The police case against Asa Winstanley, a journalist who has consistently stood with Palestine and exposed the Israeli genocide, fell as a judge refused a so-called "production order". Among other writings, Winstanley is the author of the book "Weaponising Anti-Semitism: How the Israel Lobby Brought Down Jeremy Corbyn" (OR Books, 2023).

Asa Winstanley - Photo: Skwawkbox

Skwawkbox reports that the government-instigated dawn raid last October by the Metropolitan Police counter-terror officers on the home of Electronic Intifada (EI) journalist Asa Winstanley was unlawful. In the raid, Winstanley's electronic devices were seized and had been held since. The judge, in addition to the ruling that the seizure was unlawful, ordered the police to return everything they took without examining the contents.

The Skwawkbox article says: "All devices have been returned to Winstanley today [May 27] after Recorder Mark Lucraft KC, the most senior judge at London's Central Criminal Court, issued the ruling last week. Some ten police officers were involved in the raid and seized documents as well as seven devices, but the force admitted, in correspondence with Winstanley's lawyers last November, that its warrants were improperly obtained and therefore not enforceable, prompting them to ask the judge for a 'Production Order' to gain access to the seized items.

"Lucraft said that he was 'very troubled' by the way the warrants were obtained and used against a journalist, and denied the Met's request for a Production Order that would have approved the raid retroactively and forced Winstanley to disclose information and provide passwords to his devices, saying that: 'Any warrant seeking material in the hands of a journalist requires extremely careful handling.'"

Asa Winstanley said of the case: "Instead of the unlawful warrants they used, the police could have applied for a Production Order. However, the standard required to do so means that they would have needed to show some grounds to suspect criminality and justify that before a judge. Something they were clearly unable to do."

The judge agreed with Winstanley's lawyers, Bindmans, that the seized devices "would include items subject to legal professional privilege by virtue of his involvement in the Undercover Policing Inquiry, or excluded material, or special procedure material by virtue of his profession as a journalist". Winstanley's legal case was supported by the National Union of Journalists (NUJ). The demand now is for the police to pay compensation to Asa Winstanley and his family, and to others affected by the raid and seizures.

This fight on the legal front has been important. The government has used the Terrorism Act 2000, Terrorism Act 2006 and the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019 to attempt to criminalise those journalists and others who, far from being involved in any terrorist activities, have sought to expose and take a stand against Israeli-Zionism's genocide of the slaughter and starvation of the Palestinian people in Gaza. As Skwawkbox writes, "some journalists and activists [face] charges and possible prison sentences of up to fourteen years under the Terrorism Act as the [Starmer] regime tries to silence support for Palestinians and criticism and exposure of Israel's crimes and its interference in UK politics and legal processes". In particular, those who have demonstrated sympathy with the Palestinian resistance have been targeted. Those swept up in the campaign against journalists in the past two years as well as Asa Winstanley include Sarah Wilkinson, Richard Medhurst, Craig Murray, Johanna Ross, John Laughland, Vanessa Beeley, Kit Klarenberg, Ernest Moret, Richard Barnard, Tony Greenstein and Natalie Strecker.

The police reports have said that their action against Winstanley resulted from a "complaint" by unnamed complainants, which appears to have been from what a second report described as a "UK-based counter extremism think tank". Skwawkbox speculates that this is no doubt one of several pro-Israel pressure groups that often masquerade as charities and maintain close links with UK police, intelligence services and politicians in order to promote Israel's interests above those of Britain and its people. It points out that Asa Winstanley is a Palestine and Israel specialist who has reported on many of these pro-Israel organisations in the UK and, along with his Electronic Intifada colleagues, has steadfastly exposed and opposed Israel's genocide and other crimes in Gaza.

