Reply With QuoteWho compared Palestine Action to ISIS?!Originally Posted by jon1959
| + Visit Cardiff FC for Latest News, Transfer Gossip, Fixtures and Match Results |
That is exactly what I was doing - and trying to give James's ridiculous defence of Yvette Cooper a poke!
The 'nonsense' is the whole point - but unfortunately satire is dead.
However, the comparison of Palestine Action with the Dorset trespassers is far less nonsensical than the comparison of Palestine Action with ISIS.
On the same day that Parliament backed Cooper's order to proscribe Palestine Action many of the leading supporters of that action were celebrating the Suffragettes. As they should. But the suffragettes - alongside non violent actions of the type familiar from Extinction Rebellion, Greenpeace and Palestine Action like chaining themselves to railings and graffiti - also carried out a bombing and arson campaign that killed 4 and injured 20-30.
https://www.thenational.scot/news/25...estine-action/
It is the hypocrisy, the double standards and the abuse of state power that I am trying to highlight.
Who compared Palestine Action to ISIS?!
The Home Secretary, 385 MPs and the House of Lords!
Well they became a proscribed group, but no one has compared them to ISIS!
Statement issued by the JSG on Friday 4 July:
Jewish Socialists’ Group statement against the proscription of Palestine Action
The Jewish Socialists’ Group stands for, and in defence of, peace, justice and equality for the Palestinian people, and strongly opposes the British Government’s attempt to proscribe Palestine Action.
Jewish Socialists' Group
• Human rights – including the rights to free speech and non-violent protest – are universal and inalienable: governments may not pick and choose which rights are respected and who they apply to.
• We have not been handed these rights. Each one has been fought for, usually in circumstances requiring great courage and conviction, often risking life and liberty.
• This latest manifestation of our government’s authoritarianism rings warning bells for all of us. We identify with those Jews across the world who have always been in the forefront of protests to defend human rights and to resist attempts by those in power to dismantle democracy, and with those who are building on that legacy today.
• We stand in solidarity with those who are being targeted precisely because their protests are effective in raising awareness and illuminating actions by governments and state institutions that are criminal, corrupt or just wrong.
• We oppose our government’s complicity with the genocide being committed in Palestine, and support all the courageous human rights defenders in Israel who are standing against their government’s war crimes.
• The term “terrorism” has always been used by states against non-state groups that pose an effective challenge to their power and authority. It is clear that an organisation like Palestine Action – which is advocating for peace and to prevent actual terror and war crimes against civilians – are not terrorising anyone.
• The Jewish Socialists’ Group rejects attempts by the self-appointed leaders and invented representatives of the Jewish community to silence, co-opt or threaten Jewish people and groups who refuse to conform to their authorised version of Jewish opinion. They do not represent our diverse, vibrant and conflicted community, and we will not be used by them as a weapon to attack supporters of the Palestinian people.
https://www.jewishsocialist.org.uk/n...lestine-action
Statement issued by Jewish Voice for Labour on Wednesday 2 July:
Proscribing Palestine Action is an Outrage!
It is a new low from this government, using accusations of terrorism to clamp down on dissent.
It is an attack on free speech and the right to non-violent protest in the UK – a right Keir Starmer once defended but has now shamefully abandoned.
It threatens the fabric of our democracy. A direct action protest group will be classified as a terrorist organisation, joining the likes of Islamic State and al-Qaida. There is no resemblance.
Palestine Action does not advocate for violent armed action or for people to be harmed, It exists to decommission weapons used to commit war crimes. It breaks the law to prevent an even greater breach of the law.
The government has capitulated to pro-Israel pressure groups such as the Jewish Leadership Council, We Believe in Israel and the so-called Campaign Against Antisemitism.
Liberty, Amnesty International and the European Legal Support Center have submitted witness statements supporting PA’s case alleging the unlawful misuse of anti-terror measures to criminalise dissent.
A senior civil servant reports that Home Office staff are concerned about the “absurd” decision to ban Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws: “It’s…a blatant misuse of anti-terror laws for political purposes to clamp down on protests which are affecting the profits of arms companies.”
The order makes any and every action in support of Palestine a possible terrorist offence as this might be construed as support for Palestine Action’s goal of “solidarity with the Palestinian people”.
The government is using anti-terrorist laws to cover up its embarrassment at the poor security at bases where PA actions have taken place.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper engages in a cynical ploy by naming Palestine Action in a proscription order alongside 2 obscure Russian neo-nazi groups ‘Maniac Murder Cult’ and ‘Russian Imperialist Movement’ (RIM), forcing MPs to vote to approve all three bans or to reject all three.
We say:
We oppose the proscription of Palestine Action and send them our solidarity.
We support the right for people to engage in direct action to prevent greater harm for example, in recent years, for Palestine, to limit environmental catastrophe, to support the rights of asylum seekers or to oppose racism.
We view the actions of Palestine Action as a justifiable response to the brutal occupation of Palestine and the ongoing genocide of Palestinians.
https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org...is-an-outrage/
Maybe if we didn't have orphan crushing machines there wouldn't be a issue of damaging them?
