Censoring Palestine: documentary

Documentary this Friday 6th on this important topic

June 2025

PAST EVENT

The documentary, Censoring Palestine, will be shown at the United Reform Church in Fisherton Street on Friday 6th June starting at 7:00 for 7:30. It features Peter Oborne, Ken Loach, Alexei Sayle and others and will discuss issues around what we see and read about this tragic conflict and how censorship is active in the UK.

‘In war, the first casualty is truth’ attributed to the Greek philosopher Aeschylus applies in spades to the conflict in Gaza. Indeed, truth has long been a casualty in this conflict which predates the horrific attack on October 7th. The first casualty is that it did not start on October 7th but to the events of 1948 and ’49 when hundreds of thousands of Arabs and Palestinians were cleared from their villages and many were killed in the process. It also has roots in the Balfour Declaration of 1917. It is thought that between 750,000 and a million were displaced by the Jewish immigrants. Many of those, and their children, now live in Gaza. Hundreds of villages were blown up or destroyed by the Hagana.

Today, the Israeli government will not allow foreign journalists into Gaza to witness events there. The Israeli spokesman David Mercer said on Channel 4 recently (3 June) when challenged why Israel will not allow independent journalists into Gaza said ‘we are concentrating on getting our hostages out not on getting journalists in’. A weak answer since the two are unconnected. They claim that they are bombing hospitals, homes and other structures because Hamas terrorists are using them as control centres but no evidence has ever been produced. The killing of those desperate for food was because, the Israeli spokesman said on Channel 4 news last evening, IDF soldiers were ‘threatened’ by the surging crowds. The footage we saw was of crowds of people, with not a weapon in sight, hoping to get some food after weeks of the blockade. IDF soldiers are fully armed and there were tanks and quadcopters used to shoot people from the air. Quite how their soldiers were threatened Mr Mercer did not explain (he was asked). In a way the Israelis have hoist themselves by their own petard: we are asked to believe their claims but they prevent any independent verification. 54,600 have now died in Gaza.

British media have a poor record in this conflict. The BBC has been frightened of the anti-Semitic, anti Israel accusations that David Mercer hinted at with Guru Murthy last evening. Its policy of balance has severely let it down. There are some signs of toughening up however. The problem is that the West generally, and America in particular, have supported Israel in all sorts of ways: political cover; weapons; blocking UN resolutions and simply turning a blind eye. Combined with Netanyahu’s need to keep the war going to keep his coalition alive has meant the nation feels it can act with impunity. And it has to be said – they’re not wrong. Until now. The images coming out of Gaza will shock the hardest of hearts. Children sobbing over the bodies of their dead parents and desperately waving pots at food points must surely force some kind of change. Emaciated infants are distressing to behold. It does seem that the coverage is changing and the bland repetition of Israel statements is being more forcefully challenged.

Government failings

Our government has also deceived us in many ways. The Foreign Secretary, David Lammy for example claiming on a BBC programme and in parliament that he had stopped some arms sales when analysis of Israeli records shows that sales have increased. He was lucky to be interviewed by Evan Davies who failed to challenge him. The RAF is conducting hundreds of flights over Gaza the purpose of which is unclear. Yet call this fact up in a search engine and there is very little reporting of it by our media. Quite what they are up to is unclear but the lack of transparency is telling in itself.

The government is keen to use its new powers – gifted to them by the previous government – to arrest or frustrate protestors at the Israeli arms firm Elbit Systems near Bristol, who, their website claims, make the UAS [drones] which are the ‘backbone of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)‘. They denied this in court.

The tragedy of all this is that it will not solve Israel’s problems. Those children left homeless and without parents will prove to be the breeding ground for the next generation of people who will have a hatred of what Israel has done to them.

We hope you can come to this documentary.

June 4, 2025 0

The vigils continue

As the horror in Gaza continues, so do the vigils in Salisbury. information about forthcoming film event

May 2025

Saturday 24th May was the 77th vigil to be held in Salisbury with a healthy attendance as is usual. It has been remarkable that up to 40 attend each week in this activity with no real organisation and very little promotion. There has been only one mention in the local paper and it is noteworthy that the local MP has never appeared nor mentioned the vigil in his weekly column courtesy of the Salisbury Journal: that is 77 vigils and no appearance.

A crucial element in the continuing death toll and destruction is the nature of the information which is being provided to the British people. A talk is being given on this very subject on 6 June entitled Censoring Palestine it will be on June 6th starting at 7 for 7:30 and is free with a parting collection. It will be at the United Reform Church, in Fisherton Street in Salisbury.

