Monthly Archives: May 2024

LUKE AKEHURST: ARCH ISRAEL LOBBYIST PICKED FOR LABOUR SAFE SEAT

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https://www.declassifieduk.org/luke-akehurst-arch-israel-lobbyist-picked-for-labour-safe-seat/

Luke Akehurst (far right) on a trip to Israel last year. (Photo: LFI)

‘One of the best in the inside’: Israel’s point man in Labour set to become an MP after selection stitch-up.

Keir Starmer’s Labour party has parachuted a professional lobbyist for Israel into the safe seat of North Durham for the UK general election. 

Luke Akehurst, the director of We Believe in Israel, has spent over a decade working as a campaigner for that country’s interests and has close ties to the Israeli embassy in London.

An Israeli diplomat was secretly recorded praising Akehurst as “a great campaigner” who was “one of the best in the inside” of the Labour party.

Akehurst, who is not Jewish, was once described by a fellow Israel lobbyist as “outrageously pro-Zionist”.

His selection comes just weeks after the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor applied for warrants to arrest Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Yoav Gallant.

Akehurst, who has deleted over 1,000 tweets in recent days, has repeatedly defended Israel’s assault on Gaza in his social media posts.

He also sits on Labour’s National Executive Committee, which currently has emergency powers to pick candidates. Akehurst apparently lives in Oxfordshire, about 250 miles away from North Durham.

Labour has held the constituency by a large majority since its creation in 1983.

On the same day his candidacy was announced, Faiza Shaheen was suddenly deselected as a Labour candidate for Chingford over liking posts on social media.

One of the posts described how “professional organisations” mobilise pressure on people who are “even mildly critical of Israel”.

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“It was almost my dream job to run a pro-Israel campaigning organisation”, he told one journalist.

Since then, Akehurst has been among the most vociferous supporters of Israel in British public life.

He has fought strongly against the Boycotts, Divestments, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, and consistently defended Israel’s military onslaughts against Palestinians.

Akehurst has particularly close ties with the Israeli embassy in London.

He has spoken at conferences alongside Israeli officials, and travelled with embassy staff to campaign events across the country.

In 2017, Al Jazeera’s ground-breaking documentary The Lobby showed Israeli embassy official and suspected intelligence officer Shai Masot discussing Akehurst in glowing terms.

“He’s a great campaigner”, Masot said. “He’s one of the best in the inside… in all the party. Seriously, there is not a lot of people like him”.

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Article continues at https://www.declassifieduk.org/luke-akehurst-arch-israel-lobbyist-picked-for-labour-safe-seat/

Keir Starmes is quoted "I support Zionism without qualification." He's asked whether that means that he supports Zionism under all circumstances whatever Zionists do.
Zionist Keir Starmes is quoted “I support Zionism without qualification.” He’s asked whether that means that he supports Zionism under all circumstances, whatever Zionists do.

Continue ReadingLUKE AKEHURST: ARCH ISRAEL LOBBYIST PICKED FOR LABOUR SAFE SEAT

Green Party criticises Labour’s Great British Energy and climate proposals

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Green Party Co-leader Adrian Ramsay. Wikipedia CC.
Green Party Co-leader Adrian Ramsay. Wikipedia CC.

Reacting to Labour’s announcement on Great British Energy, Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said: 

“We need real change if we are to meet the demands of the climate crisis. These Labour plans do not deliver it. 

“Compared to Labour’s original commitment to spend £28bn a year on green investment, this announcement of just £8.3bn over the course of the parliament looks tiny and is nowhere near enough to deliver Labour’s promise of ‘clean electricity.’  

“Labour’s targets focus on the electricity supply. However, to achieve net zero we need to see the electrification of home heating. This aim was ditched when Labour cancelled its £28 billion investment pledge.  

“Domestic energy security is vital, but that must begin with energy efficiency. That means providing the national programme of home insulation delivered by local authorities that will ensure warm homes and cut bills. This was another victim of Labour’s ditching of its original £28 billion investment pledge.  

