I shall be standing for election to Parliament as the member for Blackburn. This unexpected turn of events requires an honest declaration.
1) I am standing because of the Genocide in Gaza.
2) I am standing because of the appalling pro-Genocide stance of the Labour Party and Keir Starmer’s continued support of arms exports to Israel.
3) I am standing because the Blackburn Independent Councillors and the Workers’ Party invited me to.
The political class, including both the Labour and Tory parties, has continued to offer wholehearted support for Israel. The Tories are a lost cause, irrelevant in Blackburn and I will not waste words upon them. The Labour Party is led by Keir Starmer, a man who has declared himself an unqualified zionist, is a member of Labour Friends of Israel, who refused to oppose Israel’s blockade of food and water to Gaza, refuses to acknowledge any war crimes committed by Israel, let alone the ongoing genocide, and strongly supports the continued sale of arms to Israel.
40% of Labour’s shadow cabinet, at least, are financed by the zionist lobby.
Starmer has also expelled more Jews from the Labour Party than every previous Labour leader combined – under the excuse of “anti-semitism”, but in reality because they are Jews who honestly oppose the murderous ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and the schemes of the apartheid state of Israel.
The people of Blackburn, like all voters in the UK, deserve the chance to vote for a candidate who actually opposes the genocide. The Independent Councillors in Blackburn, who have resigned from the Labour Party over the issue, have chosen me to be that candidate. I have accepted.
Following George Galloway’s victory in nearby Rochdale under the banner of the Workers’ Party, I have also accepted the support of that party. I expect to fight the seat as a party candidate.
While Gaza motivated me to stand, it is by a long way not the only issue on which the voters of Blackburn deserve an alternative choice.
The Labour Party has abandoned working people. Last weekend Keir Starmer said Labour would increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP – a 25% increase. Yet the Labour Party has stated it will be bound by Tory fiscal rules and austerity, and there is no money for education or health and other public services.
The Labour Party has stated it will be harsher than the Tories on welfare payments and on immigration controls. Wes Streeting is itching to privatise the Health Service – and he and his frontbench colleagues are sponsored to do so. Plans to renationalise water and other public utilities have been abandoned. Starmer’s party is a Tory Party.
There is a vast disparity in wealth in society which is growing incredibly fast. The 1,000 wealthiest people in the UK are now worth an average of £750 million each, a figure which has doubled in under a decade. Yet we have millions of children living below the poverty line.
This does not happen by accident, nor is it a factor of a free market. It is the product of a system of law and regulation designed to produce this unnatural outcome. It can only be countered by fundamental reform of laws around the formation and ownership of capital. For that reason, I am happy to ally with the Workers’ Party, which recognises this truth.
The people of Blackburn deserve the opportunity to vote for fundamental social and economic change.
I am standing as part of a wider movement in England which is seeking to challenge the two-party conservative duopoly. This alliance is coming together and will embrace Independent candidates and candidates from other small parties. Informal organisation is developing. I expect the Workers’ Party to have a slate of hundreds of candidates, while Andrew Feinstein spoke alongside me in Blackburn on Saturday and will be challenging Keir Starmer directly in the election. Jeremy Corbyn will romp back into parliament in Islington North.
In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the nationalist parties have been much better on the Gaza genocide, reflecting the experience of those peoples of ethnic cleansing and occupation. They are also notably more socialist than Labour. I need to explain to you, and particularly to my many Scottish readers, why I am not standing in Scotland.
Firstly, it is important to make clear my support for Scottish Independence is undiminished (which I sincerely believe would be good for the people of England too, including Blackburn, in allowing a modern country to emerge from the trappings of Imperial decay).
Secondly, I talked it over with Alex Salmond before I accepted to stand in Blackburn. I have not left the Alba Party. Alex and I mutually agreed that at this election it would be better for me not to stand for Alba in Scotland, as that would give the unionist press an opportunity to continue to muck-rake over the lawfare to which we had been subjected.
Thirdly, George Galloway has declared that he no longer will participate in the Independence debate in Scotland.
I have also seen it reported that the Workers’ Party will not stand candidates in Scotland. That will need to be worked through, but at the minimum I expect we can reach an agreement they will not stand anywhere against the Alba Party, which would render my own position impossible. As Alba is only planning to stand in up to 16 constituencies this should not be difficult. Working relationships between the two parties in the Commons are amicable, and all of this will be resolved in the next few weeks.
Finally, I would say that the events of the last 48 hours have confirmed my decision. Israel’s murderous destruction of Iran’s Damascus consulate, crashing the Vienna Convention, was condemned by neither Labour nor Tories. George Galloway is the only MP to have even mentioned it in the House of Commons, one clear indication of why I am not just content but proud to stand beside George. Iran’s demonstration attack in response – which killed nobody – appears to have restored the shaken confidence of the entire political class in proclaiming their zionist credentials. They hope we have all now forgotten the genocide.
We shall prove them wrong.
From mid-May I shall be relocating my home to Blackburn. Three short visits to the UK seem to have confirmed there is no longer any current intention by the state to arrest me for my support for the Palestinians’ legal right to armed resistance as an occupied people.
I am going to need help – leafleting, canvassing, manning offices and the many myriad tasks of an election campaign. I am also (I am sorry) going yet again to call on readers of this blog to fund the campaign. I am buoyed by the solid start we have in support across all communities in Blackburn. There will be no shortage of space for volunteers to sleep. So start to look in your diaries. We are going to give Starmer a roasting, we are going to take on the zionist monopoly of power, and it is going to be great fun!
————————————————
Forgive me for pointing out that my ability to provide this coverage is entirely dependent on your kind voluntary subscriptions which keep this blog going. This post is free for anybody to reproduce or republish, including in translation. You are still very welcome to read without subscribing.