Poor information

There are many aspects to the poor information which the public is receiving about the conflict. These include:

A deep fear by the BBC in particular and the Labour Party more generally, about being labelled ‘anti-Semitic’. The Israeli government has waged a relentless and largely successful campaign to label any criticism of their actions as such and also being ‘pro-Hamas’. This is ironic since it was Netanyahu and others in his government who funded and supported Hamas in an attempt to weaken the PLO to stave off claims for a Palestinian state. In recent months, the BBC has begun to stiffen its coverage but it is refusing to broadcast the latest film on the area.
The Israeli government has prevented outside journalists from entering Gaza making objective reporting very difficult. Journalist who are there are subject to intimidation and 180 have been killed by various means. This has enabled claims that individuals are being used as ‘human shields’ by Hamas and that hospitals are ‘control centres’ for them, to justify the continued destruction of property and hospitals.
Very little evidence has ever been provided by the Israelis to demonstrate these claims. We have never been shown a ‘control centre’ despite the frequency of the claims as to their existence.
A successful campaign to establish as a supposed fact that all the recent events started on October 7th with the horrific attack by Hamas where 1,200 Israelis were killed and 251 taken hostage. Western media rarely mention 1948. Huge numbers of people in the UK are unaware of the ferocious assault on Palestinians which took place in 1948 and on into 1949. Between 750,000 and 1 million were forcibly displaced, thousands killed on the spot or made to walk huge distances towards Jordan or other parts. Village after village was destroyed. To read of the methods employed by the Stern Gang and Hagana in the clearing of vast areas of Palestinians is a distressing experience. Known as the Nakba, it is seldom referred to in our media leaving the overriding impression that recent events were all as a result of October 7th.
Biased language used to describe events. For example, Hamas seized 251 ‘hostages’ some of whom it still holds. In some of the exchanges which took place it is reported that Palestinian ‘prisoners’ were exchanged for Israeli ‘hostages’. The so-called prisoners however, were little more than hostages having been arrested without warrants by IDF personnel, never brought to court, not allowed legal representation, brutally tortured and moved from prison to prison in Israel. Quite what is the difference between a Hamas hostage and an Israeli prisoner? British media persist in this confusion of language. It has falsely given the impression of a terrorist group giving up hostages in exchange for individuals who have been through the court process for committing a crime

There are some welcome signs of change certainly on TV coverage. Channel 4 in particular and the BBC to an extent are beginning to devote longer chunks of time and to display the terrible carnage that is Gaza. Right wing media still persist, for example in the Daily Telegraph where we see the October 7th argument repeated again: “Lammy’s decision, therefore, to jump on the anti-Zionist bandwagon by suspending trade talks with Israel over its “intolerable” military operations in Gaza is entirely in keeping with his world view. Rather than condemning the real architects of Gaza’s misery, the Iranian-backed Hamas jihadis who started the conflict with their murderous October 7 assault on Israel.” Note ‘intolerable’ in inverted commas and criticism of Israel as ‘anti-Zionist’.

It will be interesting to hear of the views in Censoring Palestine on 6 June.

Below is a video of the 77th vigil and we are grateful to Peter Gloyns for permission to post it.

May 25, 2025 0

The 75th Vigil

Strong support for the vigil continues

May 2025

We held our 75th vigil on Saturday 10 May and there were 40 in attendance: the numbers are steady with new people each week. The crisis in Gaza goes from bad to worse with huge parts of the area annexed by Israel. Over 52,000 are dead. We repeated the ‘pot’ theme to echo the scenes of people desperate for food after 70 days of the blockade. We shall be back next Saturday 17th.

Nakba Event 15 May

Salisbury Concern for Israel Palestine are holding an event this week to remember Nakda, when thousands of Palestinians were driven from their homes and villages in 1948. Join Team Nakba and SCIP as we reflect on the Nakba of 1948 and subsequent events in Israel/Palestine. With Canon Jonathan Herbert, Iman Mahmoud, Miranda Pinch, Hilary Bond and the Dean of Salisbury (representing all the Abrahamic traditions).

Takes place in All Saints Church, Watersmeet Road, Harnham’ Salisbury, SP2 8JH

7.00pm for 7.30pm. Simple refreshments available and Zaytoun Fairtrade produce on sale.

(Picture courtesy of Peter Gloyns)

Vigil 65

Vigils continue despite the ceasefire

March 2025

The vigil in Salisbury Market Place continue although with the least in attendance we have seen for months. Perhaps other crises are on people’s minds and the ceasefire seemed to be holding – for now at least. The death toll in Gaza now stands at over 48,300 but thousands lie unrecorded under the rubble.

