Brighton Palestine Solidarity Activists Occupy Brighton Railway Station & March to and through Churchill Square Shopping Centre as Israel resumes Gaza’s Genocide

The Time has Come to Make Our Demonstrations Effective not Symbolic – We Should Mobilise at Bibi’s Broadcasting Corporation and tell the Met that We Won’t Allow Jews to be used as the Moral Alibi for Genocide

Brighton Railway Sit in and Demonstration Against Genocide in Gaza

In Brighton yesterday evening hundreds of us occupied Brighton Railway Station and greeted commuters with our message – STOP THE BOMBING, STOP THE GENOCIDE IN GAZA. I spoke as did others before we took to the streets for an impromptu demonstration. 

Starmer's double standards on war crimes

Our numbers swelled by the end to over 500 as we marched down Queens Road before turning into Western Road and then streaming through the Churchill Square shopping centre. School kids and shoppers who were there greeted us rapturously. The only angry red-faced person was a Zionist Jeweller closing his shop!

And then it was back to the Clocktower for a final rally. Further events and a march are planned in Brighton.

UK police officer: You can protest for Israel, not Palestine

The time has come to take the law into our own hands. When our government continues to supply weapons to Israel and the Police refuse to enforce the International Criminal Court Act 2001  then we have to do it for them. The Police don’t even bother to disguise their support for Israel as the idiot Met Inspector in this video made clear.

Trump gave the green-light to Israel to renew the genocide. However this time around Netanyahu may find murdering Palestinian women and children more difficult than before. The outrage of the world needs to descend on the Jewish Nazis in Tel Aviv.

Francesca Albanese on the West’s Genocide Denial

The Arab masses need to force their Quisling regimes – from Egypt to Jordan to Saudi Arabia to Iraq – to call a halt to the genocide by calling a halt to the West’s oil.

Starmer refuses to describe genocide in Gaza as genocide

Palestinian children are being slaughtered in Gaza in order that Netanyahu can preserve his government coalition with openly neo-Nazi Itamar Ben Gvir, the former Police Minister, rejoining the coalition as Police-Security Minister.

It is incumbent on the Palestine solidarity movement to rise to the challenge. Symbolic protests are not enough when war crimes are being perpetrated by our leaders.. If laws need to be broken to prevent genocide then that is justified whatever our judges and rulers may think. That was the lesson of Nuremberg. The law against Genocide and the Genocide Convention is the Supreme Law of our times. All other laws are secondary.

This time the world must make it clear to Netanyahu and his Western enablers – Trump, Starmer, Lammy et al. that there is a price to pay for supporting genocide. The timidity of PSC and Stop the War Coalition nationally must end.

We must rally at the BBC, which is acting as the British arm of the Voice of Israel. It carried Netanyahu’s lies about how Hamas had broken the ceasefire when everyone knows that it was Netanyahu himself who broke the ceasefire and refused to move into Phase 2 of the ceasefire for fear of bringing down his coalition.

Instead of allowing Hamas equal time the BBC then switched to another Zionist, this time from Chatham House, the British Establishments International Affairs think tank.

We should say out aloud that it isn’t Hamas but Netanyahu and his western enablers who are the terrorists. Those who deliberately murder children and their families are the ISIS terrorists of our time. It is no accident that the ISIS-Al Qaeda HTS, which is formally proscribed by Britain, has been given a free pass by the British and European governments with favourable interviews with Blair’s eminent grise Alistair Campbell and Rory Stewart.

Amazing interview - a real privilege to be back in Syria - stunning turn of events and the most incredible story with so much unknown for the future https://t.co/GfUmlt4o3m

— Rory Stewart (@RoryStewartUK) February 4, 2025

Not only that but Establishment figures like former head of MI6, Sir John Sawers, have openly praised HTS calling them ‘a liberation movement, not of a terrorist organisation.’ Sawyers said:

"It would be rather ridiculous, actually, if we're unable to engage with the new leadership in Syria because of a proscription dating back 12 years."

why haven't @rorystewartuk and @campbellclaret been arrested for supporting a proscribed organisation HTS?

