Amnesty International

Amnesty urges police restraint ahead of London protest about Palestine Action ban

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This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

Pro-Palestinian activists stage a solidarity protest outside Royal Courts of Justice as co-founder of Palestine Action Huda Ammori takes Home Secretary to High Court over proscription of the group as terror organization in London, United Kingdom on July 4, 2025. Ammori is seeking to block the proscription coming into effect. [İlyas Tayfun Salcı – Anadolu Agency]

Amnesty International UK has urged the Metropolitan Police against mass arresting peaceful demonstrators expressing support for the recently banned group, Palestine Action, ahead of a major protest planned in London on Saturday, Anadolu reports.

The protest organized by the activist group, Defend Our Juries, is expected to draw hundreds.

Since the group’s ban on July 5 under the Terrorism Act, more than 200 people across the UK have been arrested for displaying slogans such as “I Oppose Genocide. I Support Palestine Action.”

Police have indicated they may arrest hundreds more this weekend, and prison authorities have been asked to prepare for a potential influx of detainees, after the justice ministry initiated a “capacity gold demand,” according to reports.

Amnesty UK Chief Executive Sacha Deshmukh urged officers to exercise restraint and uphold international human rights law, in a letter to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley.

“Peaceful protesters must be free to express themselves this weekend without fear of reprisals, said Deshmukh. Arresting people on terrorism offences for peacefully holding a placard flies in the face of international human rights law.”

“At a time when people are quite rightly outraged by the genocide they see being perpetrated in Gaza, it is more crucial than ever that there is space to peacefully express that outrage,” he also said.

The letter argues that criminalizing protest slogans supportive of Palestine Action breaches the UK’s international obligations to protect freedom of expression and assembly.

It adds that under international law, protest speech can only be criminalized if it incites violence, serious property damage, hatred or discrimination — criteria which, Amnesty notes, are not met by holding a placard.

The letter also references the High Court’s recent decision to grant a full hearing to a judicial review challenge against the proscription.

Read: Britain’s war on Palestine has come home

The Court ruled that the case raised “serious issues to be tried,” meaning the legal foundation for arrests under sections 12 and 13 of the Terrorism Act is now in doubt.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights also publicly criticized the UK’s decision to ban Palestine Action.

And the UN Special Rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights has been granted permission to intervene in the judicial review.

Defend Our Juries, which focuses on civil disobedience and protest trials, has led peaceful demonstrations in Westminster since the Palestine Action ban took effect. The protest on Saturday is expected to include up to 500 demonstrators who are expected to hold placards in open defiance of the ban.

Amnesty International has urged police to focus on facilitating peaceful protest rather than suppressing it.

“I call again on the Met police to think carefully before making rash decisions this weekend – their job is to facilitate peaceful protest, not shut it down,” said Deshmukh.

In June, the government announced a ban under the Terrorism Act 2000 after activists from Palestine Action spray-painted planes at a Royal Air Force base, an act being investigated under counter-terrorism laws.

The ban was later passed in the House of Commons and the House of Lords in July.

This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. 

Keir "I support Zionism without Qualification" Starmer supporting genocide.
Keir “I support Zionism without Qualification” Starmer supporting genocide.
UK Labour Party Shadow Foreign Secretary repeatedly heckled at a speech to the Fabian Society over his and the Labour Party's support for and complicity in Israel's genocide of Gaza.
UK Labour Party Shadow Foreign Secretary repeatedly heckled at a speech to the Fabian Society over his and the Labour Party’s support for and complicity in Israel’s genocide of Gaza.
Vote Labour for Genocide.
Vote Labour for Genocide.
Continue ReadingAmnesty urges police restraint ahead of London protest about Palestine Action ban

Starvation Being Used as Weapon of War as ‘Israel’s Genocide Has Continued Unabated in Gaza,’ Says Amnesty

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Original article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

A woman holding a girl reacts after Israeli airstrikes hit Ridwan neighborhood of Gaza City, Gaza on October 23, 2023. (Photo: Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images) Palestinians gather for receive food on July 03, 2025 in Khan Yunis, Gaza. (Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Human rights organization Amnesty International has released a horrifying new report alleging that the Israeli government is still deliberately allowing civilians in Gaza to starve as a “weapon of war.”

