Crooked Bough News Round-up

— The Caledonian Cousinhood: How the Zionist Movement Embedded Itself in Scottish Life

 

at 6/18/25 2:21pm

Scotland has had more than 125 years of experience with Zionism. During that time, many thousands of Zionists have come and gone, lived in or passed through Scottish cities and towns. Some have gone on to greater things after leaving Scotland; others have ended up in occupied Palestine as settler colonists, often joining the Israeli occupation forces responsible for ethnic cleansing and war crimes. This article draws on extensive historical research to illustrate the complex familial, business and political networks that gave rise to, and continue to shape, the Scottish Zionist movement. It aims to show how deeply embedded the Zionist movement is in Scotland—and, by implication, throughout the West. Understanding these networks is crucial to grasping the social foundations of Zionism—and, therefore, to determining the most effective way to dismantle the movement. To begin, I want to introduce a writer who spent formative years in Glasgow. His life and work help illuminate the insular, self-reinforcing structure of Zionist elites in Scotland. His name was Chaim Bermant.   Chaim Bermant’s Glasgow Chaim Bermant (1929–1998) spent much of his childhood in Glasgow, where he was immersed in the Scottish Zionist atmosphere. Born in Braslaw, Poland (in the northwest of present-day Belarus), he came to Glasgow as a child at the age of eight. He was educated at Queen’s Park Secondary School and the Glasgow Yeshiva, and later graduated in economics from Glasgow University. He subsequently departed for London and the London School of Economics (LSE). From 1964 to 1966, he was features editor of the Jewish Chronicle. Chaim Bermant in his later years. Source | Bermant.com Later, among his voluminous output of novels, nonfiction and memoirs, he wrote two classic works on the social status of Jews in Britain: “The Cousinhood: The Anglo-Jewish Gentry” (1971) and “The Jews” (1977). In the late 1990s, the headquarters of the Scottish Zionist movement in Giffnock, Glasgow, changed the name of its Jewish Resource Center to the Chaim Bermant Library between 1997 and 2010, an indication of the reverence with which Bermant is held in the Glasgow Zionist movement. The Cousinhood, Chaim Bermant’s classic study of the Anglo-Jewish elite—originally titled “Gentry” (left), later updated to “Aristocracy” (right)   Introducing the Cousinhood Bermant opens his famous book “The Cousinhood: The Anglo-Jewish Gentry” with the following origin story: In the beginning there was Levi Barent Cohen, merchant of Amsterdam who settled in London in 1770. And Cohen prospered and multiplied and had six sons and six daughters. And one son married a niece of Abraham Goldsmid, a friend of Nelson and Pitt, and foremost broker of his day. A daughter married Nathan Meyer Rothschild, founder of the English branch of the banking dynasty, another married Moses Montefiore, merchant and broker. A son and daughter married a daughter and a son of Moses Samuel, banker and broker. A third son married a granddaughter of the selfsame Samuel, and a fourth married a sister of Moses Montefiore whose brother, in turn, married a sister of Nathan Rothschild. And thus there came into being the Cousinhood, a compact union of exclusive brethren with blood and money flowing in a small circle which opened up from time to time to admit a Beddington, a Montagu, a Franklin, a Sassoon, or anyone else who attained rank or fortune, and then snapped shut again.” Remarkably, this pattern of intermarriage and close-knit familial ties bears a resemblance to the origins of the Scottish Zionist movement. While other actors have played significant roles, approximately 40 to 50 Scottish Zionist families appear to have provided the primary financial and human resources to organize, fund, and drive the Scottish Zionist movement. These families, along with other influential operatives, represent an estimated 500 people—roughly 10% of the total Scottish Jewish population of 5,847, according to Scotland’s 2022 census. Today, Glasgow is home to the most populous Jewish community in Scotland. It hosts the broadest range of communal services and organizations, and remains the base of the Scottish Zionist movement. In 1947, “The Jewish Year Book” estimated that around 15,000 Jews lived in Glasgow, roughly 75% of Scotland’s entire Jewish population. By contrast, Edinburgh had just one-tenth that number. According to the most recent census, 1,511 Jews reside in East Renfrewshire, the council area that includes much of what was once the southern edge of Greater Glasgow. This is the highest Jewish population of any council area in Scotland. The neighboring Glasgow City Council area is home to another 973 Jews. Together, these areas account for roughly 42% of Scotland’s total Jewish population, which—as noted in a previous article—has declined steadily since peaking at around 20,000 in the 1940s and 1950s. Of this total population of 2,484, active Zionist leadership comprises approximately 20% of Glasgow’s Jews.   The Cousinhood of Scottish Zionists In the early 20th century, budding Zionists often had close business and familial connections. Among the most influential families in the early to mid-20th-century Scottish Zionist movement were business dynasties whose wealth came from a wide range of industries. These included families in property, such as the Berkleys, Dovers, Kingsleys, Livingstones, Waltons and Winocours; in retail and clothing, such as the Cohens, Goldbergs, Jesners, Livingstons, Sellyns, Wolfsons and Woolfsons; and finance, including the Blochs (distilling, later finance), Stones (banking), Ognalls and Lewises (debt collection), and the Links family, who were involved in money lending, the rag trade, and later the leisure industry. Also prominent were the Tiefenbruns in hi-fi electronics and the Gerbers in wholesale. These families formed the social and financial backbone of the Scottish Zionist movement, often bound by both business ties and intermarriage. Families that were important in the Zionist movement at the time had complex business and familial inter-relations, as well as being centrally involved in promoting the racist ideas of the Zionist movement and the practical moves needed to colonize and ethnically cleanse Palestine. Today, descendants of almost all these families remain central to the Scottish (and, to a lesser extent, British) Zionist movement, and their familial and business networks continue to be dense. In the remainder of this article, we examine four of the founding families of the Scottish Cousinhood, their involvement in the Zionist movement, and their ongoing role today. Future articles will explore additional key families within the Cousinhood of Scottish Zionism. One way to assess which families have been most central is to examine which individuals have held leadership roles in organizations that broker the interests of the broader Zionist movement. Two have been crucial. First is a cross-movement grouping created in 1963 by the leading Zionists of the day: the Glasgow Jewish Community Trust. According to its own records, the trust was founded by Ephraim Goldberg, Michael (Melach) Goldberg, Sir Maurice Bloch, Samuel Ross Campbell and Isidore Walton. Of course, some of the families involved in the early emergence of the Scottish Zionist movement either moved south to London or became less centrally involved. Bloch, Campbell and Wolfson were among them. The Wolfson family is now one of the most prominent extended families in the British Zionist movement, both in business (Next plc) and charitable terms (several family charities expend their wealth in a variety of causes, including in support of the genocide in Palestine). While members of the Wolfson family have held significant leadership roles in Scotland, it is the Goldberg and Walton families who have played a more formative and enduring role in Scottish Zionism. The Glasgow Jewish Community Trust has been a crucial collaborative community venture to ensure the survival of Jewish communal organizations, specifically Zionist organizations. It is widely recognized as a key organization and has been so for years. For example, in the year 2000, the Jewish Chronicle reported that in the 1990s it “has been the main funder of most Jewish organizations in the city.” The report also noted that “the trust has given more than £3 million in grants and loans since it was founded in 1963”(July 21, 2000). The Trust is so important that a commemorative book on its first sixty years was published in 2024 (upon which this article draws in places). At its launch, the author advanced the proposition that “Glasgow Jewish community continues to punch above its weight” as a result, in part, of the Trust. With the decline in the Scottish Jewish population and thus the main pool from which the Zionist movement can draw, this is no idle boast. The book contains no hint that the Trust has ever given to an anti-Zionist organization in its 60-year history. Annual reports released to the author under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, between 2017 and 2023, also disclose no support for anti-Zionist groups. However, they do donate to Zionist causes. Between 2016 and 2023, the trust spent more than £1 million on these causes including the Friends of Lubavitch Scotland, the UJIA, the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council (one of Scotland’s leading Zionist lobby groups), Glasgow Maccabi, Scottish Council of Jewish Communities (another leading lobby group created to respond to the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999), Habonim Dror (the Zionist youth group), the Jewish Chaplaincy Service (also Zionist, as I show here) and Glasgow Friends of Israel, among others. GJCT trustees at Dec. 2024 launch, R–L: Lovatt, Strang, Kaplan, Lewis (Chair), Tiefenbrun, Smith (author), Ognall, Sellyn, Tenby, Winocour, Orchant. Source | Facebook A second central grouping in the emergence of the Scottish Zionist movement has been the Jewish National Fund (JNF), a key institution behind land theft in Palestine. It has been a more cohesive grouping at the heart of the formal Scottish Zionist movement than, for example, other Scottish affiliates of the Zionist movement, such as the Glasgow Zionist Organization, the United Jewish Israel Appeal or its predecessors. One family, above all, has been closely associated with the JNF in Scotland, from its foundation to the present day—the Links family. We will also look at them below.   The Goldberg family The Goldberg family has historically been the most prominent Zionist family in Scotland. Among other things, they were the prime movers behind the creation of the Glasgow Jewish Community Trust in 1963. The charity has functioned as an informal organizing committee for the Zionist movement. It continues to play that role today, despite the many changes the movement has undergone over the past six decades. The Goldberg family immigrated to Scotland from Lithuania in the mid-1800s. The first recorded instance of a baby born with the name Goldberg in Scotland dates back to 1856. Since then, according to official figures, there have been more than 400 others, along with perhaps 350 marriages and over 360 deaths. They made a lasting impression on the retail market with their flashy department stores, notably the flagship store in Edinburgh’s Tollcross. It featured a cafe and menagerie on the roof (which this author visited with delight on many occasions as a child). Little did I know that underneath the glitz, the family running the shop was supporting the racist settler colony in Palestine.   Goldbergs’ Edinburgh store at Tollcross in 1983. Source | A. Goldberg & Sons Ltd archive The Goldbergs were arguably the leading family in the Zionist movement for some decades. The patriarch Abraham Goldberg presided over the movement in the 1930s and 40s, along with other key Jewish businessmen. According to Ben Braber in his 1992 thesis, “Integration of Jewish Immigrants in Glasgow,” Goldberg had also invested in annexing land in Palestine, where he owned orange groves and a citrus essence factory. Abraham’s sons, Michael and Ephraim, took over the business in 1934, and the family created the Goldberg Family Charitable Trust in 1956. Its accounts over the last few years (from 2016 to 2024) show that it continues to give money to supporters of Zionist genocide such as the New Israel Fund, ORT (which trains Israeli soldiers on military bases), the United Jewish Israel Appeal and the Abraham Initiatives, which seeks to normalise Zionism. The brothers also played a central role in founding the Glasgow Jewish Community Trust, to which they donated property in the form of a former cinema that they had purchased for use by the Zionist movement. The Trust has served as the central organizing committee for the Zionist movement for over 60 years. In the years following the retirement of Ephraim and Michael, their offspring took leadership roles at the trust, including David, Irene and Mark Goldberg. No other family has placed as many as five members in leadership positions within the Trust. It’s notable that Mark, who has his own charitable trust which donates to liberal/left Zionist causes, and has been involved with the ‘left of the Scottish (and British) Zionist movement for some years, including Glasgow Friends of Peace Now and the Glasgow Jewish Educational Forum.   The Links The Links family is among the oldest established Zionist families in Glasgow. Osias Links arrived in Scotland in the 1880s, and his brother, Mayer Links, arrived in 1911, following Osias’ death in 1904. They came from Ternopil—then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, now in western Ukraine—where proto-Zionist groups were active even before the formal establishment of the Zionist movement. Mayer was a ‘Clothier, Draper and money lender.’ Their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren made fortunes in the rag trade, money lending, property and the leisure industry. They also played, and continue to play, a leading role in the Glasgow Zionist movement. Osias’s son Abraham founded A. Links and Co. in 1907 in Glasgow. He was, says Zionist writer and activist Ken Collins, “for many years one of the leading figures in Glasgow Zionism.” Around 1912, he “quickly espoused the cause of the Higher Grade Hebrew School” in an effort to marginalize Yiddish, a key Zionist objective at the time. As Collins recounts: “In 1917 Links was involved in overseeing a meeting of the Jewish National Institute, having previously also been involved with the Zionist friendly society, the Order of Ancient Maccabeans.” Mayers son, Nathan Links, was also a moneylender, and by 1935, he had become the treasurer of the Glasgow branch of the Jewish National Fund. At the same time, Nathan’s first cousin, Abraham Mordechai Links, served as director of the JNF in Glasgow. From Ken Collins book, “Second City Jewry” The Links family worked closely with the Goldbergs in Zionist organizing. Ben Braber recounts the following tale from 1933: This group, the Glasgow Ladies Zionist Organization, later affiliated to WIZO, was headed by the relatively unknown Mrs. Selma Teitleman. Later, she and her husband, a general practitioner, changed the name to Mann. Most committee members were wives of well-known communal leaders… The ladies’ section further organized social functions, often in the homes of their more affluent members, like a Garden Fete in 1933 in Abraham Goldberg’s residence in Pollokshields, which was opened by Abraham Links. Monthly meetings were held for members, and money was raised for Zionist causes. During their third year, the ladies collected in total £482 (of which £148 went to the Women’s Zionist Federation and £277 to the JNF). Abraham Links was commemorated by sculptor and Zionist activist, Benno Schotz By 1936—the group’s third year—Abraham Links had already established the first Glasgow office of the Jewish National Fund at 6 Dixon Street, Glasgow, in 1935. This came to be known simply as the Glasgow Zionist Center, as it provided space for many different Zionist groups until the mid-1950s. The Links family has remained embedded in the leadership of Glasgow’s Zionist movement ever since. Abraham’s son, Maurice Benzion Links, was, for example, Honorary Secretary of the Glasgow branch of Vaad L’Maan Habonim (now called Habonim Dror), the Zionist youth group, in 1947 and 1952, and chaired the Glasgow branch of the British Technion Society, eventually becoming honorary president by 1973, according to the “Zionist Year Book.” That same year, three members of the Links family held leadership roles within the JNF. Abraham was Honorary President and a Trustee, Maurice Benzion was joint chair of the Blue and White Committee, which put on fundraising events, and David Nehemiah Links (Maurice’s younger brother) was Chairman of the Box Committee (in charge of fundraising through the ‘blue box’ distributed to each Zionist family). In 1951, Abraham was Vice President, and between 1963 and 1965, David served as Chairman of the Glasgow Friends of the Hebrew University, where he sat alongside Harold Sellyn as Honorary Secretary, from another key Zionist family, to which we will return later. Between 1964 and 1973, David’s wife Irene (nee Sotnick) was listed as Hon. Sec of the Glasgow Rosa Wollstein Group of WIZO, the Women’s International Zionist Organization. By 1969, Maurice had become President of the Glasgow Commission of the Jewish National Fund. In 1954, the Links family donated a three-story house, located at 43 Queen Square, situated on the south side of Glasgow in the Strathbungo neighborhood near Queen’s Park, to the JNF. It was henceforth known as Abraham Links House in memory of the patriarch who had died the previous year. This replaced Dixon Street as the effective headquarters of the Zionist movement until the late 1990s. David Samuel Links (Abraham’s grandson and Maurice Benzion’s son, born July 4, 1946) remains an essential figure in the Zionist movement in Scotland today. He is the Chairman and a director of the Scottish branch of the JNF, now known as The KKL (Scotland) Charitable Trust (since 2007). Links and his brother Brian Israel Links (born 1950) remain directors of A. Links and Co., but its Standard Industrial Classification is now ‘Activities of sports clubs’ and they own and run two ‘American Pool and Snooker’ halls in Glasgow, one in the center of the city and the other above the Co-op supermarket on Pollokshaws Road in Shawlands in Glasgow’s southside some ten-minute walk, going south, from Abraham Links House. They also serve as directors of Reardon’s New City, which runs those clubs. Also involved with those firms were their wives, Adalaine Corinne Links and Melanie Sara Links (nee Maitles). I note in passing that for more than a decade, I lived just minutes’ walk from the Shawlands Co-op. Little did I then realize how close elements of the Zionist movement were to me. The Shawlands base of A. Links and Co. is located today above the Co-op in Pollokshaws Road. Source | Google Maps   The Waltons Isidore Walton (1913–1979), patriarch of the Walton family, was a property developer and landlord. He was the son of Isaac Walton, who came to Scotland from Russia at the beginning of the Twentieth century and became a “pedlar” in the Highlands, eventually becoming a property dealer. Isidore became a multimillionaire through a vast property portfolio and was the founder of the Scottish Metropolitan Property PLC. He groomed his son David (born August 1943) to take over the property empire from a young age. As David recalled in 1990: “In the school holidays he used to take me around when looking at properties. We went to call on local solicitors and he would end up by signing a piece of paper in some tearoom or ice-cream shop.” According to his obituary in the Jewish Chronicle (June 29, 1979), Isidore was also a hard-line Zionist and philanthropist, founding the Isidore and David Walton Trust (now the Walton Foundation) and securing influence at Glasgow and Strathclyde universities by endowing academic chairs in cardiology and economics. He was a recipient of honorary degrees and even served on the Court at the University of Strathclyde. In 1967, he became the Deputy Treasurer of the Scottish Conservative Party and was awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1972. He served as honorary life president of the Glasgow Jewish Lads’ and Girls’ Brigade, a Zionist youth group. He and his wife, Lena, were centrally involved in Jewish communal life, including supporting Zionist synagogues and helping to promote the Chabad-Lubavitch sect, which has been criticized for its alleged involvement in genocidal activities. For example, his wife, Lena (née Franklin), supported Lubavitch day camps held in Glasgow under the direction of Scottish Chabad emissary Rabbi Chaim Jacobs. The Jewish Chronicle (July 30, 1971) reported that “nine Lubavitch leaders from London assisted in the project launched by Mrs. Isidore Walton.” David Walton was deeply involved in the family business from an early age, becoming a director at just 18 in 1964, and later serving as chairman and joint managing director from 1979 through at least 1986. After the death of his father, according to the Herald, “Though the number of properties within the portfolio has been reduced from 700 to 200, the value went up from £60m in 1979 to over £300m in 1989. Profits of the year [89/90] reached £12.45m.” At its peak, ScotMet’s property portfolio spanned the length of Britain, with tenants including British Airways, Boots, Marks & Spencer, John Menzies, and Great Universal Stores. This suggests that the Walton family maintained business ties with other prominent Zionist-linked families, including the Burtons, who owned the menswear chain Burtons, with the Marks, Sacher, and Sieff families running Marks & Spencer, and the Wolfson family, who at that stage ran Great Universal Stores (and today run Next plc). David and his family continued Isidores charitable work, including funding Zionist causes. Although Scottish charity trustees are not publicly named in annual reports, documents confirm that David, Carole, and their sons, John and Michael, serve as trustees. We know this because of a “related party” disclosure that the foundation owns 100% of the share capital of Lenmar Limited, a company whose directors are also trustees of the foundation. As of 2023, the company reported shareholder assets of nearly £750,000. Excerpt from the 1986 annual report of the Scottish Metropolitan Property Company Excerpt from the 1986 annual report of the Scottish Metropolitan Property Company Following in the footsteps of Isidore and Lena, the Walton family continues to support Chabad-Lubavitch. The photo below shows them at a fundraiser for Chabad to celebrate their 50th anniversary in Glasgow in 2019. They were at another, five years later. In November 2024, the Giffnock Synagogue hall was filled with 170 people to celebrate 55 years of Lubavitch in Scotland and 18 years of L’Chaim’s Kosher Catering. The Jewish Telegraph report went on to note that ‘Guests of honour were Glasgow’s leading charitable benefactors David and Carole Walton, who were presented with a menorah and floral arrangement.’ In addition, the Walton Foundation has donated to a number of Zionist causes over the last nine years (since 2015), according to documents released under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR). These include the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the United Jewish Israel Appeal, Friends of Lubavitch Scotland and the Yoni Jesner Foundation, a charity established in memory of a member of another prominent Scottish Cousinhood family. Both David and Michael Walton are also (as of 2024) trustees of the Glasgow Jewish Community Trust. David and Carole Walton on becoming patrons of Cosgrove Care (left); John Richard Walton shooting, 2014 (right)   The Sellyn family Lazarus Sellyn, patriarch of the Sellyn family, founded Sellyn Brothers, a women’s wear retailer with locations across central Scotland. His sons—Harold, Leonard and Jacob—joined the business and were also active in the Zionist movement. Jacob Sellyn—known as Jack—served as joint chairman of the Glasgow Committee of the Joint Palestine Appeal from 1953 to at least 1967. The Joint Palestine Appeal was a fundraising campaign combining the efforts of the Jewish National Fund and Keren Hayesod—also known as the “Foundation Fund”—one of Zionism’s four central institutions. It served as the forerunner to today’s United Jewish Israel Appeal (UJIA) Scotland, the country’s largest Zionist fundraising organization. Sellyn’s walk-round store at Glasgow’s Trongate, April 1970. The Sellyn brothers ran the company until its dissolution in 1996; Leonard died in 1987, Jacob in 1988, and Harold in 2001 The Sellyn family’s entrenchment in Zionist activism spans multiple generations. In 1929, an “L. Sellyn” contributed to the Palestine Emergency Fund—a JNF and Jewish Agency-linked effort to accelerate Zionist colonization in Palestine—listing 9 Princes Square, Glasgow, as their address (Jewish Echo, Sept. 13, 1929). This was the home of the family patriarch, Lazarus Sellyn. By the mid-20th century, all three Sellyn brothers were deeply embedded in communal Zionist structures: Leonard served for years as chairman of the Jewish Old Age Home for Scotland, now called Newark Care (Jewish Chronicle, Sept. 4, 1959; Feb. 28, 1969), while Harold was co-chairman of the Glasgow Friends of the Hebrew University between 1961 and 1968 (Zionist Year Book, 1961 and 1964; Jewish Chronicle, July 5, 1968). Jack chaired the Glasgow Committee of the Joint Palestine Appeal from the 1950s through the late 1960s. In 1961, their sister, Bernice, served as honorary secretary of the Glasgow Younger JNF Commission, while her husband, Laurence Polli, co-chaired the JNF Fellowship Group that same year. This pattern of familial commitment extended into the realm of sports and youth organizations. Several family members were active in Glasgow Maccabi, the Zionist sporting body. Jonathan Sellyn won “Man of the Match” in the British victory at the 1976 European Maccabi Nations Cup, while a young Georgina Sellyn won both silver and gold medals in tennis at the 2007 Maccabiah Games in Rome. Lawrence and Felicia Sellyn officiated at Glasgow Maccabi’s 2015 prizegiving ceremony. Raie Sellyn, Jack’s wife, was long involved in the Scottish Central WIZO group (Jewish Chronicle, Sept. 4, 1981). In 1985, Samantha Sellyn, chair of the Heriot-Watt University Jewish Society (in Edinburgh), helped defeat an anti-Zionist campus motion (Jewish Chronicle, Nov. 29, 1985). Marc Sellyn continued the family’s presence within Glasgow JNF, appearing at fundraising events into the 2000s (Jewish Chronicle, Dec. 11, 2009). Leonard’s son Lawrence, a chartered accountant born in 1937, has been a leading figure in the city’s Zionist infrastructure for decades. In 2014, he was appointed to GJCT Braidbar, the company overseeing the disused Braidbar Quarry, which netted nearly £1 million for the Glasgow Jewish Community Trust to channel into Zionist projects. In the 1980s, he managed Pear Properties, which operated until 2023. Both his first wife, Renee, and daughter, Samantha, also served as directors. In 2005, Lawrence married his second wife, Felicia Gilbert, born in 1939. Lawrence Sellyn was her second husband, too, having been previously married to Lawrence Lewis, part of the debt collection empire built by the Glasgow-based Lewis family, which will be discussed in a later article. Both Felicia and Lawrence Lewis were directly involved in those businesses, including the ominously named debt collection agency, the Scottish Bureau of Investigation, from which she resigned in 1994. Felicia and Larry Sellyn at a Glasgow Maccabi prizegiving, 2015 Felicia is also active in Zionist organizing, serving as chair of the Scottish WIZO Council. WIZO is the Women’s International Zionist Organization. The Council “coordinates the work of WIZO groups in Scotland and provides a forum for discussion on all points pertaining to raising funds for projects for women and children in Israel.” Although its activity has declined since its heyday, three WIZO branches—Pollokshields, Newton Mearns, and Giffnock—have remained at least intermittently active in recent years. Lawrence Sellyn remains a key figure in Zionist organizing, serving as a trustee of the Glasgow Jewish Community Trust, where he also held the position of secretary from 1989 to 2007.   Establishing the Cousinhood The Cousinhood of Scottish Zionism was established between 1880 and 1960. Most of the families that formed the original familial, business and Zionist network remain at the forefront of the Scottish Zionist movement today, including the Goldberg, Links, Walton and Sellyn families. Over time, the Cousinhood expanded its reach, reproducing its influence through a broader circle of the Scottish Jewish community. These additional families will be explored in a future article. The contemporary relevance of this historical analysis is clear. First, the same families continue to play central roles in promoting genocide today, as evidenced by their involvement in the Glasgow Jewish Community Trust. Secondly, we can see that families that have been embedded deeply in Scottish society for many decades have been continuously involved in building the ongoing Zionist campaign of genocide in Palestine. Third, the data presented here points to something more profound, and perhaps more troubling: Zionist networks are active across nearly every sector and geography. For more than three decades, I lived in Glasgow, often in close proximity to the very Zionist groups and family businesses named here, yet I had no idea. A clear conclusion, then, is that Zionist networks and organizations are embedded not just across the UK but in many other countries as well. If we are serious about dismantling Zionism, we must begin by understanding and confronting this network far more thoroughly than we have to date. Without that understanding, we will never be able to hold the Zionist movement legally accountable—a necessary step to stop genocide in Palestine and to prevent it from ever happening again. Feature photo | Illustration by MintPress News David Miller is a non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Islam and Global Affairs at Istanbul Zaim University and a former Professor of Political Sociology at the University of Bristol. He is a broadcaster, writer and investigative researcher; the producer of the weekly show Palestine Declassified on PressTV; and the co-director of Public Interest Investigations, of which spinwatch.org and powerbase.info are projects. He tweets @Tracking_Power. The post The Caledonian Cousinhood: How the Zionist Movement Embedded Itself in Scottish Life appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Foreign Affairs, Investigations, Top Story, British Israel lobby, David Miller, Glasgow family networks, Glasgow Jewish elites, Glasgow to Palestine, Jewish National Fund UK, Jewish power in Britain, Scotland, Scottish Zionism, UK Zionist lobby, Zionism and empire, Zionist charities]

