Yesterday, I was on the 32nd national protest in solidarity with Palestine since October 2023. It was a great demo with a lot of spirit and participants, people of all ages and ethnic and religious backgrounds. To think about how large it was, on a 3-mile route, those that started the demo first arrived at its endpoint, while there were still people waiting to set off. That is a large protest, I’ve heard estimates from 400,000-600,000. It was not just another protest; it was a protest in solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza who have been facing genocide and war crimes for 2 years.
In many senses, despite attempts by the MSM and western “democratic governments” to pretend there was not a genocide happening and that widespread war crimes were just “Hamas lies”, truth actually won out against grotesque fiction. What was obvious was eventually accepted; did the MSM breathe a sigh of relief?! Was it just too much to dissemble on air anymore and hide behind the ally committing genocide? “Strangely”, while Reporters without Borders (RSF) has filed 5 complaints against Israel with the International Criminal Court (ICC) starting in October 31st 2023 about the Israeli government and Occupation Forces deliberately targeting journalists. On the MSM while the deaths of journalists were mentioned, how many on the MSM said that this was a deliberate policy of the Israeli Occupation Forces? Deliberately killing journalists (like killing doctors and rescue workers) is a war crime; but it is a war crime also done by its metropole, the US … perhaps they thought that, hey, if the US can get away with it, we can as well? As many have noticed during this atrocity, international law seems to have different impacts depending on who your allies are rather than what you are actually doing.
The definition of genocide recognised by the UN was met; in fact, although only 1 of the 5 examples is needed to declare a genocide, 4 of the physical elements were already evident as early as the end of October 2023, it was clear that this was genocide and that people were being killed solely because they were Palestinians living in Gaza – it didn’t matter whether they were Christian or Muslim, they were Palestinians. That is the fundamental definition of genocide.
The only one element that has not happened is the removal of children from their families and groups to be raised by the other group. This is often common in colonial settler states, we have seen it in the US, Australia and Canada for example; indigenous children were removed from their homes and their families and ethnic groups to be sent to boarding schools to raised as Christians by white people. There is massive documentation of this and it hasn’t appeared in this colonial settler state, the only reason that I can think of is because they are so racist that they don’t want these Palestinian children. Part of this is the ethnic-religious nationalism underlying political Zionism – so this has nothing to do with their being Arabs, there are Arab Jews and although they were treated as 2nd class Jews in Israel, they were recognised as Jews.
One cannot help wondering why this admission by the MSM in Britain took so long; the “independence” of the media, the silencing of Palestinians, the repetition of the accusation of antisemitism against opponents of genocide – these were always covered by the MSM, (this repeated accusation by Israeli government politicians and British Jewish Zionists), this was allowed despite many of those opposing genocide and on these protests were Jews. The same thing, of course, was said against Jewish Voice for Peace in the US. So, the fact that a genocide was happening in front of our eyes was not a mass delusion by so many people, but rather an attempt at gaslighting by world governments and yes, actually the truth.
“Independent and Unbiased Journalism”
The BBC still describes what is happening as the Gaza War, rather than the Gaza Genocide; the numbers of civilian dead and missing are far too high to have been the results of “just a war” – many are still missing, buried under the rubble that used to be their homes, workplaces, hospitals, schools, religious buildings, etc. More than 20,000 children are known to be dead; but if the whole family was killed who would report children buried under the rubble?
That is why the death tolls are still uncertain, not because the reports were false. On the BBC and Sky News all reports of death were said to be from the “Hamas Gaza Health Ministry” (implying that they were not trustworthy), the destruction of hospitals and deaths of medical personnel, the deliberate murders of journalists for reporting the truth, were countered by the continual parade of Israeli government and military members repeating hasbara (“explanations”) and whose accounts of the situations they were discussing were never truly questioned in a way where they could be held accountable. Only rarely were Palestinians brought on the news to speak usually after some egregious war crime clearly in violation of international law and international humanitarian law. The one thing that can, and must be, noted is the role in which the MSM served the interests of people committing genocide and that includes their governments.
Part of this comes down to the so-called “unbiased journalism” championed by Rupert Murdoch in which journalists have to tell both sides of the story; but really, how could you champion those committing genocide while ignoring the victims of genocide? Normally, we are treated to this nonsense on domestic political, economic and social news where the two sides come down to the hard or far-right and the right – the centre rarely exists and anything to its left might as well be coming from another planet.
The abandonment of Human Rights and the attack on Civil Rights
There is more going on and that will remain a continuing battle. That is the role of “western governments” not only providing finances and weaponry, but also cover for a country committing genocide. These governments are more than complicit in genocide; they are abettors of this genocide. This includes the US, UK, Germany, Italy, France, and Spain for example. Supposed supporters of human rights and international humanitarian law.
