radiofree.asia

Category: Palestine

  • The Science Museum just held held a party for climate criminal and genocide-enabler Adani

    On Monday 15 September, the Science Museum in London held a private cocktails and canapés reception for one of its key sponsors, genocide profiteer and prolific human rights violator Adani.

    In the wake of this, campaigners are ramping up calls for a full cultural and educational boycott of the museum for its gross greenwashing for big polluters.

    Adani at the Science Museum: cocktails and canapés for the climate criminal

    The company became the sponsor for the museum’s new ‘Energy Revolution’ gallery. Opening in 2023, this replaced the Shell-sponsored ‘Atmosphere’ gallery.

    The conglomerate is involved in large-scale coal mining. It is one of the foremost companies profiting from the polluting industry driving the climate crisis.

    As India’s biggest coal producer, it has been at the centre of violent displacements of Indigenous Adivasi people from their ancestral lands. It has an extensive record of human rights abuses against the Indigenous population. Alongside this, the company has a chequered history of workers’ rights violations. It has subjected its employees to inhumane conditions which have led to injuries and deaths at its facilities.

    And while the museum sponsorship is through its renewables arm Adani Green Energy, the group is ramping up its production of coal. On 13 September it announced a new agreement for an additional 2,400MW power plant in Bhagalpur.

    Adani is also the operator of Israel’s Haifa port, through which countries are supplying it with the fuel and weapons its using in its genocide. It is a manufacturer of drones in partnership with Israeli weapons company Elbit Systems. Of course, Israel has used these to brutally massacre Palestinians in Gaza.

    Yet, despite ethical issues around the group, the Science Museum has given the Adani name a huge presence within the museum. It has ignored the group’s role in exacerbating global issues of climate crisis and enabling war crimes.

    Once again, the museum’s shameful greenwashing for the coal giant was on full display at this latest schmooze-fest.

    Adani execs: awash with bribery allegations

    Adani held its private reception for investors inside the Science Museum’s ‘Energy Revolution: Adani Green Energy Gallery’. As around 50-60 smartly dressed guests arrived, activists greeted them by unfurling a banner at the museum doorway which read:

    The Science Museum: complicit in human rights buses, fraud, bribery, climate destruction, genocide.

    The cocktails and canapés event coincided with a series of in-person investor meetings hosted by the Adani Group. Between 15 -17 September the ports, coal and green energy arms of the conglomerate came together for these in London.

    The event comes after the museum confirmed earlier this year that it was “monitoring developments” after the US issued arrest warrants for senior Adani executives. This included billionaire Chairman Gautam Adani. The warrants were over their alleged role in a major $265m bribery scheme. Ironically, the bribery allegations revolved around a solar project the company has showcased in its Energy Revolution gallery.

    As the Art Newspaper reported, previous Freedom of Information requests showed that the Science Museum:

    produced an internal due diligence report which identified instances of alleged corruption and fraud, as well as human rights concerns associated with the Adani Group.

    Outrageously however, the Science Museum has obstinately maintained its ties with Adani and hosted this function. This is also despite the clear anti-bribery positions in its own ethics policy, which states that:

    The Science Museum Group will not accept donations, sponsorship or grants where the donor has acted, or believed to have acted, illegally in the acquisition of funds or where there are concerns of fraud, money laundering or other financial crime.

    In bed with BP too

    For the last four years, climate crisis and pro-Palestine campaigners have been holding the museum’s feet under the fire for its problematic sponsorships. The museum also hosts oil and gas company BP among its significant sponsors. This is despite the company’s long atrocious human rights and climate record.

    The fossil fuel major is complicit in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. In November 2023, Israel awarded a number of Western energy companies, including BP, gas exploration licences in occupied Palestinian waters. Alongside this, BP is the operator and largest shareholder of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline. The pipeline has supplied Israel with 28% of its oil during its genocide.

    Notably, BP worked with the Science Museum to establish its Energy Gallery in 2003. Today, BP sponsors the museums STEM ‘Training Academy’. This trains teachers on how to deliver science education. And until recently, it also hosted the annual awards ceremony of its ‘Ultimate STEM Challenge’ in the museum.

    A full cultural and educational boycott

    In the wake of this new appalling greenwashing event, groups are calling for a full educational, cultural, and academic boycott of the Science Museum.

    Fossil Free Science Museum, Parents for Palestine, Culture Unstained, Education Climate Coalition, and others are spearheading this until it drops Adani as a sponsor.

    As part of this, the Education Climate Coalition is hosting an online webinar on Thursday 18 September.

    As one boycotting school headteacher said:

    discussing with students then agreeing to join this boycott was one of the best educational lessons; our students now have a greater understanding of the importance to uphold moral standards and the power of our collective voice.

    The webinar, designed for educators, will be exploring the following questions:

    • Did you know that the Science Museum’s sponsors, Adani and BP, are both ramping up fossil fuel extraction, are complicit in the genocide in Gaza and guilty of human rights abuses globally?
    • Is the Science Museum compromising itself and its reputation among young people and the educational community by offering these companies a promotional platform?
    • Can educators trust the educational materials made through the Science Museum’s STEM Academy, knowing that they’re funded by fossil fuel companies?
    • If trustees are resigning over this, what message is this sending to our students by maintaining their sponsorship?

    The webinar will feature speakers from the NEU, London Mining Network, Culture Unstained, South Asia Solidarity Group, Ministry for EcoEducation, and DeSmog. The NEU will outline support for any teacher or school joining the boycott.

    Parents pulling up the museum for its problematic partnerships

    It will build on the success of boycott partners like Parents for Palestine, which launched its ‘Press Pause on School Trips’ campaign in May 2025.

    The group has highlighted that school trips are an integral part of a child’s learning and exposure to different ways of seeing the world. But its campaign points out that asking a school to cancel a trip to the Science Museum is not a loss – there are many alternatives. It offers an opportunity for educators to introduce into their classroom topics of climate justice and human rights, including the human impact of fossil fuel production, as well as Palestinian culture, history, and the current genocide.

    Science Museum director Ian Blatchford has claimed that visitors support the Science Museum’s corporate partnerships. Yet in 2021, over 500 teachers pledged to boycott the museum over its support of the billionaire coal producer. And in April, the National Education Union (NEU) – the largest education union – passed the following motion during its conference:

    Support a campaign for schools to boycott the Science Museum Group while they are sponsored by Adani and BP.

    Since it launched its campaign, the group has got 14 schools to agree to boycott the Science Museum. Nearly 500 parents have been involved in the campaign. So far, they have called on 34 schools to cut ties with the greenwashing institution.

    Parents for Palestine member Leila Hoballah said:

    Parents are shocked when they find out about the Science Museum’s partnerships with Adani and BP. This boycott campaign is a practical and easy way to take action. It raises awareness among our school communities and shows that we can have the power to make changes and ensure our kids’ education is not exploited to legitimise dirty profits.

    To join the Science Museum boycott webinar, educators and the public can sign up here.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Israel is escalating its ethnic cleansing of Gaza City

    According to Gaza’s Government Media Office, there has been an escalation in recent days in the forced displacement of residents from Gaza City to the South, due to the Israeli occupation’s crimes, with approximately 190,000 people being compelled to leave their homes, because of the bombing.

    At the same time, more than 15,000 residents returned to their original neighbourhoods in Gaza City by midday Tuesday. These families had moved their belongings to the south for safekeeping, but returned to Gaza city due to the absence of even the most basic means of survival in the South.

    Israel accelerating forced displacement in Gaza City

    The Al-Mawasi area in Khan Younis and Rafah, which currently hosts nearly 800,000 people is falsely referred to as a ‘safe zone’ by the occupation, even though it has been subjected to more than 109 airstrikes and repeated bombardments, leaving over 2000 killed in successive massacres committed by the Israeli army inside Al-Mawasi itself. This ‘safe zone’ has no hospitals, no infrastructure, and no vital services such as food, water, shelter, electricity or education, making survival there virtually impossible.

