Elbit Tried and Failed to Get Our Crowdfunder for Palestine Action Defendants Taken Down

 WarCrimes’R’Us Used Their Lawyers to Intimidate Chuffed Into Taking Down Our Crowdfunder But We Are Now Back Up

Demonstration Outside Wolverhampton Crown Court - the Banner Speaks Volumes

If capitalism is an immoral, asocial system that knows only profit and war then its most immoral part are the arms companies, what Eisenhower called the military-industrial complex. And no one but no one is more immoral than Elbit, Israel’s largest arms company.

For 36 hours our Crowdfunder was suspended but now it's up and running

Perhaps the title of the most genocidal and murderous regime in the world goes to the military junta in Myanmar (Burma). The junta has waged war against the Rohinga people, burning them out of their villages and massacring them. Elbit is happy to step in to enable them to commit more war crimes.

The text I agreed to remove from our Crowdfunder

Last Saturday I set up a Crowdfunder on Chuffed, which I’d been recommended to as a socially conscious crowdfunding platform. I wanted to avoid American corporations like Just Giving. By the end of Monday we had raised over £3,000 and then disaster struck.

What greeted me on Tuesday

On Tuesday I woke up to an email saying that the Crowdfunder had been temporarily taken down and we had to remove all references to Elbit as they were defamatory.

Chuffed on Twitter/X

There followed a long conversation in which I was prepared to take out most of the text criticising Elbit but I wasn’t prepared to remove the title Help Support Elbit Protesters and nor was I prepared the photograph which pictured two people holding a placard saying ‘Elbit are the real criminals’. After all that is a photo of a demonstration that took place. How can that possibly be defamatory? News organisations showing pictures of a demonstration would be protected under ‘fair comment.’

By the end of Monday we had reached a deadlock and I did some research and found out that yes, Chuffed did hold itself out to be a socially conscious crowdfunder for all sorts of campaigns, which is to its credit, but it was giving us a hard time.

What I didn’t realise was that Elbit’s overpaid lawyers had been on to Chuffed and threatened them unless the blog was taken down.

So we left it with me telling Carl that I would be left with no option but to run the Crowdfunder from my own blog and I would of course have to explain why this had happened which would inevitably mean that Chuffed suffered reputational damage amongst activists.

At this point Jennie Smith, their acting CEO emailed me from Australia asking for a WhatsApp meeting. Unfortunately because I had been blogging till the early hours and because of the different time zones we never did manage it. However Jennie made it clear that she wanted to restore the Crowdfunder.

I also contacted all those who had donated and asked them to contact Chuffed and explain why they were disappointed at what had happened and expressing the hope that it would be resolved as quickly as possible, which many did.

I am pleased to say that Jennie was happy with my compromise which was to take the criticism of Elbit out of the text but to leave in the heading and the photograph which says everything really.

So to end the story on a happy note the Crowdfunder is up and running and at the time of writing has raised £3,100. This is more than enough for the 5 Elbit Defendants in Wolverhampton and I propose to distribute it to other Defendants in Elbit trials so it should be seen as a more general defence fund.

Prominent amongst these is Amber whose crowdfunder for £5 ,000 is to pay for her legal fees as she has been denied legal aid. I intend that we donate £1,000 towards this and I hope others do too.

So this is a story with a happy ending. Unlike some other crowdfunders Chuffed did enter into correspondence with us and we reached a mutually satisfactory outcome so I would definitely recommend people use them.

Elbit provided the White Phosphorous Used for Bombing a UN School

The moral of the story is that Elbit is quite happy enabling war crimes and blowing kids to bits but it is very sensitive when people criticise them. And this is the company that British Judges have bent over backwards to protect.

Tony Greenstein

I Have Resigned From Palestine Solidarity Campaign Because It No Longer Opposes Zionism, the Founding Ideology and Movement that created the Israeli State

In Railroading a Constitution Through Its AGM in Less Than an Hour, PSC’s Ruling Clique Demonstrated Their Contempt for the Membership 

Lisa Nandy and Emily Thornberry, both right-wing Zionists are invited to speak on PSC platforms - who does that benefit?

The angry, scowling face of PSC Chair Kamal Hawwash, who was determined to brush aside all opposition

In my letter of resignation I outline the reasons why Palestine Solidarity Campaign is today an obstacle to Palestine solidarity work.

Instead of educating activists as to the nature of Zionism and the Zionist movement, PSC has abandoned all opposition to Zionism. PSC is depoliticising activists in the face of constant Zionist attacks. It also reduces the question of Palestine to a human rights issue.

Of course the oppression of the Palestinians involves grave human rights abuses but if Palestine is simply a human rights issue then it is only one of many such examples. Who can doubt that the treatment of the Rohinga in Myanamar at the hands of the Burmese army, which is engaged in actual genocide, is worse than that of the Palestinians?

