Hundreds of British lawyers have signed two Open Letters to the government (on 26 October and 9 November) detailing Israeli war crimes – and calling for a ceasefire, an end to the Israeli siege of Gaza and a halt to British arms exports to Israel.
The first Open Letter was signed by over 250 lawyers including a former head of the Criminal Bar Association and a former counsel general for Wales. The follow-up was signed by 830 lawyers, including 60 KCs.
The lawyers said that…
16 November: The repeating Israeli airstrikes on the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza are beyond my own comprehension. For at least 10 of the last 40 days, missiles have rained down on the most densely populated refugee camp in all of Gaza.
And it is not just the days; it is also the nights. The bombing is done in the dark, when the power is off and the only light is from the fires that burn. It is done when the internet is cut, when the journalists are shot dead to hide the crimes, the…
Rishi Sunak’s government has actively supported Israel’s war on Gaza, Declassified UK has revealed, flying over 30 military transport flights to Tel Aviv from Akrotiri, an RAF base on Cyprus.
According to Declassified UK, the government has also allowed Akrotiri to be used for US military flights, many of which have been carrying weapons to Israel. (It is not currently known what the British aircraft were carrying.)
The Israeli air assault and ground invasion…
The UK public overwhelmingly supports an immediate ceasefire in Israel-Palestine.
Indeed, in a 19 October 2023 YouGov poll 58% said that there should 'definitely' be an immediate ceasefire in Israel and Palestine, with a further 18% saying that there 'probably should' be such a ceasefire.
Though the UK government continues to offer…
Yair, on behalf of The Villages Group writes:
We began our morning shopping at Hura (Israeli Bedouin town). The supermarket owner, a learned, nice man who already knows us, refused to let us pay for the food we bought for D and her family. We also bought diapers, a gas stove, and Sim cards and chargers for the three phones we received as a donation and passed on to friends whose devices were stolen or vandalized.
We continued…
Erella, on behalf of the The Villages Group writes (27 Oct '23):
Every day on our way to south Mt. Hebron, we call our friends there to find out what awaits us on the road. Whether there are soldiers and / or settlers at the junctions and / or in the villages we wish to visit. On weekends we pay even more attention. "The religious settlers are very careful not to do any work on the holy Sabbath, but I guess destroying, threatening,…
Yair, on behalf of The Villages Group, writes:
On Wednesday [25 Oct '23], D. recorded some WhatsApp messages for Erella. Soldiers came, entered the cave. Taftish - that's the magic word – a search.
D. lives in a cave somewhat distant from the houses of Tuba village, just she and her widowed mother and another younger brother. This distance from the village makes it easy for settlers and soldiers to harass them on a…
Felicity Laurence writes: The Villages Group is a small but totally dedicated Israeli-Palestinian peace group who have worked year in and year out to show friendship and support to people under occupation in Palestine. I visited many times, to sing and do music with children in the villages, including in the very places right now being destroyed. Things are desperate as never before. I am receiving their letters every day. Here are some…
With the UK government offering “unequivocal” support for Israel - and Labour's leadership not far behind it – nonviolent protest could play a critical role in protecting Gaza's civilians.
By taking to the streets in our hundreds of thousands, flooding MPs' inboxes with letters and emails and staging savvy nonviolent direct actions, there's the possibility of setting limits on or even terminating British support for Israeli war crimes and apartheid.
But many people are…
On her Tuesday 10 October show Breakfast, Sky presenter Kay Burley repeatedly misrepresented comments by UK Palestinian Ambassador Husam Zomlot concerning recent atrocities in Israel-Palestine.
Specifically, in interviews with three separate guests she asserted that Zomlot:
'basically said the Iraelis had it coming' (interview with James Cleverly) 'basically said, the last couple of days, that Israel had it coming' (interview with Pat McFadden) 'has said Israel had it…Hundreds of prominent Israeli and US public figures have signed an open letter criticising US Jewish leaders for failing to speak out on ‘the ultimate purpose’ of the Israeli government’s recent judicial changes, which stop the Israeli supreme court being able to overrule government decisions.
The real purpose of the changes is to ‘annex more land, and ethnically cleanse all territories under Israeli rule of their Palestinian population,’ according to the statement – which also says…
Over 10,000 people took to the streets of Central London on 13 May to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and their struggle for freedom and justice.
At the Palestine Solidarity Campaign rally, Jeremy Corbyn MP said: ‘For those that think we are going to go away, dream on and think on. We will never give up on the rights of the Palestinian people.’
This came on the last day of an Israeli bombing campaign against Gaza (9 – 13 May) which killed 33 people, including…
David Polden writes: On 27 March, after 11 consecutive weeks of huge demonstrations, and the start of a general strike, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was forced to pause (just for a month) legal changes which threaten the independence of judges, including the supreme court.
Among the demonstrators were military reservists who said they would not volunteer for service if the laws were passed.
Meanwhile, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank there have been…
On 14 January, Israeli Defence Force (IDF) soldiers attacked Palestinians protesting against the stealing of Palestinian land in Masafer Yatta by a settler. Masafer Yatta is a community of 12 Palestinian villages to the south of Hebron in the Occupied West Bank.
Witnesses said the soldiers fired tear gas at them and at their homes, suffocating dozens of people, according to the Palestinian WAFA news agency. The soldiers then set up checkpoints on the roads to prevent supporters and…
Palestine Action (PA) has claimed more successes (including eight acquittals) in its direct action campaign against the British subsidiary of Israel’s largest weapons company, Elbit Systems, which supplies military drones to the Israeli Defence Force for use against Palestinians.
Defence procurement minister Alex Chalk confirmed on 24 November that Elbit Systems UK had been removed from a £160mn contract to deliver crew training for the new Dreadnought-class submarine that is…
