forces with free McDonald’s meals during the ongoing genocide of 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza, prompting the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), the largest Palestinian coalition that leads the global BDS movement, to endorse the organic, grassroots-led worldwide boycott campaigns targeting McDonald’s to end complicity in apartheid Israel’s crimes.
There was huge backlash after McDonald’s gave free meals to thousands of Israeli soldiers in 2023. After that particular move sparked boycotts, McDonalds ended up buying back the Israeli franchise that operates McDonald’s 225 outlets in occupied territory. Since then, McDonald’s CEO has admitted that the worldwide boycott by supporters of Palestine has hurt the company’s profits.
It’s a hell of a turnaround to go from saying Free Palestine, promising to always stand on the side of the oppressed, to getting a presumably million pound contract with a company on the boycott list, and then deleting the post about standing against oppression.
It is that deep
It’s no wonder people on social media feel betrayed by Stormzy:
I can’t lie, it’s deleting the post that says Free Palestine that makes the McDonalds deal far worse. You can argue the deal but deleting the very smallest bit of advocacy you did is nasty work. Stormzy did not need to do that.
Whoever is advising Stormzy is doing a crap job. I hope McDonald's paid him really, really well because it's going to take some serious heavyweight PR for him to fully recover from this – he even deleted social media posts beforehand. He was our golden boy. I'm so disappointed.
There have been a hell of a lot of celebrities and other public figures who’ve remained silent on Israel’s genocide in Palestine. Of course, celebrities speaking out should not be the only metric of social progress on an issue, but their actions matter. And, their actions matter even more when, like Stormzy, they have a history of speaking out about injustice and oppression. What is Stormzy’s public persona if he’s not standing up for oppressed people? Evidently, it’s not one that fans want.
Seven US and European investment banks have been propping up Israel’s brutal genocide in Gaza to the tune of nearly $20bn. And a certain notorious company in particular is dripping in bankrolling complicity: Goldman Sachs.
Goldman Sachs: propping up Israel’s genocide in Gaza
A new investigation has revealed the scale of seven financial institutions role financing Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Netherlands-based financial research group Profundo conducted the vital new research, with Dutch NGOs BankTrack and PAX have publishing its critical findings.
Significantly, the groups have uncovered that a small number of investment banks have played a crucial role in helping Israel meet the “significant funding needs” for its genocidal assault on Gaza. Together, seven investment banks underwrote $19.4bn in bonds for the Israeli state between 7 October 2023, and January 2025.
Topping the table for the biggest issuer of bonds is infamously immoral US investment bank Goldman Sachs. Alone, the company has underwritten more than $7bn in Israeli military bonds. Therefore, it has issued 37% of the $19.4bn the seven Western investment banks have collectively underwritten.
The other complicit corporations the investigation identified were: Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas, Citi, Barclays, and JPMorgan Chase.
US companies together underwrote nearly three-quarters of these bonds since Israel began the genocide.
‘War bonds’ for Israel’s war criminal atrocities and genocide
Israel has ramped up its issuance of sovereign bonds significantly since 7 October 2023. The war crime and genocide-mongering state has ballooned its military budget to carry out its atrocities that have displaced almost the entire population of Gaza, and brutally massacred at least 46,000 Palestinians.
Israel’s sovereign debt is generally added to the overall state budget. However, reports confirm that it issued more recent bonds to cover the costs of its full-scale assault on Gaza. In February 2024, Ministry of Finance officials confirmed the country would need to sell “near-record amount of bonds” in 2024 to continue financing it.
Israel Bonds is the government-affiliated body responsible for marketing Israel’s bonds to international investors. It specifically advertises these bonds as opportunities to support “Israel at War”. By underwriting and bringing Israel’s so-called “war bonds” to market, the seven banks identified in Profundo’s investigation therefore facilitated crucial financing enabling Israel to continue its genocide in Gaza.
Asset managers investing in Israel’s ethnic cleansing operations
Profundo’s investigation also identified the asset managers who have purchased Israeli government bonds since 7 October.
These asset managers purchase bonds for their own funds as well as for their clients. Among these are pension funds and insurance companies. The findings indicate that the 20 largest institutional investors – largely US asset managers and asset management arms of US banks and insurance companies – have provided more than $2.7bn in financing to Israel through bond purchases since the start of the genocide.
The largest investor is PIMCO, the US subsidiary of German financial services company Allianz. Alone, it purchased almost $1bn in Israeli “war bonds”.
A ‘long history of corporate complicity’ – not least Goldman Sachs
Human Rights Campaigner at BankTrack Max Hammer said:
Israel’s war on Gaza has created one of the largest humanitarian catastrophes of the 21st century. By underwriting bonds which the Israeli state specifically issued to continue its genocidal war effort, banks risked making themselves complicit in these atrocities. Any financial institution or investor which helped Israel raise money for its military campaign must take urgent action to end and provide remedy for its contributions to widespread violations of international humanitarian law.
Project Lead Israel-Palestine at PAX Thomas Van Gool said:
Banks and asset managers’ investment in and underwriting of Israeli “war bonds” reflects a long history of corporate complicity in Israel’s violations of international humanitarian law. Now that a fragile ceasefire has come into effect, financial institutions and businesses must take immediate action to redress their direct links to these violations. Beyond providing remedy for financially enabling atrocities in Gaza, this must involve an urgent review of all financial relationships with the Israeli state, its military oppression of Palestinians in Gaza, and its regimes of apartheid and occupation in the West Bank.
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital, has been unaccounted for some time. Now, his lawyer and testimony from his family and fellow prisoners is revealing a picture of brutal Israeli torture. Dr. Safiya was abducted by Israel’s forces along with other medical staff, and has been held without charge or trial. He’s also been denied access to legal representation until now.
Arbitrary detention
Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights describes Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya’s arbitrary detention as follows:
When he was captured from Gaza and transferred to the Sde Teiman military detention camp, he was subjected to various forms of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment—methods that are emblematic of Israeli mass arrest operations in Gaza.
Information from Dr. Safiya’s lawyer revealed that:
He reported being forcibly stripped, having his hands tightly shackled, and being made to sit on sharp gravel for approximately five hours by Israeli forces. He was also subjected to severe physical abuse, including beatings with batons and electric shock sticks, as well as repeated blows to the chest.
Just as many Palestinian hostages have been released looking emaciated and malnourished, it would appear that Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya has been subject to the same treatment:
He also reported a severe decline in his health, with his weight dropping from 96 kg to 84 kg, a 12 kg loss in less than two months—further evidence of Israel’s systematic starvation policies against Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
The People’s Dispatch has reported on the increased instances of abuse in Israeli prisons:
In recent days, more testimonies from prisoners have emerged, documenting the torture and dehumanization in Israeli detention centers. These reports detail widely known procedures such as blindfolding detainees, exposing them to prolonged loud and screeching noises, and subjecting them to physical and sexual abuse.
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya: ongoing torture
Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya’s family have used his X account to provide an update on his situation:
My father was subjected to severe mistreatment and torture by the army in the early days of his arrest and was held in solitary confinement for 24 days.
They also reiterated that there have been no charges brought:
Regarding his legal case, it is clean, and there are no charges against him. All the accusations attributed to him have been denied due to a lack of evidence, and the case is clear. There is also a possibility of his release in the coming stages, as there are no charges against him from the Israeli public prosecution.
Dr. Safiya’s lawyer said there was no “legal justification” for his arrest and:
any accusation needs evidence and as long as there is no evidence, there is no real complete accusation against Doctor Hussam.
It is no accident that Israel is targeting medical professionals, journalists, and anyone else who can tell the world about Israeli brutality. As Al Jazeerareported:
Abu Safia, who had documented the cruel impact of Israel’s offensive on Kamal Adwan Hospital, was arrested after refusing multiple military threats to leave the hospital during a devastating blockade on the northern Gaza Strip.
More missing
In their statement, Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya’s family also wrote:
He urges the world to help secure his release and the release of all detained healthcare personnel from all hospitals.
Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh pointed out:
At least his family now knows where he is and that he is alive, unlike potentially thousands of others who the UN said have been forcibly disappeared from Gaza.
There has been widespread pressure from people initially asking where Dr. Safiya had been taken. As reports come in from other prisoners, his family, and lawyer it is clear that Dr. Safiya is one of many who have been abducted, arbitrarily detained, and tortured.
Media outlets across the UK should be covering Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya’s abduction, and the abduction of others in Palestine by Israeli forces. What is the media for, if not to be able to put pressure on governments who are choosing not to intervene?
