Four UN Special Rapporteurs have written jointly to the UK government demanding explanation of its inappropriate persecution of journalists and political activists under the Terrorism Act. They state that those persecuted:
appear to have no credible connection to “terrorist” or “hostile” activity
The cases taken up by the United Nations are those of Johanna Ross (Ganyukova), John Laughland, Kit Klarenberg, Craig Murray (yes, me), Richard Barnard and Richard Medhurst. The UN letter is signed by:
Ben Saul
Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorismIrene Khan
Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expressionGina Romero
Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of associationAna Brian Nougrères
Special Rapporteur on the right to privacy
Under this UN special procedure, the letter is sent to the government in question which has sixty days to respond. This letter was sent by the UN to Starmer’s government on 4 December. No reply having been received, it has now been published.
It is worth noting that even with the UN letter on its desk and ignored, Starmer’s government in fact stepped up the use of the Terrorism Act against pro-Palestinian journalists and activists in this period. The cases of Asa Winstanley, Sarah Wilkinson and Tony Greenstein, among others, happened after the letter was drafted.
I should be clear that I was, working with Justice for All International (for which we had a crowdfunder last year in relation to the Assange case at the UN), heavily involved in assisting with preparation of this initiative, and made three visits to the UN in Geneva on the subject together with Sharof Azizov, and on one occasion Richard Medhurst. Your subscriptions and donations to this blog are the only funding I have to make such activity possible, so thank you.
The letter is in two parts. The first consists of an outline of the information received by the UN on each case and a request for a response from the British government.
But the second part is a devastating critique of the UK’s terrorism laws and their inappropriate use to stifle dissent and freedom of expression. This legal analysis on lack of conformity with the UK’s human rights obligations is not dependent on any of the particular cases cited.
While we do not wish to prejudge the accuracy of these allegations, we
express our concern regarding the potential misapplication of counter-terrorism laws
against journalists and activists who were critical of the policies and practices of
certain governments, which may unjustifiably interfere with the rights to freedom of
expression and opinion and participation in public life, lead to self-censorship and
have a serious chilling effect on the media, civil society and legitimate political and
public discourse.
We are particularly concerned by the broad scope of section 12(1A) and
schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and schedule 3 of the Counter-Terrorism and
Border Security Act 2019…
We are concerned at the vagueness and overbreadth of the offence in
section 12(1A) of the Terrorism Act 2000, which criminalizes expressing an opinion
or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation and being reckless as to
whether it encouraged support for that organisation…
The term “support” is undefined in the Act and in our view is vague and
overbroad and may unjustifiably criminalize legitimate expression.
…the meaning of expressing support for a
proscribed organization is ambiguous and could capture speech that is neither
necessary nor proportionate to criminalize, including legitimate debates about the de-
proscription of an organization and disagreement with a government’s decision to
proscribe…
We note that there is no requirement that the expression of support relate to
the commission of violent terrorist acts by the organization. As such, the offence may
unjustifiably criminalize the expression of opinion or belief that is not rationally,
proximately or causally related to actual terrorist violence or harms. The offence
further does not require any likelihood that the support will assist the organization in
any way. It goes well beyond the accepted restrictions on freedom of expression under
international law concerning the prohibition of incitement to violence or hate speech…
We note that some proscribed organizations are de facto authorities
performing a diversity of civilian functions, including governance, humanitarian and
medical activities, and provision of social services, public utilities and education.
Expressing support for any of these ordinary civilian activities by the organization
could constitute expressing support for it, no matter how remote such expression is
from support for any violent terrorist acts by the group…
Further, the section 12(1A) offence does not require the person to intend to
encourage others to support the organization…
We are further concerned that the absence of legal certainty may have a
chilling effect on the media, public debate, activism, and the activities of civil society,
in a context where there is a heightened public interest in discussion of the conflict in
the Middle East, including the conduct of the parties and the underlying conditions
conducive to violence in the region. We are further concerned that a person could be
prosecuted for isolated remarks or sentences that mischaracterize the overall position
of the individual, or despite the individual’s intentions or continued and express
disavowal of terrorist violence, given the subjectivity and contested meanings of
certain expressions in relation to sensitive or controversial political conflicts…
We encourage your Excellency’s Government to repeal section 12(1A), or
otherwise to amend it to protect freedom of expression, and to develop prosecutorial
guidelines for its appropriate use to avoid the unnecessary or disproportionate
incrimination of political dissent…
We are concerned that police powers at UK border areas and ports under
schedule 7 may be unjustifiably used against journalists and activists who are critical
of Western foreign policy. We note that the examination of each journalist named in
this communication under schedule 7 was premeditated, and that the examination,
confiscation of devices, and DNA prints were conducted despite the apparent absence
of a credible “terrorist” connection. We are concerned that such powers carry a risk of
intimidating, deterring, and disrupting the ability of journalists to report on topics of
public importance without self-censorship…
We are concerned that the distinction between “examination” and “detention”
under the Act is artificial given the punitive sanctions for of non-compliance, and that
this distinction may be inconsistent with the accepted meaning of “arrest” or
“detention” under article 9 of the ICCPR. We are further concerned that the extensive
powers authorised under section 2 do not require any degree of suspicion that a person
falls within the meaning of “terrorist” at section 40(1)(b). The extreme breadth of
such power enables unnecessary, disproportionate, arbitrary or discriminatory
interference with an individual’s rights, including freedom from arbitrary detention,
freedom of movement under article 12(1) of the ICCPR, and the rights to leave and
enter one’s own country under article 12(2) and (4) of the ICCPR…
we refer your
Excellency’s government to article 17 of the ICCPR which requires that “[n]o one
shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with [their] privacy, family,
home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on [their] honour and reputation”.
We note that several journalists detained under schedule 7 have had their electronic
devices confiscated for a significant period of time and have not been updated on the
use, retention or destruction of their data, or advised in relation to their personal data
protection rights.
We urge your Excellency’s Government to consider the growing number of
instances where schedule 7 may have been inappropriately directed towards
journalists and activists, and to consider addressing this through amendments to the
legislation, guidance for relevant officials, and training of border security officers. We
further encourage your Excellency’s Government to address the judiciary’s concerns
regarding the retention of electronic data
It is a stunning letter well worth reading in full; the legal language and diplomatic formality does not disguise the extreme concern of the UN at the extraordinary authoritarian attack on freedom of speech in the UK.
I might reveal that some of the UN Special Rapporteurs who signed were very sceptical of the issue until studying the details. One told me personally they were too busy to look at such a minor problem; their attitude changed completely when faced with papers on the cases involved.
There is no sign the UN has given the Starmer government pause; human rights are extremely low on their agenda. Support for Israel and the crushing of pro-Palestinian sentiment, or of any criticism of western foreign policy, is extremely high on their agenda.
The legislation concerned has been brought into disrepute by the widespread support in public from Establishment figures for HTS in Syria, even though it remains a proscribed organisation and any expression of support is an offence under the Terrorism Act. To my knowledge, not one person has been charged or even questioned for supporting the HTS coup in Syria.
