human rights violations

Pro-Palestine journalist Asa Winstanley’s home raided by British counterterror police

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… [C]ounterterrorism forces raided Winstanley’s home in London, seizing electronic devices used in his work. Although Winstanley was not arrested, the equipment was confiscated by the police. …

Original article republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

Asa Winstanley. Photo: R Witts Photography: Electronic Intifada

British authorities targeted journalist Asa Winstanley in a counterterrorism raid, marking the latest crackdown on journalists opposing Israel’s occupation of Palestine and its ongoing genocide in Gaza

Journalist with the Electronic Intifada Asa Winstanley is one of the latest targets of British authorities cracking down on activists and journalists opposing Israel’s genocide in Gaza. On Thursday, October 17, counterterrorism forces raided Winstanley’s home in London, seizing electronic devices used in his work. Although Winstanley was not arrested, the equipment was confiscated by the police.

The operation was based on the heavily criticized 2006 Terrorism Act, whose broad provisions can be easily misused to stifle discussion on controversial topics, the editors of The Electronic Intifada said in a statement. Media workers’ trade unions have already warned that applying the law to journalists will have a chilling effect on press freedom and free speech.

Winstanley was told he was being investigated for “encouragement of terrorism,” a charge human rights associations have previously criticized for being too vague and opening the door to the suppression of free speech. The police informed Winstanley that the raid was triggered by material he shared on social media.

Read more: Pro-Palestine activists are under attack in Europe

Editors of the renowned pro-Palestine outlet described the action against Winstanley as the “latest use by British authorities of repressive ‘counterterrorism’ legislation to crack down on journalists and activists involved in reporting on or protesting Israel’s crimes.” Previously, journalists like Richard Medhurst and Palestine solidarity activists Mick Napier, Tony Greenstein, and Sarah Wilkinson, among others, were targeted by the authorities over speeches made at rallies and opinions expressed on social media.

Several activists from Palestine Action involved in direct action against companies complicit in Israel’s crimes, including Elbit Systems, have also been detained by British police on alleged terrorism charges over recent months. Like in Winstanley’s case, “counterterrorism powers are being used to raid, arrest, and imprison pro-Palestine activists and journalists,” according to Palestine Action.

Winstanley has been a vocal critic of Britain’s complicity in the occupation of Palestine, with his investigations covering the Labour Party’s links with the Israel lobby. As a result, he has faced legal threats from the party, which is currently in power in the UK and has promoted the criminalization of solidarity with Palestine since winning the election.

“The raid on Winstanley’s home is clearly intended to intimidate and silence him, as well as other journalists and activists,” concluded The Electronic Intifada.

Original article republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspeding 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government's support for Israel's Gaza genocide.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspeding 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide.
Vote For Genocide Vote Labour.
Vote For Genocide Vote Labour.
Zionist Keir Starmer 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 Starmer is quoted “I support Zionism without qualification.” He’s asked whether that means that he supports Zionism under all circumstances, whatever Zionists do.
UK Labour Party Shadow Foreign Secretary repeatedly heckled at a speech to the Fabian Society over his and the Labour Party's support for and complicity in Israel's genocide of Gaza.
UK Labour Party Shadow Foreign Secretary repeatedly heckled at a speech to the Fabian Society over his and the Labour Party’s support for and complicity in Israel’s genocide of Gaza.
Continue ReadingPro-Palestine journalist Asa Winstanley’s home raided by British counterterror police

‘I Care About Little Kids Dying’: Ocasio-Cortez Hits Back at Fetterman Over Gaza

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

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.) speaks during a press conference to call for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on November 13, 2023.  (Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)

“I care about human rights,” said the New York congresswoman in response to her Democratic colleague in the Senate. “I care that billions of U.S. tax dollars’ worth of weapons are carrying out unspeakable atrocities.”

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized fellow Democrat and Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman on Wednesday for failing to hold the U.S.-armed Israeli military accountable for killing and harming civilians in the Gaza Strip.

Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks came in response to Fetterman’s dismissal of her earlier call for an arms embargo on Israel, which has received billions of dollars worth of weapons and other military aid since the Hamas-led October 7 attack.

“The tragedy in Gaza is 100% on Hamas,” Fetterman wrote on social media with a screengrab of a Hill headline outlining Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks. “Stop using civilians and hospitals as shields, surrender, and release all remaining hostages—and this ends.”

Ocasio-Cortez then retweeted Fetterman’s words with her own rebuttal.

“I dunno man. I care about little kids dying,” the New York lawmaker replied. “I care about human rights. I care that billions of U.S. tax dollars’ worth of weapons are carrying out unspeakable atrocities. I care enough for us to do better.”

“Hope this bleak dunk attempt gets you whatever it is you’re going for,” she concluded.