One such organisation which Winstanley exposed is the UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI). In 2020, for example, EI reported how UKLFI had made an out-of-court settlement to the charity Defence for Children International Palestine after proceedings for libel had been issued in the High Court in 2019 against UKLFI for suggesting that the charity was "terrorist linked". The UKLFI has been particularly active since the genocide in Gaza began, thuggishly issuing threats against venues hosting events simply expressing sympathy with the Palestinian people. One such event was the concert of the Cornelius Cardew Concerts Trust "The World Stands With Palestine" which was cancelled by the hosting venue after threats from the UKLFI. The Guardian recently carried an article on May 10 after UKLFI's chief executive urged that a motion to be debated at the Co-operative Group's annual general meeting be withdrawn. The motion called for the retailer to stop selling Israeli produce [1]. The chief executive is reported to have made the depraved comment in this connection that the war in Gaza "might result in lengthening the lives of Gazans, given the public health situation existing in Gaza prior to the war, including the extent of obesity". [2] As EI itself reported, it can be concluded that UKLFI "appears to have - at the very least - an informal working relationship with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs". [3]

Fasting vigil in front of Parliament by the International Jewish
Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) and others

It must be stated that the government is complicit in this state of affairs, the egregious use of police powers and the accusations coming from Israel that to support the resistance to US/Israeli-Zionist war crimes is terrorism. The government's words expressing disquiet about Israel's genocidal strategy of starvation of the people of Gaza and the increasing attacks upon Palestinians in the West Bank have come about as the movement against genocide and for the rights of the Palestinian people has grown stronger and as the resistance itself has been inflicting damage on the Zionist war crimes strategy.

As human rights activist Craig Murray points out on his blog: "The United Nations has written to the UK on the subject of its treatment both of pro-Palestinian protesters and journalists and the abuse of anti-terrorism legislation. It is almost certain that some of the same cases the UN cites are those the Israeli Embassy has been involved in. The contrast between the UK's treatment of the Israelis and of the United Nations could scarcely be different. The Israelis are invited in, while the Starmer regime has repudiated the United Nations."

It is clear that the movement to freely to tell the truth about the Israeli genocide, war crimes in which the British government is complicit, is growing as part of the movement to stand with Palestine. These cases of attempts to suppress this movement are being met with defiance and the refusal to be intimidated.

As Skwawkbox writes: "Winstanley's victory has struck a blow for justice and democracy to the Starmer regime's 'lawfare' war, using anti-terror legislation, on journalists and others who oppose Israel's slaughter and starvation of the Palestinian people in Gaza - but the war continues, with some journalists and activists facing charges and possible prison sentences of up to fourteen years under the Terrorism Act as the regime tries to silence support for Palestinians and criticism and exposure of Israel's crimes and its interference in UK politics and legal processes. ... Police have also used terrorism laws to hold young anti-genocide activists in prison for more than a year, despite not bringing charges against them under those laws."

The people are showing by their actions that they demand the end of the suppression and criminalisation of those who stand with Palestine. The people are opposed to the prosecution under "terrorism" legislation of those who are themselves taking a stand against state terrorism. It is an indication that it is the people who are standing for peace, justice and democracy, not the likes of Starmer and company and the Israeli war criminals.

Notes
1. At the AGM, 72.8% of Co-op members voted in favour of the motion, making it a non-binding advisory decision. The motion urged the Co-op board to demonstrate "moral courage and leadership" by ceasing trade with Israel.
2. "UK Lawyers for Israel condemned over claim war may reduce obesity in Gaza":
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/10/uk-lawyers-for-israel-condemned-over-claim-war-may-reduce-obesity-in-gaza
3. "UK Lawyers for Israel libelled charity":
https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/asa-winstanley/uk-lawyers-israel-libeled-charity

Palestinian Nakba Demonstration, London, May 17 2025 - Photo: Workers' Weekly

Holding no one to account for the US/Zionist genocide in Gaza, least of all themselves, on May 19, Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, France's President Emmanuel Macron, and Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, all in Rome for the inaugural mass of the new Pope Leo XIV, issued a joint statement expressing their dismay over the starvation of the people of Gaza.

Since October 2023, these three countries have been leading apologists and supporters of the US/Israeli Zionist Genocide so what has changed to make them express their dismay at the suffering the entire world has been witnessing helplessly since that time?

"We strongly oppose the expansion of Israel's military operations in Gaza," the joint statement read. "The level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable," they say. An obvious question is that if they found it tolerable before, what has happened that they are finding it intolerable today? Is it because Israel is "expanding its military operations" and providing inadequate aid?

