PALESTINE ACTION activists who occupied a weapons factory to disrupt weapon productions for Israel in Shipley are set to go on trial on Monday.
The four activists were charged with criminal damage after they were seen scaling and taking a sledgehammer to the roof of the US-owned Teledyne Defence and Space factory on April 2.
The factory manufactures components for missiles, electronics, gunsights and munitions for the Israeli military.
Operations were ground to a halt as a result of the action.
Two out of four activists were remanded to prison afterwards.
One was held for approximately one month, while the other was held for three months.
Palestine Action says the firm “boasts of its involvement with missile products procured by Israel, including the AGM-Harpoon, AIM-120 AMRAAM and AGM-114 Hellfire missiles deployed by Israel against Gaza — the latter reportedly being used to strike al-Shifa hospital.”
It also produces parts, including filters and multifunction assemblies for drones and aircraft, along with radar systems such as the type fitted in F-35 Fighter jets used by Israel.
Members of Israeli forces prepare to enter in an armoured vehicle during a military operation in the West Bank refugee camp of Nur Shams, Tulkarem, August 29, 2024
CAMPAIGNERS are demanding that Britain stops arming Israel’s genocide against Palestinians amid Tel Aviv’s largest military assault on the West Bank in more than two decades.
Hundreds of ground troops, supported by fighter planes and drones, began targeting Jenin, Tulkarem, Nablus, and Tubas early on Wednesday.
Soldiers have besieged hospitals in Jenin and Tulkarm, while bulldozers have destroyed roads and razed critical infrastructure, including water and electricity networks.
Several refugee camps have also been targeted.
…
Ministers have so far rejected calls to suspend arms, instead issuing 108 licences to Israel since it escalated its attacks in October.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy has refrained from publishing legal advice on whether the exports are being used to facilitate international war crimes.
Deputy director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign Simon Foster said: “This is the largest Israeli invasion of the Palestinian territories in the West Bank since 2002.
“Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs has openly called for the forcible displacement of Palestinians.
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.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to reporters on a tarmac in Doha, Qatar on August 20, 2024. (Photo: Kevin Mohatt/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
“You are currently arming, funding, and defending a genocide in Gaza. That is how history will remember you.”
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was accused of stark hypocrisy on Saturday after he condemned the Myanmar military’s genocide against the Rohingya people while simultaneously aiding Israel’s genocidal assault on the Gaza Strip.
Marking the seventh anniversary of Myanmar’s vicious ethnic cleansing of the stateless Rohingya, Blinken wrote on social media that “the United States continues to honor the victims and stand with the survivors as they seek justice and accountability for these atrocities.”
Blinken also issued a statement highlighting the U.S. State Department’s “extensive documentation of the atrocities and abuses committed against Rohingya and all civilians”—a sharp contrast with the Biden administration’s reluctance to assess Israeli atrocities against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“You are currently arming, funding, and defending a genocide in Gaza,” Middle East researcher and analyst Assal Rad wrote in response to Blinken’s statement. “That is how history will remember you, not your empty words.”
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) also weighed in, telling Blinken to “just stop trying to act like you care about genocide or human rights.”
Under Blinken’s leadership, the U.S. State Department has approved massive arms transfers to Israel—including a recent $20 billion sale—and provided diplomatic cover for the country’s far-right government on the world stage, dismissing as “meritless” the South Africa-led genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
Israel has killed more than 40,400 people in Gaza since the October 7 Hamas-led attack. Most of those killed in Israel’s assault have been women and children—including thousands of infants and toddlers.
“According to documents and sources who spoke with Haaretz,” the Israeli newspaper reported last September, “the government-owned Israel Aerospace Industries and the Israeli arms maker Elbit Systems maintained their trade with Myanmar despite an international arms embargo on the country, and despite a 2017 ruling by Israel’s High Court of Justice and the Israeli government’s own 2018 statement saying it stopped such sales.”
“Israel’s longstanding relations with the different regimes controlling Myanmar have involved arms trade since the mid-20th century,” Haaretz continued. “Even in the years in which the country was openly ruled by its military junta, Israel refused to stop the trade. The trade was maintained through the Rohingya genocide of 2016-17.”
