The future of Israeli politics looks uncertain at this moment with no party achieving a secure majority and with the ‘Arab’ parties doing well becoming in effect the king makers. Neither likely winner: Netanyahu nor Eisenkot, are representing real change in the political landscape. Watching the interviews in Israel with people in the street is often quite depressing. Like Trump, many seem to see Netanyahu as the future despite the pitiful state he has left the nation in.
The Times of Israel reports today that a renewed strike on Iran is being discussed with the US.
This week’s Salisbury vigil was well attended with around 30 of us there. Recognition was good partly because it is now dusk with the change in the clocks so people notice the candles. As ever, we report no sign of the local MP Mr John Glen who is member of the Friends of Israel organisation.
According to Arab News, the death toll in Gaza (two weeks ago) was 74,396 and injuries are over 175,000.
Video Because …
We are pleased to report our YouTube video Because ... has been viewed hundreds of times and can be seen here. We shall be there near the Library next Saturday 7th November at 5pm as usual.
After the strong turnout for vigil 150, the storm meant few braved last evening’s vigil as we sheltered on the steps of the Library. We are pleased to note that the previous week’s vigil attracted some coverage in the Salisbury Journal both on line and in the print version.
On Friday 23rd, Channel 4 News had an extended package on the violence in the West Bank which has been growing in intensity and frequency [registration may be required]. It showed dead goats killed by settler gangs and the camera crew and reporter were themselves attacked. It is the time of the olive harvest and settlers are attacking pickers and the trees themselves. IDF soldiers do little to prevent these attacks. There is footage of Palestinian houses being demolished. Data for the number of attacks is provided by the Israeli human rights organisation Yesh Din which gives copious information about how little is done to bring perpetrators to justice.
The UK’s support for violence in the Middle East with the supply of weapons is well-aired on these pages. They are also keen to stifle support for Palestine Action and over 3,000 have now been arrested for so doing. The author Sally Rooney has been caught up in the dispute and her books can no longer be sold in the UK as this risks arrest. Palestine Action say:
“The ban on Palestine Action was only introduced to serve the interests of the Israel lobby and the Israeli arms industry at the expense of the fundamental freedoms of British citizens.
“Andy Burnham’s Government has the power to overturn this authoritarian ban, but they are choosing instead to defend it in the Supreme Court” [accessed 25 October].
Sarah Helm
A writer and journalist Sarah Helm has also been caught up in what is almost an hysterical response by a range of right wing and Israeli supporting news organisations. Sarah is the wife of Jonathan Powell who is the government’s national security adviser. She responded on X to a clip of broadcaster Adam Boulton criticising fellow writer Sally Rooney over her support for the pro-Palestinian movement. She wrote “God help us authors who support Palestine and Palestine Action. Sounds like Adam [Boulton] would have all our books swept off the shelves in a jiffy.”
The post has drawn attention because Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in the UK in July 2025, making membership and certain forms of support for the group criminal offences under the Terrorism Act 2000. The effect of this decision is increasingly being seen as an attack on free speech. An appeal will be heard in the Supreme Court soon.
The police have decided to take no action as her words do not pass the required threshold. The Campaign Against Antisemitism has been especially vocal against Ms Helm. The organisation was founded by Gideon Falter.
It almost doesn’t seem possible that a group of people in Salisbury have turned out each Saturday for 150 weeks to stand, sometimes in the cold and rain, to support the principle of peace and justice in the Middle East. Yesterday (17th) there were 40 of us and it should be emphasised that although there are stalwart members who come more of less every week, there are others who come a few times and there are passers-by who join in a well. Not seen at any of the 150 vigils over three years is the local MP Mr John Glen. He is a supporter of Conservative Friends of Israel.
Israel continues to dominate the news last week. First the film NAZA which has achieved considerable international recognition and success being viewed by millions around the world. It has generated a fierce response from Israel and the IDF who accuse the soldiers who were interviewed as ‘smearing’ Israel and ‘causing harm to Israel’s diplomatic and security interests’. They both deny its integrity yet say it is a threat.