I was arrested at dawn on 20 December 23 for 'expressing an opinion or belief supportive of a proscribed organisation' Hamas

Christian churches in Gaza functioned… https://t.co/QAScHStpb3 pic.twitter.com/yUZWFelpaC

— Tony Greenstein tonygreenstein.com (@TonyGreenstein) March 19, 2025

This is a clear breach of s.12 of the Terrorism Act 2000 under which I and others like Sarah Wilkinson and Richard Medhurst are being prosecuted. The situation today in Britain is that if you speak out in support of a proscribed organisation slaughtering Christians and Alawites and others in Syria that is fine. But if you support the Palestinian resistance against genocide, including the elected Hamas government in Gaza, then you are prosecuted.

In my view Netanyahu’s attack on Gaza is a sign of political weakness not strength. We have it in our power to force an end to the Genocide and an end to the arms shipments which enable the genocide. Of course the German government, which is Israel’s second major arms supplier, will be reluctant to cut off the arms supply since Genocide in Gaza makes the German state feel more comfortable about all the other genocides, including the Holocaust, that they have perpetrated.

Today there can be no excuse for timidity. The Zionists may seem to be strong however they have lost all moral legitimacy. As I said yesterday when speaking, although it may not appear to be the case, Zionism is approaching its end game. The narrative of Jews fighting for a homeland in Israel no longer washes. Israel is seen as Western imperialism’s attack dog. Its main supporters are the very anti-Semites that Zionism claimed it needed a state to get away from.

In recent days the far-Right Chief Rabbi of Britain, Ephraim Mirvis, has been embarrassed into withdrawing from a conference on anti-Semitism organised by Israel’s fascist Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli. Chikli, being a good Zionist, decided that given he is holding a conference on anti-Semitism who better to invite than anti-Semites!

Starmer’s Many Lies

As the Jewish Chronicle noted

Chikli has previously faced criticism for his efforts to strengthen Israel’s ties with Europe’s far-right parties, which had been boycotted due to their associations with antisemitism and Nazism.

The conference guest list includes a who’s who of European fascist and far-right parties.  In attendance will be Jordan Bardella, president of the French National Rally party founded by antisemite and Holocaust denier Jean-Marie Le Pen; Marion Marechal, a far-right French member of the European Parliament and Le Pen’s granddaughter; Hermann Tertsch, a far-right Spanish member of the European Parliament; Charlie Weimers of the far-right Sweden Democrats party; and Kinga Gál, of Hungary’s Fidesz party.

In the fight against ‘anti-Semitism’ (for which read anti-Zionism) the Israeli government and Zionist movement decided to invite genuine anti-Semites. None of us should be surprised. When Hitler came to power, the only political movement to welcome the rise of the Nazis was the Zionist movement.

Bouleversant. pic.twitter.com/7J1O7Zd1vE

— Caisses de grève (@caissesdegreve) March 18, 2025

People forget that 90 years ago people like Berl Katznelson, a founder of Mapai (Israeli Labor Party) and editor of their paper Davar and deput to David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister’s, spoke of the rise of Hitler as ‘an opportunity to build and flourish like none we have ever had or ever will have.

Others like the national Zionist poet Hayim Nahman Bialik argued that ‘Hitlerism has perhaps saved German Jewry, which was being assimilated into annihilation.’

Starmer on Srebenica's inhuman genocide

Zionism today wants us to forget their friendly relations with the Nazis. Anti-Semitism has always had a fatal attraction for the Zionist movement, which most Jews saw as a form of Jewish anti-Semitism.

Starmer on cutting off food

Meanwhile Starmer has gone out of his way to support the Genocide. When Lammy said Israel had broken international human rights law by its blockade of Gaza for 15 days, Starmer’s spokesman contradicted him by saying that Israel ‘was at risk’ of breaking the law but in any case the government cannot form an opinion as that is the job of the courts.

