This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators march past Big Ben as they march from Embankment Station during the 28th protest held since October 7, 2023, calling for an end to UK arms sales to Israel and condemning Israel’s attacks on Gaza as well as crackdowns on Palestinian solidarity in the UK on July 29, 2025 in London, United Kingdom. [Behlül Çetinkaya – Anadolu Agency]
Legal Action for Peace, an organisation of lawyers and human rights advocates who challenge anti-Muslim hatred and anti-Arab discrimination, has written to the Charity Commission to raise serious concerns over its discriminatory conduct during its investigation into the Abdullah Quilliam Society.
LAFP’s complaint follows two letters sent to the Charity from the Commission on 15 July and 5 August 2025 regarding statements made by Ajmal Masroor criticising Israel which the Commission deemed to be “divisive and inflammatory” a position the LAFP strongly refutes, citing several international legal precedents, human rights reports, and United Nations findings that support such descriptions of Israel as being an ‘apartheid,’ ‘racist’ and ‘settler-colonial’ state.
Concerns over discrimination and free speech
In its letter, LAFP alleges that the Commission’s inquiry has disproportionately targeted the Abdullah Quilliam Society, a Muslim organisation, for commentary relating to the State of Israel. The organisation argues that similar commentary by other high-profile human rights organisations—such as Amnesty International—did not lead to equivalent regulatory action, raising questions of unequal treatment and possible discrimination under the Equality Act 2010.
LAFP also raised significant concerns over the Charity Commission’s apparent attempts to regulate or censure speech critical of Israel, arguing that doing so constitutes interference with the lawful exercise of free expression under Article 10 of the Human Rights Act 1998. The letter warns against the misuse of public resources to police political discourse—particularly where such speech is supported by documented international human rights violations.
LAFP’s Miriam Khan stated “During the past 22 months of Israeli onslaught on the Palestinians both in Gaza and the West Bank, the forced starvation and the Genocide, we are witnessing the Charity Commission’s misguided attempt to regulate speech criticising Israel whilst using public money. It is our view that the Commission has significantly overstepped its regulatory powers in its attempt to censure speech relating to a foreign state.
LAFP have written to the Commission demanding that it explains its legal rationale for considering speech that is critical of Israel as a regulatory breach and to also explain the disparity in its treatment of Muslim charities compared to others.”
Legal Action for Peace concluded the letter by urging the Commission to provide assurances that any ongoing inquiry into the Abdullah Quilliam Society will be free from bias or discriminatory intent. LAFP stated in their letter “We will not hesitate to take legal action where we consider the Muslim community, including its institutions, are being unfairly targeted in contravention of the law.”
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAUK Labour Party government Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are participants and complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide providing Israel with army and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.Vote Labour for Genocide.
Ghadir Breika, a 5-month-old Palestinian infant who starved to death, is seen wrapped in a burial shroud while held by a relative outside Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, Gaza, Palestine on August 22, 2025. (Photo by Abdallah Alattar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“This is not an unavoidable famine, this is a campaign of mass extermination,” said Jewish Voice for Peace.
International outrage mounted Friday following the official declaration of full-blown famine in Gaza, with human rights defenders underscoring the preventable nature of a crisis caused by Israel’s 22-month US-backed obliteration and siege of the Palestinian territory.
As Common Dreamsreported, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC)—the world’s leading authority on hunger crises—issued a “special snapshot” on the situation in Gaza confirming the embattled Palestinian enclave has entered Phase 5, or catastrophic famine, characterized by “starvation, death, destitution, and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels.”
According to the IPC, more than 500,000 Gazans are suffering Phase 5 conditions, more than 1 million Palestinians are currently in Phase 4 (“emergency”), and nearly 400,000 others are in Phase 3 (“crisis”).
Hundreds of Palestinians have starved to death in Gaza, including at least 112 children, according to local health officials. Thousands more Palestinians have been killed or wounded while seeking food aid, including more than 850 people slain at or near distribution points run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation—described as “death traps”—where Israeli soldiers said they were ordered to fire live bullets and artillery shells into crowds of civilians.
“It is a famine on all of our watch. Everyone owns this.”
The starvation crisis is so severe that even Israeli media and US President Donald Trump and senior members of his administration have addressed it, with Vice President JD Vance recently acknowledging that “you’ve got little kids who are clearly starving to death.”
Critics—some of whom noted warnings of imminent starvation in Gaza dating back to late 2023—stressed that the Gaza famine is entirely the result of Israeli policies and practices.
