Protesters shut down UK arms factories over Gaza war complicity
Press TV – March 20, 2024
In a display of solidarity with Palestinians, hundreds of workers and protesters have shut down arms factories across England and Scotland to condemn the UK’s complicity in the Israeli regime’s war of aggression in Gaza.
The factories, which produce components for F-35 fighter jets, are accused of shoring up the Israeli regime’s military offensive in Gaza.
Under the banner “Workers for a Free Palestine,” a diverse coalition of individuals from various unions and sectors including health, education, hospitality, academia, and the arts, launched the protests on Wednesday.
Activists aimed to disrupt the supply chain of arms to Israel and denounce the UK’s complicity in the ongoing genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza.
GE Aviation Systems in Cheltenham and Leonardo UK in Edinburgh were among the targeted sites where components for the F-35 jets are manufactured.
The protesters vowed to continue their protest actions for a month, demanding an immediate cessation of arms sales to Israel and advocating for a permanent ceasefire.
The decision to blockade the arms factories was prompted by Israel’s impending invasion of Rafah, which the United Nations and other international organizations have warned would have catastrophic consequences for Gaza’s population.
Unionists have called on workers across the UK to challenge their government’s military support for the Israeli regime.
“We’re demanding our government immediately halt arms supplies to Israel before it launches this offensive in Rafah using British-made bombs. But we are not waiting for this genocide-appeasing prime minister to act,” Zad, a union member, said in a press release.
This isn’t the first time such protests have occurred.
In December, similar blockades targeted four other arms factories across the UK. Despite assurances from the UK government that it hasn’t supplied lethal military equipment to Israel since October, evidence suggests otherwise.
Affidavits filed at the High Court revealed ongoing export licenses and pending applications for equipment likely to be used in offensive operations in Gaza.
Furthermore, the UK Ministry of Defence disclosed that Israeli warplanes have been permitted to take off from and land in the UK during the Gaza war, raising concerns about Britain’s involvement in facilitating Israeli atrocities.
SXSW Is Accused of Using Copyright and Trademark Claims To Suppress Criticism
Copyright and trademark strikes are increasingly being used to force content takedowns
By Christina Maas | Reclaim The Net | March 15, 2024
In a contentious battle over the use of copyright claims to suppress speech, South by Southwest (SXSW), an organizer of a popular annual conference and music festival in Austin, has found itself facing some backlash due to its connections with arms manufacturers that supply Israel.
Rather than responding to the criticism directly, or simply ignoring it, SXSW attempted to get the criticism hidden with questionable legal tactics against a local advocacy group, Austin for Palestine Coalition.
This group has been organizing protests against SXSW, employing strategies such as organizing rallies and spreading awareness through social media.
Austin for Palestine’s social media campaign notably includes altered versions of SXSW’s arrow logo, now featuring fighter jets stained with blood, and other images that mimic SXSW’s marketing style but juxtaposed with stark symbols like bombs or bleeding doves.
This bold visual commentary quickly drew a legal reaction from SXSW. The festival sent a cease-and-desist letter to the advocacy group, alleging trademark and copyright infringement, demanding the removal of these posts.
Additionally, Instagram notified Austin for Palestine about SXSW’s claim on their posts.
According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), SXSW’s copyright infringement claims are baseless. Fundamental elements like their arrow logo do not qualify for copyright protection. Even if SXSW’s allegations targeted the group’s adaptation of their promotional style, such mimicry is arguably not eligible for copyright protection.
Moreover, these posts exemplify non-infringing fair use. Notably, the advocacy group’s use of these materials serves a distinctly different purpose from their original intent, causing no harm to SXSW beyond potential reputation damage, which does not constitute a valid copyright complaint.
Read the EFF’s letter to SXSW here.
Yemeni military to expand operations against Israel-linked ships to Indian Ocean: Houthi
Press TV – March 14, 2024
The leader of Yemen’s Houthis has said that the Yemeni armed forces will continue their retaliatory operations against Israeli-affiliated commercial vessels, preventing the passage of the ships even through the Indian Ocean and through the Cape of Good Hope.
About 34 Houthi fighters have been killed since the Yemeni armed forces began to attack shipping lanes in solidarity with the people of Palestine under attack in Gaza by Israel, Ansarullah leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said in a televised speech on Thursday.
Yemeni forces have repeatedly launched drones and missiles against Israeli and Israel-bound ships since mid-November, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians against Israel’s war on Gaza.
Al-Houthi said 73 ships have been targeted in Yemeni operations in support of Gaza so far, adding rarely does any ship associated with the Israeli enemy pass through Bab al-Mandab.
“This week, support operations included 12 operations targeting ships and barges, executed with a total of 58 ballistic and cruise missiles and drones in the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, and the Gulf of Aden,” he said.
“Our operations this time reached unprecedented ranges, with 3 operations reaching the Indian Ocean, by the grace of Allah,” he added. “The total number of targeted ships and barges reached 73.”
Al-Houthi said that the operations will continue as long as the aggression and siege on Gaza persist.
The United States and Britain began striking Yemen in January in order to dissuade the country from targeting Israeli ships which carry arms and logistics for the onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip.
Al-Houthi said the Americans and the British have received “painful blows” from the Yemeni armed forces in retaliation.
The American-British “aggression will not affect the escalating course of our operations in terms of range, momentum, precision, and strength,” said Al-Houthi.
