BBC and Guardian editors held private meetings with Israeli General
https://www.declassifieduk.org/bbc-guardian-editors-private-meetings-with-israeli-general-kohavi
DECLASSIFIED UK Exclusive: Former IDF chief of staff met with Britain’s top journalists to promote Israel’s war on Gaza.
Israel’s former top military officer, General Aviv Kohavi held private meetings with the editors of major British news organisations one month after the Gaza bombing began, Declassified can reveal.
The meetings took place with Katherine Viner, editor-in-chief of the Guardian, Richard Burgess, director of news content at the BBC, and Roula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times.
Further meetings were due to be held with Sky News chairman David Rhodes at the Israeli embassy, and then shadow foreign secretary David Lammy, between 7 and 9 November 2023, according to Kohavi’s itinerary.
By this time, Israeli forces had killed over 10,000 Palestinians in Gaza, and Israeli officials had made several public statements of genocidal intent. Kohavi had only stepped down from running Israel’s military months earlier.
During his tenure, he justified attacks on journalists, saying the soldiers who shot reporter Shireen Abu Akleh in the West Bank “showed courage” and that he had not one “gram of regret” for flattening the Associated Press (AP) office in Gaza.
The information about General Kohavi’s visit comes in documents obtained in Israel under the Freedom of Information Act by lawyer Elad Man and seen by Declassified.
They reveal how Kohavi’s tour of Britain was planned with support from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), and Ministry of Defence.
The trip was specifically designed to take advantage of a perceived “reversal in the attitude of Western countries toward Israel [in light of] the severity of the events… of October 7”.
To this end, Kohavi was tasked with cultivating support for Israel as it escalated its brutal military offensive in Gaza.
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Article continues at https://www.declassifieduk.org/bbc-guardian-editors-private-meetings-with-israeli-general-kohavi
Thoughts of the day 27 May 2025
So BP representing the fossil fuels industry and the filthy rich has given the climate, biodiversity and all humanity an unambiguous big two fingers. They’re saying fekk you, our profits come before anything, we continue to destroy the climate and all else. Despite the UK government saying no new licences in the North Sea we don’t know where they’re at with licence decisions pending for Rosebank and Jackdaw and government support for airport expansions at Gatwick and Heathrow. If they were serious about climate there would be no hesitation in refusing all these projects. Then there’s the big orange slug that Starmer is reporting to today. The planet can’t afford any of this. Capitalist scum have already fekked the climate, it’s going to get destroyed at a far greater rate now and these absolute bstards are pulling out all the stops.
Credible child poverty strategy must see two-child limit axed, says Resolution Foundation think tank
SCRAPPING the two-child benefit cap is essential for any credible poverty strategy, a think tank has said.
The Resolution Foundation projected that a three-child limit on benefits could cut child poverty by 320,000 by the end of this parliament.
Labour has been under pressure, including from within the party, to abolish the policy amid record highs rates of child poverty.
The government’s child poverty taskforce is due to present a strategy in spring.
Before the next general election, child poverty will hit a record high of 4.6 million on current forecasts, according to the Resolution Foundation.
The two-child limit was first announced in 2015 by the Conservatives and came into effect in 2017.
It restricts child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in most households.
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Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/credible-child-poverty-strategy-must-see-two-child-limit-axed-says
British general’s secret visit to Israel ‘should be stopped’
https://onaquietday.org/wp-admin/post-new.php
Exclusive: UK military accused of giving a “fig leaf” to Israeli forces as another trip to Tel Aviv is uncovered.
A senior British soldier is heading to Israel for a briefing from the country’s military, despite it being under investigation for genocide and war crimes, Declassified has found.
The trip will be led by major general Zachary Stenning, a former commandant of Sandhurst officer academy.
He is now a director of Strategic Command, part of the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Known as StratCom, it describes its role as “learning and adapting to make Defence more lethal…We are the capabilities you don’t usually see. Or those you can’t.”
The trip is taking place just weeks after the Israeli military’s head of operations, General Oded Basyuk, had to be given immunity from prosecution to visit the MoD in London.
Israeli generals are afraid of being detained abroad after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant over the siege of Gaza.
Business as usual
Although the UK government has banned the export of certain weapons to Israel, Declassified understands that the MoD is routinely conducting bilateral military engagement with the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).
John Deverell, a retired brigadier who was director of defence diplomacy at the MoD, told Declassified that British soldiers should not be visiting Israel at this time.
He said: “Our MoD should not have anything to do with their Israeli opposite numbers – and nor should British armed forces as a whole.
“Any relationship between the two militaries is useful to the IDF because an onlooker can infer that the British Army agrees with how the IDF conducts operations. In effect, it gives a sort of fig leaf to the IDF.
“But the danger to the British of the series of meetings that are apparently taking place is significant. At the least we are perceived as non-critical of the IDF. And at worst we may be seen as complicit in war crimes.
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Article continues at https://onaquietday.org/wp-admin/post-new.php