bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities

Burnham re-appoints former Israeli Supreme Court clerk as justice minister

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https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2026/08/03/burnham-sackman-justice-minister/

Back in March, the Labour government’s bill to restrict access to jury trials – a right enjoyed by English citizens for over 800 years – successfully passed its first reading. But last week, only hours after former Justice Minister David Lammy was dropped from Andy Burnham’s new cabinet, a Downing Street spokesperson announced that the newly coronated Prime Minister had no intention of following through with the plan.

Eyebrows were raised, however, at the ministerial re-appointment of Sarah Sackman, Keir Starmer’s ex-solicitor general and a key supporter of Lammy’s jury proposals. Sackman has previously worked as a foreign law clerk at the Israeli Supreme Court, and her grandfather once served as an ambassador for the settler state. Last week, Burnham extended her role in government with a re-appointment at the Ministry of Justice.

Sackman’s funders

At the end of June, and just eleven days after Burnham’s by-election victory in Makerfield, Sackman registered two new donations, each of £1250, from veteran pro-Israeli bankroller Trevor Chinn.

…

Burnham continues Starmer’s legacy

Starmer will always be remembered for the military and diplomatic support he consistently lent to the Israeli state. But in December 2024, just over one year into the Gaza genocide, Sackman insisted that Starmer’s administration had “broadly got it right” on the issue of Palestine.

She made the comments in a public conversation with Adrian Cohen, LFI’s lay chair. Last Thursday, the controversial lobby group published a new paper suggesting that a ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements is “practically and politically impossible”.

LFI-affiliated MPs continue to dominate the Labour cabinet. On the issue of Palestine, Sackman’s re-appointment sends a loud signal to those who thought Burnham might change course.

Featured image via Facebook

https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2026/08/03/burnham-sackman-justice-minister/

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.
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. New Labour UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham continues Labour party policy of active support and complicity in Israel's 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. New Labour UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham continues Labour party policy of active support and complicity in Israel’s genocide.
Continue ReadingBurnham re-appoints former Israeli Supreme Court clerk as justice minister

Anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism, UK appeal tribunal confirms in landmark ruling

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

People, including a young woman holding a sign that reads: ‘Anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism,’ chant slogans and carry Palestinian flags as they arrive at Potsdamer Platz during a ‘Freedom for Palestine’ protest march that drew thousands of participants on November 04, 2023 in Berlin, Germany. [Sean Gallup/Getty Images]

The UK Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has upheld a landmark ruling that anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism and constitutes a protected philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010. The judgment rejects the University of Bristol’s attempt to overturn the central findings in favour of its former professor, David Miller.

The ruling reinforces a distinction which pro-Palestine campaigners, Jewish anti-Zionists and civil liberties advocates have defended for years: opposition to Zionism as a political ideology is not inherently the same as hostility towards Jewish people.

In its judgment, handed down on today, the EAT upheld the findings that the university’s decision to dismiss Miller and its refusal of his internal appeal constituted unlawful direct discrimination. It also preserved the conclusions that his dismissal was unfair and wrongful.

“ANTI-ZIONISM PROTECTED BY UK LAW”, said Miller following his victory. “Anti-Zionism is now a protected philosophical belief under the Equality Act 2010. Full stop.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal finally handed down its judgment this morning. The University of Bristol’s attempt to overturn my 2024 Employment Tribunal victory has been comprehensively dismissed. We won on every single count”

The judgment marks the latest development in a dispute going back years.

In early 2021, pro-Israel organisations and figures describing themselves as “proud Zionists” mounted a campaign demanding Miller’s dismissal over his criticism of Israel and Zionism. At the time, students at the University of Bristol defended the academic⁠, warning that allegations of anti-Semitism were being used to silence legitimate criticism of Zionism and Israeli violations of Palestinian rights.

The university dismissed Miller summarily in October 2021, despite an independent investigation clearing him of allegations of anti-Semitism.

Despite those findings, the university proceeded with disciplinary action and dismissal. The case became a prominent example of what Palestine Legal has called the “Palestine exception to free speech”: the tendency of institutions which otherwise champion freedom of expression to restrict it when the subject is Israel or Palestinian rights.

Read: The war for Israel on British campuses

Miller challenged his dismissal before the Employment Tribunal and secured a landmark victory in February 2024. The tribunal ruled that the university had discriminated against him because of his protected anti-Zionist beliefs and had dismissed him unfairly and wrongfully.

