Alice Bragg

Mother, Writer, founded a charity with partners in S. Africa, Brazil, UK & Palestine (2009-2016). For my blog

[Alice Bragg @alicebragg]

A short film explaining why Christians in Beit Sahour (near Bethlehem) are so concerned about new settlement on their doorstep, authorised only last December and not yet under construction.

Settlements surround Bethlehem, leaving little room for families to expand into new homes. Instead, the land is forcibly sequestered and dense towns erected on the site. Xavier Abu Eid, a Palestinian Christian political analyst, explains the various methods by which the Israeli state takes possession of Palestinian land.

It is already difficult - and extremely testing - for Christians in Beit Sahour. Restrictions are routinely imposed upon their movement and random acts of intimidation are a feature of everyday life.

This newly authorised settlement is right next to Beit Sahour, on their field where the Angel Gabriel is purported to have visited the shepherds by night. If construction begins, it will push many Christian residents to breaking point and they will leave the Holy Land.

If Beit Sahour goes, soon every Christian may be gone.

#ProtectAncientChristians

@DalrympleWill @journostephen @Vulnerable_VPP @OborneTweets @CottrellStephen

[Alice Bragg @alicebragg]

What have we become? While our craven leaders jostle for power and our judges betray this country, Anne Read and Trudi Warner, you are Britain’s very best.

[Saul Staniforth @SaulStaniforth]

Anne Read: "of course I do not class myself as a terrorist. I accept that I am classed as one by a govt that supports terrorist regimes"

Trudi Warner: "One of the tricks that authoritarian govts play is to label opponents.. as terrorists"

Both women were arrested yesterday.

[Alice Bragg @alicebragg]

@DouglasCarswell Almost as nuts as passing the Terrorism legislation in 2001

[Alice Bragg @alicebragg]

@YvetteCooperMP @lukeakehurst Why don’t you stop selling weapons to Isreal which continue to kill and injure unarmed civilians in Gaza?

[The Cradle @TheCradleMedia]

Leading medical journal The Lancet publishes call to expel Israeli Medical Association over Gaza genocide
——
Medical journal The Lancet has published a petition calling for the Israeli Medical Association to be boycotted and expelled from the World Medical Association over its failure to condemn what the petition describes as Israel's genocide against Palestinians and the collapse of Gaza's healthcare system.

The campaign, launched by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, Healthcare Workers for Palestine, and Doctors for Gaza, has so far received support from more than 1,150 healthcare professionals and medical organizations. The call for expulsion is expected to be raised at the World Medical Association's general assembly in October.

The Israeli Medical Association opposed the move, arguing that its expulsion would not advance peace, healthcare, or human rights, and would instead create a precedent for using political pressure campaigns to isolate healthcare workers based on their nationality.

[FriendsoftheHolyLand @Social_FHL]

Blessed Sunday from the Milk Grotto Church in Bethlehem, where the Holy Family found refuge before fleeing to Egypt. A drop of the Virgin Mary’s milk is believed to have turned the stone white, making it a cherished place of prayer, especially for couples hoping for children. 🙏

[Defend Our Juries @DefendOurJuries]

Sir Jonathon Porritt MBE risked arrest under the Terrorism Act yesterday outside Woolwich Crown Court as the sentencing of four direct actionists was being determined.

Met Police managed to arrest less than half of those holding the “offending” due to the sheer level of support.

[Alice Bragg @alicebragg]

Convict the Filton Four of breaking and entering! Convict them of criminal damage! Convict Even Corner with GBH!! But don’t invoke terrorism legislation to outlaw opposition to Israel’s actions in Gaza and our complicity in it.

Misusing legislation that we were ASSURED back in 2001 would NEVER be used to silence legitimate opposition is the first stumble in a perilous slide towards authoritarianism.

Judge Jeremy Johnson KC holding what amounted to a show trial last night at 7.30pm (The Old Bailey shuts at 4pm) is a televised warning to anyone willing to take action against what is happening currently in Gaza.

Rather than the intended silencing, I believe this will wake many of us up to what is happening: the erosion of our political rights as the government becomes increasingly less accountable and the judgement for criticising it increasingly more sever.

It’s not too late.

[Jonathan Cook @Jonathan_K_Cook]

There are lots of people on here drinking the security services Kool Aid over the sentencing of the Filton Four.