Unlike our adversaries including the Integrity Initiative, the 77th Brigade, Bellingcat, the Atlantic Council and hundreds of other warmongering propaganda operations, this blog has no source of state, corporate or institutional finance whatsoever. It runs entirely on voluntary subscriptions from its readers – many of whom do not necessarily agree with every article, but welcome the alternative voice, insider information and debate.
Subscriptions to keep this blog going are gratefully received.
Choose subscription amount from dropdown box:
PayPal address for one-off donations: [email protected]
Alternatively by bank transfer or standing order:
Account name
MURRAY CJ
Account number 3 2 1 5 0 9 6 2
Sort code 6 0 – 4 0 – 0 5
IBAN GB98NWBK60400532150962
BIC NWBKGB2L
Bank address Natwest, PO Box 414, 38 Strand, London, WC2H 5JB
Bitcoin: bc1q3sdm60rshynxtvfnkhhqjn83vk3e3nyw78cjx9
Ethereum/ERC-20: 0x764a6054783e86C321Cb8208442477d24834861a
Israel is a terrorist entity, attacking, undermining and destroying fundamental human rights with impunity thanks to support from her allies or more specifically her false prophets. What does a world where Israel can do no wrong in the international political arena look like? The answer is of course a world where accountabilty has lost all coherent meaning.
The late great AJP Taylor once mentioned a torture scandal in Spain before the Great War. The torturer was a police officer who had been a soldier in the colonies and carried on as normal once home. The ulterior motive of conniving at zionazi crimes against peace, crimes against humanity and war crimes is to abolish the constraints on repression that were (fitfully) applied after the war crimes trials of the late 40s. Colonies first, metropole second.
We remind ourselves of the Law of War and that a State cannot be prosecuted for war crimes because there is no mechanism for enforcement except the illusion of repression where consequences are anomalous.
Thanks to Karlofi’s substack for the link to this transcripted video interview from Prof. Michael Hudson.
https://michael-hudson.com/2024/04/gaza-the-strategic-imperative/
Upshot is, all of the tactics and strategies we see in Gaza are those used and planned in Vietnam 50 years ago by the american security establishment. It’s a deliberate strategy to undermine any authority, moral or otherwise, the UN has. It’s more detailed than my short summary and he begins by stating he worked with these people many years ago. It’s worth the few minutes it takes to read through or watch for his insight.
Karlofi’s substack, to give him credit.
https://karlof1.substack.com/
Mr. Murray, all the very best in your attempt to become Blackburn’s next MP. I think you stand at least a sporting chance given the demographic make-up of that part of Northern England. I live in NE England and if The Workers Party field a candidate in my constituency, I’ll certainly vote for him/her. Unfortunately the constituency I live in is the epitome of “red rosette on a donkey” territory so they’ll probably not waste their time and money doing so. I’ll certainly never vote Labour again so I’ll probably not vote in the general election when that odious reptile Sunak eventually plucks up the courage to call it.
On the other hand, in the local elections in May, I will have the opportunity to vote for the incumbent Metro-Mayor of the North-East region, Jamie Driscoll, who is now standing as an independent having been de-selected as the Labour candidate by Sir Kid Starver for having had the temerity to appear on a platform with that notorious old Bolshevik, Ken Loach.
Calling Sunak a reptile is an insult to decent alligators, crocodiles and lizards.
You didn’t mention snakes so is it alright if I change it to “that odious viper Sunak”?
Well said Mark, at a time when just about every ball in the world is in the air, we only can but stand together and defend a modicum of humanity as best as we can.
I hereby pledge my support to your campaign and hope that you are able to choose your team of helpers and supporters from local and national pools of knowledgeable and able people.
Running a campaign is never ending from 5 am non stop until /2 am the next morning, it is a thankless task which demands coordination of tasks and messages to achieve daily advances.
The message is as clear as springwater, the Workers Party supports human rights and local self determination of political resolve, community politics.
i’m not as good on my feet since suffering from a blood clot, but I feel that there is valuable experience I can offer to your campaign.
I am in!
Would love to see you succeed and offer the people of Blackburn an active MP who forwards voters need for humane services they deserve. For far too long have they been played against each other and large local employers should take note.
Stay strong Nevermind best you can.
Thanks Mark, will try to do the best I can possibly give, you stay strong as well.
Brilliant. I hope you win!!!
Best of luck to you!
I think you need to heal the rift between Galloway and Corbyn/StWC.
The central sticking point there seems to be contemporary “populism’s” healthy cynicism towards transgender politics.
After the Cass Report, perhaps there is an opportunity to take a more grown up view and realize that rumours of harm being caused were not false, and that the whole political agenda has been essentially overhyped and engineered to split the left.
They were sat next to each other up the back (on their own, so to speak) in the HoC on Monday.
Here they are (with a third person/mp) in the very first short shot, so don’t blink or you may miss it:
George Galloway rips into Rishi Sunak’s pro-Israeli biases on Iran conflict
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwBJRRIYvYg
I think the third member in view is Claudia Webbe, the Independent leftwing member for Leicester East, who was smeared and then “independented” by the Labour Party after various “murky manoeuvrings” by the party machine. Let’s hope she too stands at the next election.
PS Claudia Webbe’s interviewed on the ‘Not the Andrew Marr Show’ at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Or6XWfO51A
‘Not the Andrew Marr Show’ has done a whole series of videos interviewing other independent candidates who are standing at the next election and in the May local elections.
https://www.youtube.com/@nottheandrewmarrshow/videos
I don’t think there is a rift. But Jeremy does not seem interested at present in forming or joining any new political party, and will likely run as an Independent. There is a realignment happening as people reject the choice between two out and out conservative parties, but how it will eventually play out I know not.