This occurred after the UN letter, but they could now mention extreme arbitrariness in police and prosecutorial application of the law in their critique. The Terrorism Act is being used to criminalise peaceful criticism of western foreign policy. There can be no doubt about that at all.
It also remains the case that there has not been one reference in UK mainstream media to the persecution of dissident journalists using terrorism laws. I don’t expect the prostitute stenographers to power to change that by covering this censure from the United Nations.
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Interesting and very human interview with Hadeel Shataram, a Palestinian former prisoner (administratively detained for 7 months without charge or trial) who speaks about the brutality up until shortly before release, the effects of isolation, and the feelings upon release:
https://ajmn-aje-vod.akamaized.net/media/v1/pmp4/static/clear/665003303001/46ff0a96-702f-421e-8acc-775fb6877286/77b93cb6-ab9a-4020-9435-49ca2b437714/main.mp4
Apparently Jeremy Corbyn earlier this week was supposed to visit Berlin and there a member of THE LEFT PARTY who wants to achieve a local mandate at the upcoming national elections.
After Corbyn´s visit became known it was canceled or postponed. I can´t find any news on this anywhere. It´s incredible. Like it never happened. Which is why I consider the anti-rightwing protests now all over the country another point in case of German incompetence in global matters. The protest will achieve nothing for immigrants. That´s not how it works. Above all: How dare they protest for immigrants and silence genocide and the Syrian madness which will worsen the situation here once more of course in a couple of years with new waves of displaced human beings.
But despite all their ridiculous academic degrees the protesting sphere of the country do not get it. I have settled with the fact that Germany is lost and the first to suffer being cut out totally are the cultural “workers” and artists. Because what they do not get – in a capitalist economy you only get cultural production if you´re rich. For every good orchestra you need to sell countless cars or engines or refrigerators or computer chips. Of course there are alternatives. But not in this universe.
Jeremy Corbyn was supposed to speak at an event called “How the Left Can Win” at the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation Hall in Berlin, but couldn’t make it. The event website says:
“Leider musste Jeremy Corbyn seinen Besuch bei uns kurzfristig absagen, da sich in Großbritannien ein sehr wichtiger, nicht zu verschiebender Termin ergeben hat.”
— in other words:
“Unfortunately, Jeremy Corbyn had to cancel his visit at short notice because a very important appointment came up in the UK that could not be postponed.”
He wasn’t banned from attending. The event went ahead as scheduled with the Finnish politician Li Andersson – a former leader of the Finnish Left Alliance party.
The Rosa Luxemburg Foundation runs the Centre for International Dialogue and Cooperation, which appears to be well aligned with Corbyn’s Peace and Justice Project.
I don’t know if it’s connected, but Corbyn has an on-stage interview in Clerkenwell this afternoon (Sunday):
Jeremy Corbyn: In Conversation, in the Marx Memorial Library & Workers School, 9 Feb 2025 at 2pm.
If there was really no effort by the Germans to prevent Corbyn from speaking or even denunciation of him being invited then that’s testament to how limp and ineffectual a figure he is considered to be. Compare with the reaction in Germany to other Gaza solidarity speakers like Ali Abuminah and Max Blumenthal, or even Greta Thunberg.
Perhaps the British police threatened Jeremy Corbyn with harassment at the airport on re-entry to Britain – seizure of computer and phone etc. at a minimum. (They interviewed him “under caution” a few weeks ago in relation to a pro-Palestinian demonstration. I am speculating, but maybe they haven’t got around to issuing a “No Further Action” notice yet. In police procedural terms, that means he’s a crime suspect.)
Or he could have had an unexpected personal matter to attend to.
“Unfortunately, Jeremy Corbyn had to cancel his visit”
May be, may be not. I have heard different. The website´s announcement of the event had suddenly and without explanation disappeared. I can be wrong – but I assume this was a political decision from top to KEEP Corbyn from appearing.
BERLINER ZEITUNG had a hit piece on Corbyn the day the site info on his visit had been removed. If something is officially postponed you explain that to your online audience. Nothing of that sort here – to my knowledge.
But hey, may be we are lucky and he will show up after his important meeting in GB?!
other news – Palestine protest in Berlin yesterday was ended by the police among others because speeches in Arabic were held even though police had demanded to only speak English and German.
(This while 200.000 gathered in other cities to protest against the CDU? Siding with the government???)
Reminds me of “Fuck tha Police” by N.W.A. on stage in Chicago around 1989, after NWA had agreed to not sing it. Well, nothing has changed. Fuck the police. Indeed.
German info:
https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/mensch-metropole/palaestina-demo-in-schoeneberg-abgebrochen-redebeitraege-auf-arabisch-nicht-erlaubt-li.2294121
Every day with a new case of censorship in Germany:
Today it became known that Francesca Albanese will not be allowed to speak at Munich University LMU, which is one of Germany´s most important and prestigious institutions.
University administration ridiculously argues they cannot guarantee safety measures for the event due to its controversial nature. The decision officially is not final. Students have published a petition:
See signatures so far:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScSJpc0B_W4JYUwSHrRBFtNucAMyWGiXi1aD016OPjlTR72tw/viewform
text:
“Let Francesca Albanese Speak at LMU!
We, students and staff of Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, strongly oppose LMU’s decision to cancel Francesca Albanese’s lecture on international law which was scheduled to take place on February 16th at the LMU’s main building.
As the UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories, Ms. Albanese’s work extends far beyond the current crisis in Gaza—it began long before the October 7th attacks and has consistently focused on upholding international law and humanitarian principles. Her efforts are critical in ensuring accountability and justice, particularly through the ICC and ICJ.
The cancellation sets a dangerous precedent for universities- one in which shunning international human rights lawyers and UN representatives becomes a reality and can be repeated. Article 5 of germanys constitution protects the freedom of “the arts and sciences, research and teaching”, and as a publicly funded university, the LMU, like all other German universities, must uphold the principle of academic freedom. Universities must remain bastions of free speech, and academic exchange cannot be subject to the whims of one administration or another. The academic integrity of the LMU is in jeopardy.
We ask you to sign this petition, demanding that the LMU allows Francesca Albanese to hold her talk at the main building, in accordance with article 5 of the German constitution, and in accordance with the university’s own commitment to academic freedom and academic integrity.”
This is the ending of Vijay Prashad´s latest piece on imperialism:
“In mid-January, Declassified UK’s Alex Morris confronted Israeli General Oded Basyuk on his way to meet with the U.K.’s Ministry of Defence and the Royal United Services Institute.
General Basyuk has overseen the genocide of Palestinians and is being investigated for war crimes by the International Criminal Court. Yet, there he was on the streets of London on his way to meet the U.K.’s high officials in the military.
ICC warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were set aside by Poland and the United States, grinding the Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals into the dust. Sadly, the United Nations Principles to Combat Impunity (2005) are not legally binding.
Blood will flow down the avenues in some parts of the world. Champagne will fill the glasses in others.
In 1965, during the war between India and Pakistan, Faiz Ahmed Faiz wrote a poem called “Blackout”:
Since our lights were extinguished
I have been searching for a way to see;
my eyes are lost, God knows where.
