Luke Akehurst (far right) on a trip to Israel last year. (Photo: LFI)
‘One of the best in the inside’: Israel’s point man in Labour set to become an MP after selection stitch-up.
Keir Starmer’s Labour party has parachuted a professional lobbyist for Israel into the safe seat of North Durham for the UK general election.
Luke Akehurst, the director of We Believe in Israel, has spent over a decade working as a campaigner for that country’s interests and has close ties to the Israeli embassy in London.
An Israeli diplomat was secretly recorded praising Akehurst as “a great campaigner” who was “one of the best in the inside” of the Labour party.
Akehurst, who is not Jewish, was once described by a fellow Israel lobbyist as “outrageously pro-Zionist”.
His selection comes just weeks after the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor applied for warrants to arrest Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Yoav Gallant.
Akehurst, who has deleted over 1,000 tweets in recent days, has repeatedly defended Israel’s assault on Gaza in his social media posts.
He also sits on Labour’s National Executive Committee, which currently has emergency powers to pick candidates. Akehurst apparently lives in Oxfordshire, about 250 miles away from North Durham.
Labour has held the constituency by a large majority since its creation in 1983.
On the same day his candidacy was announced, Faiza Shaheen was suddenly deselected as a Labour candidate for Chingford over liking posts on social media.
One of the posts described how “professional organisations” mobilise pressure on people who are “even mildly critical of Israel”.
…
“It was almost my dream job to run a pro-Israel campaigning organisation”, he told one journalist.
Since then, Akehurst has been among the most vociferous supporters of Israel in British public life.
He has fought strongly against the Boycotts, Divestments, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, and consistently defended Israel’s military onslaughts against Palestinians.
Akehurst has particularly close ties with the Israeli embassy in London.
He has spoken at conferences alongside Israeli officials, and travelled with embassy staff to campaign events across the country.
In 2017, Al Jazeera’s ground-breaking documentary The Lobbyshowed Israeli embassy official and suspected intelligence officer Shai Masot discussing Akehurst in glowing terms.
“He’s a great campaigner”, Masot said. “He’s one of the best in the inside… in all the party. Seriously, there is not a lot of people like him”.
Zionist Keir Starmes is quoted “I support Zionism without qualification.” He’s asked whether that means that he supports Zionism under all circumstances, whatever Zionists do.
Israeli tanks move near Israel’s border with the southern Gaza Strip on May 25, 2024. (Photo: Amir Levy/Getty Images)
“How much more can the Palestinians survive this?” asked one researcher. “Safe zones targeted, refugees killed with merciless brutality.”
As humanitarians and world leaders condemn an Israel Defense Forces bombing and resulting fire in a Rafah “safe zone” that killed 45 people and wounded hundreds more, the Israeli military on Tuesday killed at least 21 more at another refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip.
“Four tank shells hit a cluster of tents in Al-Mawasi, a coastal area that Israel had advised civilians in Rafah to move to for safety,” Reuters reported, citing health officials in the Hamas-governed Palestinian enclave. “At least 12 of the dead were women.”
Gaza-based journalist Hind Khoudary said on social media Tuesday: “I have a live hit on Al Jazeera in a bit and all I’m thinking about is how I will report on this massacre again. My heart is pounding so fast. My [fingers] are shaking. I want to cry.”
Journalist Hind Khoudary says Israel's latest attack on a tent encampment, which has killed nearly 22 Palestinians, was in an area that Israel had declared a 'safe zone' and ordered people to move to. pic.twitter.com/rlcLKr8fW1
According to Agence France-Presse, IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters on Tuesday that “I don’t know about this incident. We are putting this incident under investigation, and we will update you in advance.”
Hagari also addressed a probe into the Rafah attack—which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a “tragic mistake”—during a Tuesday press briefing, saying that “on Sunday night, we eliminated senior Hamas terrorists in a targeted strike on a compound used by Hamas” and “due to unforeseen circumstances, a fire ignited tragically taking the lives of Gazan civilians nearby.”
“Contrary to reports, we conducted the strike outside the area that we designated as a humanitarian area and called civilians to evacuate to. Our strike was over a kilometer-and-a-half away from the Al-Mawasi humanitarian area. What we call the safer zone,” Hagari said. “Our munition alone could not have ignited a fire of this size… We are looking into all possibilities including the option that weapons stored in a compound next to our target, which we did not know of, may have ignited as a result of the strike.”
The IDF’s claims about the Sunday massacre have not quelled outrage around the world—including from U.S. lawmakers urging President Joe Biden to suspend weapons and diplomatic support for Israel’s war, which has killed over 36,000 Palestinians, injured another 81,000, and left thousands more missing and believed dead beneath the rubble, according to Gaza health officials.
Palestinians who have so far survived the Israeli assault on Gaza for more than seven months are struggling to find food, water, shelter, and medical care. The IDF has destroyed civilian infrastructure—including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques—across the enclave and severely restricted the delivery of humanitarian aid.