Fewer than 100 children under 16 are currently being prescribed puberty blockers on the NHS in England & Wales*, PH, so even if we assume that they will all bitterly regret it (very unlikely), that’s still far less than the numbers of kids killed and seriously injured on Britain’s roads each year. You could save most of them by reducing the speed limit in urban areas to 20 mph, but most people don’t like that. A close look at the cover of the Cass Report (particularly the hands) should tell you all need to know about the quality of that publication, which of course will be treated as holy writ by UK politicians. A look behind the curtain: Instigating conflict between people, be it culture wars or otherwise, allows time and opportunity to get on with the looting (see Sergio Leone’s ‘A Fistful of Dollars’).
* Can’t be arsed looking up the relevant figures for Scotland, but it won’t be many.
“by reducing the speed limit in urban areas to 20 mph, but most people don’t like that.”
as has been proved in Wales. It’s a load of tosh, really, as the extra time taken is only one minute over a mile. I expect there was the same fuss when the 30 limit was brought in.
This is actually true. One can only legally travel at the speed limit, whether that be 20mph or 70mph, where conditions allow. It’s not going to make much difference to your average speed when you’re spending a lot of your time waiting in queues regardless of how fast you reach them.
A lot of small towns in France, Spain etc have 30kph (19mph) speed limits, and they actually welcome them instead of crying about it, as if their favourite toy has been taken away. The people whining about this limit in Wales, which only applies to residential areas anyway, ought to be ashamed of themselves.
“The people whining about this limit in Wales, which only applies to residential areas anyway, ought to be ashamed of themselves.”
I get a strong sense that these people think that they should be able to drive where they like, when they like at whatever speed they like and that all speed limits, one way streets, traffic lights etc. are a gross infringement on their liberties. Of course we should have such limits, for safety reasons, but they should only apply to other people. “Traffic” is other people in their cars”, as someone put it. Perhaps we should call it “Toadism” after Mr Toad.
Thanks for your reply, Bayard. There’ll be even less difference than that, since urban driving usually involves plenty of stop-start. Lowering the limit to 20 mph, as has been done in Wales and around half of London, should only add 10-20% more time to a typical journey in a town or city, I reckon.
Forgot to mention in my above comment that all of the under-16’s on puberty blockers in England & Wales are taking them with the consent of their parents/guardians, which is not even legally necessary under Gillick competence.
Good on you Craig, I’m sure you’ll win and do well for the people of Blackburn, I only wish the SNP would’ve seen your true value to Scotland and the cause, but they shunned you and helped imprisoned you.
You’ll also be a strong and forceful voice for the terribly oppressed people of Gaza in the HoC.
We probably all hope so, but it’s a very tough nut to crack. The Labour candidate had a majority of 18,000 in 2019, and there are an awful lot of people who vote “tribally” (I mean: ‘my friends and I have always voted for party X’).
I worry that spending a lot of effort campaigning in a hopeless cause will use a lot of Craig’s limited energy, which could be spent on other things.
Keir Starmer; a knight with no armour opposes a ceasefire in Gaza, an increase in war machine spending, unmitigated support for zionism and embracing the terrorist state of Israel.
Ignored by Starmer is the fact Israel was founded on the terrorism of the Jewish terrorist groups Lohamei Herut Israel or “Fighters for the Freedom of Israel” aka Lehi, or the Stern Gang; and Irgun. They campaigned actively from 1940–48 in British Mandate Palestine for the creation of a Jewish state and numbered no more than a few hundred people!
They operated in small cells and concentrated on the assassination of government officials. Their victims included Lord Moyne, the British Minister for the Middle East in 1944, and the UN mediator Count Folke Bernadotte in Jerusalem in September 1948. Irgun is known for the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on 22 July 1946 which killed 91 people, Arabs, Britons and jews and the massacre in Deir Yassin that killed at least 107 Palestinian villagers including women and children and mutilated and raped others …
Mark. Ron Unz provides an in depth report on this topic: “Israeli Assassinations and Public Scrutiny”, at ‘The Unz Review”. Interesting alternative viewpoint.
Good luck Craig with your electioneering. I truly hope you win. I wonder how many interviews you’ll get with the CRAP media. (still need suggestions for that acronym, Corporatocratic RAP).
How about “Kleptocratic and Oligarchic Supporting Media” or KPOSM.
Good luck. It was mostly Keir Starmer’s election as leader that made me get out of the Labour Party a second time. He is a dictator. His allegiance is to the WEF and that is a point that should be pushed. I spoke at the constituency candidate meeting on behalf of Rebecca Long-Bailey but sadly Selly Oak is full of Blairites and the sitting MP, Steve McCabe wanted constituents to vote for Starmer to have strong opposition to Boris Johnson at the despatch Box..
Not surprisingly as soon as Starmer got elected leader, Rebecca Long-Bailey was sacked. For Starmer it is WEF or nothing. His masters are at Davos. Somebody appropriately named him Keir Stalin.
As I say – Good luck. Indeed very good luck. I hope you win. Some may recall you opposed warmonger Jack Straw the last time. You never know after the Covid-19 scam people might be ready for a change.
Good to see you’re still around, John.
Shame you had to sully your message in the very last sentence with that silly covid denialism nonsense. Perhaps you could take that to the forums, instead of trying to sneak it in here, very much on the sly. Confront it directly on the forums – I know you’re better than this. (You’re far more brave than our shy climate denialists, for example – come on.)
Could you be any more full of yourself if you tried Glenn? I’m just on the bus to work and didn’t quite get the full effect of your dazzling superiority complex from this far away, you see.
Anyway, well done Craig for being prepared to roll up your sleeves and go through this process once again. Integrity is an outdated and meaningless concept to a lot of British career politicians, but is clearly something you have in spades.
If people think its ok to go hijacking this forum to peddle their insane conspiracy theories, I think it’s ok to call them out on it. Sorry (not sorry) if you don’t like that.
glenn surely the point is to keep “bad actors” from dominating any given thread?
