Yearly Archives: 2024

Just Stop Oil supporters disrupt Duke of Westminster’s wedding

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Just Stop Oil disrupt Just Stop Oil supporters disrupt Duke of Westminster’s wedding 7 June 2024. Image: Just Stop Oil.


Just Stop Oil supporters disrupt Duke of Westminster’s wedding

Press / June 7, 2024

Just Stop Oil supporters disrupt Duke of Westminster’s wedding

Two Just Stop Oil supporters have disrupted the ‘society wedding of the year’ between the Duke of Westminster and Olivia Henson. The pair of Just Stop Oil supporters are taking action to demand an emergency plan to end the extraction and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030.

At around 12:30 pm, two Just Stop Oil supporters used fire extinguishers to project powder paint near the entrance to Chester Cathedral, whilst billionaire aristocrat Hugh Grosvenor and his new wife Olivia Henson made their way towards a waiting luxury 8-Litre Bentley, after leaving their wedding service and standing for photos. Police quickly intervened and arrested the two ladies.

One of those taking action today is Polly, 73, a care worker from Norfolk, who said:

“Weddings are a time of coming together in celebration to make a commitment to the future. However, for countless millions around the world there is no future unless we come together to stop oil and gas. That’s why we are demanding that the next UK government work with other countries to phase out fossil fuels by 2030.”

Experienced climbers scale a rock face near the historic Dumbarton castle in Glasgow, releasing a banner that reads “Climate on a Cliff Edge.” One activist, dressed as a globe, symbolically looms near the edge, while another plays the bagpipes on the shores below. | Photo courtesy of Extinction Rebellion and Mark Richards
Experienced climbers scale a rock face near the historic Dumbarton castle in Glasgow, releasing a banner that reads “Climate on a Cliff Edge.” One activist, dressed as a globe, symbolically looms near the edge, while another plays the bagpipes on the shores below. | Photo courtesy of Extinction Rebellion and Mark Richards

Also taking action today is Sheila, 69, from Bristol, who worked as an NHS nurse for 50 years. She said:

“What do we value most? The wealth of billionaires like the Duke of Westminster OR the lives of the billions who are being destroyed by the fossil fuel industry? Extreme wealth and the climate crisis are both symptoms of a broken system that is not serving most ordinary people.”

“I am asking my fellow citizens to peacefully, but determinedly, demand an emergency plan to stop the drilling and burning of oil, gas and coal by 2030. My grandchildren, all our children and all future generations’ lives are dependent on what we all do right now.”

Continue ReadingJust Stop Oil supporters disrupt Duke of Westminster’s wedding

Met police fail to engage with Stop the War over abuse

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Palestinians inspect the damage following an Israeli airstrike on the El-Remal aera in Gaza City on October 9, 2023. Israel continued to battle Hamas fighters on October 10 and massed tens of thousands of troops and heavy armour around the Gaza Strip after vowing a massive blow over the Palestinian militants' surprise attack. Photo by Naaman Omar apaimages. licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Palestinians inspect the damage following an Israeli airstrike on the El-Remal aera in Gaza City on October 9, 2023. Israel continued to battle Hamas fighters on October 10 and massed tens of thousands of troops and heavy armour around the Gaza Strip after vowing a massive blow over the Palestinian militants’ surprise attack. Photo by Naaman Omar apaimages. licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

https://www.stopwar.org.uk/article/brilliant-speakers-to-address-palestine-march-as-concerns-over-met-policing-continue/

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At the last march, a serious issue emerged when the Met Police placed a counter demonstration within a metre of the main demonstration, leaving pro-Palestine protestors exposed to abuse and direct threats. The Met apologised for their actions when we made these concerns public and indicated that Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist would meet with us to ensure that such scenes would not be repeated. 

No such meeting has been offered despite our repeated requests. Of even greater concern, our requests over the past two days to address with the Gold Commander in charge how the counter demonstration will be managed to ensure safety, have been rebuffed.

Despite the late stage in preparations we have asked for the third time for such a meeting.

We will not allow these issues or the actions of counter demonstrators to distract us from ensuring that the demands for an end to UK complicity in genocide once more echo on the streets of London. The demonstration will be assembling at 12.30 pm at Russell Square and marching to Parliament.

https://www.stopwar.org.uk/article/brilliant-speakers-to-address-palestine-march-as-concerns-over-met-policing-continue/

Continue ReadingMet police fail to engage with Stop the War over abuse

ISRAEL LOBBY FUNDED A QUARTER OF BRITISH MPS

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https://www.declassifieduk.org/israel-lobby-funded-a-quarter-of-british-mps/

DECLASSIFIED Exclusive: Declassified is publishing the full list of British MPs who received funding from pro-Israel lobbyists.

