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richard medhurst
UK Continues Use of Anti-Terrorism Law to Arrest Palestine Defenders
"1984 has arrived and is alive and well in the United Kingdom," said musician Roger Waters.
Aug 30, 2024
At least a dozen police officers raided the home of British pro-Palestine activist and journalist Sarah Wilkinson on Thursday over "content that she has posted online" that allegedly ran afoul of the United Kingdom's anti-terrorism law.
"The police came to her house just before 7:30 am," Wilkinson's son, Jack Wilkinson, said on social media. "There were 12 of them in total, some of them in plain clothes from the counterterrorism police... Her house is being raided and they have seized all her electronic devices."
Police—who later freed Wilkinson on bail—did not disclose what content she posted that led to her arrest. Wilkinson has been a tireless critic of the U.K. government's support for Israel and has posted many images of the death and destruction in Gaza, where Israeli forces have killed and wounded more than 144,000 Palestinians. Israel is on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice.
"The British prime minister is determined to terrorize into silence critics highlighting his, and now his government's, complicity with Israel and its genocide in Gaza."
Pro-Israel media reported Wilkinson called the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas-led militants an "incredible infiltration" and hailed the late Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh—who was assassinated last month in Iran—as a "hero."
Section 12 of the U.K.'s Terrorism Act of 2000 criminalizes anyone who "invites support for a proscribed organization" or "expresses an opinion or belief that is supportive" of such a group. Violators can be punished with up to 14 years' imprisonment and a fine. Hamas is included on the U.K. government's list of proscribed groups.
Critics say the U.K. government uses the highly controversial anti-terror law to silence dissent.
Israel-based British journalist Thomas Cook said in a Friday blog post that Wilkinson's arrest is "definitive proof" that U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's "authoritarian purges of the Labour left are being rolled out against critics on a nationwide basis."
"The British prime minister is determined to terrorize into silence critics highlighting his, and now his government's, complicity with Israel and its genocide in Gaza," Cook added.
Musician and staunch Israel critic Roger Waters, who co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd, said in a video posted Thursday on social media that Wilkinson was arrested "for standing up for human rights and campaigning against genocide."
"If you allow this to stand, the arrest of Sarah Wilkinson and the persecution of my friend Craig Murray among others, then you have absolutely accepted that England is now a fascist state," Waters asserted, adding that "1984 has arrived and is alive and well in the United Kingdom."
In addition to her pro-Palestine activism, Wilkinson is a news contributor for the Lebanon-based news site MENA Uncensored.
"The pro-genocide U.K. regime has arrested MENA Uncensored's roving reporter and human rights activist Sarah Wilkinson for supporting the Palestinian resistance and relaying what is really happening in Gaza and the West Bank to the world," the outlet said on social media.
Wilkinson's arrest came one week after Syrian-British independent journalist Richard Medhurst was apprehended at London's Heathrow Airport and held for nearly 24 hours for allegedly violating Section 12 with social media posts "expressing an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organization."
Richard Barnard, co-founder of the London-based group Palestine Action—with which Wilkinson has been involved—is also facing three criminal charges for two speeches allegedly supporting a proscribed organization.
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'Can't Make This Up': Journalist Arrested Under UK Anti-Terror Law Hours After Criticizing It
"I criticized the Terrorism Act before getting on the plane, then got arrested under the Terrorism Act upon landing."
Aug 21, 2024
Richard Medhurst, a Syrian-British independent journalist who defends Palestinians' right to resist Israeli apartheid, occupation, and other crimes, said this week that he was recently arrested at London's Heathrow Airport and held for nearly 24 hours for allegedly running afoul of a highly controversial anti-terrorism law critics say is used to silence legitimate dissent.
Medhurst—who is known for his work opposing U.S., British, and Israeli war crimes in the Middle East and for his advocacy for formerly imprisoned WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange—said on social media Tuesday: "I criticized the Terrorism Act before getting on the plane, then got arrested under the Terrorism Act upon landing. Can't make this up."
In a nearly nine-minute video posted Monday night on X, the social network formerly known as Twitter, Medhurst said that "on Thursday, as I landed in London Heathrow Airport, I was immediately escorted off the plane by six police officers who were waiting for me at the entrance of the aircraft."
"They arrested me—not detained—they arrested me under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act of 2000 and accused me of allegedly 'expressing an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organization,' but wouldn't explain what this meant," he continued.
The controversial law criminalizes anyone who "invites support for a proscribed organization" or "expresses an opinion or belief that is supportive" of such a group. Violators can be punished with up to 14 years' imprisonment and a fine.
As Laura Tiernan explained Tuesday at World Socialist Web Site:
Introduced by [former U.K. Prime Minister] Tony Blair's Labour government, the act is a legal dragnet. In Medhurst's case, it appears that commentary defending the right of Palestinians under international law to resist foreign military occupation and genocide is being defined as support for terrorism.
Hamas is among the organizations proscribed as terrorist by the U.K. government. While its military wing was proscribed in 2001, Hamas was banned in its entirety in 2021, aimed at criminalizing support for the Palestinian people. The political wing of Hamas won elections held in Gaza in 2006 and the organization also oversees charitable work.