You who know me, tell me who I am,
who is a friend, and who an enemy.
A murderous river has been unleashed
into my veins; hatred beats in it.
Be patient; a flash of lightning will come
from another horizon like the white hand
of Moses with my eyes, my lost diamonds.
Let us find our lost diamonds.”
https://consortiumnews.com/2025/02/08/vijay-prashad-dreams-are-wearing-thin/
His Excellency! The Great Knight Dope 😂 (part1 of 2)
Asking Starmztrooper to explain his bloodlust against truth is like asking a leech to stop sucking your blood.
There is much that is a can of worms spilling ‘inexplicably’ by the public destruction of USAID.
Even as the deluded liberal western audiences are being told to believe AID in USAID is actually, LITERALLY, means aid as in ‘charitable aid’! That smacks of the machelvalian murderous spin doctoring of Mandy and Campbell doesn’t it?
What can ever get past the propaganda blinkers that such self deluded consumers of smug woke soma? We have been led to soft fascism for decades and now open Nazism and genocide and war in Ukraine and The Levant after decades of mass murder and destruction of Africa and West Asia (it ain’t the AngloEuropean racist label ‘Middle East’ anymore folks.
The greatest danger this country faces is from such authoritative voices as ‘trusted media, academia and experts’ because they say so … they are in such positions which is assumed by the public means they must be right! They demand they are worshipped and believed! When most are subservient to their hidden Masters Hidden Hand and money. They would never be prepared to contemplate they are pawns in subterfuge. Their life being a lie. Their actions being so … evil. Perhaps not he most apt word but I can’t find another immediately as I type.
But their good intentions (if honest) has paved the way to the hell of us being the Bad Guys, actual Nazis and Mass Murderers,
Woke and Broke, prey to soft and now hard fascism.
Raised as Supremacist, privileged smug saviour complexed Collective Waster sheep;
We BELIEVE we are the only ones who can save the planet from dangers that are imaginary – because of such experts crying wolf and screaming headlessly that the sky is falling and it’s all the fault of too many people – which means it’s ok to cull billions!
That is why it’s EVIL. AND SO ARE THOSE WHO PUSH SUCH BELIEFS.
The old emperors new clothes story. The old wizards infront of the curtain story. The old elites, monarchs and bishops must be respected and kowtowed to story. They wouldn’t be there if they weren’t ‘worthy’ story. Decades of restoring that through cultural entertainment shows like Downton A bey and the updated aristo worshipping costume dramas…
What we can see with the unveiling of the Money Path receipents, by choking the flow from the top as has happened with USAID, has shown in very short order – two weeks of 47’s term – that the majority of so called ‘independent media funded by their readership’ has been bunkem.
Including Reporters without Frontiers And most msm and entertainment programming. And much of academia and experts. NGOs etc.
It is hilarious therefore to read the UN rapporteurs document addressed to ‘His Excellancy’ the ziofascist deepstate warmonger tool, who is the PM of the equally evil government cabinet and the majority of the parliamentarians over the last 5 decades.
One (me) has to ask if all the funding of extreme western degeneracies, by USAID to countries with strict moral codes, essentially to disrupt and undermine their governments, haven’t already been employed in the west and the UK in particular ?
LGBTQWERTY, BLM, Eurovision, Gay Pride, Stonehouse, Climate, Covid, Immigration, etc. all undermining ‘British values’ and contributing to the economic slide of the country. How many of these organisations and political agendas receive funding from the US/Israel ?
One only has to look at Scotland and the SNP to wonder what the F** is going on.
https://dailysceptic.org/2025/02/09/will-bbc-media-action-aunties-international-pro-censorship-charity-go-bust-now-that-elon-musk-has-turned-off-the-usaid-tap/
https://thegrayzone.com/2025/02/07/republicans-transgender-dance-bangladesh/
And, another american degeneracy that appears to be rapidly increasing in the UK with no benefits for anyone but the rich is gambling. Hence plans for a Trump Casino in Gaza … “The total amount of [USA] money spent on sports betting rose from $7bn in 2018 to an estimated $150bn in 2024, (with revenues totaling about $14bn in that year)”
How much foriegn money is injected into the UK to promote Gambling ?
“the ‘Liberal Warfare Toolbox’ reveals manipulations to justify, normalize, and popularize gambling and other social evils, such as drugs, prostitution, abortion, and euthanasia. ” Sounds familiar.
https://www.rt.com/news/612407-gambling-liberal-warfare-toolbox/
The BBC, one of the main propaganda outlets pushing all that (as well as pro-war/ pro-Israel narratives), was a major recipient of USAID.
BBC revenue had already taken a big drop before all its funding from Washington was cut off after 1 million people cancelled their TV licence in 2024.
https://excelattheoffice.com/2024/08/21/1-million-tv-licences-cancelled-2024-bbc-revenue-drops/?amp=1
And in case you didn’t know: ‘ Hebrew media reports delegation ‘has no real mandate’ and Netanyahu is ‘signaling clearly’ that he has no intention of reaching the second stage of the ceasefire.’ ToI reports he intends to attend at Doha and ‘brick’ the second stage of the ceasefire
And, this is something the voices of commonsense forecast well before the ‘ceasefire’ started. Netanyahu was getting a bit of political grief from his fascist citizens about the ‘hostages’, hence the ‘ceasefire’. Once the majority are released, all in good health unlike the families of most Palestinians, then the killing will recommence. Meanwhile, to satisfy the bloodlust of the Israelis the West Bank is cleared supported by Trump, with Adelsons money, and silence by the western MSM.
“the West Bank is cleared supported by Trump, with Adelsons money, and silence by the western MSM.”
With NATO military support from Jordan.
Gotta wonder what the effects will be in NATO member state Turkey. The head of the Turkish intelligence service has gone to Teheran. I hope those two regimes can mend their differences, but suspect they may not be able to. No country for thousands of miles around is going to be able to be neutral in this….
Clearing the West Bank would certainly crash the world economy, at p>0.99. Goodness knows who is buying shares ATM.
Occupation soldiers have murdered a woman who was eight months pregnant and her unborn child in Nur Shams refugee camp on the West Bank. They prevented her being taken to hospital, and by the time she arrived in hospital in Tulkarm, both she and her unborn baby were dead. The woman, Sundus Jamal Shalabi, was 23 years old. Snipers opened fire on her and her husband when they were trying to flee their home. Her husband survived although he is severely injured.
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2025/02/09/742480/Israel-kills-Palestinian-pregnant-woman-West-Bank
The occupiers have been forcing many Palestinians out of refugee camps on the West Bank. It seems probable they will attempt to remove the entire Palestinian population from both Gaza and the West Bank. Because what else is this about?
What will happen in Jerusalem is less clear. Few Arab or Muslim leaders will want to be seen to be doing nothing about al-Aqsa.
So many journalists and politicians wanting to excuse Trump say he is aiming to be a breath of fresh air and stimulate new ideas about the Middle East.
I have a new idea he might wish to consider.