    The Israeli occupation is planning to cram 1.7 million Palestinians into the designated ‘safe zone’- which is no more than 12% of the total area of the Gaza Strip, under its systematic forced displacement policy which aims to empty Gaza City and the wider northern area of the Strip of Palestinians. This is a violation of international law, and a war crime.

    All states complicit are fully responsible for these crimes

    Most of the 1.3 million residents of Gaza City and the North Gaza Governate have been forcibly displaced to the western parts, while almost 350,000 have been displaced from the eastern neighbourhoods of the city and are now sheltering in the central and western areas.

    The Media Office describes the international silence and failure to uphold legal and moral responsibilities as “disgraceful”, and says it holds all states complicit in genocide fully responsible for the:

    systematic crimes and their resulting international legal consequences.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Charlie Jaay

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Israel just bombed a children’s hospital in Gaza three times in one night

    The Gaza Ministry of Health reported last night, 16 September 2025, Israel bombed the upper floors of Al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital in Gaza City three times, each strike occurring within a few minutes of each other.

    Israel bombs Al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital three times in one night

    80 patients, across different departments, were receiving treatment at the time, including four in the pediatric intensive care unit and eight in the neonatal intensive care unit.

    The bombing forced 40 children and their families to flee the building under fire, but 40 patients, including the 12 intensive care patients, along with 30 doctors, nurses and medical staff remained in the hospital.

    Al-Rantisi specializes in the treatment of children, including babies, with cancer, kidney diseases, as well as disorders impacting the respiratory and digestive organs. It is Gaza’s only specialized children’s hospital.

    The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF), which claims it was the Pediatric Cancer Department which was attacked last night, wrote on social media:

    As we write (17 Sep, 1:00 am Gaza time), we continue to hear terrifying reports that the Israeli military is launching continued strikes and targeted drone attacks on the hospital’s infrastructure and its patients.

    The Oncology department was initially established by PCRF in 2019, to provide local life-saving treatment for children with cancer who couldn’t access care elsewhere.

    Not the first time Israel has targeted it

    Al-Rantisi Children’s Hospital was also targeted by the Israeli occupation in November 2023, but PCRF managed to repair the building. Now they must rebuild again.

    The Ministry of Health said:

    We call on the world and the United Nations to take immediate action to provide protection for medical staff and patients inside hospitals, and to stop the repeated attacks on health facilities.

    It is the collective responsibility of states and global actors to protect health facilities, patients and medical personnel from such attacks, and to hold the occupation to account. Medical personnel and hospitals are specifically protected under international humanitarian law but, according to the Gaza Government Media Office, between 7 October 2023 and 6 September 2025, Israel has:

    • Bombed, destroyed, or put out of service 38 hospitals.
    • Bombed, destroyed, or put out of service 96 healthcare centers.
    • Made 788 attacks on healthcare services, facilities, vehicles, personnel, and supply chains.
    •  Martyred 1670 medical personnel.
    • Targeted 197 ambulances, and 61 Civil Defense vehicles.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Charlie Jaay

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Texas judge overrules jury to impose six-month sentence for anti-genocide graffiti

    A judge in Tarrant County, Texas has overruled a jury to jail Raunaq Alam for six months for writing anti-genocide graffiti on a public wall.

    Raunaq Alam: jailed for the truth

    The jury had decided to reject an attempt by prosecutors to paint a ‘misdemeanour’ graffiti offence as a felony hate crime for messages against Israel and its slaughter of Palestinians, and to sentence Alam to probation for vandalism.

    However, Judge Brian Bolton then overruled the jury and added 180 days jail time — the most a judge can add in felony cases under Texas law. Raunaq Alam is free on bail while his lawyers, who have accused Bolton of prejudicial bias, appeal the ruling.

    Alam said:

    This trial was about more than just me. This was about ALL OF US fighting for liberation. This was a historical success for the movement for a free Palestine.

    The case mirrors state and foreign interference in justice in the UK, where the ‘Filton 18’ of anti-genocide activists have been jailed for more than a year waiting for trial after daubing paint on a UK-Israeli arms factory and police are knowingly ignoring a judge’s ruling to target anti-genocide protesters for any expression of solidarity with the people of Palestine or for action against Israel’s genocide.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • 32 Israeli soldiers trained in UK and active in Israel’s genocide identified

    At least thirty-two Israeli soldiers trained by the British military are fighting among Israel’s genocidal forces in Gaza, according to an investigation by Declassified UK that uncovered a leaked list of RCDS (Royal College of Defence Studies) alumni on file-sharing website Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoS).

    Israeli soldiers exposed

    The trainees include the current chief of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) Southern Command, Colonel Yaniv Asor, who runs Israel’s military operations in Gaza and was recently named by the head of the Israeli air force as the man responsible for the mass civilian casualties inflicted on Palestinians, overwhelmingly civilians.

    The Starmer regime was already facing questions after an RAF spy aircraft was found to be in the air over Gaza as Israel murdered a group of journalists earlier this year and several British World Central Kitchen aid workers last year – and an RAF refuelling plane over Doha, Qatar, during Israel’s recent bombing attack there using at least ten strike aircraft that needed refuelling in order to make it back to Israel.

    Now the involvement of UK-trained officers active on the ground in the Gaza genocide raises yet more concerns about Britain’s collaboration in Israel’s crimes in Gaza.

    The leaked documents also indicate that at least four officers are still undergoing training in the UK despite a supposed new ban on them doing so after the Starmer government u-turned under pressure and public scrutiny.

    Charlie Herbert, a retired British army general, told Declassified that the government’s collusion with Israel is a “disgrace” and that the UK should be boycotting Israel, not enabling it:

    That it has taken so long to bar IDF officers from the prestigious Royal College of Defence Studies is a disgrace. Even now, it is not sufficient to ban them from 2026. Instead all IDF personnel currently studying or training at UK military establishments should be expelled immediately.

    The UK government should be boycotting all such relationships with this Israeli government. Keir Starmer seems determined to drag the country into a level of complicity that will shame us for decades.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Can The United Nations General Assembly End Israel’s Occupation?

    With illegal settlements rising and settler violence surging in the West Bank and with famine and relentless bombing killing more than 64,000 Palestinians in Gaza so far, most of them women and children, the world is looking to see what, if anything, the General Assembly can do to ensure that there are meaningful consequences for Israel’s blatant violations of the Geneva Conventions and the Genocide Convention. Just days before the Sept. 18 deadline established by the United Nations General Assembly for Israel to comply with the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice, in which it confirmed the unlawful nature of the Israeli occupation, annexation and settlement of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), Israel has failed to comply.

    The post Can The United Nations General Assembly End Israel’s Occupation? appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Turkey, Spain And 14 Others Warn Against Attacks On Sumud Flotilla

    The foreign ministers of 16 countries on Tuesday expressed concern about the safety of the Global Sumud Flotilla headed to Gaza, and warned against “unlawful or violent” acts against it.

    A joint statement was signed by Turkey, Spain, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Ireland, Libya, Malaysia, the Maldives, Mexico, Pakistan, Qatar, Oman, Slovenia and South Africa.

    “The Global Sumud Flotilla has informed about its objective of delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and raising awareness about the urgent humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people and the need to stop the war in Gaza,” the foreign ministers said.

    “Both objectives, peace and humanitarian aid delivery, together with the respect of international law, including humanitarian law, are shared by our governments.”

    The post Turkey, Spain And 14 Others Warn Against Attacks On Sumud Flotilla appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • UN Inquiry Concludes Israel Is Committing Genocide and Calls for Arms Embargo

    A United Nations commission of inquiry has determined that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. A 72-page report from the commission cites statements from Israeli officials and a pattern of conduct by the Israeli army as evidence of genocidal intent. The UN Commission of Inquiry concluded that Israel has committed four of the five genocidal acts defined under the 1948 Genocide…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Nearly 100 (and counting) dead as Israel launches large-scale ground invasion of Gaza City

    Common Dreams Logo

    This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on Sept. 16, 2025. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.

