UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese gives a press conference at the UN City in Copenhagen, February 5, 2025
FRANCESCA ALBANESE has been awarded Spain’s highest civilian honour for her work “documenting and denouncing violations of international law in Gaza.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez presented the Order of Civil Merit to the UN’s special rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian Territory at a ceremony in Madrid on Thursday.
In a post on social media Mr Sanchez said: “Public responsibility also entails the moral obligation not to look the other way.
“It is an honour to award the Order of Civil Merit to a voice that upholds the conscience of the world.”
Ms Albanese said: “Thank you, Mr President, for this recognition, for championing a Europe that belongs to its peoples, in accordance with international law — not above it or in defiance of it — and for solidarity, the lifeblood of the human family.
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.Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone …
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Israeli forces carrying weapons, raid Nablus city of West Bank, Palestine on April 23, 2026. [Nedal Eshtayah – Anadolu Agency]
The UK Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has granted two new licences for the export of military equipment to Israel, including an £8.7 ($11.85) million licence covering “components and technology for targeting equipment”, the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) has revealed.
The licences were issued despite the British government’s September 2024 suspension of such exports over fears they would be used in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. CAAT’s analysis of UK export licensing statistics for the fourth quarter of 2025, published on 30 April, found that the UK issued export licences worth £20.5 ($27.9) million in total for transfers to Israel during the quarter.
The most significant of the new approvals was an Open Individual Export Licence for “components and technology for targeting equipment” — a category of export the UK government had publicly suspended eight months earlier, citing the risk of use in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. When questioned about the licence, DBT replied that it “covers items for re-export from Israel, and the Government of Israel is not an end-user or ultimate end-user. This is consistent with our suspension”.
CAAT said the defence rested on a legal fiction. The watchdog warned of the risk of “auto-diversion”: a process by which Israel can fail to retransfer military equipment to its declared destination and instead assign it to an unauthorised end-user, such as the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), for use in Gaza.
Such a move would constitute a breach of the export licence and a potential criminal offence under UK law. British ministers have previously said they would revoke any licence should “any evidence” emerge that exported equipment had not reached its declared destination, but CAAT noted that the UK government makes no known efforts to verify what happens to its military exports after they leave Britain.
The watchdog’s concerns are not theoretical. In March, an investigation revealed that an Elbit-owned subsidiary in the UK had shipped dozens of drone components, including Watchkeeper engines, to Israel over an 18-month period.
Israel had failed to retransfer the equipment to Romania as required by the licence, citing force majeure arising from its assault on Gaza. The contract with Romania has still not been fulfilled. Elbit announced it would start delivering the drones only two days after Romania threatened to cancel the contract.
A second new licence covers components for military training aircraft, and related technology, for transfer to France, Greece, Israel and Italy — likely supplied by the US aerospace firm Moog for the M-346 Lead-In Fighter Trainer produced by Italy’s Leonardo.
The M-346 is used in every phase of advanced and pre-operational training for Israeli pilots before they fly combat missions in Gaza, Iran and Lebanon using F-16 and F-35 jets. Israel has caused massive devastation with F-35 jets across Gaza, Iran and Lebanon. Similar components shipped by Moog from the UK were recently seized by authorities in Belgium, who have since opened a criminal investigation.
CAAT’s Research Coordinator Sam Perlo-Freeman said the new licences exposed the limits of the British government’s stated policy.
“These new export licenses show just how willing the UK is to continue enabling Israel’s genocidal assaults, while staying within the technical rule of a vastly insufficient and ineffective policy towards IDF war crimes,” he said.
“The targeting equipment for which DBT granted a license, for transfer to and re-export by Israel, could easily be used in Gaza. Given Israel’s history of weapons diversion and illicit transfers, and outstanding questions about Elbit drone components failing to arrive in Romania, there remains a grave risk that Israel will auto-divert the targeting equipment to the IDF for use in Palestine.”
Perlo-Freeman explained that the British government was leaning on a system of declarations it has no power to enforce. “DBT is relying on end-user undertakings that hold no legal force in Israel, which the UK government does not check up on and cannot enforce. The exporter is technically in-the-clear, so long as it can’t be shown they knew the end-user undertaking was false.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage being interviewed by the media after an eve of poll photocall at College Green, Westminster, on the last day of campaigning ahead of the local elections on Thursday, May 6, 2026
MILLIONS of votes will be cast on Thursday in Scotland and Wales in the election of these two nations’ devolved governments and in England a cross-section of communities will vote — in six places for regional mayors — and in 5,000 seats where the composition of 136 different councils are up for grabs.
