Latest news with #Braverman
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Israeli farmers revive tequila project cut short by Oct 7 attack
Israeli farmers whose dream of producing tequila was cut short by Hamas's October 7 attack have returned to work along the Gaza border, ploughing fields and sowing seeds to bring their land back to life. With artillery fire and explosions booming in the distance, businessman Aviel Leitner and farmer Eran Braverman inspected their field of blue agave, hoping they would one day soon produce the country's first-ever batch of tequila. Planted prior to the war sparked by the unprecedented October 2023 attack on communities in southern Israel, Leitner said the violence and subsequent chaos meant waiting until now to unveil their unique project. "We wanted to very much show that Israeli farmers had returned to the fields, that this war wasn't going to stop them, that there were new crops growing in the Negev and that there is nothing sexier than tequila and mezcal and agave spirits," he told AFP. Leitner said he was inspired to bring the plants to Israel following a family trip to Mexico. For him and Braverman, the survival of the exotic plants -– just like their complex transportation from Mexico to Israel -- is nothing short of a miracle. - Taste of tequila - On October 7, 2023 militants attacked Kibbutz Alumim and other communities around it, burning down barns and greenhouses and destroying irrigation equipment. "We are about four kilometres from the (Gaza) fence and everything from the fence to Alumim was destroyed," recalled Braverman, who said that 22 farm workers from Nepal and Thailand were murdered there, as were three soldiers who died defending the site. "When we heard what happened, we were very scared for the farmers and their families because we had grown close to them. It was very, very traumatic," said Leitner. He was also concerned for his plants. The dry desert conditions and the drip irrigation technology meant the blue agave could survive without much care and somehow, the field was unaffected by the fighting. Now, the two men are counting down the days until the plants are ripe, as Leitner looks for a place to build his tequila distillery. "We're hoping to start manufacturing in early winter 2025 and this will be the first agave spirit manufactured in the land of Israel," Leitner said. - New crops - Danielle Abraham, executive director of the NGO Volcani International Partnerships, which assists Israeli farmers through its "Regrow" project, said communities in southern Israel were "determined to get back on their feet and grow back stronger." "They are trying to bring new crops, introduce new innovation and think about the future," she said, adding that "they stood up after a disaster with such resolve." Citing statistics from the kibbutz movement, Abraham said that farms in southern Israel were now back at close to 100 percent of their pre-October 2023 capacity, but were still undergoing challenges. "The ongoing war and the uncertainty is still taking a big toll mentally on the farmers," she said. Sheila Gerber, who has run a botanical garden and cactus farm with her husband Yaakov for the past 30 years in the nearby Moshav Talmei Yosef cooperative, said visitors were still staying away. The fighting is on the other side of the border but the community still live in fear, said Gerber, who described how a recent explosion caused all the glass in one of their greenhouses to shatter. "It was horrifying. It was scary," she said. Hamas militants did not reach Talmei Yosef on October 7, after being repelled just outside the gates by members of a civilian security team. Gerber and her family were evacuated, and returned a few weeks later. "We came back because farmers come back -- you can't just leave everything to die," she said, adding that "almost all the farmers came back." Gerber recalled how, until the Second Palestinian Intifada or uprising against Israel began in 2000, she and her family could visit Gaza. "When it was peaceful, it was very nice and we could go to the markets, we could go to the beach, we could take the kids, it was no problem," she said. "But of course now we can't and it's very sad for everybody," she added. "What will be the future, we really don't know." reg/acc/ser
France 24
5 days ago
- France 24
Israeli farmers revive tequila project cut short by Oct 7 attack
With artillery fire and explosions booming in the distance, businessman Aviel Leitner and farmer Eran Braverman inspected their field of blue agave, hoping they would one day soon produce the country's first-ever batch of tequila. Planted prior to the war sparked by the unprecedented October 2023 attack on communities in southern Israel, Leitner said the violence and subsequent chaos meant waiting until now to unveil their unique project. "We wanted to very much show that Israeli farmers had returned to the fields, that this war wasn't going to stop them, that there were new crops growing in the Negev and that there is nothing sexier than tequila and mezcal and agave spirits," he told AFP. Leitner said he was inspired to bring the plants to Israel following a family trip to Mexico. For him and Braverman, the survival of the exotic plants -– just like their complex transportation from Mexico to Israel -- is nothing short of a miracle. Taste of tequila On October 7, 2023 militants attacked Kibbutz Alumim and other communities around it, burning down barns and greenhouses and destroying irrigation equipment. "We are about four kilometres from the (Gaza) fence and everything from the fence to Alumim was destroyed," recalled Braverman, who said that 22 farm workers from Nepal and Thailand were murdered there, as were three soldiers who died defending the site. "When we heard what happened, we were very scared for the farmers and their families because we had grown close to them. It was very, very traumatic," said Leitner. He was also concerned for his plants. The dry desert conditions and the drip irrigation technology meant the blue agave could survive without much care and somehow, the field was unaffected by the fighting. Now, the two men are counting down the days until the plants are ripe, as Leitner