They write, "Yesterday's announcement that Israel will allow a basic quantity of food into Gaza is wholly inadequate. We call on the Israeli Government to stop its military operations in Gaza and immediately allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. This must include engaging with the UN to ensure a return to delivery of aid in line with humanitarian principles."

Could it be that the Resistance forces through their steadfast defiance have brought Israel to its knees and brought to the world's attention what the apartheid Israeli regime is all about and the leaders of Britain, France and Canada think that now opposition to genocide is a "good tactic"?

They will soon find out that support for the Palestinian people is neither a tactic nor a strategic choice. It is a profound matter of principle which demands that the governments of the countries which issued the joint statement should stop financial aid, implement an arms embargo now, stop the investments from their countries into Israel and any business dealings with that pariah state, including the sale of Palestinian lands to settlers and the slanders issued against the Resistance forces and all their nonsense about Israel's alleged right to self-defence which does not exist in international law.

Ever sticking to their untenable position of blaming the Resistance forces for what is taking place in Palestine, ever attempting to shift the onus on them, the joint statement reads: "We call on Hamas to release immediately the remaining hostages they have so cruelly held since 7 October 2023."

The entire world has seen that there is nothing cruel about the treatment the captives have experienced while in the hands of the Resistance forces while the plight of the Palestinian prisoners at the hands of the Zionists makes the Abu Ghraib torture camp of the United States in Iraq look mild.

As if the US/Israeli Zionists are doing something new, the joint statement perpetuates the fraud that these three countries uphold international humanitarian law. It reads:

"The Israeli Government's denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable and risks breaching International Humanitarian Law. We condemn the abhorrent language used recently by members of the Israeli Government, threatening that, in their despair at the destruction of Gaza, civilians will start to relocate."

"Permanent forced displacement is a breach of international humanitarian law," the joint statement reads. These shameless leaders seem to have just discovered this? All one can say is better late than never but their motivation in discovering this now is too suspect to be taken as a sincere gesture of support for the Palestinian people.

The joint statement remains as silent as the grave about the horrendous attacks the Palestinian people have suffered since the founding of the state of Israel but hastens to say, "Israel suffered a heinous attack on October 7," adding: "We have always supported Israel's right to defend Israelis against terrorism. But this escalation is wholly disproportionate. We will not stand by while the Netanyahu Government pursues these egregious actions. If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response."

Palestinian Nakba Demonstration, Dublin, May 17 2025

The actions of the people of Britain, as well as France and Canada, are demanding that the arms trade and financial support for Israel be stopped now.

If the leaders of these three countries were sincere, which is highly improbable, let their actions be effective in ending the Israeli occupation of all occupied Palestinian lands. Let them demand the enforcement of the Palestinians' right of return and the restoration of every building, school, mosque, cultural institution and punishment for incalculable damages in the losses of human lives.

If the aim of this statement is to give legitimacy to the US attempts to deprive the Palestinian people of their leadership by the Resistance movements, if the aim is to declare that just Netanyahu, not the apartheid state of Israel, is the problem, then they will fail. They are not "good faith participants in peace negotiations" and "arrangements for Gaza's future". The dismay expressed by those who are apologists for Israel's relentless crimes against the Palestinian people merely shows that the US/Zionist forces and their backers in the Genocide 7, the G7, have not managed to achieve their goal of eliminating the Palestinian "problem".

Stop the Genocide Now!

(from TML Supplement)

Protests at Dayton, Ohio, May 25 - Photo: KaJeza Hawkins

On May 25, hundreds of protesters making up the People's Assembly for Peace and Justice, covering a number of anti-war organisations in the US, travelled from cities across the US to demonstrate against the Parliamentary Assembly of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in Dayton, Ohio. The demonstration opposed NATO as a force for increased war and militarism across the globe, with hundreds chanting, "NATO says more wars, we say no wars!" [1]

Protests at Dayton, Ohio, May 25 - Photo: Mike Adams

Politicians from NATO countries, including political representatives of the British Parliament, gathered in Dayton "to plot their next wars" as the People's Assembly had pointed out in a pre-statement organising for the protest.

