Palestine Action Defendants Apply to Remove ‘Biased’ Judge

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https://novaramedia.com/2026/06/05/palestine-action-defendants-apply-to-remove-biased-judge/

A supporter holds a sign outside the high court that reads ‘We are all Palestine Action’, 4 July 2025,Martin Pope/ZUMA Press Wire

He is expected to sentence four activists as terrorists.

Four Palestine Action activists found guilty of criminal damage want to remove a judge accused of bias from their case after it was revealed he will seek to sentence them as terrorists. 

Mr Justice Jeremy Johnson is also the subject of a formal complaint filed by campaign group Defend Our Juries (DOJ) to the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office today, alleging biased and discriminatory conduct. 

The application for him to be recused from sentencing activists Charlotte Head, 29, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona (Ellie) Kamio, 30, and Fatema Rajwani, 21, will be heard on Monday 8 June. 

Justice Johnson is expected to add a ‘terrorist connection’ to their charges under section 69 of the Sentencing Act 2020, despite the jury only convicting them of criminal damage under ordinary criminal law on 5 May. The judge’s plan was kept secret from both the jury and the public, while reporting restrictions were imposed on the UK press. 

The defence’s bid to remove Justice Johnson is in part due to his unprecedented attempt to have the lead defence barrister, Rajiv Menon KC, prosecuted for contempt of court –  a move described as “troubling” by the Bar Council.

Menon – who won his appeal against contempt proceedings – was alleged to have breached the judge’s direction that lawyers were not permitted in their closing speeches to invite the jury to acquit on the basis of conscience, a principle known as jury equity. Justice Johnson could still refer Menon to the attorney-general to decide whether to initiate contempt proceedings. 

DOJ’s formal complaint against Justice Johnson, signed by more than 3,000 people including lawyers, law professors, retired police officers and magistrates, alleges that decisions taken by the judge “amount to a pattern of exceptional, biased and discriminatory conduct”. 

https://novaramedia.com/2026/06/05/palestine-action-defendants-apply-to-remove-biased-judge/

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.
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 joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.
Continue ReadingPalestine Action Defendants Apply to Remove ‘Biased’ Judge

MPs Tell Government to End £330m NHS Contract With Palantir

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https://novaramedia.com/2026/06/04/mps-tell-government-to-end-330m-nhs-contract-with-palantir/

Maja Smiejkowska/Reuters

Report says spytech firm is ‘incompatible with UK values’.

A cross-party parliamentary committee had called on the UK government to cancel a £330m NHS contract with US military spytech firm Palantir.

A 70-page report published Wednesday said the company – whose co-founder Peter Thiel has said “the NHS makes people sick” and it should embrace “market mechanisms” – was at odds with British values and should not play a significant role in the public sector.

The Science, Innovation and Technology Committee’s report said officials should exercise a 2027 break clause in the NHS contract with the firm, which is accused of enabling severe human rights abuses by US immigration agents and Israel’s military. 

“The government should… either develop an in-house replacement or seek an alternative developed by UK-owned and UK-based providers that are more compatible with UK values,” the report said.

The report also noted recent revelations that Palantir had been granted “unlimited access” to identifiable patient information via the federated data platform it is building. It demanded the government explain “on what statutory basis this was authorised, when, and by whom”.  ​

In March Palantir was granted yet another UK government contract to analyse highly sensitive Financial Conduct Authority data.

https://novaramedia.com/2026/06/04/mps-tell-government-to-end-330m-nhs-contract-with-palantir/

Continue ReadingMPs Tell Government to End £330m NHS Contract With Palantir

Andy Burnham Declines to Call Israel’s Mass Killings in Gaza a Genocide

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https://novaramedia.com/2026/06/05/andy-burnham-declines-to-call-israels-mass-killings-in-gaza-a-genocide/

Temilade Adelaja/Reuters

‘I can’t judge things of that enormity.’

Labour leadership hopeful Andy Burnham has refused to call the Israeli military’s actions in Gaza a genocide.

Asked about the violence in an interview with the Guardian, he said: “I can’t judge things of that enormity from where I am as mayor of Greater Manchester.”

He added: “But I do have concerns about the disproportionate nature of what has happened in terms of the destruction, and there has to be a full process of investigation and accountability.”

The world-leading International Association of Genocide Scholars last year declared that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

​Israel has killed at least 72,000 Palestinians there since 7 October 2023 and experts  quoted by the BMJ say the actual toll is far higher.

Burnham became a member of Labour Friends of Israel in 2015 and during a Labour leadership bid the same year described the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel as “spiteful”.

He also promised to make Israel his first state visit if he won – calling the country a “democracy that has a long history of protecting minorities and promoting civil rights”.

https://novaramedia.com/2026/06/05/andy-burnham-declines-to-call-israels-mass-killings-in-gaza-a-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.
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.
Vote Labour for Genocide.
Continue ReadingAndy Burnham Declines to Call Israel’s Mass Killings in Gaza a Genocide

Breaking News: Iran fires missiles towards Israel as IDF says it is working to intercept threats

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https://www.bbc.com/news/live/clyengg72pgt

Summary

  • Iran has fired multiple waves of missiles at northern Israel
  • Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Corps Guard (IRGC) says this is “the beginning of a full week of continuous strikes”
  • The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says it is working to intercept the threats and sirens have been sounded in “several areas across the country”
  • It had warned it was “preparing for potential fire” after Israel hit the Lebanese capital Beirut earlier on Sunday – a move Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said was “in response to Hezbollah’s firing at Israeli territory”
  • This is a breaking news story, we’ll bring you more on this shortly
Continue ReadingBreaking News: Iran fires missiles towards Israel as IDF says it is working to intercept threats