Daily Archives: 31 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