— Sir Trevor Chinn: The Tycoon Who Hijacked British Democracy for Israel

 

at 6/18/25 12:05pm

He likes to keep a low profile. But Sir Trevor Chinn is one of the most powerful men in British politics. The retired businessman has donated millions to politicians, facilitated Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s rise to power, helped destroy the movement around Jeremy Corbyn, and, above all, has made sure that both major parties support Israel and its expansionist project in the Middle East. MintPress News profiles perhaps the most influential man in the pro-Israel lobby and lifts the veil of anonymity he hides behind.   Israel’s Man In November, President Isaac Herzog personally awarded Chinn the Israeli Medal of Honor for his “service to the state [of Israel] and the Jewish people.” The past year, President Herzog said in his presentation speech, was “the most difficult since the founding of the state.” However, he noted, his country was extremely fortunate to have “great friends and supporters in the world who fight alongside us against antisemitism, defend Israel’s name in the media, and have long fought for Israel’s place among the nations.” Chinn has a decades-long history of promoting Israeli interests in the United Kingdom and beyond. In 2005, as co-chairman of the Israel-Britain Business Council, he led a delegation to Israel to participate in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Conference for Export and International Cooperation. The conference was an attempt to bring back economic growth to Israel after three years of stagnation as a result of the Second Palestinian intifada. In 2018, he co-hosted a high-profile celebration of former Israeli President Chaim Herzog attended by some of the most powerful figures in British politics, including former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Held at the exclusive Spencer House in London, the event celebrated the British-born president, honoring him as a “warrior and statesman.” Herzog was an officer in the Israeli military during the Nakba, the ethnic cleansing of around 750,000 Palestinians in order to establish the State of Israel. As the longstanding president of United Jewish Israel Appeal, a group that aims to increase British Jews’ connections to Israel, Chinn has helped to raise millions to fund free birthright-style trips to the Middle East. One 2023 event at London’s Kensington Palace alone raised £1 million (U.S. $1.36 million). The function was attended by former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who praised his work profusely. Chinn’s ties to Israel go far beyond economics and culture. Last October, at the height of the Israeli attack on Gaza, the 89-year-old tycoon quietly met with the U.K. Foreign Office to advise them on arms exports to Israel. Officially, the British government claimed they were merely “discussing geopolitics with [a] businessman.” Documents obtained by investigative journalist John McEvoy, however, revealed the real purpose of the meeting was far less innocent.   Bankrolling the British Cabinet Chinn, McEvoy told MintPress, plays an “important but overlooked role in British politics.” Since the 1980s, he noted, Chinn has funded both Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) and Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI), pressure groups within the U.K.’s two largest political parties. He was also a member of the executive committee of the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM), the most influential pro-Israel lobbying organization in the United Kingdom. “Quantitative analyses of these groups’ activities are instructive,” McEvoy said, adding: Eighty percent of Tory MPs are members of CFI and, between 2012 and 2022, the organization paid for elected members to go on more overseas trips than any other donor. Last year, LFI counted some 75 MPs as supporters, while 32 sitting Labour members had accepted funding from the group. For its part, BICOM has flown scores of journalists to Tel Aviv since the turn of the century.” As such, Chinn sits at the head of a massive influence operation aiming to make sure that Great Britain continues to support Israeli interests. The scope of this operation is staggering; pro-Israel lobby groups have funded the majority of the British cabinet. In total, 13 out of 25 sitting cabinet members have accepted money directly from Chinn, or pro-Israel groups, according to McEvoy’s investigation. This includes many extremely powerful figures, such as Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, and Health Secretary Wes Streeting. Chinn himself has donated hundreds of thousands of pounds to these individuals. Without a doubt, though, the most important recipient of his largesse is Prime Minister Keir Starmer himself. In 2020, Chinn donated £50,000 (approximately $68,000) to Starmer, bankrolling his campaign to become leader of the Labour Party. The donation was not registered until five days after the election. It was around this time that Starmer very publicly began to shift his position on Israel. Until 2019, he had been a member of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East, and promised to “put human rights at the heart of foreign policy.” Yet just a few weeks after he received Chinn’s money, he publicly stated, “I support Zionism without qualification.” His administration has vocally supported Israel, sending weapons to the country and providing other military assistance from U.K. military bases in Cyprus. It has also cracked down on pro-Palestine protests at home and defended Israel in international bodies such as the United Nations. In 2021, Starmer’s office even went so far as to hire Assaf Kaplan, a former Israeli spy, to conduct what it calls “social listening” within the party. Lowkey, a rapper, activist, and host of The Watchdog on MintPress, has tracked Chinn’s activities closely, stating that: Trevor Chinn is a key officer of the Zionist movement in this country. He is a vehicle through which the Israel lobby is able to fund key political figures, like Keir Starmer and David Lammy, and thus extend Israeli influence over what happens in British politics.”   Shaping the Labour Party Tony Blair was the driving force behind Labour’s move away from social democracy and its embrace of big business, and Chinn’s cash helped make it possible. According to a 1996 report in The Independent, Chinn was one of several Labour megadonors who each contributed around £500,000 to bankroll Blairism and ensure its success. Along with its economic approach, Labour’s traditional foreign policy positions also shifted. As former chairman of LFI, Baron Mendelsohn approvingly noted at the time, Blair has attacked the anti-Israelism that had existed in the Labour Party. Old Labour was cowboys-and-Indians politics, picking underdogs to support, but the milieu has changed. Zionism is pervasive in New Labour. It is automatic that Blair will come to Labour Friends of Israel meetings.” To this day, Blair maintains a close relationship with Israel. He is a patron of the Jewish National Fund, the largest builder of illegal settlements in the West Bank. His wife, Cherie, meanwhile, worked as an adviser to NSO Group, the controversial Israeli software firm behind the Pegasus spying software. Chinn (left) looks at British Prime Minister David Cameron during a Jewish Leadership Council meeting at 10 Downing Street, Jan. 16, 2012. Kirsty Wigglesworth | AP Since Blair, Chinn has continued to fund senior Labour figures. The one notable exception was during Jeremy Corbyns tenure, from 2015 to 2020. Corbyn, a lifelong socialist, anti-imperialist, and advocate for Palestinian statehood, was unexpectedly elected leader of the party in a landslide. Almost immediately, senior figures in the Labour establishment began organizing against him. And they were helped by Chinn’s money and connections. Chinn provided the financial backing for Labour Together, a think tank of right-wing figures with the stated goal of “defeat[ing] Corbynism,” and “win[ning] Labour back from the left.” He also financed the political ambitions of Corbyn opponents, including Owen Smith, Ruth Smeeth, and Deputy Leader Tom Watson. Corbyn was relentlessly attacked from all sides and suffered constant accusations of antisemitism designed to undermine public support for his project. Also in Labour Together’s crosshairs were Corbyn-supporting media outlets, such as The Canary. A left-wing alternative media site, The Canary rapidly expanded its reach to 8.5 million monthly viewers. Labour Together devised a plan to, in their own words, “Kill The Canary.” To that end, they launched a sham “stop funding fake news” drive, claiming the outlet was spreading antisemitic content, and putting pressure on advertisers to pull their commercials from the site. Like the campaign against Corbyn, the antisemitism claims were false, but effective, and The Canary’s finances and reach were dealt a serious blow.   Equal Opportunities Oligarch Chinn, however, is far from a strictly partisan donor. The elderly business magnate has also funded the Conservative Friends of Israel, the Tory equivalent of Labour Friends of Israel. CFI is, if anything, more influential than its Labour counterpart. Publicly available data shows that the organization has funded at least 118 Conservative members of parliament to travel to Israel on 160 occasions, providing over £330,000 (U.S. $450,000) towards the visits. Around 80% of Conservative MPs are members of CFI. CFI wields significant influence within the halls of power, enough to force Prime Minister Boris Johnson to drop his plans to appoint Alan Duncan as his Middle East Minister. In his memoirs, Duncan noted that their opposition was “for no other reason than that I believe in the rights of the Palestinians.” Johnson was reportedly indignant. “They [the Israelis] shouldn’t behave like this,” he said. “The CFI and the Israelis think they control the Foreign Office. And they do!’” Duncan said, adding that Israeli penetration into British politics amounts to what he called “entrenched espionage” and a national security threat. Going further back, Chinn repeatedly lobbied the administration of John Major (1990-1997) on its Middle East policy. “He can be quite a tough protagonist of the Israeli cause and is by no means a dove… My own feeling is that he is not very subtly tuned into the Israeli political scene,” one Foreign Office official wrote about Chinn in 1991. The overall goal of his activities—the political donations, private meetings, funded trips and media work—McEvoy told MintPress, is to “persuade politicians and journalists that supporting Israel is in their interests.” Chinn and the wider pro-Israel lobby employ a “carrot and stick approach,” whereby good behavior is rewarded with free trips, favorable media coverage and political donations, and bad behavior is punished with a loss of funding, political flak, and pressure campaigns. Thus, McEvoy concludes: While many legislators in Britain are already avowed Zionists and need little persuading, the carrot and stick approach can achieve an important disciplining effect on politicians who are either equivocal or easily shunned into silence, which accounts for a significant proportion given the extent of careerism and cowardice present in Westminster.”   You Can Cut Down the Flowers, But You Can’t Stop the Spring Sir Trevor Chinn is far from a self-made man. He inherited his substantial wealth and power from his father, Rosser, who owned the automotive giant, Lex Services, now called the Royal Automobile Club (RAC). In addition to his business interests, Rosser was also the president of the Jewish National Fund, helping Israel dispossess Palestinians of their land. Trevor served as chief executive of the RAC and later became chairman of its chief competitors, the Automobile Association (AA) and Kwik Fit. Since 1973, he has served as president of the United Jewish Israel Appeal and holds or has held a number of other significant positions of influence. These include serving as a governor of Tel Aviv University, and his positions on the executive committees of the Jewish Leadership Council and BICOM. In 2023, BICOM participated in an attempt to remove the music of MintPress’ Lowkey from the streaming service Spotify. Their plan failed, thanks to massive public pushback and widespread resistance from top names in the entertainment industry. “I was, at that time, identified as a key target. But we defeated them, thanks to MintPress, The Electronic Intifada, and all the amazing people who supported me,” Lowkey said. “It really does go to show that these lobby groups are really only powerful when they are not confronted.” One successful cancellation operation Chinn did participate in, however, was the 2014 campaign against a north London arts venue. After finding out that the event was sponsored by the Israeli Embassy, the Tricycle Theater refused to host the U.K. Jewish Film Festival. Israel, at the time, had just launched Operation Protective Edge, a bombardment of Gaza that killed over 2,000 people. Chinn sprang into action, threatening to pull his funding from the theater unless they reversed their decision. “We are as a community under pressure from the boycott movement. We can’t accept boycotts and whenever one comes along we have to fight it,” he said. Tricycle was eventually forced to concede after Culture Minister Sajid Javid—himself a member of Conservative Friends of Israel—“made it absolutely clear what might happen to their funding if they, or if anyone, tries that kind of thing again.” For all his work, though, Chinn has not been able to stem the tide of pro-Palestinian sentiment across the United Kingdom and beyond. In November 2023, an estimated one million people attended a London demonstration calling for a ceasefire. Since then, polling shows that public attitudes towards Israel have only hardened. A recent YouGov survey found that more than twice as many Britons support Palestine (32%) as Israel (14%). Only 17% of the country holds positive views of Israel (including 4% that are very positive), compared to 63% negative (including 39% that are highly negative). And the vast majority of the country supports an arms embargo, with only 13% opposing an end to weapons sales to Tel Aviv. Worse still for Israel, these are among the best numbers in Europe for their cause. In response, both Conservative and Labour governments have cracked down on public support for Palestine, suppressing demonstrations, arresting protesters, and harassing and intimidating pro-Palestine journalists. How much, if any, influence Chinn had on these responses is a matter of debate. But what is incontrovertible is that he and his network of pro-Israel organizations are not an omnipotent force. This is especially true when they and their activities are exposed to the wider public. Feature photo | Sir Trevor Chinn (left), pictured alongside Jacob Rothschild (center) and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair (right) | Editing by MintPress News Alan MacLeod is Senior Staff Writer for MintPress News. He completed his PhD in 2017 and has since authored two acclaimed books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent, as well as a number of academic articles. He has also contributed to FAIR.org, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, and Common Dreams. Follow Alan on Twitter for more of his work and commentary: @AlanRMacLeod. The post Sir Trevor Chinn: The Tycoon Who Hijacked British Democracy for Israel appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Foreign Affairs, Investigations, Top Story, BICOM, billionaire donors, British politics, Conservative Friends of Israel, Israel Lobby, keir starmer, Labour Friends of Israel, Trevor Chinn, UK foreign policy, Zionist influence]

— Sir Trevor Chinn: The Billionaire Who Hijacked British Democracy for Israel

 

at 6/18/25 12:05pm

He likes to keep a low profile. But Sir Trevor Chinn is one of the most powerful men in British politics. The retired businessman has donated millions to politicians, facilitated Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s rise to power, helped destroy the movement around Jeremy Corbyn, and, above all, has made sure that both major parties support Israel and its expansionist project in the Middle East. MintPress News profiles perhaps the most influential man in the pro-Israel lobby and lifts the veil of anonymity he hides behind.   Israel’s Man In November, President Isaac Herzog personally awarded Chinn the Israeli Medal of Honor for his “service to the state [of Israel] and the Jewish people.” The past year, President Herzog said in his presentation speech, was “the most difficult since the founding of the state.” However, he noted, his country was extremely fortunate to have “great friends and supporters in the world who fight alongside us against antisemitism, defend Israel’s name in the media, and have long fought for Israel’s place among the nations.” Chinn has a decades-long history of promoting Israeli interests in the United Kingdom and beyond. In 2005, as co-chairman of the Israel-Britain Business Council, he led a delegation to Israel to participate in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s Conference for Export and International Cooperation. The conference was an attempt to bring back economic growth to Israel after three years of stagnation as a result of the Second Palestinian intifada. In 2018, he co-hosted a high-profile celebration of former Israeli President Chaim Herzog attended by some of the most powerful figures in British politics, including former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Held at the exclusive Spencer House in London, the event celebrated the British-born president, honoring him as a “warrior and statesman.” Herzog was an officer in the Israeli military during the Nakba, the ethnic cleansing of around 750,000 Palestinians in order to establish the State of Israel. As the longstanding president of United Jewish Israel Appeal, a group that aims to increase British Jews’ connections to Israel, Chinn has helped to raise millions to fund free birthright-style trips to the Middle East. One 2023 event at London’s Kensington Palace alone raised £1 million (U.S. $1.36 million). The function was attended by former prime minister Naftali Bennett, who praised his work profusely. Chinn’s ties to Israel go far beyond economics and culture. Last October, at the height of the Israeli attack on Gaza, the 89-year-old tycoon quietly met with the U.K. Foreign Office to advise them on arms exports to Israel. Officially, the British government claimed they were merely “discussing geopolitics with [a] businessman.” Documents obtained by investigative journalist John McEvoy, however, revealed the real purpose of the meeting was far less innocent.   Bankrolling the British Cabinet Chinn, McEvoy told MintPress, plays an “important but overlooked role in British politics.” Since the 1980s, he noted, Chinn has funded both Labour Friends of Israel (LFI) and Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI), pressure groups within the U.K.’s two largest political parties. He was also a member of the executive committee of the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM), the most influential pro-Israel lobbying organization in the United Kingdom. “Quantitative analyses of these groups’ activities are instructive,” McEvoy said, adding: Eighty percent of Tory MPs are members of CFI and, between 2012 and 2022, the organization paid for elected members to go on more overseas trips than any other donor. Last year, LFI counted some 75 MPs as supporters, while 32 sitting Labour members had accepted funding from the group. For its part, BICOM has flown scores of journalists to Tel Aviv since the turn of the century.” As such, Chinn sits at the head of a massive influence operation aiming to make sure that Great Britain continues to support Israeli interests. The scope of this operation is staggering; pro-Israel lobby groups have funded the majority of the British cabinet. In total, 13 out of 25 sitting cabinet members have accepted money directly from Chinn, or pro-Israel groups, according to McEvoy’s investigation. This includes many extremely powerful figures, such as Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, and Health Secretary Wes Streeting. Chinn himself has donated hundreds of thousands of pounds to these individuals. Without a doubt, though, the most important recipient of his largesse is Prime Minister Keir Starmer himself. In 2020, Chinn donated £50,000 (approximately $68,000) to Starmer, bankrolling his campaign to become leader of the Labour Party. The donation was not registered until five days after the election. It was around this time that Starmer very publicly began to shift his position on Israel. Until 2019, he had been a member of Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East, and promised to “put human rights at the heart of foreign policy.” Yet just a few weeks after he received Chinn’s money, he publicly stated, “I support Zionism without qualification.” His administration has vocally supported Israel, sending weapons to the country and providing other military assistance from U.K. military bases in Cyprus. It has also cracked down on pro-Palestine protests at home and defended Israel in international bodies such as the United Nations. In 2021, Starmer’s office even went so far as to hire Assaf Kaplan, a former Israeli spy, to conduct what it calls “social listening” within the party. Lowkey, a rapper, activist, and host of The Watchdog on MintPress, has tracked Chinn’s activities closely, stating that: Trevor Chinn is a key officer of the Zionist movement in this country. He is a vehicle through which the Israel lobby is able to fund key political figures, like Keir Starmer and David Lammy, and thus extend Israeli influence over what happens in British politics.”   Shaping the Labour Party Tony Blair was the driving force behind Labour’s move away from social democracy and its embrace of big business, and Chinn’s cash helped make it possible. According to a 1996 report in The Independent, Chinn was one of several Labour megadonors who each contributed around £500,000 to bankroll Blairism and ensure its success. Along with its economic approach, Labour’s traditional foreign policy positions also shifted. As former chairman of LFI, Baron Mendelsohn approvingly noted at the time, Blair has attacked the anti-Israelism that had existed in the Labour Party. Old Labour was cowboys-and-Indians politics, picking underdogs to support, but the milieu has changed. Zionism is pervasive in New Labour. It is automatic that Blair will come to Labour Friends of Israel meetings.” To this day, Blair maintains a close relationship with Israel. He is a patron of the Jewish National Fund, the largest builder of illegal settlements in the West Bank. His wife, Cherie, meanwhile, worked as an adviser to NSO Group, the controversial Israeli software firm behind the Pegasus spying software. Chinn (left) looks at British Prime Minister David Cameron during a Jewish Leadership Council meeting at 10 Downing Street, Jan. 16, 2012. Kirsty Wigglesworth | AP Since Blair, Chinn has continued to fund senior Labour figures. The one notable exception was during Jeremy Corbyns tenure, from 2015 to 2020. Corbyn, a lifelong socialist, anti-imperialist, and advocate for Palestinian statehood, was unexpectedly elected leader of the party in a landslide. Almost immediately, senior figures in the Labour establishment began organizing against him. And they were helped by Chinn’s money and connections. Chinn provided the financial backing for Labour Together, a think tank of right-wing figures with the stated goal of “defeat[ing] Corbynism,” and “win[ning] Labour back from the left.” He also financed the political ambitions of Corbyn opponents, including Owen Smith, Ruth Smeeth, and Deputy Leader Tom Watson. Corbyn was relentlessly attacked from all sides and suffered constant accusations of antisemitism designed to undermine public support for his project. Also in Labour Together’s crosshairs were Corbyn-supporting media outlets, such as The Canary. A left-wing alternative media site, The Canary rapidly expanded its reach to 8.5 million monthly viewers. Labour Together devised a plan to, in their own words, “Kill The Canary.” To that end, they launched a sham “stop funding fake news” drive, claiming the outlet was spreading antisemitic content, and putting pressure on advertisers to pull their commercials from the site. Like the campaign against Corbyn, the antisemitism claims were false, but effective, and The Canary’s finances and reach were dealt a serious blow.   Equal Opportunities Oligarch Chinn, however, is far from a strictly partisan donor. The elderly business magnate has also funded the Conservative Friends of Israel, the Tory equivalent of Labour Friends of Israel. CFI is, if anything, more influential than its Labour counterpart. Publicly available data shows that the organization has funded at least 118 Conservative members of parliament to travel to Israel on 160 occasions, providing over £330,000 (U.S. $450,000) towards the visits. Around 80% of Conservative MPs are members of CFI. CFI wields significant influence within the halls of power, enough to force Prime Minister Boris Johnson to drop his plans to appoint Alan Duncan as his Middle East Minister. In his memoirs, Duncan noted that their opposition was “for no other reason than that I believe in the rights of the Palestinians.” Johnson was reportedly indignant. “They [the Israelis] shouldn’t behave like this,” he said. “The CFI and the Israelis think they control the Foreign Office. And they do!’” Duncan said, adding that Israeli penetration into British politics amounts to what he called “entrenched espionage” and a national security threat. Going further back, Chinn repeatedly lobbied the administration of John Major (1990-1997) on its Middle East policy. “He can be quite a tough protagonist of the Israeli cause and is by no means a dove… My own feeling is that he is not very subtly tuned into the Israeli political scene,” one Foreign Office official wrote about Chinn in 1991. The overall goal of his activities—the political donations, private meetings, funded trips and media work—McEvoy told MintPress, is to “persuade politicians and journalists that supporting Israel is in their interests.” Chinn and the wider pro-Israel lobby employ a “carrot and stick approach,” whereby good behavior is rewarded with free trips, favorable media coverage and political donations, and bad behavior is punished with a loss of funding, political flak, and pressure campaigns. Thus, McEvoy concludes: While many legislators in Britain are already avowed Zionists and need little persuading, the carrot and stick approach can achieve an important disciplining effect on politicians who are either equivocal or easily shunned into silence, which accounts for a significant proportion given the extent of careerism and cowardice present in Westminster.”   You Can Cut Down the Flowers, But You Can’t Stop the Spring Sir Trevor Chinn is far from a self-made man. He inherited his substantial wealth and power from his father, Rosser, who owned the automotive giant, Lex Services, now called the Royal Automobile Club (RAC). In addition to his business interests, Rosser was also the president of the Jewish National Fund, helping Israel dispossess Palestinians of their land. Trevor served as chief executive of the RAC and later became chairman of its chief competitors, the Automobile Association (AA) and Kwik Fit. Since 1973, he has served as president of the United Jewish Israel Appeal and holds or has held a number of other significant positions of influence. These include serving as a governor of Tel Aviv University, and his positions on the executive committees of the Jewish Leadership Council and BICOM. In 2023, BICOM participated in an attempt to remove the music of MintPress’ Lowkey from the streaming service Spotify. Their plan failed, thanks to massive public pushback and widespread resistance from top names in the entertainment industry. “I was, at that time, identified as a key target. But we defeated them, thanks to MintPress, The Electronic Intifada, and all the amazing people who supported me,” Lowkey said. “It really does go to show that these lobby groups are really only powerful when they are not confronted.” One successful cancellation operation Chinn did participate in, however, was the 2014 campaign against a north London arts venue. After finding out that the event was sponsored by the Israeli Embassy, the Tricycle Theater refused to host the U.K. Jewish Film Festival. Israel, at the time, had just launched Operation Protective Edge, a bombardment of Gaza that killed over 2,000 people. Chinn sprang into action, threatening to pull his funding from the theater unless they reversed their decision. “We are as a community under pressure from the boycott movement. We can’t accept boycotts and whenever one comes along we have to fight it,” he said. Tricycle was eventually forced to concede after Culture Minister Sajid Javid—himself a member of Conservative Friends of Israel—“made it absolutely clear what might happen to their funding if they, or if anyone, tries that kind of thing again.” For all his work, though, Chinn has not been able to stem the tide of pro-Palestinian sentiment across the United Kingdom and beyond. In November 2023, an estimated one million people attended a London demonstration calling for a ceasefire. Since then, polling shows that public attitudes towards Israel have only hardened. A recent YouGov survey found that more than twice as many Britons support Palestine (32%) as Israel (14%). Only 17% of the country holds positive views of Israel (including 4% that are very positive), compared to 63% negative (including 39% that are highly negative). And the vast majority of the country supports an arms embargo, with only 13% opposing an end to weapons sales to Tel Aviv. Worse still for Israel, these are among the best numbers in Europe for their cause. In response, both Conservative and Labour governments have cracked down on public support for Palestine, suppressing demonstrations, arresting protesters, and harassing and intimidating pro-Palestine journalists. How much, if any, influence Chinn had on these responses is a matter of debate. But what is incontrovertible is that he and his network of pro-Israel organizations are not an omnipotent force. This is especially true when they and their activities are exposed to the wider public. Feature photo | Sir Trevor Chinn (left), pictured alongside Jacob Rothschild (center) and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair (right) | Editing by MintPress News Alan MacLeod is Senior Staff Writer for MintPress News. He completed his PhD in 2017 and has since authored two acclaimed books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent, as well as a number of academic articles. He has also contributed to FAIR.org, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, and Common Dreams. Follow Alan on Twitter for more of his work and commentary: @AlanRMacLeod. The post Sir Trevor Chinn: The Billionaire Who Hijacked British Democracy for Israel appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Foreign Affairs, Investigations, Top Story, BICOM, billionaire donors, British politics, Conservative Friends of Israel, Israel Lobby, keir starmer, Labour Friends of Israel, Trevor Chinn, UK foreign policy, Zionist influence]