Sally Rooney the Irish novelist, has had to remove all her books from sale in the UK because she risks falling foul of the terrorist laws because of her support for Palestine Action. Any royalties from those sales risk being classed as ‘proceeds of terrorism’ and she risks a prison sentence. This is a direct attack on free speech and comment. Curiously, various organisations which promote violent action are not proscribed by the government such is their obsession with supporting Israel and the arms deals. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, thought to be behind some recent incidents such as Fairford for example, is not proscribed.
The third event of last week was the attack by settlers on a group of diplomats from France, Belgium and Poland visiting the West Bank. They had also attacked Palestinians trying to harvest their olives beating one man badly. They also attacked a Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine.
Our film Because … was published last week and we are pleased to report a good level of interest so far.
Main photo: Salisbury Amnesty, other photos courtesy of Peter Gloyns
Today, 17th October, is the 150th vigil in Salisbury. If you are able to come that would be wonderful. You may wonder why you haven’t heard of this and we are disappointed to report that the Salisbury Journal declined to publish the press notice. We cannot know why. 5 o’clock outside the Library for half and hour.
The 149th vigil held on Saturday. Big row about the Green party motion on Zionism
October 2026
A tense week on the Israel front with a major row erupting at the Green party conference arising from a motion to defining Zionism as “a political ideology which called for the creation – and, now it exists, the continuity – of an ethnonationalist Jewish State in historic Palestine to the exclusion and/or domination of the non-Jewish population.” It has put the party leader Zac Polanski in a difficult position partly because he was absent for the vote itself.
The death toll continues in Gaza with 74,243 deaths and 1,460 killed since the ‘cease fire’. There are 175,243 wounded many of whom are children who have suffered severe physical injuries and who have lost family members. Some have experienced mental trauma which will last a lifetime. It is ironic listening to the earnest debates and interviews about the Green party motion, to note that there is no equivalent earnest debate about this death toll. It has just become so much background noise.
We held our 149th vigil on Saturday with around 25 present. Next Saturday 17th, will be the 150th such vigil. We had no notion they would continue this long. The local MP, Mr John Glen has never appeared at a single vigil nor mentioned their existence in his weekly column courtesy of the Salisbury Journal. He is a member of the Conservative Friends of Israel lobbying organisation.
The film NAZA is being shown in the Odeon in Salisbury on Thursday 15th. This is the award winning film made secretly in Israel at night. The resulting documentary, “NAZA,” takes a look at the technology used by Israel in Gaza to identify military targets. Anonymous sources in the film said the technology also has been used to kill Palestinian civilians. A trailer can be seen here.
Latest vigil – No 148 – well attended. Green party passes a vote on Zionism
October 2026
Over 30 attended the 148th vigil on what turned out to be a damp evening.
The major news this week was the decision by the Green party at their annual conference to declare Zionism an ‘ethnonationalist project’ which has drawn predictable criticism from Israel. The Israeli foreign ministry said in a post on X on Sunday that the motion “constitutes a clear antisemitic text according to the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition, as it denies the Jewish people’s right to self-determination”.
The chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, described the motion as “poisonous antisemitism” and a “threat to British Jews and to Britain”. However, as we have pointed out previously, not all Jewish people in the UK agree with the rabbi.
It was also reported last week that there has been a rise in Jewish people in the UK feeling ’emotionally attached to Israel’. This follows a longitudinal survey carried out by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research of 2,500 individuals. It has risen 13 points since the start of the Gaza war. There is also a rise in those identifying themselves as Zionist.
Our attention has been drawn to the following two items concerning how children are treated in Israeli prisons. One by Save the Children and the other a video by Al Jazeera. There is a WARNING that the latter contains distressing material.
Palestine Solidarity Campaign have made the claim that ‘public anger over Israel’s treatment of Palestinians and Britain’s response was increasingly being expressed‘. The claim was made by Aimee Shalan who will become director in November.