They believe the judge was right to overturn the jury's decision to convict four anti-genocide activists of criminal damage and make it a terrorism offence instead, overturning centuries of legal precedent.

Why? Because, they claim, the four activists broke / smashed / shattered a police woman's spine.

But that obviously can't be the explanation because three of the activists had nothing to do with that incident and yet they were convicted as terrorists by the judge anyway.

Even Samuel Corner, the activist who was convicted over this incident (which left the police woman with a minor fracture, according to the medical authorities who testified), shouldn't have been sentenced as a terrorist for it because that is not what the jury, which heard the actual evidence, decided.

The jury convicted Samuel Corner of grievous bodily harm *without intent*. The prosecution had charged him with GBH *with intent* because they needed that as his conviction to build a public mood in support of the proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation.

If Corner could be presented as having entered Israel's Elbit weapons factory with intent to commit violence, then the implication would be that the other activists were in on that plan – a conspiracy – and the government would be off the hook of violating fundamental legal norms by proscribing Palestine Action.

By stripping out intent, the jury pulled the rug from under the government's feet.

Judge Johnson's task was put the rug firmly back in place by riding roughshod over the jury's decision and sentencing them as terrorists anyway.

The timing couldn't be more convenient. On Monday, the Appeal Court will be deciding on the government's appeal against the High Court declaring its proscription of Palestine Action unlawful.

If you're peddling the "But they smashed the back of a police woman" line you've been fed by the Daily Mail and BBC, it's because that is exactly what the government needs you spouting as it upends our age-old rights to jury trials, as it stamps out an honourable tradition of direct action dating back to the Suffragettes and before, and as it gives itself cover for continuing complicity in a genocide.

Stop being a cuck. Don't fall for this psy-op.

[Alice Bragg @alicebragg]

I'm not sure how lawyers out there feel about this, but Judge Jeremy Johnson KC seems to running the British legal system like a market stall selling pick ‘n’ mix.

The Filton Four – a group of activists who broke into an Israeli weapons factory near Bristol which made parts for drones used on civilians on Gaza, are almost certainly going to prison for terrorism, sentenced by a jury tomorrow, who have no idea that terrorism is the crime they are sentencing upon.

Thanks to a highly controversial amendment to counter-terrorism legislation added in 2021, damaging Israeli drones is catalogued under seeking to ‘influence’ the Israeli government which falls under the definition of what a terrorist does. In this case, to stop using drones on unarmed women and children. Who on earth writes these laws, and what are they up to?

Ironically, Judge Johnson also ruled that that the defendants were not allowed to mention their motives for damaging the drones. In fact, the terms ‘genocide’ and ‘ethnic cleansing’ were banned from use in the court. Descriptions of what the weapons did were also banned. I’m not joking, by the way.

Senior staff from the weapons factory (Elbit Systems) gave evidence but Judge Johnson did not permit the defence to cross-examine them, and they were given anonymity. Meanwhile, a video of one of the Filton Four attacking a factory security guard, which was heavily edited to give a misleading impression of events, he allowed to be plastered all over the media. When Yvette Cooper and Sir Mark Rowley (the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police) referred to the groups offences as fact, thereby prejudicing the trial, this was deemed absolutely fine.

Worth noting, Judge Johnson is the same man who sentenced Tommy Robinson to 18 months for contempt of court, much of which was spent in solitary confinement.

But perhaps most sinister is Judge Johnson’s refusal to inform the jury that they had the absolute right to acquit. So trenchant was he in this position, he attempted to have the leading defence barrister, Rajiv Menon KC, prosecuted for contempt of court for informing the jury of their rights.

I recently watched ‘Judgement at Nuremburg’, a play by Abby Mann made into a 1960s classic film starring Marlena Dietrich and Spencer Tracy. In it, the Americans are trying Nazi judges for their part in Germany’s descent into barbarism. Like all brilliant theatre, the narrative highlights the complexities: competing pressures, the concept of sovereignty, emotions, the realities on the ground.

I cannot shake off memory of the speech by Burt Lancaster who plays a senior, once highly respected German judge explaining how he became complicit in concessions made in the courtroom which led to this great evil.

'There was a fever over the land. We had a democracy yes, but it was torn by elements within. Above all, there was fear, fear of today, fear of tomorrow, fear of our neighbours and fear of ourselves. Only when you understand that can you understand what Hitler meant to us.

What about those of us who knew better? We, who knew the words were lies? And worse than lies? Why did we sit silent? Why did we take part? Because we loved our country.

