Press
Israel bans Al Jazeera as attack on journalism goes domestic
Seizure of broadcasting equipment and blocking of Israeli citizens’ access to website as Israel adds assault on dissenting voices in Gaza to its slaughter of journalists in Gaza
Israel has banned Arab broadcaster Al Jazeera from its territory – and blocked Israeli citizens from accessing the station’s channel and website – as it continues its assault on dissenting voices examining its mass murder of Palestinian civilians. The move comes as global support for Palestinians, and condemnation of Israel’s slaughter and maiming of more than 100,000 Palestinians in Gaza, continues to grow and Israel’s usual deceits and tactics to discredit opposition collapses. The ban will last for forty-five days initially, but is likely to keep being renewed.
The station showed a pre-recorded announcement from the head of its Israeli bureau confirming the government censorship – and its final live broadcast from Israeli territory was an interview with a journalist from Israeli paper Haaretz, speaking from his car, who condemned the ban and said it was quite possible he would be arrested when he got home because of the interview.
Israel has murdered well over a hundred journalists in Gaza since 7 October and prevents international journalists from entering the territory, apart from a handful who have been shepherded in and out for propaganda purposes. Now its war on journalism, free speech and truth has gone domestic.
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Violence erupts as pro-genocide mob assaults peaceful pro-Gaza students
Reality of who is violent cuts across ‘mainstream’ and pro-Israel propaganda – but media ‘both-sides’ the one-sided racist attack
A victim of the mob receives treatment
The propaganda of pro-Israel groups and ‘mainstream’ media was again exposed last night after a pro-Israel mob of around one hundred mounted an assault on University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) students protesting peacefully against Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Thugs attacked students with sticks, poles and chemical spray, pulled down barriers and tents and committed, according to a university administrator, ‘horrific acts of violence’ against young people demonstrating against war crimes. The assault began just before 6am today, UK time.
Police were reportedly slow to disperse the attackers.
Despite the one-sided violence, UK and US press have persisted in headlines that ‘both-sides’ the violence, presenting it as ‘clashes’ or ‘violence between groups’ in a sick echo of the language used by media to hide the reality of Israeli military and settler violence against Palestinians:
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Victorious smear victim takes aim at ‘antisemitism’ lawyer who misled court
Zionist Mark Lewis panned by James Wilson in series of Twitter posts
Earlier this month, university lecturer James Wilson won substantial damages from two so-called ‘antisemitism campaigners’ who had foully smeared and endangered him and his family in their efforts to discredit him as an opponent of the ‘left antisemitism’ narrative that supporters of Israel have weaponised for almost a decade now against supporters of Palestinian human and political rights.
Now the victorious Wilson has taken aim in his social media feed at Zionist lawyer Mark Lewis, who at one time represented at least two of the defendants. Lewis, a pro-Israel activist who spoke about ‘unapologetic Zionism’ at the launch of a UK pro-Israel group considered by many to be far-right and boasted of wanting to make people whom he considered ‘antisemites’ homeless, has been lionised by the Zionist right for his pursuit of their opponents.
He has also been sanctioned by the Solicitors Regulation Authority for abusive conduct on social media – and wished a young Jewish supporter of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour dead – and was heavily criticised by a judge in a different case for his conduct of the case and his lack of proper research on behalf of his clients:
a matter of very real concern that the Claimants put evidence before the Court, on an ex parte application, that was not true…
…he had simply failed to carry out sufficient (or any) research or to take adequate instructions from his clients.
And, as James Wilson has pointed out – alongside much more – Lewis was forced to apologise to the court for providing misleading information in Wilson’s suit about the financial health of one (by the time of the hearing, apparently former) client, Edward Cantor who, he had claimed, did not own property that could be sold to pay any penalty levied by the court:
As Luke Turner, who responded to Wilson’s posts, pointed out, Lewis’s distaste for ‘antisemites’ did not prevent him representing two extreme right-wingers – described by the judge in the case as bullying and ‘whiffing’ of antisemitism – when they wanted to sue Turner for posts about them:
The irony of that particular quote is really quite something, given who he was representing in my case, and the "whiff of threat and antisemitism" described by the judge in their "aggressive" course of "bullying" towards me. https://t.co/Dly6C3Aqwb
— Luke Turner (@Luke_Turner) April 20, 2024
And in a pair of posts showing screenshots of communications from Lewis, Wilson – himself a now non-practising solicitor – showed that Lewis demanded thousands of pounds, from the victim of the smear, to settle Lewis’s case against them, while expressing his and his clients’ expectation of victory in the case and repeating that Cantor owned nothing that could be used to pay any penalty. The tactic and the refusal to accept Wilson’s settlement proposal racked up enormous legal costs for the failed defendants:
I am worried about recovering my costs. I do not want to bankrupt Mr Mendelsohn or make Mr Cantor and his family homeless.