    The Jewish-led rights group IfNotNow was among those condemning Israel’s ground invasion of Gaza City on Tuesday, warning that the Israel Defense Forces have left more than 1 million people in the northern city and its surrounding towns with an “impossible choice”: “flee once more without anywhere safe to go or face indiscriminate bombs and bullets from Israeli forces.”

    At least 91 people in Gaza City were killed by the latter on Tuesday as two divisions of the IDF launch ground attacks across the city, with a third expected to join them in the coming days.

    Israeli forces have ordered people in the city to leave for the so-called “humanitarian zone” of al-Mawasi in the south, but the area has also been bombarded repeatedly—including an attack two weeks ago, when eight children as young as 3 years old were killed while lining up for water, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

    The Israeli government last month approved the takeover of Gaza City, with the aim of taking control of all of Gaza and ethnically cleansing the entire exclave, and since then about 150,000 people have been forced to flee south while the IDF has stepped up aerial and artillery attacks, destroying whole neighborhoods.

    At Al Jazeera on Tuesday, Tareq Abu Azzoum described “relentless bombardment from military operations that are leaving the landscape completely uninhabitable” in Gaza City.

    “The Israeli military has deployed different military tactics to force people to leave Gaza City to the south—most notably excessive firepower, seen in the deliberate destruction of high-rise buildings,” said Abu Azzoum.

    “It is inhumane to expect nearly half a million children battered and traumatized by over 700 days of unrelenting conflict to flee one hellscape to end up in another.”

    Israeli human rights groups including the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and Physicians for Human Rights called on officials to lift the mass evacuation order and said it constitutes ethnic cleansing and forced displacement.

    Tess Ingram, a spokesperson for UNICEF, said the mass displacement of families is a “deadly threat for the most vulnerable.”

    “It is inhumane to expect nearly half a million children battered and traumatized by over 700 days of unrelenting conflict to flee one hellscape to end up in another,” she said, adding that the IDF’s escalation in Gaza City forced nutrition centers in the city to shut down this week, “cutting off children from a third of the remaining treatment sites that can save their lives.”

    Abu Azzoum described “tragically consistent” scenes of Palestinians—almost 70,000 in the past few days—loading whatever belongings they have left into vehicles and donkey carts to flee their homes:

    Many people said in the initial days of the ground operation that they would not leave Gaza City. But, right now, Israel is burning the ground. They’re destroying every kind of civilian infrastructure and have cut off aid deliveries to the city, all for one clear purpose—to relocate them into the southern part of Gaza.

    Some people are unable to afford the cost of transportation. We see exhausted faces, mothers carrying their babies, elderly people on foot.

    What is so devastating to see is the vulnerability of children who have lost their parents and found themselves on the move again. They’re struggling to find any patch of land where they can stay in the absence of their parents and are completely reliant on strangers to survive.

    At IfNotNow, executive director Morriah Kaplan called the ground assault on Gaza City “a chillul hashem, a desecration of God’s name.”

    “With just days until Rosh Hashanah, we watch in horror as the Israeli military bombs and invades Gaza City, putting the lives of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in mortal danger,” said Kaplan, adding that the invasion “spells almost certain death for the remaining hostages” who were kidnapped by Hamas from Israel on October 7, 2023.

    “The Israeli government’s willingness to sacrifice their own citizens to continue its campaign of destruction is devastatingly clear,” said Kaplan. “It is critical that we say loudly and unequivocally: This invasion won’t make a single Jew anywhere in the world safer.”

    She called on international funders of the Israeli military—including the largest, the United States—to take immediate action to stop Israel’s assault on Gaza, which a United Nations commission said Tuesday is a genocide.

    “The only way to halt this devastation,” said Kaplan, “is to end the flow of weapons that Israel relies on to fuel its genocide.”

    This post was originally published on The Real News Network.

  • The UN report on Gaza: a turning point that threatens Israel’s international standing

    The report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry detailing that Israel committed acts amounting to genocide in the Gaza Strip marks a historic turning point in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The 72-page report not only condemns the violations, but also precisely identifies four key practices: killing, causing serious physical and psychological harm, imposing destructive living conditions aimed at destroying the Palestinian people, and imposing measures to prevent births within the group.

    This characterization places Israel before one of the most serious charges in international law, as genocide is considered the “crime of crimes,” which obliges the international community not only to condemn it, but also to take immediate action to prevent it and punish its perpetrators.

    Legal obligations of the international community

    The 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide clearly states that States Parties are obliged to work to prevent the crime and hold its perpetrators accountable. Therefore, the continued military or political support of Israel by some States may be interpreted as direct complicity.

    The UN report also opens the door to multiple judicial avenues:

    • The International Court of Justice, which is considering South Africa’s case against Israel.
    • The International Criminal Court, which has the authority to prosecute Israeli political and military leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

    The report’s findings are not merely a human rights assessment, but a legal step paving the way for unprecedented accountability that could reach the highest levels of Israeli leadership.

    Israel faces growing isolation from the UN report

    Despite its categorical denial and accusations of bias against the commission, Israel finds itself facing a growing crisis of legitimacy. Major Israeli human rights organizations, in addition to academic voices in the West, have begun to adopt the same discourse of genocide. This reinforces Israel’s image as a state outside international law and weakens its ability to justify its policies to global public opinion.

    In the past, South Africa faced total isolation because of its apartheid regime, and today a similar scenario looms for Israel, where human rights condemnation is compounded by political positions, paving the way for economic sanctions or broad diplomatic restrictions.

    The US position remains the key test. Washington, which provides Israel with the most political and military support, finds itself in a difficult predicament:

    • Internally, pressure is mounting from human rights organizations and voices within Congress that strongly criticize the Israeli government’s policies.
    • Externally, the United States’ image as a defender of “human rights” is weakened by its support for a state accused of genocide.

    As for Europe, its positions are divided: some countries, such as Spain and Ireland, are adopting a clear discourse demanding accountability, while others are exercising caution, fearing a clash with Washington or a loss of influence in the Middle East.

    In contrast, the Global South sees the report as an opportunity to promote the discourse of international justice and highlight Western double standards, which could redraw the map of alliances within the United Nations.

    Potential repercussions

    If the condemnation and human rights reports continue, Israel may face a series of serious repercussions:

    • Increased calls for a broad economic and academic boycott, especially in Western universities.
    • Demands to stop arms exports to Israel, which are already beginning to appear in some European parliaments.
    • Growing public pressure campaigns on Western governments to reconsider their relations with Tel Aviv.

    The UN report also holds governments that support Israel accountable. History has shown that countries that ignore descriptions of genocide are often later accused of complicity or criminal silence.

    The UN report is a crisis for the international system

    The UN report does not only put Israel under the microscope, but also tests the credibility of the entire international system. If the international community fails to act to stop what the United Nations has described as “genocide,” international law will be seen as a powerless system, subject to the balance of power rather than the balance of justice.

    Furthermore, the continuing contradiction between Western rhetoric on human rights and actual practice in Gaza will undermine global confidence in the existing system and give rising powers an excuse to challenge the Washington-led “liberal international order.”

    A global wake-up call

    The UN report on Gaza is not just another document to be added to the archives of the conflict; it is a global wake-up call. Israel is facing the most serious crisis of legitimacy in its history, and the West is facing an unprecedented moral and political test.

    Either the international community takes serious action to stop the crimes and hold the perpetrators accountable, or history will record that the genocide took place in full view of the world, with a silence that amounts to complicity.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Alaa Shamali

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Gaza’s genocide: the UN report is not the end, but just the beginning for Palestinians

    As a Palestinian, the latest report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry came as no surprise to me, nor to any Palestinian who has lived through or followed what has been happening in Gaza since 7 October 2023.

