With the peace deal in place, we wondered if it was necessary or appropriate to hold a vigil today 11th October. Surely, it might be argued, the fighting has stopped and the IDF has withdrawn from parts of Gaza. Might this be an end to the 2 years of hostilities and some kind of peace can now take place? Can we not be optimistic rather than hold a vigil for a cause which is now history?
Of course we can hope that this is a lasting end to the violence. With President Trump essentially twisting the Israeli government’s arms, there will be a stop to the ceaseless bombing and parking loaded people carriers next to apartment blocks and blowing them up.
But, will it last? Israel has no intention of allowing a Palestinian state. Elements in the Knesset want Gaza to be flattened and its inhabitants to be sent elsewhere. Settlers will continue with their nightly violence and killing of Arab and Palestinians living in the West Bank. Will Trump stay engaged in the coming months to ensure the two sides stay on course? Will Hamas quietly put down their guns and stop sending rockets over to Israel? Aid is to be allowed in but will that continue? And we must keep in mind that Gaza is one vast prison with no port, no boats allowed into the Mediterranean and with no airfield. All access in and out tightly controlled by Israel with queues sometimes lasting hours for no apparent reason. And Gaza is now a wasteland with water treatment plants destroyed, hospitals reduced to rubble, and agricultural land made infertile.
These are huge barriers to be overcome and overcome they might with goodwill. But is there goodwill? Or do the hatreds run too deep?
So while we welcome the ceasefire and hope that it will be sustained if only because of sustained and outside pressure, whether it will last is not at all uncertain.
We will be holding a vigil today, 11th starting at 5pm as usual.
Britain finally recognises its historic responsibility
September 2025
Last week, Sir Keir Starmer finally agreed to the UK recognising the state of Palestine a decision which has angered Israel itself and the USA or at least President Trump. In all the debates, panel discussions, broadcast interviews and statements by politicians, the historic role played by Britain, when it was a world power, has barely been mentioned. It is almost a though there is a blanket of embarrassment which is placed over the events in the region similar in many ways to the silence around the atrocities of slavery and the acquisition, and subsequent attempts to retain, our Empire. All sides refer to the events of October 7th, which, terrible though they were, were just one act in a drama that goes back to the Great War.
In an article in the New Statesman: Britain has a historic responsibility to aid the establishment of a Palestinian state by William Dalrymple in the ‘Another Voice’ column (19 – 25 September) he discusses our grim historic role which has had direct and lasting effects today. Most are familiar with the Balfour Declaration of 1917 which supported the national home for Jewish people in Palestine. How the existing population was to be treated was left vague. The British then disarmed the indigenous people and arrested their leaders and sent them to prison camps in the Seychelles and Cyprus. He recounts how the infamous black and tans were brought into quell the local population.
Considerable violence was inflicted on the Palestinian people with thousands of houses destroyed and thousands interned in concentration camps enduring violent interrogation and torture. Those between the ages of seven and 16 were flogged he says. Over 30 Arabs were executed. Such was the damage done to the Palestinian leadership that when the British pulled out in 1948, they were in no position to cope with the next phase of their misery when the Jews arrived who unleashed further violence in the Nakba.
The British have a special responsibility he argues to see the establishment of a Palestinian state who have suffered as a direct result of our actions over a century ago. Yet this violent history and mistreatment, murder and displacement of hundreds of thousands seem to be of no consequence in the reporting and interviews in our media. Instead, there is a relentless focus on the massacre on October 7th almost as though it came out of the blue.
Today (25 September) the American Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee was interviewed on Channel 4 news. It was not made clear to viewers that Huckabee is a Christian Zionist and says that on religious principle that the land of Israel belongs to the Jewish people and frequently guiding Christian pilgrimages to Israel since the 1980s. Neither was it explained that he has denied the existence of a Palestinian people and supports settlement activity on the West Bank and Gaza strip. On his organised trips he avoided Bethlehem as it was mostly occupied by Palestinians. He focused all his comments on the violence committed by Hamas. He had no answer to Matt Frei’s options for the Palestinians of either displacement, genocide or apartheid living as second class citizens in Israel. He repeated the canard that bombing was targeted on terrorists and that Hamas were using human shields.
Dalrymple ends his piece: ‘We must continue to believe in freedom and justice and dignity and decency and human rights. To dream of a world where Palestinians are not burned alive in their tents or herded like cattlefrom refugee camp to refugee camp to their final slaughter. We must dream of a Palestinian state alongside Israel where Palestinians can live in safety and without fear. And we must work to make sure that our dreams of an actual Palestine will one day soon become a reality’.
