Bernie Sanders Explains Why It Is Not Anti-Semitic to Criticise Netanyahu’s War Crimes In Gaza and Demand He Be Held Accountable

Yay for Bernie Sanders, the Democratic Senator for Vermont. If we lived in a just universe, he’d be in the Whitehouse now, just as Jeremy Corbyn would be in 10 Downing Street. He’s a secular Jew, but he understood the hardships and problems of America’s ordinary working Joes and Joannas. Clips of his presidential campaign showed him being embraced, and comforting all kinds of people, including theologically conservative, blue-collar Christians from the American south, worried about unemployment, healthcare and the destruction of the domestic industries that were their livelihoods.

In this video, addressed to Benjamin Netanyahu, Bernie tells him clearly not to insult the intelligence of the American people, and states, over and again, that it is not anti-Semitic or pro-Hamas to

point out that in a little over six months that his extremist government has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians and wounded over 78,000, 70 per cent of whom are women and children.

point out that his bombing has destroyed more than 221,000 housing units in Gaza, leaving almost a million people, half the population, homeless

To note that his government has obliterated Gaza’s civilian infrastructure, electricity, water and sewage.

To realize that his government has annihilated Gaza’s healthcare system, knocking 26 hospitals out of service and killing 400 healthcare workers.

To note that his government has destroyed all of Gaza’s 12 universities and 56 of its schools, with hundreds more damaged, leaving 625,000 students with no educational opportunities.

To agree with virtually every humanitarian organisation in saying that your government, in violation of American law, has unreasonably blocked humanitarian aid coming into Gaza, creating the conditions in which so many thousands of children face malnutrition and famine.

He states clearly that anti-Semitism is a vile and disgusting form of bigotry that has done unspeakable harm to many millions of people. But please, he says to Netanyahu, do not insult the intelligence of the American people by attempting to distract us from the immoral and illegal war policies of your extremist and racist government. Do not use anti-Semitism to distract attention from the criminal indictment you are facing in the Israeli courts.

It is not anti-Semitic to hold you (Netanyahu) accountable for your actions.

Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi Says Why ‘the Wrong Kind of Jews’ Are Supporting Palestine and Gaza

This is a video from Double Down News, one of the left-wing internet news channels that got our right-wing, establishment media so rattled. Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi is the head of the Jewish Voice for Labour, and another victim of the anti-Semitism smears and witch-hunts. I think she has been purged from the Labour party because she dared to criticise Israel’s ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians. She states here quite clearly that she is the wrong type of Jew, the Jews who aren’t shown on the media giving their support to the Palestinians despite the fact that there are thousands of them and more across the world. Instead the media goes to the Chief Rabbis, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and, heaven forfend, the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, all of whom have support for Israel written into their DNA, instead of talking to anti-Zionist Jews like herself. The media presents Jews as the frightened victims of the police guarding Jewish no-go zones. Instead, the opposite is almost true. Jews are demonstrating for Palestine like other, reasonable people. They include Holocaust survivors and the children of Holocaust survivors, concerned that what was done to them will not be inflicted on another people. As for being scared and frightened, she is scared and frightened because she, and people like her, have been abused and silenced. But what is going on in Gaza is not religious, it is an attack on people by settler-colonialism, which is perpetrating human rights abuses, ethnic cleansing and plausible genocide. As for the chant ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ she states that this is about Palestinians being between those borders, with the implication that this does not mean the extermination of the Israelis.

She is given hope by the many people marching and demonstrating for Gaza across the world, including America, and trying to shut down arms factories. Many of them are Jewish, such as the young man she met today. He had family in Israel, and it was the first demonstration he’d been on, but it was the first time he felt empowered to do so.

The video concludes with her appealing to people to support Double Down News as a way of avoiding right-wing media bias.

The video shows Jewish demonstrators, including Holocaust survivors, marching and holding placards making their opposition to the genocide in Gaza very clear.

Former Head of MI5 and Other Intelligence Agencies States that Iraq Had Nothing to Do with 9/11

I have to put this up, as I’ve been banging on for years that Saddam Hussein, contrary to the bullshit George Dubya Bush and Tony Blair fed us, had zilch to do with 9/11. It was just an excuse for American multinationals and the American/Saudi oil industry to rob them of their oil and seize and privatise their state industries. It was pure mercenary greed which used the terrible events of that day as a pretext. Quite apart from Blair and the ‘dodgy dossier’.

It comes from @therestispolitics channel on YouTube, and has the title ‘”Iraq Had Nothing to Do with 9/11″ from Former Head of MI5′ or The Two Spies| Former MI5 MI6 Heads on the Iraq’ It’s another short, so it won’t demand too much attention.

