370 Heard Journalists & Palestine solidarity activists who Have
Been Arrested for Taking Action Against Elbit & Supporting the Victims of
Israel's Genocide
Not a Headline You Would See in the 'liberal' Guardian
Stop Silencing Palestine
Richard Barnard, 1 of the founders of Palestine Action, urgently needs to raise funds for his legal defence. Please contribute
At the same
time as the International Criminal Court has, at last, issued arrest warrants
for Israel’s war criminals, Netanyahu and Gallant, the British Police are doing
their best to attack Palestine solidarity activists and clamp down on free
speech on Palestine.
The Government's senior law officers - two Zionists and a Quisling - (r to l) Solicitor General, Justice Minister & Attorney General
All with
the complicity of Keir Starmer and Richard Hermer, the Zionist Attorney General
and his deputy, arch Zionist and former Vice President of the Jewish Labour
Movement, Sarah Sackman, who have authorised the Police’s attack on Palestine activists
The Police
have consciously targeted journalists who are not part of the mainstream
prostitute media, stealing their equipment and imposing bail conditions aimed
at preventing them working.
The mass
media – from the right-wing Daily Mail to
the ‘liberal’ Guardian Independent have kept quiet about this attack on basic
democratic rights. Despite being invited to send a speaker, Liberty (the former NCCL) chose not to
respond. It seems attacks on Palestine activists doesn’t fit with their
definition of civil liberties. The Overton Window is getting narrower and
narrower.
Natalie Strecker - Jersey Palestine Activist
The meeting
tonight, which was chaired by Asim Quereshi from Cage, started off with a recorded message
from Natalie Strecker, a peace activist from Jersey in the Channel Islands.
Natalie was unable to speak directly to the meeting because of the stringent
bail conditions imposed. Her local paper, the Jersey
Post, puts the ‘liberal’ media to shame with its forthright defence of
free speech.
Andrew Feinstein - former ANC MP
Andrew
Feinstein, the former ANC MP, was the first speaker who drew the parallels
between the fight against apartheid in South Africa and today’s fight against
apartheid Israel.
Sarah Wilkinson
Andrew
pointed out that the use of the term ‘terrorist’ is nothing new. The ANC and its
leader, Nelson Mandela, were also branded as terrorists by Thatcher and Reagan.
Andrew told us how Thatcher had told the South Africa authorities that it would
be best to murder Mandela in prison rather than allow him his freedom.
Asa Winstanley
There were
a whole range of speakers tonight.Asa
Winstanley from Electronic Intifada whose home was raided and equipment stolen.
Sarah Wilkinson, whose home was trashed and who was effectively kidnapped by
the anti-terrorist police. At one time she feared she was going to be killed.Richard Medhurst, a journalist based in The
Netherlands was the last to speak about his experiences.
Clare Rogers
Clare
Rogers spoke from the Filton 10, a group of Palestine Actionists who put out of
operation an Elbit research and development factory in Bristol which
manufactured equipment like the Quad Copters that have killed so many children.
The 10 who took part were kept in solitary confinement for a week, as if they
were terrorists but despite that are being charged with non-terrorist offences.
Huda Ammori from Palestine Action
Huda spoke
from Palestine Action and Les Levidow spoke from the Campaign Against
Criminalising Communities.
370 people
attended the webinar and over 600 registered for it.
I hope you
enjoy it!Let’s begin the fightback
against those who make criminals of those who oppose genocide and the Police
who support those profiting from the deaths of thousands of children.
The ‘Liberal’ Establishment –
from the Guardian to Liberty - has averted its eyes as the Police
Raid & Arrest Dissident Journalists & Palestine Solidarity Activists
Natalie Strecker, a pacifist based in Jersey,
is the latest activist to be arrested by the Police on their favourite pretext,
supporting a proscribed organisation contrary to s.12(1A) of the Terrorism Act
2000. It’s called the ‘rule of law’.
The Jersey Post has more courage and integrity than the 'liberal' Guardian when it comes to Police attacks on activists
Since October 7 the Police have been very busy
trying to take out key Palestine solidarity activists. Electronic Intifada journalist Asa Winstanley had his house raided
and his electronic devices stolen by the Police a few weeks ago. Asa wasn’t
actually arrested but this gives a clue to the Police’s motivation. Stopping
the publication of alternative news. They prefer the ‘reliable’ media to be our
sole source of news – from the BBC to
the Guardian to the Daily Mail.