    We live the details of the genocide every day: the sounds of aircraft, the smell of rubble, the cries of children, and the hunger of mothers. But for this acknowledgment to come this time from the highest independent international human rights body, using the explicit term “genocide,” is a game-changer, because it strips away the last fig leaves from the Israeli narrative.

    The UN report on Israel leave it little place to hide

    The UN report documented four acts of genocide committed by Israel, including mass murder, starvation, and the deliberate destruction of children’s futures. These are not just numbers or cold facts, but our daily lives as Palestinians: thousands of bodies under the rubble, generations of children suffering from malnutrition and milk shortages, and entire families wiped out in an instant. What the report describes in the language of international law, we describe in our simple language as “the erasure of life.”

    Israel was quick—as usual—to deny the report and accuse it of bias. But can an official denial erase the image of the child Hind Rajab, who was killed by soldiers despite her screams and cries for help? Can any political rhetoric cover up the hunger of thousands of infants who have been deprived even of their milk?

    What is important now is that the report does not become just another document on the shelves of the United Nations. Its value lies not only in its words, but in the responsibility it imposes on the world. International law, established after the tragedies of war and genocide, is not just a set of idealistic texts, but an obligation on states to prevent crimes when they occur and to punish their perpetrators. Today, it must be said: the world is facing a moral and legal test.

    The UN report confronts Israel with the truth, but it also holds up a mirror to the international community: Will the tragedies of Rwanda and Bosnia, where recognition came too late, be repeated, or will the world act this time before what remains of Gaza is wiped out?

    Palestinians do not need miracles. We just need the law to be enforced.

    We are not asking for miracles, but for the application of the law. We are not asking for pity, but for justice. If the UN has described what is happening as genocide in its report, the least that can be expected of states is to stop the arms that fuel this genocide, impose sanctions on Israeli leaders who openly incite our murder, and support the course of justice at the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.

    The UN report said that “the essence of childhood has been destroyed in Gaza.” I say that the essence of humanity is being destroyed with it. That is why international silence is no longer mere complicity, but participation in crime.

    Gaza today is not just a Palestinian issue; it is a humanitarian issue, a yardstick by which to measure the sincerity of the slogans raised by nations about human rights. Those who do not see this report as an urgent call to action are choosing to be complicit in genocide, even if only through their silence.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Alaa Shamali

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Tsav 9: the group of illegal Israeli settler Zionist extremists blocking aid to starving Palestinians in Gaza

    In the early hours of yesterday morning, 15 September, colonial Israeli settlers – a group known as Tsav 9 – blocked flour trucks which had come from Jordan and were heading to an Israeli occupation’s military depot on the Gaza Strip border, and were then supposed to find their way to the starving population of Gaza.

    Crowd of Israeli settlers blocking an aid truck headed to Gaza.

    Tsav 9: hardline group of Zionists blocking aid to Gaza

    These illegal West Bank settlers, along with Israeli occupation forces (IOF) reservists, and families of hostages make up the hardline Zionist group known as Tsav 9. The group vowed no aid would enter Gaza until all of the Israeli hostages are returned, and has played a central role in blocking humanitarian relief from entering the Strip. Its tactics include blockading roads, harassing drivers, slashing tyres, and vandalising trucks.

    Tsav 9’s name is in reference to the IDF’s ‘Order 8’, the emergency mobilisation order for Israeli reservists, that was activated on 7 October 2023, and the group has become a symbol of extreme protest and violent obstruction, while millions in Gaza are being starved to death by the Israeli occupation.

    Tsav 9’s first action was in January 2024. As Israel’s siege on the Gaza Strip intensified, 100 humanitarian aid trucks were physically stopped from entering Gaza, by activists who had camped out for three days at the Kerem-Shalom crossing. In May 2024, the group not only threw life-saving aid onto the road, but also set fire to humanitarian aid trucks, injuring drivers at a border crossing near Hebron, in the West Bank.

    Schlomo Sarid: extremist illegal settler ‘activist’

    This action led to Biden sanctioning individuals from Tsav 9, including its founder, Shlomo Sarid.

    Sarid is an illegal settler activist, in the occupied West Bank’s Jordan Valley and an army reservist, who served in Gaza after 7 October 2023. He also participated in discussions about the ‘General’s Plan’, to ethnically cleanse Northern Gaza of Palestinians, which is now being implemented on Gaza’s starving population.

    Trump officially became president on 20 January 2025, and by 24 January he had lifted sanctions on many extremist Israeli colonial settlers and Zionist organisations, including Tsav 9 and also Sarid:

    Supported by Israeli ministers

    These extremist Israeli activists in Tsav 9 are not only being given intelligence as to the movement of humanitarian supplies from both IOF soldiers and the occupation’s police, but are also supported by extremist Israeli Ministers, Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who were both sanctioned by the UK in June this year for “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities” in the West Bank, and are also calling for aid to be blocked from getting into Gaza, and to starve Palestinians as collective punishment.

    Those Israelis who are part of Tsav 9 and associated settler groups, who loot, disrupt, and stop aid convoys from entering Gaza in this time of famine, have contributed to this modern day holocaust, of which the Israeli regime is this time the perpetrator – of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide against the entire Palestinian population.

    Persistent obstruction of basic supplies and denial of entry by the Israeli occupation authorities, has meant over two million people face extreme hunger and acute shortages of food, clean water, medicine, and shelter. Hospitals are overwhelmed, and malnutrition is rampant, especially among children, pregnant women, and older people. Palestinians are now really struggling to survive.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Charlie Jaay

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • After Bombing 6 Countries This Year, Netanyahu Pins Israeli Isolation on Muslims

    In a rare admission on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel is facing isolation on the world stage after nearly two years of its genocide in Gaza — but didn’t acknowledge his own government’s role in the situation. At the “Fifty States — One Israel” economic conference hosted by Israel’s Finance Ministry, Netanyahu blamed foreign countries and Muslims for Israel’…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Haaretz writer accused Palestinian Pulitzer-winner of killing Jews, raping women

    Last weekend, Israeli newspaper Haaretz – presumably driven by the decision of Hollywood megastars to produce a film about the murder of five-year-old Hind Rajab and her family by an Israeli tank and comments by actor Javier Bardem that he could never work with anyone who justifies genocide – published an article appealing to the arts world and the world in general not to ‘force Israeli artists into isolation’.

    Haaretz: bleating for Israel

    The Haaretz article, co-written by screenwriter Margalit (Magi) Otsri and actress Neta Riskin, bleats that it is unfair [in the midst of a genocide, Israel is always the victim] that:

    For many years, Israeli artists have been cast as enemies of the nationalist regime. We’ve been relentlessly persecuted by governments that made us an easy target for hatred. Our names have been publicly defamed, ministers have branded us “traitors,” and our budgets have been stripped because of our views. Theaters have been shut down, plays banned, films boycotted. Artists have been attacked both online and in person, subjected to threats of rape and torture, even their lives, and many have lost their livelihoods.

    Notably, the authors still call it a ‘war in Gaza’:

    Since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, blows from outside Israel have joined those that strike us from within.
    Our films are rejected by festivals, our books go untranslated and publishers close their doors to us. We are boycotted and condemned. Our voices go unheard.

    Know this: the only beneficiary of the suppression and silencing of our voices is the current Israeli government that despises art and artists alike. Neither freedom, nor peace, nor justice is served by silencing Israeli art. Nor are the Palestinians, who are suffering under a cruel and unending war.

    Self-justification

    After some lengthy self-justification on behalf of the Israeli film industry, it concludes with a plea to the world to :

    This is what the violent government wants; this is its ambition. The moment the threat of humanistic art is removed, they’ll be able to destroy Israeli democracy without opposition, undermine the process of free elections and continue the war in Gaza indefinitely.