The speaker is Eliza Manningham-Buller, who was the head of MI5 at the time. The speaker says that she was deputy head of MI5, head of GCHQ and SIS. She states from the outset that 9/11 was nothing to do with Iraq, as al-Qaeda were in Saddam Hussein’s jails at the time, and the distortions the Americans went to in order to claim that it was were disgraceful. She recalls that SIS went to America 24 hours after 9/11 to discuss what they were going to do together. The Americans hadn’t been to sleep. The head of the FBI was Paul Mueller, whom Buller knew from Lockerbie and had only just come from the Department of Justice, She does not recall any mention of Iraq. They knew it was al-Qaeda from prior intelligence and they were going to launch an attack in the autumn. They went back to the British embassy, who said that there was no evidence linking Iraq to what had just happened. The CIA had also concluded that Iraq wasn’t behind it. So Donald Rumsfeld set up a unit in the Department of Defense to claim that it was involved.

Bush and Blair are war criminals, who wrecked an entire nation just for corporate greed. They squandered the lives of Britain’s most courageous young men and women to do so. It’s too bad that the attempt by Canadian and Greek activists to have them arrested and tried at the International Court of Justice in the Hague failed.

And Blair keeps trying to sneak back in. He’s a butcher. Keep him out!

Donald Trump Visits Camberwick Green

This is just a fun, short video from 1WTC’s YouTube channel. It’s just the titles from Camberwick Green with the Orange Man appearing from the music box. It looks like the beginning of a much longer video, as Trump doesn’t actually do anything when he appears, except waves hello and nods when he’s asked if they can go campaigning with him.

It does, however, bring back happy memories of Trumpton, Camberwick Green, Chigley and the awesome Brian Cant. And it is fun imagining what Trump would do electioneering in Camberwick Green. Or would he incite the crowd to try storming the town hall, like he did Congress in America?

Open Britain on the Threat of Farage Becoming Tory Prime Minister

‘Dear David,

We need to talk about Farage. Again.

In a terrifyingly matter-of-fact interview with the Sun’s Harry Cole, Steve Bannon, the architect of Donald Trump’s polarising presidency, gave Farage a glowing endorsement and set out how he would go about succeeding Keir Starmer as Prime Minister.

Bannon believes that Farage could soon ride a wave of populist sentiment all the way to Number 10, especially if the Tories take a drubbing in the next election. (Spoiler: They’re going to.) His strategic advice? Take a page from the MAGA playbook and stage a hostile takeover of the Conservative Party.

And now, in his most recent email to his supporters, Farage has given his strongest hint yet at a potential return to frontline politics.

The prospect of Farage at the helm of a radicalised Tory party, steering the UK down a path of increased nationalism and xenophobia, is deeply troubling. At Open Britain, we’ve been warning about this possibility for some time now. With these brazen comms, it’s starting to look less like a potential distant nightmare and more a well-planned future reality. The 2029 election may seem a long way off, but the foundations for the profound political shift it could bring are being laid now.

We cannot afford to be complacent. It’s essential we spend the next five years growing, organising, mobilising, and fighting for the values that define us as a nation – openness, tolerance, and unity. We need to counter the siren song of populism with a positive vision of a Britain that works for everyone and secure the functional democracy needed to deliver it.

The next five years will be a pivotal period in our history. The decisions we make – and the policies the next government implements – will shape our country for generations to come. Will we succumb to the politics of division and fear in a country that is a democracy in name only, or will we stand together and build a brighter, more inclusive future with a democracy that works for everyone?

It’s up to all of us to get involved, speak out, and make our voices heard. There are more than a quarter of a million of us in Open Britain. We have the potential to be a powerful force for good. Together, we can ensure that the UK remains a beacon of democracy and hope in an increasingly uncertain world.

Let’s do exactly that.

All the best, The Open Britain Team‘

Why am I not surprised the Sun has interviewed Steve Bannon, who was praising the prospect of Farage taking the reigns of government? Way back in the early part of this century, when the Scum got into trouble for printing a cartoon showing pigs demonstrating against being compared with Arabs, Private Eye reminded its readers that Rupert Murdoch’s mighty organ already had 19 judgements against it for racism by the former Press Complaints Commission. It’s probably no surprise then, that they’re backing the man who used to sing Hitler Youth Songs when a boy at public school.

Richard Burgon’s Online May Day Rally with Palestinian Ambassador

I’ve resigned from the Labour party, but Richard Burgon is still one of the few Labour MPs I respect. Considering the ongoing barbarity of the Israeli state’s ethnic cleansing of Gaza, I have absolutely no hesitation in putting up the notice for this event.

‘Dear Friend 

Please join me, the Palestinian Ambassador and others for a May Day Rally for Palestine. We must continue the urgent call for an immediate ceasefire and to stop arms sales to Israel.