The thing is, we can, and will, keep reporting on Israel abducting and disappearing Palestinians. We’ll keep amplifying human rights workers who do the same. But, what difference does it make if mainstream media continue to turn their faces away from bloodshed that they support? What difference does it make if the governments who prop up Zionists continue to look away from the blood on their hands?
This is the least we can do, and we’ll keep doing it. But it is nevertheless a terrifying thought that there are so many more Palestinians like Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya who are unknown to us but are still being abducted, arbitrarily detained, and tortured by Israel.
The issue is no longer a hypothetical one. US President Donald Trump will not explicitly suggest death camps, but he has already consented to Israel’s continuing a war that is not a war but rather a barbaric assault on a desolate stretch of land. From there, the road to annihilation is short, and Israel will not bat an eye. Trump approved it.
COMMENTARY:By Gideon Levy
And what if US President Donald Trump suggested setting up death camps for the inhabitants of the Gaza Strip? What would happen then?
Israel would respond exactly as it did to his transfer ideas, with ecstasy on the right and indifference in the centrist camp.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid would announce that he would go to Washington to present a “complementary plan”, like he offered to do with regard to the transfer plan.
Benny Gantz would say that the plan shows “creative thinking, is original and interesting.” Bezalel Smotrich, with his messianic frame of mind, would say, “God has done wonders for us and we rejoice.” Benjamin Netanyahu would rise in public opinion polls.
The issue is no longer a hypothetical one. Trump will not explicitly suggest death camps, but he has already consented to Israel’s continuing a war that is not a war but rather a barbaric assault on a desolate stretch of land. From there, the road to annihilation is short, and Israel will not bat an eye. Trump approved it.
After all, no one In Israel rose up to tell the president of the United States “thank you for your ideas, but Israel will never support the expulsion of the Gaza Strip’s Palestinians.”
Hence, why be confident that if Trump suggested annihilating anyone refusing to evacuate Gaza, Israel would not cooperate with him? Just as Trump exposed the transfer sentiment beating in the heart of almost every Israeli, aimed at solving the problem “once and for all,” he may yet expose a darker element, the sentiment of “it’s us or them.”
A whitewasher of crimes
It’s no coincidence that a shady character like Trump has become a guide for Israel. He is exactly what we wanted and dreamed about: a whitewasher of crimes. He may well turn out to be the American president who caused the most damage ever inflicted on Israel.
There were presidents who were tight-fisted with aid, others who were sour on Israel, who even threatened it. There has never been a president who has set out to destroy the last vestiges of Israel’s morality.
From here on, anything Trump approves will become Israel’s gold standard.
Trump is now pushing Israel into resuming its attacks on the Gaza Strip, setting impossible terms for Hamas: All the hostages must be returned before Saturday noon, not a minute later, like the mafia does. And if only three hostages are returned, as was agreed upon? The gates of hell will open.
They won’t open only in Gaza, which has already been transformed into hell. They will open in Israel too. Israel will lose its last restraints. Trump gave his permission.
But Trump will be gone one day. He may lose interest before that, and Israel will be left with the damage he wrought, damage inflicted by a criminal, leper state.
No public diplomacy or friends will be able to save it if it follows the path of its new ethical oracle. No accusations of antisemitism will silence the world’s shock if Israel embarks on another round of combat in the enclave.
A new campaign must begin
One cannot overstate the intensity of the damage. The renewal of attacks on Gaza, with the permission and under the authority of the American administration, must be blocked in Israel. Along with the desperate campaign for returning the hostages, a new campaign must begin, against Trump and his outlandish ideas.
However, not only is there no one who can lead such a campaign, there is also no one who could initiate it. The only battles being waged here now, for the hostages and for the removal of Netanyahu, are important, but they cannot remain the only ones.
The resumption of the “war” is the greatest disaster now facing us, heralding genocide, with no more argument about definitions.
After all, what would a “war” look like now, other than an assault on tens of thousands of refugees who have nothing left? What will the halting of humanitarian aid, fuel and medicine and water mean if not genocide?
We may discover that the first 16 months of the war were only a starter, the first 50,000 deaths only a prelude.
Ask almost any Israeli and he will say that Trump is a friend of Israel, but Trump is actually Israel’s most dangerous enemy now. Hamas and Hezbollah will never destroy it like he will.
Gideon Levy is a Ha’aretz columnist and a member of the newspaper’s editorial board. He joined Ha’aretz in 1982, and spent four years as the newspaper’s deputy editor. He is the author of the weekly Twilight Zone feature, which covers the Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza over the last 25 years, as well as the writer of political editorials for the newspaper. Levy visited New Zealand in 2017.
The Israeli military has detained scores of Palestinians from the occupied West Bank amid its escalated assault in the region, with hundreds abducted by authorities in just over three weeks of the raid. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said in a statement on Thursday that Israeli forces have detained 380 Palestinians in the northern West Bank since the beginning of “Operation Iron Wall” on…
Nearly one whole year after students at Princeton University held an encampment on their campus in solidarity with Gaza, 12 students and one postdoctoral fellow will head to trial. In a statement released by Princeton Israeli Apartheid Divest (PIAD) — the main organization behind Princeton’s Gaza solidarity encampment — organizers claim that the trial date “arose from a dangerous process of intimidation and coercion.”
The trial is scheduled for April 14-16 and the students face charges of “defiant trespass” for briefly holding a building occupation at Clio Hall, home of the Princeton Graduate School’s administrative offices.
The Swiss official who ordered the arrest of renowned Palestinian-American journalist Ali Abunimah justified doing so on the false and defamatory basis that Abunimah is “an Islamist Jew-hater.” Mario Fehr, the head of Zurich’s Department of Security, made the bogus accusation in a recent comment to the Swiss publication NZZ, which also falsely characterized Abunimah as an “Islamist” and an “extremist.”
Swiss authorities detained Abunimah on Jan. 25, after they initially allowed him entry into Switzerland following an hour-long interrogation.
Hamas officials have said that the group has agreed to release Israeli hostages on time this weekend amid fears that the ceasefire deal in Gaza would fall apart as Israel has repeatedly violated the ceasefire numerous times. The group said on Thursday that it “confirms continuation in implementing the agreement in accordance with what was signed, including the exchange of prisoners according…
Mark Smith’s testimony raises fundamental questions about why the system works in this way and why successive governments have bent over backwards to justify selling arms despite knowing they’ll be used to commit or facilitate horrific war crimes. CAAT argues that the answer lies in the power and influence of the arms trade.
In August 2024, Smith resigned over the UK government’s refusal to halt arms sales to Israel amid the bombardment of Gaza, following a year of internal lobbying and whistleblowing.
As an official responsible for assessing Saudi Arabia’s compliance with International Humanitarian law (IHL) in Yemen, Mark Smith was repeatedly told to revise or “rebalance” his reports to make them less damning of Saudi’s conduct, and to give an appearance of “progress”.
Officials were told to delete correspondence that gave a more negative picture. Ministers employed delaying tactics and repeated requests for “more evidence”, even when the picture of serious violations was clear.
CAAT’s 2024 report on political influence revealed the disturbing level of access and influence the arms industry has on the UK government. This included BAE Systems having more meetings with ministers, and more with prime ministers, than any other private company.
On average, between 2009-19, senior government officials and ministers met with their arms industry counterparts 1.64 times a day. This level of influence buys government complicity and makes a mockery of international law in order to safeguard arms dealers’ profits.
Racism and colonialism in action
CAAT further argues that underpinning this is the racism and colonialism that is still at the heart of UK foreign policy. It doesn’t matter if this means arming human rights abusing dictators and genocidal regimes – and it doesn’t matter if Black and Brown people are murdered with UK supplied weapons and parts – if this helps pursue a supposed ‘stability’ that promotes US/UK interests.
CAAT’s media coordinator Emily Apple said:
Thousands of campaigners across the UK have been vindicated, but it’s too late for tens of thousands of Palestinian and Yemeni people killed with weapons and components exported from the UK.
Successive governments have manipulated evidence to knowingly and willingly facilitate war crimes and genocide to safeguard arms dealers’ profits. This has to stop. This has to be the wake up call to take action, reduce the power of the arms trade lobby, and demand a systemic change in our arms export licensing system.
The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement has called for a boycott of Marvel’s upcoming film, Captain America: Brave New World. A statement read:
Palestinians call for widespread boycotts of Marvel’s 2024 film, Captain America: New World Order, unless it drops Sabra/Ruth Bat-Seraph, its “superhero” that personifies the apartheid state of Israel.
The character’s backstory includes working for the Israeli government and occupation forces. By reviving this racist character in any form, Marvel is promoting Israel’s brutal oppression of Palestinians.
