A year and a day ago [article published 6 July 2026], octogenarian priest Sue Parfitt told Novara Media, “we cannot be bystanders”. Moments later, she became one of the first people in the country to be arrested under a draconian new law that many didn’t believe could be enforced.
Parfitt had, of course, defied the proscription of direct action group Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, after a ban came into effect at 00.01 the night before.
Onlookers, who surrounded the group and chanted “free, free Palestine”, said they were shocked to see her and 28 other mostly elderly protesters bundled into police vans simply for holding up paper signs. Parfitt said she hoped “common sense would prevail” and that the new law would be immediately overturned.
We expected that might happen, too. In the first few weeks, the UN, Amnesty International, many other NGOs and dozens of public figures condemned the ban as a “disturbing legal overreach” with chilling repercussions for freedom of speech and assembly. As more and more people vowed to break the law, things looked pretty bad for the British government and its loyal, miserable police force.
But twelve months later – despite judges siding with Palestine Action across three of four court hearings, and initially finding the ban unlawful – the proscription has held.
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 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.Nigel Farage 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.
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Smoke rises after an Iranian drone attack struck fuel tanks at Kuwait International Airport in Kuwait City, Kuwait on April 01, 2026. [Stringer – Anadolu Agency]
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Wednesday that it had targeted 85 US military facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait with missiles and drones, in response to US attacks on the south of Iran overnight.
Iran’s Fars News Agency quoted an IRGC statement as saying that the United States had violated a ceasefire by carrying out airstrikes on sites in the coastal cities of Hormozgan and Mahshahr.
The statement said the IRGC, in cooperation between its naval and aerospace forces, carried out a joint operation using missiles and drones as its initial response to the US attacks.
It said the operation targeted Salman Port and the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, as well as Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, among the 85 US military facilities.
The statement also said that a US MQ-9 drone had been shot down over Bushehr Province, without providing further details about the operation.
On Tuesday evening, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced a series of strikes on Iran, saying they were carried out “as an immediate response to its attacks targeting three commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz”.
Over the past 24 hours, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) reported that three oil tankers had come under attack while passing through the Strait of Hormuz, causing minor damage, without disclosing their nationalities.
The Strait of Hormuz has witnessed intermittent security tensions linked to the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran on 28 February.
On 18 June, Washington and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding and have continued difficult negotiations aimed at reaching a final agreement, mediated by Pakistan and Qatar.
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone … unless he gets distracted or falls asleep.Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up
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A view of military vehicles patrolling the Syrian-Israeli border in the Majdal Shams area of the Golan Heights, as the Israeli army reinforces its ground forces amid ongoing military mobilization in the region on December 15, 2024. [Saeed Qaq – Anadolu Agency]
Israeli forces raided the Wadi al-Raqad area in the western Daraa countryside in southern Syria on Wednesday, opening fire before withdrawing from the area, Syrian state media reported.
Syria’s Alikhbariah TV said Israeli forces entered the Wadi al-Raqad area, opened fire and later withdrew.
There were no reports of casualties or material damage, and Israeli authorities did not immediately comment on the raid.
The incursion came a day after Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa condemned continued Israeli violations that he said undermine regional security and called on Israel to withdraw from areas it has occupied in southern Syria.
Southern Syria has witnessed repeated Israeli raids and attacks in recent months, including search operations, arrests and the establishment of military checkpoints.
The moves escalated after the overthrow of Bashar Assad’s regime in December 2024, when Israel announced the collapse of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement and seized control of the Syrian buffer zone.
Syrian authorities have repeatedly urged Israel to return to the 1974 deal and withdraw fully from occupied areas.
Donald Trump sings and dances, says that it’s fun to kill everyone … unless he gets distracted or falls asleep.Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him Up
NAKBA 78: Protesters on the huge London rally on the anniversary of the Nakba in May
History suggests apartheid ends not through appeals to conscience alone but through sustained economic and political pressure, says HUGH LANNING
…
With every red line it crosses from the Nakba to genocide, Israel reveals its contempt for international law. It revels in the impunity the Western world grants that result partly from guilt rightly felt for the horrific crimes we inflicted on Jewish people in our countries, not just in the second world war, but over centuries of antisemitism, which is still ongoing.
But also, because Israel is a major part of the West’s colonial and now neoliberal strategy in the Middle East.