“What can stop the Yemeni military’s maritime operations is only the cessation of aggression and siege on Gaza,” he noted.
The American stubbornness and escalation of aggression result in only one outcome: the expansion of the conflict, the widening of the circle of war and events, and the tension of the situation at the regional level in general, he stated.
He went on to say that the Yemeni armed forces will continue and effectively expand the range of the operations to reach areas and locations that the enemy never expected.
Al-Houthi said what insures the navigation security in the Red Sea is for any country not to participate in the Israeli aggression against Gaza.
He said the Americans and those who drag the United States towards the militarization of the Red Sea are the ones who undermine international navigation.
“By the grace of Allah and His assistance, we aim to prevent the passage of ships associated with the Israeli enemy even through the Indian Ocean and from South Africa towards the Cape of Good Hope,” he stated.
“For this important, advanced, and significant step, we have begun to implement our operations related to it through the Indian Ocean and from South Africa towards the Cape of Good Hope,” he said.
There is absolutely no choice for the Americans and the British but to stop the aggression on Gaza and stop starving the people in Gaza, he declared.
“Our human conscience, our religion, our morals, our dignity, our pride, our belonging to Islam, prohibit us from watching the oppression of Palestine or remaining silent about it,” said Houthi.
He added that the Yemeni military is in continuous development of capabilities and in constant expansion of the stance in its range, effectiveness, and impact.
“The American’s actions this week, involving aerial bombings and naval shelling, amounted to 32 bombing raids and strikes, which, as usual, were unsuccessful,” he revealed.
“The impact of the American raids and bombings is negligible regarding our missile and drone capabilities and in terms of continuing operations effectively to counter it, and in preventing ships associated with the Israeli enemy,” he stated.
He concluded by saying that the Yemeni armed forces are continuously escalating, and increasing capabilities to attack enemy ships. “No matter what the Americans do, they will not be able to stop us from supporting the Palestinian people in Gaza.”
Yemenis have declared their open support for Palestine’s struggle against the Israeli occupation since the regime launched a devastating war on Gaza on October 7 after the territory’s Palestinian resistance movements carried out the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm.
The Yemeni Armed Forces have said they won’t stop retaliatory strikes.
The maritime attacks have forced some of the world’s biggest shipping and oil companies to suspend transit through one of the world’s most important maritime trade routes.
Tankers are instead adding thousands of miles to international shipping routes by sailing around the continent of Africa rather than going through the Suez Canal.
Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war following Operation al-Aqsa Storm by Gaza-based resistance movements on October 7, 2023, more than 31,000 Palestinians, including many women and children, have lost their lives.
The Israeli military offensive has left a trail of destruction in Gaza, leaving hospitals in ruins and displacing around half of its 2.4 million residents.
Israel has additionally enforced a comprehensive blockade on the coastal sliver, severing the supply of fuel, electricity, sustenance and water to the population residing there.
Down and out: How 5 months of genocidal war on Gaza paralyzed Israeli economy
Press TV – March 11, 2024
Last month, in what economic pundits saw as a death knell for the already-beleaguered Israeli economy, a US credit rating agency downgraded the regime’s rating and outlook.
The downgrade from “stable” to “negative”, according to Moody’s, is the direct consequence of the Israeli regime’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip and political instability inside the occupied territories marked by growing discontent and simmering protests.
A few weeks ago, the Israeli regime’s Central Bureau of Statistics released another damning report, according to which Tel Aviv’s economy shrank by nearly one-fifth in the last quarter of 2023.
Amid depleting consumer spending, trade and investment since October 7, Israel’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) recorded a 19.4 percent drop in its annual rate in the last three months of 2023.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s regime launched a devastating war on the coastal Palestinian territory on October 7, stung by the unprecedented Al-Aqsa Storm Operation led by Hamas.
In the last 156 days, more than 31,000 Palestinians, including over 14,000 children and nearly 9,000 women have been killed in Gaza. It has also spawned the worst humanitarian crisis in the territory.
According to observers, the indiscriminate bombings on Gaza have badly backfired on the regime amid both internal and external turmoil for the Netanyahu regime.
Hundreds of thousands of Israeli reservists have in recent months been forced to abandon their jobs while many more have fled in panic, due to which major industries have come to a grinding halt.
The labor shortage is acute as over 350,000 reservists have been pressed into military service, as per the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which says the law has caused a “pronounced slowdown” of the Israeli economy, which had grown about 3 percent before October 7.
Foreign investments have also virtually ended as investors are not willing to put their money on tinderbox – both due to the war in Gaza as well as the internal turmoil for the Netanyahu regime.
According to the data from the Israeli labor ministry in December, about 950,000 jobs were lost in the first three months of the war, which has increased manifolds now as the situation remains precarious and the war rages on – now into its sixth month.
Multi-national brands linked to the Israeli regime have also faced blanket boycotts in recent months, suffering enormous losses. Many companies have tried to distance themselves from the regime.
Domestic economy in tatters
Every sector of the Israeli economy – from high-tech to agriculture to tourism to various industries – has been irreparably dented by the raging war on Gaza, a problem exacerbated by the shortage of workforce and precarious situation.
Many businesses have suspended their operations while others have been forced to shut down their operations. Some workers have been forced to join military duty while many others have fled.
A Bloomberg survey last month said the Israeli economy suffered one of its worst-ever slumps after it launched the genocidal war on Palestinians in Gaza, with businesses coming to a screeching halt.
