Pro-Palestine groups to protest Netanyahu's London visit

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Written by northsouth

Category: Europe

Published: 24 March 2023

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LONDON - Pro-Palestinian and anti-occupation Jewish groups will protest on Friday against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to London, where he is expected to meet his British counterpart Rishi Sunak.

Netanyahu will arrive in the UK on Thursday, following a "landmark agreement" between the two countries, to deepen technological, economic, and military ties, the UK Foreign Ministry has said.

The visit comes amid a wave of Israeli violence in the occupied West Bank, with 89 Palestinians killed this year alone and the continued racist incitement by extreme-right members of Netanyahu's government.

"This Friday, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is in London to meet UK government officials. Netanyahu’s government maintains a brutal apartheid system over the Palestinian people... Palestinians need our solidarity now more than ever," the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign tweeted.

The pro-Palestinian group, alongside others including Friends of Aqsa, will be leading the demonstration opposite London’s Downing Street between 10am and 12pm.

Na'amod, a movement of 'British Jews against occupation', also called for protests against Netanyahu on Friday at 9am and 4pm at Montgomery Statue, opposite 10 Downing Street.

"No red carpet for occupation and apartheid," the group wrote.

Israeli activists will also protest the PM’s controversial judicial overhaul, which they label a "threat to democracy".

Israeli group 'Saving Israeli Democracy' said they will organise a protest in London "in solidarity" with mass demonstrations in Israel, against "the new extremist government".

Netanyahu's proposed changes to the Israeli judiciary could give his government greater sway in selecting judges and limit the power of the Supreme Court to strike down legislation.

The Israeli group's protest will begin at 8am at Richmond Terrace, opposite Downing Street, before making its way to Speakers Corner at 10am, where the pro-Palestine protest will begin.

Netanyahu’s expected visit comes after British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen met in London on Tuesday to sign a roadmap for "flourishing" Israel-UK bilateral relations.

Programmes announced in the roadmap include around £20 million of joint funding commitments on technology and innovation, according to the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development office.

The foreign ministers reportedly agreed on the importance of upholding the historic status quo of the holy sites in Jerusalem, "noting the need to de-escalate tensions in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories".

The Palestinian Solidarity Campaign Chair Kamel Hawwash slammed the UK-Israel agreement as "appalling", saying it made "no reference to the Netanyahu Government’s intensification of the violation of [Palestinian] rights and Israel’s claim to the whole of historic Palestine in defiance of international law".

"In this moment, to promise to deepen relations with Israel rather than holding it accountable gives Netanyahu a green light to continue entrenching Israeli apartheid policies. It also further undermines the UK Government’s commitment to upholding international law," Hawwash said.

Extreme-right Israeli Finance Minister Belazel Smotrich denied the existence of Palestinians during an inflammatory speech in Paris this week and has also called for "wiping out" the Palestinian town of Hawara.

Anger at Macron mounts as French unions hold new protests

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Written by northsouth

Category: Europe

Published: 23 March 2023

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By SYLVIE CORBET and ALEXANDER TURNBULL

PARIS — Labor strikes upended travel in France on Thursday as French trade unions held their first mass demonstrations since President Emmanuel Macron inflamed public anger by forcing a higher retirement age through parliament without a vote.

Big crowds have started marching in the major cities of Marseille, Lyon, and Nantes as more than 250 protests were organized across France. The Paris march was scheduled to start at 2 p.m. from the Bastille plaza.

Protesters blockaded train stations, Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and refineries. High-speed and regional trains, the Paris metro and public transportation systems in other major cities were disrupted. About 30% of flights at Paris Orly Airport were canceled.

The Eiffel Tower and the Versailles Palace were closed Thursday due to the strikes.

Thursday’s events were the ninth round of nationwide demonstrations and strikes called by France’s eight main unions since January. Violence has intensified in recent days at scattered protests against the pension reform and Macron’s leadership.

The French leader is stubbornly resisting the discontent on the streets, and said Wednesday that the government’s bill to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 must be implemented by the end of the year.

Critics attacked Macron for the statement, describing him as “self-satisfied,” “out of touch” and “offensive.” Violence has intensified in recent days at scattered protests against the pension reform and Macron’s leadership, although the mass demonstrations started off in an orderly way.

Protesters staged road blockades on major highways and interchanges to slow traffic around big cities.

Train service was suspended in Marseille because protesters were stationed near the tracks.

At Paris’ Gare de Lyon train station, several hundred unionists and strikers walked on the railway tracks to prevent trains from moving, brandishing flares and chanting “and we will go, and we will go until withdrawal” and “Macron, go away.”

In Pantin, in the northern suburbs of Paris, several dozen union members blocked a bus depot.

Nadia Belhoum, a 48-year-old bus driver participating in the action, criticized Macron’s decision to force the higher retirement age through.

“The president of the Republic is supposed to ... take into consideration the desires and needs of his people. He is not a king, and he should listen to his people,” she said.

The Education Ministry said in a statement that about 24% of teachers have walked off the job in primary and middle schools, and 15% in high schools.

The French government invoked a constitutional provision last week to get the pension bill adopted without the approval of lawmakers. The bill must now pass a review by France’s Constitutional Council before becoming law.

