People take part in a pro-Palestine march in central London organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, July 6, 2024
THE BBC has been urged not to give in to “cynical” attacks on a documentary on the Israeli invasion of Gaza, which it has pulled from iPlayer after criticism of its child narrator’s father being a Hamas official.
Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone is narrated by 13-year-old Abdullah, whose father is deputy minister of agriculture in Gaza’s Hamas government.
Last week Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said she would raise this with the BBC’s director-general and chairman, “particularly around the way in which they sourced the people who were featured in the programme.”
A petition signed by socialist Jews including film-maker Mike Leigh, comedian and writer Alexei Sayle and actor Miriam Margolyes calls on the BBC to resist “censorship.”
A protester holds a placard outside of the Pennsylvania Capitol during a #50501 protest on Wednesday, February 5, 2025. (Photo by Paul Weaver/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
If anyone celebrating this attack against transgender people were to spend time with the parents, children, and doctors affected, their feelings might change.
President Donald Trump’s executive order prohibiting any hospital that receives federal funds from practicing gender-affirming care callously disregards the needs of children who are both gender and neurodiverse, putting them and their families at risk. If anyone celebrating this order were to spend time with the parents, children, and doctors affected, their feelings might change. They should meet Pearl who before receiving treatment was failing out of high school, contemplating suicide, and rarely left the house, and is now attending community college, teaching herself another language, and has developed deep friendships. Or the mathematically-gifted Ellen who after two deep depressive episodes in the last three years, finds safety, companionship, and stability in her gender support group. Or Jacob, a role model to all that meet him, who is attending college out of state and just performed in a concert on campus.
For three years my husband and I have been part of a support group with the parents of these children, who range in age from 14 to 25. Many are now scrambling for information to determine how far the order extends; where one can continue to receive care; what care, if any, the doctors they’ve trusted, relied on, and put faith in for years can still provide. Parents are counting prescription refills, checking if pharmacies will still honor them, searching for providers not impacted by the order, and compiling a list of states they could afford to travel to if other options don’t materialize. Some fear the order will destroy their children’s delicate mental health. Others fear it is a death sentence.
Our “community” includes some of the most thoughtful and loving caregivers I have ever known. Our children, who all have autism spectrum disorder (ASD), see and experience the world through a different yet remarkable lens. While some focus on their deficits, we see their creativity, honesty, strong sense of justice, loyalty, and enhanced focus as superpowers. But none of us deny that what makes them unique also presents challenges, including struggling with social interactions, poor executive functioning skills, or developmental delays. One challenge they all share is dealing with their gender diversity.
These are parents not boogeymen. These children are lovingly cared for and listened to, not abused.
Those with ASD are three to six times more likely than the general population to be gender diverse1—the umbrella term that includes non-binary and transgender. On top of their social, developmental, or communication issues, the added stress of feeling uncomfortable in their own bodies deeply impacts their well-being. We often talk about their “dark periods” when they’ve experienced debilitating depression, suicidal ideation, and elevated anxiety. Like any good parent, we sought advice from trusted medical professionals who provide the standard of care supported by leading medical organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Our children see a multidisciplinary team of fully licensed, board-certified, highly trained pediatric specialists at a world-renowned hospital. These neuropsychologists, psychiatrists, gynecologists, and social workers coordinate care plans tailored to each child, considering their unique developmental, mental, and emotional health needs. Every child is evaluated regularly over extended periods of time. The medical care they receive may include mental health treatment, executive functioning courses, and in-person or online groups where they play games like D&D and socialize with like-minded youth. Some children who are past puberty receive hormone therapy after an extensive evaluation process. No child under the age of 18 is provided with gender-affirming surgery.
Parents in our group run the gamut. Some struggled to accept their child’s gender diversity or ASD diagnosis. Some oppose using hormone therapy, despite their child’s repeated demands, because they believe their child couldn’t handle the responsibility. Some have once needed to hospitalize their suicidal children, but have watched them flourish since starting them on hormone therapy. All struggling and questioning. But no care decisions are made without extensive consultation with their doctors, whose paramount concern is that our children are happy, healthy, productive, and thriving.