Over 65,400 have died in Gaza since hostilities started.
Today, 21 September, the UK government announces that it is to recognise the state of Palestine. It has joined the majority of countries around the world and joins Canada and Australia who did the same today. The decision has come after months of hesitation and was delayed until after the visit to the UK by President Trump who does not agree with it. To an extent, the government’s hand was forced. The disproportionate response to the horrific attack by Hamas on October 7th with the destruction of huge parts of Gaza, a death toll now over 65,000 many or whom are women and children and the deliberate introduction of siege conditions leading to more deaths by starvation, has left the government little option but to take action. Public opinion has also been a factor and the images of emaciated children have horrified many.
Britain’s decision is more than symbolic since the 1917 Balfour Declaration was instrumental in the creation of the state of Israel. The declaration was vague however since although it recognised that Arabs and Palestinians already lived there and said ‘nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine‘ it made no provision for protecting their claims or rights.
Some argue this is symbolic since with American support and ever increasing violence by settlers in the West Bank, the prospects of an actual state on the ground are receding. Some suggest that this means the conditions for statehood as set out in the 1933 Montevideo convention are not achievable. The Israeli government has rejected the decision saying ‘it categorically rejects the one-sided declaration of a Palestinian state by the UK and some other countries.’ It claims the decision does not promote peace. A spokesman for the British Board of Deputies interviewed on the BBC was critical of the decision and said it would cause deep dismay across the Jewish community in the UK. It says it is a reward for Hamas violence.
Implications
What are the implications? It will take some while for the implications to percolate through the claims and counter claims of the various political interests. It will enable the Palestinians to open an Embassy in the UK which will improve their status. It will enjoy diplomatic rights which will be significant. Up until recently, the Israelis have enjoyed almost uncritical support from governments but its continued violence in the West Bank and Gaza is seeing that support melt away.
It is unlikely to bring a peace deal any closer. Wars end because a kind of exhaustion sets in and the population goes weary of war-time restrictions and the loss of soldiers. This shows no sign of applying in Israel. Seemingly limitless weapons supplies from America and a huge military advantage in weapons and materiel mean any exhaustion is a long way off. IDF deaths are modest 464 [Jewish News Syndicate, 18 September]. The far right members of the Knesset such as Bezalel Smotrich see Gaza as a ‘property bonanza’ and claim the ‘demolition phase is over’.
Recognition will make it harder for the UK government to continue its support of Israel – open and covert – with RAF overflights for example, and ignore the plight of the Palestinians. It may even see some more robust reporting from the BBC whose lamentable performance has slowly begun to change.
Amnesty has said it is a ‘hollow gesture’ and without meaningful action to end the genocide, end violence in the West Bank and ending the Apartheid system against the Palestinian people. Real action needs to be taken to end arms sales and divest from companies which continue to sell arms to Israel. A report by CAAT sets out the details of arms export to Israel.
Report finds that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and elsewhere
September 2026
A report by the UN Independent International Committee of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel (COI), has concluded that Israel is committing genocide in those areas according to the 1948 Convention. The UN itself has not made a declaration but it is being urged to do so. The COI investigation has taken 2 years. The Israeli Foreign Ministry has condemned the report saying “it categorically rejected the report and called for the COI to be abolished. Israel’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Daniel Meron, called the report a scandalous and fake “libellous rant” that had been authored by “Hamas proxies”. Israel has declined to cooperate with the COI, accusing it of having a political agenda“. A summary of the report is available here.
The COI finds that 4 of the five genocidal acts have been committed by Israel namely killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the destruction of the Palestinians in whole or in part and imposing measures intended to prevent births. It finds that Israel has failed to investigate genocidal acts and to prosecute perpetrators.
Israel has imposed a siege, blocked humanitarian aid and has systematically destroyed health care and educational systems. Today (17th September) as part of its latest ground offensive, it has attacked the last remaining functioning hospital in Gaza. Independent journalists are not allowed into the territory.