But if Mark Lewis @MLewisLawyer), Daniel Berke (@DanielBerke1) and Beth Grossman (@DoughtyStreet) refuse to pay my costs, then I may have no choice.— James Wilson (@per_incuriam2) April 21, 2024
And Wilson concluded his posts – for now at least – by taking aim at Simon Myerson, a supporter of Israel and part-time judge recently sanctioned for abusive comments on social media. Myerson had shared a post calling Wilson the ‘scum of the earth’, which the judge in Wilson’s case described as:
abuse of the same dehumanising kind as was used of Jewish people by the Nazis in the 1930s.
The judge also rejected the defence’s claim that Wilson’s correspondence with Myerson about his sharing of the abusive post demonstrated any kind of aggression or unreasonableness on Wilson’s part.
As Jewish author Michael Rosen, who was also targeted by some of the same people, pointed out, perhaps with his tongue firmly lodged in his cheek, it is noteworthy that the UK ‘mainstream’ press – which will run for weeks with any allegation against a left-winger or supporter of Palestinians – has shown no interest in covering the outcome of the Wilson case or the abusive conduct of those on the losing, pro-Israel, side:
However, Skwawkbox has covered the case in full and a timeline of it can be found here.
The case is not the first conducted by Lewis against supporters of Palestinian rights that ended poorly for his clients. In 2020 Jane Heybroek, a human rights barrister, won a stunning victory when actress Tracy-Ann Oberman and TV presenter Rachel Riley dropped their libel claim against her over an article retweeted by Heybroek criticising their behaviour and contributed toward her legal costs defending the action.
Mark Lewis was asked for comment about Wilson’s comments and analysis but had not responded at the time of writing. He was also ‘tagged’ by Wilson at the start of his Twitter analysis about Lewis’s involvement in the case:
Since one of the Defendants’ solicitors, Mark Lewis (@MLewisLawyer) of Patron Law (@LawPatron), is mentioned in the statement, I am tagging him here. If he wishes to reply, I’ll post his reply below my statement.
— James Wilson (@per_incuriam2) April 13, 2024
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Transforming economics teaching
In the March 2024 issue of IMF’s F&D, Director Wendy Carlin explains how a new approach to economics education can help address pressing societal problems.
The post Transforming economics teaching appeared first on CORE.
Labour ‘set to suspend’ Rochdale candidate despite grovelling apology to Israel supporters
Labour in chaos, accused of ‘throwing’ campaign to avoid fallout if they lose to Galloway
Labour has been accused of throwing the Rochdale by-election to minimise political damage, after rumours that it is about to suspend its candidate Azhar Ali over his social media posts about the 7 October raid, despite a grovelling apology.
Ali’s posts accusing Israel of complicity in the Hamas raid were leaked to hostile press, triggering an abject apology to ‘the Jewish community’:
Ali’s claim that Egypt said it informed Israel of the raid well before it happened is entirely true. However, his willingness to stand for a party led by Keir Starmer, who has supported Israel’s ‘right’ to commit its war crimes against the Palestinians has already seen videos posted of him being ordered to leave doorsteps during his attempts to campaign. Such has been the contrast with the reception given to Workers Party GB leader George Galloway, a firm supporter of the Palestinians, that Galloway’s odds to win the by-election have been slashed from 16-1 to 2-1.
Suspending Ali would effectively end Labour’s campaign in the by-election, with no possibility to stand another candidate less than three weeks before polling day. Cynics have pointed out that the political fallout from exiting the election would be less damaging than Galloway beating Ali in a fair fight and accused the party of engineering the default. What is clear, however, is that Labour is once again in complete chaos.