The regime’s GDP plummeted by 19.4 percent in the last quarter of 2023, which the report said was worse than every estimate in its survey of analysts.
“The release highlights the degree to which the Israeli economy has been affected by the conflict, particularly on the private activity side,” Goldman Sachs economists Tadas Gedminas and Kevin Daly were quoted as saying in the report.
Israeli newspaper Maariv, in a report earlier this week, also said the continuation of the Israeli war on Gaza has contributed to massive losses for the regime in both political and economic spheres.
It followed another report published by the Israeli website Walla, which cited the Director of the Israeli Tax Authority Shai Aharonovitz as saying that the damage caused by the Gaza war is “six times greater” than the Second Lebanon War (2006), and about half a million compensation claims have been filed by those who have suffered due to it.
According to analysts, the Israeli war on Gaza, which has failed in all its stated objectives, has resulted in a steep drop in the regime’s tax revenues, skyrocketing debt and economic recession.
The regime’s GDP has also taken a serious blow, as attested by Moody’s report in February, which cut the regime’s rating to ‘A2’ and described its credit outlook as ‘negative’.
It was the first time ever that the regime’s economic outlook was downgraded, pointing to the staggering costs of the war that is increasingly turning out to be an exercise in futility.
The war, according to analysts, has discouraged potential investors and disrupted the labor market, especially with hundreds of thousands of workers summoned for mandatory military duty.
In a report in November, the Bank of Israel said the absence of thousands of workers from their jobs was costing the Israeli economy an estimated $600 million a week, or about 6 percent of the weekly GDP.
That number, according to economic analysts, has surged dramatically in the past three months, to the tune of a few billion dollars every week.
The regime’s tourism industry has also been affected. Monthly figures announced by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics revealed that in January only 500 single-day visits to the occupied territories were registered, compared to 14,000 in January 2023, marking a drastic decrease of 96 percent.
The travel industry used to make up nearly 3 percent of the regime’s GDP in 2019, before the pandemic. The figure fell to 1.1 percent in 2021 and has been virtually paralyzed since October 7.
The Israeli newspaper Calcalist reported in January that about 900,000 tourists were expected to visit the occupied territories in the three months after the start of the war. The number dropped to 190,000 because many of them opted out. That number has also sharply come down now.
“The war (on Gaza) was a huge breaking point for the (Israeli) economy which is still ongoing,” Professor Benjamin Bental from the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies was quoted as saying in December by The Median Line website.
“There are tremendous consequences that we still cannot estimate the end of.”
A RAND analysis in 2015 estimated that the financial impact of any conflict between the Israeli regime and Palestine in the next ten years would be to the tune of $400 billion.
Daniel Ege, the director of the Economics and National Security Initiative at the RAND Corporation, who authored that report, in an article published in November made a fresh assessment.
“For Israel, 90 percent of the economic shock will come from the indirect effects: reduced investment, a disrupted labor market, and slowed productivity growth. The specifics of this current crisis will, of course, differ from our model and the past,” he wrote.
Israeli ports hit the hardest
In the past five months, gas fields in the occupied territories have dried, airlines have become defunct, farms have been destroyed, major businesses have shut down and ports have been empty.
Colossal losses have been recorded at ports occupied by the Israeli regime, most notably the Port of Umm Al-Rashrash (Eilat), which recorded a 90 percent drop in traffic and $3 billion in direct losses.
“All cargoes arriving in Eilat through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait from the Far East, i.e. China, Japan, South Korea and India, are no longer transported because ships are afraid to pass through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait,” Gideon Golber, CEO of the Eilat port company, said late January.
Golber’s company deals primarily with the import of cars and export of potassium fertilizers, and before October 7, 50,000 new cars were stored at the port. Yemeni military’s actions in support of Gaza have virtually brought business activities at the bustling port to a grinding halt.
“If Yemeni operations in the Red Sea continue, we will reach a situation where there are no ships in the port,” he was quoted as saying by Reuters, referring to the repercussions of the Red Sea events.
Eilat Port has also been struck with missiles by both the Yemeni military and the Iraqi resistance groups, sending ripples of shock and fear among investors and shipowners there.
The two other major Israel-occupied international ports, Haifa and Ashdod, a third of whose transport depends on the Red Sea, have also recorded heavy losses, with a 70 percent drop in transshipment.
Yemeni military has carried out a string of operations against ships linked to the Israeli regime or its Western backers, mainly the US and the UK, in the Red Sea in solidarity with the people of Gaza.
The operations have forced major shipping companies doing trade with the Israeli regime to avoid the strategic waterway in recent months, incurring staggering losses for the regime.
Amid the continuation of the Yemeni military’s operations against ships trading with the Israeli regime in the Red Sea, it is to be expected that the losses will continue to pile up.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has also carried out attacks on the Israeli-occupied ports, including Haifa and Ashdod, as well as the natural reserves in the Mediterranean Sea.
Haifa Port (situated on the Mediterranean) is believed to store about 90 percent of essential commodities destined for the occupied Palestinian territories.
The operations of the strategic port were taken over by Indian business conglomerate Adani Group in February, months after a consortium of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone and Israel’s Gadot Group won the tender to privatize it for a mammoth USD 1.18 billion.
Only days after the Palestinian resistance launched its unprecedented operation against the occupying regime on October 7, Adani shares fell by 4.5 percent, triggering alarm and anxiety among investors.