Zionism has systematically exploited the Holocaust through its blanket attack on all opposition to its settler colonial project as ‘anti-Semitism’. Yet instead of pointing out that Zionism represents an acceptance of anti-Semitism’s belief that Jews are aliens in the countries where they live, PSC prefers to jettison anti-Zionism.

Just 200 people participated in the Zoom session and as the day wore on it was down to less than 150

What makes Palestine different is that Israel is the only apartheid state on the planet and the only active settler colonial state in existence. Defenders of White Supremacy in South Africa were fond of pointing to human rights abuses in neighbouring countries and contrasting those states with itself.

The response of anti-imperialists was that South Africa’s regime of racial supremacy was unique. The same is true of Israeli Apartheid. Just as the South African state supported the repressive Black states surrounding it, Israel also acts as a guarantor against revolution in its neighbours. That is what the Abraham Accords are about.

PSC avoids such ‘difficult’ questions as it panders to the lowest common denominator politically. A cursory look at PSC literature would have you believe that Israel is alone in the Middle East. There is barely a mention of Israel’s strategic role in the region.

The Zionists have deliberately conflated the terms ‘Jew’ and ‘Zionist’. Support for the Palestinians has become ‘anti-Semitism’. PSC’s response has been to abandon opposition to Zionism. A search of its Annual Plan contains no mention of the word ‘Zionism’.

Those opposed to the resolution needed to obtain 25% of the vote. In the end we obtained 24.16% - just 113 people, 1.5% of PSC's total membership, voted for the new constitution

PSC AGM and the New Constitution

All of this came to a head at PSC’s recent AGM on March 19^th where any debate about a new proposed constitution was rendered impossible. One of the drawbacks of Zoom is that it enables those who set up the meeting to tightly control the proceedings and through the use of the webinar facility to atomise those taking part.

The Chat facility, which enables participants to discuss issues with each other, was disabled. The control freaks in PSC’s ruling clique, most notably its Director Ben Jamal, were determined that members who attended the AGM were not able to have any horizontal contact or communications with each other.  This is no different to the behaviour of Starmer’s apparatchiks in the Labour Party.

The Executive proposed an entirely new Constitution. Its reason was that the existing constitution had become misaligned with the Articles of Association of PSC Ltd. No proof that this was a problem was ever produced. Since 2004 PSC has been both a limited company and a campaigning organisation, which legally was an unincorporated association.

Members were lied to.  They were told that they had to approve a new constitution, unamended, because it was a Special Resolution under the 2006 Companies Act which requires 15 days of any amendment to the Articles of Association (a company’s constitution).

However there was absolutely no reason why an Extraordinary General Meeting could not have been called in 4 or 6 weeks time and amendments submitted within that time frame. Debate however was the last thing that PSC’s ruling clique wanted.

Leadership loyalist Diane Langford speaking in the constitution debate

PSC’s New Constitution Represents A Shift of Power From the Membership to PSC’s Ruling Clique

Below are a few examples of the mindset behind the proposals.

Section 4 of the old constitution was headed ‘Membership’. The new constitution has a much enlarged and prescriptive Part III ‘Membership.’ Section 6 not only requires that you agree with PSC’s Aims and Objectives but that you ‘uphold the Values of the campaign’. There is a new section 5, ‘Values’ which is as vacuous as anything New Labour produced.  PSC’e Values are a substitute for having Principles. These values include defining ‘anti-Semitism’ as a form of racism as opposed to prejudice in the former constitution.

Clause 4.6 of the 2015 Constitution specified that someone expelled from the organisation had the right of appeal to the following AGM. No such provision now exists.  Such a person merely has the right under s.10.4 to appeal ‘in line with the Appeal Process referred to in the relevant Regulation.’ Except there are no regulations and if and when they are drawn up they do not need to be approved by the membership.

Dave Chappell of Exeter PSC speaking in the debate

Under s.9.1 members must ‘support and promote the Aims, Objectives and Values of the PSC’. Given that the values are subjective this hands absolute power to the Executive Officers. There was no such stipulation in the previous constitution and no explanation as to why this is needed now.

Members must now also (s.9.2) ‘abide by the Code of Conduct and Constitution’. The Executive drew up a Code of Conduct which was a mere 25 times as long as the previous code of conduct of 98 words. It is effectively a charter for a future witchhunt. It does not need to be approved by anyone other than the Executive. Again there was no such stipulation in the previous constitution nor has there been any explanation as to why such a provision needs to be introduced now.

Clause 5.3 of the old Constitution stipulated that ‘All branches should adopt a constitution, which must contain...’ and it listed 5 non-controversial requirements such as a requirement for officers to be members of PSC nationally and to hold an AGM.