— Mohammad Marandi: This War Was Supposed to Break Iran. It’s Breaking Israel Instead

 

at 6/17/25 3:13pm

The Israeli attack on Iran continues. Since Friday, IDF jets and missiles have hit sites across the country, carrying out targeted assassinations of key leaders and hitting buildings and other civilian infrastructure. Iran has retaliated in kind, firing missiles into Israel. The Trump administration, which knew about the secret Israeli attack from the beginning, appears to be on the brink of fully entering the war on Israel’s side. Thus, the question arises: Are we on the verge of a major new war? And what does all this mean for the rest of the world? Joining MintCast to discuss this is Seyed Mohammad Marandi, Professor of English Literature and Orientalism at the University of Tehran. Professor Marandi is currently in Tehran and has survived several days of Israeli attacks. The situation in the capital, he told Mintcast host Mnar Adley, is calm. “Many people have left the city of Tehran because the government has made it sort of like COVID, where people work from home, and a lot of people are on vacation. So a lot of shops are closed. I think that will be the case for the next few days,” he said. There is, however, a palpable sense of anger at Israel. “People are very angry at the Israeli regime,” he said. “Theyre outraged. And theres a lot of demand in Iran for the government to go much further.” Some in the West have predicted that the government will fall like a pack of cards. Reza Pahlavi, son of the final shah of Iran, called on the public to rise up and overthrow the current administration – and presumably, crown him monarch. Marandi, however, reports that the attacks have only strengthened public resolve against Israel. “Contrary to Western wishful thinking, theres more unity in Iran now than Ive seen probably since the war, when Saddam Hussein invaded the country,” he said. Marandi revealed that he has had to take several precautionary measures to limit his exposure to danger, including isolating himself from his family and friends. “Security people asked me to put my cellphone aside. And I told them its not possible for me because if I dont have my cellphone, I cant do interviews and I cant help,” he told Adley. The American public certainly does not support Trump’s bellicose threats towards Iran. A new poll finds that only 16% of Americans support the United States militarily involving itself in the current conflict, with 60% opposing the idea. Despite this, Trump is pushing the country towards yet another Middle Eastern war. For Marandi, the fact that the U.S. was using its negotiations with Iran merely as a decoy to help Israel strike the country has made any future negotiations with Washington extremely difficult. “Everything has changed now,” he said, adding: Our relationship with the West, with the United States, has changed. Trump, by being deceitful and gloating about it, has basically told the world that you cannot trust the United States in any way or form. Even if theyre speaking with you, they need to be fighting behind your back. And I think that in the future, at the negotiating table, Irans expectations will be much higher.” Marandi also took aim at Western corporate media, calling it a “tool for empire” and for the U.S. war machine, with Piers Morgan, who interviewed Marandi yesterday, being chief among these tools. The British chat show host condemned Iran, claiming it was a backward regime that mistreated women. Marandi offered to host Morgan in Tehran so that he could see the reality, but this offer was rejected. “Piers Morgan does not care about Iranian women, Iranian people, or Iranian children, just as he never cared about Gaza. When public opinion shifted against the Israeli regime over Gaza, and he felt that it was overwhelming recently, he did a couple of tweets. But thats not a change of heart,” he said. Watch the interview now to hear a first-hand account from the eye of the storm. Truth Has Enemies. We Have You. For over a decade, MintPress News has been at the forefront of exposing Israeli apartheid, occupation, and war crimes—when few dared to. Weve been censored, smeared, and blacklisted for telling the truth. But we haven’t stopped. Independent journalism like this isn’t just important, it’s under attack. If you believe in reporting that defends the voiceless and challenges the powerful, we need your support. Support Us on Patreon Mnar Adley is an award-winning journalist and editor and is the founder and director of MintPress News. She is also president and director of the non-profit media organization Behind the Headlines. Adley also co-hosts the MintCast podcast and is a producer and host of the video series Behind The Headlines. Contact Mnar at mnar@mintpressnews.com or follow her on Twitter at @mnarmuh. The post Mohammad Marandi: This War Was Supposed to Break Iran. It’s Breaking Israel Instead appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Behind The Headlines, Foreign Affairs, Top Story, Gaza, Iran, Israel, Middle East conflict, MintCast, Seyed Mohammad Marandi, Tehran bombing, Trump Iran policy, U.S. war, zionism]

— Israel’s War with Iran Isn’t America’s Fight—And Voters Know It

 

at 6/16/25 10:37am

When Israel launched a surprise military strike on Iran last week, it did more than risk igniting a catastrophic regional war. It also exposed long-simmering tensions in Washington—between entrenched bipartisan, pro-Israel hawks and a growing current of lawmakers (and voters) unwilling to be dragged into another Middle East disaster. “This is not our war,” declared Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), one of the House’s most consistent antiwar voices. “Israel doesn’t need U.S. taxpayers’ money for defense if it already has enough to start offensive wars. I vote not to fund this war of aggression.” On social media, he polled followers on whether the U.S. should give Israel weapons to attack Iran. After 126,000 votes (and 2.5 million views), the answer was unequivocal: 85% said no. Final results of poll: pic.twitter.com/CpnrSLfIul — Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) June 14, 2025 For decades, questioning U.S. support for Israel has been a third rail in Congress. But Israel’s unprovoked attack on Iran—coming just as the sixth round of sensitive U.S.-Iran nuclear talks were set to take place in Oman—sparked rare and unusually direct criticism from across the political spectrum. Progressive members, already furious over Israel’s war on Gaza, were quick to condemn the new offensive. But they weren’t alone. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) called Israel’s strike “reckless” and “escalatory,” and warned that Prime Minister Netanyahu is trying to drag the U.S. into a broader war. Rep. Chuy García (D-IL) called Israel’s actions “diplomatic sabotage” and said, “the U.S. must stop supplying offensive weapons to Israel, which also continue to be used against Gaza, & urgently recommit to negotiations.” Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) was even more blunt. “The war criminal Netanyahu wants to ignite an endless regional war & drag the U.S. into it. Any politician who tries to help him betrays us all.” Netanyahu’s strikes on Iran are acts of diplomatic sabotage that risk escalation, endangering civilians in both countries & across the region. The US must stop supplying offensive weapons to Israel, which also continue to be used against Gaza, & urgently recommit to… — Congressman Chuy García (@RepChuyGarcia) June 13, 2025 More striking, however, were the critiques from moderate Democrats and some Republicans. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), a longtime advocate for requiring congressional approval before the U.S. gets involved in new wars, blasted Israel for jeopardizing planned U.S.-Iran diplomacy. “The American people have no interest in another forever war,” he wrote. Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, warned that strikes “threaten not only the lives of innocent civilians but the stability of the entire Middle East and the safety of American citizens and forces.” Some pro-Israel Democrats are feeling comfortable speaking out on this conflict because it fits their anti-Trump critique. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) said: We are at this crisis today because President Trump foolishly walked away from President Obama’s Iran nuclear agreement under which Iran had agreed to dismantle much of its nuclear program and to open its facilities to international inspections, putting more eyes on the ground. The United States should now lead the international community towards a diplomatic solution to avoid a wider war.” Adding to this diverse chorus of opposition are some Republicans from the party’s non-interventionist wing. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) declared, “War with Iran is not in America’s interest. It would destabilize the region, cost countless lives, and drain our resources for generations.” Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) lamented that “some members of Congress and U.S. Senators seem giddy about the prospects of a bigger war.” War with Iran is not in America’s interest. It would destabilize the region, cost countless lives, and drain our resources for generations. We should pursue diplomacy, not destruction. Engaging in dialogue with adversaries is not weakness; it’s the strength of a confident nation… — Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) June 13, 2025 And in a rare show of agreement with progressive critics, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) blasted the hawks in both parties. “We’ve been told for the past 20 years that Iran is on the verge of developing a nuclear bomb any day now. The same story. Everyone I know is tired of U.S. intervention and regime change in foreign countries. Everyone I know wants us to fix our own problems here at home, not bomb other countries.” Of course, many in Congress rushed to support Israel. Senate Republican leader John Thune said, “Israel has determined that it must take decisive action to defend the Israeli people.” Democratic Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) voiced full support for the strike and urged the U.S. to provide Israel “whatever is necessary—military, intelligence, weaponry.” Our commitment to Israel must be absolute and I fully support this attack. Keep wiping out Iranian leadership and the nuclear personnel. We must provide whatever is necessary—military, intelligence, weaponry—to fully back Israel in striking Iran. https://t.co/3lm1YD6dVr — U.S. Senator John Fetterman (@SenFettermanPA) June 13, 2025 The most crass was Senator Lindsey Graham, who posted: Game on. Pray for Israel.” But these crude pro-war responses, once guaranteed to go unchallenged, are now being met with resistance–and not just from activists. With public opinion shifting sharply–especially among younger voters, progressives, and “America First-ers” the political calculus on unconditional support for Israel is changing. In the wake of Israel’s disastrous war in Gaza and its widening regional provocations, members of Congress are being forced to choose: follow the AIPAC money and the old playbook–or listen to their constituents. If the American people continue to raise their voices, the tide in Washington could turn away from support for a war with Iran that could plunge the region into deeper chaos while offering no relief for the suffering people of Gaza. We could finally see an end to decades of disastrous unconditional support for Israel and knee-jerk support for catastrophic wars. Feature photo | Israelis gather next to a direct hit site following an Iranian missile strike against Israel, June 16th 2025. Matan Golan | AP Medea Benjamin is co-founder of Global Exchange and CODEPINK: Women for Peace. She is the co-author, with Nicolas J.S. Davies, of War in Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict, available from OR Books in November 2022. Other books include, Inside Iran: The Real History and Politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran (2018); Kingdom of the Unjust: Behind the U.S.-Saudi Connection (2016); Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control (2013); Dont Be Afraid Gringo: A Honduran Woman Speaks from the Heart (1989), and (with Jodie Evans) Stop the Next War Now (2005). The post Israel’s War with Iran Isn’t America’s Fight—And Voters Know It appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Foreign Affairs, Opinion & Analysis, AIPAC, antiwar movement, Gaza, Iran, Israel, Middle East war, Netanyahu, Thomas Massie, U.S. Congress, U.S. foreign policy]

— As FIFA Preps for 2025 Club World Cup, Fans Demand Israel Be Shown the Red Card

 

at 6/13/25 8:40am

As FIFA finalizes preparations for the expanded Club World Cup in the United States, football fans across the globe are demanding that Israel be shown the red card—just as Russia was barred following its invasion of Ukraine. From Glasgow to Cape Town, stadiums are echoing with calls to ban Israel over its war on Gaza—especially now, as Israels latest strikes on Iran threaten to ignite a wider regional war. Stadiums from Scotland to South Africa have echoed with chants accusing Israel of genocide, apartheid, and war crimes. And with Israeli warplanes continuing to devastate Gaza — killing hundreds of Palestinian athletes and destroying stadiums — the international movement to isolate Israel through sport has never been louder. FIFA banned Russia within days. But after 18 months of genocide in Gaza, Israel still enjoys full privileges, said Maree Shepherd of the campaign Show Israeli Genocide the Red Card in April. Fans everywhere are saying: enough. The Green Brigade, a group of soccer fans supporting the Scottish Celtic soccer team, renewed calls to suspend Israel during a Celtic and Bayern Munich Champions League match on February 12, 2025. During the match, fans unfurled a banner reading, Show Israel the red card. Last night, Celtic fans showed Israel the red card, the Green Brigade said in a press release. This was a direct message to UEFA  [Union of European Football Associations] and FIFA [International Federation of Association Football] to apply their respective statutes and suspend Israel from competition. Since then, the protest has made waves across the world, with similar demonstrations in 30 countries so far, including Australia, Italy, Spain, Greece, Belgium, Ireland, Malaysia, Tunisia, Brazil, and Chile. If Israel representatives, whether thats football teams or [other] sports, have free rein to go around the world and compete and represent Israel, then that just normalizes apartheid and genocide, Maree Shepherd from the movement Show Israeli Genocide the Red Card told MintPress News. And we want to put a stop to that. Celtic fans show a “Show Israel the red card” banner, Feb. 12, 2025. Sven Hoppe | AP   A longstanding issue Calls to ban Israel from international sports arent new. The Red Card Israel movement started in South Africa in December 2023, urging FIFA to suspend Israel. The Show Israeli Genocide the Red Card movement launched in May 2024 and has advocated for boycotting Israel not only from sports but also culturally, such as canceling events for musicians in support of Israel. In December 2024, Puma ended its sponsorship of the Israel Football Association (IFA), the governing body of football in Israel and a member of FIFA, following a five-year-long campaign led by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. All the governments and the sports bodies, they all support Israel, Shepherd said. So we believe in people power and one of the ways that people have power is through fans of football and culture, and from withdrawing their support for certain teams. The Red Card movement stretches beyond a decade, sweeping Europe in 2013 with calls to boycott Israel during the UEFA championship. During this time, Ahed and Mohammed Tamimi, who both gained international recognition for standing up to Israeli soldiers in 2017, began waving red cards at demonstrations against Israeli occupation. Palestinians have protested Israels @FIFAcom membership for years. Here are freedom fighters Ahed and Mohammed Tamimi showing Israel the red card in 2013 & 2015. Both famously stood up to IOF after their cousin was shot in head and other brother arrested in 2017. pic.twitter.com/S3lvS16ana — Scottish Sport for Palestine (@ScotSport4Pal) March 1, 2025 In March 2015, the Palestine Football Association (PFA), the governing body of football in the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt) and member of FIFA, submitted a request to FIFA to suspend the IFA from all international games over alleged violations of FIFAs statutes, explicitly accusing IFA of racial discrimination, that Israel was restricting the movement of players and equipment in and out of the oPt, and that five Israeli teams were playing on occupied territory. Currently, the IFA has six clubs located in Israeli settlements, two with registered offices in settlements, and one that plays occasional home games in a settlement. The PFA withdrew its proposal two months later, in May 2015, after Israel launched a lobbying campaign against the move and faced internal pressure to drop the suspension. However, the football association took up its case again in March 2017, submitting a motion to ban the IFA from playing in the occupied West Bank. In October of the same year, the FIFA leadership decided against sanctioning the IFA and closed the matter. Given that the final status of the West Bank territories is the concern of the competent international public law authorities, the FIFA Council agrees that FIFA, in line with the general principle established in its Statutes, must remain neutral with regard to political matters, the FIFA council said in a statement at the time. Therefore, the FIFA Council has decided to refrain from imposing any sanctions or other measures. FIFA may be reluctant to sanction the IFA because it could set a precedent for other political and human rights cases in sports governance, Dima Yousef, the PFAs spokesperson, told MintPress News. In May 2024, the PFA presented arguments to sanction the IFA again, citing violations of international law, particularly concerning Israels war on Gaza, the continued inclusion of Israeli teams based in settlements, and the IFAs failure to address racial discrimination. FIFA deferred issuing a ruling on the ban until May 2025, having already postponed its decision three times — first in July, then in August, and again in October 2024. This is classic FIFA, Nick McGeehan, director of FairSquare, a non-profit that submitted research findings to FIFA in support of an IFA suspension, told MintPress News of the organizations decision-making. Theyll never actually say anything, and theyll just draw an issue out for as long as possible in the hope that people forget about it. Instead of granting a decision, FIFAs leadership tasked its Disciplinary Committee with investigating the PFAs allegations and ordered its Governance, Audit, and Compliance Committee to probe the matter and advise the council regarding Israeli teams playing in settlements. FIFA referred the legal case to its judicial bodies, creating a lengthy process rather than taking immediate action, Yousef said. This bureaucratic stalling tactic allows FIFA to avoid making a politically sensitive decision in the short term. Dr. Katarina Pijetlovic, a sports lawyer, noted on X that FIFAs continued deference makes it complicit in Israeli crimes. FIFA allowed Israel FA to continue using the Palestinian territory (West Bank & East J.) as their own territory, and to use football under its umbrella as an instrument of colonial expansion, Pijetlovic wrote. FIFA contributes to human rights abuses & facilitates illegal occupation and colonialism.   Palestinian sports under attack Since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed more than 700 Palestinian athletes in the besieged Gaza Strip, including 95 children, throughout its 18-month-long assault, as of April 2025, on the enclave, according to the Palestinian Sports Media Association (PSMA). The number of martyred Palestinian athletes continues to rise, with entire teams wiped out, and others injured or missing, unable to play again due to the permanent damage caused by airstrikes and sniper attacks, Yousef said. According to the PSMA, Israeli rocket fire has wholly or partially destroyed more than 270 sports facilities in Gaza, including the historic Al-Yarmouk Stadium, which Israeli forces turned into a detention and interrogation camp for Palestinians in Gaza. Some smaller facilities are now serving as field hospitals or mass graves. Several stadiums, which once hosted major sporting events, are now being used as camps for displaced Palestinians who have lost their homes due to relentless bombardment, Yousef said. Palestinian amputees, many deliberately shot in the legs by Israeli troops, play a soccer match while using their crutches in Gaza, Aug. 16, 2023. Adel Hana | AP Israeli attacks arent limited to Gaza or the current assault on the besieged enclave. For instance, the Palestinian Amputee Football Association was established in Gaza in 2018 after many Gazan athletes lost limbs due to Israeli bombardment or sniper fire at the Great March of Return, demonstrations held at the border with Israel in 2018-2019 demanding Palestinian refugees right of return. The majority of Palestinians in Gaza are refugees or descendants of the 1947-1948 Zionist expulsion campaign of Palestinians (known as the Nakba or catastrophe in Arabic) prior to and after the creation of the Israeli state in May 1948. Most of Gazas refugee population originates from villages within an 18-25 mile radius of the Strip. In the West Bank, Israel, too, has killed Palestinian athletes and destroyed stadiums over the last year. More broadly, Israeli authorities regularly restrict the movement of athletes for matches within the West Bank, to and from Gaza, and outside Palestine through checkpoints and the denial of permits. The targeting is not exclusive to Gaza; we have documented several invasions of stadiums in Palestinian territories, such as Al Thahereyyah, Sinjil, and the partial destruction of Jenin Stadium in the West Bank, Yousef said. According to Mondoweiss, since October 7, 2023, Israel has killed 12 players in the West Bank and arrested 17, while at least 21 stadiums in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem are now no longer operational. Israel has killed a generation of footballers who might have played for our national team, Muhammad Rashid, the Palestine national team captain, told Mondoweiss. In the last year, Israeli forces have repeatedly raided refugee camps in Jenin, Tulkarem, Tubas, and Qabatiya — where many star Palestinian soccer players are from. Israels recent attacks on Palestinian sports infrastructure and athletes in the West Bank and Gaza have been described as sporticide.   Double standards Within days of Russias invasion of Ukraine, UEFA and FIFA kicked Russia out, not on the grounds of morality but instead because Poland, Sweden, and the Czech Republic refused to play Russia. There was this clamor for action against Russia, McGeehan said. FIFA did say, [youre] out,…but it was based on forced measure [since] nobody will play Russia. It was clearly a decision that was motivated by the political will of powerful Western states, McGeehan added. FIFAs hypocrisy on Israel is glaring. In 1961, the organization banned South Africa for 30 years over its apartheid regime. Both FIFA and UEFA banned Yugoslavia from playing in the 1992 European Cup and the 1994 World Cup after the UN sanctioned it over the governments aggression in the Balkans. Yet with Israeli officials, including the current prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, wanted for arrest by the International Criminal Court, and even the UN demanding FIFA respect international law following the International Court of Justices 2024 ruling deeming Israels occupation of Palestinian territory illegal, FIFA hasnt taken action. FIFA banned Russia within a couple of days of them attacking Ukraine, Shepherd said. There have been decades of this apartheid and 18 months of genocide, and yet Israelis are still free to do what they want around the world and have this platform. While the Red Card movement aims to get Israel suspended like Russia, McGeehan is skeptical that this goal can be achieved. What youre seeing are certain groups of supporters — politically engaged supporters — taking issue. FIFA tends not to respond to stuff like that. Theyre not that bothered about what supporters say, McGeehan said. Despite Iceland expressing concerns over playing Israel ahead of last years European Qualifiers for the UEFA Championship, the team ultimately faced off against Israel. Compared to Russia, European soccer teams appear less adamant in their opposition to Israel. This lack of conviction may be what keeps Israel playing regardless of the growing success of the Red Card movement. The political pressure that was placed on Russia has never been applied by states to the same extent on Israel, McGeehan said. The political pressure that comes from states not to do anything that would then be seen as overly challenging to Israel is the prevailing force. Truth Has Enemies. We Have You. For over a decade, MintPress News has been at the forefront of exposing Israeli apartheid, occupation, and war crimes—when few dared to. Weve been censored, smeared, and blacklisted for telling the truth. But we haven’t stopped. Independent journalism like this isn’t just important, it’s under attack. If you believe in reporting that defends the voiceless and challenges the powerful, we need your support. Support Us on Patreon Feature photo | A woman holds a symbolic red card against Israel before the World Cup Group G qualifying soccer match between Spain and Israel at El Molinon Stadium, northern Spain. Alvaro Barrientos | AP Jessica Buxbaum is a Jerusalem-based journalist for MintPress News covering Palestine, Israel, and Syria. Her work has been featured in Middle East Eye, The New Arab and Gulf News. The post As FIFA Preps for 2025 Club World Cup, Fans Demand Israel Be Shown the Red Card appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Foreign Affairs, Investigations, News, Top Story, Club World Cup 2025, Fan activism, FIFA Red Card, Football protest, Global football, Human rights in sport, International boycott, Sports dissent, Team suspension, UEFA protest]