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Israeli media discussing ‘horrifying’ mass ‘friendly fire’ killings by IDF – but UK media stay silent
Mass murder of Israeli citizens by country’s own military during Hamas raid has been a topic of discussion in Israeli papers and TV for some time – now it is an acknowledged fact, yet UK media still talking as if it never happened
Cars burned – it’s now clear by Israeli rockets – on a road from an Israeli rave to the Gaza border in October
Israeli media has begun to freely discuss as fact the mass murder of Israeli citizens by so-called ‘friendly fire’ from the IDF during the 7 October Hamas raid near Israel’s border with Gaza.
The reality of the killings has not been treated with any serious doubt by Israeli papers and broadcasters for weeks – they could hardly do otherwise, when they have interviewed survivors who have talked about it, Israeli police have admitted it and even the IDF issued a statement to Israeli press saying it would not be ‘morally sound’ to investigate the ‘immense and complex’ deaths its troops, tankers and pilots had caused on that day.
But now a new article in Israeli paper Haaretz – including quotes from a similar article by Yediot Aharonot, a more right-wing paper than Haaretz – discusses the ‘friendly fire’ attacks by Israeli tank fire and helicopter missiles as established fact with Asa Kasher, the Israeli army’s ‘ethics chief’. For example:
Kasher discussed another incident that took place on October 7, on the Israeli border with Gaza. According to an investigation conducted by the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot, troops received orders to prevent hostages from being taken into Gaza by force, if necessary.
Around 12:00 P.M. on October 7, IDF helicopters strafed cars attempting to cross the border.
The burned cars and incinerated bodies were caused, according to experts, by US-made ‘Hellfire’ rockets fired by Israeli helicopters. A number of Israeli civilians – including children – were similarly killed by tank shells deliberately fired into kibbutz homes. Kasher discussed those with Haaretz too and the paper noted:
According to [survivor Yasmin] Porat, after she was released by a Hamas terrorist, she was questioned by the Police Special Anti-Terror Unit and told them that there were about 40 terrorists and 14 civilian hostages still in the house. Dagan was among the hostages inside the house, where she says an Israeli tank fired two shells at it. She was the only Israeli to survive, and she has confirmed Porat’s account.
Kasher is no ‘bleeding heart liberal’ eager to criticise Israel’s genocidal military. On the contrary, he is a right-winger who has openly valued Israeli lives above those of Palestinian civilians – in 2006 Asher wrote that Israeli troops must never be put at risk to protect Arab civilians, summarised by Haaretz:
Professor Asa Kasher, who compiled the IDF’s Code of Ethics, said that the restraint exercised by Israel to save civilian lives when bombing a terrorist apartment was a “mistake” that cost more Israeli lives later…
Kasher said it was inconceivable to let people be killed in Israel because the only way to prevent it involved killing dozens of Palestinians. “It is unacceptable to let people get killed here even if the number of people killed there is expected to be bigger,” he said.
Kasher considered the idea of Israeli soldiers deliberately firing at Israeli civilians ‘horrifying’, saying:
How is it possible that a high ranking army official would give a command that so immediately and definitely endangers the life of so many civilians? It’s just horrifying.”
But Kasher doesn’t for a moment deny or doubt that it happened.
As journalist Jonathan Cook has pointed out, despite the open discussion of the mass ‘friendly fire’ deaths on the day of the Hamas raid, the UK media continues to discuss the deaths as if they were all caused by Hamas. In an email article to subscribers, Cook writes:
So how is it possible that the BBC and the rest of the western media keep revisiting the horrors of October 7 but never to raise these issues , even though they have been so prominent in the Israeli public space for many weeks?
The only possible answer is that western media outlets are consciously censoring this story because it directly conflicts with the West’s ideological and strategic agenda. It raises disturbing questions about western complicity in genocide.
Once again, the establishment media’s unwillingness to report the real story starkly gives the lie to their claim to be ‘free and fearless’. In truth, they are there to uphold a narrative of western moral and civilisational superiority. They are there to justify the West’s wars – and the war industry and resource-grab portfolios that our economies, and the media corporations themselves, are so heavily invested in.
Subscribe to Jonathan Cook’s email bulletins here. Skwawkbox has received no incentive for including this link.
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Israel Is Wiping Out Gaza’s Journalists: A Tribute
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I recently became the recipient of the Women and Media Award from the Women’s Institute of the Freedom of the Press. While it’s truly an honor to receive this recognition for the journalism that I direct at MintPress News, it’s nearly impossible for me to revel in this accolade when my heart is weighed down heavily by the ongoing turmoil in Gaza.