In its report released on Thursday, Amnesty cites “heartbreaking testimonies gathered from medical staff, parents of children hospitalized for malnutrition, and displaced Palestinians struggling to survive” to document “acute levels of starvation and desperation in Gaza.”

The report pins the primary blame for this situation on Israel’s insistence on running what Amnesty describes as a “militarized” system for delivering humanitarian aid via the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation that has resulted in hundreds of Palestinians being killed and thousands more being injured by Israeli forces who have opened fire on civilians seeking food in multiple instances.

Amnesty charges that the Israeli government has barred the United Nations and other international humanitarian assistance organizations from operating inside Gaza and has transformed the process of receiving aid into a “booby trap” for civilians who risk getting shot while standing in line for food. Compounding the problem, writes Amnesty, is that Israel is delivering a level of aid that is “way below the humanitarian needs of a population that has been experiencing almost daily bombings for the last 20 months.”

This slow trickle of aid is despite the fact that hundreds of trucks containing aid are stationed near the Egyptian border with Gaza but are barred from entering the territory, writes Amnesty.

“As the occupying power, Israel has a legal obligation to ensure Palestinians in Gaza have access to food, medicine and other supplies essential for their survival,” said Agnès Callamard, the secretary general of Amnesty International. “Instead, it has brazenly defied binding orders issued by the International Court of Justice in January, March and May 2024, to allow the unimpeded flow of aid to Gaza. Israel has continued to restrict the entry of aid and impose its suffocating cruel blockade and even a full siege lasting nearly eighty days.”

Amnesty released its report hours after the Associated Press reported that two American contractors who are helping to distribute aid in Gaza are alleging that Israeli forces have been deploying “live ammunition and stun grenades” on unarmed civilians seeking food. In one instance, a contractor alleged he saw members of Israeli forces firing bullets in “all directions—in the air, into the ground, and at times toward the Palestinians.”

“There are innocent people being hurt,” said one contractor, who wished to remain anonymous to avoid retaliation for revealing information on their employer’s internal operations. “Badly. Needlessly.”

The Israeli Foreign Ministry defended its aid program to Gaza in a post on the social media platform X and baselessly accused Amnesty of being in league with the terrorist organization Hamas.

Original article by Brad Reed republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
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/O74hZCKKdpA
UK 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.
UK 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.
Vote Labour for Genocide.
Continue ReadingStarvation Being Used as Weapon of War as ‘Israel’s Genocide Has Continued Unabated in Gaza,’ Says Amnesty

Latest Israeli ‘Massacre’ in Gaza Used 500-lb US-Made Bombs: Report

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Original article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under  Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

A view of the destruction after Israeli airstrikes hit a coffee shop in Gaza Strip on June 30, 2025. (Photo: Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images)

The attack on a crowded café has been described by international law experts as wildly disproportionate, following new reporting about the munitions used.

International law experts are describing Israel’s Monday attack on a Gaza café as a potential war crime after an investigation in The Guardian revealed that the attack was carried out using a 500-lb bomb supplied by the U.S. government.

Reporters photographed fragments of the bomb left behind in the wreckage of the al-Baqa Café. Weapons experts identified them as parts of an MK-82 general purpose bomb, which it called “a US-made staple of many bombing campaigns in recent decades.”

The attack killed anywhere from 24 to 36 Palestinians and injured dozens more. Casualties included women, children, and the elderly. A prominent photojournalist and artist were also killed.

Experts have called the use of such a weapon on an area full of civilians wildly disproportionate and a likely violation of the Geneva Convention, which outlaws military operations that cause “incidental loss of civilian life” that is “excessive or disproportionate” to the military advantage to be gained.

“It is almost impossible to see how this use of that kind of munition can be justified,” said Marc Schack, an associate professor of international law at the University of Copenhagen in comments to The Guardian. “If you are talking about 20, 30, 40 or more civilian casualties, usually that would have to be a target of very great importance.”