looks for a place to build his tequila distillery. "We're hoping to start manufacturing in early winter 2025 and this will be the first agave spirit manufactured in the land of Israel," Leitner said. New crops Danielle Abraham, executive director of the NGO Volcani International Partnerships, which assists Israeli farmers through its "Regrow" project, said communities in southern Israel were "determined to get back on their feet and grow back stronger." "They are trying to bring new crops, introduce new innovation and think about the future," she said, adding that "they stood up after a disaster with such resolve." Citing statistics from the kibbutz movement, Abraham said that farms in southern Israel were now back at close to 100 percent of their pre-October 2023 capacity, but were still undergoing challenges. "The ongoing war and the uncertainty is still taking a big toll mentally on the farmers," she said. Sheila Gerber, who has run a botanical garden and cactus farm with her husband Yaakov for the past 30 years in the nearby Moshav Talmei Yosef cooperative, said visitors were still staying away. The fighting is on the other side of the border but the community still live in fear, said Gerber, who described how a recent explosion caused all the glass in one of their greenhouses to shatter. "It was horrifying. It was scary," she said. Hamas militants did not reach Talmei Yosef on October 7, after being repelled just outside the gates by members of a civilian security team. Gerber and her family were evacuated, and returned a few weeks later. "We came back because farmers come back -- you can't just leave everything to die," she said, adding that "almost all the farmers came back." Gerber recalled how, until the Second Palestinian Intifada or uprising against Israel began in 2000, she and her family could visit Gaza. "When it was peaceful, it was very nice and we could go to the markets, we could go to the beach, we could take the kids, it was no problem," she said. "But of course now we can't and it's very sad for everybody," she added. "What will be the future, we really don't know."
Yahoo
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Suella Braverman: Arrest of ex-special constable over tweet is national embarrassment
Credit: Andy Mackenzie for The Telegraph The arrest of a retired special constable over a tweet warning about rising anti-Semitism is a 'national embarrassment', Suella Braverman has said. Last weekend, The Telegraph revealed that Julian Foulkes, 72, from Gillingham, Kent, was handcuffed at his home by six Kent Police officers in November 2023 after replying to a pro-Palestinian activist on X. Mr Foulkes, who volunteered with the force for a decade, had his home searched, and was detained for eight hours, interviewed and cautioned. He had replied to a tweet from a pro-Palestinian activist who had threatened to sue Mrs Braverman for calling anti-Israel protests 'hate marches'. It was only on May 6, 18 months later, that Kent Police admitted the caution was a mistake, removed it from his record, and apologised. With support from the Free Speech Union, he is now crowdfunding to take legal action against the force. On Friday, the former home secretary invited Mr Foulkes to Westminster to commend him for speaking out. Sitting across from him in her Parliamentary office, Mrs Braverman told Mr Foulkes that she wished she had been able to prevent his ordeal. 'The police seriously erred in this instance, and I think it's caused a national embarrassment because their overreach, their overzealous approach, is a symptom of a deeper problem within policing, which is political correctness,' she said. 'The shorthand is 'woke policing', and this is a real attack on free speech,' she told the former special constable, 'and unfortunately, you're not the only case'. During her time as home secretary Mrs Braverman attempted to crack down on these practices, her concern was – and still is – that police were being distracted from fighting crime. In September 2023 she ordered an investigation into officers who were 'pandering to politically correct causes' such as taking the knee at Black Lives Matter protests. This intervention came just two months before Mr Foulkes was arrested, an event she said showed that her attempted reforms had failed. 'I do think that the police have still got a major problem when it comes to being overly politicised, and chief constables are directing their rank and file officers to pursue cases which are totally unmerited and shouldn't warrant police action,' she explained. 'So it has been because I wasn't able to go further, I do think, yes, the problem still exists.' The MP for Fareham and Waterlooville said she had entered the Home Office with a plan to fix 'woke policing' but that Rishi Sunak, the then prime minister, and police chiefs had been obstructive. 'I tried many ways to try and fix it. It's a very deep, deeply entrenched problem right up to the top of policing,' she said. 'I don't actually think it's rank and file. It's the police chiefs who have signed up to a Left-wing agenda, frankly, and that informs a lot of the police instructions and actions that they take on the ground.' Other measures Mrs Braverman imposed included guidance to limit the investigation of non-crime hate incidents, which have been criticised for restricting free speech. But speaking to The Telegraph, Mrs Braverman admitted that 'none of that worked'. 'It's very hard for ministers and indeed police and crime commissioners to get a real and substantial change in policing, as my experience bears out,' she said. 'I was very vocal about my intentions. The police still did what they wanted to do because they didn't get the message from the Home Secretary of all people.' She accused the National Police Chiefs' Council, the College of Policing and a 'large majority' of chief constables of adopting a 'virtue-signalling agenda'. Mrs Braverman said she would have 'very much liked' to go further in her reforms but was blocked by No 10, leaving her feeling 'powerless'. 'I've got to take responsibility, but no minister can act unilaterally. And you can have the best plans. You can have the best argument for your plans. You can be the most charismatic, intelligent minister. If the Prime Minister doesn't want it to happen, it's not going to happen,' she said. 