Sarah Wilkinson Interview
Sarah Wilkinson was also arrested recently by
Police thugs in balaclavas, who stole her passport, without even telling her,
whilst making it a condition of bail that she surrender it. They stole her
money, overturned her grandmother’s urn of ashes, hid her bank cards and trashed
her house. She was forbidden to even use a phone until the police were forced
to withdraw the bail conditions.
Palestine Action, a direct action group
committed to putting Elbit and other suppliers of arms to Israel have been the
victim of extreme repression with the Filton 10 being held until their trial in
a year’s time for doing what the Police should be doing, which is stopping the
activities of those contributing towards genocide in Palestine.
Only today
we hear that another 10 Palestine Action activists have been arrested.
But there is one law that the Police have ignored
- the International
Criminal Court Act 2001 - which makes being party to and aiding in the
commission of war crimes and genocide a criminal act. We can’t imagine why they
are not interested in enforcing this Act!
Sections 52 and 53 make it quite clear that genocide
and acts ancilliary to genocide, whether committed in this country or abroad,
will be treated as committed in this country.
Proceedings will only be initiated by the Attorney
General but I’m sure Richard Hermer wouldn’t want to be seen to be endorsing acts ancilliary
to genocide by his colleagues, such as supplying spare parts for aircraft that
bomb civilians!
I’ve been arrested twice in the past 12
months. Firstly on December 20 2023 when my flat was raided and all my
electronic devices were stolen. The second time was at the picket of notorious
racist, Israeli Ambassador
Tzipi Hotoveli’s residence when I compared Israel’s actions in Gaza to
those of the Nazis. My ‘offence’ was ‘racially aggravated harassment’ of a
Zionist, Richard Millett, the sole Zionist counter-demonstrator, who has called
holocaust survivor Stephen Kapos ‘scum’ for opposing Israel’s genocide.
There are no known examples of the Police
arresting Zionist demonstrators for violence, genocidal speech or racism.
Police harassment is strictly in one direction only.
I was recently informed that I was not being
charged, making my arrest and detention unlawful. A couple of weeks after my
arrest 79 year-old Israeli ProfessorHaim Bresheeth, who is suffering from cancer, was arrested at the same
spot and held all night in a cold cell inHolborn police station. He too has been told that he is not going to be
charged. Another unlawful arrest and detention.
Richard Medhurst, another journalist, was
stopped at an airport, detained, arrested and held in abysmal conditions and
again all his electronic devices were stolen.
Others arrested under the same pretexts
include Richard Barnard, an activist in Palestine Action.
Thomas
Bingham, former Master of the Rolls, Lord Chief Justice and Senior Law
Lord, was described
as ‘the greatest jurist of our time’ by
Lord Hope of Craighead. Bingham formulated 8 rules of law in his book The
rule of law. A number of them are applicable to the present, cavalier
disregard of the law by the Police in their attempt to ride roughshod over our
rights and to suppress political dissent.
The most important for our purposes is the
eighth rule – which states that
The rule of law requires compliance by the
state with its obligations in international law as in national law.
Britain is party to the Genocide
Convention which therefore makes it part of British law but for the police
it is a no-go area.They are not
interested in enforcing provisions of international law that have been
incorporated in domestic law. Bear in mind the third of Bingham’s rules of law:
‘The laws of the land should apply equally to all’. It is clear that
there is one law for activists and another for government politicians and war criminals
like Starmer and Lammy.
Article 2 (a)-(d) of the Genocide Convention makes
it crystal clear that Israel’s behaviour in Gaza is a classic example of
genocide. Only the fifth provision, the forcible transfer of children out of
the area is inapplicable, because Israel prefers to kill Palestinian children
to transferring them out of harms way.