After the attack drew heavy criticism, an army spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the strike had killed “several Hamas terrorists” and that “prior to the strike, steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians using aerial surveillance.”

Gerry Simpson of Human Rights Watch criticized that defense.

“The Israeli military hasn’t said exactly whom it was targeting, but it said it used aerial surveillance to minimize civilian casualties, which means it knew the café was teeming with customers at the time,” Simpson told The Guardian. “The military would also have known that using a large guided air-dropped bomb would kill and maim many of the civilians there. The use of such a large weapon in an obviously crowded café risks that this was an unlawful disproportionate or indiscriminate attack and should be investigated as a war crime.”

Since Monday’s bombing, the attacks against civilians in Gaza have only intensified. According to a Thursday report from the Gaza Government Media Office, more than 300 Palestinians have been killed within the last 48 hours in “26 bloody massacres.”

According to reporting Thursday from Al Jazeera, these have included attacks on “shelters and displacement centers overcrowded with tens of thousands of displaced people, public rest areas, Palestinian families inside their homes, popular markets and vital civilian facilities, and starving civilians searching for food.”

At least 33 people were killed Thursday at a Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) aid distribution site, adding to the hundreds of aid seekers who have been killed in recent weeks. In a Haaretz investigation last week, soldiers described these aid sites, administered by the U.S. and Israel, as a “killing field,” where they have routinely been ordered to fire on unarmed civilians who posed no threat.

Two American contractors at a GHF site told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity that their colleagues fired their guns wildly, including in the direction of Palestinians. They provided a video which shows hundreds of aid-seekers crowded between metal gates, being assaulted with stun grenades and pepper spray, while gunshots echo in the background.

On Tuesday, Amnesty International and hundreds of other humanitarian NGOs called for an end to the Israeli government’s blockade of food and other necessities entering the Gaza Strip. They also called for an end to the “deadly Israeli distribution scheme” and for a return of aid distribution to the United Nations and other international organizations.

“This devastating daily loss of life as desperate Palestinians try to collect aid is the consequence of their deliberate targeting by Israeli forces and the foreseeable consequence of irresponsible and lethal methods of distribution,” said Agnès Callamard, the secretary general of Amnesty International, on Thursday.

Original article by Stephen Prager republished from Common Dreams under  Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone obect 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 obect 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.
UK 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.
UK 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.
Continue ReadingLatest Israeli ‘Massacre’ in Gaza Used 500-lb US-Made Bombs: Report

Morning Star Editorial: Zarah Sultana: if Palestine Action are banned as ‘terrorists’ who will be next?

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dizzy: I hope that Morning Star will excuse me quoting this article in it’s entirety.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/zarah-sultana-if-palestine-action-are-banned-terrorists-who-will-be-next

 Zarah Sultana speaking after a march organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, from Russell Square to Whitehall in central London, June 21, 2025
This week, MPs shamefully approved the proscription of Palestine Action. Several challenged the move in the Commons. Zarah Sultana, Independent MP for Coventry South, gave an outstanding speech in condemnation. Because of the exceptional gravity of the issue, we reproduce her speech, lightly edited, here.

TWENTY-ONE years ago, a human rights barrister … defended an activist who broke into RAF Fairford trying to disable a bomber to prevent war crimes in Iraq. That became a landmark case in lawful, non-violent direct action against an illegal war. That barrister is now our Prime Minister, Keir Starmer KC. He argued that it was not terrorism, but conscience.

Fast-forward to June 20 2025: two Palestine Action activists entered RAF Brize Norton and sprayed red paint — red paint, not fire — on aircraft linked to surveillance flights over Gaza. Instead of prosecuting them for criminal damage, the Home Secretary is using the Terrorism Act 2000 to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist group.

This is an unprecedented and dangerous overreach of the state. Never before in Britain has it been a crime to simply support a group.

Palestine Action’s real crime is shutting down Elbit Systems sites that arm the Israeli military; its true offence is being audacious enough to expose the blood-soaked ties between this government and the genocidal Israeli apartheid state and its war machine.