This is what Starmer Supports – A Child is injured then all are killed

Liar Starmer never had any problem calling out Russia’s breaking of law and accusing it of war crimes in Ukraine. But when it comes to the Palestinians Starmer has reiterated his former view that preventing the entry of food, fuel, medicines etc. is perfectly alright. Starmer is beyond despicable. A corrupt Zionist who was top of the list when it cames to freebies. Even his wife’s knickers were donated! Starmer has unflinchingly backed up Trump on Israel.

The Palestine solidarity movement in Britain must redouble its efforts to stop Starmer, Lammy and all the other war criminals.

Last Thursday I was Charged With Exercising My Right to Freedom of Speech & Remanded to the Old Bailey for Supporting the Palestinian Resistance

In Starmer’s Brave New World It is a Crime to Hold or Express Opinions that Oppose Genocide or War Crimes – War really is Peace

Tony Greenstein speech outside Westminster magistrates court

Last Thursday 19^th December 2024 I was formally charged with inviting support for a proscribed organisation and expressing an opinion or belief that was ‘supportive’ of them.

Needless to say I have done neither and I pled not guilty to offences carrying a 14 year prison sentence. As I explained to the 100 or so demonstrators outside, in a wonderful expression of solidarity, if I had downloaded hard core child pornography and my name was Hugh Edwards, I could expect a 6 months suspended sentence.

My real ‘offence’ was opposing Israel’s 57 year old occupation of Gaza and its ethnic cleansing of Gaza. If the proscription of anti-colonial resistance groups had been in place 40 years ago then I could have been charged with supporting another ‘terrorist’ organisation – the ANC.  Because that is what Thatcher and Reagan called the ANC.

Thatcher told a press conference at the Commonwealth summit in Vancouver, in 1987:

A considerable number of the ANC leaders are Communists… When the ANC says that they will target British companies, this shows what a typical terrorist organisation it is. I fought terrorism all my life… I will have nothing to do with any organisation that practises violence. I have never seen anyone from ANC or the PLO or the IRA and would not do so.

Presumably Thatcher kept her distance from the British army too! This is the hypocrisy that labels Hamas, Hezbollah and the PKK as ‘terrorist’. The massively greater violence of the Israeli and Turkish states simply does not exist for creatures like Thatcher or Starmer. State violence is fine, but violence against the state is ‘terrorism’ unless, as with Assad and Gaddafi, we oppose the state too.

Tony Greenstein speech outside Westminster magistrates court

Using the same ‘logic’ Thatcher should have condemned violence by the Yugoslav resistance under Tito against the Nazi occupation. Because the Special Operations Executive, which became the SAS, was aiding them, she would have made an exception for them. This demonstrates that those who define resistance organisations as ‘terrorist’ don’t have a single principle between them.

Outside Tony Greenstein's court hearing, end segment

If I’d been alive 80 years ago according to the same logic people could have been charged with supporting the French and Polish Resistance. The Nazis certainly called them ‘terrorists’.

The system of proscribing organisations in force today enables any support for any national liberation or resistance organisation to be classified as ‘terrorist’ thus making support for people seeking to overthrow colonialism or imperialism a criminal offence.

International law supports the right of resistance of those opposing colonialism and this includes the Palestinians but British law deems this irrelevant. Except in the case of Ukraine of course!

Tony Greenstein speech outside Westminster magistrates court

Suffice to say those who profess their support for freedom of speech also seek to outlaw anything that strays outside the overton window of what is and is not allowed to be discussed. It is a window that has been closing for the past half century.

Freedom of speech has limits and those limits are not confined to incitement to racial hatred or violence against another person but to support of organisations that the Establishment deem to be ‘extreme’ i.e. anti-colonial or anti-capitalist.

‘Extremism’ is the new buzzword. When I was remanded in custody I was asked at reception whether or not I was an extremist! When I asked the young Black woman if she knew what an extremist was she confessed she didn’t. I then explained that all those who fought for the freedoms we take for granted (and which we are losing) like the Suffragettes, were also called extremists in their time. The Jewish Chronicle then said that I compared myself to the Suffragettes!