    We won’t stop creating. We’ll never give up. But we need you to help us keep breathing. Better days will come. We believe this with all our hearts.

    As long as we continue to dream, as long as we continue to imagine, no boycott and no government can extinguish our spirit. Help us be the pillar of fire at the forefront until we drive out the darkness, until the light prevails.

    So far, so liberal. But Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Mosab Abu Toha, a Palestinian based in Canada who was abducted and suffered sexual torture by the occupation regime, has published another facet to the story in the form of revelations about Otsri, one of the piece’s authors. He wrote:

    One of the writers of this opinion essay, who I have never heard of before now, wrote this about me when I was abducted and sexually abused by the terrorist Israeli forces in Nov 2023 in Gaza. I saw screenshots of her comments today after her piece was published by Haaretz.

    Her first comment was on a post by The New Yorker sharing news of my horrendous abduction and the second on a post by PEN America expressing their concern and calling for my protection.

    This “writer” was accusing me of having other “hobbies” like killing Jews and raping women.

    Supposed ‘evidence’

    To support his account, he published screenshots of Otsri’s comments. First, she replied to a thread posted by a third party about Abu Toha’s (later award-winning) work:

    Then, presumably in case anyone had missed the first go, she partially remade her point:

    There are a few – a very few – genuine resisters in Israel, such as the outstanding journalist Gideon Levy and young Israeli journalist and filmmaker Andrey X. But four out of five Israelis are not troubled by Israel starving Gaza, an even higher proportion support US president Donald Trump’s plan to turn Gaza into a Palestinian-free beach resort and three quarters believe “there are no innocents in Gaza”.

    Half – according to a poll conducted by Haaretz itself – support the complete extermination of the Palestinians, while 92% believe ‘Amalek’ – Netanyahu’s shorthand for the Palestinians – should be treated like biblical Amalek, which was wiped out by Israel, including babies and even livestock.

    Liberal Zionism is still Zionism – and Zionism is a racist ideology supporting a settler-colonial project that is more than happy to murder, maim, rape and torture – and to smear the real victims who managed to escape its clutches.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Starmer’s disgrace over Israeli visit grows as UN names Herzog as genocide-inciter

    Keir Starmer was already rolling in disgrace over Israeli president Isaac Herzog’s visit to Britain last week. But now, the shame has grown even further as the UN has called Herzog out by name as a genocide-inciter.

    In the UN Human Rights Council’s commission of inquiry report, its analysis directly quoted Herzog to demonstrate the Israeli government’s genocidal intent in Gaza. And it concluded that:

    Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, have incited the commission of genocide and that Israeli authorities have failed to take action against them to punish this incitement.

    Herzog’s words, from 13 October 2023, were:

    it’s an entire nation out there that is responsible. It is not true, this rhetoric about civilians who were not aware and not involved. It is absolutely not true.

    Starmer is nothing if not a loyal shill for billionaire interests. And supporting Israel’s colonial crimes is a key part of that. That’s why, despite overwhelming global consensus, he has been a consistent genocide-denier. Ignoring Herzog’s incitement by welcoming him to Britain last week simply added more blood onto his hands. But as the UN now states more clearly the responsibility Herzog has for Israel’s genocide, people are clear that Starmer and those around him must face the consequences.

    The social media account of Just Jews UK said:

    The UN Commission cited Israeli President Herzog whom Starmer welcomed to the UK last week The CPS gave false information on why the Israeli President could not be arrested No level of spin & denial will erase the complicity of our government with the Israeli regime’s Genocide.

    Kneecap condemned Starmer’s warm welcome:

    Actor Liam Cunningham summed it up:

    Herzog spoke. The IDF followed through.

    The UN’s report said:

    As early as 7 October 2023, Israeli officials made statements that indicated their intention to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a group. Palestinians were consistently dehumanised by Israeli officials. Furthermore, Israeli authorities made many statements that explicitly called for vengeance, destruction and annihilation. The Commission believes, having analysed the military operations of the Israeli security forces, such statements were expressed to encourage hatred toward Palestinians and violence against Palestinians. The statements were received by the Israeli security forces as an order to destroy Palestinians in Gaza and such order was indeed executed through military operations.

    The words of Herzog and other politicians:

    shaped the public narrative and garnered widespread public support for their positions

    Herzog’s statement, the report said:

    may reasonably be interpreted as incitement to the Israeli security forces personnel to target the Palestinians in Gaza as a group as being collectively culpable for the 7 October 2023 attack in Israel.

    It added:

    Herzog was unequivocally clear that all civilians in Gaza were aware of and involved in and responsible for Hamas’ actions. According to Herzog, if the civilian population did not agree with such actions, they could have risen and fought against Hamas; therefore, according to Herzog, because the civilians did not rise against Hamas, they were all equally responsible.

    Notably, the slogan that “there are no uninvolved” in Gaza was subsequently proclaimed by soldiers deployed to Gaza and echoed in several public places. Amnesty International reported a photograph that shows the slogan in Hebrew on an Israeli military watchtower in the West Bank, with the words “Destroy Gaza” in English under the slogan.

    Starmer has covered himself in abject shame. There aren’t words strong enough to condemn his despicable choice to invite a man responsible for genocide into the country.

    Featured image via YouTube screenshot/Isaac Herzog

    By Ed Sykes

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • The wait is over. Your Party now has a timetable, and here’s what to expect.

    Supporters of the Your Party project to create a new mass party on the left have been waiting for some good news for a long time. And when you know how desperately Britain and the world need change, it’s hard to wait patiently. But a timetable has finally arrived:

    • September – membership, assemblies debate draft founding documents
    • October – party name vote, updating of documents to include member feedback
    • November – conference and members’ vote

    Your Party: membership, assemblies, party name, conference, and one-member-one-vote

    Before the end of this month, Your Party says there’ll be a “membership portal”. There’ll also be “draft versions of our four core founding documents for your input” (these are “Political Statement, Constitution, Rules, and Organisational Strategy”). On top of that, it will start to set up “regional deliberative meetings where thousands of members unite to debate our founding documents face to face”.

     

    Then, in October, the assemblies will continue, and Your Party says it will “revise our draft documents to incorporate your feedback”. There’ll also be “an online vote to name Your Party”, and:

    members will be able to comment, suggest changes, and track how each document develops.

    In November, meanwhile, the founding conference will take place, with “thousands of in-person delegates chosen by lottery”. The purpose of the lottery is “to ensure a fair balance of gender, region, and background”. All members will then vote on the final documents “through an online, secure, one-member-one-vote system”.

    Debate, participate and focus

    There absolutely should be space for debate about how all of this is going. Some critics argue that the whole process could and should be even more democratic and participatory – that members should, for example, have the power of recall “on all facilitators, including elected officials & all staff”. And interim co-leader Zarah Sultana herself has insisted that:

    It’s really important that we have a conference arrangements committee that is gender-balanced – it’s not just led by MPs, it’s regionally and racially diverse.

    However, we should also remember that ‘perfect is the enemy of good’. The British left has all too often divided itself into tiny, competing groups that each claim to have the perfect set of principles but rarely get anything meaningful done. With this in mind, even if Your Party just brings British left-wingers together in the biggest and most representative gathering ever, that in itself will be an impressive achievement.

    Making Your Party the best it can be will require as many people as possible to show up, with a well-informed, passionate, and constructively critical perspective. But it will also require us to keep the main focus where it needs to be – on defeating the billionaire class and its increasingly powerful far-right footsoldiers. Because that is the most important struggle of all, and that’s where we need to invest the majority of our precious time and energy.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Ed Sykes

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • The UN investigation into Israel has simply confirmed what we all knew

    Today, 16 September, the United Nations (UN) officially confirmed that Israel’s actions in Gaza constitute a genocide. The rights probe was carried out by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel. Its investigators were appointed independently by the Human Rights Council (HRC).