Let us be clear: to equate a spray can of paint with a suicide bomb is not just absurd; it is grotesque. It is a deliberate distortion of the law to chill dissent, criminalise solidarity and suppress the truth.

Amnesty International, Liberty, over 266 senior lawyers and UN special rapporteurs have all opposed these draconian measures. Under this order, anyone expressing moral support for a proscribed group could face 14 years in prison. That includes wearing a badge, wearing a T-shirt, sharing a post or calling for de-proscription.

And journalists have no exemption either: there is no legal protection for reporting favourably, even factually, about Palestine Action.

Let us not forget what is happening in Gaza, where the real crimes are being ignored: hospitals bombed, children starved, and tens of thousands of people killed. Palestinian children now suffer more amputations per capita than children anywhere else on Earth.

Israel is on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice, and the Israeli Prime Minister faces an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, yet the government’s response is to criminalise solidarity and to continue exporting lethal F-35 jets that are decimating Gaza.

We also have to understand the history of this country and what built our democracy: the tradition of civil disobedience that includes the suffragettes, without whom I would not have the vote, let alone the privilege of being here as an MP.

Even those who oppose Palestine Action’s tactics must recognise the vast gulf between criminal damage and terrorism. If this order passes, what and who is next — climate protesters, striking workers, feminists in the street?

Already we have seen a wider crackdown on our civil liberties — musicians censored, journalists arrested, and demonstrators, including MPs sitting here, harassed — and now this government want to use anti-terror laws to make peaceful protest itself a crime. If our democratic institutions functioned as they should, none of this would be necessary.

If this proscription passes, we have to understand that no campaign will be safe tomorrow. We have to recognise that this will go down as a dark day in our country’s history … People will ask, “Which side were you on?” and I stand with the millions of people who oppose genocide, because I am one of them. I oppose the blood-soaked hands of this government trying to silence us. So I say this loudly and proudly: we are all Palestine…

Deputy Speaker intervened here with “Order!”

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/zarah-sultana-if-palestine-action-are-banned-terrorists-who-will-be-next

UK 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.
UK 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.
Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone obect 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 obect 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 "I support Zionism without Qualification" Starmer supporting genocide.
Keir “I support Zionism without Qualification” Starmer supporting genocide.
Continue ReadingMorning Star Editorial: Zarah Sultana: if Palestine Action are banned as ‘terrorists’ who will be next?

Hundreds of Thousands Form ‘Red Line’ Around The Hague

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Original article by Common Dreams Staff republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Tens of thousands of people dressed in red marched through the streets of The Hague on June 15, 2025 to demand more action from the Dutch government against what they termed a “genocide” in Gaza. Rights groups such as Amnesty International and Oxfam organized the demonstration through the city to the International Court of Justice, creating a so-called “red line”. Many waving Palestinian flags and some chanting “Stop the Genocide”, the demonstrators turned a central park in the city into a sea of red on a sunny afternoon. Photo by Koen van Weel / ANP / AFP

The red line the government has failed to set.

Hundreds of thousands of people dressed in red marched through the streets of The Hague on Sunday to demand more action against the “genocide” in Gaza.

NGOs such as Amnesty International, Save the Children, Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), and Oxfam organized the demonstration, which ran through the city to the International Court of Justice. The protesters were all dressed in red, creating a “red line”.

Organisers described it as the country’s largest demonstration in two decades. Many waving Palestinian flags and some chanting “Stop the Genocide”, the demonstrators turned a central park in the city into a sea of red on a sunny afternoon.

“The Dutch cabinet still refuses to draw a red line. That is why we do it, for as long as necessary,” Marjon Rozema of Amnesty International Netherlands said in a statement.

Protesters walked a 5-kilometer loop around the city center of The Hague to symbolically create the red line that the government has failed to set.

Original article by Common Dreams Staff republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Experiencing issues with this image not appearing. I suspect because it's so critical of Zionist Keir Starmer's support of and complicity in Israel's genocides.
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/O74hZCKKdpA
UK 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.
UK 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.
Vote Labour for Genocide.

Continue ReadingHundreds of Thousands Form ‘Red Line’ Around The Hague