The fifth provision also makes it clear that
genocide can take place without anyone being killed so our idiot of a Foreign
Secretary, David Lammy’s assertion, that not enough people have been killed for
it to be a genocide, is simply wrong. Starmer’s denial of a genocide is more
sinister. He knows full well that what is happening in Gaza is a genocide.Starmer is no different from a neo-Nazi holocaust
denier.
It is no surprise that the Guardian has failed to cover the
continued series of raids that have taken place. What is more surprising is
that Liberty, the old National Council
for Civil Liberties, has not responded to our invitation to provide a speaker.
It is as if all the erstwhile liberals have hauled up the White Flag and surrendered
to the security state.
(1)The law must be accessible and so far as
possible intelligible, clear and predictable.
(2) Questions
of legal right and liability should ordinarily be resolved by application of
the law and not the exercise of discretion.
(3) The laws of the land should apply equally
to all, save to the extent that objective differences justify differentiation.
(4) Ministers
and public officers at all levels must exercise the powers conferred on them in
good faith, fairly, for the purpose for which the powers were conferred,
without exceeding the limits of such powers and not unreasonably.
(5) The law must afford adequate protection of
fundamental human rights.
(6) Means
must be provided for resolving, without prohibitive cost or inordinate delay,
bona fide civil disputes which the parties themselves are unable to resolve.
(7)
The adjudicative procedures provided by the state should be fair.
(8) The rule of law requires compliance by the
state with its obligations in international law as in national law.
In the
parliamentary debate in the House of Lords’s Constitution Committee, former
Attorney-General 2010-14, Dominic
Grieve KC, said the rule of law encompasses:
“the system of rules that we have
in our country to ensure that the decisions we make and the way the Executive
and, ultimately, individuals, organisations and institutions behave are subject
to the law—both our own domestic law and international law—and that the
processes by which the law can be applied work.48
David Gauke,
Lord Chancellor 2018–19 stated that the rule of law means:
“the … sense that the law applies
equally to everyone, that no one is above the law and, in particular, that the
Government must comply with the law.”49
Lord Keen of
Elie KC, Advocate General for Scotland 2015–20 s said:
“that all institutions and parties
should be equal before the law and subject to the law, that the law should be
publicly available, and they should be capable of ascertaining what their
rights and obligations are thereunder … It extends not just to domestic law but
to the sphere of international law.”50
It is clear that the actions of the Police and
the refusal of the present Attorney General Lord Richard Hermer KC
to take any action in regard to the enforcement of Britain’s legal obligations to
oppose genocide make a mockery of the Attorney General’s position as an
independent legal adviser to the government.
This is not surprising since Hermer was
appointed by Starmer to advise the government
on compliance with the law.It’s not
often that a poacher appoints the gamekeeper! The same contradictions occurred
in 2003 when the then Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, completely
changed his position on the legality of the invasion of Iraq under
political pressure.
Richard Hermer has also bucked under the
pressure and is now openly condoning the refusal of the government to ban arms
sales to Israel even though they are contributing to the ongoing genocide.
One thing is for sure. We are not going to be cowed
by this Police State repression whilst genocide in going on in Gaza. We
understand full well the role that the Police have in backing Starmer’s policy of
giving 100% support to Genocide Joe Biden and Killer Kamala. That is why we are
holding a meeting on the arrests this Friday.Please come along.
I was arrested on October 4,
the 88th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street when the Met Tried
to Force the British Union of Fascists on Jewish East Enders – 300,000 Stopped Them
– the Met is Still the Same Racist Force
You
may remember that I was arrested
on October 4th for daring to make a comparison between Israel’s holocaust
in Gaza and the Nazi holocaust. Two days ago I was informed by the Police that
they weren’t bringing any charges.