Treatment of women
Perhaps the most distressing aspect of the report is the atrocious treatment of women captured by the IDF. This has not so far as we are aware been reported before. It is worth quoting the passage on this aspect (warning: a distressing read):
Notably, the Israeli security forces also sexually harassed and publicly shamed Palestinian women. For example, some Palestinian women were forced to strip to their underwear and remove their veils in public and in front of the community. The Commission has found that Israeli security forces have deliberately humiliated and mocked Palestinian women based on their gender and ethnicity. The evidence analysed by the Commission showed a clear gender and racial bias by the perpetrators, who intentionally target Palestinian women and attempt to humiliate and degrade them publicly. Moreover, from the perspective of Palestinian culture, sexual harassment and public shaming of women are potentially extremely harmful, carrying serious implications for the women whose privacy is publicly exposed. Additionally, female Palestinian detainees were severely mistreated and humiliated during their detention. The Commission has reported that female detainees were subjected to repeated, prolonged and invasive strip searches, both before and after interrogations. One woman was strip searched in her cell every three hours during her four-day detention, the guards forcing her to remove all her clothes even though she was menstruating. Women were forced to remove all clothes, including the veil, in front of male and female soldiers. They were beaten and harassed while called “ugly” and subjected to sexual insults, such as “bitch” and “whore“. (para 70).
Sport and culture
The continuing death toll in Gaza, now put at 65,000, and the increasing level of violence by settlers in the West Bank is forcing countries to reassess their relations with Israel. We have previously reported the abandonment of the final stage of the Vuelta due to protesters. There are moves by Spain, Ireland and others to withdraw from Eurovision. There are signs of Israel becoming more isolated because of its activities.
Referring to this increasing isolation, Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech yesterday that Israel would become a kind of Sparta. This is a revealing comment since the Greek state did indeed win a famous victory in the Pelopennesian War but it was democratic Athens which eventually survived and became a beacon for global civilisation. Sparta pursued its militaristic and isolationist policy but was overcome by the Helots and disappeared from history.
The 94th vigil will take place on Saturday 20th at 5pm in Salisbury market by HSBC.
Major cycle races affected by protesters. Last stage of Vuelta abandoned
September 2025
La Vuelta a Espana is the tour of Spain cycle race and a major event in the cycling season. It follows the Tour de France and the tour of Italy, the Giro d’Italia. These are keenly watched by millions of fans and the teams are sponsored by commercial enterprises and countries. The last stage of the Vuelta had to be abandoned last week because of street violence. Cycling is fairly unique since races take place on ordinary streets and members of the public can see the cyclists close to.
The problem is one of the teams is sponsored by Israel Premier Tech and its presence is causing major headaches. There are threats to next year’s Tour de France which starts in Barcelona (there is an increasing tendency for these tours to start outside the home country). Indeed, the Giro started in Israel in 2018.
There is hardly any need to explain the problems with the war in Gaza, set to intensify with the attacks on Gaza city, leading to the deaths of over 64,000 Palestinians. Although the sponsor is a commercial firm, the website makes clear the deep involvement of the Israeli government and Netanyahu himself. It is a national team.
The boss of IPT, Sylvan Adams, is hard line in his approach to Gaza and is quoted as saying ‘Israel should finish the job in Gaza’. He calls the protesters ‘terrorists’.
It is a major problem for race organisers since policing the roadside for three weeks is all but impossible. They are reluctant to ban or uninvite IPT because they are worried about being accused of being anti-Semitic. IPT is also extremely wealthy. Tour de France winner Chris Froome is on the team. The risk of disruption is high as we saw in Madrid. If the war in Gaza continues, protests are likely to grow and become more frequent.
It raises the question of sport and politics since countries like Israel are closely involved in teams as a means to promote themselves. Arab nations are spending billions engaged in the same thing. In the communist era, states like East Germany and Russia used sport to promote their ideology. The close involvement is a problem in times of war however. The involvement of IPT is only likely to intensify protests: there were two crashes in the Vuelta and two riders had to retire. The whole question of sport and politics is clearly an increasing issue especially as money is so important to success.
We still meet on Saturday outside the Library in the centre of Salisbury to promote the idea of peace in the Middle East. The carnage continues. The death toll stands at an estimated 64,871 of which over 19,000 are children. It is thought that 422 have died of starvation. There is no viable peace negotiation currently underway.
Israel recently attacked a building in Qatar saying it was occupied by Hamas individuals who carried out the 9 October massacre. The attack is contrary to international law and the Qataris are furious. Israel informed the US before the attack as they have a major base in that country. The attack seems to indicate a boldness by the Israelis supported as they are by the US.
One attendee at the vigil was wearing this shirt to emphasise that the conflict has its roots in 1948 Nakba where around 750,000 – 1 million Arabs and Palestinians were displaced or lost their lives in the campaign by the IDF to displace them. Current media attention is on the 7 October massacre by Hamas and not on the events in 1948.