The new s.13.6. stipulates that ‘All branches shall have a constitution, approved by the Executive Committee.’ The original idea was to go further and divide members of PSC branches into two. Those who are members of national PSC and those who weren’t. The latter would have been unable to vote in elections for local officers. It was withdrawn after an outcry but it betrays the mentality of those who drew up this constitution.

What is the reason for local constitutions to be approved by national PSC?  None was given. The new 13.7.2. says that ‘all branch members shall abide by the PSC’s Aims, Objectives, Values and Code of Conduct.’ This is entirely new and hands powers to a future Executive to conduct a political witchhunt.

It is not just the wording of the new constitution but the mentality behind it. There is a new section 7 ‘Rights of Members’ but apart from the right to attend the national AGM and Branch Forum, which already existed there are no additional rights.

The new section 9 ‘Responsibilities of members’ lays out that Members ‘must’ support and promote the Aims Objectives and Values of PSC. Note the word ‘must’.

But when it comes to the Executive then the language changes. Section 18.1 says that ‘The Executive Committee shall be accountable to the membership for various tasks.’  The word ‘must’ is replaced by ‘shall’. It is in this authoritarian spirit that the whole of this verbose constitution was drawn up.

Rob Ferguson of the SWP giving loyal support to PSC's ruling clique as they remove opposition to Zionism from the Constitution

You might expect members of the Socialist Workers Party, who are nominally anti-Zionist, to have opposed this constitution, especially its proposal to remove opposition to Zionism.  Not a bit of it.  Tom Hickey and Rob Ferguson gave fulsome support to the Executive’s proposed Constitution on the grounds that we should not bother discussion constitutions. We should all just get on with campaigning!

According to the SWP we don’t need to think about things like the political aims and goals of PSC, still less its internal democracy. Given that there is no internal democracy in the SWP, the result of which was the rape crisis scandal in 2013, they couldn’t see the need for anyone else to take democracy seriously.

As Hickey and Ferguson were speaking, their Scottish comrades in Stand Up to Racism were busy welcoming Glasgow Friends of Israel and the Confederation of Friends of Israel Scotland onto their annual ‘anti-racism’ march complete with the Israeli flag. This meant that Muslim organisations were unable to participate in the march. This was of no concern to them. Fearful of being accused of ‘anti-Semitism’ the SWP allowed the Zionists to march with them. This was abject political cowardice and opportunism.

Louise Regan, Chair of the afternoon session and Iyas AlQasem, who chaired the committee that drew up the new constitution

The Quisling Palestinian Authority and Murder of Nizar Banat

PSC’s ruling clique also opposed a motion condemning the Quisling Palestine Authority which had murdered Palestinian resistance fighter Nizar Banat. His family personally contacted me to offer their support for the motion and sent a message, which I read out. PSC Executive were not prepared to condemn the PA, which is Israel’s military subcontractor in the West Bank.

When Donald Trump cut all funding to the Palestinians, including the PA, he made an exception as regards funding the Palestinian security forces at Israel’s special request.

The PA’s security forces work closely with the Israeli military and its secret police Shin Bet. They arrest and interrogate (i.e. torture) Palestinians when supplied with names by Shin Bet before handing the prisoners over to the Israelis. This however cut no ice with Ben Jamal, Kamal Hawwash or PSC Executive.

PSC Refuse to Say Anything About the Two State Solution

Today the main supporters of the two state solution are Zionist groups like Labour Friends of Israel. They support it because they know it will never happen but it’s a useful smokescreen and alibi for continued settlement. Unsurprisingly my motion opposing the two state solution was met with the Executive’s opposition.

The Palestine Action motion, which had been gutted by the Executive's amendment, was still opposed by a hardcore of 21 members who oppose any form of direct action, with 19 unable to decide  what they think.

Palestine Action

The best thing that has happened to the Palestine solidarity movement in Britain in the past 5 years was the creation of Palestine Action.  Through the use of direct action and community campaigns in like Oldham and Leicester Elbit actually closed their factory in Oldham because they could no longer protect it.

None of this stopped Ben Jamal waging an 18 months war of attrition against PA including the dissemination of bogus legal advice to PSC branches warning them off contributing to their funds.  He also made allegations of anti-Semitism. The details are in this paper.

Robyn Dasey of Brixton PSC speaking

PSC’s repeated boasts that it is building a mass movement that will mainstream Palestine is just that. A boast. ‘Mainstreaming’ is jargon for persuading the British Establishment to cut its ties with Israel.

The main achievement of PSC to date is to build itself into another NGO whose priority is maintaining itself. Its support for its own activists is secondary. When BDS first took off in Britain PSC opposed it. PSC today is a politically timid organisation bent on appeasing the British Establishment. That is why it has put on its platforms Zionists like Lisa Nandy and Emily Thornberry.

