Failing to recognise Palestinian state 'rewards' Israel
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Perth Now
an hour ago
- Perth Now
London police arrest 150 pro-Palestinian protesters
Police in London have arrested some 150 people after demonstrators intentionally violated a new law banning support for a pro-Palestinian group because they say the legislation improperly restricts freedom of expression. London's Metropolitan Police said that officers are steadily working through the crowd, making further arrests. Backers of Palestine Action have staged a series of protests across the UK since early July, when parliament outlawed the group and prohibited anyone from publicly showing support for it. Politicians banned the group as a terrorist organisation after activists broke into a Royal Air Force base and vandalised two tanker aircraft. Protesters gathered on Saturday afternoon in the square outside parliament, with dozens displaying signs reading: "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action". That was enough for the police to step in. "Within this crowd a significant number of people are displaying placards expressing support for Palestine Action, which is a proscribed group," the Metropolitan Police Service said on X. "Officers have moved in and are making arrests." Home Secretary Yvette Cooper moved to ban Palestine Action after activists broke into a British air force base in southern England on June 20 to protest British military support for Israel's war with Hamas. The activists sprayed red paint into the engines of two tanker planes at the RAF Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire and caused further damage with crowbars. Palestine Action had previously targeted Israeli defence contractors and other sites in Britain that they believe have links with the Israeli military. Supporters of the group are challenging the ban in court, saying the government has gone too far in declaring Palestine Action a terrorist organisation. "Once the meaning of terrorism is separated from campaigns of violence against a civilian population, and extended to include those causing economic damage or embarrassment to the rich, the powerful and the criminal, then the right to freedom of expression has no meaning and democracy is dead," the group Defend Our Juries said on its website. The arrests outside parliament came amid what is expected to be a busy weekend of demonstrations in London as the war in Gaza and concerns about immigration spur protests and counter-protests across the United Kingdom. While Prime Minister Keir Starmer has angered Israel with plans to recognise a Palestinian state later this year, many Palestinian supporters in Britain criticise the government for not doing enough to end the war in Gaza. Pro-Palestinian protesters were gathering Saturday afternoon in central London for a march that is scheduled to end outside the gates of No. 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's official residence and offices. On Sunday, several groups are scheduled to march through central London to demand the safe release of the Israeli hostages in Gaza.
West Australian
an hour ago
- West Australian
London police arrest 150 pro-Palestinian protesters
Police in London have arrested some 150 people after demonstrators intentionally violated a new law banning support for a pro-Palestinian group because they say the legislation improperly restricts freedom of expression. London's Metropolitan Police said that officers are steadily working through the crowd, making further arrests. Backers of Palestine Action have staged a series of protests across the UK since early July, when parliament outlawed the group and prohibited anyone from publicly showing support for it. Politicians banned the group as a terrorist organisation after activists broke into a Royal Air Force base and vandalised two tanker aircraft. Protesters gathered on Saturday afternoon in the square outside parliament, with dozens displaying signs reading: "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action". That was enough for the police to step in. "Within this crowd a significant number of people are displaying placards expressing support for Palestine Action, which is a proscribed group," the Metropolitan Police Service said on X. "Officers have moved in and are making arrests." Home Secretary Yvette Cooper moved to ban Palestine Action after activists broke into a British air force base in southern England on June 20 to protest British military support for Israel's war with Hamas. The activists sprayed red paint into the engines of two tanker planes at the RAF Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire and caused further damage with crowbars. Palestine Action had previously targeted Israeli defence contractors and other sites in Britain that they believe have links with the Israeli military. Supporters of the group are challenging the ban in court, saying the government has gone too far in declaring Palestine Action a terrorist organisation. "Once the meaning of terrorism is separated from campaigns of violence against a civilian population, and extended to include those causing economic damage or embarrassment to the rich, the powerful and the criminal, then the right to freedom of expression has no meaning and democracy is dead," the group Defend Our Juries said on its website. The arrests outside parliament came amid what is expected to be a busy weekend of demonstrations in London as the war in Gaza and concerns about immigration spur protests and counter-protests across the United Kingdom. While Prime Minister Keir Starmer has angered Israel with plans to recognise a Palestinian state later this year, many Palestinian supporters in Britain criticise the government for not doing enough to end the war in Gaza. Pro-Palestinian protesters were gathering Saturday afternoon in central London for a march that is scheduled to end outside the gates of No. 10 Downing Street, the prime minister's official residence and offices. On Sunday, several groups are scheduled to march through central London to demand the safe release of the Israeli hostages in Gaza.