It is no surprise that Attorney General Richard Hermer and his Zionist side-kick Sarah Sackman from the Jewish Labour Movement want to criminalise those who oppose British imperialism. They have lost the battle to tar us with the ‘anti-Semitism’ brush and have therefore sought the help of the Police to keep us silent.

Live: Outside Tony Greenstein's court hearing

It is untrue that I support Hamas as a political organisation. What I do is to recognise that it was elected by the Palestinians in 2006 in preference to Fateh. Instead of respecting the outcome of the elections, the Israeli state together with the US and Britain supported a coup attempt by Palestinian Quisling Mahmoud Abbas to overthrow the elected government of the Palestinians.

There are terrorist organisations such as ISIS and Al Qaeda, both of which are the creations of US imperialism. We see today how Al Qaeda offshoot Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) which was proscribed in May 2017 has quickly been taken to the bosom of the imperialists. At the time the justification for their proscription was that they:

 ‘should be treated as alternative names for the organisation which is already proscribed under the name Al Qa’ida.’

All sorts of people like MI6 former chief Sir John Sawers have called for the UK to deproscribe HTS. Sawers argued that the organisation has changed significantly in the last several years.

Sawers told Sky News that Jolani, the head of HTS "has made great efforts over the last 10 years to distance himself from those terrorist groups.

"Certainly, the actions we've seen of Tahrir al-Sham over the last two weeks have been those of a liberation movement, not of a terrorist organisation,"

"It would be rather ridiculous, actually, if we're unable to engage with the new leadership in Syria because of a proscription dating back 12 years."

For once the Telegraph got it right when Nina Shea wrote

That commander Al-Jolani has now changed into a Western suit and talks of moderation, they undoubtedly see, is purely tactical. When before has a holy warrior, at the very moment of triumph, pulled down his keffiyeh to reveal underneath a champion of religious pluralism and freedom? These militants are no more credible than the Taliban, who promised to respect women’s rights but who, three years after taking control of Afghanistan, have “erased” women from public life, as the UN reports.

Sawyer’s statements seem very supportive of an organisation that is still proscribed yet the anti-terrorist police have not conducted a dawn raid on his home in the early hours of the morning because he is in breach of s.12(1A) of the Terrorism Act. Clearly the Police are making political decisions as to who is breaching the said Act.

If Sawers had said the same about a proscribed Palestinian organisation his feet wouldn’t have touched the floor before he was arrested by the Thought Police.

Proscription has nothing to do with terrorism. It is about preventing people supporting organisations that are fighting for the rights of their own people against regimes imposed by the West.

Terrorism contrary to the definition in the Terrorism Act 2000 has nothing to do with ‘serious damage against property’, ‘serious violence against a person’, the disruption of electronic systems or health and safety. All of the above are covered by other legislation.

Terrorism is the deliberate infliction of violence and terror on civilian populations. ISIS, with its attempted genocide of the Yazidis clearly fits into this as does Al Qaeda. ISIS violence in Paris, the Bataclan attack and the London Bridge knife attacks or the Manchester Arena bombing of Ariana Grande’s concert were for the sake of spreading terror without any discernible political motive.

It is usually because an organisation lacks a mass base that they resort to terrorism. Hamas (& Hezbollah) have both been elected and carry large popular support. Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel in support of Gaza was carefully calibrated and unlike Israel’s response did not target civilians but military infrastructure primarily.

The worst terrorist attack in Britain, the bombing of Ariana Grande’s concert in the Manchester Arena in May 2017 came about because of the collusion of MI5 with the bomber, Salman Abedi, who had been sent to Libya to fight in jihadist organisations trying to overthrow Col. Gaddafi.

The head of MI5 said he was "profoundly sorry" the security service did not prevent the Manchester Arena attack but not so sorry that he was prepared to reveal the truth about the bomber’s links with MI5.

An article Manchester Arena bombing inquiry delivers cover-up “in the national interest” on the World Socialist Web Site explains:

The final report by Sir John Saunders from the inquiry he led into the Manchester Arena terrorist bombing is a state cover-up. It conceals the role of MI5, MI6, the Ministry of Defence and successive British governments in the grooming and protection of far-right Islamists who were deployed to achieve imperialist foreign policy objectives in Libya and throughout the Middle East.