Israeli military Captain. Daniel Hatniel serving as deputy of Israel’s West Bank intelligence command & ex-spox of an MK
“The little finger of a soldier of ours is worth as much of Gaza… Amalek like Hamas symbolize an idea.. There must not be one of the Amalek left on earth” pic.twitter.com/oA3fDWtEks
The Police trying to find a way through Cable Street 88 years ago - genuine anti-Semitism has never bothered the Met
It
is ironic that on October 4, 1936 the Met, under Commissioner Philip Game, tried
to force thousands of Sir Oswald Moseley’s British Union of Fascists and
National Socialists through the Jewish East End. However up to 300,000 East End
workers, including Catholic dockers and thousands of non-Jewish workers were
having none of it. What ensued became known as the Battle of Cable Street. The Met then was riddled with anti-Semites just as today it
is riddled with Islamaphobes. After battling for hours Philip Game was forced to admit defeat as barricades were thrown up.
Notice published in the Jewish Chronicle urging Jews to keep their heads down - when it comes to genuine anti-Semitism the Jewish & Zionist Establishment has always preferred a policy of keeping one's head down
The
Met hasn’t changed even if the target of its racism has changed. But even now
it has a penchant for arresting anti-Zionist Jews who don’t conform their idea
of ‘proper’ Israel supporting nationalist bigots.
In
1936 the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Zionists told Jews they
should stay at home and keep their heads down. Jewish workers ignored them in
their thousands. Today there is no Jewish working class. Jews have migrated socio-economically upwards
and politically rightwards such that their best friends today are bigots like
Tommy Robinson and friends.
In
my response I told DC O’Connor it was as I had predicted when I applied to vary my bail. The Police never had
a case for racially/religiously aggravated harassment. It was simply another
example of the Police deliberately trying to close down free speech on
Palestine . If there was any harassment it was on the part of the police.
The person whose complaint against me led to my arrest was notorious Zionist fanatic Richard Millett who above describes a holocaust survivor who opposes genocide as 'scum' - this is the kind of person the Met takes seriously
I
pointed out the even more outrageous arrest, two weeks later, of Professor Haim
Bresheeth, a 79 year old Israeli academic suffering from cancer who was kept
all night in a cold cell in Holborn police station by these bastards in
uniform. He too was told he wouldn’t be charged.
Professor Haim Bresheeth - 79 year old Israeli academic who the Police arrested
It
is noticeable that on no occasion have the Police arrested supporters of Israel’s
genocide for their language. Supporting genocide is not an offence in the Met’s
eyes, Opposing it is, despite the fact that committing or aiding the commission
of war crimes or genocide is a specific offence in the International Criminal
Court Act 2001, Section 52 of which specifically states that:
(1) It is an offence against the law of England
and Wales for a person to engage in conduct ancillary to an act to which this
section applies.
(2) This section applies to an act that if
committed in England or Wales would constitute—
(a) an offence under section 51 (genocide, crime
against humanity or war crime), or
(b) an offence under this section,
However
the Met pick and choose which legislation they will enforce and which legislation
they won’t enforce. They call it the ‘rule of law’ but in reality they turn the
law into an instrument of political oppression.
The
Met and the Anti-Terrorist Police are also engaged in a wholesale abuse of
anti-terror legislation in order to clamp down on Palestine solidarity activists.
In short the Police are, ever more obviously, becoming a political police whose
job it is to attack critics of British foreign policy.
This man, believed to be one of the Zionist counter-demonstrators, was photographed pointing out Palestinian protesters to arrest. This is the collusion Palestine solidarity activists face in London
At
the weekly protest at Swiss Cottage the Police eagerly video the speeches Palestine
solidarity supporters make for any hint of a pretext with which to arrest them.
Arrests are made, despite the Police being fully aware that charges are highly unlikely to
follow. It is another form of intimidation. That is one reason why I informed Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, in a complaint I made on 15 November, that I will be bringing
proceedings against the Met for Wrongful Arrest and Unlawful Imprisonment. You can read my complaint letter here.
When it comes to the billions of pounds lost in COVID fraud the Met are remarkably disinterested in enforcing the law
I
have also made it clear that I will continue to compare Israel’s behaviour in
Gaza with that of the Nazis. The false IHRA
definition of anti-Semitism, which asserts that such a comparison is anti-Semitic
is not, by its own admission, legally
binding. In the Opinion
of Hugh Tomlinson KC:
‘It is perhaps
worth pointing out that the fact that conduct is “contrary” to the IHRA
Definition could not, of itself, render that conduct “illegal” in any
sense.’