Marvel must have known that this boycott was coming, as the film was set to have an altogether different title. It was previously known as Captain America: New World Order. The phrase “new world order” is commonly associated with antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Captain America: Brave New World – Marvel’s choice
As the statement above suggests, one of the main characters pulled from Marvel comics history was Sabra. Gizmodo explain:
Sabra was introduced as not just Israel’s national hero, but an agent of the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence agency.
Sabra was the character’s alter-ego, with her civilian persona known as Ruth Bat-Seraph. The New Arab noted that ‘Sabra’ can denote a Jewish person born in Israel. However, now the word ‘Sabra’ is best known for the Sabra and Shatila massacres in Lebanon in 1982. Shatila, a Palestinian refugee camp, and the neighbouring town of Sabra saw Israel and a right-wing Lebanese militia kill between 2000 and 3500 people. As Al Jazeera explains:
More than 100,000 Palestinians, mostly from the northern areas of historic Palestine, were expelled and fled to Lebanon during the 1948 Nakba.
Since then:
Not one single Lebanese or Israeli fighter or official was punished for the crimes committed.
Sabra first appeared in Marvel comics in 1980 – the fact the Marvel Cinematic Universe has chosen to resurrect this previously insignificant character now that more details of the Sabra massacre are known is sickening. Clearly, this has registered enough with Marvel that the character is referred to as ‘Ruth Bat-Seraph’ in the film listings, and not as Sabra. On top of that, the character’s actress, Shira Haas, has voluntarily served in the Israeli army.
An inevitable boycott
Marvel could have easily avoided the inevitable boycotts to the film. Instead, they chose to bring forward a little-known character for what may be one of the biggest blockbusters of the year. Quds News Network reported that a number of supporters of Palestine showed up to protest at the premiere:
Pro-Palestinian Protest Outside "Captain America: Brave New World" Premiere in Hollywood.
Hollywood witnessed a pro-Palestinian protest outside the premiere of "Captain America: Brave New World" tonight, amid growing backlash over the inclusion of the character "Sabra." The… pic.twitter.com/YpFaj15a7l
There’s also been some discussion about how this is the first film outing for Marvel’s first Black Captain America, Sam Wilson, played by Anthony Mackie. However:
So you don’t have room for an ACTUAL character who can show the impact Sam has as a black Captain America but you have room for the IOF soldier and her propaganda? https://t.co/fFnM61D8hJ
As a major Marvel production, Captain America: Brave New World will have been in development for many years. It doesn’t matter when, they knew exactly what the character Sabra was in the comics. They chose to keep her character, and to cast a former Israeli soldier. This begs the question, would Chris Evans have warranted this kind of treatment for his first film?
By all means, explore the character of the first Black Captain America, a decision that so enraged racist Marvel fans. But let’s stop pretending that it has to be done with the inclusion of a character whose name is synonymous with the deaths of thousands, and for a film that is released during an ongoing genocide.
History with militaries
Marvel is no stranger to the military industrial complex. As is commonplace in Hollywood, studios will often broker deals with the US military:
Producers agree to this to be able to borrow military equipment and personnel for shoots, which saves millions of dollars in props and CGI. The military only lends its equipment to movies whose scripts do not besmirch the military. A representative of the Pentagon’s liaison office said that military approval is only given if the movie depicts the military accurately. But, “any film that portrays the military as negative is not realistic to [the Pentagon].”
On-screen propaganda aside, there are also tangible benefits for the military:
Marvel’s Captain Marvel followed in its footsteps; the studio partnered with the air force to use the movie as a tool to boost recruitment of female pilots. The military succeeded again, last year seeing a modest bump in the percentage of female applicants.
Marvel is a cog in the military industrial machine that manufactures consent for the US military’s depravity in supporting Israeli genocide. They don’t need our money – and they’re bloody well not going to get it.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators are set to join the Palestine march to the US embassy on Saturday 15 February as the Gaza ceasefire hangs by a thread, with Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to resume the bombing and US president Donald Trump declaring “let all hell break loose”, after Hamas delayed the release of more hostages, citing Israeli ‘violations’ of the deal.
Palestine march: pertinent timing
The demo is, coincidentally, the 22nd anniversary of the biggest march in British history – over the West’s second invasion of Iraq – and the signs are it will be a very big protest, coming as it does as continued British and international government and media complicity over the genocide, and Trump’s declaration of intent to ‘take over’ the Gaza Strip and ethnically cleanse its people, are emboldening Netanyahu to go ever further.
In an unprecedented attack on the leadership of the Palestine coalition and the right to free assembly, the Met followed Chris’s arrest by also charging Palestine Solidarity Campaign director Ben Jamal.
For fifteen months, pro-Palestine marchers have been calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, and an end to the genocide. On the 24th national demonstration, they will be demanding that the US take its hands off Gaza, that Israel stops its deadly raids in the occupied West Bank, along with its continued bombing across the Middle East, and that Britain stops arming Israel.
Numerous speakers
Among the speakers on Saturday’s Palestine march will be renowned Palestinian activist Iyad Burnat, who has travelled to the UK from the West Bank. For over 20 years, Iyad has led the village of Bil’in’s non-violent struggle in the occupied Palestinian territory. He is the head of the Bil’in Popular Committee against Israel’s illegal apartheid wall. Iyad’s story is featured in the Oscar-nominated documentary Five Broken Cameras.
Other speakers at the Palestine march include Zarah Sultana, MP for Coventry South, Michael Rosen, the author, poet and presenter, journalist Owen Jones, Palestinian activist, organiser and storyteller Jeanine Hourani, Eddie Dempsey, RMT senior assistant general secretary, Jeremy Corbyn, MP for Islington North, Hamza Stitan, Palestinian activist, Lindsey German, convenor at Stop the War coalition, Ben Jamal, director of Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, and the Palestinian Ambassador to the UK Husam Zumlot.
Saturday’s demonstration assembles at noon in Whitehall, marching to the US embassy at Nine Elms.
Palestine Action has continued its direct action campaign against PHS, the company which deals with the toxic waste of Israel’s biggest weapons maker, Elbit Systems, with actions against sites in Ashford and Hayes.
PHS: complicit with Elbit, complicit with genocide
On Tuesday 11 February, the company’s site at Kingsnorth Industrial Estate in Ashford was hit:
Then, on Wednesday 12 February the PHS site at Pump Lane Industrial Estate in Hayes was the target:
In the actions, buildings and vehicles were covered in blood-red paint, with windows broken, and vehicles put out of commission:
While Palestine Action’s primary targets for direct action are the arms manufacturers such as Elbit which build weapons to kill Palestinian civilians, the group is also taking action against the companies who assist them in doing so.
This includes PHS, who take away Elbit’s toxic waste. Palestine Action have already targeted numerous PHS sites in a similar manner. The group did so last December:
It says these actions will not stop until the company drops Elbit.
A Palestine Action spokesperson said:
Drones made by Elbit Systems, in Britain, have been at the forefront of the Genocide in Gaza, and continue to be used to attack Palestinians in the West Bank. They are a toxic company, being aided and abetted by companies like PHS, who are complicit in the slaughter.
PHS may think that, like Elbit, they can make a killing from the wholesale murder of the Palestinian people, but so long as they are involved, Palestine Action will target them.
US president Donald Trump and the fascist billionaire mafia around him are trying to hold South Africa to ransom. And it’s pretty obvious that the country’s international legal case against Israel’sgenocide in Gaza is the reason.
Oppose genocide? Face the wrath of the imperial axis of evil.
The toxic alliance of billionaires, imperialists, colonialist war criminals, and the far right is a powerful one. And by challenging a member of that alliance in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), South Africa clearly placed a big target on its back.
That’s why Trump, whose electoral victory further empowered this evil alliance, has started to blackmail South Africa by cutting off aid and offering refugee status to the country’s privileged white people. The fact that he mentioned the ICJ genocide case as he did so, of course, is no coincidence.
The reality of ongoing white privilege in South Africa
With his executive blackmail order, Trump cited a South African expropriation act from last month which seeks “to redress land inequalities that stem from South Africa’s history of white supremacy“. White people in South Africa represent just 7.2% of the population, but own over 70% of the country’s farmland.
As Al Jazeeraexplains, this is a legacy of both British colonial rule and a 1950 apartheid-era seizure of “85 percent of the land” which forced “3.5 million Black people from their homes”.
South Africa’s government is seeking to act because, as the World Inequality Lab has highlighted, the stench of colonialism and apartheid remains. The group revealed that, in 2017, 3,500 adults still owned “more than the poorest 32 million people”.
The only difference in wealth inequality since the end of apartheid was that there were more Black people in the top 10% of earners. But “asset allocations before 1993 still continue to shape wealth inequality”. That means that while the white poverty rate sits at just 1%, the Black rate stands at 64%. alists.