They provided weaponry, Israeli military producer Elbit were allowed to produced weapons in the UK and they have factories in other countries as well. Elbit were the main target of Palestine Action; happily Elbit UK shut down following massive protests from Palestine Action and other organisations) – somehow the UK government and trade unions that talk about “just transition” away from fossils fuels and weapons production forgot that they initially supported just transition for workers in these industries, quelle surprise. These plants must be shut down and the workers should be relocated to other industries where their skills will be welcomed. I am a member of a trade union who asked other members to come out in solidarity with workers in the defence sector who have lost jobs … they didn’t say come and fight for them to be relocated to other sectors, they said you should come in solidarity. I don’t think so … it is the union that must fight for their transition to other jobs; I will not fight for defence jobs.
When you think about it following WWII, the commitment to human rights and international human rights law and international war crimes law were the legitimation of the victory of the allies; this will never happen again — what unless you are Palestinian? This whole edifice has been abandoned to protect the Israeli government and military from war crimes and genocide.
One wonders if they think that it is worth it? All the pretence is false. Given that Trump doesn’t believe in international humanitarian law or human rights law (he barely believes in civil rights) at least that is less problematic for the US government at the moment. But all their western allies, what have they done to stop this genocide? How many of them still sell arms to Israel and continue international trade with them, allow people that potentially committed genocide to enter Europe holidays and business, how much investment in Israel, how many pensions have investments there?
Outside of the US abandoning financing the Zionist project and not providing weapons, the only thing that will stop this genocide in Gaza and continued ethnic cleansing on the West Bank and East Jerusalem is BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanction). If your government won’t do it, you should do it. It worked with South Africa, combined with protests and demands for BDS by anti-racists and solidarity activists and it will work in Israel. No investment, no foreign direct investment (that is by governments), boycotts of all trade, culture, science, and divestment is essential. Stop using Teva Pharmaceuticals which are all over Europe. Their economy is crashing and their “democracy” has taken quite the hit.
Palestine diminishing … there is no 2-state solution
Even the accompaniment of the Sumad Flotilla to Gaza with Italian and Spanish boats was just fake; when the Israeli navy attacked, they did not engage, they had no intention of engaging – it was all for show. Maybe the leaders of those states will learn from the general strikes and maybe more general strikes will happen to add further pressure. When the Israeli Navy kidnapped the activists on the flotilla, they not engage. They had the chutzpah to tell the members of the flotilla to give the aid to the Catholic church who would ensure its delivery … this would be incredible, but nothing surprises me these days.
One more point, and this relates to the torture of members of the Sumad flotilla, specifically
David Adler who was one of two Jews aboard the flotilla. Adler reported this of his detainment:
“We were kidnapped, stripped, zip-tied, blindfolded, and sent to an internment camp… without any access to food, water, or legal support. For the next 5 days we were psychologically tortured. People were taken individually out of their cells and regularly beaten, handcuffed, ankle cuffed and left in solitary confinement.”
Israel’s security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, personally tortured and humiliated the group while singling out the only two Jews. Adler was handcuffed and dragged by Ben-Gvir by the ear for a photo-op in front of an Israeli flag while Israeli soldiers taunted him and the other activists. They were denied food, water, medical attention, and legal representation and were threatened by attack dogs daily.
Of course, this is no comparison to the torture and murder Israel inflicts on Palestinian detainees, including doctors, nurses and journalists. And is no comparison to the two year- long genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. But it underscores the reality of Israeli impunity and depravity.
The American members of the Flotilla received no support or assistance from the US consulate under the Trump regime.”
The thing that I noted about this was not the failure of the US consulate to offer support; of course they refused support as they are antisemites that cannot comprehend that not all Jews are Zionists and that many Jews have opposed the genocide of Palestinians. The US government hence view all those Jews protesting against the genocide in Gaza as "traitors to their people." hmm, where have I heard that term previously and why has no one mentioned that?
Opposing genocide is what people that actually have universalist ethics and even basic morality do. What must be noted is that David Adler an American Jew was personally tortured by the Israeli security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, a Kahanist, a fascist. He knew there would be no reprisals for his actions.
The truth is that the majority of Zionists are far-right Christian evangelicals. Look whom Trump sent there as the ambassador, his name is Huckabee, and know that it is not an accident. It is payment to his far-right Christian buddies for helping him win; these people want Israeli Jews to kill the Palestinians, rebuild the 2nd temple on Al-Aqsa Mosque and bring Jesus back. They are psychopaths, guided and justified by a bizarre understanding of their religion which they want to inflict on everyone else while claiming that they are oppressed …
The Manchester Synagogue antisemitic attack and upcoming Defend Our Juries Protest and National Palestine solidarity protest
On the 2nd of October on Yom Kippur, an appalling antisemitic racist attack was carried out at a Jewish synagogue in Manchester in which 3 men died: Melvin Cravitz died during the inital attack where the attacker ran up with a car and pulled out a knife, and Adrian Daulby (the link discusses both Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby), a member of the synagogue trying to keep the doors of the synagogue closed were shot by the police (the explosive device belt that al-Shami was wearing was fake thankfully), 3 other people were injured; the attacker (Jihad al-Shami) was killed by the police.
This was a racist antisemitic attack on the most holy day of the Jewish calendar done by a person whose sole purpose was to kill Jews. This is horrific, all Jews irrespective of their political beliefs were shocked and horrified by this attack and statements of condolence and solidarity were issued by Jewish organisations, by Muslim organisations, by Christian organisations, .