A banner calling for an arms embargo against Israel is pictured outside of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on August 22, 2024. (Photo: Fatih Aktas/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“Harris called for a cease-fire in Gaza, but she failed to commit to the change in policy that would secure a cease-fire: ending weapons transfers to Israel,” said one Palestinian rights group.
During her speech Thursday night accepting the Democratic Party’s 2024 nomination, Vice President Kamala Harris decried the “heartbreaking” suffering that Gazans are experiencing after 10 consecutive months of Israeli bombardment.
But Harris didn’t acknowledge, let alone condemn, the central role the United States has played in fueling the humanitarian emergency in the Palestinian enclave, where civilians face indiscriminate bombings daily as well as famine and appalling disease outbreaks—including a possible polio epidemic.
Instead, Harris repeated a line that has become commonplace for the White House and its allies, declaring that “President [Joe] Biden and I are working around the clock” to secure a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.
“Harris wanted to portray herself as strong and brave, but when she had to switch to passive voice (“What has happened in Gaza”) to avoid calling out Israel’s war crimes, she showed stunning cowardice,” said Palestinian American political analyst Yousef Munayyer.
Declining to break with the administration in which she currently serves, the vice president did not express support for a policy shift that would pressure Israel’s far-right government to accept a cease-fire agreement, such as an arms embargo of the kind supported by United Nations experts, leading human rights groups, and a majority of U.S. voters.
“I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself, and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself,” said Harris, condemning the Hamas-led October 7 attack.
“If you really wanted a cease-fire, you’d just stop sending the weapons. It is that simple.”
Abbas Alawieh, a co-founder of the Uncommitted National Movement, toldReuters following the vice president’s speech that she did not deliver what was badly needed as the disaster in Gaza worsens by the minute: “courageous leadership that breaks from the current approach.”
The IMEU Policy Project, an affiliate of the Institute for Middle East Understanding, echoed Alawieh’s assessment, saying in a statement that “with Vice President Kamala Harris’ nomination, the party had an opportunity to move in a new direction.”
“Tonight Harris called for a cease-fire in Gaza, but she failed to commit to the change in policy that would secure a cease-fire: ending weapons transfers to Israel,” the group said. “To be clear: There is no way to end this bloodshed while supplying Israel with billions of dollars in weapons as it indiscriminately bombs Palestinian families, schools, hospitals, refugee shelters, and places of worship.”
“It must be noted that Harris’ call for ‘dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination’ for the Palestinian people received thunderous applause,” the organization added. “However, words are not enough. Democratic voters are increasingly united in their demand for a change in policy on Gaza and in support of Palestinian safety and freedom broadly; it is time for the Democratic Party leadership to catch up.”
Vice President Harris’ call for Palestinian dignity and freedom received thunderous applause.
The voters are increasingly united in their demand for a change in policy on Gaza and Palestinian freedom.
It's time for Democratic Party leadership to catch up.
Denied a speaking slot on the convention stage, Palestinian American delegates and their allies made their voices heard in the hallways of Chicago’s United Center and outside of the facility, where they held a sit-in to protest the DNC’s rejection of their demands.
Calls for a Palestinian American speaker on the DNC stage drew broad support from Democratic lawmakers and their allies, including Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and the United Auto Workers.
Lily Greenberg Call, a Jewish Biden political appointee who resigned in May over the administration’s Gaza policy, said late Thursday that she was “so sad and disappointed” that the DNC chose to “silence Palestinian American voices and exclude them from the convention stage.”
“VP, I want you to win in November,” Call added. “You must do better.”
Layla Elabed, a co-founder of the Uncommitted National Movement and the sister of Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), said Thursday that “Michigan voters want to vote for Harris, but we need to shift policy.”
“Many of us know the impact of U.S.-funded bombs firsthand,” said Elabed.
Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), one of the lawmakers who showed solidarity with uncommitted delegates as they staged a sit-in outside of the DNC earlier this week, clearly articulated the U.S. Palestinian rights movement’s position during a press conference on Wednesday, a day before Harris took the stage in Chicago.
“If you really wanted a cease-fire, you’d just stop sending the weapons,” said Omar. “It is that simple.”
Protesters rally outside of the Democratic National Convention (Photo: Mohamed El-Dirany/PYM)
The Democratic Party’s National Convention convenes to formally nominate candidate for President, with Kamala Harris the likely choice
Following the first day of the Democratic National Convention, which runs from August 19 to 22 in Chicago, delegates voted to approved the 2024 Democratic Party platform. Notably, the platform still reads: “President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Democrats are running to finish the job.”