'I wanted to scrap the College of Policing. I wanted to scrap non crime hate incidents. I wasn't allowed. I wasn't given permission to do that.' She continued: 'I remember feeling quite powerless actually as Home Secretary, I used to tell my officials this very often, 'I'm Home Secretary, I'm getting the questions, and I'm getting the challenge for poor performance, but I have no levers whatsoever, really, to try and change direction. So there's a fundamental weakness in the system.' While 'very much' supporting the operational independence of police, she said that the current arrangement needed a rethink because forces use it as protection 'from challenge or scrutiny or accountability'. Mrs Braverman was ultimately sacked in 2023 following a public row with Sir Mark Rowley, the Met Commissioner, over his refusal to ban a pro-Palestinian march on Armistice Day. She told Mr Foulkes that it was ironic the police were 'very, very eager' to arrest him over his social media post warning about anti-Semitism, 'but when thousands of people were marching through the streets on Armistice Day, chanting anti-Semitic slogans, celebrating terrorism, they suddenly became very meek and mild and didn't have enough resources or powers'. Mrs Braverman said her struggle to reform the system from within had convinced her that real change may now only come from people like Mr Foulkes speaking out. 'It is high-profile cases like yours, which will have an effect, because it's so shockingly unacceptable the way you were treated that dispassionate, objective observers will, I'm sure, come to the conclusion that there's been a real mistake here by the police. And if you pull that thread, you can see the broader problem.' Mr Foulkes told Mrs Braverman that he was one of many disillusioned Tory voters who had switched to Reform UK. He said he always sensed her initiatives were being 'thwarted' from within as home secretary, and it was the fact that in 14 years 'nothing seems to have got done' that led him to defect. 'You probably know we want you on board in Reform,' he told Mrs Braverman, noting the fact her husband Rael had already made the switch must make for 'interesting conversations around the dinner table'. But Mrs Braverman politely dismissed any suggestion she might switch allegiance , saying: 'I've been voting with the Conservatives this week and I'll continue to do so.' Lord Herbert of South Downs, chairman of the College of Policing disputed Mrs Braverman's portrayal of the organisation, saying: 'This is a grievously distorted view of the college which has been shared by no other Home Secretary. 'The college was set up by a Conservative government, has the support of police chiefs, and is now strongly focused on leadership, standards, and performance in policing. A professional body for the service to deliver on these critical issues is needed now more than ever.' A Kent Police spokesman said: 'A review, led by the force's Professional Standards department, is under way. The force has apologised to Mr Foulkes for the distress caused and for the way it was investigated.' The NPCC and Mr Sunak have been approached for comment. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Middle East Eye
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
UK court rules anti-protest laws are unlawful
A court of appeal has ruled that legislation that granted British police sweeping powers to crack down on protests was created unlawfully. The court dismissed an appeal by the government against a high court ruling in May last year which found that former home secretary Suella Braverman did not have the power to pass the measures. The legislation redefined what constitutes a ''serious disruption' to the public from 'significant' and 'prolonged' to 'more than minor', significantly lowering the threshold of when the police can curtail protests. After parliament rejected the measures, which were introduced as part of the Public Order Act in January 2023, Braverman used secondary legislation that requires far less parliamentary scrutiny to bring the laws into effect. A cross-parliamentary committee said that it marked the first time that the government had used so-called "Henry VIII powers" to make changes to a law already voted down by parliament. One peer condemned the move as a 'constitutional outrage'. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Legal group Liberty challenged the measures in 2023, with the high court agreeing with its arguments that the legislation had been 'sneaked in by the back door' and that the redefinition of 'serious disruption' handed police 'almost unlimited powers to impose conditions on protests'. But the judges suspended the reversal of the measures after James Cleverly, who was then home secretary, launched an appeal, which was continued by his Labour party successor Yvette Cooper. The court ruled on Friday to uphold the previous ruling, with Lord Justice Underhill, Lord Justice Dingemans and Lord Justice Edis saying: 'The term 'serious' inherently connotes a high threshold … [and] cannot reasonably encompass anything that is merely 'more than minor'.' Since the measures were introduced, hundreds of protesters, many of them pro-Palestine campaigners, have been arrested under the powers granted to the police. 'This verdict sums up this dismal and genocidal Labour government's betrayal of the left. First, it chose to defend the Tories' deeply undemocratic undermining of Parliament and the right to protest. Second, it lost," Tim Crosland, a former government lawyer, told Middle East Eye. "Many principled people have been prosecuted and convicted under these appalling and unlawful provisions. Let's hope there's now some proper redress.' Liberty hailed the judgement as victory, and called for all arrests and prosecutions under the legislation to be reviewed. The organisation's director Akiko Hart said: 'Today's judgment is clear, just as it was last year, that these laws should never have been made. They were a flagrant abuse of power from a Government determined to shut down protesters they did not personally agree with.'
