Ed Carpenter

[Palestine Solidarity Campaign @PSCupdates]

The Met Police is in talks with Palantir about using its tech in investigations.

Palantir's software is in Israel's genocide in Gaza. It must not be handed more public money.

If you’re in London, tell Sadiq Khan to stop all contracts with Palantir: https://t.co/FAv4ebLReQ

[Novara Media @novaramedia]

In the Commons last week, @ZarahSultana used parliamentary privilege to expose a court order that restricts reporting on certain aspects of a live criminal case, withholding important information from both jurors and the British public. But neither Novara nor any other British media outlet can safely report or play the contents of what she said.

On Wednesday night’s Novara Live, the Your Party MP joined host Steven Methven to discuss what she described as an “insane” attack “on all of our civil liberties".

“The fact that only Parliament TV, only Hansard, can report on it tells you what the British state is all about - and it is about curtailing our rights to organise, to resist, to challenge when the state overreaches,” she said. “I think it is scary.”

Parliamentary privilege protects Sultana from prosecution for what she said in the chamber, but breaching the order outside of the House of Commons could be considered contempt of court, carrying a maximum two-year prison sentence.

“I was surprised to learn that the British media has no absolute right to report on what MPs say in our own parliament,” Methven said on the show.

“I’m scared that a lot of people don’t even know what’s happening,” Sultana replied. “The fact that American organisations and non-UK organisations are the only ones reporting on this is scary. How do we organise against this? And how do we fight back?”

While he did not reveal the contents of Sultana’s 14 April speech, which can still be viewed online in the Parliament TV archive, Methven said that her statement was connected to very general issues relating to jury trials and the government’s current attack on them, as well as counter-terror law.

Sultana said she found the court order frightening. "[It] should be a wake-up call to everyone who cares about our civil liberties, who cares about our right to a fair trial,” she said. “The fact that this is happening and there is complete and utter secrecy... It is frightening, it is dystopian, it is often what we associate with authoritarian governments across the world when we highlight abuses of human rights, and in fact, it’s happening right here, right now.”

[John Wight @JohnWight1]

This image does more to help the world understand what Israel represents than any number of weighty tomes on the subject could ever come close to achieving.

A putrefying sewer of hate, barbarism, and cultural/religious vandalism deployed in the name of ethno-supremacy.

[Defend Our Juries @DefendOurJuries]

BREAKING - @zarahsultana exercises Parliamentary Privilege to expose the unjust nature of the Filton 24 re-trial.

UK press has been court ordered not to publish these details.

“If convicted, they and 18 others will be sentenced as terrorists, but the jury will not be told that”

[Arnaud Bertrand @RnaudBertrand]

France is on the eve of voting one of the most shameful laws in its history: it would effectively outlaw criticism of Israel and criminalize any speech seen as even remotely sympathetic to whoever the French government chooses to designate a "terrorist group."

In effect this law would turn France's foreign policy into unchallengeable dogma backed by prison time. You could literally be sent for 5 years in prison if you, for instance, call what France says are "terrorists" a "resistance group."

Think for instance Nelson Mandela during the apartheid (the ANC was on every Western terrorist list) or, heck, France's own Résistance against Nazi Germany - designated as "terrorists" by the Vichy regime and the Nazi occupation.

It's frankly absolutely insane.

The new law is called "loi Yadan" after its author Caroline Yadan, a MP who represents French expatriates living in Israel. The U.S. has congressmen paid by AIPAC: France has cut out the middleman entirely, we have MPs whose constituency is literally in Israel.

The law has already passed committee and heads to a full parliamentary vote on April 16th - 3 days from now - under a very unusual fast-track procedure. Seven of eleven parliamentary groups have said they'll vote yes and the law is expected to pass.

What does the law say? Let me quote from it directly (full text here: https://t.co/m03R4z0gX6):

1) Article 1 introduces the concept of "implicit" provocation to terrorism and punishes it with five years imprisonment and a fine of €75,000

That's the one I was speaking about. Under this provision, describing anyone France designates as terrorist as a "resistance movement" - the way France describes its own Résistance against Nazi occupation - could effectively become a crime.

The key concept is what does "implicit provocation to terrorism" mean? Nobody knows. And that's the point. It means whatever a prosecutor wants it to mean: a perfectly good case could be made that, for instance, quoting international law on the right of occupied peoples to resist with respect to Hamas is, in fact, "implicit provocation to terrorism."

France's most famous anti-terrorism judge, Marc Trévidic, says he has never seen anything like it in his entire career (https://t.co/CytQnuK3hS): "Implicit provocation to terrorism: do you realize what that means? Becoming a censor of other people's thoughts, trying to guess what a person really meant."

2) The same article also expands the terrorism apology offense to include "minimizing or trivializing acts of terrorism in an outrageous manner."

This is even crazier: until now, "apology of terrorism" meant actually expressing a favorable judgment of "terrorist acts" (which is already insane because, as we all know, one person's terrorist is another's freedom fighter).

Well, under this new provision, a judge could decide that providing context, explaining root causes, or insufficiently condemning an act amounts to "trivializing" terrorism - and that would now be punishable with 5 years in prison.

So, for instance, a history teacher explaining the origins of Hamas or Hezbollah is providing context - but a prosecutor could argue that contextualization is trivialization. The same reasoning could apply to a journalist, a researcher, or anyone on social media who says "yes, it was terrible, but here's why it happened." The "but" becomes a crime, as it is trivialization.

3) Article 4 expands Holocaust denial law

Under current French law, denying the Holocaust is already a crime. This provision extends that crime by specifying that contestation of crimes against humanity now includes, "whatever its formulation, a negation, minimization, or outrageous trivialization" of those crimes.