She said Palestine becoming an electoral issue both domestically and nationally. She pointed to Ed Miliband’s recent statement and the change in policy towards the West Bank in particular. The West Bank appeared in the news in recent days because of the latest incident of severe violence involving over 100 militant settlers who overwhelmed security forces in an attack on the village of Jalud.
Several senior politicians, including the president Isaac Herzog, have condemned the violence but there is an element of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. Settler violence has been overtly and covertly supported by politicians and the security forces have up to now, stood by while Palestinians were attacked and their properties destroyed. It is a bit late to complain now when the scale of violence and ethnic cleansing has become so extreme.
The 147th vigil was held on Saturday with nearly 40 in attendance. There was a good response to the invitation to ‘honk for peace’. The Salisbury MP, Mr John Glen. has not appeared and there was no mention of the vigil again in his weekly column courtesy of the Salisbury Journal. He is a member of the Conservative Friends of Israel group.
Film update – Because …
Our film Because ... is progressing well and will be finished ready for the 150th vigil. Most interviews have been completed.
Issue No 278 of CAAT news details latest activities of this trade November 2026 We give coverage to this newsletter from CAAT because of the significance of the arms industry in connection with our political process and for human rights world wide. These are: The industry is one of the few in the UK of…
Vigil took place during election week in Israel November 2026 The future of Israeli politics looks uncertain at this moment with no party achieving a secure majority and with the ‘Arab’ parties doing well becoming in effect the king makers. Neither likely winner: Netanyahu nor Eisenkot, are representing real change in the political landscape. Watching…
Let us not loose sight of this woman in a supposedly civilised nation November 2026 Readers will recall that Christi Pike was intended to be executed a few weeks ago but after an hour spent trying to find a vein and two attempts, the curtains were pulled across and Christi was found to be still…
We were back to a strong turn out at last Saturday’s vigil (12th) which coincided with events happening in the Middle East. When we last posted, we questioned whether the British government was going to take action. It did so with a statement by the Foreign Secretary, Ed Miliband to parliament which was a significant departure from the previous weak actions by the Starmer led government.
He said that the prospects for a Palestinian state were being destroyed on the ground in particular with the plans for a massive settlement E1. He specifically called Israeli government actions as ‘ethnic cleansing’ a major departure for the government. He has arranged for settler goods to be barred from coming into the UK. Most importantly however is actions against banking system which will make it difficult for Israeli banks to fund settlements and keep their licence in London. Settler goods will be easy to circumvent – who knows where a mango or avocado comes from? – but banking restrictions are crucial.
International support
The government has also found support from a range of other countries including France and Canada. Altogether a significant shift in policy. He also disagreed with the chief Rabbi’s assertion that these additional controls will increase anti-Semitism in the UK. Sir Ephraim Mirvis often speaks as though the Jewish community in the UK are of one voice and that he speaks for them. It has been interesting to see that a number of other Rabbis and Jewish people have been interviewed or written letters saying they do not agree with his view and that there is need of concerted action against settler violence.
One Jewish person writing in the Guardian said:
“A substantial minority of British Jews like myself agree with the British government’s new use of the term ethnic cleansing to describe how armed settlers in the occupied territories evict Palestinians from their land with passive and sometimes active support from Israeli institutions. […] Tolerating settler violence is longstanding Israeli policy which I’ve seen with my own eyes [..]’.
“I saw with dismay the indulgent favour of state forces towards these most renegade settlers how regional police (settlers themselves) laugh contemptuously at villager’s complaints and when then called upon for protection, the Israeli army arrived slowly or not at all and did nothing.” (12 September)
Film
The film NAZA was screened at the Venice Film Festival last week and is a documentary about the mass slaughter which has taken place in Gaza. NAZA is the acronym for the number of civilians expected to die when an apartment block is bombed. The IDF prefers to kill suspected Hamas terrorists in their homes and that often results in a large number of civilians deaths. The producers hope to win an award.