While there are still no concrete policies outlined in the Harris-Walz official campaign website, the 2024 Democratic Party platform can be seen as the first glimpse into what this administration promises to offer to the people of the US.
Many were waiting to see if the platform would indicate any changes to the Democratic Party’s unconditional support for Israel, given the mass movement for Palestine ongoing in the US since October 7. The document reveals that the Democratic Party policies will not shift in any major way, and it still outlines a plan for continued war on the people of the West Asia region.
The US in recent weeks has intensified efforts to reach an agreement between Israel and the Palestinian resistance groups in the latest round of ceasefire negotiations in Qatar and Egypt. However, this current push has been widely criticized for continuing to undermine bare minimum red lines from Palestinians. A widening of the current genocidal war on Gaza has become a likely possibility following the assassinations of Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr and Hamas leader and key negotiator Ismail Haniyeh while he was in Iran. Both Hezbollah and Iran have vowed to retaliate.
In their platform, the Democrats show that they still stand outside of international laws and consensus in declaring that the party “opposes any effort to unfairly single out and delegitimize Israel, including at the United Nations or through the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement,” and that “President Biden and Vice President Harris believe a strong, secure, and democratic Israel is vital to the interests of the United States.”
Palestinian journalist Ali Abunimah points out the irony that the platform begins with a so-called land acknowledgement which is meant to acknowledge the country’s Indigenous people and land, while the Democrats are “arming the genocide of another Indigenous people.”
According to Abunimah, the platform is “completely out of touch with the base of the Democratic Party.” He continues, “this is not a platform that represents Democratic voters,” most of whom support an end to US aid to Israel.
The Democratic Party machine has shifted their nominee from “Genocide Joe” Biden to Kamala Harris, in an attempt to rebrand their candidate as not being as directly associated with the US arming and enabling of Israel’s genocide. However, the movement for Palestine has continued to put pressure on the party, pointing out that not only has Harris been a crucial figure in the Biden administration as vice president, but the party as a whole continues to play a role in sustaining unshakeable support for Israel.
Protesters march to the Democratic National Convention (Photo: Mohamed El-Dirany/PYM)
This year’s DNC counter-protests have unsurprisingly focused on calling out the party’s significant complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Since October, people across the US have called on their elected officials at all levels and of both mainstream parties to call for a ceasefire and an arms embargo against Israel. And yet, Biden’s administration has done nothing but double down in its support for Israel. Last week on August 14, the Pentagon approved a USD 20 billion weapons sale to Israel. The US Congress not only invited Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu to speak in a special joint session on July 24, but also gave him a standing ovation.
On Monday August 19, the first day of the DNC in Chicago, thousands of people participated in a mass march with grassroots organizations, including CODEPINK, the ANSWER Coalition, American Muslims for Palestine, and Jewish Voice for Peace. The crowd of protesters even managed to breach the security fence outside of the convention.
Protester holds up sign outside of DNC (Photo: Mohamed El-Dirany/PYM)
In addition to the mass mobilizations outside the convention, activists have also been disrupting events related to the convention itself to voice their protest to delegates directly.
A Palestine solidarity activist disrupted a welcome party for Democratic Party delegates in Chicago, hopping onto the stage and shouting into the microphone, “you are funding a genocide! The Harris-Biden administration keeps pumping money to Israel!” before being dragged away by security.
A protester also confronted former Speaker of the House and leading Democrat Nancy Pelosi at a DNC event on feminism, asking her, “what do you have to say about all of the women in Gaza who have been murdered?” Pelosi avoided the question.
Harris’ running mate Tim Walz, current Governor of Minnesota, was disrupted by activists with anti-war group CODEPINK at the DNC women’s caucus on Tuesday. Activists shouted “stop killing women in Gaza!” and “arms embargo now!” while Walz’s supporters chanted in response “USA! USA!”
This year’s DNC is also marked by the dozens of delegates representing the around 700,000 people across various states who cast “uncommitted” or protest votes in their respective Democratic Party primaries when Biden was the presumptive nominee. The uncommitted delegates are keeping up the pressure on Harris to change the US’s policy on Israel, and requesting that Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, who volunteered in Gaza, be permitted to address the convention.