According to informed sources, the Indian company has suffered staggering losses in the past five months and speculation has been rife about ending the contract given the high costs.
Ashdod port, close to Gaza’s border with occupied territories, handles about 40 percent of the Israeli regime’s total maritime-bound trade, including imports and exports, according to the Israeli media.
Equipped with the Iron Dome military system, Ashdod port has been severely hit amid the war on Gaza, with most cargo diverted to other Israeli-occupied ports, which have also been deserted lately.
One of the first ships to divert from Hashdod to Haida in October last year was a Taiwanese container ship Evergreen Line, which cited a “persistent unsafe situation” amid the war on Gaza. Since many, virtually all ships have avoided the port, turning it into a desolate and barren island.
According to analysts, the total damage to the Israeli economy varies by estimate and reaches over $100 billion, with a minimum of ten years estimated for full recovery, which looks very unlikely.
Military and arms boycott
The Israeli regime’s economy has always been heavily dependent on trade and imports, especially military equipment, which makes the regime’s much-hyped military vulnerable to foreign boycott.
Israel’s beleaguered military industry is experiencing serious problems with imports as civil society, lawmakers and courts in many countries want to prevent arms exports to the regime.
The decisions have been partly influenced by the interim ruling issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague in early February, ordering the Israeli regime to halt its genocide in Gaza.
The UN experts also issued a statement late last month, saying any transfer of weapons or ammunition to Israel that would be used in Gaza would “violate international humanitarian law.”
The impact of the ICJ ruling was clearly visible. A court in the Netherlands ordered the Dutch government on February 12 to halt the export of F-35 jet fighter parts to the Netanyahu regime.
The Hague Court of Appeal found that there was “a clear risk” that the F-35 jets used by the Israeli regime, some components of which are exported by the Netherlands, would enable to commit “serious violations of humanitarian law” against the Palestinians in Gaza.
The judges considered that “Israel does not take sufficient account of the consequences for the Gaza Strip civilian population when conducting its attacks.”
Israel’s attacks have caused a disproportionate number of civilian casualties, including thousands of children,” the Dutch judges concluded.
Britain, one of the Israeli regime’s biggest arms exporters, which manufactures 15 percent of F-35 parts, has resisted calls from rights groups to end the exports. The High Court in London also greenlighted the arms shipments last week by dismissing a case filed by some human rights groups.
Italy, however, has already announced the end of its arms sales to the Israeli regime.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced in January that his country had halted all exports of military equipment to Tel Aviv. Spain’s foreign minister also claimed that his country has not sold any arms to Israel since the events of October 7, and added that an arms embargo is in place now.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, otherwise a staunch supporter of Israel, has also in recent months raised concerns over arms sales to the Tel Aviv regime, even taking potshots at US President Joe Biden for his administration’s approval of $14 billion worth arms to Israel.
“Well, if you believe that too many people are being killed, maybe you should provide fewer arms in order to prevent so many people being killed,” Borrell told reporters last month.
Itochu, one of Japan’s largest trading firms, also announced that it was ending its partnership with Elbit Systems, the Israeli regime’s largest arms manufacturer, due to the genocide in Gaza.
Itochu Chief Financial Officer Tsuyoshi Hachimura cited the top UN court’s order on January 26 as the reason for terminating the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Itochu, Elbit and Nippon Aircraft Supply in March last year.
Elbit is the largest military contractor owned by the Tel Aviv regime with a share of 85% in the production of ground equipment and drones, and Japan is one of the world’s largest arms importers.
The company has already gained notoriety for testing new weapons on Palestinian civilians, as well as for cases of bribery around the world, multiple failures of their systems in tests aboard, etc.
Due to boycott activism, Elbit has lost hundreds of millions of dollars worth of international contracts in recent years, particularly since October 7 of last year. Many of its factories have been either shut down or disrupted by pro-Palestine activists in the US and the UK.
Since the outbreak of the genocidal war on Gaza, a major collaboration deal with Elbit has also been terminated by the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.
Boycott of big brands
In November of last year, the Press TV website published an investigation on global companies with close ties to the Israeli regime facing boycott amid the regime’s genocidal war on Gaza.
Worldwide campaigns have been launched during this period calling for the boycott of Israeli and international companies and brands directly or indirectly complicit in the Gaza genocide.
The companies that have faced boycott include Siemens, which is complicit in the regime’s settler-colonialism project through its EuroAsia Interconnector; Hewlett Packard, which helps the regime run biometric systems used to monitor and restrict the movement of Palestinians; AXA Divest, one of the largest investors in Israeli regime-run banks; Puma, a footwear giant that sponsors Israeli football.
Food and beverage giants such as McDonalds and Starbucks have also recorded huge losses.
Starbucks, the multinational chain of coffeehouses and roasteries headquartered in Seattle, has seen losses worth billions of dollars due to the global boycott campaign, which gathered momentum after the company took action against workers’ unions over its pro-Palestine stance.
Starbucks’ longtime CEO Howard Schultz is known to be an ardent supporter of the Israeli regime. Schultz has in the past boasted of being an active Zionist and worked closely with Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu and radical Zionist settler groups, for which he even received awards.
Back in December 2013, around $11 billion in losses were reported, and it is estimated that the figure has now surged to $15 billion as the boycott campaign intensifies.