The rally is taking place online on Wednesday, May 1st at 6.30PM. 

Register your attendance for the rally by clicking here.

I hope you can join me in showing solidarity with Palestine at this critical time for the Palestinian people this May Day. 

May Day Rally for Palestine – Click here register 

Solidarity,

38 Degrees Survey on How to Cut NHS Waiting Times

‘David, it’s been reported that one in five of us are stuck on an NHS waiting list – 2 million more than previously thought! [1]

The Government has boasted about bringing the numbers down slightly in recent months. The truth is that millions of us are still left languishing in fear and pain, waiting for treatment – hundreds of thousands more than when Rishi Sunak promised that “NHS waiting lists will fall” back in January last year. [2] That’s nothing to celebrate.

We’re in an election year and the NHS tops the list of concerns for many of us. So our message to political parties couldn’t be clearer: enough is enough – we can’t wait any longer. Any party that wants to form the next government must make plans to end these endless waiting lists.

The plan is simple, David. If enough of us share our stories about how bad things have got, alongside our personal experiences of when things worked in the past, we can show how the NHS has worked for us before and can work again, but only if there’s the political will.

So David, will you share your NHS experience with us today to help pile the pressure on our politicians to bring waiting lists down? It only takes a few minutes to share your story but it could make all the difference. Here’s the first question to get you started:

Do you believe it’s possible for the NHS to give us the care we need, when we need it?

YES

NO

Only recently, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, was arguing for MORE privatisation of the NHS to tackle waiting lists. [3] But we all know that opening up the doors of our NHS to profit-hungry private companies could signal the end of the NHS as we know it. [4] The experts are clear, privatisation drains money from the NHS, poaches NHS staff and services and is ultimately bad for patients. [5]

This is not the solution.

Our NHS is in crisis: it’s no accident, but it is an emergency. Most of us will know someone who’s on the waiting list – often living in pain or discomfort – waiting for months or even years for treatment, tests or assessments. This is a direct result of the Government’s failure to deliver on their promise to bring waiting times down.

But it doesn’t have to be like this, David.

Will you help us highlight the difference in how the NHS used to work for us and the state of it today? There are a few quick questions for you to answer. Here’s the first question to get you started:

Do you believe it’s possible for the NHS to give us the care we need, when we need it?

YES

NO

Thanks for all you do,

Tom, Megan and the 38 Degrees team

NOTES:
[1] BBC: One in five waiting for hospital care in England, survey suggests
Independent: NHS waiting list could be 2 million higher than thought, new data suggests
[2] BBC: Rishi Sunak: Hold me to account if NHS waiting lists don’t fall
Huffington Post: Rishi Sunak Promised To Cut NHS Waiting Lists. They’ve Gone Up By 330,000
The Guardian: NHS waiting lists falling but will stay above pre-Covid levels until 2030, IFS says
[3] The Financial Times: NHS should ‘seek to use’ private healthcare capacity, Wes Streeting says
The Guardian: ‘Middle-class lefties’ won’t stop Labour using private sector to cut NHS backlog, Streeting says
[4] The Financial Times: Investors eye opportunities in Labour pledge to boost private health sector
[5] The Guardian: NHS privatisation drive linked to rise in avoidable deaths, study suggests
The Guardian: Investors are making a fortune from UK healthcare. Why is nobody holding private equity to account?
The Guardian: NHS doctors offered up to £5,000 to recruit colleagues for private hospitals‘

I’ve completed the survey. My experience with my local Hospital Trust has been excellent, but others haven’t been nearly so lucky with theirs. And yes, we do have to make appointments to see the doctor. I can remember, waaaay back when I was at school in the 1980s, when you could make an appointment with your GP and be seen the same day. So does Anne Widdecombe, now one of the leaders of Reform. Reform are Thatcherite to the core, and fervently anti-immigrant and pro-Brexit. Widdecombe says that it could be done, conveniently forgetting she was part of the crowd that reduced it to its present parlous state. It can indeed, Anne, but not by and Reform.

As to how it can be improved, my suggestions are:

1. Renationalise it, so that all the funding goes into paying its staff and not into the corporate bureaucracy, management bonuses and share dividends of the outsourcing companies.
2. Raise funding to continental levels.
3. Train more doctors, nurses and other health professionals.

If this is done, which requires real will and determination, we could have again the world class NHS that the Tories have done so much to destroy.

The Megaphone on a Memorial Day for Workers

‘Dear David,

Every year people lose their lives at work.

Most don’t die of mystery illnesses, or in tragic “accidents”. They die because a boss took a shortcut and put them at risk.

Workers Memorial Day (IWMD) 28 April commemorates those workers. 

We’re getting in touch because there’s a memorial event happening in your area this weekend. Click on the map to find it.