— Free Speech Ends Here: What I Saw During the LAPD Crackdown

 

at 6/12/25 6:05am

Editors note | The following is a firsthand account from independent journalist Jalyssa Dugrot, who was present at the June 2025 protests in Los Angeles against Immigration and Customs Enforcement. While MintPress News focuses mostly on investigative reporting, we are publishing this personal narrative to document the intensifying criminalization of protest and press freedoms in the United States. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of MintPress News. On the morning of June 10, 2025, I made the decision to travel to Los Angeles to cover the underreported protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). By night, I was already en route to the airport. For days, the world watched as California burned. Cars set ablaze, crowds being flash-banged, rubber bullets flying, smoke in the air as protesters and reporters run for cover, gasping for air and hurrying to put their masks on. The scenes on the ground gripped us all. Just as striking were the headlines: “RIOTERS BURN LA,” “VIOLENT PROTESTERS IN LA,” and it made me wonder, when did free speech become synonymous with violence? When did chanting start justifying tear gas and rubber bullets? I was intent on finding out. I arrived in Los Angeles at 10 a.m. and headed straight to Little Tokyo, where I’d be staying. I dropped my things, grabbed the essentials—a mask, phone charger, battery pack, mics, wallet—and headed out the door. Walking the streets of L.A. felt dystopian. Beautiful buildings stood beside walls covered in graffiti—not as mindless vandalism, but as markers of grief, defiance, and survival. Messages left behind by people trying to be heard. As I approached South Alameda Street, I saw LAPD cruisers blocking one side of the road. Officers stood in clusters, eyes fixed down the block. I kept walking. In the distance, voices echoed through megaphones, chants growing louder with every step. I was there. Photos from LA as I cover the protests against ICE pic.twitter.com/0mv52XGrdY — Jalyssa Dugrot (@jalyssaspeaking) June 11, 2025 Roughly 80 to 100 protesters had gathered in front of the VA center. Behind them, lined along the building, stood the California National Guard and LAPD—silent. Further back, three Humvees were parked facing the crowd, a quiet reminder of the force in reserve. Music from a speaker played in the background as people from all walks of life shared their stories with me—many of them emphasizing how immigrants shape California’s culture, workforce, and economy. One protester told me, “We rely on immigrants to grow our food and bring our favorite meals to our tables. Their music, their businesses—theyre in every part of L.A.” I met a pastor from the Crescenta Valley United Methodist Church who said he was there answering Jesus’ call to care for the most vulnerable. I also spoke with a 10-year Air Force veteran, deployed shortly after 9/11. He told me he was speaking out for the veterans America has forgotten, and for the families torn apart by detention and deportation. As a gay man who served under “don’t ask, don’t tell,” he shared how, for years, he wasn’t allowed to speak his truth—and came to realize he was serving a country that demanded his silence. It became clear that these people, at their core, were fighting for dignity and justice in the face of a system trying to silence or erase them—immigrants or not. Soon after, LAPD mobilized on the other side of South Alameda Street. We were boxed in. Protesters grew louder but never turned violent. LAPD ordered them to disperse—something I found particularly interesting. Surrounded, including the media, where were we supposed to go? Over the next 30 minutes, police began moving. We were being kettled—what one protester described as a tactic where officers surround and trap demonstrators to control their movement. Smart. LAPD surged forward in intervals, advancing in short bursts, a few feet at a time. Before we knew it, protesters and media alike were being slowly pushed back. On both ends of South Alameda Street, officers closed in. Behind them, the California National Guard loomed. The protesters stayed calm, reminding each other not to throw anything, not to fight back, not to escalate. I remember one protester yelling at the police: “You have guns! We don’t!” Then LAPD opened fire. Pepper bombs flew, rubber bullets bounced off pavement and hit people. Panic set in. The crowd scattered. “They’re going to open fire!” someone shouted—seconds later, they did. As I ran, all I could think was: How did we get here? Why are they shooting? With @MintPressNews LA Sherrifs open fire on protestors. In the distance, a flash bang goes off. pic.twitter.com/Zb75VWeCXx — Jalyssa Dugrot (@jalyssaspeaking) June 12, 2025 The protesters never turned violent. Nothing was thrown. No one fought back. They were exercising their First Amendment rights—freedom of speech and the right to peaceably assemble. Is screaming violence? Is chanting violence? Is free speech violence? When did free speech become synonymous with violence? LAPD announced that we were being detained and arrested for not leaving the vicinity when ordered to do so. We had been kettled—trapped—and everyone sat down, including the press. Officers told us we’d be cuffed and taken to jail, where a detective would determine whether we’d been at the protest “lawfully.” “Stand up. Go face the wall,” an officer told me. I complied. They cuffed me, asked for my name, phone number, and address. Then they took everything—my phone, my wallet, all of it—confiscated and sealed in a bag. Before my flight, I had disabled facial recognition and enabled a wipe-if-locked setting, just in case. I knew I’d be fine if they tried to access my phone. Others, I feared, wouldn’t be so lucky. LAPD arrested all protesters, everyone in media, and all journalists—including myself. I was released a little bit ago. pic.twitter.com/ZYZCDaUYC6 — Jalyssa Dugrot (@jalyssaspeaking) June 10, 2025 Dozens of us stood cuffed against the wall of the VA center, facing forward, silent, being patted down. In my peripheral vision, I saw two buses pull up. We were going to jail. I told one officer I was a journalist. I was pulled aside. A senior officer asked, “So you’re a journalist? Can you show me some of your work that proves it?” A strange question. As if the right to document, to speak, to witness—had to be earned. It made me wonder: What separates free press from free speech? What makes my work more verifiable than the activists beside me? If I had been behind the camera chanting, instead of reporting in front of it, would that have stripped me of protection? Would it have made my rights easier to ignore? This blurring of lines between peaceful protest and criminal behavior is exactly what a police state feeds on—where the act of speaking out, of gathering, of being seen, is met with force. The only conclusion I could draw from my first day in Los Angeles was this: It’s not about public safety. It’s about silencing dissent. Feature photo | An LAPD officer escorts a protester during mass arrests at an anti-ICE demonstration in Los Angeles, June 10, 2025. Marcio Jose Sanchez | AP Jalyssa Dugrot is an independent journalist based in Tampa, Florida, covering Middle East conflicts, U.S. domestic politics, and the impact of Western intervention and media distortion. Follow her on Instagram: @JalyssaDugrot and  X: @Jalyssaspeaking. The post Free Speech Ends Here: What I Saw During the LAPD Crackdown appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: National, Opinion & Analysis, civil liberties, first amendment rights, ICE protests, kettling, LAPD protest crackdown, Los Angeles protests, police repression, police violence, press freedom, tear gas]

— Starving Gaza into Submission: Chris Hedges on the Final Chapter of Genocide

 

at 6/11/25 8:05am

Originally published at ScheerPost on May 27, 2025. Republished with permission. This is the end. The final blood-soaked chapter of the genocide. It will be over soon. Weeks. At most. Two million people are camped out amongst the rubble or in the open air. Dozens are killed and wounded daily from Israeli shells, missiles, drones, bombs and bullets. They lack clean water, medicine and food. They have reached a point of collapse. Sick. Injured. Terrified. Humiliated. Abandoned. Destitute. Starving. Hopeless. In the last pages of this horror story, Israel is sadistically baiting starving Palestinians with promises of food, luring them to the narrow and congested nine-mile ribbon of land that borders Egypt. Israel and its cynically named Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), allegedly funded by Israel’s Ministry of Defense and the Mossad, is weaponizing starvation. It is enticing Palestinians to southern Gaza the way the Nazis enticed starving Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto to board trains to the death camps. The goal is not to feed the Palestinians. No one seriously argues there is enough food or aid hubs. The goal is to cram Palestinians into heavily guarded compounds and deport them. What comes next? I long ago stopped trying to predict the future. Fate has a way of surprising us. But there will be a final humanitarian explosion in Gaza’s human slaughterhouse. We see it with the surging crowds of Palestinians fighting to get a food parcel, which has resulted in Israeli and U.S. private contractors shooting dead at least 130 and wounding over seven hundred others in the first eight days of aid distribution. We see it with Benjamin Netanyahu’s arming ISIS-linked gangs in Gaza that loot food supplies. Israel, which has eliminated hundreds of employees with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), doctors, journalists, civil servants and police in targeted assassinations, has orchestrated the implosion of civil society. I suspect Israel will facilitate a breach in the fence along the Egyptian border. Desperate Palestinians will stampede into the Egyptian Sinai. Maybe it will end some other way. But it will end soon. There is not much more Palestinians can take. We — full participants in this genocide — will have achieved our demented goal of emptying Gaza and expanding Greater Israel. We will bring down the curtain on the live-streamed genocide. We will have mocked the ubiquitous university programs of Holocaust studies, designed, it turns out, not to equip us to end genocides, but deify Israel as an eternal victim licensed to carry out mass slaughter. The mantra of never again is a joke. The understanding that when we have the capacity to halt genocide and we do not, we are culpable, does not apply to us. Genocide is public policy. Endorsed and sustained by our two ruling parties. There is nothing left to say. Maybe that is the point. To render us speechless. Who does not feel paralyzed? And maybe, that too, is the point. To paralyze us. Who is not traumatized? And maybe that too was planned. Nothing we do, it seems, can halt the killing. We feel defenseless. We feel helpless. Genocide as spectacle. I have stopped looking at the images. The rows of little shrouded bodies. The decapitated men and women. Families burned alive in their tents. The children who have lost limbs or are paralyzed. The chalky death masks of those pulled from under the rubble. The wails of grief. The emaciated faces. I can’t. This genocide will haunt us. It will echo down history with the force of a tsunami. It will divide us forever. There is no going back. And how will we remember? By not remembering. Once it is over, all those who supported it, all those who ignored it, all those who did nothing, will rewrite history, including their personal history. It was hard to find anyone who admitted to being a Nazi in post-war Germany, or a member of the Klu Klux Klan once segregation in the southern United States ended. A nation of innocents. Victims even. It will be the same. We like to think we would have saved Anne Frank. The truth is different. The truth is, crippled by fear, nearly all of us will only save ourselves, even at the expense of others. But that is a truth that is hard to face. That is the real lesson of the Holocaust. Better it be erased. In his book “One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This,” Omar El Akkad writes: Should a drone vaporize some nameless soul on the other side of the planet, who among us wants to make a fuss? What if it turns out they were a terrorist? What if the default accusation proves true, and we by implication be labeled terrorist sympathizers, ostracized, yelled at? It is generally the case that people are most zealously motivated by the worst plausible thing that could happen to them. For some, the worst plausible thing might be the ending of their bloodline in a missile strike. Their entire lives turned to rubble and all of it preemptively justified in the name of fighting terrorists who are terrorists by default on account of having been killed. For others, the worst plausible thing is being yelled at. You can see my interview with El Akkad here. You cannot decimate a people, carry out saturation bombing over 20 months to obliterate their homes, villages and cities, massacre tens of thousands of innocent people, set up a siege to ensure mass starvation, drive them from land where they have lived for centuries and not expect blowback. The genocide will end. The response to the reign of state terror will begin. If you think it won’t you know nothing about human nature or history. The killing of two Israeli diplomats in Washington and the attack against supporters of Israel at a protest in Boulder, Colorado, are only the start. Chaim Engel, who took part in the uprising at the Nazis’ Sobibor death camp in Poland, described how, armed with a knife, he attacked a guard in the camp. “It’s not a decision,” Engel explained years later. “You just react, instinctively you react to that, and I figured, ‘Let us to do, and go and do it.’ And I went. I went with the man in the office and we killed this German. With every jab, I said, ‘That is for my father, for my mother, for all these people, all the Jews you killed.’” Does anyone expect Palestinians to act differently? How are they to react when Europe and the United States, who hold themselves up as the vanguards of civilization, backed a genocide that butchered their parents, their children, their communities, occupied their land and blasted their cities and homes into rubble? How can they not hate those who did this to them? What message has this genocide imparted not only to Palestinians, but to all in the Global South? It is unequivocal. You do not matter. Humanitarian law does not apply to you. We do not care about your suffering, the murder of your children. You are vermin. You are worthless. You deserve to be killed, starved and dispossessed. You should be erased from the face of the earth. “To preserve the values of the civilized world, it is necessary to set fire to a library,” El Akkad writes: To blow up a mosque. To incinerate olive trees. To dress up in the lingerie of women who fled and then take pictures. To level universities. To loot jewelry, art, food. Banks. To arrest children for picking vegetables. To shoot children for throwing stones. To parade the captured in their underwear. To break a man’s teeth and shove a toilet brush in his mouth. To let combat dogs loose on a man with Down syndrome and then leave him to die. Otherwise, the uncivilized world might win. There are people I have known for years who I will never speak to again. They know what is happening. Who does not know? They will not risk alienating their colleagues, being smeared as an antisemite, jeopardizing their status, being reprimanded or losing their jobs. They do not risk death, the way Palestinians do. They risk tarnishing the pathetic monuments of status and wealth they spent their lives constructing. Idols. They bow down before these idols. They worship these idols. They are enslaved by them. At the feet of these idols lie tens of thousands of murdered Palestinians. Feature photo | The Last Piece | Artwork by Mr. Fish Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist who was a foreign correspondent for fifteen years for The New York Times, where he served as the Middle East Bureau Chief and Balkan Bureau Chief for the paper. He previously worked overseas for The Dallas Morning News, The Christian Science Monitor, and NPR. He is the host of show The Chris Hedges Report. The post Starving Gaza into Submission: Chris Hedges on the Final Chapter of Genocide appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Foreign Affairs, Opinion & Analysis, Top Story, Chris Hedges, ethnic cleansing, forced displacement, Gaza Genocide, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, global south resistance, Israel war crimes, Mossad, starvation as weapon, UNRWA]

— “Israel Is the Rabid Dog of American Empire”: Gaza War Surgeon Exposes the Truth

 

at 6/10/25 11:41am

On this week’s edition of “MintCast,” host Mnar Adley speaks with Dr. Mohammed Tahir about his time working in hospitals in Gaza, Greta Thunberg’s “Freedom Flotilla,” Iraq’s unwavering support for Palestine, and the urgent need for unity in the Islamic world. Dr. Tahir is a British-Iraqi surgeon specializing in trauma, orthopedics, and peripheral nerve care. Between 2024 and 2025, he spent more than six months working in some of the busiest hospitals in Gaza. “They were very dark days,” he said of his time there. Tahir talks about being constantly sleep-deprived and waking up every day to immediately start operating on an endless backlog of patients. There, he told Adley, he and his colleagues would have to deal with a “sea of mangled people. Women, children, burned, dismembered, disemboweled. I saw beheaded people as well.” So constant was the assault that he rarely left the hospital during his many months in the densely populated strip. During his time there, he was able to see the true nature of the Zionist project firsthand. The experience, he said, bound him closer to his colleagues: You are united by this evil that you face. The Israelis are trying to extinguish life and you and your colleagues are trying to restore it.” While Tahir was shocked and appalled by what he witnessed, the silver lining, he said, was that the world is beginning to wake up to the true nature of Israel, a state that he called “the rabid dog of American imperialism.” “The tide is changing,” he said, adding: We have to believe it. It is only a matter of time. This genocide has unveiled the true and ugly face of Israel that you and I have known all along. But many people have been unaware of, or just not informed on. They are now. Israel cannot undo this.” Tahir is currently in Iraq, a nation famous for its support for Palestine. Everywhere he goes, he says, he is respected and admired for what he did in Gaza. “Iraqi citizens are not allowed to go on medical missions. If they were, believe me, they would have flooded the area, because we love Gaza, we stand by Gaza and Palestine, and we will do so until our last drop of blood,” he told Adley. Don’t miss this informative and poignant episode. Truth Has Enemies. We Have You. For over a decade, MintPress News has been at the forefront of exposing Israeli apartheid, occupation, and war crimes—when few dared to. Weve been censored, smeared, and blacklisted for telling the truth. But we haven’t stopped. Independent journalism like this isn’t just important, it’s under attack. If you believe in reporting that defends the voiceless and challenges the powerful, we need your support. Support Us on Patreon Mnar Adley is an award-winning journalist and editor and is the founder and director of MintPress News. She is also president and director of the non-profit media organization Behind the Headlines. Adley also co-hosts the MintCast podcast and is a producer and host of the video series Behind The Headlines. Contact Mnar at mnar@mintpressnews.com or follow her on Twitter at @mnarmuh. The post Israel Is the Rabid Dog of American Empire”: Gaza War Surgeon Exposes the Truth appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Behind The Headlines, Foreign Affairs, News, Top Story, American imperialism, Dr. Mohammed Tahir, Freedom Flotilla, Gaza, Israel war crimes, MintCast, Mnar Adley, Palestine, trauma surgeon, zionism]

— Kneecap vs. the Israel Lobby: How a Rebel Band Shook Britain

 