Business Mayor
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Business Mayor
Campaigners claim victory as judges quash Braverman move against protests
Civil rights campaigners have hailed a 'huge victory for democracy' after the court of appeal upheld the quashing of a key anti-protest regulation they said was introduced unlawfully. The government had appealed against a high court ruling that the previous Tory home secretary, Suella Braverman, did not have the power to redefine 'serious disruption' as 'more than minor' in the law concerning when police could impose limits on protests. It was a change in law that seriously limited the kinds of actions protesters could take, and which campaigners said had given police almost unlimited discretionary power over which protests to allow and which to halt. Akiko Hart, the director of the human rights organisation Liberty, which brought the initial challenge, said: 'Today's judgment is clear, just as it was last year, that these laws should never have been made. 'They were a flagrant abuse of power from a government determined to shut down protesters they did not personally agree with. 'Five different judges over two separate hearings have now ruled that 'serious' simply cannot mean 'more than minor'. It's therefore even more surprising that the current government chose to continue the appeal into this case and argue that wasn't the case. As a result, even more people have been needlessly funnelled into the criminal system over the past 12 months through a law that should never have existed in the first place. 'This ruling is a huge victory for democracy, and sets an important precedent that government ministers must respect the law, and cannot simply step outside it to do whatever they want. The next step for the government is simple: they must accept this ruling and agree to scrap this unlawful legislation once and for all.' Read More Focus on prison places is a political ploy | Letter The case centred around a statutory instrument, a type of legislation that can pass with minimal parliamentary scrutiny, introduced by Braverman to clarify the definition of 'serious disruption' under the Public Order Act 1986, after lords had voted down similar provisions just months earlier. A cross-party parliamentary committee said it was the first time a government had ever sought to use so-called Henry VIII powers to make changes to a law that had already been rejected by parliament in primary legislation. One peer described it in parliament as a 'constitutional outrage'. Liberty challenged the redefinition with a judicial review, arguing that Braverman had overreached by introducing the change under secondary legislation which requires less parliamentary oversight. But even as that challenge was under way, hundreds of campaigners were arrested under the new power, including the climate activist Greta Thunberg at a protest in London. She was acquitted of all charges in a hearing in February 2024. Finally, in May last year, the high court agreed with the campaigners' arguments, but judges suspended the reversal of the measures after the Home Office began an appeal that was continued after government changed hands in 2024. Upholding the high court's ruling on Friday morning, Lord Justice Underhill, Lord Justice Dingemans and Lord Justice Edis said: 'The term 'serious' inherently connotes a high threshold … [and] cannot reasonably encompass anything that is merely 'more than minor'.' Liberty, despite claiming victory, warned that the section 14 power which has now been softened was just one plank of extensive legislation that had drastically circumscribed people's ability to protest in the UK. It has issued a warning about new powers building on previous acts currently under consideration by lawmakers as part of a crime and policing bill. 'It's especially worrying that even more measures are going through parliament, including bans on face coverings at protests that would make it unsafe for disabled activists and political dissidents to protest,' said Katy Watts, a Liberty lawyer. A Home Office spokesperson said: 'The court has ruled that specific regulations made by the previous government were unlawful. However, the central powers currently used by policing to manage protests and ensure that they remain peaceful are not affected by this judgment. 'The right to peaceful protest is a cornerstone of our democracy but the law remains clear that it does not extend to intentional intimidation or serious disruption to the life of the community. 'We are already bringing forward new measures in legislation to prevent intimidatory protests outside places of worship. We will ensure that the police and the public have clarity on existing powers to manage protests that cause serious disruption, including where that disruption is cumulative, and undertake further work where required.'