A video of the vigil can be viewed here thanks to Peter Gloyns for producing it.
No sign of the local MP, Mr John Glen nor any mention of the vigil in his weekly Salisbury Journal column. He is reported to be a member of Conservative Friends of Israel.
The situation in Gaza gets ever worse with 63,000 now dead many of whom women and children. Around 330 have now died as a result of starvation and this number is set to grow. Peace looks a long way off and from the Israeli perspective, with American and Trump’s unqualified support, they are able to continue without let or hindrance. American support has even extended to banning members of the PLO from attending the UN.
The president of the PLO, Mahmoud Abbas and 80 other officials have had their visas revoked. The reason is because the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio blamed them for undermining peace efforts and for ‘seeking the unilateral recognition of a conjectural Palestinian state’. We seem to have entered a looking glass world as far as the Americans are concerned. The Palestinians are far from being as white as snow but they are far, far weaker than Israel who have all the weapons and materiel needed for the campaign of destruction in Gaza.
On the subject of weapons, the Defence and Security Equipment International exhibition to be held in London starting shortly will not feature a stand by the Israeli government. Their arms firms will still be there however. The UK government has decided not to allow a delegation to attend. “The Israeli government’s decision to further escalate its military operation in Gaza is wrong,” a UK government spokesperson said. “As a result, we can confirm that no Israeli government delegation will be invited to attend DSEI UK 2025.“
The BBC coyly refers to the exhibition using the word ‘defence’ and there will no doubt be defence firms there. But it is much more about our arms industry, heavily promoted and subsidised by our government, and which sells arms to many of the world’s troubled countries thus aiding in the carnage. The government claims it has ‘robust controls’ but with the big rise in open licences, this is a dubious claim. The fact that they were happy to allow Israel to attend until yesterday, only days before opening, speaks volumes. We should never forget the victims in these conflicts are women, children and the vulnerable. British firms profit, millions suffer. The extent of UK support for Israel is hard to quantify. RAF flights over Gaza continue the purpose of which is unclear.
There is still no sign of the local MP Mr John Glen and he did not mention the vigils in his weekly Salisbury Journal column which focused on his work getting to know people in his constituency. He is a member of the Friends of Israel lobby group in the Commons.
A video of the vigil, attended by around 40, is available here courtesy of Peter Gloyns.
Around 55 attended this week’s vigil exceeding last weeks total. More stood and took notice and many photos were taken by passers by. The ‘Honk for Gaza’ sign attracted 32 honks. Several new faces attended which is encouraging. An excellent video of the vigil is available here courtesy of Peter Gloyns. A feature of the vigils is the range of posters and signs that people bring.
Israel is now preparing to launch an offensive to capture Gaza City. Bombing has started already causing many casualties: the total known is now 62,000. Many thousands more lie under the rubble unaccounted for. Over a 1,000 have been shot by IDF soldiers and US mercenaries at the limited food distribution sites fun by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation GHF. What is upsetting many are the scenes of starving children, especially infants below the age of 5, for whom proper food is vital. Interviews with Israeli officials are met with denial. They claim there is no famine and that there is plenty of food available. According to Haaretz, the majority of Israelis are not aware of the famine in Gaza.
The UN declared a famine in part of Gaza this week: it is unable to do so for other areas as it cannot get sufficient data. António Guterres. the UN Secretary General said it was a ‘man made disaster, a moral indictment – and a failure of humanity itself’. Image: UN
Horrifying proposals by the Defense Minister widely condemned
July 2025
The proposals by Israel Katz to create a ‘Humanitarian City’ on the ruins of Rafah have shocked many people around the world and many within Israel itself. The idea is to build this city in the tiny area based on the ruins of Rafah in the south of Gaza into which 600,000 Palestinians would enter but not allowed to leave. Eventually the whole of the population would go in. It has been termed a concentration camp and Human Rights Watch has said ‘it inches closer to extermination’. The ultimate idea is to move them all out of the city to a place so far unidentified.
An Israeli human rights campaigner has termed the idea ‘a crime against humanity’. It has also been condemned by a former prime minister Ehud Olmert in an interview on BBC’s World at One radio show today (14 July). It is in keeping with Donald Trump’s statement on Airforce One earlier this year when he talked about ‘cleaning out the whole thing [Gaza]’.
