White supremacists turn UK riots into online recruiting pitch

PUBLISHED : 11 Aug 2024 

WRITER: Bloombe

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FILE PHOTO: Demonstrators toss a trash bin during an anti-immigration protest, in Rotherham, Britain, Aug 4, 2024. (Reuters)

White supremacist groups have seized on riots in the UK as a recruiting opportunity, using the Telegram messaging site to promote conspiracy theories and incite violence in their bid to lure new members.

Hard-line organisations previously designated by the UK as domestic terrorists are calling for an overthrow of the British government with posts that say “the revolution has started”. Some extremist Telegram users have openly discussed how to capitalise on anti-immigrant sentiment in the UK to steer Britons to radicalised communities, according to findings from Logically, a UK-based firm that tracks online disinformation.

British authorities are trying to stamp out disturbances fuelled by online instigators following the July 29 murder of three schoolgirls in the UK town of Southport. Internet trolls falsely asserted the suspected killer was a foreign asylum-seeker, prompting officials to disclose that the suspect is a teenager born in Cardiff, Wales. A large police presence on British streets and involvement from thousands of anti-racist protesters have helped curb violent demonstrations. 

“Using this incident, even though rooted in false information about the attacker’s place of birth, is an easy way for them to ‘evidence’ that immigration poses a threat,” said Katherine Keneally, director of threat analysis and prevention at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a think tank that tracks extremism.

Extremists adopt such talking points to draw sympathetic people into their ecosystem, then try to radicalise those newcomers, Keneally said. Slowly introducing recruits to violent memes and racist ideas normalizes the white supremacist philosophy. Some beginners then will be willing to take real-world action, according to researchers who track terrorism. 

“In highlighting the arrests of rioters, they’re also able to ‘prove’ that the government is also against white people and is producing this conspiracy to get rid of white people,” Keneally said.

Sixteen prominent Telegram channels and groups have been posting, hosting and forwarding anti-Muslim and anti-migrant content since the riots began, according to ISD. Posts on X and Telegram that included false claims and inflammatory racial content from white supremacist groups have been viewed millions of times, researchers found. 

Neither X nor Telegram responded to requests for comment on Friday. A Telegram spokesperson previously said the site’s moderators are removing calls for violence. 

Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned on Friday that social media platforms are “not a law-free zone” and that his government would be looking more broadly at regulation. One step would be to revive a key provision in the Online Safety Act giving authorities more power to enforce curbs on harmful content, Bloomberg reported.

UK authorities are investigating possible foreign involvement in the false online posts about the crime and its aftermath, Bloomberg reported. At least 13 international Telegram channels are focused on the rioting, according to Logically.

Neo-Nazi organisers urged supporters to “mask up” and appear at immigration offices throughout the country where they can “hand out balaclavas” to other rioters, Logically found. Users associated with the so-called Atomwaffen Division, a militant group split into small cells that advocate societal collapse and racial conflict, in recent days have planned disorder at locations that are popular among the Islamic community.

Other channels based in the US are also working to amplify messaging around the riots, according to Bjørn Ihler, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Revontulet, which monitors extremist activity. Groups within those Telegram channels are associated with the Terrorgram, an online network that distributes instructions on how to carry out violence against minority communities.

The British government in April declared Terrorgram a terrorist organisation, making it illegal to join or support the group, whose members have frequently praised notorious figures like Adolf Hitler online.

A coalition of so-called Active Groups is also circulating Telegram messages about the UK unrest to recruit new followers. Active Groups seek out white men looking to sharpen their mental and physical fitness. Such communities throughout the world encourage members to participate in street fights, paste racist stickers through their local neighbourhood with QR codes that direct visitors to Telegram and broadcast pictures of members holding white supremacist paraphernalia.

Researchers who study extremism say the clubs exist to bring new followers into the white supremacist ecosystem and function as a kind of standing militia in the event of violent protests or disputed elections.

Active groups

One Active Group on Telegram included the message “No More Immigration” along with a list of refugee centres that its members could target. Other Active Groups based in Canada, New York, the American Midwest and elsewhere have activated messaging about the UK riots, leaning heavily on Islamophobic posts and portraying young Muslim men as the aggressors in recent street fights.