Why don’t the world’s governments seek new places to live for the Israeli population, preferably in some currently unoccupied desert nearby, where those people whose life is clearly hell where they are can settle down without upsetting anybody else – and the rightful owners of the territory they have currently stolen can return to their homes.
Well, as the man said, we need new thinking.
p.s. Just seen the Saudis have proposed relocating the Israelis to Alaska – or Greenland when it becomes available.
So there’s nothing new under the sun, I guess.
There is, indeed, nothing new under the sun. There was a proposal by Harold Ickes (Secretary of the Interior) in 1938 to resettle German and Austrian Jews in Alaska following Kristallnacht. This met opposition from both Zionists and America Firsters.
The plan was totally scuppered when Roosevelt informed Ickes that the number of refugees should be limited to 10000 per year and that Jews should only be 10% of the total.
We need ‘a land without people, for a people without land’. Has to be an island well away from civilised people. Let me think … hmm, I know sent the lot of them to Antarctica. Solved.
(To follow the line of argument). Can’t many of them just return to their country of origin? Many Israelis seem to have dual passports. USA citizens seem to be a prime mover of West Bank settlement ideology. A recently released hostage is celebrated by UK media because of his British connections. Everyone who has settled in Israel has done so from choice. I have never understood how anyone with a sense of conscience could do so, knowing that by doing so they are stealing the land that would have been occupied by people who are now living in refugee camps had not they been displaced by the forces that enable them to live there, and that the government they have adopted continues to occupy territory that it has stolen forcing those left have to live in concentration camp conditions. How could any Israeli citizen be proud of being an Israel citizen if they were not somehow morally compromised? Moving back to their country of origins would enable them to live conscience free particularly as many of these countries are so hot on antisemitism.
I saw a clip of the actress Maureen Lippman saying that the Jews should have somewhere to live. I thought: Maureen you and many Jews have a home in the UK. Living with that contradiction must weigh heavily on the psyche, thus the need to eliminate any sign of dissent – from genocide to closing down dialogue with charges of anti-semitism or complete omission of events (i.ę. from 1948 to Oct 7th).
Isn’t that the basic problem ? Reading between the lines, Lippman and many of her kind are just stating the obvious fact that although Jews live among populations they do not want to integrate and do not see themselves, as such, as part of the local population. They want to be separated in their apartheid communities. Schools, synagogues, funny rituals, marriages, circumcision, Eruv’s; although they live amongst us they are not part of us. And, we are expected to enact laws to specifically protect these eternal victims.
Catholics are almost as bad, haven’t you noticed?
All religious practices are pretty much sanctioned discriminatory BS.
glenn_nl
For me, religions are a form of control and oppression – we don’t need them, to know what the right thing to do is – for most folk doing the right thing is instinctive, they know it – even if they don’t act on it.
Exactly, why are not the west and the outside world taking the israelis so the palestinians can have peace?
I do not want to give Piers Morgan any exposure but even he protested against the absurdity to just expel palestinians from their land:
Link to Piers Morgan/Alan Dershowitz talk: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FC7Pn6azze4
As I have been saying for well near two years the Illegal Apartheid Entity.
( I Have eschewed the colonial name it was set up as)
It is as much a last off such colonial setups under many ‘National’ guises.
That one to supposedly be one for ‘People Without A Land’.
What did they land here from outer space?
Are they some alien race that look like ‘people’?
What abject nonsense!
It is just another AngloEuropean Imperial settlement with settlers boated and flown in post WW2, as some consolation prize after the failure to destroy Russia and retake their Khazar kingdom.
It is a crucially a crossroads between EurAsia and Africa and the Old Robber Barons, aristocrats and bankers need it to control Africa.
But like India and most European colonial lands it requires to be vacated by the settler colonialists, just like Rhodesia and Ceylon and most ‘Commonwealth’ nations have been.
It is Not and Never was ‘their land’. There never was a nation of ‘that name’. Britain had No Right to grant it any status under some tuppeny legal contract to a Lord Rothschild during WW1 and certainly no chance for it to expand into the Greater Occupation it has undertaken from its ‘establishment’ by a UN set up specifically for that purpose it seems.
Ot is an Illegal Apqrtheid Entity that will not persist.
There are lands without people – Greenland has less than 50,000.
Go. In the name of all things Human. Get out and return the place to the long suffering Native Semites.
With Elon’s approval, the Orange führer has decided to impose sanctions on South Africa, and on anyone who “worked” for their case against Israel at the ICC.
https://www.gzeromedia.com/news/watching/trump-freezes-aid-to-south-africa-sanctions-icc-employees#toggle-gdpr
We all knew this was about to happen. Question is, will he extend the retaliation to the ICJ as well ?
How Israel tests military tech on Palestinians [Al Jazeera]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GvkFwpzDhI
“Plenty of countries sell weapons,” says award-winning journalist Antony Loewenstein, “but what makes Israel’s industry unique is the mix of weapons, surveillance technology and architectural techniques that combine to create a comprehensive system for controlling ‘difficult’ populations and are based on years of experience in Palestine.”
Yes. And, the UK, and USA, are helping to develop and leveraging those technologies to use on their own populations: AI, CCTV, facial recognition, drones, digital IDs, ‘smart’ tech; We are the enemy.
George Porter
I think the GDP of Israel in 2023 was around $560bn.
You don’t get that just through growing oranges.
In my opinion Israel is a kind of Fifty First and a half State of the United States.
A Subsidiary Company that researches all the above that you say.
There is little doubt that in wars/conflicts all sorts of ‘ new’ ( meaning nasty and terrible)
weaponry is tested on populations.
The weaponry is based on the latest technology and it is more than shooting at each other
and now is chemical/nuclear and maybe even things our minds couldn’t think of.
These people who do ‘think’ of how to wipe out fellow human beings and get paid for it are
woeful human beings.
But – exist they do and the politicians who also woeful human beings fund them and cheer
them on.
Some countries are worse than others but this is the outcome of a war – which is getting your side to
hate the other side so much that everything escalates and it’s kill at any cost.
The Rulers know all about Divide and Conquer and without the impetus of hatred no-one would fight
anyone.
And that is terrible for business.
Hamas should let their more cleaned up/groomed political, not military branch, arrange the release of the captives. This whole thing of standing with balaclavas, brandishing weapons is not a good look and just scare a whole lot of people off when palestinians are in need of every sympathy they could get.
Tellingly by the way how media now frame in big headlines how palestinians do not follow through on the deal, nothing about the obvious ceasefire violations by Israel past weeks.
If they didn’t have balaclavas on, they would be facial recognised by the ubiquitous drones soon afterwards. They, and everyone within the same building and possibly several surrounding buildings / 500 foot radius, would be murdered. Then Israel would be able to boast about this ‘battle tested’ technology, and sell it to despots around the world.
Still Israel kill everyone so facial concealment do not seem to have any real value?