Under the protective wing of an increasingly authoritarian US and led by the ever-stronger fascist and racist tendencies within, Israel believes it has a generational opportunity to conquer Palestine completely and establish the zionist dream of a “greater Israel” from the river to the sea.
The mentality is: “If we got away with genocide in Gaza, we can get away with anything.”
How is this avalanche of violence, death and atrocity to be stopped? Well, not by the mealy mouthed “sanctions” recently announced by Yvette Cooper. When is a sanction not a sanction? When it does nothing to the perpetrators of the crime. Under international law the official role of sanctions is to bring pressure to bear on the miscreants to achieve compliance.
The token measures announced “target individuals and entities involved in financing and enabling settler violence in the occupied West Bank.” No mention of the Israeli state.
The Israeli government is a settler government; the forcible settlement of the West Bank is its official policy. It legalises and legitimises even the outlier settlements illegal under Israeli law. The IDF either stands idly by or actively protects and supports the settlers as they go about their violent business. Not surprisingly as many of the soldiers are themselves settlers — brothers and sisters of those committing the crimes.
The government itself is riddled by members of extreme settler parties. Indeed, Israel is a settler colonial entity, all but a few of its citizens are settlers.
…
Apart from an arms embargo on the two-way trade with Israel, the new Burnham government ought to institute an audit of all government, local and national, expenditure, contracts and co-operation to identify and stop any support for companies engaged in supporting the settlements and the occupation — Oracle and Palantir being obvious examples.
As the US has done with Russia and supporters of Palestine — follow the money. The war, the occupation, the settlements are all funded with much investment and finance coming from abroad and being channelled through British financial institutions. This should be stopped.
The EU has a positive trade agreement with Israel treating it an as associate member which Britain is trying to replicate following Brexit. These trade agreements should be ended.
The government and its representatives ought to support, not block, moves in international bodies to ban and boycott Israel — be it Fifa or Eurovision — Israel should be treated as the apartheid state it is.
So complicit has the British state been for decades, the list of what could be done is almost endless.
…
Hugh Lanning will be among the speakers at a Labour and Palestine online event on Tuesday July 7 looking at ending Britain’s role in crimes against the Palestinian people. Find out more and register for the meeting at bit.ly/endukcomplicity.
Join the National March for Palestine July 18 in central London at noon. Visit palestinecampaign.org for more details.
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/Genocide 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.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.
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A view of the destruction as Lebanese residents return to their homes following the agreement reached between the U.S. and Iran in Nabatieh, Lebanon on June 15, 2026. [Houssam Shbaro – Anadolu Agency]
Lebanese Information Minister Paul Morcos said Monday direct material damage from Israel’s war on Lebanon is estimated at between $3-4 billion, Anadolu reports.
Speaking following a ministerial meeting, Morcos said the figures are preliminary and do not include economic losses or indirect damage, according to the state news agency NNA.
The estimates come as the Israeli army continues daily violations of a US-mediated framework agreement signed with Beirut.
On Monday, Israeli forces blew up homes and carried out explosions in two towns in southern Lebanon, and detonated explosives overnight in the town of Houla in Marjayoun district.
Morcos said Monday’s ministerial meeting discussed the results of field visits by ministers to southern villages and towns, including ways to support the return of residents to their areas and provide proper shelter.
The ministers also discussed supporting the needs of municipalities and local economic sectors to help residents return, ahead of the launch of reconstruction efforts, he said.
On May 26, Lebanon and Israel signed a framework agreement under US mediation, which provides for a phased Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory.
The agreement, however, does not set a timetable for a full withdrawal and links further pullbacks to the Lebanese army assuming security responsibilities and the disarmament of non-state armed groups, including Hezbollah.
Lebanese officials said the agreement represented a “first step” toward restoring state sovereignty over all its territory and allowing displaced people to return to their towns.
Hezbollah, however, called the agreement “null and void,” saying that linking Israeli withdrawal to its disarmament crossed “all red lines.”
Since March 2, Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed more than 4,300 people and injured over 12,000 others, according to official figures.
Israeli forces also continue to occupy areas in southern Lebanon, some held for decades and others seized during the 2023-2024 war, while advancing more than 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) into Lebanese territory during the latest offensive.
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Keir Starmer explains that UK is participating defensively in Trump and Israel’s criminal war for Israel’s genocidal expansion in Iran and states 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/
NAKBA 78: Protesters on the huge London rally on the anniversary of the Nakba in May
