Daniel Tatlow-Devally, Crow Tricks, Leandra Rollo, Zo Hailu and Vi Kovarbasic appear in court, May 2026. Photo: Ignacio Rosaslanda
Germany is prosecuting five activists alleged to be part of Palestine Action Germany in what their lawyers have described as a “show trial” intended to stigmatise protesters “as [if they were] terrorists” and which legal experts argue shows a “deeply concerning development” in how the state is targeting political protest.
The so-called Ulm 5, who are from the UK, Germany, Spain and Ireland, are currently on trial at a high-security court at Stammheim prison in Stuttgart following a break-in at offices of the Israeli arms firm Elbit Systems in Ulm, southwestern Germany, in September 2025.
The defendants face charges of trespassing, property damage and using the symbols of a proscribed organisation.
They have also been charged with belonging to a criminal organisation under Section 129 of the German Criminal Code – a controversial piece of legislation human rights lawyers say is being used to “blur the line between organised crime and the legitimate exercise of people’s freedom of assembly and expression” such that the case will “have a chilling effect on others who are considering engaging in political protest”.
Framed as terrorists.
On 8 September 2025, Zo Hailu, Vi Kovarbasic, Leandra Rollo, Daniel Tatlow-Devally and Crow Tricks are alleged to have broken into the Ulm offices of Elbit Systems wearing signs reading “Palestine Action”.
The indictment, seen by Novara Media, alleges that they caused over €1m worth of property damage to the site, painted slogans including “Child murderer” and “Baby killer” (which the prosecution characterises as “antisemitic” messaging) and chanted pro-Palestinian slogans, including the phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” (which some German courts have ruled constitutes a symbol of Hamas). All were arrested without resistance.
The activists are not being tried under terror legislation. Nor are they alleged to have been violent or harmed people. In fact, their lawyers argue this is precisely what they were trying to stop: by damaging the property of Elbit Systems, a company whose centrality to Israel’s genocide in Gaza is well-documented, their aim was to save the lives of Palestinians.
Yet despite this, their lawyers say both the courts and the prosecution are trying to create the impression that the defendants are terrorists.
Article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Displaced Palestinians, including many children, wait in long queues to receive hot meals distributed by a charitable organization in Gaza City, Gaza, Palestine on June 7, 2026. (Photo by Moiz Salhi/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“Aid is not a political tool and should not be weaponized in this way,” said an advocate at Save the Children. “The survival and needs of children in Gaza should not have to answer to airstrikes elsewhere.”
In an act described as “collective punishment” against two million Palestinians, Israel announced that it would close off the main entry points for humanitarian aid into Gaza indefinitely in retaliation for strikes launched this weekend by Iran.
Iran launched missiles at Israel on Sunday in response to Israel’s bombing of a densely populated Beirut suburb, which killed civilians and violated a June 1 agreement not to bomb Lebanon’s capital.
In addition to retaliating with new strikes on Iran, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) said on Sunday that “a number of necessary security measures have been implemented” following the missile fire, “including the closure of the crossings into the Gaza Strip, among them the Kerem Shalom Crossing and the Rafah Crossing, until further notice.”
COGAT claimed that closing the crossings “will not affect the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip” because “the substantial quantities of food that have entered the strip since the beginning of the ceasefire significantly exceed the nutritional needs of the population, according to [United Nations] methodologies.”
Contrary to this statement from COGAT, the UN report at this link https://t.co/2VNcUn8cBA shows clearly that the supply of food and water is precarious indeed.#Israel is responding to being restrained from killing Iranians by killing more civilians in #Gaza. https://t.co/ncjG2DR4bP
That is not what actual UN reports say. The World Food Program (WFP) estimated in June that about 1.6 million people living in Gaza, more than three-quarters of the population, were “facing high levels of acute food insecurity” despite the entry of food parcels and other aid since the October 2025 “ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas.