Today, Israel announced the cessation of aid going into Gaza which was part of the agreement. So an end does not seem to be in sight. The role of the Americans is a crucial factor and as we have seen with Ukraine, President Trump’s liking of strong men seems to be the name of the game.

A video prepared by Peter Gloyns can be seen here. We shall be back on 8th March at 5pm.

REMINDER!

To all members and supporters, the tree ceremony takes place at 11:00 on Tuesday 4th in Victoria Park (by the main entrance at the south end of the park). It will only be short and if you can spare the time that would be wonderful. The tree is a recognition of the 50 years of the local Amnesty group.

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March 2, 2025 0

Vigil 58

Fifty eighth Vigil in Salisbury

January 2025

Around 30 attended the latest Vigil in the market place in Salisbury (a number of regulars were unwell). Gaza has disappeared from the news consumed as it is with the fires in California and various utterances of Elon Musk. But the violence still continues. The latest figures suggest around 46,000 are now dead the majority of whom are women and children. The Israelis say the figures are unreliable but they do not permit foreign journalists to enter Gaza. The Lancet in a fresh estimate of deaths think the figures are in the region of 55,000 to 78,000. A detailed analysis has recently been published.

We shall be present again next Saturday 18th January at 17:00 for half an hour.

A video of last evening’s Vigil thanks to Peter Gloyns for producing it.

Middleeasteye. Picture of Gaza City

Vigil

New Year Vigil

Peace Vigil still going after a year of unceasing violence

January 2025

Another year and we held our 57th Vigil in Salisbury yesterday (4 January). A bitterly cold evening and snow threatened. Over 30 attended and we were pleased with some passers-by stopping to join us for a brief while.

The death toll is now around 46,000. It was reported that 6 infants died of cold.

Peace talks are set to resume, but they are unlikely to make much progress before President Trump takes office in a few weeks.

We are pleased to attach a video from yesterday made by Peter Gloyns;

The Vigil goes on

.. and so does the fighting with a hospital destroyed this week

December 2024

The fighting still goes on in Gaza and the death toll is over 45,000 many of whom are women and children. This week, the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza was ordered to evacuate and has been largely destroyed by the IDF. It is claimed the hospital is a ‘terrorist hub’. There are reports of bombing next to the hospital denied by the IDF. As foreign media is denied access, the claims cannot be verified. The World Health Organisation said it was ‘appalled’ by the move and it does seem to be part of the undeclared plan to empty the area of all Palestinians. This is denied by the Israeli government.

We held our vigil again this evening (28 December) with over 30 in attendance. About 50 passers by took notice.

The prospects do not look good. Last weeks talk of peace talks do not look to be progressing well. Commentators are saying that Netanyahu has strengthened his position despite the court case. He has Donald Trump to look forward to who is pro-Israel and, importantly, pro the hard right in the Knesset. The new US Ambassador is very pro-Israel and speaks of the region in biblical terms.

A video of the vigil can be viewed here

Shameful media coverage

British media coverage of the Gaza conflict has been shameful

December 2024

A major human rights organisation publishes a detailed report on the activities of the IDF in Gaza with copious evidence that it amounts to genocide. An Israeli academic, also in an extremely detailed and well referenced report, alleges the same thing. A UN report points in the same direction. Since the events in Gaza, with 44,000 dead and many thousands missing, are of international importance, how they are reported is of great concern. Yet the coverage by our mainstream media has been exceedingly poor and the journalism of a very poor standard.

Coverage is important in terms of shaping public opinion. Since our politicians pay very close attention to how they are regarded by the media it matters for the shaping of policy and how they react to events in conflicts such as Gaza. The UK continues to supply weapons and offer aid to the Israelis precisely because they can and there is precious little media opprobrium.

How then would you expect a report produced by Amnesty International to be reported by a responsible

newspaper or broadcaster such as the BBC? You might expect that they would first of all spend a few minutes on what the report actually said commenting on its detailed nature and the evidence it has produced. You might also note that key aspects of the report were sent to the Israelis to ask for their response ahead of publication. Then you might, for the sake of balance, speak to a representative of the Israeli government or the IDF for a response. You would also expect that the report was actually reported on since the horror of events there are all too evident. So how did our media measure up to these expectations? In short – poorly.

Reporting is seriously wanting

A piece by Media Lens examines the reporting of the genocide in the British media and finds it seriously wanting. They note that in a sane world politicians such as David Lammy and Sir Keir Starmer would be under severe pressure to take a more robust line with Israel. They would call what is going on ‘genocide’ and would find calls to end arms sales all but irresistible.