at 6/10/25 9:42am

A Belfast rap group with no record deal, no security detail, and no filter is now the target of British counter-terror police, tabloid smear campaigns, and the full force of the Israeli lobby. Their crime? Saying Free Palestine too loudly. Over recent months, Irish rap trio Kneecap has been embroiled in a series of public controversies. In late April, the band was placed under official investigation by British counter-terror police, over a comment made by one of its members at a November 2023 concert—“The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.” A month later, another was formally charged for displaying the flag of Hezbollah, a proscribed terror organization under British law, at a London gig. These developments have led to a welter of cancellations of Kneecap concerts and condemnation from mainstream sources. Yet, fans have forcefully rallied behind the group, and subsequent publicity has introduced the band to new audiences the world over, who are highly receptive to Kneecap’s outspoken, unrepentant anti-Zionism and infectious tunes. Furthermore, the band remains scheduled to perform at Glastonbury Festival in late June, a major British cultural institution, despite calls from parliamentarians to ban them from appearing. Pressure has been brought to bear on the BBC not to feature Kneecap’s performance in its regular broadcast of the festival, which reaches tens of millions of people globally every year. The state broadcaster has so far stood firm. But there are palpable indications the Israeli lobby is undeterred, and has activated pro-Israel actors in Britain to torpedo the group, if not others, in the process. The stakes are high for Tel Aviv—Kneecap’s loud and proud Palestine solidarity represents an international public relations nightmare. On June 2, Irish garage punk band Sprints revealed via Instagram that their management had been contacted by a reporter from The Daily Mail, asking if they intended to play at Glastonbury if Kneecap were “banned from the festival.” The reporter added: It would be really useful if you could clarify your views on Kneecap and how you feel about them performing at Glastonbury later this month. Do you feel comfortable sharing a platform with them? Will you protest if Glastonbury prevents the band from performing? Do you have any free speech concerns if they are banned, or safety concerns if they perform? It would be really helpful if you could respond with your thoughts by [June 5].” Accompanying commentary from Sprints stated, “Daily Mail rats trying to drum up support to ban [Kneecap] from Glastonbury. Kneecap are not the story, the genocide in Palestine is the story. Let us be unequivocally clear, we will forever be comfortable sharing the stage with people who use their platform for good and to speak up for those who can’t. Free Palestine.” The Daily Mail reporter in question was Sabrina Miller. A product of various Israeli lobby Hasbara training programs since high school, over the past five years, she—first as a student, then as an award-winning mainstream journalist—has racked up a lengthy, unpardonable record of targeting public figures in Britain for personal and professional destruction. While accusing Israel’s critics of antisemitism, Miller has also sought to foment anti-Muslim animus. Now, it appears she and the vast lobbying infrastructure behind her have focused their efforts decisively on Kneecap.   Sabrina Miller: Zionist Operative Behind Media Smears In September 2018, Dr. David Miller was appointed Professor of Political Sociology at the University of Bristol. He was dismissed from his position for purported gross professional misconduct three years later. In the intervening time, the highly respected academic spent his time teaching classes on Zionist propaganda and how the international Israeli lobby perpetuates Islamophobic hate to whitewash its erasure of Palestinians, while battling a coordinated campaign by pro-Israel groups intended to remove him from his position. After complaints to the University about Dr. Miller lodged by Israeli lobby groups failed, as Bristol does not allow external individuals or organizations to file grievances, a trio of students set about finishing the job. Sabrina Miller was foremost among them. During her final years of high school, she was awarded a fellowship with the United Jewish Israel Appeal, under its elite Israel Fast Track Program. UJIA’s stated aim is to create a “lifetime of connection” between British Jews and Israel, from primary school onwards. The Appeal pushes initiatives seeking to make “Israel inspiring, relevant and accessible to young people,” while encouraging young Jews to “explore” Zionism and “experience the wonders and challenges of the Jewish state.” Under its Fast Track Program, 20 British students aged 16–18 spend three months going “deeper into [their] understanding of Israel than ever before.” They are “challenged to develop their own Zionist narrative,” thus making them “empowered to be leaders in the Israel conversation in the community, online and on campus.” Along the way, pupils such as Miller are granted access to “Israeli politicians, activists, journalists and thought leaders.” In March 2019, as her first year at Bristol University neared its end, Miller was nominated for the Union of Jewish Students’ “Emerging Student Leader of the Year” award. UJS is an Israeli lobby group “inspiring Jewish students” to make “an enduring commitment” to Israel. A 2017 Al Jazeera investigation revealed that the Israeli embassy in London funds the organization. When her second year at Bristol began, Miller wrote an article headlined “Being a Zionist on Campus.” She discussed how before starting university, “I thought everyone…hated Israel.” However, she quickly learned “how wrong I was,” and had grown to “love having conversations about Israel, constantly,” in the context of student politics just as her UJIA Israel Fast Track Fellowship would have trained her to do. In May the next year, Miller joined British student newspaper The Tab.   Israels Student Network Takes Down a Professor That October, she began abusing this position to target Dr. David Miller. In a series of articles, starkly contrasting with her prior account of harmonious student life at Bristol, Miller claimed the Professor’s presence had ruined her entire university experience, while his teaching made Jewish students more generally feel “uncomfortable and unwelcome.” One piece ended with an impassioned plea to “get David Miller off of my campus.” She launched a similarly titled petition in February 2021. Miller subsequently told much the same, albeit bogus, story in op-eds for The Daily Telegraph, The Jewish Chronicle, and The Times of Israel. A false firestorm over Dr. Miller’s position successfully stoked, mainstream attacks on the academic and his employer, including from prominent politicians, and Israeli lobby groups, became an almost daily occurrence, with Bristol widely accused of exposing its students to a dangerous antisemite. So it was in October 2021 that the University fired Dr. Miller on vague grounds. Thereafter, the Electronic Intifada exposed how two separate internal investigations at Bristol University cleared Dr. Miller of any wrongdoing. One report, authored by a lawyer, recorded how not one of his students had raised concerns about his conduct, despite being “encouraged” to do so and offered anonymity, contrary to standard complaint procedures. It also robustly dismissed any suggestion Dr. Miller harbored antisemitic views, noting he was “at pains to distinguish between Zionism and Israel, on the one hand, and Jewish people, on the other.” Dr. Miller fought a lengthy, costly, but ultimately triumphant legal battle against Bristol University. In February 2024, an employment tribunal not only ruled that he was unfairly and wrongfully dismissed but also that “anti-Zionist” stances qualify as a “philosophical belief and a protected characteristic” under British equality laws. He tells MintPress News that Miller was “one of a number of students who organised on campus to have me fired,” and “it’s important to grasp how such individuals fit into a much wider apparatus of Zionist subversion and infiltration: Miller worked in close coordination with her flatmate Nina Freedman and Edward Isaacs, who both headed the Bristol Jewish Society at different times. Like Miller, they were handsomely rewarded for their efforts. Freedman is now a trustee of the Jewish Leadership Council, the most important Zionist lobby group in the UK, and Isaacs is now a trustee of the United Jewish Israel Appeal, the UK’s largest fundraiser for genocide in Palestine. This is a systemic question, not one of individual malfeasance.” One of Sabrina Miller’s “rewards” was to be hired by the hard-right, pro-Israel Guido Fawkes blog, which has a history of publishing flagrantly antisemitic content, before even graduating in 2021. She joined The Daily Mail two years later. Ever since, she has deployed the same remarkably effective strategy for inflicting maximum reputational damage on Zionist critics that befell Dr. Miller over and over again.   Reginald D. Hunter and the Fringe Fallout On August 11, 2024, popular comedian Reginald D. Hunter performed a set at the Edinburgh Fringe, the world’s largest performance arts festival, which sells millions of tickets annually. During, he cracked a gag about a documentary he’d recently seen about an abusive wife accusing her husband of abuse, making Hunter think, “My God, it’s like being married to Israel.” The line was met with laughter, except for a loud, negative response from a couple seated in the front row. Their outburst was very poorly received by the audience, leading to a row breaking out between the pair, who protested that October 7 was comparable to the Holocaust, among other talking points aligned with Hasbara campaigns, and Hunter’s fans. The crowd responded with boos, and chants of “Free Palestine.” Hunter chimed in, “Look at you making everyone love Israel even more!” The couple then left the auditorium to a round of applause. The next day, The Jewish Chronicle sensationally reported how an “Israeli couple” had been “hounded out” of Hunter’s show after he “[made] jokes about Jews.” Meanwhile, a one-star review of the gig in The Daily Telegraph dubbed the “audience [baying] at an Israeli couple…the ugliest Fringe moment I’ve ever witnessed,” accusing Hunter of “purveying antisemitic [tropes].” This was just the start of a wide-ranging media blitzkrieg against the comedian, which culminated on August 17. That day, Sabrina Miller proudly announced she had “tracked down and exclusively spoke to that [emphasis in original] Jewish Israeli couple who were hounded out of Reginald Hunter’s Fringe show.” In a lengthy interview, which pseudonymously referred to the pair as Shimon and Talia to protect their identities, they were said to be “still physically reeling from what happened to them.” Such was their fear “of exposing themselves to even more abuse,” they asked not to be identified by their real names. I tracked down and exclusively spoke to *that* Jewish Israeli couple who were hounded out of Reginald Hunter’s Fringe show. ‘The looks on people’s faces in the audience it was like they wanted to attack us and beat us’ the couple tell me. https://t.co/7imGftjkfI pic.twitter.com/txxhAl6hQb — Sabrina Miller (@SabriSun_Miller) August 17, 2024 “Initially they had no intention of reporting what happened to authorities or sharing their story with the world,” it was claimed, but the husband and wife made the “brave decision to speak out” in the hope “their story will give other people the courage to stand up for what is right and to fight against racism and discrimination.” They also suggested Britain was a hotbed of antisemitism, and its Jewish population “always has that mental backpack packed in case they need to flee.” Miller despaired: Even though their home country is currently a war zone, shockingly, they say it is in the UK, not the Middle East, where they feel most unsafe at the moment.” The controversy resulted in multiple venues canceling planned gigs by Hunter, and allegations of antisemitism are falsely leveled at him to this day in mainstream quarters. This is despite the “Israeli Jewish” couple quickly being revealed as Mark Lewis and Mandy Blumenthal, two prominent Zionists tied to numerous influential Israeli lobby groups in Britain. Far from publicity shy, Lewis and Blumenthal have repeatedly made headlines for accusing institutions and individuals, including former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, of antisemitism. What’s more, both have repeatedly publicly declared over the past decade that they intend to leave Britain due to local anti-Jewish sentiment, for the couple isn’t Israeli, but English. As Blumenthal wrote for the DC-based, unsubtly named Israel Forever Foundation, she and Lewis “have always lived in the UK” and “love our lives here.” Nonetheless, she professed to “no longer feel welcome in my own country,” so her family was “selling up and moving abroad.” As with past pledges, this appears to have come to nothing. Markedly, Blumenthal’s biography on the IFF website brags that she “does not hide from expressing her pro-Jewish and pro-Israel views,” and “speaks out, regularly entering the lions’ [sic] den to challenge the lies of the haters.” It added, “When not supporting Jewish students facing down relentless attacks or challenging antisemitic demonstrations, Mandy seeks to enjoy all that life has to offer.” We can only speculate whether one of those “Jewish students” was Sabrina Miller, who returned the favor by assisting the couple’s coordinated Hasbara effort.   The Campaign to Censor Kneecap Coincidentally, Kneecap has been in Miller’s sights ever since the group became subject to British counter-terror police investigation. In May, she fulminated on ‘X’ about how the group had projected a number of troublesome messages on-stage during their performance at London’s Wide Awake Festival; “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people; it is being enabled by the British government; over 60,000 people have been murdered by Israel in 12 months; Free Palestine. Kneecap projecting the following messages during their performance at the Wide Awake Festival in London this evening. pic.twitter.com/SYkALrykUc — Sabrina Miller (@SabriSun_Miller) May 23, 2025 Miller subsequently slandered a sold-out London concert Kneecap performed the night before, in which the band “brazenly mocked the police,” Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch, and the death of Margaret Thatcher, while encouraging “Free Palestine” chants. She was particularly incensed by a band member taking aim at undercover police “inside this venue tonight…making a lot of money for doing f*** all,” while linking the group’s harassment by Britain’s counter-terror directorate to London’s historic persecution of Catholics in the north of Ireland. Miller’s attempt to sabotage Kneecap’s Glastonbury appearance was the next intended stage in her campaign. Yet, in the wake of this journalist publicly exposing her track record as an Israeli operative on campus and throughout her ‘journalism’ career on ‘X’, the task appears to have been outsourced to her Daily Mail associate and fellow hardcore Zionist, Nicole Lampert. She, too, has an extensive history of leveling false charges of antisemitism and fueling fears that Britain is an unsafe space for Jews due to Palestine solidarity. Communications obtained by MintPress News indicate that hundreds of people scheduled to perform at or in some way involved with Glastonbury have received emails identical to those dispatched to Sprints from Lampert. Evidently, an extremely wide net is being cast in this fishing expedition, in the hope that at least one target bites. Were a recipient to condemn Kneecap, controversy over the group’s festival appearance could be manufactured. Were they to express solidarity with the group, the unsubstantiated narrative that the music industry is riddled with antisemites could be woven. Communications obtained by MintPress indicate hundreds of people involved with Glastonbury have received emails like this one from Lampert Lampert’s takeover of the operation to neutralize Kneecap might suggest Miller is so profoundly exposed as a Zionist propagandist at this point that there were fears she wouldn’t get away with it this time. However, the precise same blueprint she deployed against Dr. David Miller, Reginald D. Hunter, and others clearly remains in play. This is hardly surprising. It is how the Israeli lobby has, for years, silenced and suppressed Palestine solidarity globally. But can the approach work this time round? “The Israel lobby is weaponising antisemitism against Kneecap. Such fabricated allegations still have the power to cost bands with anti-imperialist politics access to the mainstream. Whether or not they succeed at Glastonbury remains to be seen,” investigative journalist Asa Winstanley tells MintPress News. “The truth is, due to the Holocaust in Gaza, Israel’s propaganda is weaker than it has ever been. The returns of the fabricated antisemitism campaign are ever more diminishing.”   Israeli Propaganda, Eurovision and the Youth Rebellion For years, Tel Aviv has attempted to influence Eurovision in its favor, conducting extensive psychological warfare operations to improve its performance in the Contest, which is regularly watched by up to 200 million people. The propaganda utility of these efforts is unambiguous. In 2024 and 2025, artificially-boosted televoting results for Israel’s entrants, which secured them fifth and second place respectively, were leaped upon by Israeli officials and their Western backers as proof that a “silent majority” of Europeans support the Israel, despite its ongoing genocide in Gaza. As such, the Israeli lobby is well-aware of the enormous narrative threat posed by Kneecap’s Glastonbury appearance, and isn’t going to give up its crusade to deplatform the group easily even if it’s a losing effort. According to official statistics, the BBC’s coverage of the 2023 festival was streamed more than 50 million times, a record high. That’s a large audience to be exposed to Kneecap’s message, music and politics, and potentially encouraged to engage in vigorous Palestine solidarity activism as a result. As with prior lobby takedowns, The Daily Mail’s broadside on Kneecap is just the visible tip of a far bigger, and potentially more destructive, campaign. Israeli lobby groups have publicly called on Glastonbury to cancel the band’s appearance, while leaked emails reveal a joint letter signed by 34 music industry executives—many of them unabashed Zionists—was secretly dispatched to the festival’s organizers. They were implored to reconsider Kneecap’s invitation, due to the band’s “hateful rhetoric that is essentially denying Israel’s right to exist.” Problematically for the lobby and Israel, a majority of young Britons already believe Israel should not exist. Kneecap’s performance could tip that balance even further. Although with Tel Aviv’s ongoing atrocities in Gaza continuing apace, even if the band’s set is cancelled, pro-Palestinian sentiment is inevitably going to rise in step in any event. Truth Has Enemies. We Have You. For over a decade, MintPress News has been at the forefront of exposing Israeli apartheid, occupation, and war crimes—when few dared to. Weve been censored, smeared, and blacklisted for telling the truth. But we haven’t stopped. Independent journalism like this isn’t just important, it’s under attack. If you believe in reporting that defends the voiceless and challenges the powerful, we need your support. Support Us on Patreon Feature photo | Kneecap performs at NorthSide Festival in Aarhus, Denmark, on June 6, 2025. The Irish rap trio has come under pressure from pro-Israel groups and British authorities over their outspoken support for Palestine. Ritzau Scanpix | Sipa USA via AP Kit Klarenberg is an investigative journalist and MintPress News contributor exploring the role of intelligence services in shaping politics and perceptions. His work has previously appeared in The Cradle, Declassified UK, and Grayzone. Follow him on Twitter @KitKlarenberg. The post Kneecap vs. the Israel Lobby: How a Rebel Band Shook Britain appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Foreign Affairs, Investigations, Top Story, Censorship, Daily Mail smear campaigns, Glastonbury, Israel Lobby, Kneecap, pro-Palestine artists, Sabrina Miller, UK politics, zionism, “free Palestine]

— Palestinian Writer Schools Piers Morgan: Zionism Is Not Judaism

 

at 6/9/25 6:51am

This week on “The Watchdog,” Lowkey welcomes returning guest, Ahmed Alnaouq, to discuss his new, best-selling book and his spat with Piers Morgan. Ahmed Alnaouq is a writer and journalist who grew up in central Gaza and now lives in the United Kingdom.  In 2015, he co-founded We Are Not Numbers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to sharing the stories of Palestinians with the world. Recently, he published a book of the same name, which has been a runaway bestseller, drawing interest from around the world. “We Are Not Numbers” is a collection of 74 stories from 59 Palestinian writers. It attempts to shed light on the Palestinian struggle prior to October 7, in order to better understand why it occurred. It has already been translated into multiple languages. A deeply humanistic work, two of its contributors have since been killed in the genocide. For decades, Alnaouq tells Lowkey, Palestinians have been told to keep quiet about Zionism, and that it is anti-Semitic to discuss the ideology. He flatly rejects this notion. As he said: We Palestinians are the best equipped to talk about Zionism, because Zionism is a practice on us. The ideology of Zionism was practices on my mother and father. My family was killed because of the ideology of Zionism. My homeland was stolen away because of Zionism… We have been living through genocide and starvation and a blockade for the past 18 months, because of Zionism. How can I not talk about it? We must talk about it!” The official Gaza death toll stands at 55,000, of which around 70% are women and children. Yet the real impact is certainly higher, as institutions dealing with counting the dead have all but collapsed. Since March 2025, the United Nations notes, Israel has tightened the blockade on Gaza, trapping its population in a densely populated and destroyed strip of land, reducing homes to rubble. More than two million people are in desperate need of humanitarian aid, and face disease, starvation, and death. “With every Palestinian killed, part of us is killed, all of us, around the world. So the matter of Palestine is a matter for everyone. It is a matter for humanity. And we should all share this burden, think of the Palestinians and talk about those who are murdering our brothers and sisters in Palestine in the name of this death cult ideology,” Alnaouq said. Al-Naouq recently went viral after appearing on Piers Morgan’s show, arguing against the host’s claim that the genocide in Gaza represents a religious conflict between two sides, and that Palestinians are hellbent on destroying Judaism. “This is not a religious war,” he said, adding; It is a war between colonizers and colonized, between occupiers and occupied, people who have been living under blockade, under siege, under occupation for the past 77 years. It’s not with the Jews.” Watch the whole interview between Alnaouq and Lowkey, exclusive at MintPress News, and do not forget to subscribe. Lowkey’s tour of the United Kingdom begins in September. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit here. Truth Has Enemies. We Have You. For over a decade, MintPress News has been at the forefront of exposing Israeli apartheid, occupation, and war crimes—when few dared to. Weve been censored, smeared, and blacklisted for telling the truth. But we haven’t stopped. Independent journalism like this isn’t just important, it’s under attack. If you believe in reporting that defends the voiceless and challenges the powerful, we need your support. Support Us on Patreon Lowkey is a British-Iraqi hip-hop artist, academic and political campaigner. As a musician, he has collaborated with the Arctic Monkeys, Wretch 32, Immortal Technique and Akala. He is a patron of Stop The War Coalition, the Racial Justice Network and The Peace and Justice Project, founded by Jeremy Corbyn. He has spoken and performed on platforms from the Oxford Union to the Royal Albert Hall and Glastonbury. His latest album, Soundtrack To The Struggle 2, featured Noam Chomsky and Frankie Boyle and has been streamed millions of times. The post Palestinian Writer Schools Piers Morgan: Zionism Is Not Judaism appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Behind The Headlines, Foreign Affairs, Podcasts, Top Story, Ahmed Alnaouq, Gaza Genocide, Israeli blockade, Lowkey, MintPress News, Palestinian voices, Piers Morgan, The Watchdog podcast, We Are Not Numbers, zionism]

— From Media Darling to Persona Non Grata: Greta Thunberg’s Journey

 

at 6/6/25 9:00am

Once the favored child of the establishment, Greta Thunberg has been dropped by the global elite. A MintPress News study finds that coverage of Thunberg in The New York Times and Washington Post has dwindled from hundreds of articles per year to barely a handful, precisely as she widens her focus from the environment to the capitalist system that is causing climate breakdown, and the Israeli attack on Gaza, which the Swedish activist has labeled a “genocide.”   Not Your Puppet Greta Thunberg was once a media darling. Organizing a climate strike at her local school when she was just fifteen, she shot to fame and was quickly embraced by the establishment. In 2019, she was invited to the European Union Parliament and received a standing ovation from the politicians and diplomats in attendance. She also spoke in front of the British government. Yet even as she told them that they were a pack of “liars” responsible for “one of the greatest failures of humankind,” the young Swede was applauded in a patronizing manner. Then Environmental Secretary Michael Gove admitted being moved by her words, stating, “When I listened to you, I felt great admiration, but also responsibility and guilt. I am of your parents generation, and I recognize that we havent done nearly enough to address climate change and the broader environmental crisis that we helped to create.” Her message of the urgent need to address the impending climate crisis was one that was palatable to authorities, who attempted to co-opt her with access and accolades. In 2019, despite being only 16 years old, she won the Swedish Woman of the Year award and was named by Forbes magazine as one of the world’s 100 most powerful women. Time magazine even awarded her its prestigious Person of the Year, for, in their words, “sounding the alarm about humanitys predatory relationship with the only home we have,” “bringing to a fragmented world a voice that transcends backgrounds and borders,” and for “showing us all what it might look like when a new generation leads.” While conservatives were hostile to her from the start, more liberal institutions showered her with attention and praise. The New York Times, for example, described her as “a modern-day Cassandra for the age of climate change,” and noted that her work had “inspired huge children’s demonstrations” across the planet. Yet Thunberg refused to be turned into a mascot for the elites, and the co-optation failed. As a result, coverage of her in elite media outlets has plummeted to almost nothing, even as she continues to fight for global causes and risks her life trying to break the illegal blockade of Gaza. Coverage of Greta Thunberg in The New York Times and Washington Post has sharply declined since 2019. Credit | MintPress News This phenomenon can be seen by studying the coverage of Thunberg in The New York Times and The Washington Post. Shooting to public attention in 2018, Thunberg and her activities were, at first, given copious coverage in both newspapers, amounting to hundreds of articles per year in each outlet. Yet this has dwindled to virtually nothing by 2025, with only three Times and two Post articles even mentioning Thunberg, and only one in each covering her in any detail beyond a passing reference. The data was compiled by searching for the term “Greta Thunberg” in the New York Times archive and Dow Jones Factiva news database, a tool that records the content from more than 32,000 U.S. and international media outlets. Dr. Jill Stein, a three-time presidential candidate for the United States Green Party, was not surprised by the findings. “It comes with the territory when you go from inside the box to outside the box, and it is a real sign of integrity when the media stops covering you,” she told MintPress; “Greta has been canceled, like many of the best activists I know of.” The precipitous drop in corporate media interest closely correlates with Thunberg’s increasingly radical stances. In 2022, she identified capitalism as a prime cause of climate collapse and explained the need for a comprehensive global revolution, stating that: What we refer to as ‘normal’ is an extreme system built on the exploitation of people and the planet. It is a system defined by colonialism, imperialism, oppression, and genocide by the so-called global North to accumulate wealth that still shapes our current world order.” At the same public event, she dismissed the United Nations Climate Change Conferences as a waste of time, and merely an opportunity for  “people in power to [use] greenwashing, lying and cheating.” She has also gone out of her way to support workers’ struggles against their bosses. Last year, she visited the GKN auto parts factory in Florence, Italy, a site that striking workers have occupied. “Climate justice = workers’ rights,” she explained, noting that, [E]very necessity to choose between the struggle for labour and the struggle for climate justice is abolished. The territory defends the factory, the factory defends the territory. The fight to get to the end of the month is the same fight against the end of the world.” She has spoken out against the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara, in support of striking Indian farmers, and against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Undoubtedly, however, it is her solidarity with the Palestinian people and their cause that has earned her the most flak. In 2021, she shared a social media post accusing Israel of carrying out war crimes, adding that it was “Devastating to follow the developments in Jerusalem and Gaza,” adding the hashtag #SaveSheikhJarrah to her post. In the wake of the October 7 attack and the Israeli bombardment that followed it, she called for an immediate ceasefire and for freedom and justice for Palestine. And last year, she was arrested while protesting Israel’s inclusion in the Eurovision Song Contest. For these actions, she has been vocally condemned by many of the same outlets that, only a few years previously, had celebrated and promoted her. Just days after her calls for a ceasefire, Forbes magazine ran a story headlined “Greta Thunberg’s stand with Gaza is a problem for the climate change movement,” which claimed that sharing “controversial opinions that only serve to alienate entire demographics” does not “advance an environmental cause,” and “only weakens her ability to advocate and harms the overall climate change movement.” Another Forbes article described her career arc as a “tragedy” and claimed that she was driven by an all-encompassing “hatred of Israel” and a determination to “destroy the Jewish state.” Meanwhile, influential German publication Der Spiegel, which had awarded her its “Person of the Year” in 2019, branded her an “antisemite.” For Stein, Thunberg’s media excommunication cannot simply be explained by the notion that the exploits of a 22-year-old organizer are less newsworthy than those of a precocious teenager. Rather, it was her public stances against capitalism, imperialism, and Israel’s actions in Gaza that angered them. “Each of those [stances] were a step-down in the eyes of mainstream media and the oligarchy they defend,” she said. “You could see the pushback against her starting when she began to speak about climate, social and economic justice. But when she began to take a stand on Gaza, that was the last straw, and you didn’t see her getting mainstream media coverage after that,” she added. Thunberg sees the fight for a greener world as inseparable from the struggle for political and economic freedom. “For me, there is no way of distinguishing the two,” she said, adding: We cannot have climate justice without social justice. The reason why I am a climate activist is not because I want to protect trees. I’m a climate activist because I care about human and planetary well-being, and those are extremely interlinked.” Dimitri Lascaris, a lawyer and former Green Party of Canada leadership candidate who has sailed on multiple “freedom flotillas” attempting to break the Gaza blockade, said that the shunning of Thunberg also represents “an indictment of the environmental movement.” As Lascaris told MintPress: Before Greta took an incredibly courageous stand for the victims of Israel’s genocidal regime, she was the darling of the movement, but many of those same ‘environmentalists’ who lionized her have fallen silent as she risks her life to draw attention to the suffering of Palestinians. Environmental justice and human rights are inextricably linked. If you will not stand with Greta now, then you have no right to call yourself an ‘environmental activist.’”   Dangerous Waters In addition to her political trajectory, Thunberg is currently on a physical journey, sailing on an aid ship to Gaza in an attempt to break the Israeli blockade. She is one of 12 public figures to board the Madleen at the Sicilian port of Catania, which is scheduled to reach the densely populated strip on June 7. Others include “Game of Thrones” actor Liam Cunningham and French politician Rima Hassan. The ship is carrying urgently-needed supplies, including flour, rice, and other staples, as well as baby formula, feminine hygiene products, medical supplies, crutches, prosthetic limbs, and water desalination kits. The Madleen is a small vessel, and the aid is but a drop in the ocean of what authorities say is needed. Organizers, however, emphasize the symbolic importance of breaking the blockade from the outside. “We are doing this because no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying, because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity,” Thunberg explained. The volunteers and crew are sailing unarmed and have been trained in non-violence. Climate activist Greta Thunberg stands aboard the Madleen before setting sail for Gaza along with activists of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, June 1, 2025. Salvatore Cavalli | AP Corporate media have largely ignored the Madleen’s voyage. The New York Times, for example, has not covered it at all, while the Washington Post has dedicated a single article to it. Other outlets, however, have bitterly denounced the operation. “Greta Thunberg’s narcissism has escalated to terrifying levels,” ran the headline in Britain’s daily, The Telegraph, which labeled it a “self-serving stunt masquerading as a daring act of charity.” Some commentators have displayed even more hostility to the mission. U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, for instance, stated that the hopes “Greta and her friends can swim,” openly suggesting the aid ship should be attacked. Israel has stated it will block the Madleen from entering Gazan waters, and its drones are already circling the ship. In May, the Israeli military attacked another boat attempting to deliver lifesaving aid to Palestine, firing missiles at the vessel just outside Maltese waters. The incident was largely ignored in the Western press. Stein was impressed by Thunberg’s bravery, telling MintPress: It is heroic, it is inspirational, and it is galvanizing to have this example of her and the others on the Freedom Flotilla. Their incredibly courageous, compassionate humanitarian example is the polar opposite of this horrific genocide. They are risking their lives and they know it… But they refuse to accept a genocide, or to be powerless in the face of it.” The lack of press attention likely does not surprise Thunberg, who identified Western corporate media as active participants in the slaughter. “Our governments, our institutions, our companies are supporting this genocide… It is our tax money. It is our media who are continuing to dehumanize Palestinians,” she said. “On behalf of the international community, the so-called Western world, I am so sorry that we have betrayed you by not supporting you enough,” she added. The manner in which the ruling class has collectively dumped Thunberg is far from an isolated incident. Elite liberal forces have historically attempted to defang and dilute radical challenges to the status quo, such as Black Lives Matter, the LGBT liberation movement, and the Occupy Wall Street protests, offering their leaders access and privileges. If this strategy fails, figures and movements are shunned, rebuked, or attacked. While Martin Luther King focused his attention on racist Southern sheriffs, he was treated with respect. But after his anti-war “Beyond Vietnam” speech, where he trained his guns on the “triple evils of racism, extreme materialism and militarism,” he became public enemy number one, and was ignored, denounced, and, ultimately, assassinated. Thunberg shows no sign of backing down. “We are standing up for justice, sustainability, liberation for everyone. There can be no climate justice without social justice,” she said. That is precisely the kind of talk that got her ejected from elite polite society in the first place. Truth Has Enemies. We Have You. For over a decade, MintPress News has been at the forefront of exposing Israeli apartheid, occupation, and war crimes—when few dared to. Weve been censored, smeared, and blacklisted for telling the truth. But we haven’t stopped. Independent journalism like this isn’t just important, it’s under attack. If you believe in reporting that defends the voiceless and challenges the powerful, we need your support. Support Us on Patreon Feature photo | Activist Greta Thunberg stands near the stage during a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Mannheim, Germany, on Dec. 6, 2024. Uwe Anspach | AP Alan MacLeod is Senior Staff Writer for MintPress News. He completed his PhD in 2017 and has since authored two acclaimed books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent, as well as a number of academic articles. He has also contributed to FAIR.org, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, and Common Dreams. Follow Alan on Twitter for more of his work and commentary: @AlanRMacLeod. The post From Media Darling to Persona Non Grata: Greta Thunbergs Journey appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Foreign Affairs, Investigations, Top Story, capitalism, climate justice, environmental activism, Gaza blockade, Greta Thunberg, Imperialism, Israeli apartheid, media censorship, Palestine, youth protest]

— Revealed: EU Nations Condemning Gaza Genocide Secretly Inking Billion-Dollar Arms Deals with Israel