Post-apartheid governments have overwhelmingly served the rich while doing little for ordinary people. And in 2024, voters accordingly voiced their discontent. So politicians know they need to do something. And the expropriation act is one possibility.
The super-rich white connection to South Africa
Elon Musk grew up in apartheid South Africa. His bigoted grandfather had settled there just after white colonial elites had instituted their racist system, and was a passionate supporter of the regime.
In the same vein, Musk has befriended far-right groups and figures across the globe while clearly exposing his fascist colours. And now, he and other figures with links to white South Africa seem to be influencing and revelling in Trump’s willingness to challenge South Africa’s anti-apartheid government.
As journalist Chris McGreal toldDemocracy Now!, financial grifter PayPal served as a meeting point for privileged white people with a “very intimate connection to South Africa”. Apart from Musk, he mentioned Peter Thiel (the closeTrumpally whose dodgy company Palantir backs Israel’s genocide), David Sacks (now “Trump’s AI and crypto czar”), and Roelof Botha (grandson of apartheid politician Pik Botha).
McGreal also explained how “a campaign by white Afrikaner farmers, through an organization called AfriForum” has long sought to influence Trump’s circle, pushing “the idea of a white genocide in South Africa”. And this far-right conspiracy theory fits in well with appeals to Trump’s electoral base.
Keeping the far right on side
One US survey found that around a third of people believed in the ‘white genocide’ (or ‘great replacement’) conspiracy theory in some way. The theory claims elites have sought to build a workforce of cheaper immigrant workers and that white people in Western countries will cease to exist in the future because immigrants of colour tend to have more children.
It’s a theory that fits in very well with the type of anti-immigrant dogwhistling of Trump and other far-right figures because it gives working-class white people an extra reason to fear immigrants and focus on them rather than on the actual economic order responsible for their problems.
That’s why media and political elites allude to it, attracting the support of people with numerous problematic psychological traits and violent anti-democratic tendencies in the process.
The networked nature of the modern far right means that rather than coalescing around a physical leader, they instead organise around a shared ideology and aim: the Great Replacement conspiracy theory
It added that:
All of this is supposedly being orchestrated by “cultural Marxists”, a catch-all term that includes liberal elites, feminists, Black Lives Matter activists, LGBTQ+ people and Jewish people.
In particular, longstanding far-right agitator Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka ‘Tommy Robinson’) has leaned into this conspiracy theory. And it seems like no coincidence that he has recently received significant support from Elon Musk.
Trump’s attack on South Africa, then, is a prime example of the dangerous power that the axis of billionaires, imperialists, colonialists, and fascists wields in today’s world.
In the early hours of 10 February 2025, Palestine Action struck again at ‘Eagle Strategic Consulting Ltd.’, the weapons consultancy firm owned by Richard Applegate. Activists from Palestine Action smashed the door of Eagle Strategic Consulting’s London registered office and sprayed red paint into the building:
Applegate, Elbit’s former Chairman, is the current Head of Strategy and New Business for Elbit Systems UK and serves as Director for Elbit’s drone-producing subsidiaries in Britain. This is the third direct action taken against this company, and Palestine Action will continue to escalate its campaign until the arms dealers behind the Israeli occupation are held to account.
A strong majority of American voters oppose President Donald Trump’s plan for the U.S. to forcibly expel Palestinians from Gaza and “take over” the Strip, new polling finds as human rights experts warn that the proposal involves numerous war crimes and threatens the very structure of international order. Data for Progress found in a survey released Wednesday that 64 percent of U.S.
As a fragile ceasefire falters in Gaza, millions of displaced Palestinians are still without adequate shelter. Exposure and hypothermia now present grave threats to people’s survival. The Real News reports from the Gaza Strip.
Producer: Belal Awad, Leo Erhardt Videographer: Ruwaida Amer, Mahmoud Al Mashharawi Video Editor: Leo Erhardt
Transcript
RANIA HAMD AL-HISI
The cold. What can I say? The situation is dire.
It’s very cold. Look, we’re living on the street. We’re living on a street. This entire campsite is suffering from the cold. Me? I am not a child, and I’m suffering from the cold. I’m not a child. God help the children.
In the morning I try to wash, clean, or do something, and I can’t because of the severity of the cold. We’re literally living on a street. What is protecting us? A sheet.
The children are exhausted, and we’re also exhausted. There is no immunity. We have no immune defenses at all. No nutrition, no heating, nothing. We’re exhausted.
The whole camp is suffering; they have no electricity. No blankets, no sheets. Nothing to keep the children warm. This little girl is always wheezing from the intense cold. We’ve taken her to the doctor a hundred times since we moved to the tents. They don’t know what’s wrong. Her stomach hurts. Every time she eats, her stomach hurts her. From what? The cold.
We’re not handling the cold, so how can the children? I witnessed something with our neighbor that I still can’t process. The sight of him holding his daughter and she’s dead. The whole camp now fears for the children.
She’s a child. Our neighbors have a small child who’s seven months old. My niece is a child, my granddaughter is a child. We’re scared for them. My granddaughter developed a respiratory illness. This one is wheezing. Our neighbor, Um Wissam, had an attack. I have developed chest pains. I swear to you, I’ve been suffering for two months with chest and back pains.
And our neighbor’s daughter, Sila… She died from the cold. We heard her mother. I carried her when she was dead. The girl, she was like ice. Ice. When I found her father carrying her, and her mother was on the floor… I carried the girl, I was the first to get to them, I found blood coming from her mouth. It was as if she had come out of a freezer. Frozen solid. I told them, “This girl has died from the cold.”
MAHMOOD AL-FASIHI
The night that Sila died was extremely cold. We’re living on the coast. At night it’s unnaturally cold. We adults couldn’t tolerate the cold that night when Sila died. Sila was perfectly normal. She didn’t suffer from any health problems. She breastfed three times that night. The final feeding was at 3:00 a.m. When we tried to wake her at 7:00 a.m. to feed her, we found her blue from the severity of the cold, and her heart had stopped.
AFFAF HUSAIN ABU-AWILI
Most of the cases we’re getting right now are called ‘cold injury.’ They are the result of severe cold and the change of season. These cases are usually less than a month old, a week, or two days old. The child arrives already frozen. We call it ‘cold injury’—it means a
deceased child. Of course, all of this is a result of the weather and the cold. Some can’t tolerate the cold. This environment causes respiratory problems.
The scene is very difficult, the father carrying the body, people screaming. A terrible situation, it’s indescribable. A small child, loved by his family, and the mum awakes and finds him like that, dead. I mean, a terrible situation that defies description.
Honestly, the situation is getting worse. Especially when it comes to respiratory inflammation in children and these sudden deaths, it’s increased a lot. Of course, it’s a result of the way people are living. Living in tents, lack of medicine, lack of warm clothing.
MAHMOOD AL-FASIHI
I have to collect plastic from the street to make a fire for my children. I don’t have gas, I don’t have anything. No basics of life, no heating. At night when it’s cold, my children have to huddle together from the cold. As much as I wrap my children, they’re still cold because of the severity of the cold. And nothing is available, the necessities of life are zero here.
The severe cold and lack of nutrition have created a lot of problems for the children. They’ve developed skin problems, they’ve developed a lot of things. My children wake up in the middle of the night scared of bombs. Of the terror we are living in. We’re living in terror. We adults have developed mental health issues from the extreme pressure we’re experiencing. We have developed… what can I say? We’re exhausted. Seriously. We’re exhausted from the war.
RANIA HAMD AL-HISI
When it rains, the whole place swims. When it rained last time, everyone had to leave. Look, you can see. There are no covers, or anything, and no one has given us anything. I have a sister, Um Ahmed, who recently gave birth. Where does the baby sleep? She’s made a bed for him from cardboard. On cardboard! Fearing that he falls into the water. The boy is two months old.
I swear to God, the thing that scares me the most. When it’s nighttime, I start praying: “Oh God, Oh God.” “Oh God please let us get through this night. God, don’t let it rain, please God.” God, please don’t let the people drown from the rain.
All night and the morning too, we can’t sleep because of the bombs. And the rain. The night that it rained, I swear to God I suffered. When the rain comes, it’s not about me—I can tolerate it. It’s the children. I can tolerate it. But the children?
Where’s the world? Where are the Arab people to see us? Would they like their kids to go through this? Now our children wake up from sleep, they’re thinking about water, they collect pieces of paper to help their moms make a fire, they’re thinking about the soup kitchen. That’s it. That’s our children.
I swear to God, what is happening to us—I hope happens to everyone who isn’t seeing or hearing us. I swear to God, I’m talking to you and my fingers are frayed from the cold. So
what about the children? What about the kids, what should they do? I swear to God all they think about is the soup kitchen: “The soup kitchen is here! The soup kitchen is gone!”