“It is a famine that we could have prevented, if we had been allowed. Yet food stacks up at borders because of systematic obstruction by Israel,” United Nations Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher said during a Friday press briefing.
"It is a famine we could have prevented"
UN emergency coordinator Tom Fletcher says people should read the IPC report "in sorrow and in anger"
“It is a famine within a few hundred meters of food, in a fertile land,” he continued. “It is a famine that we repeatedly warned of, but that the international media has not been allowed in to cover. To bear witness. It is a famine openly promoted by some Israeli leaders as a weapon of war.”
“It is a famine on all of our watch. Everyone owns this,” Fletcher contended. “The Gaza famine is the world’s famine. It is a famine that asks, ‘But what did you do?’ A famine that will and must haunt us all. It is a predictable and a preventable famine. It is a famine that must spur the world to more urgent action.”
“My ask, my plea, my demand to [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu and anyone who can reach him: Enough,” he added. “Ceasefire. Open the crossings, north and south, all of them. Let us get food and other supplies in, unimpeded and at the massive scale required. End the retribution. It is too late for far too many. But not for everyone in Gaza. Enough. For humanity’s sake, let us in.”
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Harris—who is also defense minister and the equivalent of deputy prime minister—called the situation in Gaza “heartbreaking and devastating.”
“It is sickening and despicable,” Harris continued. “In [Ireland], we have called it out for what it is—a genocide.”
🧵The heartbreaking and devastating scenes in Gaza cannot be ignored. It is sickening and despicable. In 🇮🇪 , we have called it out for what it is – a genocide. We have used every opportunity to speak up. We recognised the State of Palestine and others are now doing so too. 1/6 pic.twitter.com/AYasrvfjEB
Erika Guevara Rosas, the senior director for research, advocacy, policy, and campaigns at Amnesty International—one of many international human rights groups accusing Israel of genocide—said Friday that “this famine is the direct consequence of Israel’s deliberate campaign of starvation in Gaza.”
“It is all the more harrowing that this famine is an entirely man-made, deliberately orchestrated, and preventable catastrophe,” she continued. “The deliberate obstruction of humanitarian aid, the destruction of life-sustaining infrastructure, and the direct killings of civilians are a clear manifestation of how Israel is inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza as part of its ongoing genocide.”
“With every hour that passes without decisive international action, more Palestinian lives are lost, and Gaza City edges closer to complete annihilation,” Guevara Rosas added, referring to Israel’s launch of Operation Gideon’s Chariots 2, a campaign to conquer, occupy, and ethnically cleanse 1 million Palestinians, possibly into a concentration camp proposed for construction over the ruins of Rafah.
“History will never forgive us for standing by as emaciated children die, while food remains just miles away, yet blocked by Israel,” Guevara Rosas asserted. “To even begin reversing the devastating consequences of Israel’s inhumane policies and actions, the world must take action now.”
The US group Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), which has led many protests against the Gaza genocide, said on the social media site Bluesky, “This is not an unavoidable famine, this is a campaign of mass extermination.”
Today, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a UN body, declared a state of famine in Gaza. While this is horrific news, it does not come as a surprise.
“The legacy of this genocide will last beyond any of our lifetimes,” JVP added. “We’ve arrived at this point after decades of the US doing everything in its power to defend and fund the Israeli government’s policies of ethnic cleansing, land theft, and now starvation and genocide. This depravity must end.”
These statements follow similar condemnations earlier Friday by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, UN human right chief Volker Türk, and many others around the world on the 686th day of Israel’s assault and siege, which have left more than 228,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Coinciding with the IPC designation, a report published Friday by Forensic Architecture and the World Peace Foundation detailed how Israel has dismantled the time-tested civilian aid distribution model and replaced it with a military-based system in which many Palestinians are not only dying from starvation but are also being killed while trying to obtain food.
The Israeli human rights group B’Tselem—which, along with Physicians for Human Rights-Israel recently became the first two groups in Israel to acknowledge the Gaza genocide—also published a report Friday on Israel’s weaponized starvation of the strip.
Meanwhile, Israeli government officials responded to the IPC announcement in the same manner in which they’ve dismissed accusations of genocide for the past 22 months.
Netanyahu—who is a fugitive from the International Criminal Court wanted for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes including murder and forced starvation—called the IPC report “an outright lie.”
“Israel does not have a policy of starvation,” the prime minister incredulously claimed. “Israel has a policy of preventing starvation.”
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, two more Palestinians starved to death in Gaza within the past 24 hours, including a 5-month-old infant.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAUK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.Vote Labour for Genocide.