Take me to the map

Workplace deaths are preventable deaths. Trade unions fight for a future where no worker must risk their health or life while doing their job.

Can’t make it to an event?

Share with your friends, family and colleagues: click to tweet, share on Facebook or WhatsApp
Take a look at the resources on the TUC website

In Solidarity,

Lois,Megaphone UK’

This is why we need the health and safety legislation the right-wing press is always telling us is crippling British industry. If you look at the stats, the figures for the number of people injured or killed at work dropped significantly when these laws were introduced in the 1970s.

We Own It Celebrate Starmer’s Declaration that He Will Renationalise the Railways and Their Members Who Campaigned for It

‘Dear David,

Labour has just announced that they will take our whole railway into public ownership over the next five years.

And they’ve gone beyond just pledging it – they’ve outlined a detailed plan to make it happen.

We’ll have to make sure they carry out this plan after the election, but this is HUGE – and your campaigning made it happen.

Labour’s pledge only affects England but whether you are in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, you helped make this happen.

Over the last few years, you’ve campaigned and won victories to take several rail services into public hands.

✅ TransPennine Express – renationalised in May 2023

✅ ScotRail – renationalised in April 2022

✅ Southeastern – renationalised in October 2021

✅ Transport for Wales Rail – renationalised in February 2021

✅ Northern Rail – renationalised in March 2020

NOW the rest of our railways will come into public hands where they belong – to work for passengers, not overseas shareholders.

This is YOUR win!

YOU won this – with your online actions, donations, protests, social media sharing, and talking to friends and family.

With your help, we were able to commission polling that shows that 67% of people want rail in public ownership!

We have been able to use today’s announcement as an opportunity to spread the message, with Johnbosco on BBC Radio Sussex and Times Radio.

YOU can quite rightly feel pleased and proud of these victories but there’s still work to do!

Labour is not planning to create a publicly owned ROSCO (ROlling Stock COmpany) to take on new fleets when needed. Currently, private rolling stock companies are extracting hundreds of million per year from our railway. Read our blog ‘Riding the ROSCO gravy train’ on our website.

YOUR campaigning can continue to make a difference.

The cost of travelling by rail has increased substantially in real terms since privatisation. And it’s no wonder: over £30 billion has leaked out of the system in the last 3 decades, mostly going to line shareholders’ pockets.

Under public ownership, we could be saving enough to bring down bills by 18% instead of hiking them every year.

YOU are passionate about public ownership, not only of public transport, but also water, NHS, energy, Royal Mail – and other public services. Public services should be run for people not profit.

So THANK YOU SO MUCH for all you do to fight for public services in public ownership. Whether you donate or not, every action you take adds strength to our movement. Together we can win so much more.

Public ownership is talked about as a solution much more these days: YOU DID THAT!

In solidarity,

Cat, Johnbosco, Matthew, Kate, Imogen and John – the We Own It team.’

Starmer’s announcement is welcome, but I’m not entirely convinced. He’s still convinced, like all Thatcherites, that private enterprise is the solution for everything and state ownership and management is utterly dreadful and inefficient. I’m not surprised that he’s said that he isn’t going to create a state-owned rolling stock company, as nationalising anything runs very much against his grain. And I really don’t trust him to honour his promise, not after he’s broken so many in the past. But it’s a start.

Related to this, the Groaniad has put up a piece with a headline that was is needed is complete rail nationalisation. Exactly. And we could have had that, along with the nationalisation of the other utilities and the NHS, and so much more, if Jeremy Corbyn had got into No. 10. And the reason he didn’t was partly because the left-wing press joined the confected lies and smears of the right-wing press that Jezza was a terrible anti-Semite for not backing the Israeli state’s brutal ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians.

Over the past few years the Groan has published a number articles supporting policies that were very much part of the Corbynist platform. It’s too bad they didn’t do it when he was head of the Labour party.

Also related: the Torygraph has also, apparently, published an article with a headline quoting Starmer as saying that if he loses his seat, he’ll work in a Kentish Town bookshop. I don’t know which bookshop he means, as I didn’t read the article, but I look forward to him serving customers behind the counter.

Rather than high-tailing it into the House of Lords which is where failed politicos and their donors usually end up.

Trumpton’s Fire Brigade Dance to the Village People’s YMCA

Here’s a bit of fun for those of us who were kids in the ’70s. It’s from the Trumptonshire Official channel on YouTube, which has a number of other silly videos like it. It’s of Trumpton’s fire brigade strutting their funky stuff to the Village People. Ah, the roll call whenever they appeared: Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble, Grubb. Half Man Half Biscuit released a record about rioting in Trumpton, and someone else turned into a rave track. And there are a couple of other pop videos that use tropes from Trumpton, Chigley and Camberwick Green, which show just how wide their viewership was.