This girl, I’m telling you, she’s wheezing the whole night. I wake up and even to make her a herbal tea, we struggle. We don’t have gas or anything. I swear to God, you suffer so much just to make a fire.
Climate activists have held a former BP CEO and House of Lords peer’s feet to the fire at a key lecture on the climate crisis.
As the climate-wrecking corporation announced another year of killer profits, lord John Browne didn’t quite get the welcome reception he had bargained for at the 10-year anniversary event.
However, Fossil Free London made sure he got the one he deserved. To draw attention to more than a decade of him fronting the fossil fuel major branded ‘Blair Petroleum’ after the then Labour Party prime minister’s invasion of Iraq under false pretences, activists called on Browne to “pay up” for the warmongering company’s imperialistic past – and present.
BP profits: disaster capitalists doing what they do best
On Tuesday 11 February, BP posted its annual profits for 2024. And boo-hoo, break out the waterworks for BP, it reported that its takings had plummeted to $8.9bn. This was down from $13.8bn in 2023.
By all accounts of course, it still raked in a staggering sum of money. What’s more, it’s hardly a hit – when its 2023 profits were the second-highest across the past decade. In fact, it’s still more than the company made in 2021 ($7.6bn).
In 2022, the company leached record profits of $28bn. Of course, the energy crisis that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic triggered was the the disaster capitalist corporation’s wet dream. Price-gouging profiteers like BP were rolling in it, waging class war on the rest of us.
So excuse us while we bring out our tiny violins.
Naturally however, it’s also hardly the only war BP has been opportunistically fueling either, because there’s also its war on the climate too. In tandem with its latest profits, the company looks to be planning to its scale back its renewables arm. No surprises here though from the company’s whose well-oiled propaganda pipeline gave the world “Beyond Petroleum” before promptly dumping its slimy rebrand as swift as Deepwater Horizon oil-slick.
It was as much a stupefyingly oxymoronic misnomer then, as a former BP boss lecturing anyone on the climate crisis is now. When did that rebrand take place? Under the executive directorship of none other than lord John Browne.
Activists upstage former BP boss at climate lecture
So, on the day that BP broke the truly devastating news of its billions in losses to its loaded shareholders, the Energy & Climate Change Law Institute invited BP’s former CEO John Browne to the stage.
Unfortunately for Browne however, Fossil Free London were waiting in the wings. Activists disrupted Browne’s Q&A as he stood at the podium:
BREAKING: ex BP CEO Lord John Browne disrupted on the day BP announced yearly profits of £7.9 billion
Lord Browne led BP for over a decade, throughout the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He was hosted by Clifford Chance, one of the worst law firms for backing big oil at QMU pic.twitter.com/0Cw2VbX2VB
Crucially, activists were also there to highlight BP’s colonial crimes. Browne was BP boss at the time of then-Labour Party PM Tony Blair’s invasion of Iraq. British oil interests – namely, BP’s in particular – were at the heart of it. Its cosy revolving door relationship speaks to this. As Declassified UK has previously underscored:
Within days of Blair’s 1997 election victory, former BP chairman Sir David Simon was ennobled and made a trade minister.
Moreover, lo and behold, BP was right on the scene to suck up the spoils:
Governments in London and Washington long denied the Iraq war was about oil. Yet BP returned to the country in 2009 after a 35-year absence and was awarded a significant interest in Iraq’s largest oil field near British-occupied Basra in the south of the country.
Of course, the predatory profiteer hasn’t slowed in its colonial capitalist conquest since either. Capitalising on Israel’s brutal genocide of Palestinians in Gaza is very on-brand. So unsurprisingly, the corporate criminal has done just that as well.
Therefore, Fossil Free London demanded reparations for the oil industry’s role in the climate crisis and its destructive, imperialistic operations to boot.
Law firm sponsor’s complicity
The Energy & Climate Change Law Institute is based at Queen Mary’s University in London. It bills itself as:
a leading postgraduate law school
Moreover, it describes its curriculum as:
anchored in the real world of the energy sector; and to be a leading voice in the law and regulation of the energy transition.
The institute hosts its annual ‘Clifford Chance Lecture’, which in it boasts is:
one of the key dates in the Energy Law calendar for energy law academics, practitioners and policy-makers in the UK and internationally.
As the name suggests, Clifford Chance law firm sponsors the event. Cue a company dripping in climate crisis complicity. Activists from Fossil Free London highlighted how the company is another handmaiden for big oil and gas.
US-based student-led Law Students for Climate Accountability ranked it amongst the worst law firms shilling for the fossil fuel industry in 2024.
When will BP pay up for the harms they’re responsible for?
The Fossil Free London activist wasn’t pulling any punches as she grilled Browne:
When will BP and past and present CEOs pay up for the harms they’ve caused, pay up for the climate disasters and deaths they’re responsible for?
Of course, it was crickets from the white collar criminal who’d pocketed his oil millions.
A former BP boss, a law firm in bed with big oil, and a bunch of fossil fuel industry sell-outs walk into a corporate-captured lecture theatre. And thanks to climate activists at Fossil Free London, they all got well and truly burned.
Rupert Murdoch’s Times is among the UK newspapers people trust the most. But it doesn’t deserve this reputation. Because it might as well enlist Israel’swar criminal Benjamin Netanyahu to produce its propaganda, as a new cartoon for the paper demonstrates.
Propaganda behalf of Israel’s genocidal ultra-nationalist regime
Israel is illegally occupying Palestinian territories, according to the International Court of Justice. The occupiers have brutally controlled these lands for many decades now, through a system of apartheid.
Gaza in particular has long received the nickname of ‘world’s largestopen-air prison‘, and Jewish academic Norman Finkelstein has even called it a concentration camp. Yet when people in Gaza fought back on 7 October 2023, the Western mainstream media omitted this essential context. And they’ve consistentlytried to downplay the genocide that Israeli occupation forces have inflicted on Gaza in response.
The latest propaganda cartoon from the Times fits in well with a longstanding establishment tradition of minimising the suffering of Palestinian people living (and dying) under Israeli occupation while racistly prioritising and emphasising the suffering of Israeli citizens when Palestinians fight back. Because it decided to degrade itself by disrespecting the memory of Holocaust victims in the service of Israel’s ultra-nationalist settler-colonial regime.
Far from comparing the genocide of Jewish people in the Holocaust to the genocide of Palestinian people in Gaza today, which many would argue is a fair comparison, the Times instead compared Jewish concentration camp captives to released Israeli hostages. Not a thought for the thousands of Palestinian hostages. Not a thought for the thousands of children Israel has murdered since 2023.
Independent cartoonist Carlos Latuff, however, set the Times straight with a cartoon comparison of his own:
War criminals in Israel may hate them, but there are numerouscomparisons that Jewish commentators and others have legitimately made between German ultra-nationalists in the Holocaust and Israeli ultra-nationalists today.
Boycott all of the Murdoch press
Whether it’s the Times, the Sun, Talk, or any other media Murdoch’s News UK owns, we need to boycott the propaganda. Because as journalist and author Alan MacLeod wrote at Mint Press News in 2024:
no one is as important in manufacturing consent for Israel as Rupert Murdoch
The billionaire media mogul, MacLeod added:
has close and extensive personal ties to the Israeli political elite and myriad business connections to the country
War criminal prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly “has long-standing relations” with Murdoch and his family. And Macleod insisted that Murdoch and his media outlets function are
an unofficial arm of the Israeli propaganda machine
In Britain in particular, Murdoch has had close links to figures working with pro-Israel lobby group “Labour Friends of Israel, which was crucial in smearing and defeating the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn”.
“Never again” must mean NEVER AGAIN FOR ANYONE
A decade before the current genocide in Gaza, back in 2014, a number of Holocaust survivors and their descendants insisted on the similarities between the Nazi Holocaust and Israel’s actions in Palestine. They wrote that:
We are alarmed by the extreme, racist dehumanization of Palestinians in Israeli society, which has reached a fever-pitch. In Israel, politicians and pundits in The Times of Israel and The Jerusalem Post have called openly for genocide of Palestinians and right-wing Israelis are adopting Neo-Nazi insignia…
And they insisted that the phrase “never again” must not be selective. It must apply to everyone, or it’s meaningless.
We must raise our collective voices and use our collective power to bring about an end to all forms of racism, including the ongoing genocide of Palestinian people. We call for an immediate end to the siege against and blockade of Gaza. We call for the full economic, cultural and academic boycott of Israel. “Never again” must mean NEVER AGAIN FOR ANYONE!
