Kneecap’s Mo Chara (left) was charged with a terrorism offence, accused of displaying a flag at a gig in support of Hezbollah after being reported to the police by UKLFI. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images
Brian Eno, Fontaines DC and Kneecap say group will support those subject to ‘aggressive, vexatious campaigns’ by pro-Israel advocates
Massive Attack, Brian Eno, Fontaines DC and Kneecap have announced the formation of a syndicate for artists speaking out about Israel’s military assault on Gaza, who they say have been subjected to “aggressive, vexatious campaigns” by pro-Israel advocates.
Posting on Instagram, the musicians said their aim was to protect other artists, particularly those at early stages of their careers, from being “threatened into silence or career cancellation” by organisations such as UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI).
Mo Chara of Kneecap was charged with a terrorism offence, accused of displaying a flag at a gig in support of the banned organisation Hezbollah after being reported to the police by UKLFI. Kneecap also had gigs cancelled after interventions by UKLFI.
While those actions were made public, UKLFI is also believed to have contacted other musicians, people and organisations connected with them without publicising the fact.
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.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer delivers a speech at the government’s first Civil Society Summit in London, which aims to bring together leaders from charities, expert groups, communities, and government, July 17, 2025
LABOUR’S left today pledged to push back against Sir Keir Starmer’s purge of rebel MPs from the parliamentary party.
But the Labour leader doubled down on his witch hunt, suspending the whip from the Mother of the House, Parliament’s longest serving woman MP and the first black woman MP in history Diane Abbott — for the second time.
Ms Abbott said today that she had no regrets about comments on racism, which led to her being suspended by the party when in opposition.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Reflections: “I just think that it’s silly to try and claim that racism which is about skin colour is the same as other types of racism.”
Downing Street said it took the remarks “incredibly seriously,” and a Labour spokesperson later clarified that Ms Abbott had again been suspended from the party pending an investigation.
Ms Abbott was previously held in limbo for over a year during an “investigation” in which nobody contacted or interviewed her for months, only being allowed back in shortly before the general election.
Asked if she would condemn anti-semitic conduct, Abbott replied: “Well of course, and I do get a bit weary of people trying to pin the anti-semitic label on me because I’ve spent a lifetime fighting racism of all kinds and in particular fighting anti-semitism, partly because of the nature of my constituency [in Hackney North], which has a significant Jewish population.”
…
dizzy: Article continues with a discussion of responses from the left to Starmer’s purge of rebel MPs.
There are claims that Abbott is making antisemitic remarks by e.g. Angela Rayner. That’s just stupid of course from Labour party Zionist genocide cheerleaders. How is it anti-semitic but not anti-traveller or anti-Irish for these Zionists? Isn’t that racism? It certainly looks like to me.
This is me dizzy saying this, Diane Abbott only said that black people experience racism differently to others. Isn’t that self-evidently true? The Labour party really suck up to genocidal Zionists, dont they? UK’s Labour party are racist, active participants in Israel’s racist genocide. Opposing Zionists committing genocide is opposing Zionists committing genocide, not anti-semitism.
Thank you, Secretary of State @lisanandy, for a constructive and thoughtful meeting at @DCMS.
I appreciate your recognition and understanding of our serious concerns about the failings of the @BBC and @glastonbury in staging and broadcasting blatant anti-Jewish hatred.
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.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/O74hZCKKdpAVote Labour for Genocide.
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Francesca Albanese UN Special Rapporteur gives a speech in Bogota, Colombia, on July 15, 2025. [Juancho Torres – Anadolu Agency]
The UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory on Wednesday accused the EU of “consciously supporting” what she described as “Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians,” after the bloc refused to suspend its Association Agreement with Israel, Anadolu reports.
“The EU, which had already disgraced itself by entering the Association agreement with Apartheid Israel years ago, is now refusing to suspend it,” Francesca Albanese wrote on X. “This is the final piece of evidence that the EU is consciously supporting Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians. This risks to be the end of EU values.”
She called on EU member states to take legal action and said: “I hope you will activate the (Court of Justice of the European Union) CJEU. But meanwhile, please remember that regional agreements do not obliterate your obligations under international law.”
“Cut ties with Israel, starting with trade including of weapons. Do the right thing. Our European history commands it,” she urged.
The EU-Israel Association Agreement, which governs political and economic ties between the two parties, includes a binding clause requiring respect for human rights and democratic principles. Failure to comply with this clause can lead to sanctions or suspension of the agreement.
EU foreign ministers met on Monday and Tuesday to discuss growing concerns over Israel’s attacks in Gaza, amid mounting civilian casualties and international calls for accountability. However, member states were unable to reach a consensus, resulting in no formal decision to suspend the agreement or impose sanctions.
Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, Israel has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since late October 2023, killing over 58,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages and the spread of diseases.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
The former High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell, takes part in a debate at Casa Arabe on June 19, 2025, in Madrid, Spain. [Photo By Ricardo Rubio/Europa Press via Getty Images]
The European Council missed its chance this week to do something to stop Israel’s “war crimes” and genocide in Gaza, according to a former EU foreign policy chief.
“@EUCouncil failed yesterday to take a decision on Israel’s violation of the Association Agreement’s Human Rights clause. But this is in itself a decision: not to punish Israel’s continued war crimes and allow the genocide in Gaza to continue unabated,” Borrell wrote on X Wednesday.
The EU-Israel Association Agreement, which governs political and economic ties between the two parties, includes a binding clause requiring respect for human rights and democratic principles. Failure to comply with this clause can lead to sanctions or suspension of the agreement.
EU foreign ministers met on Monday and Tuesday to discuss growing concerns over Israel’s attacks in Gaza, amid mounting civilian casualties and international calls for accountability. However, member states were unable to reach a consensus, resulting in no formal decision to suspend the agreement or impose sanctions.
Borrell, who concluded his term as the EU’s top diplomat last year, has been a vocal critic of Israel’s attacks and has previously called for a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which gives Tel Aviv preferential trade terms.
Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, Israel has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since late October 2023, killing over 58,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages and the spread of diseases.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
Hague Group Summit in Bogotá, Colombia. Photo: Abby Martin
In the final document, the signatory countries commit, among other things, to cease arms trade with Israel, review public contracts with that country, and seek accountability for war crimes.
Countries of the Global South have expressed their solidarity with the Palestinian people at the Emergency Ministerial Conference on Palestine organized by The Hague Group, which took place on July 15 and 16 in Bogotá, Colombia. The multilateral meeting was attended by representatives from Algeria, Bangladesh, Botswana, Brazil, Chile, China, Djibouti, Egypt, Slovenia, Spain, Honduras, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Mexico, Namibia, Nicaragua, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, South Africa, Turkey, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
Regarding the meeting, Colombia’s deputy secretary of state, Mauricio Jaramillo, said: “This conference is being convened by the Hague Group, but it is not an exclusive meeting of this group. Given the urgency of what is happening in the occupied territories, especially in Gaza, where today, for example, we have passed the threshold of 58,000 fatalities, we must commit ourselves to action.”
The conference, which was organized by the governments of Colombia and South Africa and attended by 30 countries, agreed that: “The era of impunity must end – and that international law must be enforced without fear or favor through immediate domestic policies and legislation – along with a unified call for an immediate ceasefire.”
The agreements
According to an official press release, the meeting laid out several measures to stop the genocide in Gaza:
Prevent the provision or transfer of arms, munitions, military fuel, related military equipment, and dual-use items to Israel.
Prevent the transit, docking, and servicing of vessels at any port … in all cases where there is a clear risk of the vessel being used to carry arms, munitions, military fuel, related military equipment, and dual-use items to Israel.
Prevent the carriage of arms, munitions, military fuel, related military equipment, and dual-use items to Israel on vessels bearing our flag … and ensure full accountability, including de-flagging, for non-compliance with this prohibition.
Commence an urgent review of all public contracts to prevent public institutions and funds from supporting Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian Territory and entrenching its unlawful presence.
Comply with obligations to ensure accountability for the most serious crimes under international law, through robust, impartial, and independent investigations and prosecutions at national or international levels, to ensure justice for all victims and the prevention of future crimes.
Support universal jurisdiction mandates, as and where applicable in national legal frameworks and judiciaries, to ensure justice for victims of international crimes committed in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Although 30 countries attended the meeting, only 12 countries committed to immediately complying with the agreements outlined in the final declaration: Bolivia, Cuba, Colombia, Indonesia, Iraq, Libya, Malaysia, Namibia, Nicaragua, Oman, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and South Africa. The others expected to join them by September 20, 2025 – the date of the 80th UN General Assembly. The group will also be consulting various other states on an ongoing basis for participation in the measures against Israel.
Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro stated: “We came to Bogotá to make history — and we did … Together, we have begun the work of ending the era of impunity. These measures show that we will no longer allow international law to be treated as optional, or Palestinian life as disposable.”
“What we have achieved here is a collective affirmation that no state is above the law … The Hague Group was born to advance international law in an era of impunity. The measures adopted in Bogotá show that we are serious — and that coordinated state action is possible,” said South African Secretary of State Ronald Lamola.
The final agreement is historic as it is the first multilateral agreement that seeks to influence the Israeli government’s actions in its offensive against Gaza. In this sense, it is the first time that several countries have challenged the apparent immunity of the Israeli state in its actions in Gaza, which could have unpredictable diplomatic repercussions. It could also become the starting point for other countries to demand an end to the violence in Palestine jointly.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer delivers a speech at the government’s first Civil Society Summit in London, which aims to bring together leaders from charities, expert groups, communities, and government, July 17, 2025