Again with "outrageous trivialization"! In this instance the very authors of the text - Caroline Yadan and her colleagues - explain their reasoning explicitly in the law's preamble (https://t.co/rIiYQbbk23): "Comparing the State of Israel to the Nazi regime would thereby be punishable as an outrageous trivialization of the Shoah."

So while the provision is written in general terms, its architects are openly saying what it's for: making it a crime to draw any parallel between Israel's actions and those of the Nazis.

4) Article 2 creates a brand new crime: calling for the destruction of a state.

The law adds to an existing 1881 press law a provision punishing anyone who "publicly, in disregard of the right of peoples to self-determination and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, calls for the destruction of a state recognized by the French Republic." Five years imprisonment, €75,000 fine.

The qualifiers about self-determination and the UN Charter are meant to sound reassuring. But what does "destruction" mean? In practice, if you advocate for a one-state solution where Israelis and Palestinians live as equals, you are de-facto calling for the "destruction" of the state of Israel. Well, that would now be punishable by 5 years in prison 🤷

There you go. Absolutely insane: if this new law passes, and it unfortunately very much looks like it will, France - the country that gave the world the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the country whose national identity is built on the Résistance - will have made it illegal to use the word 'resistance' about anyone the government doesn't like. Jean Moulin would be prosecuted. De Gaulle would be prosecuted.

The only people who wouldn't be prosecuted are those who stay silent. Which, of course, is the whole point.

[Mark Seddon @MarkSeddon1962]

Remember that this appalling piece of legislation, worthy only of a police state, was brought in by a Labour Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, the same Yvette Cooper who is sometime pictured wearing a suffragette sash.

[Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt @FranceskAlbs]

One of Orwell's nightmares materialised would be this: potential war criminals and arm manufacturers implicated in a genocide allowed to roam and operate freely, while citizens get arrested for opposing a genocide.

[Defend Our Juries @DefendOurJuries]

BREAKING: An elderly man with a walking stick is arrested again for holding a sign in support of Palestine Action.

The police know the ban was ruled unlawful, yet they are wrongly arresting hundreds of peaceful protestors.

https://t.co/VvG6tJnqRO

[Defend Our Juries @DefendOurJuries]

BREAKING: Police unlawfully arrest Elizabeth Morley, aged 80, under the Terrorism Act.

Whilst being taken away for peacefully holding a sign in support of Palestine Action, she says the mass arrests are a "very stupid thing to do".

[Palestine Solidarity Campaign @PSCupdates]

The government is handing lucrative contracts to Palantir, a notorious US corporation providing AI and surveillance technology used as an essential part of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

TAKE ACTION: Write to Starmer to demand all contracts with Palantir are cancelled: https://t.co/A3RORaeabm

[Steve Sweeney @SweeneySteve]

More than 250 killed, many missing under the rubble, kids orphaned, a massacre at a funeral, 8 killed in a cafe, emergency workers and ambulances targeted and civilian buildings levelled in a day of I$raeli terror.

But for @BBCNews it was framed as I$rael targeting 100 Hezb0llah command centres in 10 minutes.

Disgusting

[Jeremy Corbyn @jeremycorbyn]

The UK Foreign Secretary says she is “deeply troubled" by Israel's latest massacre in Lebanon.

So “troubled” that the government still supplies Israel with weapons and intelligence.

Israel is committing war crimes in Lebanon - and this government is shamefully complicit.

[Peace & Justice Project @corbyn_project]

Any government who continues to arm Israel is complicit in their ethnic cleansing, mass murder and genocide.

[Declassified UK @declassifiedUK]

We will remember that when Trump threatened to genocide Iran saying “A whole civilisation will die tonight”, neither the PM, deputy PM, foreign or defence secretaries said anything about it in public.

[The Grayzone @TheGrayzoneNews]

The BBC's @GhonchehAzad drew outrage for publishing a quote demanding Iran be nuked, then quietly removed it

She’s since been revealed as a dedicated regime change activist whose career was launched by a CIA-founded propaganda network

By @wyattreed13
https://t.co/YN0macjPJD

[Jeremy Corbyn @jeremycorbyn]

The President of the United States has threatened genocide against the Iranian people.

This is an open admission of the intent to commit crimes against humanity. How on earth can the world just sit by and let Trump get away with such depravity?

Our own government’s complicity, appeasement and moral failure has brought us to this moment.

The Prime Minister must, at a minimum, revoke the use of British air bases for US bombers — and demand an immediate end to the illegal attacks on Iran, now.

[Soureh 🟩☫🟥 @Soureh_design2]

This is the oldest usable bridge in the world.

The Old Bridge of Dezful was built in 255 AD by order of Shapur I of Sassanid.

Human chain on the Old Bridge of Dezful against Trump's threats

There are several human chains in Iran's infrastructure

[🔻 🇰🇵National Juche 🟩☫🟥 🪂🇵🇸🇾🇪🇱🇧🇨🇳 @nationaljuche]

When you buy U.S. products or services, you fund this insane empire.

Always choose the least American option.

[Mark Seddon @MarkSeddon1962]

Wes wouldn't have been much good as a witness for the Prosecution against Hermann Goering would he?

[Big Brother Watch @BigBrotherWatch]

🚨NEW: We've just launched a speedy tool for YOU to tell the Government what you think about a sweeping digital ID scheme

This scheme will not only cost the public purse but also come at the expense of our rights & freedoms.

Take action today⤵️
https://t.co/ctwJyjP5jM