John is not my opinion a “bad actor” and his single comment only becomes a problem if it is supplemented by other comments he might make – you obviously feel differently
My ONLY thought concerning the dark days of our recent past came after 18-24 months of the emergency, say the back end of 2022, when economic indicators began to show that the extremely wealthy had become even wealthier – until that point l thought what I was told to think concerning the emergency
After every major event, the super rich grow wealthier – it does not seem to matter what the nature of the event is but the pattern is obvious, to me at least.
Hi John you won’t remember me as when we conversed I was known by a different name but I remember you and enjoyed your comments. The fact we might not agree on everything is no block to my appreciation of your wit and your wisdom
glenn and John one of my foibles is a flaky belief in the chance of world peace, so we all have our weak spots
Peace
[ MOD: Any further discussion about Covid-19 should take place in the forums.
Side-tracking on off-topic contentious issues does not help the discussion. ]
___
Covid-19 doesn’t have to have been a hoax for massive scams to have been involved, Glenn – the biggest being the deliberate suppression of effective early treatments, such as ivermectin. I don’t have time to go into detail either on here or any of the forums, but if you want to find out more, you could do worse than read ‘The War on Ivermectin’ by Dr Pierre Kory & Jenna McCarthy:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/War-Ivermectin-Medicine-Millions-Pandemic/dp/151077386X
Yeah that’d be fine if you kept it to obvious trolls and disinfo agents but John is very plainly not of that category, as you have even acknowledged in your first comment. If we’re taking it at face value, your comment is far less relevant to the discussion than John’s, but you’ve decided you get a pass because you’ve appointed yourself arbiter of the discussion for some reason? As someone who’s read this site and occassionally commented for about a decade, it winds me up that you and a certain other commenter here (who will remain nameless) think you have the right to challenge people in such a blatantly disrespectful fashion. I dont even agree with John, just found your arrogance to be nauseating. Reduce the swell of your head a little, you might find people are more receptive to your points.
Apologies for the off topic mods, and thanks again Craig for trying to bring a degree of accountability to the shit show of British politics.
Jeez, what a moralising bunch of pearl-clutchers we’ve got here! John Goss is actually quite capable of standing up for himself.
Northern – you ought to clue up a bit before you go shrieking in self-righteous indignation, you know. Particularly when you start telling me what I should and shouldn’t be saying and what a wretched individual I clearly am, then in the same shrill tones tell me that I shouldn’t be criticising anyone else’s posts or showing a lack of respect! Unbelievable. I think there’s a large element of projection in your rants above, which is probably why you’re so triggered. Try talking to a professional about it.
The apology for what you’re just about to post sounds a tad hollow too. You don’t give an apology and then do it anyway – that makes it seem just a bit insincere.
@Will Moon –
My main gripe isn’t with John, who I have long admired as being a good and principled socialist. He doesn’t just preach, either, he acts on his principles (for example, raising money for charities by taking arduous sponsored bicycle journeys).
It’s more that a lot of denialists – all of them, virtually – like to drop unprompted into unconnected threads their unsupported assertions, but they never stick around to discuss them in any depth. Drop and run, over and over. We see this most particularly with climate change.
Obviously, Internet police like ‘Northern’ have a serious problem with criticism about that, and not content just to criticise the criticism, go on to show what utter hypocrites they are by also attacking the character of whoever made the original criticism. An astonishing lack of self awareness.
There is much to discuss on these subjects, it’s not black and white at all (contrary to the aside from John), and that’s what I was pointing out – and making the invitation to discuss it.
The USA has just issued the (non) assurances the UK courts required to enable them to extradite Assange.
https://consortiumnews.com/2024/04/16/us-issues-assurances-assange/
Perhaps showing the Public the result of that Thursday 5 May 2005 election you stood in, would illustrate the paucity of ‘democracy’ we have: Straw won with 23.3% of the possible voters.
Year: 2005
General election: 2005 General Election
Constituency: Blackburn
Turnout: 56.9%
Results
Candidate (Party) = Votes
Straw, Jack (Labour) = 17562
Ameen, Imtiaz (Conservative) = 9553
Melia, Tony (Liberal Democrats) = 8608
Holt, Nicholas (BNP) = 2263
Murray, Craig (Independent) = 2082
Baxter, Dorothy (UKIP) = 954
Carter, Graham (Greens) = 783
Good luck.
Dear Craig Murray
About Israel. You are right.
They do genocide in Palestine
They occupied Palestine and Golan heights … and kill people of Gaza
Shame on UN ..
. Shame on UN security council
.
GOD is worry about these injustice.
And he will destroy this injustice wold… like Noah era….
Just came across the following on the BBC News website (posted eleven hours ago at the time of typing):
Deadly West Bank settler attacks on Palestinians follow Israeli boy’s killing
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-68830552
Apparently more than 460 Palestinians have now been killed in the West Bank since October 7th (and 13 Israelis). And no doubt hundreds more maimed and seriously injured.
👏👏👏 Bravo! Excellent news! 🙂
Craig. Some advice please. Is Workers’ Party now the only safe alternative to the warmongering genocidal mainstream? So often these alternatives seem to be filled with swivel-eyed loons, soon exposed. That you and Galloway are part of LP gives me trust.
“Three short visits to the UK seem to have confirmed there is no longer any current intention by the state to arrest me for my support for the Palestinians’ legal right to armed resistance as an occupied people” – I fear that sentence may be construed as throwing down the proverbial gauntlet. I hope I’m wrong.
Good luck!
Aaron Maté with a good appearance at Judge Napolitano´s show on the Iran-Israel case, aired an hour ago:
Galloway´s nice interlude in the House with Cameron & Sunak doing what they do, starting at 11:20
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdHm_FvGjPY
I don´t give a damn about those mediocre actors in parliament (I´m sorry but I have zero sympathy for these idiotic antics/rules) but to see Craig among those morons would make my day…
Can you say ‘dual loyalty’…?