Known members of the Terrorgram collective within the US also are amplifying UK extremists’ messaging, according to Ihler, of Revontulet. Such focused propaganda broadcasting is the result of an informal network of small militant organisations that support one another from different areas of the world, researchers said.

Neither the FBI nor the US Department of Homeland Security responded to questions about potential concerns of spillover violence into the US.

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Opinion

The UK’s far-right riots are the violent spasms of a dying British society


August 11, 2024 

Anti-racist protesters take part in a ‘Stop The Far Right National Day’ demonstration in Stratford against recent far right extremist demonstrations against immigrants and the Muslim communities in London, United Kingdom on August 10, 2024. [Ray Tang – Anadolu Agency]

by Muhammad Hussein


Long gone are those days of play and relaxation by a bustling beach in a British seaside town, where you would set up a windbreaker with family and friends, take a dip in the cool waters of the summer shoreline, stroll by the pier, enjoy the numerous vibrant cafes overlooking the beach, and delight in the temperamental British weather or the sunshine while it lasted.

Perhaps these are largely the ramblings of nostalgia from the rose-tinted lenses of youth, but the slow and gradual shift of the British seaside town from a vibrant holiday destination between the 1950s and the early 2000s to the grey, dull, and dilapidated areas we see today is hardly a myth. It is true that Britain’s domestic tourism industry and the lifeblood of its formerly prosperous towns and cities have faded into insignificance and been decaying over the decades, and with that, so has the soul of much of Britain’s society.

Walk along any one of such towns in the English holiday counties, and it is hard to miss the empty or shut-down arcades, the boarded up shops and cafes, the growing presence of the homeless or drug-addicted outcasts and the rowdy anti-social specimens who are what remains of the youth, with the beaches scattered with a few families, couples, or dog-walkers.

It is a grim picture, and one that is not the case for all British seaside and inland towns, but certainly a growing majority of them. It also seems to be a reflection of the concerns not so eloquently articulated by the mobs of far-right rioters who have swept across the UK in recent weeks. They see the state of modern Britain and their decimated and abandoned regions outside of the major cities, and they seek to ‘take the country back’. But take it back from who or from what?

Rather than seeing the cause of their dilapidation in a number of factors such as the rise in international travel to warmer holiday destinations, or in the dramatic increase in technology usage amongst the youth, or in the declining birth rates, or in the deterioration of the family unit which was a key player in the bustling beaches, or in the societal ravages of drugs and alcoholism, these forgotten masses have only the immigrants and their British-born descendants in their sights.

In reality, these rioters are the violent spasms of a dying society, not due to their whiteness or their Britishness, but due to their stagnation and their determination not to recognise the true causes of their deterioration. These spasms will come in multiple waves – this one being only the beginning of the shifting tide – but they all signal the gradual death of their society, at their own hands.




Anti-racist protesters take part in a ‘Stop The Far Right National Day’ demonstration in Stratford against recent far right extremist demonstrations against immigrants and the Muslim communities in London, United Kingdom on August 10, 2024. [Ray Tang – Anadolu Agency]They will, of course, continue to blame mass immigration and the apparent societal problems that come with it, and while there is some credence to the view that multiculturalism is failing in certain areas and that societies are usually most ideal when kept homogenous, the far-right fails to realise the dynamics regarding crime and immigrant-descended communities.

Racist riots and imagined purity – paradox: The UK’s battle with its multicultural identity

As articulated in an article last year in relation to the riots that swept through France – that time involving ethnic minority communities – the claim that a foreign ‘takeover’ of Europe is taking place hardly logical. Although it is easy to market that perspective using a wealth of online footage showing foreign “military-age males” arriving on Britain’s shores and ethnic minority communities committing crime in certain rundown areas, such a perspective does not look at the situation from an objective bird’s eye perspective and entirely misses the forest for the trees.

Even if the ethnic British population does become a minority, it does not necessarily mean the downfall of Britannia or a foreign ‘invasion’ or ‘takeover’. A group or ethnicity needs three primary areas of control in order to dominate a territory and its population: government, finance, and security.