Bristol University appealed, advancing nine lengthy grounds and multiple sub-grounds against the findings. The EAT has now rejected the university’s challenges to liability.

Read: Dr Swee Ang, founder of Medical Aid for Palestinians, deplatformed by the BMA

The principle established in his case will be seen as being relevant to other employment disputes. A former Arsenal employee has sued the club, alleging that it dismissed him for expressing anti-Zionist views and supporting Palestine⁠. His representatives characterised the dismissal as political censorship rather than action against anti-Semitism.

An NHS doctor has also brought a High Court challenge over the use of the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition following his suspension for political speech.

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

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.
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.
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. New Labour UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham continues Labour party policy of active support and complicity in Israel's 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. New Labour UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham continues Labour party policy of active support and complicity in Israel’s genocide.

Continue ReadingAnti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism, UK appeal tribunal confirms in landmark ruling

Israel allocates $37M to develop alleged Jewish heritage sites in occupied West Bank amid intensified settlement expansion

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Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister, during an interview in Tel Aviv, Israel on, 5 December 2024 [Kobi Wolf/Bloomberg/ Getty Images]

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich announced Tuesday the allocation of $37 million to develop alleged Jewish heritage sites in the West Bank, amid intensified illegal settlement expansion in the occupied territory, Anadolu reports.

“For the first time in history, 113 million shekels ($37 million) will be allocated to develop more than 70 heritage sites in Judea and Samaria,” Smotrich said on the US social media company X, using Israel’s biblical term for the West Bank.

Smotrich, leader of the far-right Religious Zionism party, did not identify the targeted sites.

In May, the Knesset approved the first reading of a bill to establish the so-called “Judea and Samaria Heritage Authority,” which would place Roman, Byzantine and Crusader-era sites under the authority of Israel’s Heritage Ministry.

READ: Israeli occupiers burn 3 Palestinian vehicles, damage power grid in West Bank

The bill also allows for the confiscation and purchase of real estate related to such sites, prompting the Palestinian Authority to warn that the measure aims to expand Israeli control and deepen illegal settlement activity in occupied Palestinian territory.

According to Smotrich, 104 illegal settlements and 160 outposts have been approved in the West Bank since the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office in late 2022.

Around 750,000 occupiers live in 156 illegal settlements and 360 settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank, including occupied East Jerusalem, according to Palestinian figures.

UN Security Council Resolution 2334, adopted in 2016, states that Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, have “no legal validity” and constitute a flagrant violation of international law.

​​​​​​​In a landmark advisory opinion in July 2024, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

READ: Israeli defense minister backtracks on West Bank commander’s dismissal amid army row

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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.
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
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up
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. New Labour UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham continues Labour party policy of active support and complicity in Israel's 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. New Labour UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham continues Labour party policy of active support and complicity in Israel’s genocide.

Continue ReadingIsrael allocates $37M to develop alleged Jewish heritage sites in occupied West Bank amid intensified settlement expansion

DRAFT: Terrorism UK:: Terrorism is defined as attempting to influence the government. It follows that political activists engaging in the democratic process are terrorists

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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. New Labour UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham continues Labour party policy of active support and complicity in Israel's 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. New Labour UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham continues Labour party policy of active support and complicity in Israel’s genocide.

I mentioned a short time ago that I needed to write a piece on terrorism. This is the first published draft, it may well change.

I decided to publish a piece on terrorism while Anne Widdicombe murder featured prominently in the UK press. Anne Widdicombe was a well-known UK politician who like many Reform politicians had transferred her allegiances from the Conservative Party to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party plc. An intolerant bigot, it’s unclear whether she was immigration and justice spokesperson for the Reform party plc when she was violently murdered by a 28 year old man repeatedly wielding a hammer.

The London Metropolitan Police lead on terrorism policing in the UK. An alleged possible terrorism connection allowed the transfer of the investigation from the regional Devon and Cornwall Police force to the Metropolitan police.

Normal people understand terrorism as being about using bombs to kill people indiscriminately. This is actually very difficult to do because – I suggest that by definition you have to be divorced from normal life, mentally ill to do this – and what we find instead is that nutters attack and kill people using knives, etc.

Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine 'Private Eye'.
Palestine Action joke that appeared in the UK satirical magazine ‘Private Eye’.

In UK, terrorism is defined as attempting to influence the government. It follows that political activists engaging in the democratic process are terrorists – including myself wanting government action addressing climate change, disagreeing with fossil fuel exploitation in the North Sea, objecting to and wanting and end to UK’s complicity in Israel’s genocide for colonial expansion. I have a long history of UK police treating me as a suspected terrorist and interfering in my life for my actions as a political activist.

But this is selective of course. Super rich proprietors of newspapers Rupert Murdoch, Lord Rothermere, etc not only attempt to influence the government but no way are these cnuts regarded as terrorists when they are the de-facto the weilders of power. These are cnuts who support Israel’s genocide and deride climate activists as eco-zealots, etc.

As I said earlier, people understand that terrorism is about people indiscriminately killing the public using bombs. This is what Israel is doing with the UK government complicit in it’s actions. This intolerant Fascist government instead accuses people damaging arms factories complicit in genocide, painting military planes, painting banks or retired vicars and other pensioners holding signs with words banned by the government of terrorism.

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.
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.

Continue ReadingDRAFT: Terrorism UK:: Terrorism is defined as attempting to influence the government. It follows that political activists engaging in the democratic process are terrorists

Gaza Health Ministry warns medical system nearing collapse after Israel destroys drug warehouse

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A view of the area following an Israeli airstrike targeting the medicine warehouse at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital and the surrounding tent camp in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Palestine on August 01, 2026. [Moiz Salhi – Anadolu Agency]

Gaza’s Health Ministry warned Saturday that the enclave’s medical system is rapidly approaching collapse after Israeli forces destroyed a drug warehouse at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, amid severe shortages of medicines and medical supplies, Anadolu reports.

Earlier Saturday, the ministry said the Israeli army destroyed two warehouses containing essential medicines and medical supplies and severely damaged two others in strikes on storage facilities at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah.

Munir Al-Bursh, director general of Gaza’s Health Ministry, told Anadolu that Israeli attacks were no longer limited to patients, medical staff and hospitals but had expanded to include medicine warehouses.

“The Israeli occupation targeted the drug warehouse of the kidney department behind the outpatient building at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital after prior notification, completely destroying it,” he said.

Al-Bursh said the strike came as Gaza’s health sector was already facing a 51% shortage of essential medicines and a 59% shortage of medical consumables, while 22.5% of laboratory equipment is out of service because of a lack of spare parts.

He described the attack as “a direct blow to what remains of the lifeline inside hospitals.”

READ: UN chief urges Israel, Hamas to implement Trump-announced Gaza deal without delay

Al-Bursh warned that the destruction of the warehouse would deepen the humanitarian crisis, accelerate the collapse of the healthcare system and deprive thousands of patients of their basic right to treatment.

“The war here is not only targeting buildings, but also medicine, treatment and people’s chance to stay alive,” he said.

He called for the protection of medicine warehouses and medical supplies in Gaza under international humanitarian law, which prohibits attacks on medical facilities and supplies designated for civilian treatment.

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital is one of the few remaining operational government hospitals in Gaza after widespread destruction of the territory’s health infrastructure during Israel’s military campaign, which began on Oct. 8, 2023.

The hospital has repeatedly come under Israeli attack during the war, sustaining damage to its buildings and resulting in casualties among patients and medical staff.

The latest strike comes as Israel continues its blockade of Gaza, according to Palestinian authorities. Israel has failed to fulfill its obligations under the ceasefire agreement that took effect on Oct. 10, 2025, including reopening crossings and allowing agreed levels of humanitarian, food and medical aid into the enclave.

According to Palestinian health authorities, more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 174,000 injured since October 2023, while about 90% of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure has been destroyed. The United Nations estimates reconstruction costs at around $70 billion.

READ: Israeli airstrike destroys medical warehouses near hospital in central Gaza

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Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it's fun to kill everyone ... unless he gets distracted or falls asleep.
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone … unless he gets distracted or falls asleep.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.
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. New Labour UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham continues Labour party policy of active support and complicity in Israel's 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. New Labour UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham continues Labour party policy of active support and complicity in Israel’s genocide.

Continue ReadingGaza Health Ministry warns medical system nearing collapse after Israel destroys drug warehouse