The UK government’s actions seem to have had an effect in Israel. Reactions from the US have yet to emerge and may relate to changing public opinion and declining support for Israel.
UPDATE: Proposal to withdraw Israeli citizenship from the two film makers.
We shall be holding the next vigil on Saturday 19th at 5pm as usual and all are welcome.
We still turn out each week as the need is still there
Proposal to make a film
August 2026
One hundred and forty three vigils for peace in the Middle East supported by around 30 people yesterday (29 August). The photo shows one of our number standing on the traffic island and there were around 35 ‘honks’.
There has been some coverage of the situation in Gaza last week with reports on the yellow line which is slowly creeping across the territory forcing the Palestinians into a smaller and smaller area. According to the LA Times it is now 64% of Gaza. Nearly all the cultivable land has now been seized. According to recent estimates, the death toll is now over 73,000 and continuing despite the ceasefire. 174,000 have been injured. Around 1,300 have been killed since the ‘ceasefire’ and 4,361 injured. Settler violence has intensified in the West Bank.
We still await government action concerning our relations with Israel following the election of Andy Burnham as prime minister who apologised for the government’s stance in July. Although this apology was welcomed, few in the media noted that Burnham is a member of Labour Friends of Israel. On the web site Track Israel Lobbying Mr Burnham heads the page Hall of Shame as having received over £200,000.
The total received by MPs from Israeli organisations is a massive £1,574,262 (updated this month). It is reasonable to ask how independent are our members of parliament and to what extent are they representing the interests of those people whom they purport to represent when they are in receipt of such largesse?
Film
We are considering making a short film to be called ‘Because …’ which will have brief interviews with some of those who attend these vigils. We will be carrying out the interviews over the next few Saturdays. Anyone reading this who attends is willing to volunteer. The aim is for people to say they come to the vigils because … and to give their reasons.
We note once again that there has been no sign of the local MP Mr John Glen who is a member of the Conservative Friends of Israel group (see above) and has never mentioned them in his weekly column in the Salisbury Journal.
We continue to hold vigils in Salisbury’s market place on Saturday evening. Last Saturday was the 137th such event. Thinly attended this time but we were briefly joined by 26 Brazilian students which was a delight.
We continue because the situation in the Middle East gets no better. We await how the new prime minister handles the situation in Gaza but he has already apologised for the party’s response and approach to the conflict which was very damaging. Sir Keir Starmer was so desperate to lay the ghost of ‘anti-Semitism’ that his response to Israel’s violence and destruction of the territory was distorted. Now David Lammy has made statements about the mistaken approach but it has to be noted that there was little sign of this up till now. He did not feel the need to resign.
Dr Hussan Abu Safiya
The UN said in a report last month:
“The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel expresses its grave concern at credible reports that Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a Palestinian doctor and Director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in the Gaza Strip, has been subjected to continued and severe abuse since his detention by the Israeli authorities in December 2024.
“The Commission calls for the immediate, unconditional and safe release of Dr. Abu Safiya and of all medical personnel held in arbitrary detention by Israel. It also urges the Israeli authorities to provide immediate independent medical care for Dr. Abu Safiya.
“The continued arbitrary detention of Palestinian medical personnel and the severe mistreatment they are subjected to are deplorable and flagrant violations of international law. The actions of the Israeli Prison Service guards towards Palestinian detainees raise grave concerns of violations of international law that likely amount to international crimes. Dr. Abu Safiya’s medical condition is the direct result of these actions. The Commission underscores that persons deprived of liberty are protected against murder, torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and sexual violence”.
Israeli forces now occupy 65% of the Gaza strip in contravention of Trump’s peace plan. The number of Palestinians killed is 73,770 of whom 20,000 or more are children. The total is likely to be much higher with thousands buried and unaccounted for under rubble. 1,144 have been killed since the ceasefire in October.
Sources: Guardian, BBC, Al Jazeera, Copilot Search,UN,
