Israeli Defense Minister Katz: "Israel’s plan for voluntary emigration [ethnic cleansing] of Gazans will be implemented at the proper time and in the proper manner.”
Openly talking about war crimes.
When will the ICC issue an arrest warrant for this war criminal?
John McGinn is casually enjoying the ULTIMATE football career:
• Winner of St Mirren's first major trophy (Scottish League Cup) in 26 years (2013).
• Winner of Hibs' first Scottish Cup in 114 years (2016).
• Scorer of Aston Villa’s winning goal in play-off final at Wembley, marking the club’s return to the Premier League following three year absence (2019).
• Part of Scotland team that qualified for Euro 2020, the country's first major tournament for 22 years (2020).
• Part of Scotland team that qualified for the country's first World Cup in 28 years (2025).
• Captain of Europa League-winning Aston Villa team, the club's first major trophy in 30 years (2026).
Legendary. 🏴
The fact that there’s more noise about Zack Polanski not paying some council tax on a narrow boat, than there is about Nigel Farage taking a £5m bribe to run as an MP….confirms that it’s pretty fucking impossible to have functioning democracy AND a billionaire owned ‘free’ press
UK gilt yields have hit an 18-year high. That's not because the economy collapsed. It's because bond markets fear Labour might elect a slightly more left-wing leader. When financial markets seek to constrain democratic choice, that is not economic discipline. It is political power, exercised without a ballot. https://t.co/Si9LORlRHt
The Filton 6 have delivered their own closing statements in the trial. you can read them here: https://t.co/Jvhw80toPV
Each of them is powerful and should be read. I post here Zoe Rogers' powerful closing defense:
As you’ve probably noticed, I decided to represent myself in this trial. Not because my barrister was doing a bad job or anything – we’ve actually become close friends – and I’m constantly telling the others I have the best barrister. I am so grateful for everything she has done for me, in this trial and the last. But this time I wanted to be able to speak to you myself.
During this trial you’ve heard some very important evidence. You’ve heard that there are factories on British soil making weapons to send to Israel. You’ve heard that the drones they make include Thor VTOL Quadcopters used to drop grenades, drones that are advertised as ‘battle tested’ on Palestinians. You’ve heard that drones use AI to target children, and that Magni X surveillance drones work in tandem with ‘killer drones’, and that Research & Development carried out in the UK is vital to the Israeli military. You’ve also heard that the Filton site was opened by the Israeli Ambassador, that it has export licences to Israel, that Elbit itself is the ‘backbone’ of the Israeli military.
You heard how we tried every democratic means available to us, including demonstrations, fundraisers, encampments, petitions, writing to MPs, stickers leading to Amnesty International information about the apartheid, vigils, arms factory pickets, the list goes on. And how none of it worked. You heard how direct action is effective, how it ended apartheid during the civil rights movement in America, how it is being used in the UK today to shut down weapons factories, 4 of which have been closed permanently.
You’ve heard that after we destroyed these drones we were arrested for terrorism – were held incommunicado – spent 18 months in prison without trial. You’ve heard that this is a retrial.
After hearing the 6 of us give evidence you might think it odd that what’s happening in Palestine has gone completely unmentioned, you might have noticed certain words that have been blacklisted, that until our closing speeches the word genocide wasn’t said once. There have been interruptions from the prosecution, quick subject changes from our barristers – it’s almost as if whole topics of conversation have been banned. The prosecution know full well that we are right that this factory is supplying weapons to Israel to be used in Gaza. That is why they are choosing to suppress it rather than contest it. The prosecution have decided that the legality of Israel’s actions is irrelevant in this trial. Because they know you could not in good conscience find us guilty of anything if you were allowed to hear the whole truth.
To find us guilty of criminal damage you have to be sure. You might recognise the term ‘beyond reasonable doubt’, it’s the same thing. And I’m going to use an analogy to explain this, because unlike this lot, I don’t have a legal degree.
Let’s imagine that you and someone you love have gone on holiday together. And one day you decide to go parachuting. Now, you’d want to be sure that this parachute is going to catch you. You wouldn’t just buy a cheap one off of Amazon, wouldn’t borrow one off a friend that had been rotting in their shed for a while. Because you’d want to know everything about this parachute! Its history, who had made it, how it had been used, maybe even its motivations? Because you’d want to know that as you’re plummeting towards the ground, when you set off that mechanism that parachute is going to catch you, because if you’re not sure, well, that’s a pretty permanent mistake. And this decision is no different. It is just as permanent, with life-changing consequences, and most importantly, you cannot take it back.
The prosecution have to make you sure, for you to be able to convict. But how can you be sure when you know you haven’t heard the whole truth?