An ethnicity that dominates the political class, that holds a monopoly on finance and is responsible for the flow of money, and that leads the security services and armed forces is an ethnicity that has guaranteed control, usually regardless of the numbers that oppose it. How else did European colonial powers rule over vast populations in their empires? How else does the Israeli state rule over a Palestinian population which still outnumbers Jewish Israelis who – despite all efforts – are fighting a losing demographic battle?

A majority does not necessitate rulership, and rulership does not require a majority. A strong and stable monopoly over security, as well as an established elite who control financial capital, are all an ethnic group needs to maintain power over the majority. The white British still dominate all those sectors and still rule the union’s ‘Establishment’, and are likely to continue to do so for many decades to come.

According to the UK government’s Office for National Statistics, births during the year of 2019 showed that the number of births by the white British population in England and Wales still far outnumbered the number of births by ethnic minority populations, including foreign white immigrants. The statistics do, however, display a significant decline in white British births over the years, with almost 380,000 having taken place in 2019 compared to over 440,000 in 2007.

It has contributed to the decline of the UK’s overall birth rate over the years, and the only thing seeming to prop it up is the birth rate of ethnic minorities, especially from the South Asian ethnicities and notably the foreign white ethnicities, which have all increased during that period.

Again, that does not signify a foreign ‘takeover’ of the UK and its white British population – as the far-right likes to think it does – and was not caused by ethnic minorities, nor was it caused by the Muslim population or even the British government. The prosperity of some communities does not necessarily come at the cost of others.

Instead, it only further represents the personal choices, priorities, or circumstances of the white British population itself. The British far-right has only its own communities to blame, and no one is preventing them from living their lives, increasing their birth rates, and prospering.

Read: UK gov’t, police must to do more to tackle ‘xenophobic ideology’ driving riots, IHRC says

As the old society crumbles and decays at its own hands and due to its failure to maintain its vibrancy and lifestyles that lead to prosperity, it is this new British society and gathering of communities – largely with foreign origins, by chance – that has the potential to lead a revival of the host nation and its capacity for civilisation.

These far-right rioters sweeping throughout the UK – and, at other times, throughout Europe – see their demise with open eyes, but their eyes are clouded as to the true reasons of their current state.

Rather than blaming the immigrant communities and the new Brits, far-right sympathisers would be better off focusing on the revival of their home communities and urban towns, not only through financial investment and strategic rebuilding, but primarily through the revival of their personal and family lives along with a values-based set of ideals rarely found in other than faith and religion.

There is a major obstacle in the path toward such a solution, however, and that is the scourge of foreign state-backed interference, which the British government has now acknowledged to have likely played a significant role in stoking the recent riots.

The government’s investigation is, for now, focused on the interference of states such as Russia and Iran, but currently overlook the involvement of Israel, its agents, and its affiliates in backing Britain’s far-right and likely in instigating the civil unrest.

Tel Aviv – like any country that uses state-backed subversive methods to groom instability and exert influence over political factions within those countries – has no intention of letting the British and European far-right see the true cause of their communities’ demise, and will only further stoke racist sentiments in the years to come to create ‘an angrier world’.

Read: Islamophobia unites Israel and Europe’s far-right

UK teens who lived through racist riots want change

Rosie Birchard 

in Liverpool, UK

DW

11/08/24

A week after the racist riots in Liverpool, some young people are still scared to show up to sports clubs. Three teens share their stories and hopes for the future.

Since last weekend, anti-racism rallies have replaced violent riots on UK streets, including in Liverpool

Image: Andy Von Pip/ZUMA Press Wire/picture alliance

It was supposed to be a regular Saturday afternoon basketball game. But when 18-year-old Callum and 15-year-old Blaize came out of training last weekend in Liverpool, they saw men in balaclavas running past them.

"We were just like: We don't know where to go. We don't know how to get home. And then we saw a helicopter above us," Blaize told DW.

"We ended up going to the train station but didn't want to get on the train because this guy was just staring us down there. And then we ended up nearly walking into the middle of it all and running away."

Blaize, a regular basketball player, had to seek out safety when he stumbled upon riots in Liverpool after a gameImage: Toxteth El8te

What they witnessed was one of the far-right riots that rocked cities across UK in the weeks after false claims spread online that the perpetrator of a mass stabbing attack in Southport on July 29 was a Muslim immigrant. It was the most widespread civil unrest in the UK in a decade, with mosques and migrant support centers targeted amid violent clashes with police.