The
IHRA has been described
by Geoffrey Robertson KC as ‘not fit for
purpose’.
Sir
Stephen Sedley, a former Court of Appeal judge and himself Jewish, went even further
in an article in London Review of Books, ‘Defining Anti-Semitism’, when he wrote
that the IHRA ‘fails the first test of
any definition: it is indefinite.’ So what the hell are the Metropolitan
Police doing implementing a definition that is not legally binding, which is
not fit for purpose and isn’t even a definition. Apart from pleasing their political masters?
I
intend to go back to the demonstration at Swiss Cottage in the near future to explain
why Israel’s behaviour is certainly comparable with the Nazis. In some respects
it may even be worse. Even the Nazis didn’t single out hospitals and their medical staff for death
and destruction. It is a little known fact that the Jewish hospital in Berlin survived unscathed
throughout the war and was still in operation when Berlin was liberated. If I
am arrested again, so be it.
The theft of Palestinian organs, from those Israel has murdered, is another example of their Nazi-like mentality
If
my speech offends racist Zionists and genocide supporters that's also fine. No one is
forcing them to listen. Perhaps they will even learn something. In Israel it is not unusual to make such comparisons. As Stephen Sedley ruled, in the landmark
case on free speech, Redmond
Bate v DPP,
“free
speech includes not only the inoffensive but also the irritating, the contentious,
the eccentric, the heretical, the unwelcome and provocative, provided it does
not tend to provoke violence. Freedom only to speak inoffensively is not worth
having
For
example the late Professor Ze’ev Sternhell, a child survivor of the Premszyl
ghetto in Nazi occupied Poland wrote
an article in Ha’aretz, that in Israel there was a ‘Growing Fascism and a Racism Akin to Early
Nazism’. No doubt the
idiot who approved my arrest would have had no compunction in arresting a holocaust
survivor for making such a comparison!
Jewish kids dressed as Israeli soldiers in N15 area with fake guns walking past local mosque as children leave
The comparisons begin with Defence
Minister Yoav Gallant when he began the genocide, when he described Palestinians as “human animals” – the
very same phrase that Himmler used about the Jews on October 4, 1943, in a talk to SS
generals. Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich spoke about how “justified
and moral” it would be to starve two million Palestinians, which is no
different from the Nazi policy towards the Russians and Hans Frank’s implementation
in Poland of ‘death by hunger’ against the Jewish ghettos.
We
are facing a full square attack on basic democratic rights and freedom of
speech by the police, backed by the State, Starmer and much of the judiciary. Erstwhile
liberals such as Libertyare keeping quiet
whilst anti-genocide activists are gaoled and harassed.
However
those who stand silent are likely to find that the situation gets worse rather
than better. So join the pickets of Hotoveli each Friday night and show that
the Police and Starmer will not be allowed to introduce a police state by the
back door.
Two Israeli Palestine
Action Activists Denied Bail by Bristol Crown Court as the Police & Courts
Defend Elbit (WarCrimes“R”Us)
At the same time as
Priti Patel is introducing
legislation to further restrict and clamp down on the Right to Protest, the
Metropolitan Police, who are a Political Police, have deliberately refused to
investigate multiple breaches of COVID Regulations by Boris Johnson.
At the same time the Metropolitan Police have taken no action against
Police Officers Guilty of Sexual Assault of 2 Black Children.
Last Monday two Israeli Palestine Action activists were
remanded in custody
by Bristol Crown Court. Palestine Action has taken direct action repeatedly
against Elbit Systems, the Israeli firm which should be renamed WarCrimes“R”Us.
Their success in closing down Elbit’s Oldham factory has enraged the Police and
Political Establishment.
Public Order Bill
The Public
Order Bill would allow the Police to put innocent people on electronic
ankle tags and ban them from attending marches and demonstrations. These are
police state measures.
Individuals would be prohibited from attending demonstrations
if they have been convicted on two occasions of protest-related offences. These
measures are a breach of the European
Convention of Human Rights which is why the government is also proposing scrapping
the Human Rights Act 1998.
