A year and a day ago [article published 6 July 2026], octogenarian priest Sue Parfitt told Novara Media, “we cannot be bystanders”. Moments later, she became one of the first people in the country to be arrested under a draconian new law that many didn’t believe could be enforced.
Parfitt had, of course, defied the proscription of direct action group Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, after a ban came into effect at 00.01 the night before.
Onlookers, who surrounded the group and chanted “free, free Palestine”, said they were shocked to see her and 28 other mostly elderly protesters bundled into police vans simply for holding up paper signs. Parfitt said she hoped “common sense would prevail” and that the new law would be immediately overturned.
We expected that might happen, too. In the first few weeks, the UN, Amnesty International, many other NGOs and dozens of public figures condemned the ban as a “disturbing legal overreach” with chilling repercussions for freedom of speech and assembly. As more and more people vowed to break the law, things looked pretty bad for the British government and its loyal, miserable police force.
But twelve months later – despite judges siding with Palestine Action across three of four court hearings, and initially finding the ban unlawful – the proscription has held.
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Nigel Farage objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Andy Burnham’s statement on Gaza. He refers to and apologises for the Labour party’s initial response which I think is a reference to Keir Starmer saying that Israel does have the right to withhold power and water from Gaza. There can be no argument with that, Starmer was wrong to support collective punishment. There’s a reference to bombs and bullets while there is plenty of other support for Israel’s genocide from UK. Is it correct that no UK bombs and bullets are reaching Israel? Burnham’s statement is measured, we’ll have to see what happens.
8.10p.m. 20 minutes or so later. I would expect that this blog has had a big effect on making Starmer and the Labour party unpopular through relentlessly attacking Starmer & Co, Labour actions and policies. I have a real hatred of the UK Labour party from the Blair era when they were attacking me while hiding and intend to continue. Burnham may have it easier, I don’t particularly have any issues with him. We’ll see.
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Palestinians inspect a vehicle destroyed in an Israeli strike in Gaza City, Gaza, Palestine, on July 8, 2026. [Abdalhkem Abu Riash – Anadolu Agency]
At least nine Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, in the latest violation of an ongoing ceasefire agreement, medical sources said, Anadolu reports.
A Palestinian was killed and two others were injured when an Israeli drone struck a civilian vehicle west of Gaza City, a medical source told Anadolu Agency.
One Palestinian was killed and another injured in an Israeli drone strike targeting a gathering of civilians on Al-Oyoun Street in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood of Gaza City.
A six-year-old child also died of wounds he sustained from Israeli gunfire in the Zeitoun neighborhood south of Gaza City.
In southern Gaza, four Palestinians, including a father, his son, and a child, were killed and 10 others injured in an Israeli airstrike targeting a tent sheltering displaced civilians in the Al-Mawasi area west of Khan Younis.
Another medical source said an aid truck driver was shot in the head by Israeli forces in Rafah, southern Gaza, and his body was transferred to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
Local sources said the victim, Ahmad Nasser Isleem, was shot while waiting inside his truck to load aid.
An 8-year-old child also died of wounds he sustained in an Israeli strike that targeted a civilian vehicle in the Sabra neighborhood in Gaza City on Tuesday evening, the medical source said.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Civil Defense said a woman was injured by fire from Israeli gunboats west of Gaza City. It did not provide details on the nature of her injury.
In central Gaza, the Israeli army fired several artillery shells toward eastern and southern areas of the Bureij refugee camp, local sources and eyewitnesses said.
Israeli vehicles also opened fire toward displacement tents in Al-Mawasi, northwest of Rafah. No injuries were reported.
Since the ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10, 2025, Israeli attacks have killed at least 1,084 Palestinians and injured 3,491 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The Israeli army has killed more than 73,000 Palestinians and injured over 173,000 others since October 2023 in a deadly offensive that has also caused widespread destruction affecting about 90% of civilian infrastructure.
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Strait of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. He’s challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up
NAKBA 78: Protesters on the huge London rally on the anniversary of the Nakba in May
History suggests apartheid ends not through appeals to conscience alone but through sustained economic and political pressure, says HUGH LANNING
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With every red line it crosses from the Nakba to genocide, Israel reveals its contempt for international law. It revels in the impunity the Western world grants that result partly from guilt rightly felt for the horrific crimes we inflicted on Jewish people in our countries, not just in the second world war, but over centuries of antisemitism, which is still ongoing.
But also, because Israel is a major part of the West’s colonial and now neoliberal strategy in the Middle East.
