Ulster University accused of ‘censorship' after removing Palestinian flag footage from graduation video
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New Statesman
an hour ago
- New Statesman
Kemi Badenoch's position on Israel is discrediting the Conservative Party
Photo byandWhen Kemi Badenoch became leader of the Conservative Party, she very sensibly aimed not to rush into early statements of detailed policy. Unfortunately, her appointment of Priti Patel as shadow foreign secretary was its own statement. Following her unauthorised 2017 trip to Israel while secretary for international development, Patel has been a disgraced figure. While there, accompanied by the peer Stuart Polak of the Conservative Friends of Israel, she met the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu without UK government officials or the British ambassador. Afterwards, she advocated a change in UK policy which, in breach of long-established humanitarian practice, would have included the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) in its aid delivery. This episode could not have been a starker example of impropriety. It merited her dismissal but Theresa May was too weak to wield the axe. Instead, Patel was allowed to resign. And yet, Badenoch saw fit to appoint her to the shadow cabinet. Patel is now in a position to perpetuate her views at a critical moment in world events. Badenoch has shown no indication of knowing anything about Israel and Palestine, and has not made any profound statements on this, the one foreign issue, other than Ukraine, that has dominated global news since she was elected. All she utters is uncritical support for Israel. The Conservative Party used to have a world-view. It supported enlightened international cooperation, and institutions such as the UN along with its accompanying treaties, rules and conventions. More broadly, it was the UK that pledged to support a homeland for the Jewish people, and a future for the Palestinians next door. To their shame, while successive governments have forever delayed implementing that commitment, the Israelis each and every day have violently stolen ever more Palestinian land. Palestine is the only populous legally undisputed land in the world not allowed to call itself a state. It does not belong to Israel, and Israel's determination to annex it does not mean it is disputed. The illegality of Israeli encroachment is cast-iron in international law, a belief that has been the policy of Conservative and Labour governments for decades. Badenoch, however, seems to share the view of those like Patel who do not believe in their own policy. They can never bring themselves to say explicitly that settlements are illegal. The charge sheet against Israel is growing every day: disproportionate force, indiscriminate bombing, mass displacement, food deprivation, the replacement of the Palestinian relief agency UNRWA with mercenaries, the killing of tens of Palestinians each day as they desperately scramble for food, state-backed support for settler terrorists, and the banning of journalists from Gaza. Badenoch and her front bench have done nothing to condemn any of it. Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe [See also: Jonathan Sumption on Israel and Gaza: A question of intent] Amid all this, Priti Patel has refused in the Commons to condemn settler violence – all she would say was that settlers are a barrier to a two-state solution. And when extremist Israeli ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir were sanctioned in June, she declined in her response even to mention their names. The likes of Suella Braverman, meanwhile, have branded pro-Palestine demonstrations 'hate marches'. Contemptibly, any pro-Palestinian voice within the Conservative Party is almost systematically accused of anti-Semitism and put into its complaints procedure, which silences and bullies. And as Michael Gove increases his hold on appointments to the leader's office, what could be more warped than his recent recommendation that the IDF be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize? It has now reached the point where Conservative comment has become so extreme it has discredited their entire foreign policy and is making them despised more widely. The party is increasingly becoming defined by its lack of humanity. The world is watching the extermination of an entire country. Palestine is being annihilated. Meanwhile the Conservative Party is covering itself in shame, and will stand no chance of re-election unless it states a clear policy based on international law, and promotes the UK's historic understanding of the region. This issue is and always has been about land. Israel's extremist government has only one objective, and that is to make all of Palestine theirs. All other talk, horrendous though the facts may be, is second to that. As leader, Kemi Badenoch could redeem herself speedily by stating loudly what all should be saying to Israel: 'Get out of Palestine, it isn't your country.' [See also: Keir Starmer alienates left and right on Gaza] Related
ITV News
11 hours ago
- ITV News
Aerial footage filmed by ITV News shows scale of Gaza's destruction