 

at 6/5/25 8:46am

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and European Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius believe Russia could launch a full-scale attack on Europe by 2030, a fear that has prompted governments across the continent to prepare for war. As European citizens stockpile food and governments ramp up military readiness, one country sees opportunity in that fear: Israel. The European Union is planning to increase its military budget by €800 billion ($900 billion) over the next four years. With the United States pulling back military support for NATO, EU member states are seeking new defense partners, and Israel is stepping in, offering weapons tested on occupied and besieged populations. As governments across Europe prepare for a potential Russian assault, they are deepening defense ties with Israel, buying billions in battle-tested weapons even as Israel faces genocide accusations in the International Court of Justice. The result: a sharp disconnect between public condemnation and private militarization. Between 2020 and 2024, European arms imports increased by 155% compared to the previous five years, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Over that same period, Israel climbed the ranks of global arms exporters, now standing eighth worldwide. The surge in sales reflects a growing European reliance on Israeli military technology. In 2023, EU nations imported $111 million in Israeli arms. By 2024, that number jumped to $135 million, even as European governments publicly condemned Israel’s war in Gaza. “Militaries often are quite interested in real-life experience witnessed by other militaries,” Dr. Iain Overton, executive director of Action on Armed Violence, told MintPress News. Israels repeated assaults on Gaza and the West Bank—and its long-running campaigns in Syria and Lebanon—have become central to its marketing pitch. Under what Australian journalist Antony Loewenstein termed the “Palestine Laboratory,” Israel uses the occupied Palestinian territories as a testing ground for its military technology, and then manipulates the success of its state violence to boost its ammunition sales. “[Israel’s] experience feeds back into its own production of weapons where they can say this is battle-tested,” Overton said. These weapon systems are heralded as good battle-tested weapon systems, but, of course, the reality is these weapon systems cause huge civilian casualties.” “If we only look at [arms transfers] through the prism of that they’re battle-tested, and we dont look at it through the prism of the fact that theyre often indiscriminate or they cause large numbers of civilian harm… then we might inadvertently be purchasing more lethal weapons than necessary or weapons that actually do not fit the European standards of international humanitarian law in conflict,” Overton added.   Public Condemnation, Private Deals Spain has been one of Israel’s loudest critics since the Gaza war began in October 2023. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez even called for a global arms moratorium. Yet Centre Delas, a Barcelona-based think tank, revealed in April 2025 that the Spanish government had awarded 46 contracts totaling $1.2 billion to Israeli arms manufacturers since the war began. Among them: 12 PULS rocket launchers from Elbit Systems, 64 Predator Hawk missiles, and 168 additional missiles from Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. Contracts also went to Netline Communications Technologies and Guardian Homeland Security. In Israel’s largest arms sale to date, Germany purchased the U.S.-Israel jointly produced Arrow 3 missile defense system for $4.3 billion in September 2024. In February 2025, the German army bought Elbit’s PULS rocket launcher artillery systems in a $57 million deal. Two months later, Germany’s Defense Ministry announced it was procuring loitering munitions—commonly known as suicide drones—from Israeli firms UVision and Israel Aerospace Industries. Germany is Israel’s second-largest weapons customer after the United States, and Israel is one of Germany’s top arms exporters, supplying 13% of the country’s weapons. “Israeli components are built into Germany’s military capacities, and that for them is far more important than any International Court of Justice genocide ruling,” said Jeff Halper, an Israeli anthropologist and author of “War Against the People,” which details how Israel uses its weapons technology on Palestinians. Protesters are arrested outside the New York Stock Exchange during a demonstration against arms sales to Israel. Laura Brett | AP Finland signed a €316 million ($356 million) deal for Israel’s David’s Sling air defenses in 2023. The Nordic nation finalized the sale in November 2023, a month into Israel’s assault on Gaza. Finland’s president, Alexander Stubb, defended the deal in an interview with Reuters, saying the purchase wasn’t related to Finland’s decision not to recognize a Palestinian state. Israel and Greece have also strengthened their military partnership in recent years. In 2023, Greece purchased a $404 million package of Spike missiles and Orbiter 3 drones, produced by Israeli defense firms Rafael and Aeronautics. At this year’s DEFEA, an international defense exhibition held in Athens, Israel Aerospace Industries and Hellenic Aerospace Industry signed  an agreement for IAI to supply its BlueWhale autonomous submarine system to the Hellenic Navy. Following the collapse of a fragile cease-fire in Gaza on March 18, 2025, the Netherlands announced it would individually assess future sales of weapons and dual-use goods to Israel. The Dutch government said it has not exported weapons to Israel since the start of the war, a result of a February 2024 Dutch court order prohibiting the export of F-35 fighter jet parts over concerns they could be used in violation of international law in Gaza. However, the Netherlands has continued to import Israeli arms. In September 2024, the Dutch Navy purchased two vessels equipped with drones and missiles for between $279 million and $1.1 billion. In December, the Netherlands awarded Elbit Systems a $175 million contract to supply the NATO member with systems to protect aircraft and helicopters from anti-aircraft missiles. Elbit also secured a $53 million contract in May 2024 to supply armored vehicles to Austria. Several countries bordering Ukraine have also increased weapons imports from Israel. Poland’s new government declared in May 2024 that it would not export military equipment to Israel and had not signed any new contracts. “We will not have a hand in Israeli attacks on civilians in the Gaza Strip using Polish weapons,” Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Szejna said. Yet Polish media reported in February that the country would purchase 1,400 Borsuk infantry fighting vehicles armed with Rafael’s Spike missile launchers. In its largest arms deal with Israel, Slovakia bought the IAI-manufactured Barak MX air defense system for $583 million in December 2024. In a separate $92 million deal, Romania purchased Rafael-made Spike LR2 anti-tank missiles in February 2024. One month later, Elbit Systems won a $60 million contract to supply Romania with counter-drone systems. In a show of solidarity, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala visited Israel after it launched its war on Gaza following the Hamas attack in October 2023. During the visit, the Czech Republic signed a contract to purchase 48 Rafael-manufactured I-Derby long-range anti-aircraft missiles for $120 million. This year, Axon Vision, an Israeli AI provider for militaries, partnered with Czech arms company Czechoslovak Group to install its AI-based situational awareness system on Czech military armored vehicles. At the start of 2025, Serbia finalized its purchase of Elbit Systems’ PULS artillery rocket systems and Hermes 900 reconnaissance drones in a $335 million deal. Also at the beginning of the year, the Swedish Dockworkers Union implemented a blockade against all military trade with Israel amid the ongoing war. Before the embargo, Swedish imports of Israeli military equipment had already surged, skyrocketing from $737,000 in 2023 to $23.8 million in 2024. In 2024, Sweden signed a $36.6 million contract for Rafael Litening targeting pods for a fleet of fighter jets. Swedish defense firm BAE Systems Hägglunds also signed a $130 million deal with Elbit Systems for its Iron Fist Active Protection Systems. This year, Sweden signed a €2 billion ($2.26 billion) agreement with European defense company KNDS for 44 advanced Leopard 2 A8 main battle tanks equipped with Israeli firm Rafael’s Trophy active protection system.   Treaties Ignored as Israel Arms Europe Despite the ICJ’s 2024 preliminary ruling that Palestinians have a “plausible right to protection from genocide,” European arms deals with Israel continue unabated. And international treaties are no obstacle. Overton tells MintPress News that:. While the [UN Arms Trade Treaty] seeks to prevent arms transfers that could be used to commit human rights violations, its provisions are riddled with loopholes, and enforcement mechanisms remain weak.”  Most of the weapons Israel sells—missiles, drones, surveillance systems—don’t fall under banned categories like white phosphorus, even if theyre used in ways that violate humanitarian law, even if they’re used in densely populated civilian areas in violation of international law. “In this regard, Israeli arms exports fall within the realm of ethics and morality, not treaties,” Overton said. “The question is: Should we be profiting from Israel?” He compares the situation to sanctioned states like North Korea or Russia. But unlike those countries, Israel faces few material consequences. While some EU nations announce embargoes or reassess trade agreements, Halper remains skeptical. “Theyll do it on a symbolic level,” he said. They’ll send a message to Israel in a way that doesn’t really impact its military capacity.” “There is no morality in international politics,” Halper added. As Europe re-arms for the next global war, it is doing so with weapons tested on occupied people, in neighborhoods flattened by airstrikes, and in refugee camps targeted by one of the most technologically advanced militaries on earth. Whether symbolic sanctions will ever evolve into meaningful action remains to be seen, but for now, business is booming. Feature photo | As Europe ramps up its military readiness amid fears of war with Russia, events like the Enforce Tac security fair in Nuremberg showcase the continent’s growing appetite for battle-tested Israeli weaponry. Pictured: Military vehicles, including the Caracal airborne platform, on display at Rheinmetall’s booth, Feb. 28, 2023. Daniel Vogl | AP Jessica Buxbaum is a Jerusalem-based journalist for MintPress News covering Palestine, Israel, and Syria. Her work has been featured in Middle East Eye, The New Arab and Gulf News. The post Revealed: EU Nations Condemning Gaza Genocide Secretly Inking Billion-Dollar Arms Deals with Israel appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Foreign Affairs, Investigations, News, Top Story, covert arms agreements, european arms trade, Gaza war coverage, international law and war crimes, israel weapons exports, military hypocrisy exposed, nato defense partnerships, silent military deals, war tech europe, weapons tested in conflict]

— “So They’ll Never Have Children”: American Nurse Says Israeli Soldiers Deliberately Shot Boys in the Penis

 

at 6/4/25 7:46am

The scenes Willy Massay witnessed in Gaza were harrowing: children shot multiple times in the head, chest and groin; hospitals reduced to rubble; the smell of burning flesh and gunpowder lingering in the air. For the American ICU nurse, recently returned from the besieged enclave, Israel’s assault on Gaza was not just war; it was deliberate, systematic extermination. Massay had been on the front lines of the Israeli attack on the densely populated strip, working in some of the most overwhelmed health centers, including Al-Aqsa, Nasser and Indonesia hospitals. He sat down with MintPress News founder and director, Mnar Adley, to discuss his time in Palestine and the brutal realities of the Israeli assault. This is part two of that interview. To watch or listen to part one, click here. Although back in the United States, the experience of working in Gaza has profoundly affected Massay, who told Adley that: It is the screams of parents, the cries of mothers, and the smell of gunpowder, blood, and burning flesh that will never ever leave my sense of smell. The cries of mothers and fathers over their children. That plays in my head and my heart every night. I cannot sleep. I cannot get away from that. I can see and hear Israeli bombs in my sleep.” He and other health professionals from all over the world risk their lives to save as many people as possible. These actions have made them a target. Israel has killed more than 1400 healthcare workers since October 7, 2023. IDF attacks have destroyed or damaged 33 of Gaza’s 36 hospitals. “It is an atrocity that humanity should not forget,” Massay said. Worse still, he noted, is that Israel blocks medical supplies from reaching the area, meaning he and his colleagues must work without even basic instruments and drugs. We don’t have gauze. We don’t have anesthesia, we don’t have antibiotics. And no water. No electricity. Israel, before every strike, cuts off electricity. They are going to bomb you while you are in the dark.” Massay explained how this lack of electricity means lifesaving machines are shut off, causing mass deaths. Ventilators, for example, stop working. And so he and his colleagues must “bag” patients, a process of connecting their respiratory systems to plastic bags which have to be pumped by hand, day and night, to keep oxygen flowing into their bodies. As they pump, Israeli bombs fall on the hospital, and bullets penetrate its walls. Those bombs are supplied by the United States, often at U.S. taxpayer expense, who have footed the bill for more than $22 billion of aid to Tel Aviv since October 7, 2023, making Washington an active participant in the destruction. Despite its rhetoric about slashing budgets, the Trump administration has shown few signs of limiting the aid flowing to Israel, even as international organizations label the campaign a “genocide” and call for boycotts and sanctions against Israel. Massay also chronicles a war against the children of Palestine, noting how girls are dying of urinary tract infections because of the shortage of sanitary products. Israeli soldiers, meanwhile, deliberately shoot boys in the penis, in order to prevent them from ever having children of their own. These are the stories you’re not supposed to hear. Truth Has Enemies. We Have You. For over a decade, MintPress News has been at the forefront of exposing Israeli apartheid, occupation, and war crimes—when few dared to. Weve been censored, smeared, and blacklisted for telling the truth. But we haven’t stopped. Independent journalism like this isn’t just important, it’s under attack. If you believe in reporting that defends the voiceless and challenges the powerful, we need your support. Support Us on Patreon Mnar Adley is an award-winning journalist and editor and is the founder and director of MintPress News. She is also president and director of the non-profit media organization Behind the Headlines. Adley also co-hosts the MintCast podcast and is a producer and host of the video series Behind The Headlines. Contact Mnar at mnar@mintpressnews.com or follow her on Twitter at @mnarmuh. The post So They’ll Never Have Children: American Nurse Says Israeli Soldiers Deliberately Shot Boys in the Penis appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Behind The Headlines, Foreign Affairs, News, Top Story, boys targeted, children, Gaza, genocide, hospitals, ICU, Israel, U.S. aid, War Crimes, Willy Massay]

— Susan Abulhawa: Censored at Oxford After Witnessing Gaza Genocide

 

at 5/30/25 8:12am

Few Western voices have braved the gates of Gaza during Israels ongoing military assault. Fewer still have returned to tell the story. Susan Abulhawa, a Palestinian-American writer and humanitarian, is one of them. In this sobering episode of The Watchdog, Abulhawa sits down with host Lowkey to describe the irreversible psychological toll of witnessing Israel’s war on Gaza from inside the Strip and the political price of telling the truth in the West. “I wish I never left,” she says, recounting her time in Gaza earlier this year. “I left thinking I was going to come back in a couple of months to resupply and bring back in medicines and supplies.” But after Israeli forces seized the Rafah border crossing, she found herself unable to return. “They’re in complete control at this point.” What she saw, she says, changed her life forever. Even in a small corner of Gaza and during a short window of time, the totality of the devastation overwhelmed her. “It has honestly changed my life in a way that is sometimes difficult to put into words,” she says. The terror that Israel has brought to Gaza is in every corner. It’s behind every tree. There are no trees left, actually. It’s very few. You feel the breath of death everywhere.” From hospitals full of orphaned newborns to makeshift shelters packed with hundreds sharing a single bathroom, Abulhawa says she encountered levels of desperation she had never imagined. People who were one day planning to go to college, planning to get married, thinking about starting a business, expecting a baby… were the next day trying to figure out where to get bread, how to get clean water, where to go to the bathroom.” She describes the situation in Gaza as “layer upon layer upon layer of depravity, of inhumanity, of the worst human impulses you can imagine.” And she emphasizes that the war’s brutality extends beyond bombs. “Israel targets our children,” she says, citing testimonies from Israeli soldiers, patterns of bombing schools, and systematic trauma inflicted on minors. A longtime voice for Palestinian liberation, Abulhawa is best known for her international bestseller, Mornings in Jenin and is the founder of Playgrounds for Palestine, a nonprofit that supports children’s rights in occupied territories. For Abulhawa, returning to the West came with its own risks. Her testimony has drawn ire from pro-Israel groups, media censors, and even so-called allies in progressive spaces. Speaking out about what she saw, she says, often results in being smeared as antisemitic or dismissed as biased, despite the overwhelming evidence of war crimes and ethnic cleansing. Her speech at the Oxford Union went viral, garnering hundreds of thousands of views in just a few days, only to be quietly censored and edited without her consent. The parts removed included factual references to historical Zionist terrorism, such as the use of booby-trapped toys against Lebanese children, and direct criticisms of Zionism. She describes the censorship as both an assault on her freedom of expression and a form of discrimination against her beliefs. “There was an agreement that none of my speech would be edited,” she says, noting that she had submitted a written rider to that effect. “They still did it.” Abulhawa also addresses how nature itself is being targeted in Gaza. She mourns the loss of wildlife, trees, and even insects. “Species are going extinct right now because of this,” she says, describing how Gaza was once an important migratory stop for birds between Africa and Europe. Reflecting on the rising tide of direct action across the globe, Abulhawa praises the efforts of Palestine Action in the UK, calling their work “the best of humanity.” She criticizes institutional NGOs that oppose or condemn such tactics, arguing that street protests alone do little to disrupt the machinery of genocide. “Unless we can find a way to be a threat to them, nothing is going to change,” she says. Abulhawa sees this moment as not just a political crisis, but a civilizational reckoning. She warns that future generations will judge us harshly for how we responded, or failed to respond, to Gaza’s cries for help. “This war isn’t just destroying Gaza,” she says. “It’s dismantling our shared sense of humanity.” Truth Has Enemies. We Have You. For over a decade, MintPress News has been at the forefront of exposing Israeli apartheid, occupation, and war crimes—when few dared to. Weve been censored, smeared, and blacklisted for telling the truth. But we haven’t stopped. Independent journalism like this isn’t just important, it’s under attack. If you believe in reporting that defends the voiceless and challenges the powerful, we need your support. Support Us on Patreon Lowkey is a British-Iraqi hip-hop artist, academic and political campaigner. As a musician, he has collaborated with the Arctic Monkeys, Wretch 32, Immortal Technique and Akala. He is a patron of Stop The War Coalition, the Racial Justice Network and The Peace and Justice Project, founded by Jeremy Corbyn. He has spoken and performed on platforms from the Oxford Union to the Royal Albert Hall and Glastonbury. His latest album, Soundtrack To The Struggle 2, featured Noam Chomsky and Frankie Boyle and has been streamed millions of times. The post Susan Abulhawa: Censored at Oxford After Witnessing Gaza Genocide appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Behind The Headlines, News, Podcasts, Top Story, academic repression, Censorship, Gaza atrocities, Gaza Genocide, Israeli war crimes, MintPress News, Oxford Union, Palestinian writers, pro-Palestine speech, Susan Abulhawa]

— Israel-Backed Militias Linked to ISIS Loot Gaza Aid Under IDF Watch

 

at 5/29/25 7:03am

Israeli officials often claim that Hamas has been looting aid heading to Gaza, yet the evidence suggests the opposite. New reports and eyewitness accounts indicate that Israel is backing ISIS-linked militants who are working to replace Hamas security forces and are looting humanitarian aid under the watchful eye of IDF drones. New evidence recently emerged of ISIS-linked militants in Gaza, operating inside the Israeli-controlled buffer zone and controlling roads on which aid was destined to be transported. These armed men were photographed brandishing automatic weapons, wearing Israeli military tactical vests and bearing Palestinian flag patches on their helmets. To the naked eye, they could be mistaken for Palestinian security force officers. In fact, they are members of an infamous criminal network responsible for looting humanitarian aid. On May 21, 15 World Food Program trucks carrying flour were looted, and UN sources suggest the perpetrators were these armed factions. Yet, they claim to be a legitimate opposition group poised to replace Hamas. For some 80 days, Israel had imposed a total blockade on all food, medical supplies, water and fuel entering the territory. As soon as a small number of trucks were allowed to enter, the militants were spotted, sporting new military gear and poised to intercept the humanitarian supplies. The IOF allows some flour trucks in and assigns Yasser Abu Shabab to secure them up to the crossing area. Yasser Abu Shabab, who stole thousands of trucks before the truce and is now directly cooperating with the IOF. Yasser and the IOF are two sides of the same coin.#Traitor pic.twitter.com/2LYByhXe3o — MOHAMMED From Gaza (@Its_Moh9) May 25, 2025   ISIS-linked “Anti-Terror Services” The leader of the Israeli-aligned militia is a man named Yasser Abu Shabab, a member of the Tarabin tribe that extends between the Naqab (Negev), Gaza and Sinai. However, he and others affiliated with the Tarabin have long been denounced as not representing the tribe due to their extensive criminal pasts. Abu Shabab was well known in Gaza for his fierce opposition to Hamas and had been arrested for smuggling narcotics. He also maintained a direct connection to ISIS in the Egyptian Sinai. When Israeli bombing destroyed the jails run by Hamas security forces during the early days of the Gaza war, the infamous criminal managed to escape. From there, Abu Shabab quickly began building a militant force numbering at least 100 men, many of whom were also previously imprisoned and had known ties to ISIS and al-Qaeda-linked groups. An internal UN memo, reported by the Financial Times in November 2024, stated that Abu Shabab’s men were operating inside Israel’s buffer zone, looting aid shipments with “the passive, if not active benevolence” of Israeli forces. This is notable, as Israeli forces have routinely shot and killed civilians attempting to enter that same zone, even when coordinated in advance. While these criminal factions began looting early into the Gaza war, they became more prominent following Israel’s invasion of Rafah on May 6, 2024. Up until that point, Hamas-led Palestinian police had helped coordinate aid deliveries through the Rafah Crossing. This security was provided despite Israel threatening to bomb the police officers if they approached aid trucks, often forcing Gaza’s law enforcement into a hands-off role. But once Rafah was invaded and police disappeared, Israeli forces worked in proximity with criminal networks to intercept and sell stolen aid through intermediaries. The result was a massive price hike for basic goods, with these gangs reportedly drip-feeding supplies to local sellers, maintaining artificial scarcity during a famine. Israel’s leading human rights organization, B’Tselem, has labeled the policy “manufacturing famine.” Two sources working with aid agencies in Gaza confirmed to MintPress News that all aid entering the Strip is either subject to a bribe paid to these gangs or is partially or completely confiscated. Both spoke on condition of anonymity, stating that the gangs are widely believed to be coordinating with Israeli forces. Prior to January 19, when a temporary ceasefire began, these gangs wore face coverings and operated as a ragtag militia. In recent weeks, however, they have rebranded themselves as the “Anti-Terror Service,” claiming to be a grassroots opposition to Hamas. On Abu Shabab’s Facebook page, he now describes himself as a “grassroots leader who stood up against corruption and looting,” posting photos of himself patrolling roads and claiming to work with international aid organizations, to ensure the delivery of flour trucks.” Back in November 2024, he told The Washington Post that “Hamas has left us with nothing,” even denying that his men carried weapons. He claimed that the looting was done by unarmed individuals and that they avoided stealing food intended for children. Yet aid workers and truck drivers insist his men are committing armed robbery. Israel is aiding ISIS-linked terrorists & criminals to sow chaos & famine in Gaza: Shadi al-Sofi, a wanted murderer & son of an informant/collaborator with Israel, & Yasser abu Shabab, a drug dealer, are the main warlords responsible for looting most aid under IDF protection.… pic.twitter.com/tnI1txqGSZ — Muhammad Shehada (@muhammadshehad2) November 19, 2024 Another warlord reportedly backed by Israel is Shadi al-Sufi, a convicted murderer and drug trafficker who had been sentenced to death. In 2020, he assassinated Jabr Al-Qiq, a senior commander in the PFLP’s Abu Ali Mustafa brigades. He reportedly later worked with ISIS contacts to escape to Sinai. A senior official with a major humanitarian organization told MintPress News: In the areas where the security forces are operating, the situation is always more stable, and they have repeatedly cracked down on black market operations. Anyone telling you the gangs are helping the people is a liar, that is all I can say.” In November, Haaretz reported: “The IDF is aware of the problem. They said that at one point, the government had even considered making the clans to which the armed men belong responsible for distributing aid to Gaza’s residents, even though some of the clans’ members are involved in terrorism and some are affiliated with extremist organizations like the Islamic State.” This now appears to be the Israeli strategy: to deputize these criminal gangs as a replacement security force to supplant Hamas rule. The makeover also coincides with efforts by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a U.S.-linked initiative rumored to involve private military contractors, raising concerns that such groups may be tapped to cooperate with these armed networks. A source affiliated with the Palestinian security forces in Gaza told Mint Press News that a similar strategy was attempted in northern Gaza, but that Hamas, working with politically unaffiliated locals, dismantled the criminal networks that began forming under Israeli supervision.   Hamas vs ISIS and Israel Meanwhile, the UN and every major humanitarian organization that has addressed the issue have pointed the finger at the gangs, not Hamas, for looting. None have reported credible instances of Hamas stealing aid. In fact, the Biden administration even asked Israel in February 2024 to halt its targeting of Hamas-led security forces, which had been helping coordinate the delivery of humanitarian trucks into Gaza. “Hamas is ISIS,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared. But recent actions by Israel suggest the opposite: that it is actively empowering Salafist factions to undermine Hamas in Gaza. In March, the Israeli military floated the idea of arming certain tribal clans to establish so-called “Hamas-free zones.” Among those considered was the Dughmush clan, long known for its links to ISIS. Since Hamas was voted into power and took full control of Gaza in 2007, it has fought a years-long war against Salafi-jihadist factions inside the Strip. In 2009, it crushed an al-Qaeda-aligned uprising that left 22 dead. Sporadic bombings and assassination attempts followed. Tensions between Hamas and al-Qaeda affiliates continued intermittently for years, marked by sporadic violence and periodic mass arrests, most notably in 2015, when Hamas detained over 50 Salafist militants after a wave of bombings targeting civilians in Gaza. That same year, ISIS formally entered the fray. The Sheikh Omar Hadid Brigade, an ISIS affiliate, announced its presence in Gaza shortly after ISIS executed Hamas commander Sheikh Abu Salah Taha in Syria’s Yarmouk camp. Hamas responded swiftly: its security forces hunted down and killed the group’s leader, Younis Hunnar, in a gunfight. In 2018, ISIS would officially “declare war” on Hamas, urging its followers to carry out attacks in order to overthrow the group in Gaza. Now, in a bitter twist, Israel is backing many of these same elements. Under the guise of “aid security,” it is arming and enabling former ISIS and al-Qaeda-linked operatives, along with known traffickers and warlords, to carve out zones of control in Gaza. These forces are marketed as a grassroots alternative to Hamas. In practice, they are looting aid and destabilizing local governance under the watchful eye of Israeli drones. Feature photo | Illustration by MintPress News Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show ‘Palestine Files’. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’. Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47 The post Israel-Backed Militias Linked to ISIS Loot Gaza Aid Under IDF Watch appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Foreign Affairs, foreign-backed militias, Gaza aid crisis, Gaza conflict, Gaza resistance, humanitarian blockade, IDF operations, Israel Hamas war, Middle East instability, proxy warfare, warzone looting]