"It was scary. To be honest I was scared, and I've never seen some of my friends that scared," said Blaize.

"We had to go to a restaurant and wait to get Ubers," Callum explained. "It wasn't really safe to be in the city. I was seeing videos of people getting attacked. Police officers, civilians, people just in shops minding their own business."

Violent unrest gripped a number of northern English cities after unfounded rumors spread online about the identity of the Southport attackerImage: Getty Images
Racism steps up a gear

Callum, who grew up near Liverpool with an English mother and Nigerian father, said he's experienced racism all his life. But the last two weeks have felt different.

"These are things that were happening decades ago. I didn't really think when I was 18 that in 2024 it would still be happening."

Callum believes people now feel emboldened to express more anti-immigrant views.

"I actually didn't think there were that many around me who really felt that way. So it's quite scary to think that you're coming across people every day who really have that opinion," he said.

But since last weekend, thousands across the UK have also showed up to anti-racism rallies, and hundreds of rioters have been arrested.

In Liverpool's crown court, several people have already pleaded guilty to violent disorder — including teenagers.
Teen rioters facing charges

Fifteen-year-old Binah, also a keen basketballer, told DW she believes some of her classmates were involved.

"I think it's really childish and it doesn't really make sense to me. I don't see the need for doing all this. Some of them think it's really funny to do that: burn stuff up, be racist. They don't see how it impacts other people," she said.

UK sees anti-racism protests after days of far-right riots 02:40

Blaize, meanwhile, thinks many got too caught up in the moment. "I'd say probably 95% of the people there, if you genuinely ask them why are you here, they wouldn't know. They're just there because they're misled by information you see online. And also, they're able to go smash things up," he said.

Callum feels no sympathy for the rioters, but thinks inequality is part of the problem. "I feel like people see the UK as a very rich and very 'silver spoon' type of place.

"But there's a lot of people and different parts of the country — like certain areas of Liverpool, London, Manchester, Birmingham — that don't really get the same that other places do. It's not all nice," he said.

The Toxteth El8te basketball program has trained thousands of young people like Binah

Image: Toxteth El8te

Is more spaces for teens the solution?

Blaize's father, Emile Coleman, who is coaching the teens, isn't surprised that so many local young people were involved in criminality.

"They've got nothing to lose," said Coleman. "You engage with some of these kids, you just see the dead in their eyes. There's a huge amount of self-medication from them. The use of ketamine is massive in the young population here in Liverpool. It's like the go-to drug alongside smoking weed," he explained. "They've got no fear."

Coleman set up his basketball program, dubbed Toxteth El8te, to get kids off the street and into sports. With the help of extra funding from the police and a local violence prevention network, he's organized free training for more than 3,000 people aged 6 to 25 since last September.

Some kids still scared to go out

On the night of the riot, Coleman said, there were few places open for kids to hang out or play. That's why he thinks schemes like his are part of the "antidote" to the digitally-fueled divisions on display in recent weeks.

"We have people from all over the world," he said, before reciting a long list which he insists is just the tip of the iceberg.

"Brazil to Congo to Cameroon to Nigeria to Sudan and Australia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Hong Kong, India... it's like the UN!"

Coleman has been paying out of pocket to organize private taxis for some of the players from minority ethnic backgrounds who now feel unsafe — Binah among them.

"I usually take the bus to get there and I was worried," she explained.

"Once I get there I'm safe and I feel free. I feel good."
Signs of reconciliation?

A week after the riots, Liverpool is calm. Coleman described the mood in the city center as "flat" and "quiet" on Saturday. But in this almost-eerie aftermath, some signs of positive change have been cropping up.

A local mosque organized an open day and invited those who attended anti-immigration rallies to come in and ask questions about Islam.




A local influencer who participated the march before it descended into a riot, and who has since spoken out against the violence, is also taking action.

He's organized a "digital detox" day to offer busloads of children a chance to go out walking in Welsh countryside with no phones allowed. An invitation was specifically extended to Muslim families when they attended Friday prayer earlier this week.
'We just have to deal with it as Black people'

But for now, the teen basketballers remain unsure whether things will change for the better. Blaize is soon moving to Spain to start intensive basketball training. "It's my biggest relief that I'm able to leave the country," he said.

