Latest news with #OwenJones
The National
4 days ago
- Politics
- The National
Israeli forces kill six Palestinians near Gaza aid site
Sources at Nasser Medical Complex have told Al Jazeera that at least six Palestinians were killed and others wounded by Israeli fire in al-Akhawah, near Rafah in southern Gaza. It comes despite the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) saying on Friday that it had closed all its centres until further notice following incidents of deadly violence near the sites in which Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians seeking aid. READ MORE: Owen Jones: The UK media has ignored this hugely revealing scandal in Israel The Gaza government's media office has published a list of the casualty numbers near aid distribution points since the GHF began operating. The list, which has not been updated to reflect Saturday's casualties, states that 109 people have been killed since the aid sites opened: May 27: 3 killed, 46 wounded, 7 missing in Rafah May 28: 10 killed, 62 wounded in Rafah June 1: 35 killed, 200 wounded in Rafah; 1 killed and 32 wounded, 2 missing at the Gaza Valley Bridge June 2: 26 killed, 92 wounded in Rafah June 3: 27 killed, 90 wounded in Rafah June 6: 8 killed, 61 wounded in Rafah. Since dawn, at least 34 people have been killed by Israeli attacks, including seven people who were killed in an Israeli raid on a house sheltering displaced people west of Gaza city. Israel has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians in its brutal bombardment of Gaza since October 7 2023, primarily women and children. The assault has destroyed large parts of Gaza and displaced around 90% of its population of roughly two million Palestinians. READ MORE: Several Glasgow city centre roads closed due to emergency After blocking all food and aid from entering Gaza for more than two months, Israel began allowing a trickle of supplies to enter for the UN several weeks ago. But the UN says it has been unable to distribute much of the aid because of Israeli military restrictions on movements and because roads that the military designates for its trucks to use are unsafe and vulnerable to looters.
The National
24-05-2025
- Politics
- The National
Israel using Palestinians as human shields, Israeli soldiers say
They claimed the practice has become ubiquitous in the 19 months since Israel's assault on Gaza intensified. Israel's military responded by saying it prohibits using civilians as shields and coercing civilians to participate in operations, and that 'all such orders are routinely emphasised to the forces'. The Israeli military has long accused Hamas of using human shields in Gaza. Israeli officials blame the militants for the civilian death toll in its assault which has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. Chiefs say they are investigating a handful of cases, but would not provide any details. READ MORE: Owen Jones: The media knew Gaza was a genocide – and chose to enable it anyway Seven Palestinians described to the Associated Press (AP) being used as shields in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. One said he was beaten, bound and blindfolded. Two members of Israel's military also described using human shields, which is prohibited by international law, and that derogatory terms like 'mosquito' were used to refer to the Palestinians. One Palestinian man, Ayman Abu Hamadan, said that when he was detained in northern Gaza last year, the only time he was not bound or blindfolded was when he was used by Israeli soldiers as their human shield. Dressed in army fatigues with a camera fixed to his forehead, the 36-year-old was forced into houses in the Gaza Strip to make sure they were clear of bombs and gunmen, he said. When one unit finished with him, he was passed to the next. 'They beat me and told me: 'You have no other option; do this or we'll kill you,'' he said, describing the two and a half weeks he was held last summer by the Israeli military in northern Gaza. One Israeli officer said that orders often came from the top, and at times nearly every platoon used a Palestinian to clear locations. Rights groups have warned that this has become standard procedure in Israel's offensive. 'These are not isolated accounts; they point to a systemic failure and a horrifying moral collapse,' said Nadav Weiman, executive director of Breaking the Silence – a whistleblower group of former Israeli soldiers that has collected testimonies about the practice from within the military. 'Israel rightly condemns Hamas for using civilians as human shields, but our own soldiers describe doing the very same.' READ MORE: Anas Sarwar refuses to say if he supports RAF surveillance flights over Gaza Abu Hamadan said he was detained in August after being separated from his family, and soldiers told him he'd help with a 'special mission'. He was forced, for 17 days, to search houses and inspect every hole in the ground for tunnels, he said. Soldiers stood behind him and, once it was clear, entered the buildings to damage or destroy them, he said. He spent each night bound in a dark room, only to wake up and do it again. Rights groups say Israel has used Palestinians as shields in Gaza and the West Bank for decades. Experts say this war is the first time in decades that the practice – and the debate around it – has been so widespread. The two Israeli soldiers who spoke to the AP – and a third who provided testimony