The exchange comes as Israel has intensified its assault on northern Gaza in recent days, bombing homes and schools-turned-shelters in the Jabalia refugee camp and issuing new evacuation orders for the beleaguered region yet placing snipers on roofs and shooting people who try to flee. On Saturday, the Palestinian Deputy Observer to the United Nations Majed Bamya called Israel’s escalation in the north a “genocide within the genocide” and the World Food Program said that no food had been able to reach the area since October 1, warning that the ramped up attacks were having “a disastrous impact on food security for thousands of Palestinian families.” However, 50 trucks carrying aid including food were allowed to enter the north on Wednesday.

Ocasio-Cortez’s remarks that prompted Fetterman’s rejoinder came in response to the weekend’s atrocities.

“The horrors unfolding in northern Gaza are the result of a completely unrestrained Netanyahu gov, fully armed by the Biden admin while food aid is blocked and patients are bombed in hospitals,” she wrote on social media on Monday. “This is a genocide of Palestinians. The U.S. must stop enabling it. Arms embargo now.”

Ocasio-Cortez has been an outspoken critic of Israel’s assault on Gaza and the U.S. response. She backed a House resolution calling for a cease-fire weeks into the war, and demanded an end to the flow of weapons from the House floor in March, when she described Israel’s actions in Gaza as an “unfolding genocide.”

Fetterman, meanwhile, has faced protests from some of his more progressive constituents over his hardline pro-Israel stance.

On Tuesday, news broke that the Biden administration had reportedly written a letter to the Israeli government threatening to cut off the flow of weapons to the country unless it took “urgent and sustained actions” to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza within 30 days.

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

Continue Reading‘I Care About Little Kids Dying’: Ocasio-Cortez Hits Back at Fetterman Over Gaza

Labour’s approach to Middle East conflict “failing” as civilian death toll mounts

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Image of the Green Party's Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.
Image of the Green Party’s Carla Denyer on BBC Question Time.

Green Party Co-Leader, Carla Denyer said, “The reports over the weekend that no food has entered Northern Gaza since the 1st of October, of Israel’s attack on al-Aqsa Hospital, of chemical weapons being used to attack UNIFIL peacekeepers, of mass civilian casualties in Gaza’s Jabalia Refugee Camp and of increased rocket fire into Israel from Hezbollah are extremely disturbing. The huge numbers of civilian deaths and the prospect of widespread starvation in Northern Gaza are intolerable.

The Labour government must recognise that violence in the Middle East is escalating rapidly and that their current approach is failing. The Government needs to consider far more direct measures to incentivise a ceasefire including an end to arms sales, the introduction of divestments, boycotts and sanctions, prosecutions for all those who have committed war crimes and a plan for a viable Palestinian state.”

Continue ReadingLabour’s approach to Middle East conflict “failing” as civilian death toll mounts

Morning Star: Our duty is to shatter Britain’s support for Israel completely

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/our-duty-is-to-shatter-britain-support-for-israel-completely

WITH each passing week, the conduct of the Israeli state bursts further bounds of legality, decency and simple humanity.

…

The barbaric character of the conduct of the Israeli armed forces is only reinforced by footage taken by IDF personnel themselves, showing them boasting of their murders, looting and ransacking Palestinian properties and glorying in the destruction of homes, hospitals, schools, mosques and cultural centres.

The war of Israeli aggression only spreads wider, engulfing Lebanon, the steadfast people of Yemen, Syria, Iran and, of course, the West Bank, where a campaign of ethnic cleansing proceeds unimpeded.

It even threatens UN peacekeeping forces since the Israeli government’s contempt of the UN and international legality grows ever more brazen.

The Starmer government is up to its neck in this genocidal rampage. Britain is bombing Yemen, running spy flights over Gaza to the benefit of the Israeli army and permitting the use of RAF bases in Cyprus.

…

The obligation of the movement in Britain is not to impose “solutions” regardless of the wishes of the people resisting genocide, it is to fight against the policies of our own government first of all.

That means ending all military, munitions, diplomatic and political support for Israel and imposing a stringent regime of sanctions on a state rapidly shedding its legitimacy.

More broadly, the events of the last year show that there can be neither peace nor justice in the Middle East while it remains largely under imperialist hegemony. Our obligation is to unite with all those challenging that hegemony and resist any controversies that would disrupt that unity.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/our-duty-is-to-shatter-britain-support-for-israel-completely

Zionist Keir Starmer 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 Starmer is quoted “I support Zionism without qualification.” He’s asked whether that means that he supports Zionism under all circumstances, whatever Zionists do.
Vote For Genocide Vote Labour.
Vote For Genocide Vote Labour.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspeding 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government's support for Israel's Gaza genocide.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspeding 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide.
Continue ReadingMorning Star: Our duty is to shatter Britain’s support for Israel completely