They note the Daily Telegraph began with Israel’s denunciation of the report which was not in any way a detailed point-by-point rebuttal, just an accusation that Amnesty were ‘fanatics’. Sketchy details of the report appeared at the end of the piece. The Daily Mirror placed it on page 8 or 10 (according to edition). The Guardian reported it online. However, and shamefully, the Daily Mail, The Sun, The Times, and the Daily Express ignored it altogether. The BBC was also poor giving more time to the perpetrators than to the report itself. Media Lens claim that ‘the BBC’s balance and impartiality: [was] a brazen attempt to to protect Israel’s reputation from the truth during an ongoing genocide’.

They claim that the BBC’s much-vaunted impartiality has been increasingly exposed as a charade. They also claim that the BBC’s complicity in genocide and failure to give more than a passing mention of the reports on their news bulletins should be a matter of very serious concern by senior BBC managers.

Israel’s response

It has to be wondered why, in the face of such non-reporting by sizeable chunks of the British media, they should feel the need to respond at all. Media Lens quotes Mark Goldfeder of the US National Jewish Advocacy Center as saying Amnesty redefined the legal term of genocide to suit their accusation, stripping the term of its actual meaning in the process. He claims that they admit this themselves halfway through the report. It did not. The bias in our media is a regular feature of articles in Byline Times.

The failure of British media to give a proper account of the detailed reports, particularly as their own reporters are not allowed into Gaza, is shameful. It means a chunk of the British population is largely unaware of the true horror of what is happening. They are led to believe the events were a direct result of the horrific attack by Hamas on 7th October 2023 when the origins are much deeper. They are regularly told when a hospital is flattened or a refugee camp is bombed, that Hamas is using it as a ‘human shield’ with almost no evidence provided to substantiate this, even after a year. We are told by reporters that there are miles of tunnels packed with arms yet no footage has appeared to evidence that. If it was true, would not the IDF be keen to display it? They are led to believe that the actions of the IDF are a response to violence when the reality – sometimes from the mouths of Israel’s politicians – is to drive out all the Palestinians from the territory.

The British public is being seriously let down.

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December 12, 2024 0

Vigils: one year on

53rd Vigil held today in Salisbury

It is doubtful that anyone thought a year ago that we would still be turning up every Saturday for a Vigil. Today marks 53 weeks since the first was started and yet here we are. Despite the storm and some rain, 25 or so turned out this evening for the 53rd time. We were pleased that two passers-by spent time with us as well.

The violence shows no sign of ending. If you read the three reports featured in our recent posts – from the UN Rapporteur, Amnesty and Dr Mordechai – you will understand that it will not end. There seems to be copious evidence that Israel wants to clear the strip of Palestinians or as they term it ‘mow the lawn’. The attitude of Israelis themselves is a key factor as Dr Mordechai discusses. Similarly some Israeli leaders have made some atrocious comments.

They are secure in their support from the West and most particularly, the US. The UK is also a keen supporter and many Labour party politicians are members of Friends of Israel.

We are pleased to attach a video of the event produced in quick time by Peter Gloyns. The video contains an image showing the scale of the destruction which on its own belies the contention of targeted action by the IDF. We attach another such image (Al Jazeera).

We shall be there again next Saturday 16th starting at 5pm for half an hour. We may see you there.

Remember: what you are reading in the papers and watching on the news is only a fraction of the horror being perpetrated.

Post updated 8 December.

December 7, 2024 0

Israel: bearing witness

Israeli citizen accuses Israel of genocide

December 2024

We do not usually produce three posts on broadly the same topic in quick succession. However, the document available below is unusual. It is written by a Jewish man living in Israel. Our previous posts come from organisations outside the country. One post was from Amnesty and another from the UN Rapporteur. Israeli government sources routinely dismiss these reports as being anti-Semitic or based on lies. It is harder to say that in this case. Entitled Bearing Witness to the Israel-Gaza War by Dr Lee Mordechai, it is immensely detailed and copiously referenced. Indeed, a third of many pages is consumed with references.

It is impossible to summarise such is the detail contained in his work. One aspect is worth drawing attention to is the attitude of Israelis themselves. They are largely supportive of the IDF and 60% of Israelis do not want aid to be sent in. There is a considerable degree of denial evident in polls and surveys of public attitudes. We sometimes refer to the Ha’aretz newspaper which is coming under considerable pressure and is one of the few sources of balanced reporting.

We say again: what you read and see in UK media is a fraction of the horror being perpetrated here. Remember also the UK continues to support and send arms to Israel

December 7, 2024 0

Category: Palestine