–
Israel have cleverly stepped back while Trump have stepped forward taking the most flak, it is like the US have taken over the genocidal role in Gaza now urging Israel to do whatever they want if not every captive is released, most likely Israel will take on the idea, this is something they have waited for ever since 1948 and now even the US talk about ethnic cleansing like something normal. Netanyahu’s approval rate must go through the roof now.
US complicity should be dealt with at the ICJ or ICC but obviously the whole world fear the US today and do not dare to do anything. I hate to say it but obviously US is still the sole power of the world, not so much because of any real power but because you have some 190+ nations that let the US do whatever they feel like. In the Cold War you had a resistance to western plots, today there is nothing. The “resistance” of today seems to be people like us.
They can probably be recognised anyway, through gait, other biometrics, and combined info on their and other people’s movements. But I am not convinced that the occupiers care a damn who is in Hamas and who isn’t.
Nonetheless it’s true that Hamas aren’t great at PR. The English words on the stage screen have been awfully badly translated, and their (military) website https://en.alqassam.ps/ isn’t kept up to date, although to be fair I don’t know what enemy interference there may have been with it.
They are beyond poor at PR. They are sick and evil individuals, who have led to the destruction of their cities.
@Ian – You don’t recognise that bloodthirsty mass-murdering fascists of the Zionist kind make their own decisions?
How did the Zionist PR attempt after October 2023 to paint Hamas as an ISIS-style “death cult” go? Did it convince anyone?
Came across this a few days ago when I did a search re >gaza 2,000lb bombs<, published in October last year:
Are hospitals collateral damage? Assessing geospatial proximity of 2000 lb bomb detonations to hospital facilities in the Gaza Strip from October 7 to November 17, 2023
… We identified 592 M-84 bomb craters. Of the 36 hospitals across the Gaza Strip, 25% (n = 9) had at least one bomb crater within the lethal range (360 m) and 83.3% (n = 30) within the infrastructure damage and injury range (800 m) of their facilities. The shortest distance of a bomb crater from a hospital was 14.7 m…..
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39387878/
And THAT was within just the first six weeks! Please check it out, it's relatively short.
Two months after the breakout operation of 7 October 2023, the film called “Plan A” opened in Israeli cinemas:
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/culture/article-781791
It dramatises the efforts of a terrorist group called Nakam (“Revenge”) in and after 1945:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakam
OMFG…
Came across the following shortly after I posted my earlier post at !0.52 this morning, and have spent most of the last two/three hours looking through it, and I doubt I’ve even read 25% of it all. It contains a lot of information that most people who follow Craig (and other independent journalists) will be familiar with, but also information that most people are not perhaps aware of. I could post numerous clips/passages from it, but here’s one for starters (under the sub-heading: Attack aims, planning and coordination), with the title of the piece first:
Detailed findings on attacks carried out on and after 7 October 2023 in Israel*
Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel
Attack aims, planning and coordination
260. In a statement issued on 12 October 2023, the official spokesman of the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Obaida, said that Hamas leaders first proposed the 7 October attack in 2021. According to reports, preparation involved examining Israeli Security Forces tactics and strategies, terrestrial analysis, weapons’ supply and training those members of Nukhba forces specifically selected for the operation. According to reports, Hamas military wing planned to deploy 3,000 militants to the field and have another 1,500 fighters for reinforcement and support.
261. According to videos, photos and statements distributed prior to the attack by the Palestinian Joint Operations Room (led by Hamas), the al-Qassam Brigades had been training militants for the operation together with other Palestinian armed factions as part of the joint military manoeuvres overseen by the Palestinian Joint Operations Room, also known as the Joint Operations Room of Resistance Factions.
262. For example, on 29 December 2020, the Joint Operations Room made an official announcement about the launch of military manoeuvres aimed at “simulating the liberation of settlements near Gaza”. Four joint drills were then carried out over three years, with the last drill held on 13 September 2023, three weeks before the 7 October attack. The Commission notes that photos and videos of tactics used in the drills published by the Joint Operations Room closely resemble the tactics used by Hamas military wing and its allies in the 7 October attack, including infiltration simulation, raiding a mock compound and hostage taking.
263. According to several media sources, Israeli Security Forces were aware of the planned operation and had been warned about it more than a year prior to the actual attack. The detailed plan of the operation, setting out “The Mass Invasion Plan of Hamas”, was reportedly presented by the Israeli Security Forces Gaza Division Commander to the Israeli Security Forces leadership in July 2022….
https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/documents/hrbodies/hrcouncil/sessions-regular/session56/a-hrc-56-crp-3.pdf
And needless to say, THIS was obviously just PURELY coincidental:
Hamas to be declared a terrorist group by UK
19 November 2021
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59346441
Islamist terrorist group Hamas banned in the UK
Government proscribes terrorist group Hamas in its entirety
From: Home Office and The Rt Hon Priti Patel MP
Published 26 November 2021
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/islamist-terrorist-group-hamas-banned-in-the-uk
PS As I’m sure everyone knows, the military wing of Hamas was proscribed by the UK in March 2001.
It’s ludicrous for the British regime – which openly recognises the Zionist occupation as legitimate – to describe the Islamic Resistance Movement (“Hamas”) or their allies or their military organisation as “terrorist”.
Hamas are guys who publicly pride themselves on treating enemy prisoners well.
I was just checking out the wikipedia entry for Hamas (to try and determine something) and came across the following passage:
On the other hand, Hamas’s 2017 charter removed the anti-Semitic language, saying that their struggle is against Zionism and not Jews,[46][48][49] while also advancing goals for a Palestinian state which are seen by many as being consistent with a two-state solution.[135][43] Ahmed Yassin, the founder of Hamas, said in a 1988 interview, reacting to accusations that ‘Hamas hate Jews’:
“We don’t hate Jews and fight Jews because they are Jewish. They are a people of faith and we are a people of faith, and we love all people of faith. If my brother, from my own mother and father and my own faith takes my home and expels me from it, I will fight him. I will fight my cousin if he takes my home and expels me from it. So when a Jew takes my home and expels me from it, I will fight him. I don’t fight other countries because I want to be at peace with them, I love all people and wish peace for them, even the Jews. The Jews lived with us all of our lives and we never assaulted them, and they held high positions in government and ministries. But if they take my home and make me a refugee like 4 million Palestinians in exile? Who has more right to this land? The Russian immigrant who left this land 2000 years ago or the one who left 40 years ago? We don’t hate the Jews, we only ask for them to give us our rights.”[136]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamas
I expect a lot of Palestinians DO hate them (and much more so since October 7th, 2023), and who can blame them.
I’m trying to determine when the EU (which we were a member of until a few years ago of course) proscribed Hamas as a terrorist group, and whether it first proscribed the military wing, and then sometime later, proscribed the political wing (as the UK did), and according to the Wikipedia entry for Hamas, ‘The European Union so designated Hamas’s military wing in 2001 and, under US pressure,[389] designated Hamas in 2003’. Anyway, I just found the following entitled ‘Sanctions against terrorism’:
Under this regime, the EU may target those who support, materially or financially, Hamas or the PIJ. It may also target those who participate in the planning, preparation or enabling of violent actions by Hamas or the PIJ.