In the first half of May, UN workersidentified more than 2,000 cases of acute malnutrition among young children, according to a June report from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
That same OCHA report said about 678,000 hot meals were delivered in May, down from 1.5 million per day in mid-March as a result of underfunding and due to Israel’s closures and restrictions at certain entry points. The number of people receiving food parcels in May also dropped to about 820,000, down from 1.1 million in March. The rations that were distributed in May covered only about 75% of the average person’s minimum daily caloric needs, while those distributed in March covered about 50%.
While the amount of aid entering the strip has increased since the ceasefire went into effect, UN data has never suggested that the amount entering “exceeds” the needs of Palestinians. Since the truce began, reports haveconsistentlysaid the amount of aid entering the strip was only reaching part of the population, and that aid packages only contained part of the needed nutritional value, which did not meet the terms of the agreement.
Israel, which has been accused of using starvation as a “weapon of war” against Gaza by UN bodies and major human rights groups, previously closed all crossings into the strip at the start of its military assault against Iran in late February.
This not only halted the entry of food and medical aid but also blocked medical evacuations for sick and injured Palestinians, which were desperately needed due to Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s medical system. Even as entry points reopened in the following weeks, aid entry never returned to previous levels.
COGAT said on Monday that “the crossings will be reopened gradually, subject to an ongoing operational assessment and under security restrictions designed to ensure the safety of all personnel present at the crossings on both sides,” though it provided no clear timeframe or indication of how much aid would be allowed in.
“Aid is not a political tool and should not be weaponized in this way. The survival and needs of children in Gaza should not have to answer to airstrikes elsewhere,” said Ahmad Alhendawi, Save the Children’s regional director for the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe in a statement on Monday.
“For nearly three years, Gaza has been pummelled so hard by Israeli airstrikes that nothing can grow there and people have been reliant on the already small amount of aid crossing the border—aid that was never enough and is now totally out of reach,” he added. “Children in Gaza have already been starved by design. They should not now be denied water, medicine, shelter, and the other essentials needed to survive. The Israeli authorities must re-open these crossings immediately, lift the siege, and facilitate the safe delivery of humanitarian aid at scale.”
BREAKING: Israel has closed all crossings into Gaza and halted the entry of humanitarian aid following the Iranian missile strikes on Israel.
Why do Palestinians in Gaza have to pay the price for Iranian missiles?
With Israeli leaders openly stating their goal in recent weeks to expand the nation’s occupation of Gaza despite the ceasefire, international observers have suggested that Israel was using the escalation of hostilities with Iran as an excuse to ramp up its brutal treatment of Palestinians, nearly 1,000 of whom have been killed in the strip since the ceasefire went into effect.
The US-brokered ceasefire agreement signed by Israel and Hamas in October required the “full entry of humanitarian aid and relief” into the strip.
“The guarantors of the ceasefire must step in and force Israel to reopen the crossings, resume and triple the aid amounts, and totally stop any attacks on Gaza now,” said Palestinian journalist Abubaker Abed. “This is their job. And they must uphold the ceasefire agreement.”
Article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
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.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
Protesters march to the US Embassy in solidarity with the Palestinian people in London on 15 February 2025. WIktor Szymanowicz/NurPhoto
Palestine is on the ballot.
Over half of former Labour voters who intend to back other centre or leftwing parties in the next general election cite the Labour government’s handling of the ongoing genocide in Gaza as either a factor or a major factor in their decision, new polling shows.
Of 700 UK adults surveyed in the new poll from Opinium, 53% said the government’s position on Gaza influenced their decision to switch their vote from Labour, with 21% saying it influenced them a great deal and 31% saying it influenced them somewhat.
Labour’s record on Gaza was found to be particularly significant for younger voters and Green party supporters, and backing for the UK to take decisive action against Israel polled as widespread.
Commissioned by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the polling was conducted between 29 May and 2 June among people who previously voted Labour in either the 2019 or 2024 general election, and now intend to vote Green, Lib Dem, Scottish National Party (SNP), Plaid Cymru or other – or for independent candidates.
PSC told Novara Media the polling “confirms that Palestine was on the ballot for millions of progressive voters” during May’s local elections, where Labour lost 58% of the seats it was defending in England and lost almost four times as many voters to the Greens than to Reform UK.