Under the protective wing of an increasingly authoritarian US and led by the ever-stronger fascist and racist tendencies within, Israel believes it has a generational opportunity to conquer Palestine completely and establish the zionist dream of a “greater Israel” from the river to the sea.
The mentality is: “If we got away with genocide in Gaza, we can get away with anything.”
How is this avalanche of violence, death and atrocity to be stopped? Well, not by the mealy mouthed “sanctions” recently announced by Yvette Cooper. When is a sanction not a sanction? When it does nothing to the perpetrators of the crime. Under international law the official role of sanctions is to bring pressure to bear on the miscreants to achieve compliance.
The token measures announced “target individuals and entities involved in financing and enabling settler violence in the occupied West Bank.” No mention of the Israeli state.
The Israeli government is a settler government; the forcible settlement of the West Bank is its official policy. It legalises and legitimises even the outlier settlements illegal under Israeli law. The IDF either stands idly by or actively protects and supports the settlers as they go about their violent business. Not surprisingly as many of the soldiers are themselves settlers — brothers and sisters of those committing the crimes.
The government itself is riddled by members of extreme settler parties. Indeed, Israel is a settler colonial entity, all but a few of its citizens are settlers.
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Apart from an arms embargo on the two-way trade with Israel, the new Burnham government ought to institute an audit of all government, local and national, expenditure, contracts and co-operation to identify and stop any support for companies engaged in supporting the settlements and the occupation — Oracle and Palantir being obvious examples.
As the US has done with Russia and supporters of Palestine — follow the money. The war, the occupation, the settlements are all funded with much investment and finance coming from abroad and being channelled through British financial institutions. This should be stopped.
The EU has a positive trade agreement with Israel treating it an as associate member which Britain is trying to replicate following Brexit. These trade agreements should be ended.
The government and its representatives ought to support, not block, moves in international bodies to ban and boycott Israel — be it Fifa or Eurovision — Israel should be treated as the apartheid state it is.
So complicit has the British state been for decades, the list of what could be done is almost endless.
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Hugh Lanning will be among the speakers at a Labour and Palestine online event on Tuesday July 7 looking at ending Britain’s role in crimes against the Palestinian people. Find out more and register for the meeting at bit.ly/endukcomplicity.
Join the National March for Palestine July 18 in central London at noon. Visit palestinecampaign.org for more details.
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/Genocide denying UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy says that UK is suspending 30 of 350 arms licences to Israel. He also confirms the UK government’s support for Israel’s Gaza genocide and the UK government and military’s active participation in genocide.Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
SAVING LIVES is not terrorism, protesters chanted outside Scotland Yard on Sunday as they marked one year since Palestine Action was banned as a terror group.
An 84-year-old retired priest was arrested for showing her support for the proscribed organisation alongside 13 other activists standing against British complicity in Israel’s war crimes.
Protesters gathered outside the Metropolitan Police headquarters in central London chanting slogans and holding banners, following a Court of Appeals ruling last month which found the ban on Palestine Action to be lawful.
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Sunday’s protest saw 14 protesters including the Reverend Sue Parfitt arrested by police for disobeying the ban.
The retired 84-year-old Anglican priest and former nun was among those who shouted their support for Palestine Action, standing on a soapbox holding on which the words “I oppose genocide” were written.
Leading the campaign against the ban, Defend Our Juries (DOJ) said protesters were arrested under section 12 of the Terrorism Act, “a far more serious charge than the section 13 charge for which those holding signs have previously been arrested.”
A DOJ spokesperson said yesterday’s protest marked “a substantial escalation in their campaign” called “Saving Lives is Not Terrorism.”
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Reverend Parfitt told the crowd through a megaphone: “So what can I do at my age and my frailty, very little — I do what I can to support the Palestinians.
“One of the best things that I can do is to support the organisation known as Palestine Action because they have been brave enough to smash up the weapons that are producing the genocide.
“So I ask you too to support Palestine Action.”
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Amnesty International UK marked the one-year anniversary of the ban warning that “treating protest as terrorism leaves the door wide open for governments to suppress protest movements in the future, while clamping down on solidarity with Palestinians right now.”
The human rights organisation highlighted that at least 3,300 people have been arrested “for holding placards” since the proscription.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.Palestine Action dismantle Elbit equipment, 6 August 2024. (Photo: Handout)
NAKBA 78: Protesters on the huge London rally on the anniversary of the Nakba in May
