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What did he actually say? Plenty of high-profile people have denounced what's happening in Gaza. Either he said something 'extra' or he's been singled out for some reason...
He claims he's the first person to be arrested under this law, that was introduced in 2000, so he must have said something pretty "extra" if what he claims is true.
The Canary has some details:
They also explain that he's not the first "journalist" to be arrested under this law.
He says he was arrested under section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000 which makes it illegal to stay anything even remotely non critical about a "proscribed organisation" like Hamas. It is extraordinarily repressive.
To clarify this is part of what section 12 says:
Proscription makes it a criminal offence to: express an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation, reckless as to whether a person to whom the expression is directed will be encouraged to support a proscribed organisation.
I don't have a problem with any element of that law.
I'm profoundly comfortable with people being arrested and imprisoned for substantial sentences for expressing support for Hamas and similar Jihadi terror groups.
Only a handful of countries consider Hamas a terror group. Funnily enough these are the same countries that are complicit in Israel's genocide in Gaza.
This is a "leopards ate my face" law. It's fine until you get caught up in it however unlikely that appears now.
You say only a handful of countries and then you list a shit ton of countries. Made to look smaller by lumping all of the EU into one country.
How many members are in the EU again?
There are 195 countries in the world.
Those are also more or less the only countries I'd trust to be able to correctly identify a terrorist group.
I simply don't support terrorist organisations. It isn't difficult.
Hamas being designated a terrorist group arose because of US and Israeli pressure to de-legitimise any entity that represents Palestinians in the same way that the PLO was regarded as a terror group pre Oslo.
It is political repression and nothing more.
Many of these same countries branded Nelson Mandela and the ANC as a terror group.
The PLO was a terror group.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_massacre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma'alot_massacre
Two examples off the top of my head of a terrorist group engaging in terrorist violence.
Yes that's my point. They were a terror group and then weren't when the US decided. In the same way that Sudan was a state sponsor of terror until the US decided otherwise.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-55300252
In both cases recognising the occupation of Palestine made them not terrorists.
Also if committing massacres made the PLO a terror group then surely Israel and it's military wing should be a state sponsor of terror many times over since October 7th but instead it receives billions in funding and weapons from the US and UK
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flour_massacre
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuseirat_refugee_camp_massacre
https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/04/1148876
As I said it is a form of political repression.
No, it's when you commit terrorist acts that you become a terrorist group. Like the PLO did, repeatedly, over many many years, and bragged about.
Terrorists are by definition non-state actors.
And yes I've seen the Pallywood stuff coming out of Gaza just like everyone else has. It's the same bullshit they pull every time they cross a line and find their shit getting pushed in by Israel like in Lebanon in 1982.
In 2023 total UK arms exports to Israel totalled £18.2 million. We do not provide them with foreign financial assistance.
So you were only off by a little bit.
In 2023 Israel received approx. £3.3 bn in foreign assistance from the USA, the large majority loaned to purchase US supplies of both defensive and offensive munitions. That same year, Egypt also received about £1.5 bn in foreign assistance from the USA, Jordan £1.7 bn, etc.
Yes, that's why it's good
You're a genocide denier. I'm done with you
Yes, in the same sense that I deny the existence of unicorns. I'm also a unicorn-denier.
He's said a lot since October 7th and before it.
A selection of more recent ones by running a search for his tweets using the word 'Hamas'
https://x.com/richimedhurst/status/1802965814053670956
https://x.com/richimedhurst/status/1795133769172623378
https://x.com/richimedhurst/status/1794489366276194554
https://x.com/richimedhurst/status/1792472920029012293
https://x.com/richimedhurst/status/1785809457194188820
https://x.com/richimedhurst/status/1781613656238620939