Just came across this in the Times of Israel:
Google fires 28 employees who staged anti-Israel protests at company offices
Demonstrations opposing business with Israeli government and led by No Tech for Apartheid group included 10-hour sit-ins at offices in New York and California; 9 people arrested
Google said Wednesday it fired 28 employees who staged a sit-in and protests in company offices the previous day to demand the tech giant end its business dealings with the Israeli government.
In a statement following media reports of the development, Google only mentioned that it had terminated the employees for violating company policies — without mentioning the nature of the protests.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/google-fires-28-employees-who-staged-anti-israel-protests-at-company-offices/
Just did a search to see how widely (or not) it’s been covered by the MSM, and a few have done so, but BBC News didn’t come up in the results.
_________________________________
I actually came to be on the ToI website because antiwar.com linked to the following article:
Poll: 74% of Israelis oppose counterstrike on Iran if it harms security alliances
Over half of Hebrew U. survey respondents see need to consider political, military demands from allies; say US aid in thwarting attack obligates Israel to coordinate future actions
Nearly three-quarters of the Israeli public oppose a retaliatory strike on Iran for its massive missile attack on the country if such action would harm Israel’s security alliance with its allies, according to a poll published Tuesday.
The Hebrew University survey also found that over half the public believes Israel “respond[s] positively” to the military and political demands of allies.
The Hebrew University survey found that 44% of Israelis backed a military offensive in Rafah even “at the cost of a crisis in Israel’s foreign relations” and damaging ties with the US, while 31% were undecided and 25% disagreed.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/poll-74-of-israelis-oppose-counterstrike-on-iran-if-it-harms-security-alliances/
Despite some Israeli media outlets debunking much of the atrocity propaganda, I can only assume – given the 44% who back a military offensive in Rafah – that there’s still a majority who believe it all happened – ie the fourty beheaded babies and mutilation etc, etc. And in another poll ten days ago 71% of Israelis think Netanyahu should resign:
Poll: 71% think Netanyahu should resign either immediately or right after war
Surveys by two top news outlets find half of Israelis want early elections, most think government not doing enough to bring hostages back from Gaza
In the Kan poll, 45% said Netanyahu bears overall responsibility for what happened, while 35% put the blame on IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and the head of the Shin Bet security service, Ronen Bar. Just 3% said Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is responsible.
Regarding performance in handling the war, 68% said Netanyahu is not doing well, compared to 29% who said he is, and 3% who said they don’t know.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/poll-71-think-netanyahu-should-resign-either-immediately-or-right-after-war/
I think you can read from all of that, that the Israel public is OK with the IDF et al using violence on the Gazans and Palestinians in general and even Iran, but are not too happy if some other country strikes back.
The strike back then becomes a danger ( or future danger ) to them personally. They have learnt his from the US’s “That’s not Fair” Doctrine. We can strike you but your not allowed to strike back. The UK obviously holds to the same Doctrine. The attack on the poor people in Rafah is going ahead for the simple reason that they can’t strike back.
Meanwhile if they plan to attack Iran then they have shown they really can strike back. If that happens Ben Gurion airport will not be able to cope. If it’s still open after the Iranian strike back?
I hope the electorate of Blackburn give the Labour [pro genocide] party door knockers the same treatment these canvassers received and worse.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTPi0cLd1VU
Good Luck Craig. Don’t forget all politics is local. Do you need/how can one sign up as volunteers in the campaign?
That’s great….wishing you the best of luck Craig
It would be nice to see more MPs who respect the law, both domestic and international, rather than criminal lawyers and bankers pretending to be MPs.
God bless you and I with open hand wish you every success. England deserves someone who cares about our neighbours and the English people’s basic human rights and interests. They like us shouldn’t allow their neighbours and there children to be allowed to go hungry with the labour and Tory austerity cuts and economic butchering of basic rights and societies and nations aspirations at the cost of the greed of pigs in the aristocracy. Or appointees there of. We can see by the interests of MPs regardless of party becoming friends of Israel exactly where there loyalties lay, and possibly thick brown envelopes makes there decision for them. Traitors and Judas’s to England and it’s place in this world.
I spoke to an English lady on Culloden battle field after she had the talk. She still had no idea what the battle was about. She still thought it was Scotland against England. Ooh and for anyone reading my post it was England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales on Culloden battle field and facing in that days on the 16th April 1746 version of friends of Israel.
I’m disappointed that Craig is willing to stand under a WP banner.
From the WP manifesto:
“Our position on Ukraine centres on a condemnation of the expansionary provocation of NATO in alliance with another ethno-nationalist government that throws its own people into a perpetual meat grinder. We will withdraw all military support from war zones and work for a negotiated and peaceful settlement whenever and wherever war breaks out. ”
No criticism of Russia’s illegal invasion and attempted occupation of Ukraine. Or of the meat grinder into which the Putin regime throws (ironically) its own ethnic minorities, prisoners and other disadvantaged men.
And of course to “withdraw all military support from war zones” will mean the eventual victory of Putin’s murderous campaign against Ukraine. Condemning the country to endless guerilla warfare and economic collapse as its resources are plundered for the benefit of Russian plutocrats.
From the WP 10 Point programme:
“We defend the achievements of the USSR, China, Cuba etc, not least the debt owed by humanity to the Soviet Union and Red Army in their war of liberation against German fascism. Our finest hour as a nation was when we stood side by side with Soviet Russia and defeated German Nazism.”
The achievements of the USSR and CCP-ruled China are misery for their populations.
I’m not British but the defeat of the Luftwaffe in the ‘Battle of Britain’ was quite the achievement.