— UK Palestine Solidarity Campaign Official Admits Working With Former Israeli Spy

 

at 5/27/25 11:05am

Meet Ben Soffa, the national secretary of the UK-based Palestine Solidarity Campaign. You would think he was a dedicated pro-Palestine campaigner. He has, after all, worked since 2013 at the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the lead UK group organising the massive demonstrations in solidarity with Palestine over the last two years. In addition, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign states that it is anti-Zionist. Its 2024 annual report states this unambiguously: We are an anti-Zionist organization. Soffa has even been referred to as an anti-Zionist Jew by that doyen of non-Jewish Zionists, the sometime arms industry lobbyist, Labour Party enforcer and We Believe in Israel head, Luke Akehurst. So surely the national secretary of the PSC is actually an anti-Zionist? Unfortunately, matters are not so clear. In a new disclosure to MintPress News, he has admitted for the first time that he worked together in the Labour Party with former Israeli spy Assaf Kaplan. Stating that they had “limited interactions” in his role working at the Labour Party as head of digital organizing. This was at the same time as he worked as national secretary of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. In addition, Soffa serves as the chair of the Lancaster and Lakes Jewish Community(LLJC), based at Lancaster University. It’s a member of the Board of Deputies of British Jews (BoD). As is well known, the BoD has been Zionist since 1939. In its 2020 annual report, it boasted about its relationship with the genocidal Zionist regime. It has a close working relationship with the Embassy of Israel in the UK and strengthened links to the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs and the IDF Spokesperson Department. The Board of Deputies Charitable Foundation Trustees Report December 2020 The LLJC states that it mainly uses the Liberal prayerbook, associating it with Liberal Judaism. This is itself a Zionist synagogue movement, being an affiliate of the World Zionist Organization and affirming a love for the Land of Israel and a strong commitment to the State of Israel, on its website. As a member of the Board of Deputies, LLJC is entitled to elect a representative to the board. The LLJC states that Ben leads on the external representation of the community. Thus, it might be thought likely that the BoD representative for the group, although the names of deputies are not disclosed by the BoD or by LLJC itself. A request for confirmation on this point was sent to the Board of Deputies and directly to Ben Soffa. The Board of Deputies did not reply. Soffa was asked: It appears that you are a Zionist, but that the PSC is an anti-Zionist organisation. So, first, can you confirm: Do you believe that the State of Israel should exist? In an emailed response, he said: I am not a Zionist, I am an anti-Zionist. Any claim to the contrary would be defamatory. I fundamentally disagree with there being an ethnostate that dominates, occupies and dispossesses Palestinians on the basis of ethnicity, nationality and religion. As can be seen from that carefully worded response, Soffa did not reply to the question about the existence of the State of Israel. Soffa also stated, I am not, nor have I ever been, a delegate to the Board of Deputies. This reply, of course, leaves open the question of the identity of the BoD representative at the Lancaster and the Lakes Jewish Community; the extent to which they take instruction from the chair of the Shul, who is Soffa; and of course the wider questions fo how “anti-Zionists” can be part of hardline genocidal Zionist organisations like the Board of Deputies.   Ben Soffa and Noah Katz, Zionist networkers Soffa’s deputy at the LLJC is Noah Katz, a self-proclaimed ‘peacenik’, who has also been chair of the BoD’s Under 35 Assembly. Katz now works for the BoD in public affairs. Katz, who uses the pronouns they/(((them))), was a UJS Deputy—that is, a UJS representative on the Board of Deputies for three years until December 2024—and a member of the World Jewish Congress’ Jewish Diplomatic Academy. The UJS is the Union of Jewish Students, the national body to which all university Jewish societies in the UK are affiliated. It is formally signed up to the Zionist movement, as I have repeatedly noted. The WJC is also a hardline Zionist group. Katz has also held positions at the National Union of Students, raising concerns about possible Zionist influence. The ‘peacenik’ A biographical note utilizing Katz’s preferred pronouns states, They were elected to sit as a Member Director of the National Union of Students and is a Trustee of NUS Charity following a term as Vice President Education at Lancaster University Students’ Union. In March 2025, Katz appeared on a panel for Jewish Book Week titled Young Zionist Voices, chaired by the Zionist fanatic Natasha Hausdorff of UK Lawyers for Israel. UKLFI has most recently received significant pushback for suggesting that the deliberate Zionist starvation of Gazans, may increase average life expectancy in Gaza, bearing in mind that one of the biggest health issues in Gaza prior to the current war was obesity. This was so repellent that even the Guardian covered it. Noah Katzs profile page on the Board of Deputies website Katz is also co-founder of the Yad Fellowship, a campus interfaith initiative dedicated to penetrating and subverting Muslim political organizations on campus in the UK. According to the Jewish Chronicle (JC), it also appears to involve joint Zionist/British intelligence assets such as New Horizons in British Islam, Mitzvah Day and Nisa Nashim. Some of the pearls of wisdom of Noah Katz on X Perhaps most shockingly, for a professed Zionist peacenik, since January 2025, Katz is listed as an advisory council member of Jewish on Campus on his LinkedIn page. This is run by an Israel-based nonprofit called ATID, which stands for Academy for Torah Initiatives and Directions. It is financially supported by the U.S.-based nonprofit the American Committee for the Advancement of Torah Education in Israel Inc. It is run by Rabbi Chaim Brovender, who was sent to occupied Palestine by the Chabad Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who died in 1994. Chabad is a genocidal ultra-Zionist cult, deeply involved directly in the genocide. Brovender established a Yeshiva in Efrat, an illegal settlement in the West Bank. He also served as a Rabbi in the occupation forces (the so-called IDF) for more than 20 years. In other words, Ben Soffa, the national secretary of the anti-Zionist Palestine Solidarity Campaign, appears to be a  Zionist who collaborates daily with other heavily networked Zionists, who are, obviously, supporters of genocide, if not specifically of Netanyahu. In an emailed reply to MintPress News, Soffa stated: I am not the ‘Chair of a Zionist Shul. You seem to have an extremely superficial understanding of how the organisations of the Jewish community operate. Branding all Jews who engage in the organisations of the Jewish community as ‘Zionists’ erases the growing number of Jewish people who increasingly question or reject Zionism. The logic of your argument is that anti-Zionist Jews should exclude themselves from the organisations of the Jewish community. I believe the very opposite. Let’s examine his history and role in the Palestine solidarity movement.   Family background Soffa was born in April 1982 and raised in Cardiff. His family has been in Wales for about a century—his great-grandfather immigrated to London from Russia in the 1890s and moved to Cardiff around 1901, according to Soffa’s father, Stanley. In a 2012 interview, Soffa remarked: There’s definitely a strong Jewish component to my identity, as well as a Welsh one. I don’t speak Welsh, but even though my family’s only been in Wales a hundred years, it feels like it’s something of me. It’s hardly surprising that Soffa came to have Zionist views in his youth, given his family background. Research for Palestine Declassified reveals that his father, Stanley Soffa, is one of the 300 deputies of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, having been elected to represent the Cardiff Reform Synagogue in 2014. He has served as president of the South Wales Jewish Representative Council, which is also Zionist, for some time. Stanley Soffa even lobbied the Labour Party in Wales in support of the Israel lobby antisemitism scam. Ben Soffas mother, Diana Frances Soffa, is listed on Companies House as having been on the board of The Interfaith Network for the United Kingdom (June 2008 February 2011). The Network, which wound up in January 2025, was packed with other Zionists, including Amanda Bowman, Vice President of the Board of Deputies (July 2022-January 2025), and Susan Siegel, a leading operative in the Scottish Zionist movement. It also features Muslim assets of the British intelligence agencies, such as Mustafa Field (September 2022- July 2023). Soffa, therefore, as Zionist lobby enforcer Luke Akehurst has admitted, is from a Zionist family. Obviously, the sins of fathers or mothers should not be attributed to their offspring. Perhaps Ben Soffa moved away from Zionism in his youth? Yet this appears not to be the case. In 2012, he gave an oral history interview, stating plainly, Reform Judaism is definitely within the spectrum where I’m most happy, both in terms of its view of religion and acceptance and human equality. I think Judaism is an ethical code, and while it’s not the complete way that defines how I behave, I think it’s a big part of how I see things like injustices, and that feeds into a fair amount of what I do, even if it’s in an indirect kind of way. This is an admission in 2012—at the age of 30—that he remained a Zionist. I go back to Cardiff about six times a year, he said, and some of that is for festivals, which will often involve going to shul. There’s a lot about that community I miss: the enjoyment of everything being the same for the most part, and being able to catch up with people who I’ve known for thirty years, some who are now in their eighties and nineties. The Reform shul (synagogue) to which he is referring is the Cardiff Reform Synagogue, one of the two synagogues that still exist in Cardiff. Both are Zionist. The Reform Shul, as the name suggests, is a member of the Movement for Reform Judaism, which states on its website that it is unequivocally Zionist. In 2013, the year after he gave this oral history interview, Soffa was appointed as the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. In 2017, he was appointed as the company secretary.   PSC and its racist supporters? In April 2017, Soffa gave an interview to a Ph.D. student researching the PSC. In his account of the various currents of support for the PSC, he stated: PSC as an organization, we do not take a position on UK domestic politics and we are very very [sic] happy to receive anyone, to be welcoming to people right across the political spectrum, as long as they are not racist or involved in racist parties. According to the official PSC view, Zionism is racism. Yet within the looking-glass logic of the organization, acknowledging that this creates a contradiction is virtually unthinkable. Anyone who points it out risks being labeled an antisemite. This blind spot is also evident in the organization Stand Up To Racism, which likewise refuses to acknowledge either the relevance or the fact that Zionism is racism. Thus, it’s no surprise that Soffa has addressed Stand Up To Racism meetings promoting what they describe as anti-racist unity. But the unity they invoke is, in practice, unity with Zionists. If it were genuinely anti-racist, it would confront the racism of Zionism itself. Soffa speaks at a Stand Up To Racism event in Lancaster, Sept. 12, 2024. Credit | Stand Up To Racism   Soft pedalling the Community Security Trust? In 2014, a year into his role as a PSC director and already using the title national director, Soffa appeared on Channel 4 News to debate whether attacks against Jews were on the rise. His interlocutor was a young Eylon Levy, who would go on to become a spokesperson for the Zionist regime before being sacked a decade later for lying. One of the central flashpoints in the discussion was an image of an Israeli flag with the Star of David replaced by a blue swastika. Two Zionist assets debating the alleged rise in antisemitism on Channel 4 News The flag had appeared at a PSC demonstration, prompting the organization to issue a public condemnation. This occurred before the election of Jeremy Corbyn in 2015—an event widely claimed to have conjured into existence the genie of antisemitism—and before the adoption of the IHRA working definition of antisemitism in 2016. It was one of many examples, stretching back over five decades, of the transnational Zionist movement’s efforts to manufacture the myth of a so-called new antisemitism. The debate also occurred before the PSC amended its constitution in 2022 to weaken its stated opposition to Zionism. Notably, the subject under discussion—comparisons between the state of Israel and Nazi Germany—was one of the key examples later included in the IHRA’s final definition of antisemitism, adopted in May 2016. At the time, PSC appeared paralyzed by the controversy, even though comparing Israel to Nazism is, by definition, not Judeophobic since it is about Israel and not characteristics of Jews as Jews. At most, such comparisons might offend some Jews, but they are neither racist nor prejudiced against Jewish people as Jews. Nevertheless, the incident backed PSC into a corner. In response, Soffa cited the Community Security Trust’s (CST) praise for PSC’s condemnation of the image. Appearing on Channel Four News, he said, Our condemnation of that was actually welcomed by the Community Security Trust, the main Jewish body opposing anti-Semitism. That description of CST is not uncontested, including, as we shall see, by PSC itself. In reality, as many people are now aware, the CST is a hardline Zionist organization, run by the convicted fraudster and revisionist Zionist, Gerald Ronson. It exists to run point for the Zionist regime, and its life’s work is to blur the distinction between antisemitism and anti-Zionism. Years later, in May 2024, I challenged Soffa directly on whether there was any relationship between the CST and PSC. He replied in part: CST Tweeted to welcome press statement by PSC. Quit pretending this = collaboration. His response made clear that he did not deny citing CST’s approval. Describing the CST as the main Jewish body opposing antisemitism is, at best, a generous interpretation of its role. Ben Jamal, the national director of PSC, later quoted Soffa’s post and added that PSC has not nor would collaborate with CST. We know exactly what they are and the role they play in conflating antisemitism with advocacy for Palestinian rights, he continued. The use of we and the reference to PSC suggest that Soffa, as national secretary, shares this position. Yet in practice, he appears to take a softer line on CST. PSC Director Ben Jamal on the Community Security Trust | Source For example, the FAQ section of the Lancaster and Lakes Jewish Community website, where Soffa serves as chair, encourages members to report any perceived antisemitic incidents to the CST, noting that the organization monitors such cases nationally. There is no mention of CST’s role in targeting the Palestine solidarity movement, just as there wasn’t in Soffa’s 2014 Channel Four News appearance. Before becoming chair of LLJC in late 2024, Soffa was a committee member responsible for managing the website.   Soffa’s role at PSC What role has Soffa played in PSC over the past decade? Evidence suggests he has taken part in blacklisting and witch-hunting anti-Zionists and supporters of armed resistance, and was likely supportive of PSC’s 2022 decision to weaken its formal opposition to Zionism. After the launch of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation by the Palestinian resistance on Oct. 7, 2023, the Manchester branch of PSC marched with a banner supporting the operation and published a statement on its website that same day: Palestinian freedom fighters from besieged Gaza broke Zionist colonial barriers and entered settlements built on stolen Palestinian land inside ‘48 Palestine.’ Manchester PSC protest after the launch of Al Aqsa Flood in October 2023. Credit | Manchester PSC PSC in London distanced itself from its Manchester branch in a statement published on its website, calling the branch’s support for Palestinian resistance unacceptable. Despite the branch complying with PSC’s demand to delete the website post and a related post on X, the national office suspended Manchester PSC’s officers anyway. On Oct. 27, Soffa wrote to the branch, stating that following a preliminary consideration by PSC’s standing investigative committee, the officers’ membership in PSC had been suspended. In all, writes Asa Winstanley, Soffa sent identical emails to four of the branch’s elected officers, according to sources in Manchester. The emails, seen by The Electronic Intifada, specifically cited Manchester PSC’s Oct. 7 post and a related Twitter post as justification for the suspensions. Soffa wrote: This is not a punitive suspension and is intended only to last until the matter can be investigated and a report considered by the [PSC’s] executive committee. I will be writing to you in the coming days regarding this investigation and how you may submit evidence. Soffa also played a key role in the expulsion of Ian Donovan from PSC around 2020. Donovan summarized his objections to Soffa overseeing the investigation, citing what he saw as a fundamental conflict of interest: In my appeal I complain at length about the conflict of interest in your being the Secretary of PSC and acting to expel anti-Zionist socialists and anti-racists from PSC, when you are also an employed national official of the Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer. Starmer is an avowed enemy of the entire purpose of PSC, support for Palestinians, due to his public statement that he supports Zionism without qualification and his purging of numerous Labour Party members for their opposition to Zionist racism and support for the Palestinians. As far as I am concerned this conflict of interest makes you to all intents and purpose an enemy agent and fifth columnist. Little did Donovan appear to know that Soffa himself may be a Zionist.   Soffa’s role at the Labour Party During much of this period, as Ian Donovan noted, Soffa was employed by the Labour Party as head of digital organising and was in a long-term relationship with Cat Smith, the Labour MP for Lancaster. The two were together for about 11 years before marrying in September 2016. They reportedly separated in 2020, and Soffa’s employment with the party ended in October 2023. In a 2021 account, Soffa reportedly described the extent of his behind-the-scenes support for Smith’s political work: I spent almost every weekend and much time besides supporting her campaigning, writing the materials that would be presented as her work and forgoing many opportunities of my own so l could be there to support her professionally. The Daily Express reported that the name of Soffa’s digital campaign company appeared at the bottom of Cat Smith’s official website and that the compliance officer at IPSA was reviewing whether Smith should have declared her husband’s involvement. Soffa was also listed in the parliamentary email database as a member’s staff for Lancaster and Fleetwood. This appeared to confirm longstanding suspicions, hotly denied in 2017, that Soffa was secretly working for Smith. Whether or not his admission to ghostwriting speeches for Smith constitutes a rules breach, a more troubling issue arises. Between 2016 and 2020, while Smith served in the shadow cabinets of Jeremy Corbyn and Keir Starmer, she made a number of speeches, interventions and appearances that ran counter to the interests of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. In 2016, Smith was one of the two most senior members of Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet to attend a Chanukah event hosted by the Jewish Labour Movement, the first ever held at Labour Party HQ in central London. On Jan. 23, 2020, she stood in Parliament and approvingly echoed Zionist talking points from Dave Rich of the Community Security Trust, the aforementioned group that serves as a proxy for the genocidal regime. Quoting Rich, Smith said: Dave Rich of the Community Security Trust has suggested that the recent rises in antisemitism are not just about attitudes to Jewish people but are the results of our society weakening as a whole. Extremist movements in the UK and abroad have given confidence to those that previously hid in the shadows. Antisemitism always flourishes when extremism takes hold, and our current times are no different. This is a problem that all British society must confront, and it demands leadership that is prepared to turn its back on inequality and division. Prejudice and hatred of Jewish people has no place whatsoever in society, and every one of us has a responsibility to ensure that it is never allowed to fester again. Shortly afterward, Smith responded deferentially to Labour MP Margaret Hodge, a hardline Zionist known for her role in the antisemitism smear campaign: I thank my right hon. Friend for raising that incredibly valid and painful point with regard to social media companies. I pay tribute to her work on always challenging antisemitism wherever it raises its head, even when it can be very uncomfortable to do so. In March 2020, Smith leveraged her relationship with Soffa in defense of her record on antisemitism, stating: I have a Jewish family, my husband is Jewish and my child is Jewish. She went on to channel the antisemitism scam, asserting: There are people in the Labour Party that hold antisemitic views and express them and the party has not been able to react fast enough to expel these people. Regarding then-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, she added: I think he did not deal with the crisis, and it was a crisis, in the party, assertively enough, or fast enough, and, as a result, it suggested that if you were antisemitic you could be in the party, which upset me greatly. If there were any instances of that in my local party, where I have more control, I would have come down on them like a ton of bricks. Smith is listed as a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Antisemitism and has attended its events since at least December 2015. The group is run by the Antisemitism Policy Trust, which has received nearly all of its funding from Zionist sources since its founding in 2001. Among its most prominent funders is the Pears Family Charitable Foundation, a philanthropic group led by the Pears family, once described as Britain’s worst landlords by a BBC consumer program. In May 2024, some years after she split with Ben Soffa, Smith spoke in Parliament about the advice she had taken from Noah Katz—Soffa’s deputy chair at his shul. Predictably, these were hardline Zionist talking points. She referred to Katz as the Chair of the Lancaster and Lakes Jewish Community, which he was at the time, and noted that the shul is in my constituency. She thanked Katz for giving time and sharing how we can advocate for peace rather than stoking division, as well as our common views on the need to see hostages released and a ceasefire. She added that although Lancaster’s Jewish community is small, it has strong links with friends and family in Israel, and that in the seven months since 7 October, they have provided support for local Jewish families. The community had, she said, adopted the Bibas family as part of the Board of Deputies’ Seder Seat For a Hostage campaign. I thank Noah for the way they support Jewish families in Lancaster, including my own, she said. Her own family is, of course, a reference to her by-then ex-husband Ben Soffa and their child. Finally, it is worth noting that in 2024, Smith received £5,000 from Labour Together, the Zionist vehicle established by the effective leader of the British Zionist movement, Trevor Chinn, and others to recruit Labour MPs to the Zionist cause. Whether Soffa’s admission that he was involved in directly supporting Smith, through unofficial ghostwriting and political advice, implicates him in any of the activities outlined above is impossible to say with certainty. What can be said, however, is that this undisclosed involvement represents a clear potential conflict of interest with his role at the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. In an emailed response to MintPress News, Ben Soffa wrote: The attempt to suggest people should be held accountable for the views of family members or ex-partners is a particularly low form of politics. I am no more responsible for the choices they make than they are for mine.   Assaf Kaplan Another controversial aspect of Soffa’s work for the Labour Party, though previously reported, involves his proximity to Assaf Kaplan, the former Israeli spy. While Soffa served as head of digital, the party appointed Kaplan as head of social listening and organizing manager. Efforts were made to determine whether Soffa had any direct relationship with Kaplan, but they were frustrated by his refusal to comment. As Asa Winstanley wrote in November 2023: Contacted by phone, Ben Soffa declined to answer questions on the record, insisting we email PSC’s media address instead. Asked if he thinks Palestinians have the right to defend themselves using armed force, Soffa refused to answer. He also refused to answer when asked what PSC’s position is on the Palestinian use of armed defense. Asked if he, as a senior Labour staffer, has ever worked with Israeli spy Assaf Kaplan – who was hired to monitor Labour members’ social media activities – Soffa refused to answer. That is something that I’m not going to comment on, he said, when asked if he works with Kaplan currently. In his first statement on these questions, Soffa told MintPress News: I took a job at the Labour Party a couple of months after the election of Jeremy Corbyn, in whose leadership campaign I had played a significant role. Five years later, under the Starmer leadership, another team hired the individual you are referring to. We had very limited interactions. In an organization with hundreds of staff, it is frankly bizarre to suggest any employee is responsible for the hiring choices made by other sections of the organization. In response to your question, we did not ‘share an office’ as I worked remotely throughout this period. The individual that MintPress News was referring to was, of course, Assaf Kaplan. Soffa stated that he worked remotely and thus did not share an office with Kaplan. But he does acknowledge—in what must be a very damaging admission—that he and Kaplan had what he described as limited interactions. So Soffa, the anti-zionist head of digital organizing and the Zionist ex-spy social listening and organizing manager, worked together at Labour headquarters. At the same time, Soffa was the national secretary of the anti-Zionist Palestine Solidarity Campaign.   In conclusion The case of Ben Soffa is instructive. It sheds light on the appalling behavior of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and its blacklisting of anti-Zionists. It also helps clarify the PSC’s relationship with the Palestinian Authority and the BDS National Committee, which leads the international BDS campaign from its base in Ramallah. PSC has endorsed many of the BDS NC’s reactionary positions, including efforts to blacklist anti-Zionist groups and to denounce support for the legitimate right of armed resistance. This was evident in its condemnation of the Mapping Project in the U.S., and its response to the Manchester branch’s statement following the Al-Aqsa Flood operation in late 2023. The organization has also censored me, as well as other anti-Zionist activists, including Huda Ammori of Palestine Action and the British-Iraqi rapper Lowkey. And who can forget its blacklisting of Palestinian freedom fighter Leila Khaled? That there are actual believing Zionists in the highest levels of the organization starts to reorient our understanding toward the idea that the PSC has been, at best, penetrated or infiltrated by a Zionist asset, and, at worst, is itself an asset of the Zionist regime. And there must be questions about Soffa specifically. Was he placed in PSC to cause the damage that he evidently has? In an emailed response to MintPress News, Soffa wrote: Any suggestion that I am ‘an infiltrator’ would be entirely without foundation in fact and would be highly defamatory. I have been active in the campaign for Palestinian rights for almost 25 years, have come under fire from the IDF whilst in Palestine and you yourself have reported I lost my job due to my support for Palestine. On the other hand, the supposed evidence that I am not a sincere supporter of the Palestinian people seems to amount to the fact I am Jewish and am involved in the Jewish community. It seems likely that new revelations about the internal workings of PSC will continue to surface, as its confrontation with the anti-Zionist movement intensifies. MintPress News also contacted Ben Jamal, the national director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, to ask when and whether he became aware that Soffa appears to be a Zionist; what, if anything, he intends to do about it; whether he considers it a conflict of interest for Soffa to chair an organization affiliated with the Board of Deputies; and about Soffa’s apparent role in advising his then-wife on relevant matters. Jamal did not respond. Feature photo | Illustration by MintPress News Professor David Miller is a non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Islam and Global Affairs at Istanbul Zaim University and a former Professor of Political Sociology at the University of Bristol. He is a broadcaster, writer and investigative researcher; the producer of the weekly show Palestine Declassified on PressTV; and the co-director of Public Interest Investigations, of which spinwatch.org and powerbase.info are projects. He tweets @Tracking_Power. The post UK Palestine Solidarity Campaign Official Admits Working With Former Israeli Spy appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: Foreign Affairs, Investigations, News, Top Story, anti-Zionism, Assaf Kaplan, Ben Soffa, Israeli Spy, Labour Party, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, PSC scandal, UK activism, UK PSC, Zionist infiltration]