Callum plans to stay and start studying law at university later this year. He said his long-term goal is help fight racial injustice.

"It gets passed down generations, racism. It's been years and I don't think it will end. I don't think there's any real solution. We just have to deal with it as Black people, as Asian people, as other ethnic minorities.

"There's ways you can help minimize it, but as a whole it's too far gone," he said.

Binah hopes she can keep playing basketball

Image: Toxteth El8te

Binah, meanwhile, said she wants to continue playing basketball and get on with her exams when school restarts in September.

"I just hope everything gets going back to normal and there's peace and love everywhere again," she said.

Edited by: Andreas Illmer

Correction, August 11, 2024: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified Emile Coleman as Binah's father. He is, in fact, Blaize's father. DW apologizes for the error.

UK: British-Palestinian doctor Ghassan Abu Sitta calls out 'axis of genocide' at BDS event

Ghassan Abu Sitta called out countries part of an 'axis of genocide' after an Israeli strike on a Gaza school on Saturday killed over 90 people.

Nick McAlpin
London
11 August, 2024
NEW ARAB

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign organised a divestment conference attended by 250 to 300 people in London on Saturday [Nick McAlpin/The New Arab]

British-Palestinian doctor Ghassan Abu Sitta called out countries he said were part of an "axis of genocide" after a deadly Israeli attack on Gaza killed over 90 forcibly displaced Palestinians sheltering in a school.

Abu Sitta, also the rector of the University of Glasgow, was addressing the Divest for Palestine Conference, held in the UK, online from Lebanon on Saturday.

He described the Israeli attack as an "atrocity", adding: "Someone supplied the murderer with its weapons."

Countries including the UK, France, and Germany "constitute an axis of genocide that has allowed these weapons to reach Israel unabated", Abu Sitta said.

"Israel is incapable of mounting a genocidal project for over 10 months on its own," he said, adding that companies, banks, and universities were "perpetrators".

Organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), 250 to 300 people attended Saturday's divestment conference in London.

The event featured panels on themes including local government pensions, the arms trade, and activism at universities.

Campuses, long hotbeds of support for Palestine, saw student protest encampments spring up earlier this year following the outbreak of Israel's war on Gaza on 7 October.

Divestment, or withdrawing from investments in Israel and companies viewed as implicated in Israeli abuses, is one of three related tactics grouped together under the umbrella of the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.

BDS co-founder Omar Barghouti said Palestinians were "not begging the world for charity".

"We're calling for meaningful solidarity, but before both, we are demanding an end to complicity," he told conference attendees.

"The most profound ethical obligation in situations of oppression is to do no harm and to repair harm done by you or in your name."
'Achieve change'

Hundreds of thousands of people have joined a series of major marches through London since Israel's war on Gaza began.

The demonstrations have been organised by a coalition of groups including PSC, the Muslim Association of Britain, and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament.

PSC director Ben Jamal told The New Arab his organisation thinks this is a moment to "take the energy from the street and build it into sustained campaigns that can achieve change".


He said the reason for the conference focusing on divestment was first because of a "significant victory" achieved when a proposed law known as the anti-boycott bill was "defeated" in May.

The bill would have prevented public bodies like local councils from implementing their own economic boycotts of foreign countries and was aimed particularly at thwarting the BDS movement.

It was introduced by the former Conservative government but failed to pass through the full legislative process before parliament was dissolved ahead of elections.

The second reason for Saturday's event focusing on divestment was "the extraordinary energy that's come into the movement of solidarity in the last 10 months", Jamal said.

"The mobilisations have been unprecedented," he added.

"What we're picking up is people saying, 'What else can I do? What do I need to focus on?'"

"We've seen this growth in the call for divestment."

Jamal said public bodies were a "key arena'" for action regarding their pension fund investments and the way they procure, or go about buying goods and services.

It comes after Waltham Forest Council in London announced on 22 July that it was "updating its ethical investment policy so that we can divest our pension funds from companies involved in the arms trade".