This attack was done by a racist confusing Judaism with political Zionism and they are not the same thing despite what Netanyahu says repeatedly; he does not represent “the Jews”, we have different political and religious beliefs and at this point, it is Christian Zionists that are the main supporters of Israel both absolutely (in numbers) and relatively as younger Jews in western countries reject Zionism.
What made this worse was the attempt by the government to weaponize this appalling attack and to say that people who stand in solidarity with Palestine are a danger to Jews and there is no evidence for this; there is always a Jewish bloc (their statement on the Manchester synagogue attack and the government’s request to cancel the upcoming Defend our Juries Protest (the 4th of October) and yesterday’s Palestine Solidarity Protest (11th of October). In addition to the Jewish Bloc at the protests, the Neturei Karta also join the protests as they oppose political Zionism for religious reasons. Even for a Labour Party which has witch-hunted socialist Jews, this is appalling.
I have mentioned Palestine Action above (link lists their actions); it is correct to say they have broken the law. However, Palestine Action (PA) was proscribed as a terrorist group by the UK government. To do this, the Home Secretary (then Yvette Cooper) had to change/expand the definition of terrorism to include crimes against property rather than causing people to be terrorised for the purposes of a political agenda. In this case, the group had thrown red paint on buildings and spoke to workers at the plants; the final straw was members of the group breaking into a Royal Air Force (RAF) base and some RAF planes (they have been sharing aerial intelligence with the IDF on Gaza; oh and their intelligence info can be used to establish complicity by the UK) had red paint thrown on them. Palestine Action essentially is a direct-action group; direct action as a form of political protest has a long tradition in the UK (Yvette Cooper was a big fan of the Suffragettes, but it seems their direct actions were ok … was it their aims Cooper agreed with or didn’t?).
Well, the proscription of PA came into effect on the 5th July of has led to protest organised by the group Defend Our Juries in which people that think this proscription of PA is a violation of the right to protest and freedom of speech; specifically their right to oppose genocide.
Last Saturday (the 4th of October), 488 people (many of whom are elderly, but not all, disabled people and younger people did take part) were arrested for holding signs, “I oppose Genocide, I support Palestine Action” – this means that there are more than 2000 people that have been arrested around the ban, 130 have been charged with terrorism offenses. Many of these people may not actually support the actions of PA, but they are very upset about the attack(s) on the right of British people to protest and oppose genocide. Btw, the police are probably not thrilled having to arrest so many elderly and disabled people; it looks bad arresting someone the age of your grandparents
Following the protests on the 4th of October and the arrests, the UK government upped the ante giving police more power to stop protests; they have argued that they will restrict repeated protests and take the “cumulative” impact of repeated protests into account. This can enable police to demand that the protests be moved to other locations or to shut them down entirely. They will also amend the Crime and Policing Bill of 2023 to ensure that these changes/restrictions to the right to protests are put in. Really, the government has made an own goal and it looks like the goaltender has left the football pitch; they keep digging themselves a deeper hole which will certainly be used by the next UK Reform government to eliminate the right to protest completely … we have so much to thank the Labour Party for …
Some final thoughts
You may have noticed (if you got this far) that there is nothing here about Trump’s 20 point Plan and the ceasefire. Much of what is in that document is what the Israeli government hoped for (the Palestinians were not consulted in the preparation of the document). Will it hold?
I note that neither Marwan Barghouti is being released in the prisoner exchanges, nor Dr Hassam Abu Safiya or Dr Marwan Al Hams who are being held captive by the Israeli government and military. I am sceptical whether it will and whether the later phases can be completed.
I have never supported Hamas, and never will; but I wouldn’t disarm with the genocidal country right next door who can break this agreement easily (there are easy outs for the Israeli government) and continue the genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Hamas doesn’t speak for Palestinians as a group of people and quite honestly, the Palestinians have the right to determine their own future … not the US, not the Western advanced capitalist countries who along with the US are responsible in large part for this atrocity and provided cover for an ally committing genocide.
We want the genocide to end, we want ethnic cleansing to end, we want justice for the Palestinian people. Justice is not only the rebuilding of Gaza (and that needs to be done by Palestinians with their ideas), it is accountability for the genocide and war crimes. The famine must be ended and food, medicine and assistance must be allowed in. It is obvious but important to note that it was not Hamas that was preventing the flow of aid as the Israeli government insisted repeatedly.
We want the Palestinians living in the diaspora to have the right to return as guaranteed by the UN. We want the Palestinians to determine their future. Not Donald Trump or his son-in-law (and his appalling corrupt family) or his buddy Steve Witkoff and certainly not Tony Blair who gets massive amounts of funding from Larry Ellison (another pal of Trump) who funds his research institute .
The Palestinians will need support to recover from this genocide and those that committed the genocide must be held accountable, they must pay reparations and ensure that the funding for physical and psychological healing as well as cover rebuilding to replace what has been destroyed …
how do you replace one of the oldest churches in the area? You cannot … but you can give power to the voices of Palestinian people.