As a Palestinian-American journalist who has lived under the oppressive shadow of Israeli occupation and witnessed firsthand the relentless brutality of the apartheid regime, I cannot remain silent as my people face relentless oppression and violence.
I want to dedicate this award to the fearless journalists in Gaza who are risking their lives to show us the raw reality of life under Israeli bombs.
Since October 7th, the death toll stands stark and horrific – Israel is systematically taking out journalists, one by one, and killing their families. The Israeli military has already claimed the lives of at least 82 Palestinian journalists in Gaza. These courageous individuals, committed to unveiling the truth, have become direct targets of a regime desperate to cloak its genocidal actions from the world’s scrutiny.
Israel doesn’t want the world to see the reality of its genocidal onslaught in Gaza, so it’s assassinating the messengers.
In most parts of the world, wearing a flack jacket marked “press” gives you protection. But right now in Palestine, it may as well be a target, as Israel has turned Gaza into what the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has called a “cemetery for journalists.”
And you’d think mainstream corporate journalists would talk about the targeting of journalists in Gaza, but they’re not. If legacy media outlets like the New York Times or CNN cover Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza, they don’t have the basic journalistic integrity to say who killed them and fail to point out that Israel is systematically targeting them.
Corporate media are whitewashing Israeli crimes and playing the fool, pretending not to understand where the missiles come from. They pretend not to hear the genocidal rhetoric emanating from Tel Aviv. And even as Israel makes Gaza the most dangerous place in the world to be a journalist, they ignore what is in front of their eyes, manufacturing consent for ethnic cleansing.
Brave women have lost their lives trying to document the Israeli onslaught. Women like Alaa Taher Al-Hassanat, a presenter for the AlMajedat Media Network, whose house was bombarded by Israeli missiles on November 20.
Or Salma Mkhaimer, killed alongside her child in an Israeli air strike on her house in Rafah, Gaza.
And Freelance journalist Ayat Khadoura was also killed in her home by an Israeli air strike. In her “last message to the world” posted on Instagram, she said: “We used to have big dreams, but now our dream is to be killed in one piece so they know who we are.”
This only continues a long history of Israel systematically targeting journalists since its founding in 1948.
Just last year, Israel went so far as to murder our beloved Shireen Abu-Akleh, an American citizen and recipient of the same Women and Media Award that I’m receiving today. And in 2021, it blew up the Associated Press building in Gaza. Yet throughout all this, Israel continues to get a free pass in corporate media.
Despite the hardships, many journalists are risking their lives working around the clock to document the genocide in Gaza. Journalists like Motaz Azaiza, Younis Tirawi, Muhammad Smiry, Motasem Mortaja, Wael Dahdouh, and Hind Khoudary, to name a few, speak truth to power, chronicling the horrors in Gaza.
These people show us in real-time the courage it often takes to be a journalist. And because of that, dozens pay the ultimate price for their bravery.
This award I humbly dedicate to them—the fallen journalists who were mercilessly taken by Israel and those who, against all odds, continue to broadcast to the world the unimaginable horrors of life under incessant bombings.
As for journalists like myself, we vow to carry on their legacy and amplify their voices in the West. We will repeat their message of hope and truth while we challenge and confront the very system perpetuating my people’s destruction, supported directly by our governments and their lapdog media.
If wars can be ignited by deceit, then let us rally for peace through unwavering truth.
Mnar Adley is an award-winning journalist and editor and is the founder and director of MintPress News. She is also president and director of the non-profit media organization Behind the Headlines. Adley also co-hosts the MintCast podcast and is a producer and host of the video series Behind The Headlines. Contact Mnar at mnar@mintpressnews.com or follow her on Twitter at @mnarmuh
The post Israel Is Wiping Out Gaza’s Journalists: A Tribute appeared first on MintPress News.
Wendy Carlin on ‘Blame Capitalism: Souring on the system’
Wendy Carlin joined Vox’s Noel King on the first episode of the ‘Blame Capitalism’ series. She offers one way in which we can understand capitalism.
The post Wendy Carlin on ‘Blame Capitalism: Souring on the system’ appeared first on CORE.
Making economics less abstract
The UCL Policy Lab singles out CORE Econ for its continual effort to make economics more relatable to people’s everyday lives and give students the tools and skills they need to understand the world around them.
The post Making economics less abstract appeared first on CORE.