Last week, retail giant AlShaya Group, which owns the rights to operate Starbucks in West Asia, announced staff downsizing, citing “challenging trading conditions over the last six months.”
McDonald’s also has been hit by the boycott campaign. The US-headquartered company last month reported its first quarterly sales miss in nearly four years, sending the company’s shares down about 4 percent.
The company admitted that the losses were the reflection of “the impact of the war” in Gaza, where the Israeli regime has been carrying out relentless bombings since October 7.
“So long as this conflict, this war is going on, we’re not making any plans, we’re not expecting to see any significant improvement in this,” McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski told investors.
“It’s a human tragedy what’s going on, and I think that that does weigh on brands like ours.”
Ian Borden, the company’s chief financial officer, also noted that the war had meaningfully impacted the fast food giant’s bottom line in the region during the last quarter of 2023.
The campaigns against McDonald’s, Starbucks and other multinational brands have significantly expanded in recent months, including in regional countries such as Jordan, Kuwait and Morocco.
Workers at American tech giants Google and Amazon have also stepped up pressure on their companies to snap ties with the Israeli regime, with Google workers also urging an end to Project Nimbus, under which the tech company supplies technology to the Israeli military for surveillance purposes.
The potential for the expansion of the boycott campaign remains high, as proved by recent large-scale protests in countries considered key trade partners of Israel, as well as public opinion in those countries.
Gaza is paying the ultimate price for decades of media pandering to Zionist bigotry
By Jonathan Cook | March 6, 2024
The Guardian and other media continue to prioritise the ‘sensitivities’ of an ideological minority over the public’s right to protest against a genocide in which our elites are complicit
We all understand that, shamefully, a number of Zionist Jews and non-Jews identify so completely with Israel that they are not only willing to excuse the mass slaughter and starvation of civilians in Gaza but think others should not even be allowed to express disquiet at the slaughter.
Hardline Zionists tell us they find concern for the welfare of Palestinians “offensive”, and that they feel “unsafe” when others raise such concerns or call for a ceasefire to end the bloodshed.
The question for the rest of us is: How do we deal with those “sensitivities”, and how much do we prioritise the “offence” taken by hardline Zionists?
Not unreasonably, most ordinary people place very little weight on the “sensitivities” of those who believe mass slaughter and the starvation of children should be allowed to proceed, at least when weighed against the sensitivities of those opposed to mass death.
What’s so weird is the way, as far as official bodies and the western media are concerned, those priorities have been turned upside down.
Here, in typical fashion, the Guardian falls over backwards to indulge the “feelings” of a few Jewish Arsenal fans because they “felt unsafe” and “betrayed” by their club for not more aggressively stopping protests last weekend at a Women’s Super League game by other fans over the complicity of the UK government in Gaza’s genocide.
No evidence is produced by either the fans or the Guardian that any Jewish fan was in any danger whatsoever. Just that a few Palestinian flags were smuggled into the stadium, that leaflets and stickers were handed out, and that some protesters tried to “engage” with fans as they arrived at the stadium – presumably in that dangerous tradition of trying to persuade others of the validity of one’s position.
But the Guardian sympathetically dedicates a great deal of space to relaying the concerns of the handful of Jewish fans who “believe their safety was compromised by security staff not curtailing the protest” – that is, those who wanted to prevent an entirely peaceful demonstration taking place in a public space outside the ground.
The story is risible. It is news as therapy for Zionists and gaslighting for the rest of us.
But it is decades of nonsense journalism about Israel and its apologists of precisely this kind that has led us to the dismal place we are today.
The constant indulgence by the political and media class, the constant elevation of these kinds of ugly, ignoble “feelings” – feelings that dehumanise and vilify Palestinians, as well as anyone acting in solidarity with their suffering – the constant treatment of Zionist bigotry as warranted, as justified, as normal, that has gotten us to a position where Israel can commit genocide and its western allies and parts of their Jewish populations can treat it as “offensive” to raise the matter.
If we had not got so entirely used to it, we would immediately understand how completely nuts – and catastrophically inhumane – the coverage is.
Canada faces legal action over arms exports to Israel
Press TV – March 5, 2024
A group of Canadian and Palestinian human rights lawyers have filed a lawsuit against the Canadian government for “contributing” to the bombardment of the Gaza Strip through sending arms to Israel.
The coalition of the lawyers filed a complaint against Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly on Tuesday over issuing permits for export of military equipment to Israel.
The group includes Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights and Al-Haq – Law in the Services of Man, an independent Palestinian NGO.
In the lawsuit, the group argued that Canada’s Export and Import Permits Act prevents the federal government from issuing permits for export of military goods and related technology to Israel because those exports can pose serious risks by undermining peace and security.
They said the weapons could be used to commit serious violations of international law and serious acts of violence against women and children in Palestine.
The lawyers said the government needs to stop contributing to Israel’s mass starvation of Palestinians and bombardment of Gaza.
Back in January, Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights (CLAIHR), one of the groups involved in the case, urged the government to “immediately halt” all arms exports to Israel.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also stands accused of misleading the public over weapons sales to Israel.
Trudeau has repeatedly been urged to end arms exports to the Israeli regime. But his government has so far tried to downplay the country’s role in helping Israel build its arsenal.
On Friday, a group of more than 200 lawmakers from 12 countries, including the United States and Canada, signed a letter to call on their governments to impose a ban on arms sales to Israel.
Niki Ashton, a member of Canada’s Parliament was among the signatories of that letter.
