UK brands journalists as terrorists in blatant abuse of legislation

The British state is abusing anti-terror legislation to suppress criticism of the Zionist entity's genocide in Gaza and pogroms in the West Bank.

This sinister development is even being deployed against journalists, amongst others, including one of our regular guests on this show, Richard Medhurst.

The use, by the British government, of Section 12 of the Terrorism Act has been seen as a new escalation by the state against journalists.

Under Section 12, a person commits an offense if they invite support for a proscribed organization or expresses an opinion or belief that is supportive of such an organization.

• UK tries to represent journalists criticizing Israel as terrorists
  

  Pretending journalists are terrorists

  This edition of the program is about the British government

The arrests, in quick succession, of Richard Medhurst and Sarah Wilkinson, both of whom are journalists, sent shockwaves through the movement.

My name is Richard Thomas Medhurst. I'm an internationally accredited journalist from the United Kingdom.

I criticized the Terrorism Act before getting on the plane, and then got arrested under the Terrorism Act upon landing.

Richard Medhurst, Journalist

Richard Medhurst was met at the door of the plane at Heathrow airport as soon as it landed. He was subsequently removed from the flight by six armed police, held for almost 24 hours in Kafkaesque conditions, insulted and humiliated.

He was not told what he had allegedly said or written an obvious intimidation tactic.

• Journalist critical of Israeli genocide in Gaza arrested in UK under 'Terrorism Act'
  

  Journalist critical of Israeli genocide in Gaza arrested in UK under 'Terrorism Act'

  An independent British journalist critical of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza is briefly arrested in the UK under Section 12 of the country’s Terrorism Act of 2000.

Sarah Wilkinson's case was perhaps the worst, entailing overtight handcuffs, theft of money and passport as well as attempts to intimidate and scare her.

They wanted to know the location of these Palestinian people that we were working with.

And you see, once they have the location, then the Israelis can bomb them directly.

Sarah Wilkinson, Palestine Action

Perhaps the most outrageous acts were the conscious smashing of anything involving Christian symbolism and the racist interrogations questions that she endured. 

I'm going to let you know this question, why do you think Palestinians are better than white people? And I broke my no comment at that point, and I said that, that is a racist question. It's an appalling question to ask. I'm not commenting it, but I have to say that what you've just said is one of the most racist statements I've ever known, and so that it had that sort of Shin Bet / Mossad element to it.

So everything they attacked seemed to be/to do with anything, you know, like anything with a cross on it, or the Christmas decorations.

So those are the things that actually took the worst battering.

Sarah Wilkinson, Palestine Action

• UK arrest of founder of pro-Palestine network sparks outcry
  

  UK's arrest of founder of pro-Palestine network sparks outcry

  The UK police have arrested the co-founder of a pro-Palestine protest network, along with several other activists, in what is viewed as a heavy-handed crackdown on anti-Israel voices across the country.

News of the decision of the state to persecute Richard Bernard was released the same day though he had been arrested in November.

BBC Verify appears to have been involved in lobbying for his arrest. It's a new BBC unit for open source investigations, but the name of its star reporter, Marianna Spring, appeared in leaked emails between journalists and MI6 Agent, Paul Mason, and his network.

Also mentioned there was British intelligence cutout Bellingcat, with which BBC Verify would later partner.

BBC Verify took recordings of speeches made by Bernard to the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, Jonathan Hall KC.

On the eighth of October, Bernard reportedly said, “When we hear the resistance the Al-Aqsa flood, we must turn that flood into a tsunami of the whole world.”

• Activism is not terrorism
  

  Activism is not terrorism: Israel-US-UK campaign to silence pro-Palestinian voices

  Many pro-Palestinian activists and journalists have been arrested in recent weeks in the UK on terrorism charges for campaigning against Israeli genocide in Gaza.