Hamas said in a statement on Monday that it will suspend the release of Israeli captives in Gaza in response to what it called Israel’s “obstruction of the humanitarian protocol of the ceasefire deal.” The release of the next batch of Israeli captives would be delayed “until further notice,” the Palestinian movement said.
Hamas stated that Israel had been delaying the entry of important reconstruction material to the Gaza Strip, which it said was a breach of the ceasefire deal and constituted “a new war on the Palestinian people.”
As Benjamin Netanyahu threatens to resume war, Hamas outlines widespread Israeli ceasefire violations in document sent to the mediators.
By Jeremy Scahill and Sharif Abdel Kouddous of Dropsite News
Hamas officials submitted a two-page report to mediators yesterday listing a wide range of Israeli violations of the Gaza ceasefire since the agreement went into effect on January 19 — including the killing of civilians, repeated ground and air incursions, the beating and humiliation of Palestinian captives during their release and the deportation of some without their consent, and the denial of humanitarian aid.
Drop Site News obtained a copy of the report delivered to mediators from Qatar and Egypt.
“Hamas is committed to the ceasefire agreement if the occupation is committed to the agreement,” Hamas said in a statement.
“We confirm that the occupation is the party that did not abide by its commitments, and it bears responsibility for any complications or delays.”
The move comes in response to accusations by US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Hamas had violated the agreement, threatening a full resumption of the war — yet it was Israel’s nearly daily breaches of the deal that prompted Hamas to announce it would postpone the next release of Israeli captives.
On Monday, Abu Obeida, the spokesperson for the Al Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, announced the next planned release of three Israeli captives, scheduled for Saturday, would be “postponed indefinitely”.
Abu Obeida cited “delays in allowing displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza, targeting them with airstrikes and gunfire across various areas of the Strip, and failing to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid as agreed”.
Israel violating ceasefire agreement
Hamas issued a statement soon afterwards reiterating that Israel was violating the agreement by blocking aid, attacking civilians, and restricting movement in Gaza, and warning that the next release of captives would be postponed until it complied.
“By issuing this statement five full days ahead of the scheduled prisoner handover, Hamas aims to grant mediators sufficient time to pressure the occupation to fulfill its obligations,” the statement said.
Three Israeli officials and two mediators speaking anonymously to The New York Times confirmed that Israel had not fulfilled its obligations to send humanitarian aid into Gaza. This fact was mentioned in the 9th paragraph of the Times story.
In response, President Trump, on Monday told reporters that the ceasefire should be cancelled if Hamas did not release all the remaining captives it was holding in Gaza by midday Saturday, warning “all hell is going to break out”.
Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on Trump’s comments.
“If Hamas does not return our hostages by Saturday noon,” Netanyahu said in a video statement, “the ceasefire will end, and the IDF will return to intense fighting until Hamas is finally defeated.”
Netanyahu reportedly ordered the military to add more troops in and around Gaza to prepare for “every scenario” if the captives were not released.
It was not immediately clear if he was referring to the three Israelis originally scheduled for release Saturday, all remaining captives, or all living Israelis slated for release in Phase 1.
Document submitted to mediators
The two-page document submitted by Hamas to mediators yesterday divided the violations into five separate categories: Field Violations, Prisoners, Humanitarian Aid, Denial of Essential Supplies, and Political Violations.
Israel has repeatedly violated the ceasefire deal since it came into effect, targeting Palestinians in Gaza on an almost daily basis. The document outlines 269 “field violations” by the Israeli military, including the killing of 26 Palestinians and the wounding of 59 others.
Page 1 of the Hamas report of ceasefire violations by Israel. Image: Hamas screenshot APR/DDN
The number of people killed appears to be a dramatic undercount compared to the official toll documented by the Ministry of Health in Gaza.
The report also lists repeated ground incursions into Gaza beyond the designated buffer zone, particularly in the Philadelphi corridor — the 14km strip of land that runs along the border of Egypt.
These incursions “were accompanied by gunfire and resulted in the deaths of citizens and the demolition of homes,” the report said.
It also accused Israeli authorities of subjecting Palestinian captives to beatings and humiliation during their release, forcibly deporting released captives to Gaza without their coordination or consent, preventing families of deported prisoners from leaving the West Bank to join them, and delaying prisoner releases by several hours.
The report also says that fewer than 25 fuel trucks per day have been allowed into Gaza, which is half of the allotted 50 fuel trucks per day, as outlined in the deal. The entry of commercial fuel was blocked entirely, the report says, again in violation of the agreement.
Only 53,000 tents allowed
Just over 53,000 tents were allowed into Gaza, the reports says, out of the 200,000 allotted and no mobile housing units out of the 60,000 agreed on.
Heavy machinery for the removal of massive amounts of debris and retrieval of bodies was similarly blocked, with only four machines allowed in.
Israel also blocked the entry of supplies to repair and operate the power plant and electrical grid, the report said.
No medical supplies, ambulances have been allowed in and no equipment for civil defense teams. Meanwhile banks were not allowed to receive cash to replenish a severe currency shortage.
The report ends on “Political Violations” criticising statements by the “Israeli Prime Minister and ministers openly calling for the expulsion of Gaza’s population, sending a clear message that the occupation does not wish to honour the agreement and aims to implement Trump’s plan to displace Gaza’s residents”.
It also criticises the “deliberate delay” in starting the negotiations on Phase 2 of the ceasefire and “the introduction of impossible conditions.”
A summary of the Israeli ceasefire violations. Image: QudsNews
Dozens of UN human rights experts are warning that President Donald Trump’s plan for ethnic cleansing and U.S. control over Gaza would have horrific consequences if implemented, threatening to regress the world to the “dark days of colonial conquest.” In a statement released Tuesday, the group of UN officials, independent experts and special rapporteurs said that Trump’s plan is not just…
As the ceasefire in Gaza marks its fourth week and evacuees return to the north, many believe Gazans’ suffering has ended. This is far from reality. However, I truly believe that the ceasefire is crucial. It has allowed families to reunite after lengthy separation. I had the chance to see my aunt and uncle, who were forced to evacuate to the south in the early days of the war. Even now…
We speak with the acclaimed Palestinian writer Mohammed El-Kurd on the publication day for his new book, Perfect Victims. It comes at a time of heightened censorship and attacks on Palestinian expression in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, as well as in the United States and elsewhere. Perfect Victims explores ongoing Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation and human rights…
The Canary has spoken to a doctor who is crowdfunding a legal challenge after his NHS bosses sought to punish him for speaking out on Israel’sgenocide in Gaza. In August 2024, Royal Free London NHS Trust suspended Dr Nadeem Crowe for “potentially upsetting posts about the Israel – Gaza conflict”.
Because he was a temporary (or ‘bank’) worker, his employment rights were not the same as permanent employees. This means that the NHS in England could potentially get away with trying to silence “over 150,000” employees.
Crowe is now seeking to challenge this discrimination at an employment tribunal and determine the legal basis for NHS bosses’ suppression of employees’ freedom of speech. You can support his crowdfunding campaign here.
The Canary: What precedent do you hope your case will set?
DR NADEEM CROWE: Free speech is absolutely paramount in a democratic society. This was never more the case than when healthcare workers speak out against a plausible genocide. The NHS can not believe its staff are empty vessels who do not have opinions on life and the world around us. We are intelligent and educated people who value all life and humanity. We also can’t operate with an archaic “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” culture in case people are offended by our views, of course within reason.
I think it is perfectly reasonable to believe that most of society are against Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank – that will cover a lot of NHS staff whether they speak out or not. I for one am not prepared to remain silent during a time where humanity and morality appears to have been turned upside down. I am not prepared to be silent to protect the feelings of some people whilst others are being massacred.
I frankly don’t understand how a national health service feels able to remain silent when we have seen so many doctors murdered and hospitals destroyed. I won’t accept that being against the genocide in Gaza means I can not work as a doctor. My views have been the same for my whole career and they have never and will never affect the way I manage patients. I would not stoop to the level of those I condemn.
How clear is it for you that your suspension was politically motivated?
I have no doubt. I worked at the Royal Free for 15 years all in all. It was also my medical school. I have never had a complaint and have always been a well liked and well respected doctor. One anonymous complaint meant I had to be removed from work. I do not know who it came from but I have no doubt the Trust and indeed the Responsible Officer took the easiest path which was to “remove the problem.”
I am also certain that the problems are also embedded within NHS England who defended The Responsible Officer’s actions and in fact ignored most of my emails. I also know I was treated very differently, in fact more severely than a white British member of staff who was disciplined 6 weeks before me for the same issue. He was asked to sign a legal document to say he would not post on the conflict again and asked to delete his X posts. No suspension, no threat of dismissal at the end of investigation.