— The Think Tank Behind Project 2025 Just Published Trump’s Iran War Plan

 

at 5/27/25 11:04am

Flying under the media radar, the Heritage Foundation—a think tank widely viewed as the intellectual engine behind the Trump administration’s foreign policy agenda—has published a brief that appears to map out the president’s prospective approach to Iran. The six-page document advocates ending nuclear negotiations and pursuing joint U.S.-Israeli strikes against Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. Though thinly veiled as a policy analysis, the brief reads more like a soft launch for a war strategy. Heritage has long played a predictive role in Trump-era foreign policy. Its reports and recommendations often find their way into official doctrine, especially on issues involving Israel and Iran. That’s what makes this document, titled Eradicating Iran’s Nuclear Program, so significant: it not only outlines what Washington should do, but when and how it should do it. It opens with a glaring historical error, stating that The Islamic Republic of Iran has had a nuclear program since the 1950s, with a military dimension beginning in the late 1980s.” Iran was a monarchy until 1979, when a grassroots revolution brought about a change in leadership. More troubling, however, are its prescriptions. The authors endorse the Trump administration’s current posture, insisting the U.S. uphold the red line set by Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff: that Iran will not be allowed to retain even 1% of an enrichment capability. Tehran has dismissed this demand as a non-starter. The brief argues that only a credible threat of military action can force Iranian concessions. If that fails, it claims, a joint Israeli-American strike is both viable and necessary. The authors recommend setting a firm end date for negotiations prior to October 25, when the JCPOAs snapback sanctions provision is set to expire. But experts familiar with the region have warned that strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities would, at best, delay the program temporarily and could provoke major regional blowback. In April, U.S. and Israeli military analysts stated that such action might escalate into full-scale war. The Heritage Foundation, however, assures readers that the U.S. and Israel have the capability to effectively end Iran’s nuclear program without significant civilian casualties and deter significant retaliation. These claims are not only unsupported but also contradicted by recent battlefield data. The brief asserts, without evidence, that Iran’s air defenses have been decimated. It also claims Hezbollah has been decapitated and Hamas gutted. In reality, Israeli estimates place Hamas’s active manpower at roughly 40,000, unchanged since before October 7. Hezbollah remains operational. And Ansar Allah (Houthis) continue to launch near-daily missile strikes despite months of U.S. and allied bombardment. This isn’t mere misanalysis. It’s narrative warfare. By portraying key regional actors as already neutralized, the Heritage brief constructs a fantasy scenario in which war appears low-cost, high-reward, and all but inevitable. What’s most alarming is not the errors—it’s the pattern. The brief echoes talking points from pro-Israel think tanks like the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), which recently claimed that Iran’s current weakness represents a unique opportunity to strike. Together, these voices are shaping a consensus built upon deeply flawed assumptions. The Heritage Foundation has played a central role in shaping the policy direction of Trump’s second term, most notably through Project 2025. Viewed in that context, this Iran brief appears less like an analysis and more like a policy marker, an indication of how military strategy may be formalized in the coming months. Feature photo | President Donald Trump speaks at the Heritage Foundation’s annual President’s Club meeting in Washington on Oct. 17, 2017. The Heritage Foundation, author of the controversial Project 2025 blueprint, recently published a policy brief outlining a potential roadmap for U.S.-Israeli military strikes on Iran’s nuclear program. Pablo Martinez Monsivais | AP Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show ‘Palestine Files’. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’. Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47 The post The Think Tank Behind Project 2025 Just Published Trumps Iran War Plan appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: National, News, Heritage Foundation, Iran strike, Israel-Iran war, JCPOA, Middle East war, Nuclear Program, think tank influence, Trump Iran policy, U.S. foreign policy, WINEP]

— Chris Hedges: Zionist Influence Is Destroying Liberal Institutions from Within

 

at 5/27/25 11:02am

Originally published at ScheerPost on May 27, 2025. Republished with permission. The media, universities, the Democratic Party and liberals, by embracing the fiction of “rampant antisemitism,” laid the groundwork for their own demise. Columbia and Princeton, where I have taught, and Harvard, which I attended, are not incubators of hatred towards Jews. The New York Times, where I worked for fifteen years and which Trump calls “an enemy of the people,” is slavishly subservient to the Zionist narrative. What these institutions have in common is not antisemitism, but liberalism. And liberalism, with its creed of pluralism and inclusiveness, is slated by our authoritarian regime for obliteration. The media, universities, the Democratic Party and liberals, by embracing the fiction of “rampant antisemitism,” laid the groundwork for their own demise. Columbia and Princeton, where I have taught, and Harvard, which I attended, are not incubators of hatred towards Jews. The New York Times, where I worked for fifteen years and which Trump calls “an enemy of the people,” is slavishly subservient to the Zionist narrative. What these institutions have in common is not antisemitism, but liberalism. And liberalism, with its creed of pluralism and inclusiveness, is slated by our authoritarian regime for obliteration. The conflation of outrage over the genocide with antisemitism is a sleazy tactic to silence protest and placate Zionist donors, the billionaire class and advertisers. These liberal institutions, weaponizing antisemitism, aggressively silenced and expelled critics, banned student groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine, allowed police to make hundreds of arrests of peaceful protests on campuses, purged professors and groveled before Congress. Use the words ‘apartheid’ and ‘genocide’ and you are fired or excoriated. Zionist Jews, in this fictional narrative, are the oppressed. Jews who protest the genocide are slandered as Hamas stooges and punished. Good Jews. Bad Jews. One group deserves protection. The other deserves to be thrown to the wolves. This odious bifurcation exposes the charade. In April 2024, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik, along with two board members and a law professor, testified before the House of Representative education committee. They accepted the premise that antisemitism was a significant problem at Columbia and other higher education institutions. When Co-Chair of the Board of Trustees of Columbia University David Greenwald and others told the committee that they believed  “from the river to the sea” and “long live the intifada” were antisemitic statements, Shafik agreed. She threw students and faculty under the bus, including long-time professor Joseph Massad. The day after the hearings, Shafik suspended all the students at the Columbia protests and called in the New York City Police Department (NYPD), who arrested at least 108 students. “I have determined that the encampment and related disruptions pose a clear and present danger to the substantial functioning of the University,” Shafik wrote in her letter to the police. NYPD Chief John Chell, however, told the press, “the students that were arrested were peaceful, offered no resistance whatsoever, and were saying what they wanted to say in a peaceful manner.” “What disciplinary action has been taken against that professor?” Representative Elise Stefanik asked in the hearing about Columbia law Professor Katherine Franke. Shafik volunteered that Franke, who is Jewish and whose position at the law school where she had taught for 25 years was terminated, and other professors, were being investigated. In an apparent reference to visiting Columbia Professor Mohamed Abdou, she claimed he was “terminated” and promised he “will never teach at Columbia again.” Professor Abdou is suing Columbia for defamation, discrimination, harassment and financial and professional loss. The Center for Constitutional Rights wrote of the betrayal of Franke: In an egregious attack on both academic freedom and Palestinian rights advocacy, Columbia University has entered into an “agreement” with Katherine Franke to leave her teaching position after an esteemed 25-year career. The move — “a termination dressed up in more palatable terms,” according to Franke’s statement — stems from her advocacy for students who speak out in support of Palestinian rights. Her ostensible offense was a comment expressing concern about Columbia’s failure to address harassment of Palestinians and their allies by Israeli students who come to campus straight from military service — after Israeli students sprayed Palestinian rights protestors with a toxic chemical. For this, she was investigated for harassment and found to be in violation of Columbia’s policies. The actual cause of her forced departure is the crackdown on dissent at Columbia resulting from historic protests opposing Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Franke’s fate was sealed when former Columbia president Minouche Shafik threw her under the bus during her cowardly appearance before Congress. You can see my interview with Franke here. Despite her capitulation to the Zionist lobby, Shark resigned a little more than a year after assuming her position as head of the university. The crackdown at Columbia continues, with an estimated 80 people arrested and over 65 students suspended following a protest in the library in the first week of May. Former television journalist and Columbia’s acting president Claire Shipman condemned the protest, stating,“Disruptions to our academic activities will not be tolerated and are violations of our rules and policies…Columbia strongly condemns violence on our campus, antisemitism and all forms of hate and discrimination, some of which we witnessed today.” Of course, appeasement does not work. This witch hunt, whether under the Biden or Trump administration, was never grounded in good faith. It was about decapitating Israel’s critics and marginalizing the liberal class and the left. It is sustained by lies and slander, which these institutions continue to embrace. Watching these liberal institutions, who are hostile to the left, be smeared by Trump for harboring “Marxist lunatics,” “radical leftists,” and “communists,” exposes another failing of the liberal class. It was the left that could have saved these institutions or at least given them the fortitude, not to mention analysis, to take a principled stand. The left at least calls apartheid apartheid and genocide genocide. Media outlets regularly publish articles and OpEds uncritically accepting claims made by Zionist students and faculty. They fail to clarify the distinction between being Jewish and being Zionist. They demonize student protesters. They never bothered reporting with any depth or honesty from the student encampments where Jews, Muslims and Christians made common cause. They routinely mischaracterize anti-Zionist, anti-genocide and pro-Palestinian liberation slogans and policy demands as hate speech, antisemitic, or contributing to Jewish students feeling unsafe. Examples include, The New York Times: “Why the Campus Protests Are So Troubling,” “I’m a Columbia Professor. The Protests on My Campus Are Not Justice,” and “Universities Face an Urgent Question: What Makes a Protest Antisemitic?”; The Washington Post: “Call the campus protests what they are” “At Columbia, excuse the students, but not the faculty”; The Atlantic: “Campus Protest Encampments Are Unethical” and “Columbia University’s anti-Semitism Problem”; Slate: “When Pro-Palestine Protests Cross Into Antisemitism”; Vox: The Rising Tide of Antisemitism on College Campuses Amid Gaza Protests”; Mother Jones: “How Pro-Palestine Protests Spark Antisemitism on Campus”; The Cut (New York Magazine): “The Problem With Pro-Palestine Protests on Campus”; and The Daily Beast: “Antisemitism Surges Amid Pro-Palestine Protests at U.S. Universities.” The New York Times, in a decision worthy of George Orwell, instructed its reporters to eschew words such “refugee camps,” “occupied territory,” “slaughter,” “massacre,” “carnage,” “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing,” when writing about Palestine, according to an internal memo obtained by The Intercept. It discourages the very use of the word “Palestine” in routine text and headlines. In December 2023, Democratic Governor of New York Kathy Hochul sent a letter to university and college presidents who failed to condemn and address “antisemitism,” and calls for the “genocide of any group.” She warned that they would be subjected to “aggressive enforcement action” by New York State. The following year, in late August, Hochul repeated these warnings during a virtual meeting with 200 university and college leaders. Hochul made clear in October 2024 that she considered pro-Palestine slogans  to be explicit calls for genocide of Jews. “There are laws on the books – human rights laws, state and federal laws – that I will enforce if you allow for the discrimination of our students on campus, even calling for the genocide of the Jewish people which is what is meant by ‘From the river to the sea,’ by the way,” she said at a memorial event at the Temple Israel Center in White Plains. “Those are not innocent sounding words. They’re filled with hate.” The Governor successfully pressured City University of New York (CUNY) to remove a job posting for a Palestinian studies professorship at Hunter College which referenced “settler colonialism,” “genocide” and “apartheid.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in his new book “Antisemitism in America: A Warning,” leads efforts by the Democratic Party — which has a dismal 27 percent approval rating in a recent NBC News poll — to denounce those protesting the genocide as carrying out a “blood libel” against Jews. “Whatever one’s view of how the war in Gaza was conducted, it is not and has never been the policy of the Israeli government to exterminate the Palestinian people,” he writes, ignoring hundreds of calls by Israeli officials to wipe Palestinians from the face of the earth during 19 months of saturation bombing and enforced starvation. The grisly truth, openly acknowledged by Israeli officials, is far different. “We are disassembling Gaza, and leaving it as piles of rubble, with total destruction [which has] no precedent globally. And the world isn’t stopping us,” gloats Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. “Last night, almost 100 Gazans were killed…it doesn’t interest anyone. Everyone has gotten used to [the fact] that [we can] kill 100 Gazans in one night during a war and nobody cares in the world,” Israeli Knesset member Zvi Sukkot, told Israel’s Channel 12 on May 16. The perpetuation of the fiction of widespread antisemitism, which of course exists but which is not fostered or condoned by these institutions, coupled with the refusal to say out loud what is being live streamed to the world, has shattered what little moral authority these institutions and liberals had left. It gives credibility to Trump’s effort to cripple and destroy all institutions that sustain a liberal democracy. Trump surrounds himself with neo-Nazi sympathizers such as Elon Musk, and Christian fascists who condemn Jews for crucifying Christ. But antisemitism by the right gets a free pass since these “good” antisemites cheer on Israel’s settler colonial project of extermination, one these neo-Nazis and Christian fascists would like to replicate on Brown and Black in the name of the great replacement theory. Trump trumpets the fiction of “white genocide” in South Africa. He signed an executive order in February that fast-tracked immigration to the U.S. for Afrikaners — white South Africans. Harvard, which is attempting to save itself from the wrecking ball of the Trump administration, was as complicit in this witch hunt as everyone else, flagellating itself for not being more repressive towards campus critics of the genocide. The university’s former president Claudine Gay condemned the pro-Palestine slogan “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which demands the right of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, as bearing “specific historical meanings that to a great many people imply the eradication of Jews from Israel.” Harvard substantially tightened its regulations regarding student protests, in January 2024, and increased the police presence on its campus. It barred 13 students from graduating, citing alleged policy violations linked to their participation in a protest encampment, despite an earlier agreement to avoid punitive measures. It placed more than 20 students on “involuntary leave” and in some cases evicted students from their housing. Such policies were replicated across the country. The capitulations and crackdowns on pro-Palestine activism, academic freedom, freedom of speech, suspensions, expulsions and firings, since Oct. 7, 2023, have not spared U.S. colleges and universities from further attacks. Since Trump took office, at least $11 billion in federal research grants and contracts have been cut or frozen nationwide according to NPR. This includes Harvard ($3 billion), Columbia ($400 million), University of Pennsylvania ($175 million) and Brandeis ($6-7.5 million annually). On May 22, the Trump administration intensified its attacks on Harvard by terminating its ability to enroll international students that make up around 27 percent of the student body. “This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus,” Kristi Noem, DHS Secretary wrote on X, when posting screenshots of the letter she sent to Harvard revoking foreign student enrollment. “Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country.” Harvard, like Columbia, the media, the Democratic Party and the liberal class, misread power. By refusing to acknowledge or name the genocide in Gaza, and persecuting those who do, they provided the bullets to their executioners. They are paying the price for their stupidity and cowardice. Feature photo | Trump’s Useful Idiots | Artwork by Mr. Fish Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist who was a foreign correspondent for fifteen years for The New York Times, where he served as the Middle East Bureau Chief and Balkan Bureau Chief for the paper. He previously worked overseas for The Dallas Morning News, The Christian Science Monitor, and NPR. He is the host of show The Chris Hedges Report. The post Chris Hedges: Zionist Influence Is Destroying Liberal Institutions from Within appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: National, News, Opinion & Analysis, Top Story, academic freedom, antisemitism debate, Campus Censorship, Chris Hedges, Columbia protests, Gaza Genocide, Katherine Franke, liberal institutions, NYPD arrests, Zionist narrative]

— Staging for a Strike? US Quietly Moves Bombers as Israel Prepares to Hit Iran

 

at 5/22/25 7:42am

As threats of an Israeli strike on Iran grow louder, the United States is making quiet but unmistakable moves of its own. Over the past month, Washington has quietly repositioned strategic bombers and fighter squadrons to Diego Garcia, a remote U.S. military outpost in the Indian Ocean, squarely within striking distance of Tehran. The official rationale is force protection. But the scale and nature of the deployments have sparked speculation that Washington is laying the groundwork for potential military involvement in an Israeli-led operation, or, at the very least, sending a message to Tehran that it won’t stand in the way. Roughly a month ago, the U.S. Air Force deployed six B-2 Spirit bombers to Diego Garcia, a third of its active fleet of nuclear-capable stealth aircraft. These bombers, capable of flying directly from the U.S. to targets across the globe, don’t require forward deployment to be effective. Which is why their presence on a remote island in the Indian Ocean is raising eyebrows. The B-2s have reportedly been used in prior strikes against Ansar Allah targets in Yemen, though with limited strategic effect. Following the declared conclusion of U.S. operations in Yemen, at least some of the B-2s were replaced by four B-52 strategic bombers, another long-range platform associated with show-of-force missions. But then, additional firepower arrived. An entire squadron of F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jets was flown to the base. While these jets have strike capabilities, open-source intelligence analysts suggest they were likely deployed for base defense. That assessment, if correct, underscores that the Pentagon sees Diego Garcia not just as a staging ground, but as a potential target in a broader escalation. Meanwhile, intelligence signals point to real movement on the Israeli side. A CNN report this Tuesday cited intercepted communications and activity on the ground indicating that Israel is preparing to strike Iranian nuclear facilities. U.S. officials reportedly believe the plans are active and serious. In April, Donald Trump remarked that Israel would lead any such operation. That comment was interpreted by many as a nod of support, if not a green light, from Washington. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for his part, has repeatedly warned that his government will not allow Iran to become a nuclear weapons state. Yet even as diplomatic channels remained open, the introduction of new U.S. red lines appears to have derailed progress. U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff recently declared that Iran must halt all uranium enrichment, a demand not included in the original 2015 nuclear agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Iranian officials rejected the move outright. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reiterated that enrichment is a sovereign right and a non-negotiable issue. Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei dismissed the new U.S. conditions as nonsense. And on May 22, Araghchi issued a sharper warning: Iran, he said, would take special measures to defend its nuclear facilities if Israeli threats continued. The statement was deliberately vague, but left little doubt that Tehran is preparing for contingencies. In Washington, meanwhile, influential think tanks are ratcheting up pressure for a hardline approach. The Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP) has called for the complete dismantling of Iran’s enrichment infrastructure. The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) has urged more sanctions. The Atlantic Council argues the U.S. must avoid reviving Obama’s Iran deal. Simultaneously, Dana Stroul, a former Biden official now at WINEP, has argued that Iran’s current weakness presents an opportunity for military action. Her view echoes a growing consensus across Washington’s think tank circuit: that Tehran is vulnerable, and now is the moment to strike. These are the same voices that helped shape past U.S. interventions in the region. Their resurgence now, alongside tactical military deployments and rhetorical escalations, suggests a familiar pattern. What’s missing from the conversation is any real public debate about the consequences. Not just for Iran, but for U.S. interests, regional stability, and the American public. A confrontation with Iran would carry significant consequences, yet few in Washington have publicly questioned whether such a conflict serves America’s national interest, save for outliers like Rep. Thomas Massie, who has drawn fire from powerful lobbies simply for asking whether this is our fight to begin with. The buildup at Diego Garcia may be interpreted as precaution. But it’s also a reminder of how quickly precaution becomes policy, and policy becomes war, especially when shaped by proxies, pressure groups, and allies with very different interests. Wars don’t always begin with votes. In fact, they often begin with quiet deployments far from view, and even farther from the American people they will ultimately affect. Feature photo | This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows six U.S. B-2 stealth bombers parked at Camp Thunder Cove in Diego Garcia on April 2, 2025. Though officially deployed for operations in Yemen, the presence of these nuclear-capable aircraft in striking range of Iran has raised concerns that the U.S. is quietly preparing to support a potential Israeli attack. Photo | AP Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show ‘Palestine Files’. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’. Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47 The post Staging for a Strike? US Quietly Moves Bombers as Israel Prepares to Hit Iran appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: News, American intervention, B-2 bomber, Diego Garcia, F-15 deployment, foreign policy, Iran strike, Israel-Iran war, Middle East war, U.S. Empire, U.S. military]

— Microsoft’s Role in Gaza Goes Way Beyond the ICC Email Lockout

 

at 5/21/25 6:06am

Last week, headlines lit up with a staggering development: Microsoft locked the world’s top war crimes prosecutor out of his email. Karim Khan, chief of the International Criminal Court (ICC), had dared to go after Israeli officials for war crimes and was instantly digitally silenced. His accounts were frozen. His name smeared. His power stripped. It looked like petty revenge. But it wasn’t just that. It was the latest move in a coordinated campaign, backed by Washington, Tel Aviv, and Silicon Valley, to destroy the one court willing to challenge Israeli impunity. And Microsoft is at the center of it. While the press obsessed over the email lockout, few paid attention to what came before: a U.S.-Israeli information war against the ICC. After the court announced arrest warrants against both Hamas and Israeli officials for war crimes in Gaza, U.S. officials went into overdrive. Biden called the decision “outrageous.” Lawmakers threatened sanctions. Netanyahu smeared the court as “antisemitic.” Despite the outrage, the warrants reflected a 3-to-2 ratio: Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, and Mohammed al-Deif of Hamas; Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Prime Minister Netanyahu. All three Palestinian leaders have since been killed. The Israeli officials remain untouched. Then came the kicker: the U.S. government sanctioned Khan himself. His bank accounts were frozen, and his allies were warned: help him and face criminal charges. It wasn’t the first time, either. In 2002, Congress passed the American Service-Members Protection Act, better known as the Hague Invasion Act. It authorizes the president to send troops into the Netherlands if any American or allied official is detained by the court. But while the U.S. handled the threats and the muscle, Microsoft played a more subtle role. According to Khan, the company blocked him from his official ICC email account just as he was formalizing charges against top Israeli leaders. The timing, to many, wasn’t a coincidence—it was a message. Following October 7, Microsoft signed $10 million in new contracts with the Israeli military. Through a secretive program called “Project Azure,” the company provided infrastructure for Israeli intelligence and air force units, including Unit 8200 and Unit 81. These are the same units compiling “kill lists” in Gaza. The company stayed quiet until recently, when it admitted to providing “emergency support” to Israel. But insisted that there was “no evidence” its tech harmed civilians. That’s not all. Microsoft previously poured $78 million into the Israeli surveillance firm AnyVision, whose facial recognition tech was deployed across the West Bank. It also powered an app developed by the Israeli military—“Al Munaseq”—which spies on Palestinian permit-holders. Its cloud systems processed their private phone data. Worse still, Microsoft has been stacking its upper ranks with veterans of Israel’s Unit 8200, effectively embedding a foreign intelligence agency into the core of one of America’s most powerful corporations and building its next data centers in Israel. While the ICC is being sabotaged from the top, resistance is brewing from within. On April 4, two Microsoft employees, one a whistleblower, disrupted the company’s 50th anniversary celebration, accusing it of complicity in genocide. Both were fired. Then, at the Build 2025 conference, Palestinian engineer Joe Lopez interrupted CEO Satya Nadella mid-speech: “My people are suffering!” Security dragged him out. A day later, another protester shouted down a separate keynote: “No Azure for Apartheid!” Protesters outside waved Palestinian flags and demanded answers. These demonstrations were organized by the group No Azure for Apartheid, which has been documenting how Microsoft’s tools are helping Israel wage war. Inside the company, those who speak out face retaliation. Meanwhile, Netanyahu is gloating. “The prosecutor should be worried about his status,” he said after the warrants were announced. That threat has aged well. Many critics of Microsoft’s outsized role in Israel’s war argue that when a foreign state and its allies in Silicon Valley can paralyze an international court with the click of a button, it’s not just Gaza under siege, its in our institutions, our tech, and our sovereignty. Feature photo | An Israeli officer wears Microsoft’s HoloLens headset during military testing in Ramat Gan, Israel. Stefanie Jrkel | AP Robert Inlakesh is a political analyst, journalist and documentary filmmaker currently based in London, UK. He has reported from and lived in the occupied Palestinian territories and hosts the show ‘Palestine Files’. Director of ‘Steal of the Century: Trump’s Palestine-Israel Catastrophe’. Follow him on Twitter @falasteen47 The post Microsoft’s Role in Gaza Goes Way Beyond the ICC Email Lockout appeared first on MintPress News.

[Category: News, big tech, Gaza, ICC, Israel, Karim Khan, Microsoft, Project Azure, Surveillance, UNIT 8200, War Crimes]

As of 6/21/25 1:26am. Last new 6/18/25 4:06pm.