Ashton said in a message on the X social media platform that the Canadian government has approved $28 million worth of weapons exports to Israel since the regime started its brutal military campaign in early October.
“That is horrifying,” Ashton said, adding, “Make no mistake. These weapons are directly used to kill and maim starving Palestinians.”
Countries supplying arms to Israel have been facing mounting pressure to halt weapons sale to Tel Aviv since the regime launched its military offensive against Gaza in early October. Israeli forces have so far killed more than 30,500 Palestinians, mostly children and women, in the besieged territory.
Iraqi resistance launches drone strike at Israeli chemical storage sites in Haifa port
Press TV – March 3, 2024
Iraqi resistance forces have carried out a drone strike against the largest and busiest port in the Palestinian territories controlled by Israel since 1948 in a new show of solidarity with the Palestinians under Israeli attack in Gaza.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of anti-terror fighters, in a statement published on its Telegram channel on Sunday, claimed responsibility for an aerial attack targeting chemical storage facilities inside the port of Haifa that had taken place two days earlier.
The statement noted that the attack had taken place “in rejection of US military presence in Iraq and elsewhere in the region, in support of our people in Gaza and in response to the massacre of Palestinian civilians, including children, women, and elderly people, by the usurping entity.”
The Iraqi resistance underscored that it will continue to target the occupying regime until the complete “destruction of enemy strongholds.”
Last month, Iraqi resistance forces said they had carried out a drone attack on the port of Haifa in the Israeli-occupied territories.
“In continuation of our approach to resisting the occupation and supporting our people in Gaza, our (fighters), using drones, attacked the port of Haifa in the occupied territories in Palestine,” the IRI said in a statement on the first of February.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has also claimed responsibility for attacks targeting US-occupied military bases in the region, including one in late January on Jordan’s border with Syria that left three US soldiers dead.
The Israeli regime waged the war on Gaza on October 7 after Hamas carried out the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the Israeli regime’s atrocities against the Palestinians.
Since the start of the aggression, Israel has killed at least 30,410 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to the latest count by the Gaza Health Ministry.
The US, Israel’s traditional ally, has backed Tel Aviv’s attacks on the Palestinian territory and provided the regime with extensive military support since the onset of the war.
Washington has also used its veto power to block the United Nations Security Council’s resolutions demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Biden Aides Trying to Shield US President From Protesters at Campaign Events – Reports
Sputnik – 01.03.2024
WASHINGTON – US President Joe Biden’s aides have adopted several tricks to protect their boss from protesters who are increasingly dissatisfied with the White House’s policies in the Middle East and unlimited support for Israel, NBC reported on Friday.
Biden’s aides’ tactics include avoiding protesters at events by making them smaller, keeping precise locations secret from the media and the public until the last moment, avoiding college campuses, and hiring a private company to filter attendees, the report said.
Even though the tactics have already shown their success and over the past five weeks there has not been a single incident of an attempt to interfere with Biden’s speech at an event, it also has drawbacks, including the president’s appearance in front of a smaller number of potential voters, according to the report.
“But the downside is that means he doesn’t reach as many voters,” an aide was quoted as saying. “The point is to reach as many voters as you can, and those small events don’t.”
White House aides are planning to use the tactics at an upcoming fundraiser event this month with Biden and former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. More specifically, event organizers are going to hire a private company that will vet attendees to exclude those who can disrupt it, the report added.
In January, Biden’s campaign rally in Virginia was disrupted eight times by protesters demanding a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Protests have taken place many times across the United States, including large marches in Washington with hundreds of thousands of people attending, demanding a ceasefire in Gaza in light of the thousands of civilians killed and wounded amid Israel’s military operations there.
MPs smear Gaza protestors, while others invent scare stories
By Yvonne Ridley | MEMO | March 1, 2024
Are the massive pro-Palestine marches in Britain being deliberately targeted and smeared as part of a concerted Zionist effort to use the law to stop people from joining the ranks of the growing anti-war movement? That would certainly explain the furore over MPs’ safety which came to a head last week when Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the House of Commons and a member of the Labour Friends of Israel lobby group, cited threats to politicians in his disastrous handling of a debate on calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.
I pose the question after some extraordinary events have been picked up and anchored in a media campaign which has collectively shown nothing but hostility towards Palestinians in favour of the Zionist Israeli state as the genocidal onslaught in Gaza continues. Throw in some decidedly Islamophobic comments by prominent Conservative MPs, and there is a really toxic atmosphere brewing in advance of this year’s General Election, with Muslims — “Islamists” — cast as the bad guys.
Today, my suspicions were fuelled by none other than British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who resorted to shameless smears and scare tactics as he warned police chiefs of a “growing consensus that mob rule is replacing democratic rule”. Calling for more robust police action, Sunak used inflammatory language to insist that politicians need to be protected from intimidatory protests outside their homes.
However, the Home Office has nevertheless announced a £31 million package aimed at protecting MPs. It is said to be in response to the impact of the ongoing “Israel-Hamas conflict”.
Meanwhile, in Scotland police were called to investigate bizarre claims that the Glasgow constituency office of Labour Members of the Scottish Parliament was “stormed” by 30 pro-Palestine protesters, with MSP Paul Sweeney criticising officers for taking 27 minutes to respond even though the office staff were left “distressed”.
