Brian Whitaker

Extremist Israeli settlers burn homes in occupied West Bank channel4.com/news/extremist…

The hypocrisy stinks as if we should ignore when Israel commits war crimes as it is doing in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Iran right now. Iran is too and has a history of it. All these war crimes must end - one cannot be selective.

Israeli Ch 12: The Trump Administration updated Israel that the plans to gain control over the Hormuz Straits will take weeks to carry out & hence the war will last several additional weeks.

BREAKING: The Israeli army has informed the Palestinian Military Liaison that all entrances and exits to multiple cities and towns across the West Bank will be closed today due to calls by settlers to attack Palestinian villages. Punishing Palestinians, who are the victims of settler terrorism, instead of those carrying out the attacks.

BREAKING: Israeli settlers are right now carrying out a pogrom in the village of Deir Sharaf in the West Bank, setting Palestinian cars on fire and attacking Palestinian homes and civilians.

BREAKING: Following calls for another pogrom tonight in the West Bank, Israeli settlers have begun gathering at the entrances of Palestinian villages and towns. This video is from the entrance of the Palestinian village of Umm Safa. Pray for the safety of vulnerable and defenseless Palestinian civilians facing these unprecedented levels of settler terrorism.

Clean information and clean elections are as important as clean water. But are the regulators up to the job? The way GB News has quietly been allowed to become Reform TV should alarm us all app.prospectmagazine.co.uk/story/72784/co…

There have been quite a few politicians calling for the UK to join strikes against Iran, particularly against those systems posing any threat to UK bases and personnel. Let me explain some of the challenges with taking that approach. Let’s start with the threat. 🧵1/10

A brief thread on the Diego Garcia strike, in response to some of the more...creative interpretations going around:

Trump's compellence tactics are self-defeating He doesn't have the ability to inflict pain on Iran, he has never stated his demands coherently throughout this conflict, and his partners in the Gulf have a lower threshold of pain and more vulnerability than Iran Iran won't comply and Trump might be mad enough to sacrifice even more Gulf critical national infrastructure

"An American-operated Patriot air defense battery likely fired the interceptor missile involved in a pre-dawn explosion that injured dozens of civilians and tore through homes in US ally Bahrain"

The murderer of the two Palestinians in Qaryout two weeks ago hasn't been arrested, despite being caught on tape. More pogroms are the immediate result of impunity.

On a ship of fools Max Hastings stands out as a tower of intellectual thought & wisdom we need more like him

Trump far from winding down the war in Iran is doubling down, placing the world in even greater peril. Erratic is the kindest description. The UK has continuously described Russian attacks on Ukraine’s civilian energy infrastructure as a breach of international humanitarian law. Most recently UKPM described them as “particularly depraved and barbaric”. Here the US President advertises his intention to obliterate Iran’s largest power plant from midnight Monday. The British Attorney General Lord Hermer according to the Observer has a lecture on Monday at Manchester University in defence of international law. So hours before this attack is due to take place - to which Iran has already said recklessly it will respond by striking desalination plants across the Gulf - Hermer has an opportunity to warn both actions would probably be seen as a war crime, and also utterly contrary to the UK policy of de-escalation.

1.) President Trump appears to be threatening a war crime; 2.) This will go over badly with other Gulf countries, for Iran will then attack their power plants and perhaps desalination; 3.) Iran won't reopen the Strait, because closure is what gives it leverage.

From a post today by a leading Iranian sociologist Mohammad Fazeli, one of a group that signed an anti-war letter calling for maximum diplomacy and opposed the protest crackdown. Worth reading how opponents of war in Iran nevertheless view UK - not necessarily to agree, but to understand. “Every corner of London—especially in the central and old areas—bears statues of commanders, officers, and British soldiers who invaded other countries for centuries, killed, colonized, and protected Britain’s illegitimate interests in the target countries.   During one of my walks in that last week in central London, I came across a very large statue of soldiers and a memorial of the Royal Artillery. Under this large statue, something like this phrase was written: ‘In memory of the soldiers and martyrs of the Royal Artillery in Mesopotamia... Iran and...’ I don’t remember the rest exactly, but this part has stayed with me for nineteen years.   The British soldiers were invaders sent to advance Britain’s interests in other countries. Yet the Royal Artillery memorial called them martyrs—martyrs who fought thousands of kilometers away from England, in West Asia, in Mesopotamia, in Iran.   Colonialism calls its invading soldiers martyrs, builds memorials for them, and adorns its city with them. Colonialism normalizes sending British soldiers to West Asia and Iran. A hundred years after British colonialism, sending American soldiers, ships, and weapons to destroy Iran is portrayed as normal, humanitarian, and in the interest of international peace.   But it is not only that colonialism normalizes its presence thousands of kilometers away from its country; it also portrays the defense by the target countries as abnormal. The colonial discourse condemns defending the homeland—not directly, but through a thousand other tools. An Iranian soldier defending his country is called a terrorist, but the one who comes from thousands of kilometers away to invade, kill, destroy, and bring annihilation is portrayed as a messenger of freedom.”

In the past three years no country has contributed more to the erosion of the rules-based international order (both international law and international humanitarian law) than Israel, now they are at the receiving end of Iranian war crimes This is why we all need to uphold the rules-based international order

The IAEA is aware of reports of an incident in the city of Dimona, Israel, involving a missile impact and has not received any indication of damage to the nuclear research center Negev. Information from regional States indicates that no abnormal radiation levels have been detected. Closely monitoring the situation, Director General @RafaelMGrossi stressed that "maximum military restraint should be observed, in particular in the vicinity of nuclear facilities".

BREAKING — ICC chief prosecutor who issued arrest warrant against Netanyahu is cleared of sexual misconduct • The allegations against Karim Khan unfolded against his efforts to pursue an investigation against Israeli officials @SondosAsem1’s story middleeasteye.net/news/judges-cl…

The IAEA has been informed by Iran that the Natanz nuclear site was attacked today. No increase in off-site radiation levels reported. IAEA is looking into the report. IAEA Director General @rafaelmgrossi reiterates call for military restraint to avoid any risk of a nuclear accident.