Individuals, groups, entities and bodies could also be listed for activities such as:
• supplying, selling or transferring arms and related materiel to the two terrorist organisations
• supporting actions which undermine or threaten the stability or security of Israel in conjunction with Hamas and the PIJ
• being involved in serious violations of international humanitarian law or human rights law
• inciting or publicly provoking violent actions of these two organisations
So let’s try a slightly different version:
Under this regime, the EU may target those who support, materially or financially, Israel or the IDF. It may also target those who participate in the planning, preparation or enabling of violent actions by Israel or the IDF.
Individuals, groups, entities and bodies could also be listed for activities such as:
• supplying, selling or transferring arms and related materiel to the two terrorist organisations
• supporting actions which undermine or threaten the stability or security of Gaza and the West Bank in conjunction with Israel and the IDF
• being involved in serious violations of international humanitarian law or human rights law
• inciting or publicly provoking violent actions of these two organisations
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/sanctions-against-terrorism/
And this is from the Wikipedia entry for Hamas:
After the start of the 2023 war, the European Parliament passed a motion stating the need for Hamas to be eliminated, with US President Biden having expressed the same sentiment.[411][412] Hamas was accused of having committed genocide against Israelis on 7 October 2023 by 240 legal experts, including jurists and academics.[413]
Hmm, a genocide. So I wonder if any of these ‘experts’ have said the same about Israel at some point during the past sixteen months. I mean given that they regard around 1,200 Israelis being killed as a genocide (an unknown number of them killed by Israeli helicopter gunships and tanks), then surely they regard the 10,000 or so Palestinians killed by Israel in the first month as a genocide:
As the death toll in Gaza exceeds 10,000 in a month, Palestinian organizations call for an immediate end to Israel’s genocidal warfare against Palestinians
https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/death-toll-gaza-exceeds-10000-month-palestinian-organizations-call-immediate-end-israels-genocidal-warfare-against-palestinians
“King” Abdullah of Jordan is in Washington DC now, where he says he is “ready” to accept 2000 “sick children” from Gaza.
But allowing medical evacuations to Egypt and restoring the operation of hospitals in Gaza are already points in the ceasefire agreement.
Meanwhile…all NATO member states are responsible for NATO actions.
Gotta wonder where the disgusting creep Abdullah – who hasn’t even closed the Zionist embassy in Amman – will run to.
Did you guys just watch the Jordanian “king” meeting with Trump? The stupid, imbecile “king” flattered Trump and said that the region were so grateful for Trump in his quest for “peace”:
Video
https://x.com/AbubakerAbedW/status/1889379710737719573
..watch Trump say “very good” after the “king” praising him like the puppet that he is.
and yes Jordan and Egypt have signed on to the ethnic cleansing of Gaza:
Jordan’s king says Egypt to present plan on how to work with Trump in Gaza | AFP
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4JvaliIvMQ
I am at loss with words right now, in the most critical time for the arab world they sunk even lower prove once again that they are wilful slaves. How could this region of 500 million people humiliate themselves like this?
Well that was it then I guess. No more Palestine.
As mentioned in a previous posting, Egypt received a huge payout ($8bn) from the IMF to compensate it for taking in Palestinians. Camps are already under construction in the siniai desert. This is no surprise. Jordan has also received a $1.2bn loan from the IMF, probably for the same reasons. These arabs are bought and sold, Palestine means nothing to them other than a source of money. There time will come.
The following is from an article on Aljazeera, posted today, and headlined ‘Did Israel violate the Gaza ceasefire? What to know about Hamas’s pause’:
Did Israel violate the ceasefire?
Yes.
Israel is still killing people in Gaza, according to daily reports from the Ministry of Health in the enclave.
In terms of aid, Israel allowed only 8,500 trucks of food and basic aid items into Gaza so far, when according to the ceasefire terms, it should have been 12,000 trucks.
In terms of shelter, 200,000 tents are stipulated in the first phase, but only 10 percent have been allowed in so far – halfway through the first phase – and none of the promised 60,000 mobile homes.
On top of that, 50 desperately sick or injured people were supposed to be allowed out of Gaza daily with family members accompanying them – that should have been 1,000 people so far but the Health Ministry says only 120 patients have been allowed to leave.
Also at issue was Israel dragging its heels on allowing people to return to their homes in northern Gaza, a clear part of the agreement.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/2/11/did-israel-violate-the-gaza-ceasefire-what-to-know-about-hamass-pause
But get THIS (from another article posted today on Aljazeera):
Why has Hamas paused the exchanges?
Abu Obeida, the spokesman for Hamas’s armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said on Monday: “The resistance leadership monitored the enemy’s violations and their noncompliance with the terms of the agreement. … Meanwhile, the resistance fulfilled all its obligations.”
According to officials in Gaza, Israel has killed more than 25 Palestinians since the ceasefire began. Israel has also fallen short in the supply of desperately needed aid, including tents, food and medical supplies. Moreover, of the 1,000 desperately sick or injured people Israel agreed to allow out of Gaza for medical treatment, only 120 have so far been allowed to travel, the Ministry of Health said.
*** While Israeli officials confirmed to The New York Times that Hamas’s claims against Israel were accurate, the Israeli government has officially denied them, and Foreign Minister Israel Katz said Hamas’s declaration was “a complete violation of the ceasefire agreement”. ***
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/2/11/who-will-israelis-blame-if-the-gaza-ceasefire-breaks-down
And Israel is ready to start bombing Gaza again based on their falsehoods. How do you describe such people!
And Trump and his Nazi buddies are of course fully backing Israel’s falsehoods…. Might is always right you see, even when it’s lying through its nasty little psychopathic nazi teeth. As it so often does!
Just as with ‘Ukraine’, in which hundreds of thousands of men on both sides have been killed or maimed – fathers, brothers, sons – and ALL based on massive big nazi-type lies and falsehoods, and ONE in particular, repeated hundreds and hundreds of times by the war-mongering US/Nato scum – ie that Russia was unprovoked. These beings really are inhuman monsters!
I don’t know if it’s behind a paywall (as I’ve now got a cheapo subscription for a year), but I just checked out Counterpunch and, as such, came across this article by Ralph Nader, posted today:
A Trumpian Fascistic Coup is Underway—Stop It Before the Terror Starts
Ralph Nader
Rise up people and fast. Tyrant Trump and his Musk-driven gangsters are launching a fascistic coup d’état. Much of everything you like about federal/civil service for your health, safety, and economic well-being and protections is being targeted.
To feed Trump’s insatiable vengeance over being prosecuted, being defeated in the 2020 election, or now just being challenged, this megalomaniacal, self-described dictator is harming the lives of tens of millions of Americans in need and millions of Americans who are assisting them.
In his demented lawless arrogance…
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/02/11/a-trumpian-fascistic-coup-is-underway-stop-it-before-the-terror-starts/
Here the Palestinians and we are.
Back where we came in.
All hell will break loose.
Maybe Mr Trump but as usual the US and Israel and their Western backers always assume that the ‘ hell ‘ is always one way.
