Ravinder Randhawa

Blogger @HuffPostUK. Author 'The Coral Strand', 'Beauty and the Beast'. :'Dynamite', & 'A Wicked Old Woman'

[Howard Beckett @HowardRBeckett]

UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese again nails it:

•It is not ‘war’, there are not two armies;
•It is a settler, colonial occupation;
•It is a genocide & needs to end now

Stop arming Israel 🇮🇱 today

Recognise Palestine 🇵🇸 before it’s too late.

[yasemin dildar @yasemindildar]

This photo made my day. Solidarity with #GiselePelicot and all survivors.

[AJ+ @ajplus]

"You can pretend that falafel and hummus and zaatar are your ancient cuisines. But in the recesses of your being, you will always feel the sting of this epic forgery."

Palestinian writer and activist Susan Abulhawa delivered this passionate speech at the Oxford Union.

[Palestine in the UK @Palestine_in_UK]

“If I must die, you must live to tell my story” - Palestinian poet Refaat Al Areer.

Israel killed Refaat on this day, 7 December, a year ago.

Refaat was also an academic, teaching English at one of the universities destroyed by #Israel.

“If I must die, let it bring hope, let it be a tale.”

Reading by British Actor Brian Cox.

[ravinder singh @RaviSinghKA]

Best wishes to the people of #Syria

With the political change in #Syria I wish all refugees a safe return home,it’s been such a difficult journey for them & those in the country. Praying for a peaceful future for the little ones ❤️

#SyrianRefugees #Syrian #Peace #KhalsaAid

[Ed Davey @EdwardJDavey]

MPs have voted for Sarah Olney's Bill to introduce proportional representation.

This is a crucial step towards fixing our broken electoral system and ensuring every vote counts.

[Narinder Kaur @narindertweets]

"I want the institution to understand: if you want us inside, you need to listen to us outside. Ceasefire now, arms embargo now, free Palestine.”

Jasleen KAUR.
Kaur's stand for justice

[Jonathon Shafi @Jonathon_Shafi]

Quite a moment to see this on my feed. Was in the same year as Jasleen in school. An incredible achievement to win the Turner Prize and a principled acceptance speech. Bravo!

[Led By Donkeys @ByDonkeys]

“My name is Amos Goldberg. I am an Israeli Professor of Holocaust Studies. For nearly 30 years I have researched and taught the Holocaust, genocide and state violence.

And I want to tell whoever is willing to listen that what’s happening now in Gaza is a genocide.

A year ago when October 7th happened, like all Israelis I was in shock. It was a war crime and a crime against humanity. 1200 people - more than 800 of them civilians - were killed in one day. Children and the elderly were among those taken hostage. Communities were destroyed. It was outrageous, traumatizing, personal. Like most Israelis, I know people who were killed, who lost loved ones or whose loved ones were taken hostage.

But immediately afterwards came Israel’s response and within weeks thousands of civilians were killed in Gaza. It took me some time to digest what was unfolding before my eyes. It was agonizing to confront that reality. I was reluctant to call it a genocide.

But if you read Raphael Lemkin – the Jewish-Polish legal scholar who coined the term ‘genocide’ and was the major driving force behind the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention – what is happening in Gaza now is exactly what he had in mind when he spoke about genocide.

It does not need to look like the Holocaust to be a genocide. Each genocide looks different and not all involve killing of millions or the entire group. The United Nations Genocide Convention explicitly asserts that genocide is the act of deliberately destroying a group in whole or in part. Those are the words.

But there does need to be a clear intent.

And indeed, there are clear indications of intent to destroy Gaza: Israel’s leaders - including the prime minister and the minister of defence - and many high-ranking military officers, media personalities, rabbis, as well as ordinary soldiers were very open about what they wanted to achieve. There were countless documented incitements to turn the whole of Gaza into rubble and claims that there are no innocent people living there.

A radical atmosphere of dehumanization of the Palestinians prevails in Israeli society to an extent that I can’t remember in my 58 years of living here.