7NEWS
8 hours ago
- 7NEWS
The Issue with Tim Lester: 7NEWS sits down with John Powers, former US soldier and Australian citizen
For John Powers, it's a tough conclusion to reach. ' Australia is a strategic liability because of the waning capabilities that we have.' Powers is uniquely placed to comment on Australia's defence relationship with our great security ally, the United States. 'We have not manned and equipped and sustained our military, our ADF, so that it can keep pace materially and capability-wise with the United States,' he told 7NEWS. At first blush, it sounds self-serving, delivered with Powers' thick American accent. It presses the case US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth put to Defence Minister Richard Marles in late May: that Australia needs to increase its defence budget to 3.5 per cent of our gross domestic product, tens of billions of dollars more in military spending every year. In fact, John Powers is a dual citizen now living in Australia. He also brings extraordinary experience to the question of whether his adopted country is a good ally for his old country. Now retired, his experience as a US special forces soldier, brigade task force commander, and military intelligence specialist stretched across four decades — from Grenada in 1983 right up to the first Trump administration. Among his roles, he was a war planner. 'When we would put together plans, we would start with Australia,' he said. 'We'd always start to figure out how can we get the Aussies into the fray because when it comes to just grit and mettle and the intangibles of being a reliable soldier, sailor, airman ... you could not have a better ally.' These days, he's not trying to recruit Australians. He's speaking as one. 'I think we've underspent on defence from the standpoint of we don't have the capabilities that we need to even defend ourselves,' he said. On other issues, John Powers challenges American views. Loading content... He waves off a Chinese -owned company's contentious 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin. 'I don't think it's that big of a deal,' he said. 'This same company owns and operates ports in the United States.' When news of the 2015 agreement broke, he says he saw it as an intelligence opportunity '... to collect on the Chinese ... see how they do business, to be able to cross-pollinate with the Americans.' Powers cautions Australians who say assets like Pine Gap — the joint satellite surveillance base near Alice Springs — make us indispensable for US military intelligence. 'It's more important to the Australians than it is (to) the United States,' he said. 'We have similar bases or similar facilities in England, Turkey, Germany, places like that.' Powers argues 'with technology nowadays, you can … bend pipe that stuff back to Fort Meade, Maryland, and it all can be collected there'. He sees greater value, from the US point of view, in Perth and its 'very significant' future as a rotational base for American submarines. But on the biggest of defence hardware projects, he's a pessimist. 'I'm not an AUKUS fan,' he said. 'I don't think it's a good deal.' He doubts Australia will ever take delivery of the American nuclear-powered submarines promised under AUKUS. 'I'm not confident we'll ever see those three Virginia-class submarines,' he said. Now watching the friction between the Albanese government and the Trump administration, Powers is animated by one other issue: the tenure of Australia's ambassador in Washington. 'Mr Rudd should do the honorable thing and resign,' he said. According to Powers, his contacts back in the US are utterly clear on the issue. The fact Kevin Rudd is a former Prime Minister and respected voice on matters regarding China is beside the point. 'Mr Trump doesn't like him,' he said. 'And as a result of Mr Trump not liking him, nobody else in his administration is going to give him the time of day. That is a disservice to us as Australians.' For John Powers, any issue causing friction between the country he was born in, and the country he says he plans to die in, is a problem worth solving.