What is worse is that PSC is controlled politically by a secretive ex-Trotskyist organisation, Socialist Action which believes that China is a socialist society. It is Socialist Action’s iron grip on PSC’s leadership which is responsible for PSC failing to develop politically.

As someone who helped found PSC in 1982 I don’t take the step of resigning lightly but as long as PSC is tightly controlled by a few individuals it will never build the mass movement that it talks about.

PSC’s lack of any anti-imperialist or anti-Zionist politics means that it is helpless when faced with a concerted Zionist campaign such as that over ‘anti-Semitism’. 

In 1993 I resigned from PSC when it supported the Oslo Accords, rejoining in 2005. As I predicted at the time, the Oslo Accords, of which the Palestinian Authority is the bastard fruit, represented the greatest setback to the Palestinian struggle since the Nakba. I will continue to be a member of my local Brighton and Hove PSC.

Tony Greenstein

Burma - Once Again Israel Extends the Hand of Friendship to a Genocidal Regime

Israel's lessons from the Holocaust - Never miss an opportunity to sell arms - the nastier the regime the more profitable it is!

Once again Israel is up to its neck in supplying weaponry to a state engaged in genocide.  One might have thought that Israel, since it claims its legitimacy from the Holocaust might conclude that it is wrong to supply a barbaric and genocidal regime with weaponry.  However that would be to have illusions in the ‘Jewish’ state.  The only lesson Israel draws from the Holocaust is that Jews too should have the right to engage in genocide.

If Israel could trade arms with the Argentinian Junta from 1976-1983, which was busily murdering and torturing Argentinian Jews, then it is unlikely that the murder of the Rohinga people, who are after all Muslims, is going to weight on Netanyahu’s conscience.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin greets the Head of Burma's genocidal junta

Activists in Israel took the issue of Israel's arm sales to the High Court.  Not only did the court rule in favour of Israel's right to sell arms to any Nazi-like regime it wanted to but it tried to keep its verdict secret by issuing what is called a 'gag order'.  Israel, despite being  the 'only democracy in the Middle East' has comprehensive censorship.

Below is an article from Haaretz.

Tony Greenstein

Israel, Partner in Genocides

Sending weapons to a government that’s guilty of genocide is very similar to sending weapons to Germany during the Holocaust

Yair Auron Oct 02, 2017 11:10 AM

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Myanmar's Commander-in-Chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing meeting in Jerusalem, September 10, 2017. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing's Facebook

This is the independent Israeli High Court in action

 The State of Israel is sending weapons to a country that’s carrying out ethnic cleansing. Once one couldn’t even imagine such a thing, but then it turned out that during the 1990s the Rabin-Peres-Meretz government was selling weapons to the genocidal governments of Rwanda and Serbia.

To send weapons to a government that’s guilty of genocide is very similar to (excuse the comparison) sending weapons to Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. Our leaders nevertheless did this knowingly and desecrated the memory of the Holocaust in the process. It’s important to stress that they turned both you and me into criminals, into accessories to a crime and to abettors of genocide.

In Myanmar there is now a “textbook example of ethnic cleansing” going on, as per the United Nations. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman can equivocate and lie, but the bitter reality is sad. Israel is the only democratic country, at least according to press reports, that is still sending weapons to Myanmar. European and North American countries have stopped doing so, even though there is no official embargo.

Eitay Mack, who has for years been leading the struggle against the criminal weapons exports by Israel – not private weapons merchants, but the State of Israel – to dubious regimes, petitioned the High Court of Justice to stop the defense exports to Myanmar. His petition was rejected and in an unprecedented move there was a gag order imposed on the full ruling, even though the case was handled in open court.

I had the privilege of submitting petitions with Mack against the sales of weapons by Israel to the murderous regime in Serbia, which conducted ethnic cleansing campaigns in the early 1990s, and at least one massacre in Srebrenica in Bosnia, and another petition against the weapons deliveries to the Hutu government in Rwanda, which conducted the fastest genocide in human history.

There’s a connection between the rejection of our petitions back then and the current reality. The petitions then were submitted after the fact, regarding crimes that had already been committed. The current petition and struggle is about the present. Today there are children and elderly people being murdered and women raped in Myanmar. There will almost certainly be more tomorrow.

We told the “leftist” High Court that exposing documents under the Freedom of Information Law could signal to the Israeli government that there are limits and restrictions on the sale of weapons to murderous regimes. The petition was rejected on grounds that it would undermine state security and the state’s security exports. But the success of the current struggle can save lives.

I’ve learned one thing from dealing with the Holocaust and genocide, and that’s the sacred value of human life and the equal value of human life, because we are all human beings created in God’s image. When we remember this basic fact, a lot of things become simple.

Prof. Auron is a genocide researcher who works to get the genocides of other peoples recognized.

Yair Auron