to Breaking the Silence – said commanders were aware of the use of human shields and tolerated it, with some giving orders to do so. Some said it was referred to as the 'mosquito protocol', and that Palestinians were also referred to as 'wasps' and other dehumanising terms. The soldiers – who said they are no longer serving in Gaza – said the practice sped up operations, saved ammunition, and spared combat dogs from injury or death. The soldiers said they first became aware human shields were being used shortly after the Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7 2023, and that it became widespread by the middle of 2024. Orders to 'bring a mosquito' often came via radio, they said – shorthand everyone understood. Soldiers acted on commanding officers' orders, according to the officer who spoke to the AP. READ MORE: Laura Webster: David Lammy can call us 'clickbait' all he wants. He can't change the facts He said that by the end of his nine months in Gaza, every infantry unit used a Palestinian to clear houses before entering. 'Once this idea was initiated, it caught on like fire in a field,' the 26-year-old said. 'People saw how effective and easy it was.' One report documented the accidental killing of a Palestinian, he said – troops did not realise another unit was using him as a shield and shot him as he ran into a house. The officer recommended the Palestinians should be dressed in army clothes to avoid misidentification. He said he knew of at least one other Palestinian who died while he was used as a shield, having passed out in a tunnel.
The Guardian
06-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
What a leftwing leader needs to do to earn credibility
Owen Jones makes the case that a credible leftwing leader needs to win over alienated voters and dodge culture wars (The left needs to halt the UK's slide into Farageism. This is the kind of leader who could do it, 3 April). That starts by rejecting the terms left and right – where people sat in revolutionary France's national assembly does not accurately define today's politics. The leadership team of any new political movement must convince voters of two things. One: 'I trust these people to run the country.' Two: 'They have got my back.' Economic credibility requires exploding the austerity myth. Speaking as someone who ran an arm of government – successfully – I found that when you make the case, people, including businesspeople, think it's common sense. That keeping kids in poverty is economically illiterate. That investing in health and education makes us all wealthier in the end, and happier too. That public ownership will lower utility bills and improve services. That the climate crisis is real, and we must invest in a resilient future or see our economy crippled. Having someone's back means saying that we won't throw you under the bus for an easy headline. We will put your right to a secure home above your landlord's right to make a quick buck. We will put your kid's mental health above the right of global corporations to avoid regulations. We will fight your corner when you're victimised for being disabled, or black, or LGBTQ+. There is a truth to why governments can't afford to invest. Money flows to very, very rich people. They make 8% to 12% a year from parking money in big tech, utilities, property, finance and care homes, while the rest of us do the work and actually generate the wealth. That money needs to be taxed to pay for the safe, sustainable, prosperous society that everyone DriscollFormer North of Tyne mayor Owen Jones is right to some extent – a populist left with a charismatic front person is badly needed. However, his suggestion of Mick Lynch as such a leader is laughable. A new populist left alternative needs to think radically and organise broadly, connecting with and building alliances between social actors who are philosophically and/or theoretically critical of Labourism and the labour movement, especially the macho, workerist tendency that Lynch and others represent. Jean-Luc Mélenchon's La France Insoumise is a good example of a project with some populist potential that is failing to break out of such a straitjacket. We should learn from SamphierBeckenham, London I agree with Owen Jones that Mick Lynch would be the ideal candidate to take on Labour from the left and stave off the sinister threat of Reform. However, I would suggest that, in the absence of Mr Lynch wanting to take up this mantle, the Independent Alliance should form into a political party and merge with the Greens and those seven Labour MPs recently suspended from the party for voting against the retention of the appalling two-child cap. Such a new party would not only be 15 MPs strong – three times the size of Reform's parliamentary presence – but would represent those predominantly middle-class former Labour voters who have turned to the Greens in disgust at Starmerism, and the traditional white working-class demographic in the 'red wall' seats and other similar constituencies. Only such a unified party of the left can hope to stave off Reform and provide the 'broad church' that Labour likes to tell us it is but so woefully is not, as the party's lurch to the right under Keir Starmer leaves us in no doubt as to where its priorities now WaltonBath Do you have a photograph you'd like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers' best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays.