And of course the USSR was enormously helped by military aid from the USA and Britain.
Ironic that the WP policy is to “withdraw all military support from war zones”.
Finally, the reference to “Soviet Russia ” is revealing – Russophilia rather than respect for all the (often unwilling) component nations of the USSR.
Craig would make an excellent Independent MP IMO, but if elected as a WP MP he will be compromised by the policies that he will have to defend.
On the other hand JK redux never compromises, he just ploughs on with regurgitating western warmongering, rejoicing in reminding us that thanks to massive US hardware, the battle of Britain was won in the air.
He wants us to support Right Sector and Asov brigades who worshipped the SS and who built numerous memorials to OUN fascists who killed Jews by the thousands in Ukraine,Latvia and Estonia.
Time to stop trying to pour petrol on a fire that already is well alight.
I’m not English or British either but I cant stand apologists for more war, our next generations need peace.
Nevermind
Do you have a specific disagreement with my post?
Presumably you are happy that Britain won the BoB, with or without American help?
” And of course the USSR was enormously helped by military aid from the USA and Britain. ”
It could not have survived without. It’s well known that the USSR moved all their tank and munitions factories eastward to prevent them falling into German hands. That took time during which the Soviet Union was 100% reliant on weapons and raw materials imported from the UK and the US, and US convoys didn’t start until after Pearl Harbor.
Because of the Ribbentrop-Molotov alliance the USSR supported Nazi Germany right up until they themselves were invaded in June 1941. Communist Party members in the UK and US were instructed to sabotage the Allied war effort, one party member was caught passing convoy details to the Germans.
Withdrawing military support from Ukraine will result in victory for Putin after which there will be no negotiations, just subjugation and a nasty guerrilla war as JK says.
Looking at the polls it looks as though there could be a threat from the right, Reform up to 15% behind the Tories on 19%, the WP may need to come up with some saleable policies on immigration and policing.
“No criticism of Russia’s deliberately provoked, existentially justified, and long diplomatically avoided invasion and occupation of eastern and southeastern Ukraine.”
Fixed that for you. Where on earth do you get your “news,” analysis, and opinion? I get mine from a broad spectrum of sources and work out the most likely version of the truth on my own. It just so happens that it’s very close to the Russian version in this particular instance.
For what it’s worth, Craig only very recently reached the same conclusion I had ten years ago. (I was already there in 2014, when Crimea voted overwhelmingly to rejoin Russia after the National-Endowment-for-Democracy-funded = CIA/Department-of-State-sponsored Maidan coup.) If Craig can do it, so can you.
PCM
What I actually posted was “No criticism (in WP documents) of Russia’s illegal invasion and attempted occupation of Ukraine. Or of the meat grinder into which the Putin regime throws (ironically) its own ethnic minorities, prisoners and other disadvantaged men.”
You don’t dispute the illegality of Putin’s invasion I see.
“Existentially justified”? By whom?
Nor do you comment on the “meat grinder into which the Putin regime throws (ironically) its own ethnic minorities, prisoners and other disadvantaged men.”
The invasion is a war of choice that has destroyed hundreds of thousands of lives.
But that’s all right because …. tankies love Putin?
I expect you read it at the time JK, but here it is again anyway:
JOHN PILGER: Silencing the Lambs — How Propaganda Works
September 7, 2022
In my lifetime, the United States has overthrown or attempted to overthrow more than 50 governments, mostly democracies. It has interfered in democratic elections in 30 countries. It has dropped bombs on the people of 30 countries, most of them poor and defenceless. It has attempted to murder the leaders of 50 countries. It has fought to suppress liberation movements in 20 countries.
The extent and scale of this carnage is largely unreported, unrecognised, and those responsible continue to dominate Anglo-American political life.
Harold Pinter Broke the Silence
In the years before he died in 2008, the playwright Harold Pinter made two extraordinary speeches, which broke a silence.
“U.S. foreign policy,” he said, is
“best defined as follows: kiss my arse or I’ll kick your head in. It is as simple and as crude as that. What is interesting about it is that it’s so incredibly successful. It possesses the structures of disinformation, use of rhetoric, distortion of language, which are very persuasive, but are actually a pack of lies. It is very successful propaganda. They have the money, they have the technology, they have all the means to get away with it, and they do.”
In accepting the Nobel Prize for Literature, Pinter said this:
“The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them. You have to hand it to America. It has exercised a quite clinical manipulation of power worldwide while masquerading as a force for universal good. It’s a brilliant, even witty, highly successful act of hypnosis.”
.https://consortiumnews.com/2022/09/07/john-pilger-silencing-the-lambs-how-propaganda-works/
And it doesn’t seem like more than two or three weeks ago since I posted the following on here – the last paragraph of a 2014 article by John Mearsheimer:
The United States and its European allies now face a choice on Ukraine. They can continue their current policy, which will exacerbate hostilities with Russia and devastate Ukraine in the process—a scenario in which everyone would come out a loser. Or they can switch gears and work to create a prosperous but neutral Ukraine, one that does not threaten Russia and allows the West to repair its relations with Moscow. With that approach, all sides would win.
https://www.mearsheimer.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Why-the-Ukraine-Crisis-Is.pdf
Allan
I see little reason to believe that the Putin regime has any interest in a negotiated peace with Ukraine.
Abandoning a neighbour to the tender mercy of the RA would be quite the betrayal.
I’m no admirer of US foreign policy but facilitating Putin’s takeover of the ‘near abroad’ doesn’t strike me as a good idea.
And confounding an authoritarian regime’s strategies is – as a matter of principle – a Good Idea.
It might even discourage the US and China from further adventures.
The point is of course that Russia WAS provoked, and all the death and destruction and devastation could easily have been avoided. But the US gangster elite had other ideas.