My child does not receive hormone therapy or other treatments outlined in the order. I do not, cannot, fully understand the magnitude of their pain. All I can do is stand witness to this action’s cruelty. These are parents not boogeymen. These children are lovingly cared for and listened to, not abused. These doctors have dedicated their lives to improving the mental and physical health of some of the most vulnerable among us. They are saving them, not experimenting on them. We are all good, intelligent, informed, and, now, scared people, whose greatest concern is the welfare of our children.
Editor’s Note: To protect privacy all names and identifying details of those mentioned in this piece have been changed.
Donald Trump decrees forbidden terms denying sexual diversityElon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
dizzy: I have somehow managed to post this to the non-current version of this site. There are 2 versions atm because I have changed my web host and DNS needs to propogate so that it all points to my new web host.
RACHEL REEVES’S decision to protect fat cat bankers has lost the public £15 billion — money that could have saved freezing pensioners and hundreds of thousands of children from going hungry, a damning new report found today.
Campaigners for a windfall tax on banking profits slammed the Chancellor after it emerged that Britain’s four biggest banks made a record £45.9bn in profits for 2024.
Positive Money found that the policy, called for by unions and left MPs, would have brought in an additional £14.7bn for the Exchequer this year after Lloyds Bank became the last of the so-called Big Four to announce its £6bn pre-tax profits for last year.
The group calculated that increasing the existing surcharge on bank profits from 3 to 35 per cent, in line with the government’s windfall tax on energy companies, could have raised this sum from Lloyds, HSBC, Barclays and NatWest alone.
This would be enough to cover the cost of scrapping the two-child benefit cap — fives times over.
Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves wear the uniform of the rich and powerful. They have all had clothes bought for them by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli. CORRECTION: It appears that Rachel Reeves clothing was provided by Juliet Rosenfeld.Keir Starmer says pensioners can freeze to death and poor children can starve and be condemned to failure and misery all their lives.
Destruction is seen in a cemetery resulting from Israeli attacks as Palestinians try to locate the graves of their relatives in Beit Lahia, Gaza on February 3, 2025. (Photo: Khalil Ramzi Alkahlut/Anadolu via Getty Images)
British lawmaker Jeremy Corbyn called for Israeli officials, and countries that have funded the bombardment of Gaza, to “face justice for every single life lost.”
Authorities in Gaza and human rights advocates have warned for months that because of the decimation of the enclave’s healthcare system and civil services, the official death toll was likely a significant undercount—and on Monday, officials said thousands more Palestinians had been confirmed killed by Israel’s U.S.-backed onslaught since October 2023.
Salama Maarouf, head of Gaza’s government media office, told the press gathered at the mostly destroyed al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City that the death toll currently stands at 61,709, with thousands of Palestinians who had previously been listed as missing now presumed dead.
The death toll was previously reported to be 47,487 on Saturday. Journalist Jeremy Scahill of Drop Site News said Monday that the number is rapidly going up as “people returning to their neighborhoods discover mass graves and people buried under the rubble or killed and their bodies left at the scene.”
Maarouf said officials now believe the bodies of about 76% of those killed have been recovered, but noted that 14,222 people are still believed to be trapped under rubble or inaccessible to rescue and recovery crews.
Those confirmed to have been killed include 17,881 children, including 214 newborn babies. More than 200 journalists were also killed by Israeli forces before a cease-fire deal was reached in mid-January.
Days after the cease-fire agreement, journalist Prem Thakker of Zeteo News noted that the death toll was expected to explode due to the bodies “recovered.”
“The horrors we are about to discover if a cease-fire actually holds will underscore why Israel didn’t want international journalists inside—and why they kept targeting Palestinian journalists,” said Thakker.
The updated death toll was publicized as mediators from the U.S., Qatar, and Egypt began talks on the second phase of the three-part cease-fire agreement. In the first phase, nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners are set to be freed from Israeli prisons by March, and 33 Israeli hostages are scheduled to be released by Hamas as Palestinians return to their neighborhoods—many of which have been reduced to rubble—and hundreds of aid trucks are allowed into the enclave.
The talks that began Monday aim to establish a permanent cease-fire, with Israeli forces making a complete exit from Gaza.
Fighting could begin again in March if a long-term deal isn’t reached in the coming weeks.