Last week, ITV News International Editor Emma Murphy filmed from on board a Jordanian flight dropping aid into Gaza. The first aerials of Gaza for months document the territory's continued destruction. Filmed by ITV News International Editor Emma Murphy, on board a plane dropping aid into Gaza, the images show huge swathes of land in ruins. Journalists are prevented from entering Gaza by Israel. Looking out the plane windows from 15,000 feet is the closest any foreign media has been to seeing the aftermath of 22 months of war, apart from trips arranged by the Israeli military. Those on the flights were told they were only allowed to film the aid being dropped, not Gaza below. Entire areas have been levelled after months of Israeli bombardment; the land, once pebbled with spots of green, has largely turned to dust. The Al Wafa Centre for Elderly Care, located in Al-Zahraa City, stands out in a landscape primarily made of rubble. The centre said it provides care for elderly people over 60 with no one to care for them, free of charge. While the building still stands, it has not escaped aerial attacks, according to Palestinian sources. In November 2023, there are multiple reports of Israeli shells hitting the elderly care centre and killing its director, Dr. Medhat Muheisen. Videos from the centre's social media, before the war began ,show elderly patients being fed, provided with activities and partaking in exercise. They also show the surrounding area of the hospital and what stood there before it was turned to rubble. This screenshot from a video posted in 2021 shows a number of tall buildings that once stood near the centre. Their fate is highlighted in yellow below; once tall frames razed to the ground or crumpled in on themselves. Pressure is being levelled on Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a ceasefire with Hamas, after images of emaciated hostages held in Gaza were released. Talks previously broke down in July, after President Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff said Hamas' response showed "a lack of desire" to reach a truce. The videos of the hostages emerged as experts warn that Gaza faces "a worst-case scenario of famine" because of Israel's blockade, which will lead to widespread death. Gaza's Health Ministry said Monday that five more Palestinian adults died of malnutrition-related causes in the past 24 hours. It claimed that 87 adults have died from malnutrition-related issues since late June, and that 93 children have died since the war began from a lack of food. Israel's government has denied that people are starving to death in Gaza.
North Wales Chronicle
13 hours ago
- North Wales Chronicle
No 10 declines to say if Palestine to be recognised with Hamas in power
Number 10 also refused to be drawn on whether the release of all Israeli hostages was a condition for recognition, but insisted they must be freed 'unconditionally and immediately'. Concerns have been raised over the UK's plans to recognise a Palestinian state after Hamas member Ghazi Hamad appeared to claim the 'fruits' of October 7 had caused the world to 'open its eyes to the Palestinian issue'. Asked on Monday whether formalising the move without a ceasefire could embolden Hamas to hold onto Israeli captives, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said the Government would assess the situation in September. 'The Prime Minister has been absolutely clear that, on October 7, Hamas perpetrated the worst massacre in Israel's history,' he said. 'Every day since then that horror has continued… as the Foreign Secretary said over the weekend, Hamas are rightly pariahs who can have no role in Gaza's future.' Asked whether a Palestinian state could be recognised while Hamas are still holding hostages, the spokesman said that 'we'll make an assessment ahead of the UN General Assembly on how far the parties have met the steps that we've set out'. 'We've been very clear that Hamas can have no role in the future governments of Gaza… We've also been clear that they must disarm, must release all the hostages. On whether the step could be taken while Hamas remain in power, the official said the Government was clear that 'Hamas are not the Palestinian people'. 'It is the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to have recognition along the lines and the steps that we've previously set out,' he said. 'We've also been very clear it cannot be in the hands of Hamas, a terrorist group, to have a veto over recognition of Palestine.' Videos released by militant groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad last week appeared to show Israeli hostages in a visibly fragile state. Number 10 condemned the images as 'completely abhorrent'. Meanwhile, Mr Hamad reportedly told the Al Jazeera news outlet: 'The initiative by several countries to recognise a Palestinian state is one of the fruits of October 7.' About 1,200 people were killed by Hamas militants in the 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war and another 251 were abducted. Israel's retaliatory military offensive has killed more than 60,800 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but its figures are seen by the UN and other independent experts as the most reliable count of casualties. The UK and Jordan have been working together to air drop aid amid warnings of widespread malnourishment in Gaza. It comes as Britain seeks to put pressure on Israel to change course with a plan to recognise a Palestinian state in September ahead of the UN General Assembly. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said the UK would only refrain from recognising Palestine if Israel allows more aid into Gaza, stops annexing land in the West Bank, agrees to a ceasefire and signs up to a long-term peace process over the next two months.