Around 56,000 have now died in the area and every day there are more deaths. Nearly 800 have died since the end of May at the food distribution points. The siege has now lasted 75 days with severe restrictions on aid, food, fuel and medical supplies being allowed in. Those desperate for such limited supplies as are allowed in are being shot at by IDF forces.
What is increasingly clear, and spelled out with the so-called Humanitarian City, is the idea the Israel is responding to the horrific attacks on October 7th 2023 can no longer be produced as a reason for their actions in Gaza. The overwhelming force, the killing of large number of women and children, and the deliberate use of siege as a weapon of war go far beyond a legitimate and proportional response to the attack Israel experienced. The killings are justified on three grounds: that the demolished building contained a Hamas fighter; that underneath the building – be it a hospital, school or a block of flats – is a Hamas control centre, and that Hamas are using those killed as human shields. These reasons are endlessly repeated but almost never challenged. The policy now seems quite clearly to – using President’s Trump’s words – ‘clear out the area’ as though draining a village pond. We have to remind ourselves that we are talking about human beings.
Since foreign journalists are not allowed into the area, independent verification cannot be done. But the IDF which now controls large areas of Gaza have failed to produce any evidence of say, the control centres. Since vast numbers of buildings have been destroyed there must surely be thousands of such centres?
Vigil
We held our 84th vigil on Saturday with over 35 in attendance. Many have contacted the local MP Mr John Glen to tell him about the vigils. He has never attended nor mentioned them in his weekly column in the local paper.
Group loses its case in the High Court and is now proscribed
July 2025
As of today (July 5th) Palestine Action is now a proscribed terrorist organisation. This decision has been widely condemned and is seen as an abuse of legislation introduced to stop far more deadly organisations. The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, lumped into the order, two other organisations: Maniacs Murder Cult and Russian Imperial Movement, to give MPs little choice but to approve it which they did 385 votes to 26. PA now joins al-Qaeda and ISIS on the list. Local MP, Danny Kruger (E Wilts) voted for the ban.
There is no doubt that PA caused damage to the various establishments they raided. Although Cooper and others spoke of violence, no evidence of violence has been produced. This action is of a piece with legislation introduced by the previous government to limit and make protests and demonstrations a lot more difficult. Well, not quite, because it may be noticed that the farmers have been taking their tractors into London and elsewhere and blocked streets and stopped traffic. There is no record of any police action against them nor any arrests having been made.
Many have made the point that the activities of PA are covered by existing legislation and indeed, some have been arrested and sentenced after earlier actions using laws already on the statute book. When the terrorism law was introduced about a quarter of a century ago the claim was made then that it would only be used for ‘extreme’ crimes. That seems to have been forgotten. Unfortunately, the legislation is overly broad enabling it to be used in cases like this. The problem has been that juries have not been convinced by government lawyers and have not found against the defendants, hence the need to ban them. Taking them to court for spraying RAF jets stood little chance of a successful conviction now that more people know what dubious activities the RAF are up to and the covert help they are offering the Israelis. The suggestions are that they have carried out over 600 flights over Gaza and that they are refuelling Israeli jets in some of their sorties.
What has embarrassed the government is that the group is drawing attention to the government support being offered, not just by the RAF but in allowing Elbit Systems to continue to make the drones in factories here in the UK, as they claim on their website.
People have a right to protest and the list of protest movements who have brought change is a long one. We noted in our last post that the very fact Yvette Cooper is an MP and a minister is as a result of a prolonged period of protest – latterly violent – by the suffragists and the suffragettes. Her action, and the willingness of 385 MPs to vote for the motion is a shameful one.
One MP, Nadia Whittome (Lab) said “Hundreds of lawyers have written to the Home Secretary, warning that proscribing Palestine Action would conflate protest and terrorism. Amnesty International and Liberty have both expressed deep concerns. A senior civil servant has briefed that there is disquiet among Home Office staff about the decision, and has called it “absurd” [HC Deb 2 July c367]. Earlier in the debate she reminded the House of the suffragettes.
While the government was busy proscribing Palestine Action, people were still being killed in the food queues and what is believed to be a massive 500 lb bomb was dropped on the al Baqa café in the north. The bomb killed a large numbers of people many of whom were blown to pieces. Around 56,500 have been killed in Gaza.
Sources: BBC; Middle East Eye, Al Jazeera, Amnesty International, They Work for You.
Vigil
Forty people turned out today (5 July) for the weekly vigil in Salisbury.
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 