The 22-year-old Salman Abedi worked with Islamist fighters who were trained, armed, and financed by the British state and NATO to topple Libyan leader Muammar and install a puppet regime.

Abedi had been sent to fight in Libya with Jihadi groups by MI5 as part of a plot to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi. British imperialism aligned itself with the very forces that they would later classify as terrorist. Again there was blowback and 22 people died as a result.

In order to ensure that the cover-up succeeded the families of the victims were prevent from suing MI5. Suffice to say the ever loyal Guardian went along with the cover up blaming it on Abedi’s ‘radicalisation’ - How Manchester bomber Salman Abedi was radicalised by his links to Libya without even a mention of MI5!

The duplicity and dishonesty of our war criminal leaders and the press means that Terrorism legislation is being deployed to suppress political debate and discussion not terrorism.

The next stage in my trial will be the Old Bailey on Friday 31 January at 10.00 am and there will be a demonstration outside the court because my prosecution is aimed at the Palestine solidarity movement as a whole, not just me as an individual.

The turnout last Thursday was impressive but it could have been better still. London PSC groups were not in evidence unlike groups such as Jewish Voice for Labour, Jewish Network for Palestine and the Jewish Anti-Zionist Network. It is about time that PSC took the attacks on the solidarity movement seriously.

It is not enough to issue a statement condemning the repression of Palestine Action and then do nothing further. A statement on its own is useless. PSC has to realise that the British state is attacking the Palestine solidarity movement and that means it must defend those who are targeted by them. The problem with PSC is that it has no anti-Zionist or anti-imperialist politics. It has become just another NGO.

The attacks by the Police on the Palestine solidarity movement are only part of the picture. The Met have also been acting on behalf Recep Erdogan and Turkey’s genocidal repression of the Kurds. The PKK, which is fighting the Turkish army has a mass base amongst the Kurds. It is anything but a terrorist group.

Through proscription the British state is clamping down on support for the PKK in Britain. This has nothing to do with terrorism. Palestine solidarity and Kurdish supporters have to start working together.

Finally please also contribute to my Crowdfunder:  It is not just for me but for activists caught up in the ‘terrorist’ trap.

Stopping the Police Persecuting Palestine Solidarity Activists

Tony Greenstein

The Assad Regime was Ghastly but the West’s Favourite Jihadists HTS May Be Even More Bloody

The Zionist & American Aim is to Splinter Syria along Ethnic Lines & to Reconfigure the Middle East on Sectarian Lines

The Fall of Assad & What it Means for The Mid East (w/ Alastair Crooke) | The Chris Hedges Report

It has been reported that the US closely coordinated the Idlib offensive of HTS with Israel and also Turkey. It is no coincidence that the jihadi attack on Syrian towns began immediately after the ceasefire in Lebanon that Hezbollah was forced to agree to.

As soon as Assad had been overthrown Israel moved its troops onto the other side of Mount Hermon, breaking the 1974 Disengagement Agreement between Israel and Syria. Israel has never missed an opportunity to attack its neighbours and steal some more land. All in the name of ‘security’ and the ‘right of self defence’ of course.

“There should be no military forces or activities in the area of separation. And Israel and Syria must continue to uphold the terms of that 1974 agreement, and preserve stability in the Golan,” said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN secretary general, António Guterres.

 Israel’s pretext is that it is acting in self-defence, a lie that David Lammy, who must qualify as the diplomatic equivalent of Netanyahu’s pet pooch, echoed.

Israel’s unprovoked attack on Syria’s military assets - its navy and airforce - is based on the proposition that no victim of Israeli aggression is entitled to exercise the right to self defence. Only Israel has that right or more accurately Israel reserves to itself the right to attack any country, anytime and anywhere. All with the blessing of the United States and Britain’s colourless and characterless Prime Minister Sir Kid Starver.