🛑 1 million people forced to flee in search of safety, only in the past 3 weeks. 🛑 Heavy bombardment continued overnight in the area including in Tal Al Sultan where the UN main offices in Gaza are. 🛑Most of our staff could not make it to work. They are… pic.twitter.com/4mkmORe5aZ
Both deadly IDF attacks on displaced Palestinians in and near Rafah came in the wake of the International Court of Justice last week directing Israel to “immediately halt its military offensive or any other action in the Rafah governorate,” which followed the ICJ’s January order that the country “take all measures within its power” to uphold its obligations under the Genocide Convention.
Middle East Eye reported Tuesday that Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a Palestinian presidential spokesperson, “called the new attack a massacre, and called for the implementation of the International Court of Justice decision last week for Israel to halt its offensive on Rafah,” which began earlier this month.
Responding to the Tuesday attack on social media, London-based researcher Naks Bilal said that “without humanitarian intervention it is impossible to see how this does not stop.”
“How much more can the Palestinians survive this? Safe zones targeted, refugees killed with merciless brutality,” Bilal added. “Focus energy on calling for intervention, or there will be no Palestinians.”
Palestinian journalists stage a protest to draw attention to Palestinian press killed while covering the war in the Gaza Strip on February 26, 2024 in Rafah. (Photo: Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images)
Reporters Without Borders says it has “reasonable grounds for thinking that some of these journalists were deliberately killed and that the others were the victims of deliberate IDF attacks against civilians.”
The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders announced Monday that it has filed a third complaint at the International Criminal Court alleging “war crimes against journalists in Gaza,” where over 100 media professionals have been killed by Israeli forces since October 7.
Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is asking the ICC to investigate the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) killing of eight Palestinian journalists and wounding of another between December 15 and May 20 and, more broadly, the over 100 media workers slain during the course of Israel’s 234-day assault on Gaza.
RSF said it “has reasonable grounds for thinking that some of these journalists were deliberately killed and that the others were the victims of deliberate IDF attacks against civilians” and accused Israel of “an eradication of the Palestinian media.”
“Impunity endangers journalists not only in Palestine but also throughout the world,” RSF advocacy and assistance director Antoine Bernard said in a statement. “Those who kill journalists are attacking the public’s right to information, which is even more essential in times of conflict. They must be held accountable, and RSF will continue to work to this end, in solidarity with Gaza’s reporters.”
#Gaza: RSF files a third complaint with @IntlCrimCourt about war crimes committed by #Israel against journalists. We call on the prosecutor to investigate the cases of more than 100 journalists killed by the Israeli army in Gaza since October 7. 👇https://t.co/rep3ZdIoxt
Journalists in RSF’s latest complaint include Mustapha Thuraya and Hamza al-Dahdouh, freelancers working for Al Jazeera in Rafah when they were killed by a targeted Israeli drone strike on their vehicle on January 7, and Hazem Rajab, who was injured in the strike.
According to RSF:
The complaint also cites the cases of Hadaf News website reporter Ahmed Badir, who was killed by an airstrike at the entrance to Shuhada al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah on 10 January; Kan’an News Agency correspondent Yasser Mamdouh, who was killed near Al-Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis on 11 February; Ayat Khadoura, an independent video blogger killed by an Israeli strike on his home on 20 November shortly after posting a video; Yazan Emad Al-Zwaidi, a cameraman with the Egyptian satellite TV news channel Al Ghad, who was killed on 14 January when an Israeli strike hit the group of civilians he was with in Beit Hanoun; Ahmed Fatima, a journalist with the Al Qahera News TV channel, who was killed during a bombardment in Khan Yunis on 13 November; and Rami Bdeir, a reporter for the Palestinian New Press media outlet, who was killed during an Israeli bombardment in Khan Yunis on 15 December.
Another advocacy group, the Committee to Protect Journalists, previously condemned what it called an “apparent pattern of targeting journalists and their families,” noting cases in which media workers were killed while wearing press insignia and after being threatened by Israeli officials.
Monday marked the ninth anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2222, which concerns the protection of journalists in conflict zones and “emphasizes the responsibility of states to comply with the relevant obligations under international law to end impunity and to prosecute those responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law.”
Last month, Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, said: “Killing journalists is a war crime that undermines the most basic human rights. Justice starts with the cessation of injustice.”
Palestinians perform funeral of victims of massacre in Rafah (Photo via Quds News Network/X)
Israel has intensified its attacks on Rafah in complete violation of the interim order of International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday, asking it to stop all attacks inside Rafah and open the border for greater humanitarian aid
At least 40 people, mostly women and children, were killed and scores of others were injured when Israel bombed a tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Rafah late in the evening on Sunday, May 26.
The tent camp in Tal al-Sultan was recently built by UNRWA to shelter the Palestinians forced to move by Israeli forces from other parts of Rafah, and was a designated “safe zone,” Wafa News Agency reported.