    The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has previously stated that almost million people are living in a state of famine in Gaza City. They have to endure daily bombardment and “compromised access to means of survival” due to Israeli’s displacement order.

    UN report into Israel: genocidal acts

    The new investigation centered on Israel’s conduct starting from the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack. It examined allegations that Israel had blocked humanitarian aid, targeted children, systematically destroyed healthcare and education systems, and used sexual- and gender-based violence against the Palestinian people.

    Investigation chair Navi Pillay stated that:

    The Commission finds that Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide in Gaza… It is clear that there is an intent to destroy the Palestinians in Gaza through acts that meet the criteria set forth in the Genocide Convention.

    The UN is also far from the first organisation to declare that Israel is committing genocide:

    The commission judged Israel’s actions against a list of five genocidal acts. These were defined in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Israel was found to have committed four of these five acts: killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, imposing measures to prevent births, and deliberately inflicting life conditions meant to bring about the destruction of the Palestinian people.

    ‘Cannot stay silent’

    The UN has a reputation for its labyrinthine bureaucracy and hesitancy in decision-making. Given this, some commentators on Twitter/X spoke about how it would be difficult for officials to deny the genocide at this point:

     

    Investigator Pillay was clear about the duties of the international community at this point:

    The international community cannot stay silent on the genocidal campaign launched by Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

    When clear signs and evidence of genocide emerge, the absence of action to stop it amounts to complicity.

    All States are under a legal obligation to use all means that are reasonably available to them to stop the genocide in Gaza.

    At least some UK MPs heeded Pillay’s words:

     

    UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese also pointed out that, rather than opposing the genocide, Western governments like our own here in the UK are aiding and abetting Israel’s crimes. Because of her criticisms of Israel, Albanese was the first UN official ever to be sanctioned by the US government.

    Only last week, (now former) foreign secretary David Lammy wrote in a letter that the UK government had not confirmed that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. He also stated that the UK’s continuing supply of arms to Israel was not a breach of international law.

    One thing has been abundantly clear for a long time now. The UK is directly involved in Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people. The UN’s report only serves to further underscore this fact.

    As Pillay stated, all states have a legal duty to stop this atrocity. Beyond this, it is our duty as the people of the UK to hold our government accountable for making all of us complicit.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Alex/Rose Cocker

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Video: after intense bombing of Gaza City, genocidal Israel begins ground invasion

    After inflicting on Gaza City the most intense night-time bombardment of the genocide so far – airstrikes roughly every thirty seconds – Israel has begun its illegal ground invasion of the city, while also bombing refugees as they flee.

    Horror in Gaza City

    The crimes, which come on the same morning that the United Nations finally confirmed officially that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, are so grave that even the BBC couldn’t ignore them – and despite doing its best to ‘both sides’ its report and include Israel’s ridiculous denials, the broadcaster couldn’t hide the reality of Israel’s murder of civilians entirely:

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Defence minister squirms about RAF Gaza spy flights ‘looking the other way’ on genocide

    British RAF spy flights have been consistently recording footage over Gaza during Israel’s genocide. They’ve likely witnessed – and ignored – countless Israeli war crimes since 2023, such as the murder of UK aid workers. And in a parliamentary grilling, defence minister Luke Pollard squirmed to avoid admitting that.

    British RAF Gaza spy flights

    Israeli occupation forces are holding thousands of Palestinians hostage, and have killed at least 19,424 children in Gaza since 2023. Hamas is holding 48 Israeli hostages in Gaza.

    Pollard insisted that UK support for Israel’s war criminals:

    is solely focused on hostage rescue, using the capabilities for hostage rescue

    He added:

    If there were additional taskings placed on those aircraft beyond just hostage rescue, I think the ability of those aircraft to be able to deliver those activities would be more constrained. So as a result, it has been the clear policy of this government that those aircraft are only and solely used for hostage rescue, and we don’t provide any other data or collect any other data beyond hostage rescue.

    In response to this, a member of the committee questioning Pollard said:

    You’re looking the other way.

    And that is very much what’s been happening. The spy flights from RAF Akrotiri over Gaza have continued to support Israel despite the apartheid state committing genocide in the very same territory they’re monitoring.

    Committee members questioned Pollard about whether flight data could help Britain to determine where breaches of International Humanitarian Law have occurred. But he essentially admitted that, because Israel doesn’t want this to happen, it doesn’t happen:

    the ability of the, er, RAF aircraft or the contracted aircraft to operate, er, is entirely reliant on the permissions given by nations in the area. If the tasking of those aircraft were to go beyond hostage rescue, I think that would, er, change, actually, the calculations

    See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil

    The RAF flights have undoubtedly been in the presence of unfolding evil in Gaza during Israel’s genocide. And committee members asked Pollard if RAF data “would be able to ascertain the amount of damage and the type of ordnance” or “the amount of munitions and the type of munitions” that Israel may have used. Pollard simply insisted again that “the flights are solely there for hostage rescue… as a result, we don’t look… beyond those activities”.

    It may indeed be the case that employers and employees have chosen to cover their eyes, ears, and mouths. But there is overwhelming global consensus that Israel has been committing genocide. And today, a UN Human Rights Council commission of inquiry has concluded that:

    the State of Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza

    And with that fact comes responsibility. As Commissioner Chris Sidoti stressed following the report:

    Every country in the world was put on notice by the International Court of Justice that there was a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza… Every country in the world became obliged under the law… not to ‘speak fine words’, to take action to prevent genocide. There can be no doubt whatsoever that that obligation was activated on the 24th of January 2024, if not before.

    UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese had already called for Britain and other Western states to face consequences for their complicity in Israeli crimes, insisting previously that:

    the UK has violated its obligations under international law… [by] aiding and assisting Israel in the commission of… a series of international wrongdoing

    “Looking the other way” when evil occurs is never an acceptable excuse, especially when you’re repeatedly flying over the crime scene to support the evildoer.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Ed Sykes

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • The BBC just asked a UN rep if it is a ‘Hamas proxy and openly antisemitic’

    The BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme interviewed expert human rights lawyer and UN official Chris Sidoti this morning. As so often the broadcaster showed appalling bias, regurgitating Israeli talking points and asking Sidoti whether the UN is a ‘Hamas proxy’ and ‘openly antisemitic’.

    BBC Radio 4 Today asking all the wrong questions of the UN

    Sidoti’s response was blunt, dismissing Israel’s propaganda as lazy ‘garbage’ generated by AI platform ChatGPT worthy only of contempt. It was an object lesson in how to treat such nonsense – one that some political leaders could learn from:

    (Subtitled by Skwawkbox)

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • When Right is always wrong: disabled anti-fascist on far-right abuse and Met failure

    Disability and union activist Phil Smart speaks out in an article exclusive for Skwawkbox

    On Saturday 13 September my friend Karen and I caught the 6:18am train to London to join the Stand up to Racism demo. We are both 50+ and classed as disabled and we are Unite the Union members, one being the black Branch Equality Officer and the other being the white/privileged Branch Secretary/Treasurer for WM:6070.

    The train journey was raucous and rowdy from Worcester onwards when a large group of ‘patriots’ climbed on board. The drink flowed and voices got louder and this eventually led to a bloated, hateful, 30-something, (it will become obvious later on why I say this), racist, genocide-enabler, who took issue with my “Stop Bombing Gaza” t-shirt, verbally assaulting me.

    As he walked past to go to the toilet he must have spotted my t-shirt and upon returning he growled and said “Are you going to the anti-march?” and “What’s with the t-shirt, it’s shit”, he said hoping to get a reaction.  I just said I was going to the demo and left it at that and he bumbled off laughing. This was not the first time I had been verbally abused for showing solidarity to my Palestinian brothers and sisters who are suffering genocide. I was verbally abused in Morrisons in Hereford just the week before. The far-right and the bigots are being empowered by the mainstream media and their love-in with Farage and Trump, that’s for sure.