David Lammy, Keir Starmer, Yvette Cooper and Rachel Reeves have all been funded by Israel lobbyists. (Photo: Stefan Rousseau / Alamy)

Some 180 of Britain’s 650 MPs in the last parliament accepted funding from pro-Israel lobby groups or individuals during their political career, Declassified can reveal.

That includes 130 Conservative MPs, 41 Labour MPs and three Liberal Democrats.

Three members of the DUP, two independents and Reform’s only MP complete the list.

The total value of the donations from pro-Israel groups, individuals, and Israeli state institutions amounts to over one million pounds.

Between them, the politicians made over 240 paid-for trips to Israel, at a cost of over half a million pounds. 

Some of those trips involved visits to the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and a small number were co-sponsored by groups which do not form part of the Israel lobby.

Remarkably, fifteen MPs have accepted funding to travel to Israel amid the Gaza genocide.

Huda Ammori, the co-founder of the direct action network Palestine Action, told Declassified: “Accepting funding from a lobby group on behalf of the perpetrators of a genocide should immediately bar anyone from standing as an MP. 

“To see how politicians continue to travel to Israel and engage with the genocide lobby explains why our government continues to defy international law by facilitating Israel’s war crimes”.

The full list of MPs can be accessed at the foot of this article. Around 47 of them are not standing for re-election.

No MPs from the Scottish National Party, Sinn Fein, Plaid Cymru, SDLP, Alba, Greens, Alliance or Workers Party received hospitality or funding from the lobby.

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Labour Friends of Israel (LFI), another opaquely funded parliamentary group, counts some 75 MPs as supporters or officers. 

The organisation recently removed the list of its parliamentary backers from its website, but this can be viewed here.

LFI has paid for 32 of Labour’s sitting MPs to travel to Israel since they were first elected, contributing over £64,000 to the visits.

In Al Jazeera’s 2017 documentary, The Lobby, LFI’s Michael Rubin privately  acknowledged  the group’s ties to the state of Israel. 

“We do work really closely together,” he said. “It’s just publicly we just try to keep LFI as a separate identity to the [Israeli] embassy”.

David Mencer, a former director of LFI and David Lammy’s unsuccessful campaign to become London mayor, is now a spokesman for the Israeli government.

Further trips to Israel have been funded by the Liberal Democrats Friends of Israel and Northern Ireland Friends of Israel.

Many of these delegations are jointly funded by the Israeli foreign ministry, indicating a close level of cooperation with the Israeli state. Over 40 MPs have accepted funding from Israeli state institutions.

Other pro-Israel lobby organisations that have funded MPs’ trips to Israel include the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the Australia-Israel Cultural Exchange, Elnet UK, the Jewish National Fund and the National Jewish Assembly.

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https://www.declassifieduk.org/israel-lobby-funded-a-quarter-of-british-mps/

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.
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 ReadingISRAEL LOBBY FUNDED A QUARTER OF BRITISH MPS

‘Another day, another war crime’

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/another-day-another-war-crime

Blood can be seen in the aftermath of the Israeli strike on a U.N.-run school that killed dozens of Palestinians in the Nusseirat refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, June 6, 2024

More than 30 killed by Israeli strike on UN school sheltering displaced Palestinians

MORE than 30 people — mostly children — were killed by an Israeli strike on a UN school sheltering displaced Palestinians today.

Israel defended the latest bloodshed among Palestinians seeking refuge by claiming that Hamas was operating from within the UN refugee agency (UNRWA) school in Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza.

It did not provide evidence for its claims, as is usually the case with such attacks.

A CNN analysis indicated that the weapons used in the pre-dawn attack were US-made.

It is not the first time that air-strikes have targeted the school.

The attack followed Israel’s announcement on Wednesday of a new military campaign in central Gaza, saying that there would be no pause in fights amid ceasefire talks.

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Peace and Justice Project founder Jeremy Corbyn, who is defending his Islington North seat as an independent MP, said he is “appalled by the ongoing loss of life,” telling the Star: “Another day, another war crime.

“What kind of world are we living in when this kind of horror becomes part of our weekly or even daily routine?

“How have we allowed these atrocities to become so normalised?

“A school is a place of learning, growth and joy. In Gaza, they have been turned into a place of death, trauma and grief.”

Mr Corbyn vowed to continue to speak up for a ceasefire, the end to arms sales to Israel and “the only path to a just and lasting peace: the end to the occupation of Palestine.”

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/another-day-another-war-crime

Continue Reading‘Another day, another war crime’