Hall, who performs his job for the government from a room inside the office of a British intelligence agency, said, "If you take what happened in Liberty kibbutz where babies were massacred, that is unambiguously an act of terrorism. But no babies were massacred at the kibbutz, this was simply Zionist propaganda".

He clarified that terrorism laws were not designed to stop people making political speeches, but what they are designed to do is to stop mass murder, massacres, and terrorist tactics.

But of course, no such tactics were being advocated by Bernard. As Bernard stated when asked if he regretted his language, his use of the term flood was just a metaphor.

The fact that the independent reviewer of terrorism, a leading KC, appears to have been retailing false Israeli propaganda ought to be a sacking offense.

• Pro-Palestine activists remanded under UK Terrorism Act
  

  Pro-Palestine activists remanded under UK Terrorism Act

  Several members of the direct action group, Palestine Action, are facing the long arm of British law for raiding a site belonging to the UK-based Israeli arms company, Elbit Systems.

Some of those targeted by the British state and how the fraudulent definition of anti-Semitism is being used as a pretext to silence critics of Zionism

The British state clearly wants to find a way to scare British citizens away from supporting the legitimate right of the Palestinian people to resist occupation, including by armed struggle.

This is their right under international law. It is notable, with the exception of Sarah Wilkinson, there is at least one connection between all the recent journalists detained, from Kit Klarenberg and Vanessa Beeley to Craig Murray, Richard Medhurst and Richard Barnard of Palestine Action, they have all been guests on Palestine Declassified.

So it was no surprise to learn that our Palestinian reporter, Latifa Abu Chakra, had been referred to the UK counter-terror program, Prevent.

Her publicly available speeches caused the police to believe she was, "vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism."

When certain politicians, and the media, use the term muscular liberalism, that's just another word for racism and Islamophobia.

Latifa Abu Chakra, Journalist

I find myself radicalized from constantly having to defend my existence, debating why I am unable to even raise the flag of my country.

Latifa Abu Chakra, Journalist

• London pro-Palestine protest targets subsidiary of Israeli weapons company Elbit Systems
  

  London pro-Palestine protest target subsidiary of Israeli weapons company Elbit Systems

  Pro-Palestinian protesters have gathered outside the office of the real estate consulting company “Fisher German” in London, demanding the closure of this company due to its ties with the Israeli weapons company “Elbit Systems.”

The attack on Ms Abu Chakra is of course, part of a much wider assault on ordinary protesters.

Three young women were found guilty under the Terrorism Act for displaying a paraglider patch.

A young man was found guilty of wearing a Hamas headband, even though it merely had a Shahada on it, which is a profession of faith and by no means a Hamas headband.

The defendants were young, between 25 to 30, but recent official statistics show that police are increasingly targeting children for terrorism offenses; 31 of the 170 arrests were 17 and under in 2023.

This is blatant evidence of abuse.

A government reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall, admits that for years, the child category was always the smallest. However, these arrests are just the tip of the iceberg.

Statistics produced by the police show anti-Semitic hate crimes in London were up 1,350% from the first of October to the 18th of October.

• The prerequisites of an anti-Zionist movement
  

  The prerequisites of an anti-Zionist movement

  Zionism, which currently holds sway over the British, European and American political establishment, needs to be challenged and ultimately destroyed as an ideology, since it cannot be reformed.

The police adopted the infamous Zionist working definition of anti-Semitism in 2016. So, inevitably, almost all of these offenses will be fraudulently counted.

The figures therefore confirm a massively expanded war by the British state on supporters of Palestine.

Sarah Wilkinson pondered whether her police tormentors in balaclavas betrayed a Mossad modus operandi, whatever that means.

In her case, it is apparent that the British counter-terrorism police are now acting more or less directly in the Zionist interest.

Perhaps it is time the British police were investigated under the new national security legislation for aiding a foreign power.

• UK politics fraught with Israel lobby groups
  

  UK politics fraught with Israel lobby groups

  The British government policy will continue to support Israel and ignore the Palestinian plight no matter which political party is in charge.

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