British Member of Parliament Jeremy Corbyn said that as the “true scale of Israel’s atrocities” emerges, “officials must face justice for every single life lost.”
“So should those who continued to send weapons,” said Corbyn, “knowing full well they were enabling genocide.”
As humanitarian and medical workers continued recovery missions in Gaza, the death toll in the West Bank on Monday rose to 70 since the beginning of 2025, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
Israeli forces and settlers have waged attacks in several West Bank towns and refugee camps in recent weeks, and the Trump administration said late last month that it would continue providing military aid to Israel as it froze nearly all foreign assistance.
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/O74hZCKKdpAGenocide 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.
Susan Moffat, a British musician and theatre artist [Susan Moffat/linkedin]
British musician and theatre artist Susan Moffat has declined an OBE in this year’s Honours List, citing Britain’s colonial legacy and its response to what she describes as the “horrific war” being waged against Palestinians in Gaza.
Moffat, who was nominated for her services to the British community, penned a powerful letter explaining her decision, drawing parallels between her work with Bosnian genocide survivors and the current situation in Gaza.
“I remember screaming at the television during the Bosnian genocide, asking why nobody was stopping it. Now I find myself asking the same question about Gaza,” Moffat told MEMO.
Our leaders have placed value on one set of lives over another, while nations play games with which people get to live and which don’t.
Moffat, who has worked extensively with survivors of the Srebrenica genocide, drew powerful parallels between past and present atrocities. The artist cited the message from the Mothers of Srebrenica: “We must not remain silent, nor stand on the side. We must raise our voice, we must act for all those whose voice cannot be heard but who suffer injustice, especially if those are children, women, civilians.”
In her letter declining the OBE, Moffat addressed the ongoing impact of colonialism and its modern manifestations, particularly in Palestine. “Without acknowledging this legacy, would for me, feel discordant with the work I strive to do,” she wrote, questioning the appropriateness of accepting an honour tied to Britain’s imperial past while similar injustices continue.
Moffat also reflected on the broader implications of colonialism and its enduring impact: “The devastation wrought by empire is not a distant historical footnote but a profound reality that continues to shape our world. The structures of colonialism, its extraction of wealth, and the human suffering it inflicted have left enduring scars. Communities in the Global South are still recovering from the looting of resources and the imposition of arbitrary borders that fuel conflicts today.”
The artist went on to stress that “to accept an honour tied to the ‘Order of the British Empire’ without acknowledging this legacy, would for me, feel discordant with the work I strive to do.” Moffat explained that her decision is a response to the broader cultural context. “Conversations about history, accountability, and justice are often reduced to soundbites about so-called ‘cancel culture’,” Moffat said. “In truth, what is often dismissed as cancel culture is a growing demand for a more honest reckoning with our past,” Moffat went on to warn that the far-right seeks to “sanitise history” and “do a disservice to the potential for growth and reconciliation.”
Speaking to MEMO, Moffat emphasised the role of artists and musicians in combating injustice. “For our kids to understand their true legacy, both good and bad, we must be honest about our past and present actions,” Moffat explained.
When discussing what might have influenced her decision differently, Moffat outlined specific actions the UK government could have taken regarding Gaza, where more than 46,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed. “We should have upheld international law and stopped the bombing of schools and hospitals. We should have ended the blockade and used our diplomatic leverage to ensure Israeli forces didn’t target civilians. We should have issued a stronger condemnation of illegal settlements and taken a more decisive stance against the targeting of civilian infrastructure and demonstrated that we as a nation truly stand against injustice.”
Moffat went on to add that “the British government has failed to play its moral role,” stressing: “If our nation had shown the courage to prioritise humanitarian concerns over political expediency, to stand firmly against civilian casualties, and to be a genuine voice for peace and justice – that would have given me reason to reconsider accepting this honour.”
Reflecting on the ongoing devastation, Moffat emphasised the urgency of immediate action: “We keep saying ceasefire now and all wars end, so let’s put the end at the beginning. Why wait for more suffering when we know peace negotiations are inevitable?”
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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/O74hZCKKdpAUK Foreign Minister David Lammy confirms that UK government and military are active participants in Israel’s genocides and that the F-35 parts that they suspended from supplying to Israel are instead simply diverted via the United States. He says see https://youtu.be/QILgUHrdWRE