“We want to see community owned assets and schemes that genuinely benefit people, not the private companies seeking to use public funds channeled through Great British Energy to continue profiteering while the planet burns and people’s bills remain too high. 

“Where is the support for local area heat networks which would make a real change and offer great long-term investments ideal for community ownership? 

“Labour has spent too long listening to the pleadings of energy companies for public investment in unproven technological solutions like carbon capture that simply won’t deliver the immediate real change we need. 

“The Green Party is committed to democratically controlled community ownership for a greater share of the energy market and a faster transition to Net Zero over the next ten years. 

“We would invest the money so that communities could take ownership and see less income in the hands of companies that have made excessive profits from fossil fuels or run our water companies into the ground.” 

Ed Miliband and the Labour party full of shit on climate

Continue ReadingGreen Party criticises Labour’s Great British Energy and climate proposals

No need for countries to issue new oil, gas or coal licences, study finds

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/30/no-need-for-countries-to-issue-new-oil-gas-or-coal-licences-study-finds

The paper is expected to reignite criticism of the UK’s Conservative government, which has promised hundreds of oil and gas exploration licenses to boost the North Sea industry. Photograph: Russ Bishop/Alamy

Researchers say world has enough fossil fuel projects planned to meet demand forecasts to 2050 if net zero is reached

The world has enough fossil fuel projects planned to meet global energy demand forecasts to 2050 and governments should stop issuing new oil, gas and coal licences, according to a large study aimed at political leaders.

If governments deliver the changes promised in order to keep the world from breaching its climate targets no new fossil fuel projects will be needed, researchers at University College London and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) said on Thursday.

The data offered what they said was “a rigorous scientific basis” for global governments to ban new fossil fuel projects and begin a managed decline of the fossil fuel industry, while encouraging investment in clean energy alternatives.

By establishing a “clear and immediate demand” political leaders would be able to set a new norm around the future of fossil fuels, against which the industry could be held “immediately accountable”, the researchers said.

Published in the journal Science, the paper analysed global energy demand forecasts for oil and gas, as well as coal- and gas-fired electricity, using a broad range of scenarios compiled for the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that limited global heating to within 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

It found that in addition to not needing new fossil fuel extraction, no new coal- and gas-fired power generation was needed in a net zero future.

The paper is expected to reignite criticism of the UK’s Conservative government, which has promised to offer hundreds of oil and gas exploration licenses to boost the North Sea industry, a policy that has emerged as a key dividing line with the opposition Labour party before the 4 July general election.

Labour has vowed to put an end to new North Sea licences if it comes to power, and also plans to increase taxes on the profits made by existing oil and gas fields to help fund investments in green energy projects through a new government-owned company, Great British Energy.

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Article continues at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/may/30/no-need-for-countries-to-issue-new-oil-gas-or-coal-licences-study-finds

Continue ReadingNo need for countries to issue new oil, gas or coal licences, study finds

SNP’s song

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SNP deletes TikTok election campaign video featuring sexually explicit song

The Scottish National party has deleted an election campaign video on TikTok after it featured a sexually explicit song by the American rapper Big Boss Vette.

The track, Pretty Girls Walk, carries an explicit lyrics warning on streaming platforms and starts with an expletive-laden first verse.

The SNP video featured the party’s leader, John Swinney, and promoted policies including calling for a full ceasefire in Gaza, its free baby boxes for new parents and free bus travel for young people.

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The breakaway nationalist Alba party, set up by the SNP’s former leader and the former first minister Alex Salmond, complained that the song in the deleted video also featured the N-word.

Tony Osy, Alba’s candidate in Glasgow South West and a member of its African Scots for Alba caucus, said: “The stigma of that word embodies and invokes painful memories and inhumane ill will.