At least eight Israeli missiles struck the camp in the late evening, when most were sleeping in the tents, causing a massive fire. According to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) hospitals in the region were already overcrowded and were in no position to handle all the injured in the attack.
Videos and visuals of tents burning and people desperately trying to locate their loved ones in the chaos circulated on social media, along with a ghastly video of a headless body of a child, which volunteers pulled from the rubble.
The attack sparked worldwide condemnation, with even close allies such as France asking Israel to stop the attacks on Rafah.
Several Arab countries demanded immediate UN Security Council intervention to stop the Israeli genocide of Palestinians.
Chris Gunness, spokesperson of UNRWA told Al Jazeera that, “we are now seeing blatant disregard for the genocide convention. There is no exception to the Genocide convention. There are no excuses. This is a crime of crimes.”
Jeremy Cornyn wrote on X, “Palestinian children should wake up feeling excited to go to school and play with their friends. Instead, for those murdered in Rafah, their last moments on this earth were filled with unimaginable fear as bombs rained down on their tents. What a monstrous failure of humanity.
Ever since the beginning of the month, Israel has increased its attacks on Rafah, ignoring all the warnings and appeals made by the world community. It had ordered the evacuation of several eastern parts of Rafah, forcing nearly 800,000 Palestinians to relocate to new areas near the coast which do not even have basic facilities.
Four days ago @IDF told Palestinians in Rafah to move to an area it calls “Block 2371,” designating it a “safe area.” This is the area “Israel” just bombed REFUGEE TENTS, carrying out a massacre. pic.twitter.com/SvxJWEpchE
After claiming that the attack on Rafah was a response to Hamas’ attack, Israel termed it “very grave” and announced it has constituted an investigation in the attack on Tal al-Sultan in Rafah.
More than 36,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed by Israel in the 233 days of the war. The Israeli war has also injured over 81,000 other Palestinians so far. At least 160 Palestinians were killed in Israeli bombings in different other parts of Gaza on Sunday alone.
ICJ asks Israel to cease attacks, open Rafah borders
Sunday’s attack was part of its increased assault on Rafah, particularly since the International Court of Justice (ICJ), as a provisional measure, asked Israel to stop such an attack on Friday. According to the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, Israel has struck Rafah at least 60 times since the ICJ order.
The ICJ, in its interim order, had asked Israel to stop its attacks and open the border crossing with Egypt, which has been shut by it since May 7, hampering the flow of humanitarian aid in the war ravaged region.
The ICJ issued a provisional measure asking Israel to comply with the Genocide Convention and “immediately halt its military offensive and any other action in Rafah governorate which may inflict upon the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that would bring about its physical destruction in whole and in part.”
The decision was backed by 13 out of the 15 judges in the ICJ.
The court also asked Israel to submit a report on the measures taken to implement the order within a month.
The court was not convinced that Israel has taken enough measures to “enhance the security of civilians in the Gaza strip, and in particular those recently displaced from Rafah” as claimed by Israeli counsel during the hearing on the request made by South Africa in the court.
The provisional measures were granted in response to South Africa’s request made on May 10 under its original petition seeking action against Israel for its violations of Genocide Convention during the ongoing war in Gaza.
This was the third interim measure ordered by the ICJ since South Africa filed the petition in December. The Court issued an interim order in January asking Israel to take measures to prevent genocide in Gaza and increase aid delivery. A similar order was passed in March as well.
Rafah is a narrow region in the southernmost tip of Gaza. Its population density has drastically increased, as it now shelters nearly 1.4 million people, over half of the total population of Gaza. Most of these people have been forcibly displaced by Israeli airstrikes and ground offensives in other parts of Gaza since the beginning of the genocidal war in October of last year.
Palestinians look at the destruction after an Israeli strike where displaced people were staying in Rafah, Gaza Strip, May 27, 2024
ISRAEL faced fresh condemnation today for strikes on the southern Gaza city of Rafah that local health officials said had killed at least 45 Palestinians, including displaced people living in tents that were engulfed by fire.
The country has provoked a growing storm of international condemnation over its military action in the now devastated coastal strip, with even close allies expressing outrage at civilian deaths.
Israel is seeking to wipe out Islamist resistance group Hamas, but, showing that it’s far from beaten, the resistance group launched a barrage of rockets on Sunday from the city towards central Israel, causing no injuries.
Tel Aviv said today it was looking into the civilian deaths in Rafah after its forces struck a Hamas installation and killed two senior militants.
Sunday night’s attack, which appeared to be one of the deadliest since the start of the current violence, helped push the overall Palestinian death toll above 36,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
“We pulled out people who were in an unbearable state,” said Mohammed Abuassa, who rushed to the scene in the north-western district of Tel al-Sultan. “We pulled out children who were in pieces. We pulled out young and elderly people. The fire in the camp was unreal.”