The Liquidation of Syrian Army Officers

The US has never paid much attention to international law. Whilst every other state in the world must adhere to the international ‘rules based order,’ the United States is endowed with a belief in Manifest Destiny. God has apparently singled out America for special treatment and given it the right to engage in limitless expansion.

Hence why in 2002 it passed the American Service-Members' Protection Act otherwise known as the Hague Invasion Act which renders American war criminals immune from prosecution at the International Criminal Court. Only African dictators are supposed to adhere to international law. When one thinks of the US and the rule of law, Al Capone and the Mafia come to mind.

In the wake of the defeat of Nazi Germany wars of aggression were considered the supreme war crime. The Nuremberg Declaration on the Crime of Aggression states quite clearly

Recalling that all members of the United Nations shall refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations as per Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, Mindful of the fact that aggression constitutes the most serious violation of the prohibition of the use of force

Israel’s role in the Middle East was mapped out from the very beginning of Zionism. In his pamphlet The Jewish State, Zionism’s founder Theodor Herzl described a future Jewish state as ‘a portion of a rampart of Europe against Asia, an outpost of civilization as opposed to barbarism.’ Ben-Gurion described Zionism as a ‘bulwark against assimilation and communism.’

No-one should be deceived by Netanyahu’s lies about Israel having to act to protect its own security. There is a past history of Israeli leaders wishing to invade and change the political geography of their neighbours. Their only concern was how to do so without seeming to be obvious aggressors.

Livia Rokach first published in 1980 a book ‘Israel’s Sacred Terrorism’ based on the Diaries of Moshe Sharrett, the only ‘dove’ to become Prime Minister of Israel. At this time, of all times, they are worth revisiting.

On February 25, 1954, Syrian troops stationed in Aleppo revolted against Adib Shishakly's regime. Sharrett wrote

After lunch Lavon [then Defence Minister] took me aside and started trying to persuade me: This is the right moment to act this is the time to move forward and occupy the Syrian border positions beyond the Demilitarized Zone. Syria is disintegrating. A State with whom we signed an armistice agreement exists no more. Its government is about to fall and there is no other power in view. Moreover, Iraq has practically moved into Syria. This is an historical opportunity, we shouldn't miss it.

I was reluctant to approve such a blitz-plan and saw ourselves on the verge of an abyss of disastrous adventure. I asked if he suggests to act immediately and I was shocked when I realized that he does. I said that if indeed Iraq will move into Syria with its army it will be a revolutionary turn which will ... justify far reaching conclusions, but for the time being this is only a danger, not a fact. It is not even clear if Shishakly will fall: he may survive. We ought to wait before making any decision. He repeated that time was precious and we must act so as not to miss an opportunity which otherwise might be lost forever. Again I answered that under the circumstances right now I cannot approve any such action. Finally I said that next Saturday we would be meeting with Ben Gurion ... and we could consult him then on the matter. I saw that he was extremely displeased by the delay. However, he had no choice but to agree. (25 February 1954, 374)

The next day the Shishakly regime actually fell. The following day, February 27, Sharett was present at a meeting where Lavon and Dayan reported to Ben Gurion that what happened in Syria was - "a typical Iraqi action." The two proposed again that the Israeli army be put on the march. Ben Gurion, "electrified," agreed. Sharett reiterated his opposition, pointing to the certainty of a Security Council condemnation, the possibility of the use against Israel of the Tripartite Declaration of 1950, hence the probability of a "shameful failure" The three objected that "our entrance [into Syria] is justified in view of the situation in Syria. This is an act of defense of our border area." Sharett closed the discussion by insisting on the need for further discussion in the cabinet meeting, scheduled for the next morning:

Lavon's face wore a depressed expression. He understood this to be the end of the matter. (27 February 1954, 377)

On Sunday, February 28, the press reported that no Iraqi troops had entered Syria. The situation in Damascus was under the complete control of President Hashem Al Atassi. The cabinet approved Sharett's position and rejected Lavon's vehement appeal not to miss a historical opportunity. Lavon said "The U.S. is about to betray us and ally itself with the Arab world." We should "demonstrate our strength and indicate to the U.S. that our life depends on this so that they will not dare do anything against us." The premier's victory, however, was to be short-lived.

