Activists with Palestine Action, they were handed down prison sentences totalling more than 25 years for employing the tactic of direct action against genocide, the result of an attack on Elbit Systems close to Bristol. They very plausibly claimed that the action they took against Elbit was necessary to protect Palestinians being murdered by 'Israel’s genocidal army with killer drones for use in Gaza,' weapons the company was supplying to Israel. The group's position is that when the British government has abandoned international law its members have a duty to uphold that law. 'British collusion in Israeli crimes is the reason Palestine Action was originally founded six years ago.'
The judge who imprisoned the Filton Four, No Justice Johnson, had ruled earlier that they would be sentenced as terrorists, something facilitated by the UK Court of Appeal that upheld the Starmer government's claim, rejected in a lower court, that Palestine Action was a terrorist organisation. Jonathan Cook has offered the insightful observation:
It is the first time that a direct action group, whose form of civil disobedience is damaging property rather than using violence against people, has been declared a terrorist organization, on a par with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group. Under this new interpretation of the law, the Suffragette movement — which fought to gain women the vote in Britain over a century ago, and whose members are uniformly extolled as role models by the very politicians who support Palestine Action’s proscription — would undoubtedly have been declared a terrorist organization.
Protestors who gathered outside Woolwich Crown Court in solidarity with the activists on trial faced harassment from the Metropolitan Police who in a statement said:
Seventy-two people have been arrested for supporting a proscribed terrorist organisation – Palestine Action – at a demonstration outside Woolwich Crown Court.
As a teenager I was well used to being arrested by British police or soldiers. There were so many arrests that I no longer remember them all. Being arrested on the street in Belfast by the British military or RUC for so called screening purposes was a routine hazard for nationalist youth in particular. It could happen going to work, playing handball on the street, coming out of a pub, shopping. On my last arrest as a teenager the investigating cop simply said to me he was arresting me because he believed me to be a terrorist. It didn't upset me then. It doesn't annoy me today. If for uttering the simple phrase 'I support Palestine Action' I am labelled a terrorist then I am happy to respond that I agree wholeheartedly with a placard held aloft by one of the arrested protestors proclaimed 'Saving lives is not terrorism.'
Just contrast this very humane sentiment about saving lives with the murderous Nazi-like reasoning from Israel's Nazi Security Minister, Itamar Ben Gvir:
For every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep. All of Lebanon must burn!. . . Israel must make it clear to the entire world that the blood of our sons and the security of our citizens are not forfeit. All of Lebanon must burn. Our supreme duty is to protect the citizens of Israel and the soldiers of the IDF, and this commitment takes precedence over every other consideration.
Yet while there are many of us extremely reluctant to approve the use of political violence to resolve problems we find it impossible to disagree with the logic that if you hold a member of the terrorist IDF under water long enough they stop being a member of the terrorist IDF. And it does seem a plausible way of combatting terrorism. The Filton four were not even attacking IDF members but merely taking measures that would help prevent the IDF massacring civilians.
British justice is an oxymoron on a par with the IDF being described the world's most moral army, rather than its most murderous. The credentials of the judge in the case were set out for all to see by Jonathan Cook:
British justice is an oxymoron on a par with the IDF being described the world's most moral army, rather than its most murderous. The credentials of the judge in the case were set out for all to see by Jonathan Cook:
Judge Johnson made it to the bench after years serving as the most favoured barrister of the “secret state”, representing the intelligence services, the ministry of defence and the police. His working environment of choice as a lawyer was behind-closed-doors prosecutions held out of view of the public or proper legal scrutiny.
Craig Murray answered that question pretty comprehensively.
Judge Johnson ruled that the defendants were not permitted to refer to their motives.
He ruled that the jury may not be informed of their absolute right to acquit.
He attempted to have the leading defence barrister, Rajiv Menon KC, prosecuted for contempt of court for informing the jury of their rights.
He ruled that terms including ‘genocide’ and ‘ethnic cleansing’ may not be used in court.
He ordered that the notebooks and other writings of the accused be redacted to withhold from the jury any information related to Elbit’s supply of weapons to Israel.
He enforced the concealment from the jury of the nature of the weapons and equipment that had been damaged.
He granted anonymity to senior Elbit staff and admitted their evidence without the defence being able to cross-examine.
He ruled that the trial had *not* been prejudiced by the Secretary of State [Yvette Cooper] and the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police [Sir Mark Rowley] stating the offences as fact throughout national media.
He allowed the release to the media of highly edited and selective prosecution video footage during the trial which gave a false impression of events.
He permitted the admission of Metropolitan Police video evidence which they had given over to Elbit’s sole custody for an entire year.
Be in no doubt, this is the judge Starmer pinned his hopes on, much like Widgery of Bloody Sunday infamy was the judge Ted Heath picked to rule in favour of a mass murder machine. Accused of being a terrorist by Keir Starmer carries the same moral authority as an accusation from Bertie Ahern of being a crook
Faced with that, there is only one thing left to say regardless of the cost: I support Palestine Action.
No comments