1/8 The horrors of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians ratchet up unabated.
In this piece, I reflect on bearing witness while trying to find more impactful ways to resist and take direct action against the forces of genocide and empire:
https://t.co/yeXABagO3o
Today the Court of Appeal upheld the Labour government’s proscription of Palestine Action by saying they aren’t a peaceful civil disobedience group like the suffragettes and that Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, is "a company pursuing a lawful business."
The suffragettes bombed the Chancellor's house, planted a bomb outside the Bank of England, burned down churches and train stations, and smashed up art galleries.
Palestine Action destroyed drones used to kill Palestinians in Gaza because Elbit's “lawful business” is arming a genocide.
The British state is rewriting history and dismantling our legal system to protect Israel, a genocidal apartheid state.
Today’s ruling to uphold the UK government's proscription of Palestine Action is a travesty of justice.
One by one, the very foundations of our democracy are being destroyed — all to oil the wheels of British complicity in genocide.
Our government has participated in the mass murder of Palestinians. That is the real crime, and we must bring about justice.
Apartheid South Africa and Nazi Germany needed compliant judges to provide a legal veneer to their darkest crimes.
Judge Johnson joins their wretched company. He overturned a jury's conviction of four anti-genocide activists for criminal damage and sentenced them as terrorists instead.
As one their barristers pointed out, the four defendants were initially arrested by police on suspicion of involvement in an act of terrorism. But the prosecution decided not to charge them with terrorism offences because it knew no jury would ever convict them based on the evidence.
Instead the Crown held two trials: a sham one for the jury, and the real one conducted in secret by the judge. That is not justice. It is a show trial worthy of the worst tyrannical regimes.
Sentenced and imprisoned on grounds of “terrorism” that no jury ever convicted them of.
Meanwhile, the British government continues to aid and abet the greatest crime of our time.
A historic miscarriage of justice — and a truly dark day for civil liberties in this country.
This is barbaric. They were not permitted to explain to the jury why they carried out the attack on the Elbit factory - which makes the weapons that kill Palestinian children. And the jury was never told they would be sentenced as terrorists. /1
More than 30 UK charities are found to have funnelled millions to illegal Israeli settlements. ‘Labour’s Melanie Ward said that if gift aid were claimed against the donations in the usual way, it would mean taxpayers had subsidised illegal settlements to the tune of £5.6m, a situation she described as deplorable’ - @guardian@melanie_ward
We’ve reached the point where Nazi Germany placed less restrictions on foreign participation in the 1936 Olympics than has the United States for the upcoming FIFA World Cup.
Dirty rotten scoundrel Gianni Infantino must never be allowed to live down his obsequious sycophancy towards the US leadership.
Banning Cenk Uyghur and Hasan Piker from entering the UK is an absurd and cowardly decision from an increasingly authoritarian government.
Let us call this what it is: an attack on the freedom to criticise Israel, as well as the UK government’s own complicity in genocide.
Two details to add:
1- Israeli hospitals profit massively from treating the handful of Palestinians they allow in (they charge the Palestinian Authority $100 million per year)
2- Israel blackmails Palestinian cancer patients; become an informant to get allowed out of Gaza
Sources:
https://t.co/QdIoLmSlPI
https://t.co/FSqKREe7Es
Let’s talk about Rania Mallah, killed yesterday in an Israeli strike on Bourj al-Shamali in Tyre.
For 12 hours, Rania was buried beneath the rubble & known to still be alive.
Her family kept calling her mobile phone.
She would switch it on to let them know she was still there. Still breathing. Still waiting to be rescued.
To let Lebanese Civil Defence rescuers know where she was trapped.
Rescue teams pulled others out & kept digging with their bare hands in search of her, until orders came to halt all rescue operations until the following morning.
But they had Rania’s number.
They kept calling her.
And she kept answering.
She never spoke.
But they could hear her breathing.
For 12 hours, Rania lay there alone beneath broken concrete, stones, darkness, dust & fear. Most likely injured. Listening to voices above her, knowing people were trying to reach her but were being prevented from continuing.
Just like in Maarakeh, rescuers were forced to stop searching overnight.
Still, they kept calling her phone to give her hope. To let her know she had not been abandoned.
By around 1:00 a.m., roughly 12 hours after the strike, her phone finally went dead.
The battery had most likely run out.
This morning, rescuers resumed the search.
They found Rania.
Next to her was her mobile phone.
She had died.
Israel killed her twice.
The first time with a bomb.
The second time when rescuers were prevented from saving her.
to whomever made this: thank you from the wells of history and farthest echoes of indigenous screams for justice for this labor of love and justice.
their terror will not be whitewashed.
absolutely losing my mind that you have hundreds of international citizens who were been abducted, abused, some raped and tortured by Israel and… crickets in our news media. We are beyond “complicity” and ‘giving Israel impunity’ - its complete acquiescence and surrender.
Britain was complicit in the Nakba 78 years ago. Britain is complicit in the genocide today.