People given such orders can also face other restrictions,
including on their online activity, who they can talk to and where they can go.
People who want to attend a protest need not have ever
committed any offence in order to be given “protest banning order” by the
police.
Under the Public Order Bill, police will be given powers to
monitor campaigners using electronic GPS tags, restrict their Internet
activities and prevent them from attending protests. These are measures that
would be condemned in Russia, Iran and China yet they are being proposed
without a word of concern by that faithful servant of the British Establishment,
the BBC.
After the shocking Police attacks
on women at the Clapham vigil for Sarah Everard and the attack
by Bristol Police on demonstrators against the last Police Bill, these are the
latest measures that this government is taking to outlaw basic democratic
rights. Effective protests are now being prohibited.
As a
first step there is a Change.org PetitionDon't
electronically tag innocent people for attending protests but petitions
are ignored by this government of the rich and powerful. I have also submitted
a Parliamentary Petition.
The Public Order Bill is due to receive its second reading in
the Commons. Civil rights group Liberty said
the provision marks a “significant
expansion of state surveillance on protesters” as the authorities will receive
powers to monitor the activities of campaigners to ensure that they are
complying with the order.
Liberty described
the provision as “unprecedented and
highly draconian,” warning that the orders would amount to “a ban on named individuals” fundamental
right to protest.”
The police will be able to fit activists with ankle tags,
which can be imposed for up to 12 months and perhaps longer if the order is
renewed.
The Bill also proposes expanding stop-and-search powers and
creating a new “locking on” offence, which would criminalise protesters who use
bike locks or chains to secure themselves to each other or to objects.
Home Secretary Priti Patel’s justification is that the Bill
is intended to tackle a “rise in
criminal, disruptive and self-defeating tactics from a supremely selfish
minority.”
Amnesty International warned
that these proposals will “seriously
curtail human rights” and has called on MPs to reject the legislation in
its entirety.
Labour has also voiced opposition to the measures, with the front
bench tabling a motion to block the Bill. However we know that Starmer has a
police state mentalilty. We need a guarantee that a Labour government in its
first parliamentary session will repeal both this Bill and the previous Police
Bill.
If the Police are reluctant to investigate Elbit and
Boris Johnson’s crimes there are ‘crimes’ that the Police do investigate and
that is when Black children are suspected of committing them. Then they are
only too eager to abuse their powers to the full.
In December 2020 there were two sickening incidents in
which the Police, let us not beat about the bush, sexually assaulted two 15
year old girls in school.
Olivia, amixed-race girl, was handcuffed and had her underwear cut off in the
presence of male officers. Olivia, who is autistic, subsequently tried
to kill herself after a police strip search while she was menstruating.
Olivia
was arrested with friends in December 2020 after having a disagreement with two
boys who called the police claiming they were victims of an attempted
knife-point robbery.
She said
her daughter was searched at the scene and nothing was found, but was still
taken into custody. She claimed she warned police her daughter had autism,
learning difficulties and was self-harming.
Olivia
was held in custody for more than 20 hours before being found to be in
possession of a sharpened stick and a small blade, which her mother said was
for the purpose of self-harming.
Six officers
forcibly stripped Olivia, banged her head against the floor and carried out an
intimate search in the presence of male police officers. According
to her mother:
“Olivia was actually on her period at the time too.
And they cut off her underwear in front of these grown male officers. She was
absolutely distraught.”
Her
mother told
BBC’s File on 4 that the experience had a devastating impact on her daughter’s
mental health. According
to her mother
“She spent a lot of time in her room and she
continued to self-harm in secret. And then, a few weeks later, she attempted
suicide.”
Olivia
later appeared in court accused of possession of a bladed weapon and was found
not guilty after magistrates accepted the items were used for self-harming.
The Metropolitan
Policesaid it was
investigating a complaint from the girl’s mother. In other words they did
absolutely nothing about it until the case was publicised.
Unbelievably Deputy
Assistant Commissioner Laurence Taylor told
File On 4 that strip-searches help to keep children safe while in custody.