Until that time the Syrian-Israeli border presented no particular problems to the Israelis. When tensions developed, it was almost invariably due to Israeli provocations, such as the irrigation work on lands belonging to Arab farmers, which was condemned by the UN; or the use of military patrol boats against Syrian fishermen fishing in the Lake of Tiberias. No Syrian regime could afford to refrain from offering some minimum protection to its border citizens against Israeli attacks or the taking away of their livelihoods, but neither did the rulers of Damascus feel stable enough to wish to be dragged into a major conflict with their southern neighbor. Clashes were therefore minor, and essentially seasonal. No security arguments could be credibly invoked to justify an expansionist program, or any other aggression against Syria.

On December 12, 1954, however, a Syrian civilian plane was hijacked by Israeli war planes shortly after its takeoff, and forced to land at Lydda airport. Passengers and crew were detained and interrogated for two days, until stormy international protests

It must be clear to you that we had no justification whatsoever to seize the plane, and that once forced down we should have immediately released it and not held the passengers under interrogation for 48 hours. I have no reason to doubt the truth of the factual affirmation of the U.S. State Department that our action was without precedent in the history of international practice. ..... What shocks and worries me is the narrow-mindedness and the shortsightedness of our military leaders. They seem to presume that the State of Israel may or even must-behave in the realm of international relations according to the laws of the jungle. (22 December 1954, 607)

In the 1950s Israel didn’t posses the military power it does today nor did the United States give it carte blanche to do what it wanted. At that time the Arab regimes were fearful of Israel and inclined to put pressure on Britain and the United States to keep it in check. Today that is not the case but what this shows is that from its very beginnings Israeli leaders have been looking to expand their territory and interfere in the governance of their neighbours. It’s not accidental that Israel is the only state in the world not to define its borders.

THROWBACK: Ex-Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for the Middle East Dana Stroul gloats that the US 'owns' the most hydrocarbon & grain-rich one-third of Syria🇸🇾 and that the US will use it as leverage to pursue regime change

The architect of Syria’s tragedy is the USA pic.twitter.com/wjdqWQXkPB

— Afshin Rattansi (@afshinrattansi) December 2, 2024

What happens in Syria today is no business of Israel. If Jihadists have come to power in Syria it is in no small measure thanks to the support they have received from the United States and Israel.

No one should defend the crimes of Bashar Assad against his own people. When they rose up against him in 2011 he mowed down thousands without a thought. His prisons have indeed been grim torture chambers operating entirely outside the law. But the West’s mock shock horror about this is the ultimate in hypocrisy.

Maher Arar

In September 2002, as he was on his way home to Canada, Maher Arar was sent by the US officials to be detained and interrogated under torture in Syria under a program known as “extraordinary rendition.” The horrifying account of what happened to him is documented by the Centre for Constitutional Rights.

Syria is on the way to becoming another failed state along the lines of Libya and Iraq. Turkish-backed rebels have launched an offensive against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Front on the northern border. The US has carried out dozens of airstrikes against ISIS.

Israel is destroying Syrian air bases, military and defense systems, intelligene, military & government structures.

Basically they're demilitarizing Syria. https://t.co/inj2U1yVJ1 pic.twitter.com/ysIn6VI20Z

— MenchOsint (@MenchOsint) December 8, 2024

Israel has launched massive bombing raids on Damascus and other areas without any justification at all other than its long proclaimed ‘right to self defence’. Of course Starmer and Lammy have gone along with anything that Israel deems necessary. That is how these ‘Labour’ supporters of imperialism behave.

We remain committed to bringing leading AQS figures in HTS to justice. #Syria pic.twitter.com/R8evqffWum

— U.S. Embassy Syria (@USEmbassySyria) May 15, 2017

 

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham [HTS] was formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of Al Qaeda. It is led by Muhammad al-Julani who in the early 2000s joined Al Qaida in Iraq, which morphed into ISIS. In 2011 he was sent into Syria to set up a branch of ISIS, which was named the al-Nusra Front only to break away from them.

