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.
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.
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.
Film being hosted by the Exeter Amnesty group subject: China
On Saturday 18th January at 1pm, Exeter Amnesty group hosts the film, All Static and Noise, at Exeter Phoenix, followed by a Q&A session with Nabila Hanson, AIUK ChinaCoordinator. The plight of Uyghurs in China does not receive the attention it deserves. Governments are keen to forge relationships with the country for commercial reasons. Little attention is paid for example to the scandal of cotton produced using forced or slave labour in the region which finds its way into clothes sold on our high streets.
In the film, All Static & Noise, by David Novack, survivors and their families risk everything to expose the truth of China’s Uyghur detention and ‘re-education’ camps. Jewher, a Uyghur teen from China, lands in the US after she is violently separated from her father at the Beijing airport. Abduweli, a linguist and poet imprisoned and tortured for teaching Uyghur language, leaves for Istanbul upon his release. Together, they join survivors of China’s “re-education camps” and their families, in Turkey, Kazakhstan, Europe and the United States to expose atrocities with the hope that global awareness brings change.
Film about the Israeli/Palestine conflict to be shown next month
September 2024
The film Tinderbox is to be shown at the United Reform Church in Fisherton Street, Salisbury on Monday 7th October starting at 7pm. Entry is free. It is a Christian Aid Film.
The conflict rages in Gaza and settler violence has increased in the West Bank. Over 40,000 are now dead in Gaza and prospects for peace being discussed only a week or so ago seem moribund. There has been a pause in hostilities to enable UN agencies to administer polio vaccine following an outbreak of this highly contagious disease.
The film was written and directed by Gillian Mosely who is Jewish and consists of a range of interviews with representatives of both sides of the conflict. It has received mixed reviews, the Times calling it ‘trite’ and the Jewish Chronicle said it was ‘thought provoking but out of its depth’ however the story itself concludes that ‘it does a great job in laying out some of the important moments in Israel’s history …’ Both the JC review and the Guardian found it strange that she did not interview friends or her own family although an educated guess might provide good reasons why not.
A detailed review published in the Conversation is worth reading giving an historical context to this conflict.
A full house saw this moving film at the Arts Centre yesterday which unfortunately was marred by a long delay in getting the film to screen. Regrettably, it led to some people leaving before the problems were finally sorted.
We return to a film event after an absence of three years
We’re delighted to invite you to join us at the matinee screening of the BAFTA award-winning film Limbo, a wryly touching story of a refugee centre in the Outer Hebrides, showing at Salisbury Arts Centre White Room on Sunday 29 May at 2.30pm.
The Arts Centre are giving Salisbury Amnesty a short introductory slot to update the audience on the subject of refugees and we expect to have a relevant petition for audience members to sign.
It would be lovely if as many of you as possible could support this matinee screening, especially as it has been some time since our last public collaboration with the Arts Centre and we would like this to continue into the future.
Tickets are £9 and the film lasts I hour 44 minutes. There is a lift to the White Room Studio. Masks are encouraged but no longer obligatory and you will be sitting next to other people as this isn’t a socially distanced performance.
We hope you are all well and we look forward very much to seeing you at this witty and moving film.
If you come here following the film Just Mercy shown at Playhouse, welcome and the case we referred to can be accessed from this link. It concerns a singer in Nigeria who is at risk of execution. As was explained, Amnesty opposes the death penalty in all circumstances. It is not a deterrent and mistakes which are many, cannot be rectified once someone has been executed.
The group produces a monthly report on cases and issues surrounding the penalty around the world and the most recent can be found here. We have also published a review of a discussion organised by Amnesty concerning the World Day Against the Death Penalty, (which Amnesty themselves have used), and this can be found here.
There are concerns that there is a desire to resume the death penalty in the UK and some politicians have said so but in the case of the Home Secretary, Priti Patel MP, she has said she no longer supports that position.
You may have heard of Reprieve and the work of Clive Stafford Smith in USA. Clive represents many people on death row some of whom were convicted on flimsy or circumstantial evidence. Unlike in the UK, police in many US States are under no obligation to reveal evidence which points to the suspect’s innocence. Clive’s fascinating book Injustice is reviewed on this page.
The Salisbury group is not just concerned with the death penalty but with human rights issue generally. We are concerned at the government’s desire to abolish the Human Rights Act especially when we leave the EU and we shall be campaigning on this if it comes to fruition.
We are not doing any face to face activities at present for obvious reasons but new members are welcome and following this site or Facebook or Twitter @salisburyai is something you can do. When normal times resume, we hope to get back to campaigning work.
Film Just Mercy to be shown on 4 November at 7pm in the Playhouse with an introduction by a member of the Salisbury group. For further details and how to buy tickets see the Wiltshire Creative post.
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 