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.Vote Labour for Genocide.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
A general view of staff on a NHS hospital ward at Ealing Hospital in London
Campaigners slam conflict of interest over top health official’s Palantir ties at time of NHS bidding
HEALTH campaigners demanded the government put an end to the “dizzying revolving door of corruption” after it was revealed today that a top health official had close ties with Palantir while it was bidding for a £330 million contract with the NHS.
Samantha Jones, the Department of Health and Social Care’s most senior civil servant, was an adviser to a partner of the controversial US surveillance tech firm at the time of the patient record contract.
A permanent secretary at the DHSC, Ms Jones was also acting as an adviser to health consultancy Carnall Farrar, which is part of a consortium with Palantir, according to the Financial Times.
Keep Our NHS Public co-chairman Dr Tony O’Sullivan slammed the government, saying: “The revolving door of official corruption is dizzying.”
“It is important to expose it,” he told the Morning Star. “The links — between public servants, consultancies who advise both Palantir and government at the same time — stink of legal corruption.
“The stables must be swept clean, unethical links exposed, the Palantir contract ended, and a change of direction established to invest wholly and ethically in the publicly provided NHS.”
VICTIM BLAMING: Former health secretary Alan Milburn speaks to the media on the publication of the interim Milburn Report into Young People and Work, at West Library Youth Employment Hub, north London
The Milburn review presents itself as a plan to help young people into work, but Dr DYLAN MURPHY argues it is laying the groundwork for a harsher benefits regime
THE publication of the interim report of the Milburn review into young people and work represents a sinister milestone in the ongoing neoliberal assault on the British welfare state.
Framed as a “discovery phase” to address the rising numbers of young people who are not in education, employment, or training (Neet), the report is a highly ideological document. It does not seek to understand or alleviate the profound, systemic barriers that keep sick and disabled young people out of the labor market. Instead, it serves as the vanguard for a punitive campaign of benefit cuts, increased conditionality, and state-sponsored coercion.
As a disabled person who has first-hand experience of the relentless hostility of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) towards disabled people claiming benefits, I find the contents of this report both terrifying and entirely predictable.
Rather than addressing the catastrophic collapse of the National Health Service, the sparsity of youth mental health services, or the structural refusal of employers to accommodate disabled workers, Alan Milburn has chosen to blame the victims. The report is a masterclass in political distraction, designed to prepare the public for a brutal tightening of the screws on some of the most vulnerable members of our society.
Redefining PIP: disability support as labour market discipline
One of the most alarming aspects of the Milburn review is its aggressive attempt to redefine the purpose of the personal independence payment (PIP). Since its inception as the replacement for the disability living allowance (DLA), PIP has been understood as a non-means-tested benefit designed to help disabled people meet the extra costs of living with a long-term health condition or disability.
It was never intended as an out-of-work benefit; it is paid regardless of employment status, because disabled people face additional costs whether they work or not.
Yet, Milburn laments this design as a systemic failure. He complains bitterly: “At no point in a young person’s application or journey on PIP are they asked about, or supported to, work. This is not an accident of delivery. It is how PIP is designed.”
By framing the lack of work-focus in PIP as a “design flaw,” Milburn is paving the way for the benefit to be subjected to conditionality. If the state begins to demand “work-focused” outcomes as a condition for receiving PIP, it will destroy the benefit’s role as a financial safety net, leaving millions of disabled youth in poverty.
The concept of PIP as an “investment” for which there must be a “return” is a recurring theme throughout the report. Milburn complains that the state spends £8 billion a year on PIP and universal credit (UC) for young people, yet “for that investment, claimants are getting worse outcomes.”
This is the barbaric language of venture capitalism applied to human survival. To demand a financial “return” on the money spent to keep disabled people alive is the height of neoliberal depravity.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership is intensely relaxed about assaulting those least able to defend themselves – the very poorest and most vulnerable.
A general view of staff on a NHS hospital ward at Ealing Hospital in London