Now I’m an ordinary person, with friends, family, a place at university, a cat I love, basically a whole lot to lose by going to prison. But you know that we all actually intended to be arrested on the 6th of August. We intended to go to trial. And I won’t speak for the others here, but the reason I was willing and confident enough to allow that, was because I knew that now, 20 months in the future, I would be standing in front of 12 ordinary people like you. Not politicians, not legal experts, not barristers and judges wearing 400 yr old horsehair on their heads, but a panel of my equals. You are the best counterweight to power and tyranny within the legal system as it exists today. It is a privilege to be judged by you. And I don’t say that to flatter you, but because as you’ve already heard, the right to trial by jury is under threat, with a Bill passing through the House of Commons as I speak. Juries as we know them today may not be around for much longer, precisely because your pockets cannot be weighed down by bribes from the rich and powerful. (And also because juries often refuse to convict in these kinds of cases). And that is a very powerful position for you to be in.
No one can tell you to convict in this case, not even the judge. In fact, the judge is explicitly not allowed to tell you to convict! You, and only you, can decide on your verdicts. But not only can you acquit us, but you have the RIGHT to acquit us. No one can punish you for your decision. No one can even ask you why.
I want you to know however, that whatever you decide, I will not hold it against you. How can I when you have been kept so in the dark. But you can be sure of one thing. I am proud, I am so proud that I took part in this. I am proud that I overcame my fear and took action, because of course I was scared, you don’t just break into an Israeli weapons factory for fun! And I can say with absolute certainty that this is the best thing I have ever done, because there is a good chance that because of our actions that night, innocent lives were saved.
And so I will never be ashamed that I was on trial, that I have spent 18 months in prison, that I may face many more.
You know that we have been treated as terrorists throughout this process. A domestic violence worker, two nursery school teachers, one Oxford graduate, an artist and me. It sounds dystopian, but it’s true, just like the proscription of Palestine Action.
But this time you are the decision makers. Unlike what the prosecution and the government want you to be, you are not a rubber stamp. Don’t fall into their trap.
The Iranians called his bluff. It’s just a fact that denial of commercial transit is far, far easier than securing navigation. It cannot be done without disarming Iran. This little episode reinforces Iranian control of Hormuz.
There was also ‘a threat that leaves something to chance’ in his stratagem. He was daring the Iranians to run the risk of war to enforce their control of Hormuz. The Iranians did not flinch.
Where does this episode leave us?
First, Hormuz will not reopen until at least a preliminary deal is reached with Iran. And that still requires lifting the blockade and ordering the Israelis to stand down in Lebanon.
Second, he tried this cheap trick because the fundamental reality is that the US is out of real alternatives to actual two-sided negotiations.
Frozen conflict with Hormuz closed continuously tightens the noose around his neck. Going back to war will not only run down the US magazine, likely lead to the closure of the Red Sea as well, and cause massive destruction in UAE and Israel at least. It also runs the risk of further unrecoverable losses for the US military itself, including the destruction of the surviving bases.
Even if he is prepared to pay the full price, as the hasbara commissars are demanding, it is highly improbable that the US can defeat Iran, since the only way to defeat Iran is to disarm it, and by now it is beyond reasonable doubt that the US does not have the capability to do that.
No one said losing the empire was going to be cake walk. It’s humiliating. It requires a fundamental reconsideration of the picture of the world in their heads. It’s going to be a drawn-out, violent process. But gaps between discourse and reality can only close in one direction.
This Sunday at 2pm we will gather at the Bobby Sands Statue in Twinbrook to mark the 45th anniversary of Bobby Sands.
Let’s come together as a proud and united community, to honour the memory of the hunger strikers as we work towards our vision of a new and united Ireland.
A paramedic discovers that one of the victims of a murderous Israeli airstrike targeting displaced families in Beit Lahia is his own brother.
The crime continues, so does international inaction.
Thousands of protesters filled Habima Square in Tel-Aviv, chanting "Occupying Lebanon is a Disaster", "Only Peace Will Bring Security", demanding a permanent cease-fire agreement, and an alternative to Netanyahu's neverending war in Iran, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria... 🟣
"Israel wants to live in peace with its neighbours" is the biggest lie of all time.
This is the West Bank.
No Hamas, no war, yet attacked like this daily by "settlers" backed by the IDF.
A savagely violent Jewish supremacy armed by the EU/UK/US
Watching Israel move into Lebanon, seizing land, destroying everything, and imposing ethnic cleansing on Shia Muslims- to the extent that Druse and Christian Lebanese HIDE their Muslim neighbors- is like watching Germany roll into Czechoslovakia in 1939, while the world yawns.