This post does not express support for Palestine Action. Nor does the linked piece.
https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...rt-protest-law
https://www.jewishvoiceforlabour.org...cles-for-you_1
Palestine Action is, by any measure, an unusual candidate for the “terror” tag. It does not have bombs or guns. Its most noteworthy action was to spray red paint on British warplanes at an RAF base.
When the alleged painters go on trial they may want to call on the services of a well-known human rights barrister who 20 years ago, in a separate case, defended Josh Richards. Along with others, Richards had infiltrated RAF Fairford intending to disable bombers heading to Iraq. The barrister and his colleagues argued that their clients’ actions were aimed at preventing illegal war or war crimes and therefore could be legally justified. Two juries refused to convict Richards, and the charges were eventually withdrawn.
This able and persuasive human rights barrister now has a different day job. He is, of course, Keir Starmer, the prime minister who, for reasons as yet unexplained, but perhaps guessable (ambition, opportunism, lack of principle, moral turpitude, general spinelessness and an unfailing commitment to convicted felon, self-confessed sexual abuser, nest-featherer-in-chief and aspiring autocrat Donald Trump), has travelled a long and dark way from fighting the corner of idealistic protesters who risk their liberty, their futures and sometimes their lives to shine a light on the glaring injustices they see around them.
What does the Starmer of the Fairford Five trial make of the older, sadder and pitiful 2025 version of himself? We can only assume he avoids watching the unedifying footage of himself and his colleagues (Emily Thornberry, for example, another “human rights” lawyer) as they squirm to redefine genocide as something other than the blanket bombing of a helpless civilian population, the mass killing of women and children, the destruction of hospitals, schools and places of worship, and the denial of water, food and medical supplies—all as part of a campaign that Israeli politicians and ministers boast is for the purpose of expelling Palestinians.
Genocide appears to fall into what in Ireland we call “the doer, not the deed” syndrome. We shouldn’t get distracted by what’s being done, even if it’s mass killing. The important thing is who’s doing it. If it’s our guy, it can sometimes be a little embarrassing, especially if he gets caught or says the quiet things out loud, but it’s generally nothing to get too worked up about.
-
But let’s not waste any more time on this pathetic, cringe-inducing little man who can see red paint sprayed on warplanes and government buildings, but apparently not the blood gushing from tens of thousands of Palestinians. Who can hear chanting at Glastonbury, but not the screams of the maimed and incinerated, or the howls of grief and rage from survivors. Who is offended by Kneecap but not by the genocidal statements of senior Israeli politicians and cabinet ministers.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...lestine-action
More than 60 people have been arrested across the UK in several demonstrations where references to Palestine Action were allegedly made, a week after the group was banned as a terrorist organisation.
Last week, 29 people who had gathered close to the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Parliament Square in London, holding signs that appeared to express support for the group, were arrested by Metropolitan police officers. Among them was an 83-year-old former priest, the Rev Sue Parfitt.
On Saturday, shortly after 1pm, two small groups of protesters demonstrated in Parliament Square, sitting at the steps of the statues of both Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. The action was organised by the campaign group Defend Our Juries, which said more demonstrations were due to take place elsewhere in London and in Manchester, Cardiff and Derry.
At 1.20pm, the Met released a statement on X that said: “We are responding to a protest in support of Palestine Action. Officers are in the process of making arrests. We will issue any updates on this thread.”
In another post, the Met said officers had “made 41 arrests for showing support for a proscribed organisation”.
Defend Our Juries said on X: “Over 300 police officers have been seen to carry away dozens of people from the foot of statues of Nelson Mandela and Gandhi for alleged ‘terrorism offences’. Those arrested are accused of holding signs in support of Palestine Action.”
In Manchester, 16 people holding signs referencing Palestine Action at the foot of the Emmeline Pankhurst statue in St Peter’s Square were arrested.
A Greater Manchester police spokesperson said: “At around 2.30pm this afternoon, we responded to a protest taking place in St Peter’s Square – 16 people were arrested under the Terrorism Act 2000. The group peacefully dissipated at around 3.25pm.”
In Cardiff, 13 people who sat outside the BBC Cymru Wales headquarters holding signs that appeared to express support for the group were arrested.
A police spokesperson said: “South Wales police supports the right for people to make their voices heard through protest providing it is done lawfully. We can confirm that 13 people were arrested earlier today during a protest which took place in the vicinity of Central Square, Cardiff.”
“They were arrested on suspicion of committing offences under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000.”
Defend Our Juries said officers in Manchester pushed “through crowds of onlookers to arrest sign-holders, including three vicars and many pensioners”.
-
Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, announced plans to ban Palestine Action late last month, days after activists from the group allegedly broke into RAF Brize Norton and defaced two military aircraft with spray paint.
MPs voted in favour of proscribing the group last Wednesday. The House of Lords backed the move without a vote the day after.
UN experts, civil liberties groups, cultural figures and hundreds of lawyers have condemned the ban as draconian and said it sets a dangerous precedent by conflating protest with terrorism.
The ban means Palestine Action has become the first direct action protest group to be banned under the Terrorism Act, placing it in the same category as Islamic State, al-Qaida and the far-right group National Action.
Posting Permissions