Macron’s government survived two no-confidence votes in the lower chamber of parliament on Monday.

The 45-year-old centrist president, who is in his second and final term, repeatedly said he was convinced that France’s retirement system needed to be modified to keep it financed. Opponents proposed other solutions, including higher taxes on the wealthy or companies, which Macron says would hurt the economy.

Tony Blair should have faced war crimes tribunal over Iraq war- Hans Blix

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Written by northsouth

Category: Europe

Published: 21 March 2023

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LONDON - This week marks the 20th anniversary since the beginning of the Iraq War - one of the most controversial conflicts in modern times.

On 20 March 2003, the US launched its first airstrikes on the Gulf state - lighting up the skies above Baghdad with an ultra-aggressive "shock and awe" strategy.

Soon after a coalition of American, British, Australian and Polish soldiers marched over the border from Kuwait to execute “Operation Iraqi Freedom”.

The US-led coalition invaded largely on the premise of alleged weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) held by Saddam Hussein’s regime, but none were found.

Revelations of faulty intelligence, and in some cases sheer dishonesty, used to justify the eight-year conflict, left many in the West very angry that their countries had been dragged into a war on dubious grounds.

Of all the key actors involved in the invasion, one that often generates the most intense reaction is Tony Blair, the prime minister who backed US president George Bush and has since faced criticism and vitriol from many quarters.

Now, the former weapons inspector who was tasked with investigating Iraq's alleged possession of WMDs for the United Nations has spoken out against the former PM.

Speaking on MSNBC ahead of the anniversary, Hans Blix said that, "in principle", Blair and Bush should have faced consequences for their invasion - which is now widely regarded as illegal under international law.

He said there should be a penalty for breaking the "principle rule" of the United Nations charter - not to "use force against the territorial integrity and independence of other states".

Blix pointed to the Nuremberg Trials after World War II, and demands for Vladimir Putin to face charges following the Ukraine invasion, claiming this is very much the standard the international community should adhere to.

Asked if he thought Bush and Blair should face trial at the Hague for alleged war crimes, he said: "I think in principle, yes.

"I think they will not come, and nor will Putin come for a tribunal, but nevertheless holding a tribunal and going through the evidence will be of value.

"We hear very much from the Western world about the 'rule based international order' - well that is the one that the US, the UK and the others broke in 2003."

Blix had been asked by then-UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to determine whether Hussein really did possess the WMDs it was claimed he was hiding.

At the start of 2003, he reported that Iraq most likely did not possess weapons of mass destruction or the means to produce them.

He asked for more time to reach a clearer verdict, but the US and UK decided they'd had enough and launched their invasion.

Blix said he felt "sadness" that he wasn't allowed more time, and said it wasn't reasonable "to close the door on inspections after three months".

He later became much more vocal in his criticism of the invasion, telling BBC Panorama in 2016 that Blair had “misrepresented the facts” when he told UK MPs about Iraq’s chemical weapon capabilities.

The Swedish diplomat said he thought Blair "had a feeling that this was an evil regime and that it was a moral thing to do away with it", but said he "did not represent the reality" when presenting his justifications.

Speaking to the Chilcot Inquiry into the UK's role in Iraq, Blix said he told Blair that while he suspected there were some "prohibited items" in Iraq, the UN's "belief in the intelligence had been weakened" by a lack of evidence.

One of the reasons so much anger has been directed at Blair was his apparent overstating of the danger posed by Hussein's regime to rush into a war for which the UK was poorly prepared.

For example, his headline-grabbing claim made in Parliament that Iraq had chemical and biological weapons, "which could be activated within 45 minutes", turned out to be based on bogus intelligence.

Sir John Chilcot, chairman of the Chairman UK's Iraq War inquiry, said the decision to go to war was not the "last resort" option that Blair had presented to the public.

On the eve of the invasion, Blair warned MPs about the possibility of WMDs falling into the hands of terror groups, which he said was a "real and present danger to Britain and its national security".

However, he had been warned that military action would increase the threat from Al Qaeda to the UK and open up new territory for jihadists by bringing instability to the region.

Since the end of the war, Blair has continued to attract much criticism, particularly amid ongoing political instability in Iraq, which became a breeding ground for Islamic terrorists.

Rejecting most of the criticisms in the Chilcot report, he insisted he did not mislead the country and that he "made the decision in good faith".

However, he did "express more sorrow, regret and apology than you can ever know or believe,” that the war had created chaos in the region and resulted in Iraqis becoming victims of sectarian violence.

In 2017 the High Court ruled that Blair should not face prosecution for his role in the war, but resentment still lingers among some quarters even 20 years later.

Even today, it is a lightning rod in the UK's political discourse.

On Monday, Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg questioned why Blair faced no charges while Boris Johnson was fined by the Met Police over "eating a slice of cake" amid the "Partygate" scandal and subsequently called before Parliament's Privileges Committee.

He told GB News: "This seems to me to be completely disproportionate when a much bigger mistake never led to equivalent parliamentary action."

Rees-Mogg added: "Harriet Harman, who now presides over the privileges committee which is looking into something completely different.

"Not a war that cost UK lives, American lives and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives. A war on a very large scale which was based on information that wasn’t actually factual in the end."