The Guardian
06-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Question marks over Europe's defence splurges
Owen Jones has introduced a healthy scepticism into the debate about defence spending (Keir Starmer, you claim huge and damaging cuts are vital so we can buy arms and defend ourselves. Prove it, 5 March). According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the European members of Nato have, collectively, significantly outspent Russia for years. In 2021, European members of Nato plus Canada spent more than four times the amount on their armed forces than Russia did. Even in 2023, when Russian expenditure had ballooned due to the war in Ukraine, these countries still spent nearly three times as much as the Russians. So could we have an explanation of where this money is going and why it is not enough?Richard HendersonBristol 'US stops sharing intelligence with Kyiv to pile pressure on Zelenskyy' says the headline on a front-page story in your print edition (6 March). Probably just as well; right now, it doesn't seem to have a lot to GibsonRavensthorpe, Northamptonshire Do you have a photograph you'd like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers' best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays.
The Guardian
29-01-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
The tragic conflict in Gaza should not be oversimplified
Owen Jones's article (Israel's leaders committed genocide in Gaza and must pay for it. Their political and media allies must too, 23 January) oversimplifies the deeply complex and tragic conflict in Gaza, diluting the seriousness of his arguments. While he condemns the west's supply of weapons to Israel, he ignores the global arms trade that fuels violence on both sides. Hamas and other militant groups have also received weapons, and the international community has failed to address this. Critiquing only one side's arms supply neglects the broader dynamics that perpetuate this conflict. Jones also frames morality around the number of casualties, highlighting Palestinian civilian deaths while downplaying Israeli suffering. The killing of civilians, especially children, is immoral regardless of scale or side. A numbers-based approach risks creating a false moral hierarchy and trivialising individual tragedies. Lastly, Jones critiques the media for enabling Israel's actions but fails to address how sensationalism and oversimplification in reporting have failed both sides. Media narratives, well demonstrated in Jones's article, often present this conflict as a battle between oppressor and oppressed, ignoring the shared culpability and the humanity of all victims. Journalism should hold all parties accountable rather than seeking attention-grabbing headlines. Acknowledging the inhumane actions of both Hamas and the Israeli leadership strengthens the case for justice and peace. Supporting the Palestinian cause does not mean absolving Hamas, just as defending Israel cannot ignore its policies towards Palestinians. True accountability lies in recognising the suffering on both sides and demanding global action to prevent further violence. The real shame is the failure of the international community, which has allowed this tragedy to escalate. It is time for the media to reject black-and-white narratives and support a solution based on empathy, accountability and systemic TalLondon Not for the first time, I detect a real sense of despair in Owen Jones's words on the desperately sad situation in Gaza. I also share that despair, and indeed the rage, that he so obviously feels and expresses so eloquently about the complicity of our politicians and media in the atrocities perpetrated on the Palestinian people. What can I say to him to give him hope? Quote the words of the late, brilliant Edward Said to explain the Alice Through the Looking Glass prism the media have come to represent the conflict in the Middle East through? Or perhaps I can simply say this: while we write, we maintain the line, and strengthen the general intellect, and thus, hope for the HewittMarlborough, Wiltshire