HTS is on Britain’s list of proscribed terrorist organisations but the British and US governments have made it plain that as long as they don’t oppose western interests then the label ‘terrorist’ can be removed. In the meantime the press and BBC are falling over themselves to praise their ‘moderation’ despite their still being proscribed!

The British Police have not though arrested any editors of these papers still less the BBC. It is only Palestinian and Kurdish supporters of the PKK who are accused of terrorism if they dare say anything about proscribed Palestinian and Kurdish groups.

In March it was reported that protests erupted in some 20 locations in the Idlib enclave against HTS’s dictatorial rule. They may profess their horror at Assad’s appalling human rights record but their own history suggests that they will not be that different.

Protesters chant slogans against HTS leader Abu Muhammad al-Julani, demanding the release of prisoners held by the extremist group and an end to its security grip on the enclave.

the US government-funded media network said.

Another uprising broke out in May against Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s “increasingly dictatorial” rule, including allegedly torturing prisoners to death.

It is clear that the deposing of Assad, coupled with the weakening of Hezbollah, which was forced to accept a humiliating ‘ceasefire’ and the loss of Syrian territory that acted as a conduit for Iranian weaponry, is a defeat for both Iran, Hezbollah and the Palestinians.

The Axis of Resistance, which was always a cover for the interests of the Iranian regime, is no more. The Iranian regime itself is now directly in the cross-hairs of the Israel regime and its US/British sponsors.

The last time al-Qaeda and other Jihadi groups were present in the south of Syria, Israel established warm relations with them, treating their fighters in a specially constructed field hospital and even arming them. It also provided them with weapons.

Netanyahu has signaled the revival of that policy. He said that Israel would pursue “the same approach we maintained when we set up a field hospital here that treated thousands of Syrians injured during the civil war. Hundreds of Syrian children were born here in Israel.”

Terrorist activists from Idlib to Kan News: "We have a problem with Iran and the Syrian regime. We were very happy when you attacked Hezbollah, and we are happy that you won. We love Israel and thank you" pic.twitter.com/HnTNYOqMaj

— Huma Zehra (@HumaZhr) December 3, 2024

What are the lessons that we have to draw? The first is that it is an illusion to believe that the Palestinians can rely on the support of regimes which are fundamentally undemocratic such as Assad or Khameini’s Iran. The problem in the Arab East is precisely the fact that the wealth of the region is commandeered by repressive and corrupt regimes that fear their own people and enter into alliances with both the United States and Israel.

Assad’s Syria would have been happy to reach a deal with the United States and Israel. The fact is that Israel preferred to keep the Golan Heights than make a deal.

Zionism will not disappear until the Arab masses take matters into their own hands. Above all that means both a social and national revolution in the Arab states if imperialism is to be defeated. The Iranian regime is both corrupt and repressive as well as being unpopular with its own people.

It is doubtful that Iran is capable of withstanding an attack from the United States and Israel, not least given the cowardice and complicity of surrounding regimes. The Iranian regime has, for years, tried to reach a deal with the US only to be spurned. Obama’s deal on its nuclear programme was torn up by Trump. It is unlikely to be revivted.

Iranian attempts to become a regional hegemon, which was Israel’s real objection to it, today lie in ruins. Israel has asserted its power with the full backing of Western imperialism.

However as Israel extends its forces and seeks to grab a portion of Southern Syria, which has always been a long-term goal, it will find new enemies on its borders and we can hope to see a new Hezbollah arise in Syria if Israel doesn’t withdraw. That is why in the long-term Zionism is doomed. Its attempts to recreate the biblical land of Israel [Eretz Yisrael] are a pipedream but no less real for that.

Tony Greenstein

Further Reading

Why Israel thinks it won in Syria  EI

Israel occupies new Syrian territory following Assad’s collapse

How Different is the Fourth Israeli Invasion of Lebanon?

The Fall of Assad & What it Means for The Mid East (w/ Alastair Crooke) | The Chris Hedges Report

Understanding the rebellion in Syria - An interview with Joseph Daher

Destroying Syrian Airbase