Medhurst said: "I categorically and utterly reject all the accusations by the police. I am not a terrorist. I have no criminal record. Prior to this incident, I'd never been detained in my entire life."
"I'm a product of the diplomatic community, and I'm raised to be anti-war," he explained. "Both of my parents won Nobel Peace Prizes for their work as United Nations peacekeepers. They had a tremendous effect on my worldview and outlook and instilled in me the importance of diplomacy, international law, and peace."
Medhurst said he was searched, handcuffed, and taken in a police van to a station where he was searched again, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in solitary confinement. His phone and work equipment were seized. When he questioned why he'd been arrested, "the police would say something like: 'Well, we're just the arresting officers. We don't really know.'"
"No one in the world knew what had happened to me or where I was," he said. "I had to ask like four or five different guards for several hours until I finally received a call. In total, I spent almost 24 hours in detention. At no point whatsoever was I allowed to speak to a family member or a friend. After waiting 15 hours, I was finally interviewed by two detectives."
"I felt that the whole process was designed to humiliate, intimidate, and dehumanize me and treat me like a criminal, even though they must've been aware of my background and that I'm a journalist," Medhurst alleged. He contended that his arrest was "done on purpose to try and rattle me psychologically," and noted that "many people have been detained in Britain because of their connection to journalism."
He named Assange—who was freed in June following a plea deal with the U.S. government—as well as Scottish author Craig Murray, Grayzone correspondent Kit Clarenberg, and Glenn Greenwald's late partner, Brazilian politician David Miranda, as people who have been targeted for their political beliefs and expression.
"Freedom of the press, freedom of speech really are under attack," Medhurst warned in the video. "The state is cracking down and escalating to try and stop people from speaking out against our government's complicity in genocide."
Israel is currently on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice over its 320-day assault on Gaza, which has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, wounded at least 93,000 others, starved hundreds of thousands more, and obliterated the coastal enclave.
"We cannot call ourselves a democracy as long as reporters are dragged off of planes and detained and treated like murderers," Medhurst concluded. "I am disgusted that I am being politically persecuted in my own country."
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Netanyahu Takes Palestinian State Off the Table, Vows Israeli Control From the Jordan River to the Sea
"So it's okay for Netanyahu to say 'from the river to the sea', but not for Palestinians?"
Jan 18, 2024
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday informed the United States that there will be no independent Palestinian state after the current war on Gaza is over, and that Israel will control Palestine "from the river to the sea."
"For 30 years I have been very consistent. This conflict is not about the lack of a Palestinian state, but the existence of a Jewish state," Netanyahu—who has previously boasted about thwarting the so-called "two-state solution" favored by Washington—said during a nationally televised press conference.
"From every area we evacuate we have received terrible terror against us. It happened in southern Lebanon, it happened in Gaza, and also in Judea and Samaria," he continued, the final part a reference to the illegally occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
"Therefore, I clarify that in any arrangement in the future the state of Israel needs security control over all territory west of the Jordan River," he stressed. "This is what happens when you have sovereignty."
"This truth I say to our American friends—and I also stopped the attempt to impose on us a reality that will jeopardize us—a prime minister of Israel has to be able to say no, even to the best of friends," the prime minister added. "To say no when you need to and to say yes when you can."
The "from the river to the sea" mantra—a claim to all of historic Palestine from the Jordan River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west—is expressed in both the original charter of Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party and the aspirational chants of Palestinians and their supporters around the world.
"So it's okay for Netanyahu to say 'from the river to the sea', but not for Palestinians?" quipped journalist Richard Medhurst following the press conference. "Gee, I wonder which of them has not just said it, but forced millions of people from their native homes for 75 years and just killed 24,000 people of them to achieve it."
Following Netanyahu's comments, U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Thursday that "there is no way to solve [the region's] long-term challenges to provide lasting security and there is no way to solve the short-term challenges of rebuilding Gaza and establishing governance in Gaza and providing security for Gaza without the establishment of a Palestinian state."
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres responded to Netanyahu's comments in a statement reiterating his stance that "the only way to stem the suffering" in the region is "an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza and a process that leads to sustained peace for Israelis and Palestinians, based on a two-state solution."
Unnamed sources have told reporters that U.S. frustration with Netanyahu's far-right government has been increasing along with the casualty count in Gaza—which Palestinian officials and international groups say is over 100,000, mostly innocent men, women, and children.
President Joe Biden has accused Israel of "indiscriminate bombing" of civilians in Gaza but continues to back Netanyahu's policy unconditionally and the U.S. has supplied Israel with billions of dollars in military aid and diplomatic support at the United Nations and beyond.
On Wednesday, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid filed a no-confidence motion against Netanyahu's far-right government over its inability to secure the release of the 136 Israeli and other hostages still held by Palestinian militants in Gaza.
"This government cannot continue to exist," Lapid's Yesh Atid party said in a statement. "It is a failure that costs human lives and the future of the country."
Netanyahu has survived two previous no-confidence votes. He is also facing three criminal corruption cases, and opponents allege he is dragging out the war in an effort to evade justice.
Update: This piece has been updated to better reflect the exact wording of Netanyahu's statement, though the meaning has not changed.
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