I’m sure you’re well aware JK of how many politicians and foreign policy experts etc. have warned against the eastward expansion of Nato over the past twenty-five years or so.
Perhaps I should have included the following – i.e. the FIRST paragraph (and a bit) of JM’s article:
‘Why the Ukraine Crisis Is the West’s Fault’
The Liberal Delusions That Provoked Putin
According to the prevailing wisdom in the West, the Ukraine crisis can be blamed almost entirely on Russian aggression. Russian President Vladimir Putin, the argument goes, annexed Crimea out of a long-standing desire to resuscitate the Soviet empire, and he may eventually go after the rest o! Ukraine, as well as other countries in eastern Europe. In this view, the ouster of Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in February 2014 merely provided a pretext for Putin’s decision to order Russian forces to seize part of Ukraine.
But this account is wrong: the United States and its European allies share most of the responsibility for the crisis. The taproot of the trouble is enlargement, the central element of a larger strategy to move Ukraine out of Russia’s orbit and integrate it into the West.
Link in post above.
JKredux – “ It might even discourage the US”
Lol! – are you joking here? The US Empire has dividends to deliver to the impatient shareholders of the “US Business Party” and this vital process is what this coordinated bleating about Putin, Russia, China is all about, serving two purposes – to distract from the vast spectacle of corruption visible domestically and assure compliant compradors while the profits keep flowing, they will not be abandoned.
America can’t slacken the pace nor be discouraged without some change, bond holders must be paid.
” work to create a prosperous but neutral Ukraine ”
Just how is this minor miracle to be achieved? Mearsheimer was writing in 2014 and if you hadn’t noticed the world has changed since then. Depriving Ukraine of weapons will just result in a Russian victory, a Kremlin Quisling installed as ‘president’ (as has already happened in Donbas and Crimea) and what would induce Putin to negotiate then?
Ukraine never threatened Russia, that’s absurd: NATO’s expansion hasn’t been driven by a conscious policy of the alliance to push eastwards but by countries seeking protection from an increasingly belligerent Russia. Many of these countries are former Warpac members, they remember what life was like under the Russian heel 1945-1991 and are in no hurry to repeat the experience. Others such as Sweden and Finland now realise that the neutrality they relied upon in the past is worthless (Russia promised to respect Ukraine’s borders in 1991).
Yes, Pears, he was writing in 2014, and knew exactly what would happen if the US and its buddies didn’t switch gears. And he was right of course, as many others were during the past twenty-five years or more who spoke out about the consequences of the eastward expansion of Nato.
In June 1997, 50 prominent foreign policy experts signed an open letter to Clinton, saying, “We believe that the current U.S. led effort to expand NATO … is a policy error of historic proportions” that would “unsettle European stability”, and which ended by saying the following:
Russia does not now pose a threat to its western neighbors and the nations of Central and Eastern Europe are not in danger. For this reason, and the others cited above, we believe that NATO expansion is neither necessary nor desirable and that this ill-conceived policy can and should be put on hold.
https://www.armscontrol.org/act/1997-06/arms-control-today/opposition-nato-expansion
I wonder how the US would respond if Russia attempted to do the same…… And is there remotely any comparison between what the US has done in the past 25/30 years or so and what Russia has done. Russia doesn’t even come close!
“You don’t dispute the illegality of Putin’s invasion I see.”
Having attended law school, I have an *extremely* low regard for laws and technical legal arguments that do not conform to real-world circumstances. It’s commonly said that “your right to swing your fist ends at my nose.” In the real world, your right to swing your fist ends at the point that I have a *legitimate fear* that you *might* hit my nose. See, e.g., the Cuban Missile Crisis or, in criminal law, the difference between assault and battery
“‘Existentially justified’? By whom?”
Russia has been explicitly clear since 1991 that it considers eastward expansion of NATO to be an existential threat. Russia agreed to German reunification on the explicit, documented promise of George HW Bush and his Secretary of State James Baker that NATO would not expand “one inch to the east.” Under Bill Clinton, NATO expanded to Poland, Czechia, and Hungary in 1999, only 8 years later, and there are now “defensive” NATO missile batteries “against Iran” in Poland and Romania that could be converted to offensive nuclear missile batteries against Russia in less than 24 hours. For Russia, Ukraine as a de facto US/NATO pawn/partner was the last straw. And even so, Putin negotiated for eight long years before taking military action!
In sum, get real.
PCM
NATO’s “expansion to the east” was at the request of the small states in Russia’s ‘near abroad’.
They judged it wise to have the protection of membership of a military alliance.
And now Finland and Sweden have made the same judgement.
Do you suggest that Russia has a veto over their membership of NATO?
@JK redux:
“NATO’s ‘expansion to the east’ was at the request of the small states in Russia’s ‘near abroad’.
“Their political leaders judged it personally lucrative to put their countries on the hook for buying billions of dollars’ worth of overpriced, under-performing US-manufactured military matériel.”
Fixed that for you again. The wet-behind-the-ears Finnish PM who signed Finland onto NATO has taken a golden-parachute sinecure with war-criminal Tony Blair’s foundation for something or other. It remains to be seen how Sweden’s political leaders will be paid off, but in the meantime, Sweden’s GINI index for wealth inequality is even higher than the USA’s, as hard as that is to believe.
“Do you suggest that Russia has a veto over their membership of NATO?”
Absolutely not. No more than the US has a veto over Cuba, Grenada, Venezuela, Mexico, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Haiti, or Canada hosting Russian hypersonic missiles capable of striking Washington DC and New York City within a matter of minutes. After all, they have the absolute right to do so under international law, if they judge it “wise,” and real-world concerns don’t matter. Right?
PCM
Very well presented both comments.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was an example that the West will rarely speak of and in terms of ‘rights’ – then it strikes me a bit similar to everyone having ‘rights’ but when it comes to exercising those ‘rights’ as a free democratic person, it all depends on who is doing the interpreting?
