No other conflict in recent years has captured the emotions of so many people as Israel’s war on Gaza, with the former’s reputation taking blow after blow due to its own blows on thousands of Palestinian civilians’ lives. It is extremely revealing how small, recent events at home have reached the chattering classes tucked up in their halls of power when worse events abroad conjure no action.
Activists from Palestine Action, a self-described “movement committed to ending global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime,” broke into a British military base and damaged two planes in protest of the British government’s support for the government of Israel. The damage, which consisted of spray painting the planes red, was estimated to cost a whopping seven million pounds. It never ceases to amaze me at the number of rich people the government can create at the expense of so many.
The group commented that its “activists have interrupted Britain’s direct participation in the commission of genocide and war crimes across the Middle East.” The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, sprinted to Parliament to immediately move measures to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist group under the 2000 Terrorism Act, commenting on X that there must be little tolerance for terrorism. The groups of vandals that regularly spray paint state-owned trains in London must be quivering with fear of being labeled as terrorists because they are damaging critical state infrastructure!
The vote to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist group passed Parliament by 385 votes to 26, showing that stupidity springs eternal from one of the world’s oldest parliamentary systems. They have now joined the ranks of Al-Qaeda with all the fabulous consequences that come with it, including up to fourteen years in prison for those convicted of “supporting” the group.
Palestine Action has been a target of the Israel lobby for a long time now. In January 2024, the security director of Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, Elbit Systems, wrote to then-Policing Minister Chris Philp to lobby for a retrial of some Palestine Action activists after their charges were dismissed. In his letter, the security director wrote that “it is very much in the public interest for this trial to be re-heard at the earliest opportunity,” expressing dismay that a re-trial is not a certainty. A re-trial was subsequently set for 2027, a form of legal and mental warfare as the activists cannot move on with their lives whilst they remain in legal limbo. Furthermore, this is an obvious attempt at deterrence. Powerful people who lobby for the Israeli government’s cause wish to make the cost of action against them seem insurmountable.
In August 2020, then-Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab met with Orit Farkash-Hacohen, Israel’s former minister of strategic affairs, and discussed the rising direct action against Israeli weapons companies. It’s reported that Raab was pressed to commit to stopping the protests. In 2022, then-Home Secretary Priti Patel also met with the CEO of Elbit Systems to reassure him that protests against his company are taken seriously by the British government. Patel reportedly made a list of suggestions for how to deal with it, but that list is redacted. In spring 2023, Chris Philp met with senior police figures in Leicestershire after direct action protests against Elbit Systems by Palestine Action, with the minutes suggesting “proactive work with Meta Facebook and Instagram.” It is obvious that figures close to the Israeli government have been pushing for criminal action against those that damage weapons companies close to the Israeli government. The result is a direct-action group being labeled terrorists for committing crimes that simply do not meet the standard for terrorism.
Bob Vylan, an English punk rap duo, also got into some heat recently at Glastonbury festival. For the uninitiated, Glastonbury festival is the United Kingdom’s most famous music festival where, effectively, socialists of every stripe gather once a year to preach the gospel of diversity, people power, anti-fascism, democracy, and general edginess. Bob Vylan strutted to the stage chanting “Free, Free Palestine” and following it up with a new chant, “Death, Death to the IDF,” which captured the attention of even our illustrious prime minister.
Bob Vylan were dropped from their European tour shortly after and in an appearance after the event, encouraged their audience to not sing the chant. There was no ambiguity: Bob Vylan clarified in a video clip whilst still on stage that they meant every single IDF soldier, not just the institution, as some tried to claim afterwards. Collective punishment is indeed highly immoral, and it is entirely consistent to say that Bob Vylan, like many comrades amongst the crowd, most likely espouses political beliefs that are effectively collective punishment disguised in democratic veils.
Still, the furor springing in reaction to chant from figures like Keir Starmer is utterly absurd. There is currently an ethnic cleansing campaign underway in Gaza, yet the prime minister, accompanied by his many lackies, strains every sinew to conjure a Potemkin act of opposition to the Israeli government but make no effort to cancel the licences for selling arms to Israel. Libertarians oppose licensure but the Labour Party doesn’t, so they should have zero issues picking and choosing who can have a licence to sell arms abroad. If a hateful chant at a music festival causes the prime minister to address the issue, the reaction to the Israeli government’s campaign in Gaza should cause practically nuclear levels of opposition relative to the reaction to chants. However, it does not, and it’s clear that this may be coming from strong Israeli and American influence in British politics.
The events that have engulfed Gaza since the October 7 attack have captured the emotions of millions of people around the globe. The reaction has made so much progress in exposing the utter contempt the British political class has for their own supposed principles. Conservative ministers that rally against violations of freedom of speech amongst the party faithful when it is politically expedient are doing their very best to expose their hypocrisy when they call for Bob Vylan to be investigated for inciting violence. Cabinet ministers appear to be happy to show how utterly awful their principles are through comparison. Baroness Jacqui Smith said the comments were “disgusting” but chose the fence sitting position for Gaza. She is happy to call it intolerable but will make no real effort to stop the weapons sales.
The Israel lobby’s influence has also come to the fore and this will be extremely beneficial in the fight against foreign government influence in British politics. The British political class is devoid of principle, any sense of self awareness, or backbone. Public property damage and chants spur more action than the actual death and destruction of thousands of people’s lives. The government will state that it cannot cancel these licences because the decision may get caught up in hefty and lengthy legal action, but that only further exposes the illegitimacy of the entire system. The average person’s freedom of speech, freedom of association, and freedom to voluntary exchange is violated on a daily basis to such an extent that it is dragging the entire country’s progress back—but the government cannot end some licences because of various legal strait jackets. The British political system has constructed a legal system that no longer defend the freedoms of the individual. Instead, it seeks to entrench the politically powerful to prevent any change and preserve their power to routinely violate our natural rights. The crackdown on Palestine Action and Bob Vylan merely put it under a microscope.