This is the biggest test of electoral opinion since Keir Starmer took office on millions of votes fewer than won by Jeremy Corbyn.
The calamitous fall in Labour’s popularity is the main feature of these elections but we should not discount the scale of the Tory collapse.
You might think that the defection of much of Boris Johnson’s Cabinet to Reform UK would have given Kemi Badenoch the opportunity to recover something of the traditional Tory vote, such as it exists. This, at least would be an innovation but, like Labour, the Tories are no longer a credible party of a future government.
Reform UK is faltering with a certain sense that the Establishment is setting limits on its ambitions. The monopoly media is not so tolerant; opinion polls are less encouraging and the more Nigel Farage’s privately owned electoral vehicle resembles the Tory Party the fewer workers are prepared to swallow its fetishisation of the market and its hostility to public services.
Today the Trump connection plays badly even on the deluded right.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer helps out in the call centre at Labour Party headquarters in London, on the last day of campaigning ahead of the elections, May 6, 2026
Meanwhile, far-right Reform UK projected to gain around 1,550 representatives
LABOUR is facing electoral annihilation across the country on Thursday in elections that could bring the hard-right Reform UK a major step closer to power.
Much of Britain is set to deliver a damning verdict on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s two years in power in one of the most consequential sets of local elections ever.
Voting for the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments and local authorities across England, including every London borough, could mark a landmark in the breakdown of the long-standing two-party system.
Reform boss Nigel Farage claimed that “we will emerge over the course of the next couple of days as the only true national party.”
Last-minute polling suggests Labour could lose up to 1,850 of the 2,550 seats it is defending and crash to defeat in Wales for the first time in more than a century, with Reform projected to gain around 1,550 representatives.
If these predictions are borne out as results emerge on Friday, pressure will grow still further on Sir Keir to quit, given his epic-level personal unpopularity is clearly a deadweight on Labour’s vote.
Keir Starmer says that the Labour Party under his leadership is intensely relaxed about assaulting those least able to defend themselves – the very poorest and most vulnerable.Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/Keir Starmer says that he’s banning words and phrases now as well as placards.
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Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley [Wikipedia]
The Palestine Coalition has today commenced a formal complaint with the London Mayor’s Office over comments by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley. In interviews with The Times and ITV on 1st May, Commissioner Rowley asserted that the Coalition organisers have sought to route marches for Palestinian rights past synagogues. In The Times he said, “The fact that features as the organisers’ intent, I think that sends a message … that feels like antisemitism.” On ITV he said, “They set out with an intent to march near synagogues etc and every single time that we put conditions on to prevent that.”
The Palestine Coalition have condemned his remarks and wrote to the Commissioner two days ago calling on him to retract these false and inflammatory statements. They said “The truth is that at no point have we ever requested to ‘walk by’ a synagogue on any of our marches. We have no interest in doing so. Police recordings of our meetings with you will confirm this…It is completely unacceptable for a senior public official to make these false claims and accusations, which can only raise the level of tension in the current situation.”
In the complaint to the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) the Coalition organisers say the Commissioner’s comments were intentional, not inadvertent, and made to undermine and stigmatise the Palestine marches. They say he has contravened the standards of professional behaviour of his office by not acting with honesty or integrity and has abused his powers and acted in a manner which undermines public confidence in the police. He has also acted in a racially discriminatory way in inferring that protests against fundamental violations of international law by Israel and by Britain are antisemitic. The Coalition is demanding a retraction by the Commissioner and a full apology.
The complaint comes ahead of the annual Nakba Day March, held this year on Saturday 16th May, which commemorates the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestine. The demonstration will call for an end to British support for Israel’s crimes against the Palestinian people, and will also protest against the far-right march led by Tommy Robinson, happening on the same day. The Met Police have given the political centre of London to the demonstration by the “Unite the Kingdom” group, whilst continuing to restrict the options for the Nakba Day demonstration and imposing stifling conditions under the Public Order Act.
The Coalition members are: Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Palestinian Forum of Britain, Stop the War Coalition, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Muslim Association of Britain, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Keir Starmer explains that UK is actively supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion and repeats his previous quotation that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
UN Special Rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese gives a press conference at the UN City in Copenhagen, February 5, 2025
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage being interviewed by the media after an eve of poll photocall at College Green, Westminster, on the last day of campaigning ahead of the local elections on Thursday, May 6, 2026