What difference does it make if a few political extremists lose their rights? What difference does it make if a few racial minorities lose their rights? It is only a passing phase. It is only a stage we are going through. It will be discarded sooner or later. Hitler himself will be discarded sooner or later. The country is in danger.

And history tells how well we succeeded, Your Honour. We succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. The very elements of hate and power about Hitler that mesmerised Germany, mesmerised the world.

And then one day we looked around and found that we were in a more terrible danger. The ritual began in this courtroom swept over the land like raging, roaring disease. What was going to be a passing phase had become the way of life.'

[Alice Bragg @alicebragg]

Tyre is mentioned in the Gospels. It is where Christ healed at Syrophoenician woman’s child.

[sarah @sahouraxo]

BREAKING

Israel is now threatening to bomb the Christian Quarter in the city of Tyre, South Lebanon.

There are no military targets.

This is one of the oldest continuously inhabited Christian areas in southern Lebanon — over 2,000 years old.

Not a peep from Western governments

[Alice Bragg @alicebragg]

One of the students is Natalie Abu Dayyeh

A female player in the Palestine National Soccer Team

Israeli Occupation Forces arrested Natalie after raiding their students' dormitory near Birzeit University last night and detaining her along with three of her fellow students.

Natalie is an inspiring role model for young Palestinian women. She joined the Soccer Team at the age of six and grew and developed through the team's sports and educational programs until she became one of Palestine's best women soccer players.

Over the years, Natalie has strengthened her athletic, personal, and leadership skills, becoming a living example of a young Palestinian woman capable of achieving success and overcoming challenges.

She has also played an important role in encouraging girls' and women’s participation in sports and challenging stereotypes regarding the role of women in society.

Alongside her sporting career, Natalie is pursuing a degree in Journalism and Media at Birzeit University, successfully combining academic excellence with athletic achievement.

Her journey reflects the aspirations of a generation of Palestinian youth striving to build their future through education, knowledge, and community engagement.

The detention of Natalie and her fellow students from within their university residence highlights the Israeli violations against Palestinian students that affect their fundamental rights, including the right to education, personal security, and freedom of expression.

It also reflects the growing challenges confronting Palestinian youth as they seek to continue their education and participate fully in academic and community life.

[Mosab Abu Toha @MosabAbuToha]

This morning in Palestine, Israel took four Palestinian female students hostage during a raid on the town of Birzeit in Ramallah.
The four female are students at the renowned Birzeit University. Three of them were kidnapped from their homes

[Alice Bragg @alicebragg]

This is a very good way to spend 10mins of your life. @frankwrighter explains the current political, social and economic landscape in Britain with insight and deeply-felt concern. His clarity is refreshing.

@vpopulimedia @WillColeshill

[Frank Wright @frankwrighter]

I went up to Makerfield to canvass for @RestoreBritain_ - and explained why Restore is the only party which will save the nation:

[Alice Bragg @alicebragg]

The power fear has to rob decent people of their humanity

[The Resonance @Partisan_12]

Israelis gather at this observation deck daily, happy to see Gaza in total ruins.

Not all Israelis... Only 82% of them.

[Alice Bragg @alicebragg]

Rosary prayer at the Holy Family Church, Gaza, during the Marian month.

Image thanks to @Social_FHL

[Alice Bragg @alicebragg]

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[☧ Milad ܝܠܕܐ @PalCatholic]

✝️ Saint George is one of the most beloved saints in Palestine.

He was born in Lydda, and his tomb remains there to this day. He’s also known as Al-Khader الخضر and is respected by many Muslims as well.
You’ll find his image, statue, or name everywhere in the Holy Land.

[Alice Bragg @alicebragg]

@frankwrighter @RestoreBritain_ Stand as an MP for Restore. Don’t even think about it. Just do it.

[Ihab Hassan @IhabHassane]

BREAKING: The Israeli army stormed the Christian city of Bethlehem in the West Bank and fired tear gas toward homes, filling the air with smoke and forcing many residents to flee their areas.
https://t.co/QiOAbofNdn

[FriendsoftheHolyLand @Social_FHL]

Blessed Sunday from Burqin Church, The Church of Saint George in Burqin, west of Jenin, is one of the oldest churches in the world, dating back to the 4th–5th century. It is known for the cave where Jesus healed the ten lepers. A truly beautiful and holy place to visit!