Police Scotland insist that the storming of the politicians’ shared office never happened as described, and rejected the claims made by Sweeney. According to him, campaigners forced their way into the office that he shares with party leader Anas Sarwar, and fellow MSPs Pam Duncan-Glancy and Pauline McNeil.
“It may well be that this entire furore over alleged threats by protestors is confected,” said Mick Napier, a co-founder of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, whose members took part in the protest. Certainly, the example of Sweeney caught flagrantly inventing threats to the staff suggests that this might be the case. Sweeney supports a party leader who endorses Israel withholding water, food and fuel from the entire population of Gaza — not only cruel, but also collective punishment, a war crime — while he complains that people opposing such barbarism raise their voices.
“Although in this case voices weren’t even raised,” explained Napier. “There seems to be something new in the shamelessness with which our politicians lie to the public. Could it be because the mainstream media have given up any pretence of investigating such fabrications?”
Despite repeated attempts to contact Sarwar, McNeil, Duncan-Clancy and Sweeney, none were prepared to offer a comment to me about the incident.
European political analyst Kevin Ovenden wrote about the incident on 22 February: “Two elected politicians have been exposed today for simply lying that they faced violent intimidation when they merely had to deal with democratic lobbying and political pressure. One is the Labour Member of the Scottish Parliament Paul Sweeney. Police in Glasgow refuted his highly charged claim that anti-war protesters stormed his office and intimidated his staff. They did no such thing, as the police concluded, having been present throughout for an orderly protest, without even any civil disobedience, by a small group of middle-aged or older women and men.
“That has not stopped the Speaker of the House of Commons, Lindsay Hoyle (for years a nodding-donkey Labour MP) today smearing the entire anti-war movement as in some way incubating terrorism as justification for his anti-democratic manoeuvres on behalf of [Labour Party leader] Keir Starmer.”
Ovenden blames craven support for Israel by the two main establishment parties, Conservative and Labour, for “not only leading to authoritarianism against public protest and free speech. It is now even crushing the limited democratic avenues available through parliament.”
The streets of London have witnessed some of the largest, peaceful, pro-Palestine demonstrations in the capital’s history, but that did not stop Sunak from calling an urgent meeting in Downing Street for police chiefs on Thursday. He urged them to use all of their existing powers to crack down on the alleged intimidation, disruption and subversion.
“We simply cannot allow this pattern of increasingly violent and intimidatory behaviour which is, as far as anyone can see, intended to shout down free debate and stop elected representatives doing their job,” insisted the prime minister.
Without a hint of irony, the man who has so far given his unconditional support to Israel, currently under investigation for genocide by the International Court of Justice, added: “That is simply undemocratic… I am going to do whatever it requires to protect our democracy, and our values, which we all hold dear.”
Del Babu, a former chief superintendent in London’s Metropolitan Police, said language like “mob rule” was not “helpful”. He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that appealing to people to demonstrate less could have “unintended consequences” and potentially lead to more people protesting.
“We will continue to march until there is an immediate ceasefire,” said Shamiul Joarder of Friends of Al-Aqsa. The organisation is part of a coalition of groups organising the marches which have brought world attention to London’s streets.
Members from all six groups, along with Labour MP and former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, and the campaign group Liberty, held a press conference earlier this week in parliament criticising unhelpful language used by politicians. They claim that anti-Muslim “hysteria” and pressure from the government had provoked the Metropolitan Police into heavy-handed and “discriminatory” policing of “peaceful mass protests”.
Home Secretary James Cleverly, meanwhile, told the BBC: “I genuinely don’t know what these regular protests are seeking to achieve. They have made their position clear, we recognise that there are many people in the UK that hold that position.”
Hours later, 104 starving Palestinians in Gaza were massacred — witnesses say that Israeli troops opened fire on them — as they gathered around an aid convoy distributing food. If Cleverly doesn’t understand the point of the street demonstrations then he has the emotional intelligence of a brick and a surname which doesn’t quite match his IQ.
Calls for a ceasefire will continue until Israel’s genocide of the people of occupied Palestine is stopped in its murderous tracks. Which bit of “Stop Killing Civilians” do our politicians not understand?
Colombia suspends Israeli arms purchases following attack on Palestinian crowd
The Cradle – March 1, 2024
Colombian President Gustavo Petro on 29 February announced the country would suspend all arms purchases from Israel in protest against the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
“Asking for food, more than 100 Palestinians were killed by Netanyahu. This is called genocide and is reminiscent of the [Holocaust] even if the world powers do not like to recognize it. The world must block Netanyahu. Colombia suspends all purchases of weapons from Israel,” Petro said via social media after the latest massacre of civilians by Israel in Gaza.
Israel has killed at least 30,035 and injured 70,457 others in Gaza while inflicting mass destruction and shortages of basic necessities on the strip.
Colombia is among the countries that fully supported South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Petro has also continuously condemned Tel Aviv for its indiscriminate attacks against Palestinians since 7 October, taking a similar stance as the leaders of other Latin American nations like Bolivia, Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
“If we have to suspend foreign relations with Israel, we suspend them. We do not support genocides,” Petro said via social media on 15 October.
His comments came after Israel suspended all security exports to the South American country in response to Petro’s public stance on the genocide unfolding in Gaza.
Petro drew the ire of Israel after posting on social media: “Neither the Yair Kleins nor the Raifal Eithans will be able to say what the history of peace in Colombia is. They unleashed the massacre and genocide in Colombia.”