“The whole process destroyed me for months”
The Royal Free had the option to call me to a meeting, find out how I was and how the conflict was impacting me and to discuss their concerns and the complaint they had received. Instead they chose immediate suspension and conducted a meeting that was only intended to outline the investigation process. This meeting was an ambush and I thank God for making me the kind of person that can stand up for themselves. That being said – the whole process destroyed me for months. I couldn’t sleep. I had no job and no income. The Royal Free clearly have no notion of duty of care to their staff. I think it also says a lot that in the last 5 years I am only one of 2 doctors to be suspended for anything at all.
Do you know of other healthcare professionals who have suffered similar discrimination?
As above. I also know of multiple doctors employed at the Royal Free who were reported to the GMC by UKLFI and other similar organisations. The GMC told a friend they had received “hundreds” of similar complaints in the year and did not need to take any action.
Is it acceptable for employers to limit their employees’ freedom of speech?
I can only speak about medicine. I think the Gaza conflict has highlighted that employers have significant double standards and that there appear to be outside powers that protect some people and not others. When I leave work I am still a doctor but I am also a son, a brother and a partner. I still have a family in Jordan. I am also sometimes a patient with my own expectations from the NHS.
When it came to Ukraine and Russia there was a generally accepted pro-Ukraine ethos – we all had our faces in the Ukrainian flag on Facebook and tweeted about how disgusted we were with Russia’s invasion. Was the NHS telling us not to offend our Russian patients? No. In fact the NHS is employing doctors who have fled Gaza at this very moment and simultaneously suspending doctors who speak out against Israel.
If employers want to limit free speech, it needs to be the same treatment for all. I know for sure that if my Tweets were about releasing Israeli hostages and supporting the IDF – there would have been no suspension. I received the most horrific abuse from a Jewish nurse but it never crossed my mind to question her ability to be a professional. She is a fantastic nurse and continues to be to this day.
How can this be prevented from happening in the future?
Those that want pro-Palestinian voices silenced feed on fear. I understand because we all need jobs and we don’t want to wake up every day to abuse on social media. All I can encourage people to do is to try to stop being afraid to speak out. 18 months ago I had so many wishes for life and my career but seeing what has happened in Gaza has made that mean so little to me.
This is the point for my generation where humanity is being tested, in fact it is being reset. We have to make sure that when that final push of the reset button happens it is not in a world where the rife anti-Arab and anti-Palestinianism has become so normal it is just accepted. It can not be in a world where illegal occupations can continue despite breaking international law. If it is, at least we know we did all we could to fight the fight and to be on the right side of history.
There are thousands of Palestinian hostages Israel doesn’t want you to talk about, as only 39 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza. This is an important point to highlight as Israeli violations threaten to derail the current ceasefire.
Independentjournalists have highlighted clear mainstream media bias in the treatment of Palestinian and Israeli hostages. In particular, media outlets are usually very careful to call Israelis ‘hostages’ and Palestinians ‘prisoners’. And this distinction makes a difference.
Consider, for example, how you feel when you hear the word ‘prisoner’. Many will see a person who has committed a crime, and who authorities are justifiably punishing. Think about a ‘hostage’, however, and many will imagine scared civilians and evil captors. That’s why the language we use matters.
Palestinian hostages: the occupier vs the occupied
Israel is illegally occupying Palestinian territories, according to the International Court of Justice. And Israeli occupiers have brutally controlled these lands for many decades now, through a system of apartheid. They are currently trying to suppress the resistance of Hamas against this system, despite the fact that Hamas “repeatedly sought a permanent ceasefire” before 7 October 2023.
Because Israel avoided negotiations to put an end to years of on-and-off fighting, Hamas tried to force its hand with its 7 October attacks. With the aim of negotiating “the release of thousands of Palestinians in Israeli prisons”, Hamas took hostages on 7 October, many of whom were Israeli soldiers. Israel responded with genocide.
What exactly is a ‘hostage’, though? Well, the Cambridge dictionary says a hostage is “someone who is taken as a prisoner by an enemy in order to force the other people involved to do what the enemy wants”. A prisoner, meanwhile, is simply “a person who is kept in prison as a punishment”. With this in mind, many have argued that the word hostage is also appropriate for many Palestinians who are in Israeli prisons mainly because Israel wants to stop resistance to its settler-colonial occupation. Indeed, why else would Israel have arrested and charged “one in every five Palestinians” at some point in their lives?
No trial, no crime? Then you’re a hostage, not a prisoner.
‘Administrative detention‘ is Israel’s primary method of taking Palestinians hostage. This is when:
a person is held without trial without having committed an offense, on the grounds that he or she plans to break the law in the future. As this measure is supposed to be preventive, it has no time limit. The person is detained without legal proceedings, by order of the regional military commander, based on classified evidence that is not revealed to them. This leaves the detainees helpless – facing unknown allegations with no way to disprove them, not knowing when they will be released, and without being charged, tried or convicted.
As Israeli human rights group B’Tselem points out:
At the end of June 2024, the Israel Prison Service (IPS) was holding 3,340 Palestinians in administrative detention.
Even before 7 October 2023, there were 1,326 in administrative detention.
In the last 20 years, Israel has detained around 10,000 Palestinian children, for offences “from stone-throwing to participation in a gathering of merely 10 people without a permit”. Occupying forces often arrest these minors “during nighttime raids, interrogate them without a guardian present, hold them for longer periods before bringing them before a judge and hold those as young as 12 in lengthy pretrial detention,” according to Omar Shakir from Human Rights Watch.
This policy dates back to 1945 under British colonialism in Palestine, and continued under Israeli colonialism.
Being taken by an occupying military and put into jail without trial is equivalent to being held hostage.
To call people ‘prisoners’, it said, is to dehumanise them and suggest they’re less innocent. ‘Hostages’ is a much more appropriate word to use, because of Israel’s occupying apartheid regime and its brutal treatment of detainees.
Why does Israel take so many hostages?
Former UN official Moncef Khane has insisted that:
The thousands of Palestinians, many of them children, arbitrarily held in ‘administrative detention’ by Israel are every bit as much hostages as those seized by Hamas on 7 October
He added:
Testimonies of Palestinian mothers, terrified by a military 3am raid on their home to take away their children, husbands, or themselves, are chilling. The not-so-subliminal message is clear: don’t resist occupation and you’ll be fine. Or else.
Being a hostage is all about what your captor wants to achieve. What’s their purpose? For Hamas, it’s to secure the release of Palestinians from Israeli prisons. For Israel, Khane stressed, it’s to:
instil fear in every single family, and terrorise entire Palestinian communities to compel their submissiveness to, and acquiescence in, the occupation.
Amnesty International has essentially agreed, insisting that:
Israel has systematically used administrative detention as a tool to persecute Palestinians
Israeli oppression isn’t just physical. It’s linguistic too – like ‘Palestinian hostages’
Mainstream media outlets cover up for Israel and its Western enablers by omitting essential information. And they generally echo Israeli propaganda, using loaded language about Palestinians but not Israel, using inexact numbers for Palestinian deaths but exact ones for Israeli deaths, using ‘people’ to talk about Israelis but not Palestinians, and giving context for Israel’s actions but not context (like decades of brutal settler-colonial occupation) for Palestinian actions. Reports on Israeli victims of violence, meanwhile, include names and faces, but reports on the significantly larger number of Palestinian victims rarely do.
This propaganda tradition focuses energy on ‘worthy’ victims whose cause aligns with the interests of the rich and powerful, while downplaying or ignoring ‘unworthy’ victims whose cause goes against those elite interests. And when establishment journalists accidentally place too much focus on the latter, there are guard-dog mechanisms that bark back.
“Extreme Israel advocacy groups” like CAMERA, for example, don’t reveal their funding sources but do reveal their hatred of using the word ‘hostage’ when it comes to Palestinians. For them, the occupier is always the good guy and the occupied population is always the bad guy, and they pressure the media to reflect that stance too. ‘Honest Reporting’, a nationalist propaganda source whose funding sources are unclear but whose editorial staff are in Jerusalem and whose website ask for donations for Israel’s ‘war’, is another enforcer of propaganda. It seems to have a particular distaste of any media “eagerness to humanize Palestinian prisoners”.
So as the ceasefire begins to fall apart over Israel’s continuing murders in Gaza, obstruction of aid, and excitement over Donald Trump’s support for ethnically cleansing Palestinian land, remember your words. It may be hard to resist the military dominance of a settler-colonial power endorsed by imperialism, but we can at the very least resist their propaganda.