Defend Our Juries calls on supporters to skip street bail at next protest against Palestine Action ban
DEFEND our Juries has urged protesters to skip the “charade“ of street bail and withhold their details from police at the next mass demonstration against the Palestine Action ban.
The tactic aims to shift processing from the streets to police stations.
The protest group says the move will make it “practically impossible“ for police to arrest everyone, and opened up sign-ups today for a demonstration in London on September 6. Defend Our Juries said that it would only go ahead if 1,000 people had signed up. Over 2,500 people had already expressed interest in joining before the sign-ups opened.
Demonstrators will hold signs saying “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” in protest against the group’s ban following its designation as a terrorist organisation last month.
Membership of or support for the group is now a criminal offence, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
Some 522 people were arrested at the last mass protest on August 9.
Defend Our Juries argues that this was only possible due to the use of “street bail,” which denies people access to immediate and free legal advice.
Spokesperson Tim Crosland said that if hundreds insist on their right to legal advice at a police station, “the charade will be exposed,” and it will be harder for officers to arrest all those taking part.
“Any law that is so obviously wrong that it meets mass public opposition quickly becomes unenforceable, as it was with the poll tax in 1990, and the government will have to scrap it,” he said.
Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical publication ‘Private Eye’.Keir “I support Zionism without Qualification” Starmer supporting genocide.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Palestinians struggling with hunger flock to an aid distribution point near the Zikim Crossing in northwestern Gaza to access limited aid supplies amid Israeli attacks in Gaza Strip on August 8, 2025. [Saeed M. M. T. Jaras – Anadolu Agency]
UN agencies on Friday warned that famine is already claiming lives in Gaza and urged immediate humanitarian access and a ceasefire, stressing that children are at acute risk of starvation, Anadolu reports.
The joint statement of The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Food Program (WFP), UNICEF and World Health Organization (WHO) came following the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification’s (IPC) declaration of famine in Gaza Governorate, one of the five regions of the Gaza Strip, where Israel has killed nearly 62,200 Palestinians since October 2023.
The global hunger monitor also projected that famine will spread to Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis within weeks.
FAO said people in Gaza have run out of survival options, with hunger and malnutrition now killing daily, and the destruction of cropland, livestock, fisheries, and other food systems worsening the crisis.
“Our priority must now be safe and sustained access for large-scale food assistance,” FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu Qu said, adding that access to food is “not a privilege – it is a basic human right.”
The WFP, for its part, noted that famine warnings had been clear for months.
WFP Executive Director Cindy McCain said what is needed now is a surge of aid, safer conditions on the ground, and effective distribution networks to reach everyone in need.
Full humanitarian access and a ceasefire now are critical to save lives,” she added.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said: “As we have repeatedly warned, the signs were unmistakable: children with wasted bodies, too weak to cry or eat; babies dying from hunger and preventable disease; parents arriving at clinics with nothing left to feed their children.”
“There is no time to lose,” she said, warning that without an immediate ceasefire and humanitarian access, famine will spread and more children will die. Russell added that children on the brink of starvation need the therapeutic feeding that UNICEF provides.
For his part, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called a ceasefire “an absolute and moral imperative,” saying the world had waited too long while tragic and unnecessary deaths mounted from what he described as a “man-made famine.”
He warned that widespread malnutrition is making even common illnesses fatal, especially for children, and that Gaza’s health system, run by “hungry and exhausted health workers,” is unable to cope.
“Gaza must be urgently supplied with food and medicines to save lives and begin the process of reversing malnutrition,” he said, stressing that hospitals must be protected, aid blockages must end, and “peace must be restored, so that healing can begin.”
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAUK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.Vote Labour for Genocide.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a speech in Jerusalem on August 13, 2025.[Photo by RONEN ZVULUN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images]
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday the Israeli occupation army will occupy Gaza even if the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, agreed to a ceasefire prisoner swap deal.
“We are close to ending the war in Gaza. We will continue to control Gaza, even if Hamas agrees to a last-minute ceasefire agreement” Netanyahu told Sky News Australia.
“The war could end today if Hamas lays down its weapons and releases the remaining hostages,” he said, reiterating his previous claim that Israel’s goal of the war in the besieged enclave is to release all the captives, disarm Hamas, and eliminate Hamas’s last stronghold, which is essential to achieving lasting peace.
“My goal is not to occupy Gaza, but to give it and Israel a different future, and I believe we are close to achieving that” he further claimed, adding that US President, Donald Trump fully supports his military goal of controlling Gaza City in order to eliminate Hamas.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAUK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.Vote Labour for Genocide.