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‘Historic Win for Accountability’: New York Jury Finds Trump Guilty of 34 Felony Counts

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Original article by BRETT WILKINS republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

People react after former U.S. President Donald Trump was convicted in his criminal trial outside of Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City, on May 30, 2024 (Photo: Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images)

“Now it’s up to the American people to protect our democracy by holding Trump accountable at the ballot box and ensuring that a convicted fraudster never steps foot in the Oval Office again,” said one democracy defender.

This is a developing story… Please check back for possible updates.

A New York jury on Thursday found former U.S. President Donald Trump guilty of all 34 felony charges related to the falsification of business records regarding hush money payments to cover up sex scandals during the 2016 presidential election.

The verdict—which came on the second day of jury deliberations—marked the first time in U.S. history that a former president has been convicted of felony crimes. The presumptive 2024 Republican nominee faces 54 other federal and state felony charges across three more cases.

“I never thought I’d see the day,” journalist Mehdi Hasan said on social media following the verdict’s announcement. “Teflon Trump finally found guilty of crimes.”

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington president Noah Bookbinder said after the verdict:

The conviction of a former leader is a sad day for the country, but today’s conviction is also a historic win for accountability, and affirms that Donald Trump indeed broke the law by falsifying records in order to hide information from the American people ahead of the 2016 election. After reviewing an enormous amount of overwhelming evidence, the jury unanimously concluded that Trump engaged in criminal activity that demands accountability, all the more so because it may be only the first piece of what appears to have been a presidential crime spree.

Speaking after his conviction, Trump said: “This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who is corrupt.”

“I’m a very innocent man,” added Trump, who is scheduled to be sentenced on July 11, just days before the Republican convention. He could face up to four years behind bars.

President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign issued a statement following Trump’s conviction:

In New York today, we saw that no one is above the law.

Donald Trump has always mistakenly believed he would never face consequences for breaking the law for his own personal gain. But today’s verdict does not change the fact that the American people face a simple reality. There is still only one way to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office: at the ballot box. Convicted felon or not, Trump will be the Republican nominee for president.

Public Citizen executive vice president Lisa Gilbert said that “this is an historic moment for democracy.”

“A jury heard evidence that Donald Trump illegally interfered in the 2016 election and rendered a fair and appropriate verdict,” she continued. “New York’s prosecutors served justice by bringing this case. We applaud the jury for doing its job and standing up for the fundamental principle that no one is above the law, not even a former president.”

“Justice was served today, Gilbert added. “On to the next trial!”

Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, asserted that “this case was always about hiding key information from voters, and now a jury of the former president’s peers have confirmed that he lied to the public by falsifying business records in order to influence the outcome of the 2016 election.”

“This is a felony punishable with jail time or probation, and just like anyone else convicted of the same crime, we expect him to be sentenced accordingly,” Lerner added. “We thank the jury—whom Mr. Trump and his lawyers helped to select—for doing their civic duty, and trust that the public will accept their decision as well as their right to privacy. Respect for the rule of law is the foundation of our democracy, but so is public trust in the process.”

Sean Eldridge, founder and president of Stand Up America, said in a statement that “today’s verdict reaffirms that no one is above the law in the United States of America, including a former president.”

“Falsification of business records is a serious crime, and Trump is finally being held accountable like any other American would,” he continued. “This verdict is not just about ‘hush money payments.’ It’s about an illegal attempt to hide the truth from voters just days before the 2016 election, and it’s part of Trump’s clear pattern of doing anything—including breaking the law—in order to cling to power.”

“Despite this monumental verdict, one trial isn’t going to keep Trump out of the White House,” Eldridge added. “The jurors have done their duty, and now it’s up to the American people to protect our democracy by holding Trump accountable at the ballot box and ensuring that a convicted fraudster never steps foot in the Oval Office again.”

Original article by BRETT WILKINS republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

‘The Law Has Finally Caught Up With Donald Trump’: Ex-President Arraigned On 34 Felony Counts ›

Continue Reading‘Historic Win for Accountability’: New York Jury Finds Trump Guilty of 34 Felony Counts