So, if hell breaks loose Israel and the US will then be fighting (sorry bombing) yet again on seven fronts.
Trumps says the US will not be doing any fighting (just bombing then?) and that indicates code for the Israelis to do it bigger and better than last time with even more backing for it than Biden gave.
If Trump is as stupid as he sounds, then war with Iran will become inevitable and the revival of Hezbollah will not stand aside knowing Lebanon and Beirut are on Trump’s proxy war list too.
Egypt and Jordan are being threatened by the removal of aid if they don’t take in Palestinian bombed out refugees.
As in most Military Dictatorships ( let’s be kind and call them Regimes) when you stop paying the army and the police they generally collapse as ‘ order ‘ cannot be maintained.
The Egyptians and the Jordanians are not best pleased with their US funded governments at the moment – never mind if and when ‘ hell ‘ breaks loose so if Trump makes good on his utterances that maybe the end of the two Regimes.
The Yemenis will start off again and Syria ( fell out of the headlines at the moment ) may end up in another Civil War.
So, all round for the deep thinker Trump this may turn out be ‘hell ‘ certainly for the Israelis and the US depending on US troops need to go in to support Israel.
Apart from wonderful bomb supplies and some decent kit ( as they say) Israel like the US does not have a great history of making occupation work.
Of course in the Israel versus Hamas conflict one side has nearly everything and Hamas has hardly anything to fight with.
If Trump and Netanyahu widen the war the cost will be having to fight against countries that do have good or very good weapons unlike the weapon less Palestinians.
I will warn any Israelis that the US has a terrible history of starting wars then running off ( perhaps they call it ‘ disengaging ‘ in The Pentagon? ) but it’s usually called deserting and similarly just like the US is deserting Ukraine if things go very wrong they willdesert
Israel.
The question for the Israelis is ;
Do you want this hell to begin?
Once it does it will either become very dangerous very quickly or turn into a Never ending war.
See Ukraine for details.
As we know very well, and the Russians are well aware, a ‘ceasefire’ is just another term for a pause to rearm. The USA and it’s western sycophants will have been shipping in huge amounts of armaments to Israel during the last few weeks via Cyprus, Germany and Turkey. There will probably be a huge firework show this weekend with hundreds of dead Palestinians. May Israel and all its fans burn in hell.
Israel is biting off a lot of indigestible things. Propping up this endless war-effort is expensive for such a small country. Even with a flood of direct & indirect aid.
As for Ukraine it couldn’t really rearm once the war is over, too much damage has been done. Besides once the borders open they’ll be a massive outflow of men.
The dystopian Maidan regime can’t last forever, and of course Zelensky is deposed as soon as he lifts martial law. Assuming he isn’t taken out for not doing so, at some point.
…guess you heard the rumour of possible pardon for Snowden via Jim Ferguson … we´ll see if it´s fake (but to what purpose?)
American agreements are worthless, hopefully Snowden understands this.
Meanwhile, the battle against Iran continues.
“Newly leaked documents expose Washington’s ongoing, covert push for regime change in Iran. With millions funneled into secretive initiatives, the US aims to infiltrate civil society, manipulate political participation, and engineer unrest, all while keeping its Iranian beneficiaries in the shadows.” Kit Klarenberg
https://thecradle.co/articles/leaked-documents-expose-us-interference-projects-in-iran
It has been revealed in the last week that two of the most influential “prostitute stenographers to power” in Britain – the Guardian and the BBC – were being bankrolled by CIA cutout, USAID.
The twin bastions of UK liberal media have been serving not just as information arms of the British Deep State but of the US Empire.
Next up should be to dismantle the equally shadowy group NED – “National Endowement for Democracy” which is in part funded by USAID.
Upon its founding, the NED assumed several former activities of the Central Intelligence Agency. Political groups, activists, academics, and some governments have accused the NED of being an instrument of U.S. foreign policy helping to foster regime change
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Endowment_for_Democracy
Agreed, the very last thing that would be endangered if the NED was removed from every country it operates would be democracy.
Of course the UK is fully governed by the USA, so it’s only fair that they pay for their/our MSM. Yes massa, no massa, three bags full massa.
Jordan bravely tries to reject Elon’s plan to take Palestinian refugees there…
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2025/2/12/jordanian-foreign-minister-rejects-trumps-gaza-displacement-plan
But the Donald (my-rocket-is-bigger-than-yours) couldn’t care less. “It’s the real estate deal of the century” says he. “And Vlad doesn’t mind, as long as I give him a large slice of Ukraine”
Some people can certainly understand each other!
I have no doubt that this was all planned between Trump and Netanyahu during the weeks prior to Trump taking office and, as such, all the stuff about the guy who went to Israel and was laying it on BN and Co about there being a ceasefire before Trump’s inaugeration (whose name escapes me), and Trump posting/sharing the Jeffrey Sachs vid in which he – Sachs – calls BN “a deep, dark son of a bitch”, was all theatre, and a blind as such, for what they had lined up. And in so far as I’ve checked out the MSM (in the UK), most of them appear to be omitting to mention what the violations are (that Hamas have accused Israel of), or even any of them. Yesterday evening I watched the news on ITV at 6.30pm, and the Hamas accusation was the lead story, but the presenter in the studio didn’t mention even one of the violations, and she then went to their reporter in Jerusalem, and lo-and-behold, he didn’t either, and just repeated what the presenter in the studio had said. And ditto on ‘Breakfast’ on BBC1 this morning. And millions of people are watching this blatant propaganda and being led to believe that all Hamas have said is that Israel has violated the peace deal, and THAT’s it. Needless to say, Aljazeera DID include the details, and posted a couple of articles about it yesterday, which is where I first heard/read about the NYT etc. Talking of which, what on earth is going on there with the three Israeli officials – ie exposing BN and Co’s falsehoods.
But it goes without saying that BN and Trump et al know that they can depend on most of the MSM in the West to play along with their nazi-type games and deceptions, and deceive hundreds of millions of people. As I said, I have no doubt that everything – ie all the ‘moves’ – was planned weeks ago.
And just one last thought in respect of this latest machination by Trump, or, to be precise, the most recent part of the Big Machination… and that is that Trump is in effect saying to the people of Gaza: “Either you move, or you and your loved ones get blown to smithereens”, which also potentially marginalises Hamas. Yep, they’re very clever people, in a devious duplicitous underhand and totally evil way.
Caitlin Johnstone…
Israel Admits It Violated The Ceasefire And Hamas Did Not
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/02/12/israel-admits-it-violated-the-ceasefire-and-hamas-did-not/
PS And needless to say, as planned, Netanyahu and Co have been doing everything they can since the ceasefire began to provoke Hamas, violating the ceasefire agreement over and over and over again until Hamas finally reacted, knowing that the only card Hamas holds are the hostages, and that as soon as Hamas played that card, Israel would react with faux fury and accuse HAMAS of violating the ceasefire deal, and of course – along with nazi Trump – threaten to start bombing Gaza again, big BIG time. And you can be 1,000% sure that Starmer and all the other Western leaders know exactly what is going on, and some of them were quite likely informed of the plan in advance. And had a good larf, as such!