The NATO Parliament meeting in Dayton marked the 30th anniversary of the "Dayton Peace Accords" of 1995. The organisers of the protest remarked that because of this they were not expecting this "push-back" from the peace and justice movement. But the negotiations of the "Dayton Peace Accords" enabled NATO to carve up Yugoslavia followings its war against the people of that region with the lie that their bombing and military intervention in Yugoslavia was for "peace". Danaka Katovich of the anti-war organisation Codepink addressed the crowd at the People's Assembly for Peace and Justice, saying, "NATO is marketed to the world as a peacekeeping force, a protector of democracy, a security treaty that's supposed to protect all member states from aggression," but she contrasted NATO's peacekeeping image to its actions in the former nation of Yugoslavia, where her family is from. "NATO killed people and committed war crimes in Yugoslavia. NATO partnered with fascist death squads in Yugoslavia that slaughtered villages of civilians. NATO killed people and committed war crimes in Libya. NATO participated in the illegal occupation and war on Afghanistan."

NATO Counter Summit, Washington DC, July 2024

In fact for over 75 years, NATO and its leading members the US and Britain have been dealers in death and destruction against the peoples fighting for progress and anti-colonialism following WWII. They launched open and covert brutal wars against the communist and progressive forces in Korea, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Africa and South America killing millions of people. At the same time, NATO on its founding declared its enemy the former Soviet Union which had been the main ally of the US and Britain against fascism in WWII. NATO threatened the world with nuclear destruction with its so-called "containment of communism" and "cold war" strategy. These days, having committed aggression against Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, creating chaos, instability and untold suffering, countries of the NATO alliance are overseeing and supporting the Israeli brutal genocidal regime carrying out daily war crimes against the Palestinian people and their Resistance. With its proxy regime that it in stalled in Ukraine with its coup in Kyiv in 2014, NATO is also continuing to threaten Russia and the entire world with devastating global conflict. NATO strives to extend its ambitions and military threats into Eurasia, China, East Asia and Africa with NATO's Africom. The anti-war movement is declaring that NATO, like its western imperialist backers, has no place in the modern world.

Protests at Dayton, Ohio, May 25 - Photo: Mike Adams

On the last day of its Spring Session, NATO parliamentary members approved again resolutions in their closed and open sessions. These resolutions have no intention of bringing about a peaceful and democratic world as they claim. They claim, "NATO will help Ukraine remain an independent nation" when over the last decade NATO's actions have destroyed Ukraine's independence. The leader of the UK Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Sir Alec Shelbrooke MP, said, "NATO must play its full part by continuing to support Ukraine through all the tools, programmes and institutions agreed at the Washington Summit and at previous summits." Of course, Britain's role in the Ukraine war is well known in doing everything alongside the US and NATO to provoke the war between Russia and Ukraine before it started and then to escalate and arm the Kyiv regime and support the war once it did. NATO has then tried to block any peace negotiations, as they are also doing now at the present time, when there could be a real possibility of a lasting peaceful settlement between Russia and Ukraine.

Far from the Labour government's striving to bring about a peaceful settlement with Russia, reports in The Telegraph and other sources point out that the forthcoming Strategic Defence Review may be considering establishing a permanent British military presence in the Arctic and the border with Russia. On May 27, Foreign Secretary David Lammy began a visit to Norway and Iceland, where reports say that the further military build-up of the Arctic is topping his agenda. In a post on X the following day, he wrote that the "Arctic is NATO's northern flank". NATO has been actively ramping up its military capabilities in the region, and the government has made a point of strengthening individual military partnerships with Norway and Iceland.

The anti-war movement must continue to oppose and expose NATO's lies about being an alliance for peace and democracy. The upcoming NATO Summit is to be held in the Hague, Netherlands, on June 24-25, 2025 [2]. So far the topics for the summit posted, as expected, do not mention the necessity to end Israeli genocide against the Palestinians, or the necessity to bring about a permanent peace between Russia and Ukraine, but are aimed at fuelling the further militarising of European countries behind NATO and their wars. Britain is further aligning military interests with the EU in spite of Brexit. NATO's and the EU dangerous call to re-arm Germany alongside the US, Britain and other European countries must be stopped by the movements of the people for peace and justice.

