Today, we were informed that independent (i.e. non-corporate) British journalist Richard Medhurst was detained as a “terrorist” at Heathrow airport for 24 hours. The claim against him was that he violated Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which is “expressing an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation.“
Of course, the notion that he supported such an organization (in this case, Hamas and/or Hezbollah) is utterly ridiculous. He was released, but the Starmer government’s message was clear: thou shalt not advocate for Palestinians, thou shalt not tell the public that Palestinians are human beings. Remember, Keir Starmer has a long history of scheming with Israeli far-right factions and organizations against his own party, purging it of actual progressives on fraudulent “antisemitism” claims; he even said, live on TV, that Israel has the “right” to commit the crime against humanity of denying Gazans the necessities of life (food, electricity, water, communications) – these were words that one would expect to hear from an alt-right grifter, not a human rights lawyer turned (allegedly) progressive politician.
This is not, however, the only or the first instance of harassment, smearing, and proscription of pro-Palestinian journalists, academics, civil society members by the Israeli Apartheid, its operatives, and governments friendly to it. Many academics, artists, and journalists have lost their job because they asked hard questions, because they dared expose Israeli politicians for the racist, genocidal colonialists they really are, because they even merely suggested that Palestinians are human beings.
We, the Pirate Party of Greece, denounce the criminal Israeli Apartheid in the strongest possible terms. We denounce the Israel lobby’s war on opinion, facts, free speech, journalism, even International Law itself. We denounce everyone who chooses to be complicit with any apartheid regime, with any genocidal campaign, with any force of racism and bigotry. Finally, we demand that all states in the world accept unconditionally the competence and jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court and comply with International Law to the last iota, without exemptions, without excuses.
Sources:
Topple, S. (2024). The supposed free-press UK just held Richard Medhurst under counter-terror laws. [online] Canary. Available at: https://www.thecanary.co/uk/analysis/2024/08/20/richard-medhurst/ [Accessed 20 Aug. 2024].
#RichardMedhurst #FreedomOfSpeech #Israel #Apartheid #Censorship #HarassmentOfJournalists #KeirStarmer