What did the Met do? Did it immediately suspend the
officers pending their prosecution? Not a bit of it. When the assault came to
light the Met referred itself to the Independent
Office for Police Conduct, the so-called police watchdog. Given the record
of the Police Lapdog it is unlikely to have anything to fear.
This followed news of another case, Child Q, a 15-year-old
black pupil who was also menstruating. She was strip
searched by female officers, also in December 2020 after being wrongly accused of
possessing drugs. This sparked protests and a widespread
backlash.
A spokesperson
for the police stated that it was investigating a complaint from Olivia’s
mother but “We have also received
notification of a potential civil claim and therefore are unable to comment
further at this stage” which is also a lie. A civil claim doesn’t stop you
responding.
There is
one demand that we can make. That schools should stop inviting police onto
their premises. The Police do not protect school kids they are a threat to
them, especially if they are Black.
Palestine Action
Meanwhile in Bristol,
the Police were
more than eager to protect WarCrimes“R”Us, who
sometimes go by the name of Elbit Systems, for criminal damage. The
so-called incident happened at Elbit in Aztec West on Sunday May 15 and all nine were charged
overnight with burglary with intent to commit damage and criminal damage to
property (valued at over £5,000) and remanded in custody. Police claimed that "intruders" had damaged a business
premises.”
On Monday
23 May 7 of them were released on bail with onerous restrictions but two of
them remain in custody, the pretext being that there is a risk they may flee
abroad, although the Police are more than capable of keeping their passports.
They are:
ØRonnie Barkan, who is currently
being held at HMP Bristol, 19 Cambridge Rd, Bishopston, Bristol BS7 8PS0117
372 3100Prisoner Number A4443EV and
ØStavit Sinai who is being held at
HMP EastwoodPark, Falfield,
Wotton-under-Edge GL12 8DB, (01454
382100Prisoner Number A4440EV
Palestine Action have called for greater
resistance in the face of repression, urges supporters to join the
campaign to ‘Shut Elbit Down’, marking Elbit as ‘vulnerable’ and ‘running
scared’.
An ongoing campaign for the prisoners’ release
The Action was on Nakba day, which commemorates
Israel’s forcible expulsion, i.e. ethnic cleansing of ¾ million Palestinians in
1947-8. They occupied and damaged the Bristol HQ of Elbit Systems, Israel’s
largest arms company. It is only the two Israeli activists, Stav Sinai and
Ronnie Barkan who remain in custody.
Throughout its nearly 2 years of existence,
Palestine Action has been subject to a campaign of state repression and
intimidation. However, the taking of political prisoners has set a concerning
new precedent. In response, the group has promised ‘no backdown to the crackdown’, and called for heightened direct
action against Elbit, who produce drones, ammunition, and chemical weapons. The
company supplies the Israeli occupation military with 85% of its drone fleet.
The Police prefer to take action against those who
try to prevent war crimes rather than the war criminals themselves.
This is part of the growing Police repression of
direct action activists.
The move to greater repression has come after
victory for the campaign in January, when direct action and community
organising permanently shut down Elbit weapons factory in Oldham, Manchester.
Palestine Action has seen constantly growing support both domestically and
internationally, and it is suspected that these events have been in response to
the success of the campaign. The British stateis heavily allied with Israel and fears resistance
to the Israeli arms trade in Britain. Notably, a delegation of Israeli police
were recently received by the Metropolitan police, presumably to share tactics
and strategies.
“As the British state moves to crackdown on our campaign against Elbit –
owing to its mass support in communities and our no-nonsense use of direct
action, we say we won’t backdown to the crackdown, and will respond with
greater resistance. Our two brave activists have sacrificed their liberty
in the fight to Shut Elbit Down, and we will fight day and night for their
release.
Supporters can write letters to the two prisoners (email to palactprisoners@protonmail.com),
or join protests in Bristol demanding their release. Anyone and everyone who
longs to see a free Palestine: Now is the time to join Palestine Action, resist
the crackdown, and Shut Elbit Down.”