No to NATO's Wars!
No to War! Yes to Peace!
Britain Out of NATO!

Notes
1. Hundreds mobilised against NATO in Dayton, Peoples Dispatch, May 27 2025
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2025/05/27/hundreds-mobilized-against-nato-in-dayton/
2. NATO summit, the Hague, Netherlands, on June 24-25, 2025. This is the first time the Netherlands is hosting a NATO summit, and it will bring together 45 heads of state and government, along with foreign and defence ministers from NATO's 32 member countries.
Key Topics posted by the media so far include:
- Defence Spending: NATO is expected to commit to a new 5% GDP defence spending target, a significant increase from the current 2% goal.
- Ukraine & Russia: Discussions will focus on Ukraine's NATO membership aspirations, military support, and sanctions against Russia.
- Trump's Presence: Former U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to attend, and his stance on reducing U.S. troop presence in Europe may be a major point of debate.
- Security & Cyber Threats: Leaders will address cybersecurity, infrastructure, and military readiness in response to global security challenges.
Reports say the summit will also feature a NATO Public Forum, where politicians, experts, journalists, and young people will engage in discussions about NATO's future.

Meeting net-zero requires a massive increase in offshore wind farms and a bonanza for the seabed landlord, the Crown Estate, reports have pointed out.

Decarbonising our power system by 2030 - the government's stated aim - involves building at least another 30GW of offshore wind generation. This is equivalent to building over 2,000 offshore wind turbines, each over 250m high.

Built out at sea, the majority will be connected to the sea floor using monopiles - enormous steel tubes driven into the seabed. A small number will be erected on the equivalent of very large barges and floated out to sea in places where the water is too deep for bottom fixing. All of them, however, will play their part in perhaps the greatest royal bonanza since the Civil List was established in 1760.

King of the sea

The Crown Estate owns the UK's seabed up to a distance of 12 nautical miles from the shore. But it also has the exclusive right to generate electricity from renewable energy sources throughout the entirety of the UK's territorial waters. Rather than exercise that right itself, it issues leases to wind farm developers and their associated cabling providers. And it charges a rather large amount of money for such leases. In 2021, BP paid just under £1bn to develop up to 3GW worth of offshore wind, implying that in the run-up to 2030 the Crown Estate could make over £10bn.

Although the revenue from the Crown Estate goes to the Treasury, not directly to King Charles III, the Treasury then calculates the level of the Sovereign Grant, which is the money the King gets. The level of the Sovereign Grant is set in part by the profits received from the Crown Estate. Traditionally, the Sovereign Grant includes 25 per cent of the profits of the Crown Estate. If the share of the profits received from the Crown Estate were to have been at this level, then King Charles would have raked in over a quarter of a billion pounds for being King of the sea. However, for 2025-26 our gracious King has requested that this be reduced to 12 per cent. Even including this reduction, the grant would total £132m, a £46m increase from 2024-25's £86m.

A net zero bonanza

Revenues from offshore wind will continue to rise. Even at a rate of 12 per cent, the King is likely to earn at least a half a billion pounds from this government's clean power plans. It can be said that this is only the beginning; a reasonable view is that to achieve net-zero, an additional 50GW of offshore wind will be required. This would make another £1.5bn of potential revenue for the Royal Family.

It is suggested that it was only last year that the Crown Estate started realising that explicitly gouging the billpayer was quite a bad look, and is seeking to provide value by helping developers with the planning process.

The King, of course a great advocate for action on environmental issues, is on course to be the recipient of a net-zero bonanza, while his subjects find themselves faced with further rising energy bills as a result of "decarbonisation". The government has committed to looking again at the level of the Sovereign Grant in the years to come. However, the reasonable conclusion is that the monarchy is an institution which has had its day and stands in the way of progress. Enough Is Enough when it comes to the monarchy also. Enough of the obscene wealth and privilege of the monarchy and all it represents. It is high time that sovereignty must be vested in the people!

(source: Politics Home)