Newsweek posted this yesterday:
Hamas Accuses Israel of Nearly 270 Ceasefire Violations in New Report
https://www.newsweek.com/hamas-accuses-israel-nearly-270-ceasefire-violations-report-2029583
It is so disgusting, US/Israel threat to unleash “hell” against a region of majority civilians and majority CHILDREN and no one gives hoot about it. Remember how the west talked for so many years about R2P – “Responsibility to protect” and to impose “no-fly zone” in Syria, in Libya, in Iraq etc but these days with Gaza/Lebanon/West Bank, these words has not been uttered once by the west!
And then the same immoral west wonder why palestinians are firing rockets in desperation or why some become radicalized.
What is going on in Gaza is like shooting fish in a barrel, or rather, shooting children in a concentration camp.
And probably not off topic, because clearly the 2 conflicts can only be solved with a tit for tat:
Donald & Elon have ordered their new Pentagon puppet to explain to European NATO allies that Ukraine would have to abandon territories to Russia, and also forget about joining the western alliance.
This obviously comes (by coincidence) exactly when the Washington DC dictator needs Putin to turn a blind eye away from the major war crimes about to be committed against Palestinians in Gaza , and probably in the West Bank territories.
I told you. Don and Vlad, it’s a love affair.
IMO, Putin doesn’t need any special agreements with Trump. Russia won in Ukraine a long time ago. The USA can either accept it or continue losing. In Gaza, Putin is avoiding, sensibly, getting dragged into a quagmire that he didn’t create and cannot stop, plus when your enemy is in a hole common sense says let them keep digging …
Russia have been a mess (like most countries) on Gaza, they have some absurd affinity to Israel. Recently it was exposed how Israel sell arms to Ukraine, through Poland, but Russia keep aiding and abetting Israel nonetheless. Perhaps there is a Israel-lobby in Russia too?
Iran is obviously worried too. Because if US/Russia getting closer now, Iran will get no support from Russia if a possible US/Israel war against Iran is unleashed.
We see this conflict through the prism of the west. Russia sees things differently, where Russia is number one and it’s citizens are prime. Apparently, 15% of Israelis are of Russian stock, that’s 1.3 million people. Just as Russia didn’t turn its back on Ukrainian Russians it isn’t going to turn its back on Israeli Russians. I’d suggest Russia doesn’t give a toss about Israel but it does care about Russians.
Madison
The interesting tie in is Iran/Russia.
Netanyahu and Trump know that Hamas will not release ‘all ‘ the hostages by noon on Saturday.
You see – the thing for the US and Israel is that no one sane in other countries believes them anymore.
They didn’t trust them both much prior to all this and they certainly don’t trust them now.
There are utterances – there are actions and despite Hamas being a thorn in Israel’s side Iran has always
been the overarching and ultimate danger.
Nobody says it but it’s, true.
Logically then Iran must be attacked and once beaten Hamas – Hezbollah et all will then fade away.
Israel can stand as an Apartheid State nakedly and all will be well.
Except they are forgetting one thing.
What if Iran is attacked and in desperation ( or defence – they have no choice ) Iran levels every City and large towns in Israel| in retaliation?
Not a nice scenario but if things get out of hand a possibility.
Then the Nukes come out from Israel.
Then the Nuclear armed Russians become involved ………………
What then Donald?
There’s this youtube channel KinoKnowledge that bangs out videos made up by The Postil magazine, Toronto based I think.
They’ve just done one on Affinity Partners, Jared Kushner’s business that has backing from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Israel for the usual property spiv activities. Seems he’s got a lot riding on it, wouldn’t want his father-in-law to go off topic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8HDdAvnrxU&t=28s
In my 13.56 post yesterday (just up the page) I mentioned about Trump posting/sharing the Jeffrey Sachs vid in which he – Sachs – calls Netanyahu “a deep, dark son of a bitch”, and something just occured to me in respect of that:
Does Donald Trump follow Jeffrey Sachs?!! No, of course he doesn’t, and it’s highly HIGHLY unlikely he ever has. But the conspiritors – when planning and contriving their game-plan/trick/set-up – used it as a blind so as to hide what they – ie Trump and BN – had lined up further down the road, And ditto the Steve Witkoff episode. The following is from the initial part of a Guardian article posted on Jan 18th:
It was a subtle, but significant flex of power by Donald Trump’s new envoy to the Middle East [Steve Witkoff]. Ten days before tomorrow’s presidential inauguration, he called Israel to announce he was coming to Tel Aviv to meet Benjamin Netanyahu.
He landed last Saturday, in the middle of the Jewish Sabbath, when the Israeli prime minister does not take on official duties. Netanyahu’s aides told Witkoff he would have to wait a few hours for a meeting.
Witkoff, who is Jewish, made clear that would not be happening. Trump was in a hurry – and he wanted to get on with the mission.
And it just happens to say this next in the article:
Two days earlier, the president-elect had shared a video of the economist Jeffrey Sachs calling Netanyahu a “deep, dark son of a bitch”, just weeks after the Israeli leader claimed the two had a “warm” policy discussion. Around the world, governments are recalibrating policy to reflect Trump’s bluntly transactional approach to international relations – and Israel is no exception. Netanyahu took the meeting.
Like myself, I expect everyone who heard/read this (and it was quite widely reported) – including just about everyone who follows Craig – assumed that the Jeffrey Sachs video was posted (on youtube) a day or two or three prior to Trump sharing it, but it just occured to me to do a search on youtube to see if I could determine precisely when it was posted, and lo-and-behold, it was posted on October 22nd last year, some eight weeks or so before Trump posted and shared it. And that says it all – ie that it was a scam and a blind:
Jeffrey Sachs said shyatanyahoo is Son of a Bitch
Jeffrey Sachs delivered a speech and participated in a Q&A session at 6 p.m. in the Debating Chamber on Tuesday, October 22, 2024. and during his speech he called Shaytan Yahoo Son of Bitch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVMn20lT4Pg (!min 13secs)
And needless to say, the stuff about Witkoff strong-arming BN is total bollox, and pure fiction, and a blind as such.
I expect one or more people posted info about Steve Witkoff at the time, but I’ll post a link to this NBC News article anyway, posted Jan 19th:
How an NYC real estate tycoon became Trump’s man in the room for Gaza negotiations
Steve Witkoff, the president-elect’s special envoy to the Middle East, is no diplomat. Instead, he brought New York real estate experience to help forge the deal between Israel and Hamas.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/witkoff-trump-gaza-hamas-israel-ceasefire-envoy-rcna187954
New York real estate experience… Hmm, well fancy that! Lots of plums on the horizon of course.
NB I just checked, and there is also a wikipedia entry.
OfH, I just noticed that I forgot to put a link to the Guardian article in my 11.33 post above:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jan/18/the-inside-story-of-how-an-unlikely-alliance-of-trump-and-biden-led-to-historic-gaza-ceasefire-deal
London, Whitehall,
Cowards tremble, feathers ruffle,
Ravens call “Et Tu”