Bristol HQ
Action Press Release:
If you would like any further information on Palestine
action, please contact info@palestineaction.org
Palestine Action is a direct-action network of
groups and individuals formed with the mandate of taking direct action against
Elbit Systems’ UK locations at grassroots level, calling for them all to be
shut down and for the British government to end its complicity in Israeli
apartheid.
Undoubtedly it is the actions of Direct Action Groups
like Palestine Action, Extinction RebellionandInsulate
Britainthat have led to the government attack on democratic rights and
civil liberties. Coupled with the potential for an upsurge in trade union
action.
Palestine Action activists who have been prosecuted so
far have either been acquitted
or had the charges against them dropped. It is clear that the actions against
Elbit, whose only purpose is to prevent Israeli war crimes is lawful and
proportionate.
Campaigners from Extinction Rebellion were acquitted
and members of Insulate Britain released
from prison in January after a string of convictions were overturned as a
result of a decision by the Supreme Court in the case of Ziegler and others.
It is not a crime to commit a minor offence in order
to prevent a greater evil. If someone breaks a door down in order to rescue a
person inside a burning building, no one in their right mind would expect them
to be charged with criminal damage. Yet the Police have done their utmost to
protect Elbit’s right to commit war crimes.
Contrast this with Boris Johnson, who attended at
least 6 parties at 10 Downing Street, in flagrant breach of the COVID
Regulations that the Tories themselves introduced. The Police refused to issue
penalty notices for any of them bar Johnson’s presence at his own birthday
party. Indeed they have refused even to investigate his attendance at other parties
that others were fined for. The only conclusion that can be drawn is that
political considerations were paramount even though I’m not aware that the
Prime Minister has any sort of legal immunity.
The Metropolitan Police initially refused to investigate
any crimes. Their reason being that they don’t investigate "retrospective
breaches of the law”! Presumably this was because the Met only investigate
crimes after consulting Mystic Meg! The so-called Independent Office for Police
Conduct rejected
a complaint from Baroness Jones.
It was only when the Sue Grey Report was imminent that
the Met began an investigation whilst at the same time telling her not to
produce a full report. The inevitable inference is that the Police wanted to
protect Johnson.
Press Release from the Jewish Anti-Zionist Network
RELEASE
ANTI-APARTHEID CAMPAIGNERS NOW!
We
congratulate Palestine Action for their part in opposing Israeli apartheid,
ethnic cleansing, occupation and war crimes.
We join
Palestine Action in their call for the release of their activists who have been
refused bail and remanded in custody, including two Israeli dissidents who have
taken direct action against the Israeli arms’ manufacturer, Elbit Systems.
The Israeli
war machine is not only responsible for the slaughter of Palestinian people but
commits crimes internationally: armed the Rwanda genocide, and more recently
armed the Myanmar genocide of the Rohingya people -- where Elbit upgraded
Myanmar’s F-7 fighter jets.
People in
the UK are increasingly aware of the frightening influence of the apartheid
state of Israel in British politics.
Israeli
influence can be seen in last week’s declaration by Home Secretary Priti Patel
of her “unflinching and unequivocal”
support for Israel. In 2017 she was forced to resign from the cabinet, as
UK International Development Secretary, following the exposure of her secret meetings
with Israeli officials, which included a proposal to divert
British aid to the Israeli military in the illegally annexed Golan
Heights.
The official
opposition is also guilty of bowing to Israel. UK Labour leader Keir Starmer
declared “I support Zionism without
qualification”. His Labour Party
campaigned door to door in the London Borough of Barnet with the pro-apartheid
Israeli Labour Party (ILP) during the recent council elections. Senior Labour
figures and ILP representatives discussed campaign tactics together. In fact,
one new Labour councillor from that campaign is a former employee of the
Israeli embassy.
We are
outraged at the partisan decision by the Crown Prosecution Service to deny bail
to pro-Palestine activists.
We welcome
Palestine Action’s opposition to Israeli militarism: we must oppose all Israeli
crimes, including the murder of beloved journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, and last
week’s murder of 17-year-old Amjad al-Fayyed, and the arrest, torture and
killing of children by the militarist and racist Israeli state.
Drop all
charges! Release the anti-apartheid campaigners now!