Nurse Chris Dindar is demanding answers after facing down a criminal prosecution for alleged crimes against houmous which he says was politically motivated. The crimes against houmous? A protest over Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, and the companies profiting from it.
Crimes against houmous: a preposterous attack on peaceful protest
The 55-year-old from Hastings in East Sussex was charged with criminal damage in April last year for holding a peaceful protest at a Sainsbury’s supermarket in February where he drew attention to their sale of Sabra houmous.
Sabra has been the target of an international consumer boycott for years as it was then owned by Strauss group which funds the Israeli military, currently in the dock at the world court for carrying out genocide in Gaza.
But last month, nearly a year after the protest, Chris was informed the CPS did not intend to pursue the case as there was ‘not enough evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction’.
“I’m so angry” said Chris:
The real crime was the way that Sainsbury’s and Sussex Police chose to weaponize the law to try and intimidate me for exposing complicity in genocide and standing up for Palestinian rights. The whole episode has been exhausting and deeply stressful.
Dad-of-two Chris said the manner of the investigation was traumatic for his whole family:
Having three plainclothes detectives barge into my house at eight in the morning, treating me like some sort of dangerous criminal, while my other half and my daughter stood there in their night clothes, shaking, then being taken to a police cell for hours was appalling.
They violated my home and my family, going mob-handed through our property, apparently looking for pro-Palestinian paraphernalia, sifting through my recently late mother-in-law’s protest artwork, asking: ‘Oh, what have we got here then?’ Their attitude was disgusting. We were all traumatised by that invasion.
Chris says that when he was released under investigation he was convinced the charge was not going to go anywhere:
It was so ridiculous, and it was such an obvious, pathetic attempt to kind of silence pro-Palestinian protests so I was gobsmacked when they charged me.
There’s a problem in Hastings – and across the UK
The charge came during the height of Israel’s 15-month assault on Gaza – which has killed over 62,000 Palestinians and left the tiny besieged strip of land uninhabitable – when a number of pro-Palestinian journalists and activists were being charged with criminal proceedings, as well as three local activists who were charged with aggravated trespass for their part in a peaceful protest at General Dynamics arms factory.
The ‘Hastings Three’ were all acquittedduring a trial in Brighton last month, and a spokesperson for the Hastings & District Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which organised the protest said the charges had been politically-motivated in order to deter peaceful protest.
Chair Katy Colley said:
Our justice system is being abused to criminalise peaceful protest, wasting precious court time and taxpayer money to defend companies that profit from supporting illegal occupation, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
But Sussex Police have defended their actions in a statement, claiming they were ‘proportionate’ in the circumstances.
The statement read:
We responded to a report of criminal damage after a significant amount of humous was removed from shelves at Sainsbury’s in St Leonards on 23 February and 10 March 2024. The products were unfit for consumption as a result, causing a financial loss to the business.
CCTV led officers to identify a suspect and plain-clothed officers attended his address at around 8.20am on 8 April, arresting him outside of the home at his request. Officers were then led into the address, which they searched and seized a mobile phone for further enquiries to be completed, as is standard practice in order to preserve and gather evidence.
The actions of officers at the time, and the subsequent decision to present a case to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), have been reviewed and were considered proportionate in the circumstances. We are aware that the CPS has since dropped the charges.
Hardly proportionate
But Chris says the police actions were far from proportionate, given the trivial nature of the alleged offence. “It’s clear the message has been coming from higher up, from the Home Office, which is actively trying to silence and repress Palestinian activism” he said:
We’ve seen that over the last year there’s been a huge crackdown on peaceful protests, particularly when it comes to Palestine, particularly the last march in London, and the police and the courts have been used as political tools to intimidate people into silence, whether through heavy-handed arrests like mine, or demonstrations with punitive bail conditions or dragging activists like me through the courts on spurious charges.
If you challenge corporation or state complicity in Israel’s crimes, whether you call out those companies individually or the ones that profit from the occupation and apartheid, or you’re protesting arms manufacturers or simply showing solidarity, you‘re treated as a threat.
They want people to be too afraid to take action, but that strategy is backfiring, because every time they try to suppress our movement, it only exposes their desperation, and it certainly strengthens my resolve. I think it probably strengthens our collective resolve to carry on and double down on our efforts.
Stepping up
Chris says he has stepped up his campaigning in recent months, taking a lead within the local movement to draw attention to BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions), particularly consumer boycott across a range of goods and outlets:
BDS remains one of the most effective tools that we have to resist the corporation’s complicity with apartheid, occupation and war crimes, companies like Sainsbury’s that stock products from firms that profit from the theft of Palestinian land and the slaughter of civilians in Gaza and the West Bank.
By highlighting that and by refusing to buy those products, we send a really powerful message that we won’t be complicit in genocide, war crimes, apartheid, ethnic cleansing and displacement.
I feel particularly strongly as a healthcare professional. Who knows how many nurses and doctors have been slaughtered, sniped, bombed, set on fire and tortured by Israel this past year? I’ve worked all over the world as a nurse, including in the Middle East, and human life is sacrosanct and to be protected at all costs. When the person doing that is the one that’s targeted, or the profession that’s doing that is the profession that’s targeted, that’s chilling.
The Houmous One is free
Chris says he would like to thank all the people who supported him.
Being part of the local PSC group has really got me through the last year,’ he said. ‘Without that solidarity and support, it would have been a very different scenario. I’d also like to thank from the bottom of my heart everyone who donated to my defence fund.
It was so heartening to feel the solidarity and support from the scores of people who donated and I am sure they will be happy that what’s left of the fund will be going directly to support our friends in Al-Mawasi, Gaza. Our town has long-standing friendship links with the people there and any defence costs that are returned to me by the court will also be going to Al-Mawasi.
In which case, if this prosecution achieves anything at all, it would be to help to raise funds for our friends in Al Mawasi. I haven’t seen a single supermarket do anything to help the people of Gaza to date. Shame on them all.
Palestine Action have for the third time hit a company complicit with Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. It’s complicit because it – Eagle Strategic Consulting – is owned by a director of one of the apartheid state’s biggest weapons manufacturers.
Eagle Strategic Consulting: third time’s a charm
In the early hours of 10 February 2025, Palestine Action struck again at ‘Eagle Strategic Consulting Ltd.’, the weapons consultancy firm owned by Richard Applegate. Activists from Palestine Action smashed the door of Eagle Strategic Consulting’s London registered office and sprayed red paint into the building:
Applegate, Elbit’s former Chairman, is the current Head of Strategy and New Business for Elbit Systems UK and serves as Director for Elbit’s drone-producing subsidiaries in Britain. This is the third direct action taken against this company, and Palestine Action will continue to escalate its campaign until the arms dealers behind the Israeli occupation are held to account.
Complicit with Elbit
Elbit Systems is a leading Israeli arms manufacturer that produces drones, surveillance systems, and a range of other weapons that are directly used by the Israeli military in its illegal occupation of Palestine. Elbit’s weapons are used to target Palestinian civilians, destroy homes, and maintain the apartheid system that has oppressed Palestinians for decades. From Britain, ‘Elbit Systems UK’ products exported to Israel, including military drones and weapons sights, are complicit in the mass murder and violent suppression of Palestinians.
This latest action is not an isolated incident. In March 2024, Palestine Action took direct action against Eagle Strategic Consulting’s Dorset premises, smashing windows and spray-painting the building to send a clear message: we will not stand by while companies like this continue to profit from the deaths and suffering of Palestinians. Activists turned to their new London premises one month ago, targeting the site for the same purposes.
The firm plays a clear role in embedding Israel’s arms trade in Britain. As a lobbyist for Elbit, Eagle Strategic Consulting facilitates defense contracts and securing government deals that fund Israel’s ongoing war crimes. Richard Applegate, previously boasted about securing for Elbit a £500 million defense contract from the UK Ministry of Defence, claiming that while his “fingerprints weren’t over any of it,” he nonetheless openly admitted to “infecting” the system at “every level,” to secure the contract.
Palestine Action: expect a fourth visit?
A Palestine Action spokesperson said of the action against Eagle Strategic Consulting:
Israel’s brutal occupation is reliant on the arms industries facilitating it – which, in turn, relies on corporate firms like Eagle Strategic to embed them within the halls of government. Palestine Action will not allow these companies to operate without consequence. We will continue to disrupt the operations of all companies who are associated with Israel’s biggest weapons producer, Elbit Systems.
This action is just one example of the ongoing campaign to shut down Elbit and its enablers in the UK. Eagle Strategic Consulting is just one of many, and we will not stop until there isn’t a single company left who will work with Elbit Systems.
Featured image and additional images via Guy Smallman
(@DevAlwaysSmiles) 
(@H3YD4V3) 
at QMU 