    Standing up to racism: a difficult endeavour

    We both became aware at this point that getting to and from today’s demo was going to be difficult but we thought we would be safe on the demo because the Met Police would surely have things under control and properly segregated with “sterile areas” put in place to protect us.

    Sadly it seems my trust in the Met Police was badly misplaced. The anti-racist demo moved off peacefully and at a slow pace. We had met up with our dear friend Khalid and his team from Portsmouth Unite Community and the TUC. We moved along slowly with Mark and his megaphone leading the chants and the wonderful drum beats behind and to the side of us. The atmosphere was party-like and upbeat with good people all supporting one another and having fun.

    We danced down the Strand and when we were opposite the Coal House pub I had not noticed that there were lots of fascists gathered on the pavement and milling about. They began shouting obscenities, making the usual rude gestures, and openly threatening to hurt us.

    Under attack from the far right

    Then, as I was chanting along to When Asylum Seekers are under attack, what do we do?, I was struck on the forearm by an open can of Banks “Bitter” which was nearly full and sprayed its contents all over me and into my mouth (which for a recovered alcoholic/addict of 14 years came as a nasty shock!).

    As more cans and missiles peppered the ground around us, a lovely lady came over to ask me if I was alright and Khalid came over too. Thankfully I was okay; shaken up and very cross, I looked at the faces of those who had attacked us and saw the utter hatred they had for us. They should never have been there but it soon became apparent they had broken through the police lines and were all over the Strand and Trafalgar Square, which we had to pass to get to Whitehall for the speeches.

    At 3.30pm we had to leave the Stand Up To Racism demo to walk back to Paddington Station to get our train to Hereford, leaving behind Khalid, Mark, the Portsmouth community, and all the other brave souls to be ‘kettled’ by the police for their own protection because the fascists had completely surrounded them.

    Our journey through the streets of London to walk back seemed a safer option than getting the tube because it seemed the fascists had taken over everywhere. On the way back I stopped to get a takeaway kebab and, as always, I was treated with kindness and smiles in the wonderful little Lebanese restaurant we stopped at. So, the end of the day finished with a flourish of love and happiness.

    That used to be me

    Now, to our “bloated hateful 30-something” mentioned earlier on in this piece. My reason is simple: I used to be that hate-filled, bloated 30-something. I was an alcoholic/addict who not only joined the BNP but hung off every word ‘Tommy Robinson’ said to the point I bought his books and believed everything he said. I was disillusioned by the Blair government and the establishment and I hated myself so much that I had to hate “Others” to try and make myself feel better.

    When I was 42 I got properly clean and sober through AA and the love of my wonderful partner Gail, my family, my friends. I began the hard process of learning to live life on life’s terms and I began learning how to love again. I stopped being hateful but was still wary of the world around me and this could be seen in me voting for Brexit.

    Then in 2019 my broken heart was truly healed, through a meeting with the Holy Spirit at the house church I attended at the time. It was from that point forward that I was totally freed from the bondage of bigotry and I found that I was consumed with an unconditional love for “ALL” others no matter who they are or where they come from.

    So there is hope that people can heal their broken heart but without them healing their minds this will never, ever happen.

    Second chances to stand up to racism

    I was given a chance to live a free man or to die, alone. But I was one of the lucky ones, I chose to live and I am so grateful to my Higher Power and the transforming nature of love for helping that happen.

    I am so grateful to my Higher power for showing me that being RIGHT was most definitely WRONG in every way imaginable.

    Keith Giles – This former pastor left the pulpit to follow Jesus and started a church where 100% of the offering goes to the poor.

    Came to Believe Recovery

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • A West Asia NATO-style force could be a bulwark against Israel’s expansionist ambitions

    An emergency summit in Doha, called in the aftermath off Israel’s 9 September terror attack on the Qatar capital, has heard a proposal for a NATO-style force to act as a bulwark against the increasingly rash actions of the illegitimate Zionist entity.

    NATO-style force to act against the impunity of Israel

    According to reporting in The New Arab, the Egyptian plan:

    would see a revolving command among the 22 members of the Arab League, all of whom would contribute to the joint force, while a civilian would serve as secretary-general. Egypt’s proposal would see its military hold the first term.

    Were it to go ahead as described, it would exclude the likes of Iran, one of the nations to have suffered a severe cost from recent Zionist aggression. Many of the other members of the 57 nation Organisation of Islamic Cooperation would also not be part of the plan as it is currently presented.

    A previous proposal for a unified Arab military force was drawn up in 2015, at the height of the Saudi-led assault on the Houthis (heavily assisted by the US and Britain) in Yemen, as the Sunni-dominated former sought to ward off the latter Shia faction, which was backed by Iran. Such sectarian divides were an obstacle to the previous initiative getting off the ground, and may be again on this occasion. An additional incentive at the time was the emergence of ISIS, whose murderous revolutionary presence posed a potential threat to the despots of West Asia.

    For its own part, the Zionist regime was ambivalent about the prospect a decade ago. Such a project of combined arms could potentially have been co-opted for use against the main Israeli enemy, Iran. It would also have represented a potential bonanza for Western arms companies, resulting from an overhaul of military equipment to be fully interoperable, along with a likely expansion of defence spending among participating nations. A similar dynamic is at play in the potential NATO expansion to former Warsaw Pact states in Europe.

    An organisation of Arab unity: a threat to the Zionist regime

    On the other hand, a NATO-style West Asian force would have represented a rare organisation of Arab unity with potential to threaten the Zionist entity’s ongoing project of land theft. As an addendum, some may argue an embryonic version of an ‘Israel’-aligned Arab front currently exists, given the unified defence of the genocidaires via Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Jordan when Iran defended itself from Zionist aggression.

    However, the context for this summit represents a shift in perspectives among the governments of West Asia, with the recent murder of six people in Doha by Zionist bombing causing a re-evaluation of relations with the butchers in West Jerusalem. There is talk of realignment around an alternative security partner such as China, with the US under Trump increasingly representing an unreliable guarantor of protection from the settler-led Zionist regime.

    The US may eventually conclude that its backing for a tiny nation of seven million people is jeopardising its relationship with the two billion strong world Muslim population. It may be forced into the same shift the British had to make in World War II, as its success in the conflict was being harmed by the commitment to its pet “Little Loyal Ulster” project, which angered others in the region. A shift towards Arab placating Arab concerns followed.

    The most significant deterrent against Zionist expansionism

    The rulers in the region have shown little concern for the suffering of Palestinians, letting the genocide proceed without meaningful consequences for the Israeli perpetrators, but the attack on Doha seems to have focused minds. King Abdullah II of Jordan said the hit indicated a regime acting “without limits”. Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi declared it “crossed all red lines”. The calls for practical action to be taken against  Israel came from multiple quarters, with Pakistan’s foreign minister Ishaq Dar also seemingly endorsing a “combined security force”, saying the “nuclear-powered Pakistan obviously would stand as a member of the Ummah”. Potential sanctions such as cessation of trade with the Netanyahu regime were also discussed.

    A unified Arab and/or Muslim reaction would constitute perhaps the most significant deterrent thus far against Zionist expansionism. The strike in Qatar has reminded Arab leaders of the extent of Israeli ambition, with the religious fervour of the settler (aka land thief) mentality pushing a belief in a Greater Israel that extends as far as the Nile to its West, and the Euphrates to its East. In the minds of the most extreme zealots, it means rule of anything on Earth that the Zionist bully conquers. The gravity of the threat is increasingly being realised, and a meaningful response must follow.

    Featured image via Unsplash/Hongbin

    By Robert Freeman

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Declassified UK investigation forces Labour to bar Israeli soldiers from training in UK

    An investigation by Declassified UK (DCUK), and testimony by its author to the Peace and Justice Project’s ‘Gaza Tribunal’ appear to have forced the UK government to ‘bar’ Israeli soldiers from training in the UK.