Now that vision has been enacted. Tens of thousands of innocent children, women and men have been killed. Over a hundred thousand were wounded. There is a near total destruction of infrastructure, intentional starvation and blocking of humanitarian aid. There are mass graves and reliable testimony of summary executions. Children that were shot by snipers. All the universities and almost all hospitals are gone. Almost all the population is displaced. There have been numerous bombings of civilians in so-called ‘safe zones’. Gaza does not exist anymore. It is completely destroyed. Thus, the outcome fits perfectly with the stated intentions of Israel’s leadership.

Lemkin - that scholar who coined the term ‘genocide’ - described two phases of a genocide. The first is the destruction of the annihilated group and the second is what he called ‘imposition of the national pattern’ of the perpetrator. We are now witnessing the second phase as Israel prepares ethnically cleansed areas for Israeli settlements.

And therefore, I have come to the conclusion that this is exactly what a genocide looks like. We don’t teach about genocides in order to realize it retrospectively. We teach about it in order to prevent it and to stop it.

But like in every other case of genocide in history right now we have mass denial. Both here in Israel and around the world.

But reality cannot be denied.

So yes, it is a genocide.

And once you come to this conclusion you cannot remain silent.”

- Statement to Led By Donkeys, December 2024
- Photo: Parliament Square, London, 8.40am, 4th December 2024

[WearThePeace @WearThePeaceCo]

looked at the judge and started begging, “Let me just put my finger in that hole and touch his finger. Just let me squeeze my finger with my kiss through the hole.” And he agreed but told me to wait… and I started thanking the judge.... (2/3)

[Mai El-Sadany @maitelsadany]

Heartshattering to learn an Israeli drone has targeted and assassinated Mahmoud Almadhoun, one of the founders and chefs behind the Gaza Soup Kitchen.

What started as four pots and essential ingredients in Bait Lahia had grown into a remarkable effort to feed 3,000 people daily.

[EuropeanPowell @EuropeanPowell]

I am very much alone in speaking out and exposing the non-mandated installation of 86 free zones complete with their deregulated corporate corruption soon to be bringing catastrophic impacts across the UK.
I don't see any evidence of the MSM investigating SEZs. The House of Commons Committee published an April 2024 report into England's 48 SEZs and 8 Freeports was damning reading, citing lack of transparency, questions over value for taxpayers money, and ignoring the Nolan principles. They recommended the National Audit Office investigate, but this was rejected by Rachel Reeves, who was barely 6 days into office.
Last week Keir Starmer announced a govt partnership with Blackrock, the most criminally corrupt shadow bank in the world.
4 months ago the Guardian published an article that Blackrock will privatise the UK, how do you even proceed when the MSM does not push for a serious critical analysis of Blackrock partnering with Starmer's changed Labour party? This is insane.
https://t.co/nSMR3j0UaW
I will keep going because the truth will come out, it has to.

[YSL STANDARDS @YSLstandards]

Gisèle Pelicot graces the cover of vogue germany, on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

[Katharine Horgan @katharinehorgan]

London please help. I’m praying for a miracle, I’ve just got into the office and noticed my mums locket (in all these photos) that I wear every day has fallen off my neck on my walk in. My mum died when I was seven and her jewellery is most of what I have of her. I’m devastated

[Torsten Bell @TorstenBell]

So much misinformation around today on who will be affected by changes to inheritance tax - and lobbyists pretending the data isn't clear to obfuscate. We have detailed data on estates so the truth is in fact very clear if you care to look 🧵

[Professor Jagbir Jhutti-Johal OBE @JhuttiJay]

Wishing everyone a very happy Guru Nanak Dev Ji Gurpurab. Guru Nanak’s unique message was of oneness, service, truth, respect and political/social activism and is so relevant today. #HappyGurpurab #GuruNanak #Sikh

[Sarah Wilkinson @swilkinsonbc]

An elderly Palestinian man demands that water be provided to the children of Gaza — we are dying of thirst, he adds, and the world should intervene

[Tej Pal Singh Ralmill @TejpalRalmill]

Thank you @ametcalfe42 for introducing @amritmaanldn and I at the #festivalofremembrance with some of the talented people behind this fantastic programme.
Great to have met you @mahthussain as well as @narinderminhas from @cardiffprods.

[Led By Donkeys @ByDonkeys]

King Charles charges this RNLI lifeboat station to launch its boat because he owns the beach. And they’re not the only charity he’s rinsing

(Location: Sennen Cove, Cornwall)