Tough On Grannies 🪶 Easy On Genocide

Anthony McIntyre ☠ Last weekend in London, British police in a message symptomatic of Burnham draconian intent arrested 325 people at a protest rally outside the US embassy.

The rally had been organised by Defend Our Juries.

Most of those detained were bearing placards proclaiming I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action. Yet a woman brandishing a placard I support genocide, I oppose Palestine Action was allowed to proceed without police intervention. This prompted a wry observation that “You can’t make this up . . . you can openly cheer for mass murder, but you can’t protest against it.”

Fortunately, for now, on this turf where Burnham’s writ does not run we can still protest against mass murder and voice our support for Palestine Action without fear of arrest. The elderly Jewish human rights lawyer, 94 year old Margaret Owens was not so lucky. She was one of those arrested.

Echoing the earlier seniment, Rita Parsi of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, described what is happening under Burnham who remains on course to complete what Keir Starmer began.

The Kafkaesque UK laws adopted under the Starmer (government) to appease Israel are such that you’ll get arrested for terrorism if you hold a sign saying, ‘I support Palestine Action.’ But if you hold a sign saying ‘I support genocide, I oppose Palestine Action,’ then you’ll be fine.”

Zack Polanski, leader of the UK Green Party served it up on a plate in his scathing criticism of the Burnham policy:

This is truly dystopian . . . Israel killed eight people, including a child, in Gaza this weekend as they continue their genocide . . . After a weekend of arresting pensioners for protesting against this horror, Labour has (put) Israel far above serving our local communities.

Welcome to Burnham’s Britain which is tough on grannies but easy on Genocide.

The protests that took place in London were staged against a background of ongoing genocide in both Gaza and The West Bank. In respect of the latter Israeli policy has been spelt out by the Tel Aviv human rights body B'Ttselem in The Elimination Report in which the body drew on 2000 testimonies from Palestinians taken since October 2023 complemented by three decades of monitoring the behaviour of Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank. B'Ttselem said:

The report looks at the current reality not as a collection of isolated incidents or specific harms, but as part of a comprehensive mechanism of elimination that works to dismantle the conditions for continued Palestinian existence in the West Bank, while deepening Jewish control and supremacy in an irreversible manner. An examination of the current reality in the West Bank reveals that the project of elimination is now being implemented more openly, directly and violently than before, and increasingly relies on cooperation between official state authorities and settler militias operating in the West Bank with state backing and support.

Since the start of 2023 almost 50,000 Palestinians have been forced from their homes or land and 1,333 killed by settlers or soldiers. While the October 7 attack simply cannot be justified by any group purporting to hold to the universal application of human rights, the figures show that more people have been killed in the West Bank since 2023 than died on October 7.

On top of this a UN Commission of Inquiry reported in the middle of October that Israeli authorities have committed the crime against humanity of persecution against Palestinian children, where in the West Bank “the harm inflicted on children is not incidental or collateral to the broader violence affecting civilian population, but forms part of a pattern of intentional violence.” According to Human Rights Watch:

Their findings recognize an important dimension that has not been given enough attention: children in the West Bank have been deliberately targeted—not just because of their nationality, race or ethnicity but also due to their age—in attacks causing serious bodily and mental harm.

This is entirely consistent with the claim made by Simon Harris shortly after the onset of the Israeli genocide that Israel was waging war on children.

Margaret Owen and others are being arrested for standing in opposition to what has been clearly identified by a UN Commission of Inquiry and B'Tselem. It is what we stand against week in week out. Like Margaret Owen we stand here weekly, not meekly or weakly. Today we stand also with Margaret Owen and her colleagues who constantly fear arrest. In doing so we stand resolutely against Burnham who despite replacing him continues to stand with Starmer.

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