Former Israeli army colonel and mercenary Yair Klein in the 1980s was responsible for training fighters from the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a right-wing paramilitary group responsible for multiple war crimes during Colombia’s internal war. Klein was later brought to Colombia to train the National Police.
Raifal Eithan, the former chief of staff of the Israeli army, served as an advisor to former Colombian president Virgilio Barco and once proposed killing the members of the Patriotic Union political party, which was born from the failed peace process with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 1984.
Far-right Colombian paramilitaries are responsible for killing tens of thousands of civilians, including social leaders, environmental activists, and campesinos, and forcing millions more out of their homes. Furthermore, all branches of the Colombian armed forces use Israeli weaponry as standard, and all have been trained by Tel Aviv in combat techniques.
How to Stop the WHO – #SolutionsWatch
Corbett | February 27, 2024
We all know the problem by now: the World Health Organization is trying to override your health freedoms and abrogate your bodily autonomy in the name of their scamdemic agenda. But what is the solution? Join James for this in-depth exploration of the ideas, organizations and actions that are already in motion to derail the WHO tyranny and regain our medical sovereignty.
WATCH ON: 
/ 
/ 
/ 
/ 
/
or DOWNLOAD THE MP4
SHOW NOTES:
Episode 417 – The Global Pandemic Treaty: What You Need to Know
Episode 442 – The Global Pandemic Treaty Is A Threat To Us All
Episode 445 – James Corbett Testifies at the National Citizens Inquiry
Canadian petitions to parliament
The Global WHO Uprising Has Begun! on CHD TV
Amending The International Health Regulations (2005) – Health.Govt.NZ
Netherlands Letter To Parliament
South Africa Bill To Withdraw From WHO
Press conference on the growing concerns over the WHO ‘pandemic treaty’
Presentation to Irish parliament
Good News: The UK’s membership of the WHO seems to be unlawful and legal action is pending
Nullification – #SolutionsWatch
Maharrey on The Corbett Report
Michael Maharrey on “Shot Callers” discussing nullifying the WHO agreements
This week, please PAY FORWARD your gratitude for this work by sending info on the WHO takeover to someone in your life and by supporting the group or the individual that put that info together.
Featured Video
Dr. Tony Martin – The Jewish Role in the African Slave Trade
or go to
Aletho News Archives – Video-Images
In Memoriam
James Petras, In Memoriam
02.13.2026
Professor James Petras, 89, world-renowned sociologist, public intellectual, and scholar of Latin American politics and global economics, died peacefully on January 17, 2026, in Seattle, WA, surrounded by family.
A prolific scholar and activist, he devoted his life to challenging power, imperialism, and inequality. … continue
Blog Roll
Aletho News- Travelers Take a Pass on Visiting America
- EU members divided on 20th Russia sanctions package – media
- Lawyers ask police to investigate Elbit Systems UK for alleged war crimes complicity
- Israel ready to strike Iran-backed armed groups – media
- Behind US war drums against Iran: No goals, no plan, no off-ramp
- With Ukraine blamed for cutting oil flows to Hungary, Croatia also refuses to transfer Russian oil in violation of EU law
- Friedrich Merz’s Push to End Online Anonymity Has a Troubling Subtext
- Macron: French citizens fighting for Israel cannot be labeled ‘genociders’
- US eyes Gaza security force drawn from armed gangs
- The Only Motive Behind The ‘Imminent’ U.S. War With Iran Is The Zionist Lobby
- If Americans Knew
- ‘Christians Out’: Jerusalem Church Tagged With Hate Graffiti, Police Investigating
- Israeli Settlers Kill American Teen
- ‘We returned from hell’: Palestinian journalists recount torture in Israeli prisons
- No mercy for Gaza in Ramadan – Not a ceasefire Day 133
- The Israeli Government Installed and Maintained Security System at Epstein Apartment
- Tucker Carlson interrogated in Israel, has passport seized after interviewing US ambassador
- 6,000 Amputees in Gaza Face Impossible Recovery amid Israeli War Ultimatum
- The Lancet: Gaza death toll far higher than reported – Not a ceasefire Day 132
- Compliant aid: Who are the Israel-approved NGOs scaling up in Gaza?
- Why won’t Trump’s “Board of Peace” bring peace? – Not a ceasefire Day 131
- No Tricks Zone
- New Study: Canada’s New Brunswick Was 1°C Warmer Than Today During The Medieval Warm Period
- Coal Power Back In Trend As Globe Tries To Keep Pace With Growing Demand For Power
- New Study: A 4°C Warmer Beaufort Sea Had ‘No Sea Ice’ 11,700 – 8200 Years Ago
- Unfudging The Data: Dutch Meteorological Institute Reinstates Early 20th Centruy Heat Waves It Had Erased Earlier
- German Gas Crisis…Chancellor Merz Allegedly Bans Gas Debate Ahead of Elections!
- Pollen Reconstructions Show The Last Glacial’s Warming Events Were Global, 10x Greater Than Modern
- Germany’s Natural Gas Storage Level Dwindles To Just 28%… Increasingly Critical
- New Study Rebuts The Assumption That Anthropogenic CO2 Molecules Have ‘Special’ Properties
- Climate Scientist Who Predicted End Of “Heavy Frost And Snow” Now Refuses Media Inquiries
- Polar Bear Numbers Rising And Health Improving In Areas With The Most Rapid Sea Ice Decline
Aletho News 