The only point on which I disagree, is that British complicity in and responsibility for crimes against the Palestinian people extends far beyond 78 years.
78 years ago, 800,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes. Britain made it possible.
Today, Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Britain made it possible.
78 years of the Nakba - and 78 years of British complicity in crimes against the Palestinian people.
78 years ago, 800,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes. Britain made it possible.
Today, Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Britain made it possible.
78 years of the Nakba - and 78 years of British complicity in crimes against the Palestinian people.
Today is "Jerusalem Day" in Israel.
The day celebrates Israel's conquest of Jerusalem in June 1967. Here's a short synopsis on what is being celebrated:
Shortly after Israel occupied Jerusalem, on June 10, 1967, Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek ordered 650-1,000 Palestinians living in the Moroccan neighborhood of Jerusalem to evacuate their homes, given only a few hours. https://t.co/LddbbxKx9Q
Israeli bulldozers then worked around the clock to level the entire neighborhood, destroying 135 houses, two mosques, and several religious shrines. At least one elderly woman, Rasmiyya Tabaki, was reportedly buried alive in the rubble because she did not hear the evacuation order. https://t.co/ZbAFQbi7Dd
Then, on June 19, Israel’s cabinet decided to annex Jerusalem, including some seventy square kilometers of the West Bank, later called East Jerusalem.
Israeli occupation forces imposed curfews & arbitrarily detained Palestinians throughout Jerusalem, causing about 7% of the population, about 5,000-7,000 Palestinians, mostly 1948 refugees, to flee the city. https://t.co/UDBVZzKEY8
Israeli forces then expelled another 4,000 Palestinians from the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, replacing them with Jews, and continued to deport the city’s prominent residents in the summer of 1967 and beyond, including ‘Abd al-Hamid al-Sa’ih and Ruhi Alkhatib. https://t.co/cFhXfrcUhw
Israel then conducted a census to determine who would be provided a “Jerusalem ID.” Some 26,000 Palestinians, about 37% of the population, happened to be outside the city at the time of the census and lost the right to live in their own city. https://t.co/XIJnrrw3XV
But Israel had grander plans for depopulation. For weeks after the war’s end, Israel provided free bus service from Jerusalem and other parts of the occupied territory to the border with Jordan. “For days and weeks lines of buses ran from the Damascus Gate [in Jerusalem] to the Allenby Bridge [on the River Jordan],” as Israeli President, Chaim Herzog, revealed publicly and proudly years later. The buses were labeled “To Amman -- Free of Charge.” https://t.co/g2zOdbbJR7
Palestinians were only allowed to cross the border if they signed a statement acknowledging they were leaving on their own volition. "There were also not a few people who were simply expelled,” an Israeli soldier confessed. “We forced them to sign. They did not want to leave, but were dragged from the bus while being kicked and hit by revolver butts. By the time they arrived to my stall, they were usually already completely blurred at this stage and did not care much about signing. It seemed to them part of the process.” Nothing screams "voluntary" like a signature requirement! https://t.co/g2zOdbbJR7
The soldiers turned violent in cases of disobedience. “When someone refused to give me his hand [for fingerprinting] they came and beat him badly,” he said. “Then I was forcibly taking his thumb, immersing it in ink and finger printing him. This way the refuseniks were removed. . . I have no doubt that tens of thousands of men were removed against their will.” Nothing screams of “voluntary decision” quite like a forced declaration. https://t.co/g2zOdbbJR7
Jerusalem Day is the celebration of occupation, violence, ethnic cleansing and murder. No surprise that today, is the day Israeli Jews chant death to the Arabs and roam around Jerusalem destroying Palestinian property and attacking Palestinians. It's a celebration of Israel's apartheid regime.
İtalya'nın 75'ten fazla kentinde, İsrail'in tamamen boykot edilmesi ve tüm bağların koparılması talebiyle ülke çapında genel grev düzenlendi.
▪️İtalya, Başbakanı Meloni'nin Filistin Devleti'ni tanımayı reddetmesinin ardından Filistin destekçisi kalabalıklar sokaklara indi.
▪️Milano, Napoli, Floransa ve Torino gibi büyük şehirlerin sokakları milyonlarca protestocuyla doldu.
▪️Ülkede ulaşım, eğitim, lojistik ve diğer sektörleri etkileyen ve çok sayıda işçi sendikasının katıldığı genel grev nedeniyle 24 saat boyunca felç oldu.
▪️Filistin yanlısı liman işçileri, İsrail'e silah gönderilmesini engellemek için önemli limanlara erişimi engelleyerek birçok bölgede lojistiğin durmasına yol açtı.
▪️Milano'da ise polisin merkez istasyon yakınlarında göstericilerle çatışması ve kalabalığı kontrol altına almak için göz yaşartıcı gaz kullanması sonucu sokaklarda kaos yaşandı.
Protestocular şunları talep etti:
1) Filistin Devleti'nin tanınması.
2) İsrail'e silah satışlarının durdurulması.
3) Netanyahu hükümetine yaptırımlar.
4) Gazze'deki soykırımın sona ermesi.