    Declassified: forcing change over Israeli soldiers in the UK

    DCUK investigative journalist John McEvoy told the tribunal that not only had the UK government trained Israeli soldiers in Britain since the beginning of the genocide and then first stonewalled, then lied, about doing so – but had also granted special immunity to a string of senior military figures involved in the Gaza genocide and in the murder of Palestinian journalists, to protect them from arrest for war crimes and even from private prosecutions:

    And along with the above clip of his testimony, McEvoy has posted an update that, as the Telegraph has reported, the government has now ‘barred’ Israeli troops and officers from coming to the UK for training:

    Last week I testified at the Gaza Tribunal about how Israeli soldiers have been training in Britain throughout the genocide. The Telegraph now reports that Israelis have been barred from training in the UK.

    The Telegraph did not appear to regard the news particularly positively, instead quoting Israeli figures as they condemned the decision, such as Amir Baram, director general of Israel’s defence ministry, who described it as:

    a profoundly dishonourable act of disloyalty to an ally at war.

    But Skwawkbox and Canary readers know better. So did respondents to McEvoy’s tweets, who all congratulated McEvoy and his publication for their work and achievement, along the lines of the examples below:

    Of course, training Israelis in the UK is a drop in the ocean of the Starmer regime’s collaboration in Israel’s genocide. That will not be properly rectified until the UK treats Israel as the murderous, apartheid, pariah state that it is – and Starmer and his cronies are on trial in the Hague.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • ‘Don’t name the dead children’: powerful new video uses Rosen’s 2015 Gaza poem

    Save the Children has published a powerful new video to draw attention to the ongoing horror of Israel’s slaughter of children in Gaza.

    Save The Children: silence

    The video, which asks those who see it to sign the charity’s petition for a ban on arms sales to the child-slaughtering occupation, uses the words of Jewish author Michael Rosen, from his poem Don’t Mention the Children – and Rosen features in the video, with each line read by a different, well-known opponent of Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians, from Vanessa Redgrave to Guy Pierce, to Annie Lennox, to Juliet Stevenson, to Gaza volunteer doctor Mohammed Mustafa and many more, before closing with a chilling graphic made of the names of some of Israel’s child victims:

    The video grossly understates the number of Palestinian children murdered by Israel in Gaza at 20,000. Expert analysis by medics and statisticians of the Israeli military’s own data puts the toll at almost half a million, including 380,000 under the age of five. But 20,000 would be more than horrific enough.

    Rosen has been a frequent target of smears by the UK Israel lobby. He wrote his poem in 2015, a decade ago. Israel’s mass murder of children is only new in its industrial scale; Israel’s claim that ‘this all started on 7 October 2023’ is a grotesque lie.

    Featured image supplied

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Israel murders three more Gaza journalists and dozens of civilians

    Israel has murdered three more Palestinian journalists in airstrikes on residential areas in Gaza City:

    • Mohammed al-Kouifi, a reporter working for Safa News Agency and AI-Aqsa TV
    • Ayman Haniyeh, a photographer and broadcast engineer working for AI-Manara Media Agency and
    • Iman al-Zamili, a journalist working for the Palestine News Network.

    Journalist Ayman Haniyeh.

    Israel: massacring more Palestinians in Gaza City

    The same bombardment also slaughtered dozens of other civilians sheltering in their homes, including many children. Ayman Haniyeh had been wrongly reported as killed a fortnight ago after narrowly escaping a targeted strike near the Jordanian Hospital, but did not survive even two weeks more as Israel continues its campaign to silence coverage of its crimes in Gaza.

    The murders come not even a week after Israel committed the biggest slaughter in history of journalists in a single day when it targeted and bombed two media offices in Yemeni capital Sana’a.

    Israel has murdered at least 278 journalists and media workers during the Gaza genocide, according to human rights group Humanti Project. As well as targeting journalists, often along with their families, Israel continues to bomb fleeing refugees daily and has pushed Gaza into ‘Phase 5’ famine through its starvation blockade – a United Nations’ Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) that means around four hundred people are dying of malnutrition and malnutrition-linked conditions every single day.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Skwawkbox

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Global Sumud Flotilla Sets Out On Last Leg Of Journey To Gaza

    The Global Sumud Flotilla, carrying critical aid to Gaza, began the final leg of its planned route after departing ports across Tunisia this weekend.

    The first of over 40 boats now at sea left Gammarth port on Saturday, with the final boat departing Bizerte on Monday morning.

    One week after arriving in Tunis, 16 of the fleet’s original 24 boats resumed their journey east from Barcelona, carrying aid and international passengers in a bid to open a humanitarian corridor and break Israel’s siege on Gaza, which is illegal under international law.

    At least 422 people in Gaza have died from malnutrition caused by Israel’s blockade, since famine was declared in August.

    The post Global Sumud Flotilla Sets Out On Last Leg Of Journey To Gaza appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Massive Pro-Palestine Protests Shut Down Spain’s La Vuelta Race

    The final stretch of the Vuelta a Espana road cycling race was abandoned in Madrid on 14 September after over 100,000 pro-Palestinian protesters disrupted routes and forced organizers to call off the event.

    Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard was declared the winner as police struggled to contain the demonstrations, overwhelmed by their large numbers.

    “The race is over,” a spokesperson for the organizers told Reuters after barriers were overturned and crowds moved onto the course. 

    More than 1,000 officers were deployed across the capital, but confrontations escalated as protesters threw water bottles and other objects at police, chanting “It’s a genocide, not a war,” and the police responded with tear gas.

    The post Massive Pro-Palestine Protests Shut Down Spain’s La Vuelta Race appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • The Doha Assassination Plot, Emergency Summit, And Trump’s Double-Cross

    Last week’s failed assassination attempt of the Palestinian negotiating team in Doha, Qatar, raises critical questions that extend far beyond the attack itself. The crux of the problem lies in three interconnected issues: the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in targeting individuals, the failure, or deliberate negligence, of the US-led air defense system, and Qatar’s vulnerable position as a host to both a major US base and the ceasefire negotiations.

    The use of AI will be the topic of a future analysis. Meanwhile, the raid on Qatar did not happen in isolation. The skies over Doha are monitored by the American Air Base in Al Udeid, the largest US military installation in the Middle East. This base is not a marginal outpost; it is the forward headquarters for US Central Command, USCENTCOM, overseeing US military operations throughout the Middle East.

    The post The Doha Assassination Plot, Emergency Summit, And Trump’s Double-Cross appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • The Doha Assassination Plot, Emergency Summit, And Trump’s Double-Cross

    Last week’s failed assassination attempt of the Palestinian negotiating team in Doha, Qatar, raises critical questions that extend far beyond the attack itself. The crux of the problem lies in three interconnected issues: the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in targeting individuals, the failure, or deliberate negligence, of the US-led air defense system, and Qatar’s vulnerable position as a host to both a major US base and the ceasefire negotiations.

    The use of AI will be the topic of a future analysis. Meanwhile, the raid on Qatar did not happen in isolation. The skies over Doha are monitored by the American Air Base in Al Udeid, the largest US military installation in the Middle East. This base is not a marginal outpost; it is the forward headquarters for US Central Command, USCENTCOM, overseeing US military operations throughout the Middle East.

    The post The Doha Assassination Plot, Emergency Summit, And Trump’s Double-Cross appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Israeli Troops Deliberately Target Gaza Children, Say Volunteer Medical Workers

    International medical professionals who volunteered in Gaza hospitals said they treated more than 100 Palestinian children who were shot in the head or chest by Israeli forces in what appears to be a pattern of deliberate targeting, according to an investigation published Saturday by a Dutch newspaper. De Volkskrant interviewed 17 doctors and a nurse from Australia, Canada, the Netherlands…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.