Julian Assange should have First Amendment rights but the interpreters of those rights are saying he can’t exercise them as he’s not a US Citizen. Thereby proving that ‘rights’ are not Universal – even though democracies pretend they are.
Depends which country is doing the judging I suppose. Putin is defending Russia’s interpretation of rights and the US is defending theirs.
The Israelis uphold the right to defend themselves by attacking – but if Hamas or Iran defend by attacking that’s outwith any Western constructed rights. It will certainly be the excuse once Rafah is attacked. The interpretation will be trotted out as Israel having the right to defend itself. It is a democracy (like the US) of course and democracies are superior nations.
You are badly compromising yourself by not cleaving to the tenets of Goveism. What do you imagine Lord Finklestein will write about you?
Craig,
You are standing under a party whose leader is avowedly anti independence. He can claim to have given up on Scottish politics but he obviously hates it. He begged Tony Blair co-war criminal John Reid during 2014 to go campaigning in Scotland against YES. He comes out with all these Nazi smears on independence supporters while slavering over the Bolsheviks as if they are not the greatest genociders of the twentieth century. His hypocrisy reeks of an anti Scottish sentiment that is not a million miles away from the anti Palestinian sentiment that so outrages him.
This just does not sit right.
Nothing sits right. The conservative party isn’t conservative, the labour party doesn’t listen to labour, the liberals aren’t liberal, the nationalists have independence long down their list of priorities.
Why not have a workers party devoid of any workers, that randomly either vehemently agrees or disagrees with itself on each and every policy.
lol. Can’t really argue with that Ian.
I am not against it as I think Craig would be a good addition to the HoC but it is an odd one. I heard Galloway recently saying he had given up on Scottish politics (on his show with Craig). I am guessing this is partly why. I have no problem with people opposing independence but Galloway really pisses me off with the shite he comes out with… and then he starts licking Bolshevik arsehole…. wow. It blows my mind. This is why I find this rather odd. But hey-ho.
What really struck me about the HoC was all the giggles after Galloway asked Wee Rishi a question on Iran / Israel. They are like little kids, ignorant of history. It was kind of shocking. Britain is in a real bad way.
It’s because Galloway’s party opposes the most brazen and well documented genocide the world has ever seen.
Iain
The WP oppose Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinian people. Great.
The WP supports Russia’s genocidal war against Ukraine. Despicable.
One good policy is not enough imo.
The WP are a bunch of tankies.
The UK, US and German governments are actively *participanting* in mass slaughter and starvation of children trapped in Gaza. With full support from the main ‘opposition’ parties in those countries.
Yet you reserve denunciation for a tiny party that opposes their genocide.
I can think of several labels that could be applied to you.
Iain
My criticism of the WP is in the context of Craig standing for them.
In the unlikely event of Craig standing for the British Labour party, the British Conservative party etc., I’d focus on their manifest failings.
JKredux, I’ll take “tankies” over “gigapeds” like Savile, Maxwell, Janner and their facilitators, protectors and clients or whoever.
We live in a world where the Western “elites” in Europe, Britain and America have been implicated in child sex trafficking operations and other sundry heinous crimes against children and they have been unable or unwilling to “clean house” and you say “tankie” as if it was some sort insult – lol!
At least you have got your priorities right – you carry on batting for those gigapeds, Tiger.
Will Moon
I have no idea what you mean by “gigapeds”? Child abusers?
What is the relevance to the WP?
And yes I do say “tankie” to refer to people in the West who are nostalgic for the USSR and its occupation of Eastern and Central Europe.
A world well lost…
People who are nostalgic for USSR are not the problem – it disappeared a long time ago. Christ on a bike, I heard Gordon Brown telling me how great the Brit Empire was not a year ago – not the capital extraction murder machine built on racism that it was. Are you nostalgic for the Brit Empire?
The people running the shop are the problem – WP and the rest are responses to the problem. You have nothing to say regarding the political status quo? What about the many millions murdered or killed since the collapse of the Soviet Union so a few anti-human vermin can preserve and increase the extremity of their wealth?
In case you haven’t noticed “the West” is merely a few immensely wealthy hedge funds like Blackrock (which rather oddly is owned by one of the failures of 2008, Merrill Lynch – go figure) backed by the amoral killers in the CIA, Mossad, SIS etc.
Think about it, Savile, intimately linked to Margrat Thatcher, wandering in and out of Royal palaces without ID and no log in – Maxwell and her links to Royalty – Clinton and Musk holidaying (not visiting) Epstein on his island amongst so many others “top people” – all protected . Maxwell only went down because of the large numbers of female children who signed affidavits which claimed she, personally, had given them 200 dollars to have sex with the disgusting freaks she and Epstein were servicing – which included current “deputy king” Prince Andrew
Yet you attempt to frame “people who are nostalgic for the Soviet Union” as the problem?
Will Moon
So what is a gigaped?
Thanks
You are a shameless supporter of international law. How dare you criticise Sir Keir Starmer?
Tony Greenstein posted this excellent article on his blog yesterday:
‘When Germany Attacks Jewish anti-Zionists It is Following in the Footsteps of the Gestapo’
The Nazis too labelled their opponents ‘terrorists’ or ‘bandits’. To them the Maquis, the French Resistance, was a terrorist group as were the Partisans and all those who fought against them but the British had no problem at the time allying with them.
That is why Britain’s anti-terrorist legislation is based on a lie. Hamas is no more of a terrorist than any number of groups that the US and Britain has funded when it found it convenient.
https://azvsas.blogspot.com/2024/04/its-not-guilt-that-causes-german-state.html
He didn’t get his computer and stuff back from the police of course – and he didn’t expect to – but Tony mentions a couple of things the police officer in charge of his case said in a statement which are very telling. Thought Police indeed!