A panel session at the Divest for Palestine Conference in London on Saturday [Nick McAlpin/The New Arab]

It followed pressure from Waltham Forest for a Free Palestine, and Jade Grogan, an organiser from the group, called the decision a "win" on Saturday.


On Friday, the BBC said it understood the council's decision would involve breaking off financial links with companies providing any country with arms, not limited to Israel.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice and its war on Gaza has so far killed at least 39,790 people, according to the Palestinian enclave's health ministry.
'Top of the agenda'

The weapons trade has been a major issue since the Gaza war began and activists are calling on the British government to implement a two-way arms embargo on Israel.

Following recent reports the UK had stopped authorising new arms export licences to Israel, a spokesperson for the Department for Business and Trade said there had been "no change to our approach".

Exports are being reviewed after the Labour Party formed Britain's new government in July.

"This is actually still right on top of the agenda and the government know that they have to do something," Campaign Against the Arms Trade advocacy manager Katie Fallon told a panel session on Saturday.

"What we need to make sure is that what they do is actually meaningful."

 Australia senator condemns Israel’s deliberate starvation of Palestinian civilians as ‘war crime’

Nada Wilson | Bond U. Faculty of Law, AU

AUGUST 11, 2024 , THE JURIST

Senator Penny Wong on Saturday condemned the statements made by the Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich surrounding the military justification for the purposeful starvation of Palestinians, in the statement on her social media X (formerly Twitter). Her statement reports, “Australia joins international partners, including the United Kingdom, Germany and France, in condemning the comments made by Israeli Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich. The deliberate starvation of civilians is a war crime. There is no justification for it, ever.”

Her statement follows Smotrich’s proclamation that “[i]t’s not possible in today’s global reality to manage a war — no one will allow us to starve two million people, even though that might be just and moral until they return the hostages.” He further stated that Israel needed to be in control of all distribution channels within the Gaza Strip and giving aid to Gaza would fuel Hamas’ operation, which is impractical. 

Smotrich’s speech follows statements made to his X that the acceptance of a ceasefire or deal with Hamas would be surrender, as he further called for the Prime Minister to not make a shift in the slightest to the redline he established in the conflict. He discerns that it is not time to release the terrorists who are serving their sentences in their homes because of the war. Notably, he does not make any comment in regard to the civilian safety of those in Gaza.

Under customary international humanitarian law, the use of starvation of the civilian population as a method of warfare is prohibited. The Israel’s Manual on the Laws of War explicitly stipulates that “the city’s inhabitants must be allowed to leave the city during a siege.” The blockading party that imposes blockades and embargoes of the region must also provide for free passage of humanitarian relief supplies.

The international response to Smotrich’s comments has been akin to the Australian senators. EU spokesperson, Joseph Borrell, stated similarly “We regret & condemn Minister Smotrich’s opposition–against the interest of the Israeli people–to a deal. A ceasefire is the only way to stop the killing of civilians and secure the hostages’ release.”

In significant reversal, Church of England head says Israeli occupation must end following ICJ opinion

“The [recent] Advisory Opinion by the International Court of Justice,” Archbishop Justin Welby writes, “makes definitively clear that Israel’s presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories is unlawful and needs to end as rapidly as possible."

By Jeff Wright August 11, 2024 0
MONDOWEISS

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Revd and Rt Hon Justin Welby in 2015. (Photo: UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office/Flickr)

“It is clear that ending the occupation is a legal and moral responsibility,” the head of the Church of England said in a statement released earlier this month.

In his August 2 response to the ICJ’s July 19 opinion, Archbishop Justin Welby wrote, “At a time when the world is marked by increasing violations of international law—and commitment to a rules-based system is in question—it is imperative that governments around the world reaffirm their unwavering commitment to all decisions by the International Court of Justice, irrespective of the situation.”

Supporters of the Palestinian struggle for civil rights and self-determination applaud the Archbishop’s statement, citing it as a significant reversal from the Church of England’s position on Palestine/Israel.

Earlier this year, a Disciplinary Tribunal of the Church of England imposed upon the Rev. Dr. Stephen Sizer, a prominent U.K. cleric, and critic of Christian Zionism, a 12-year ban on clergy activities on a charge of antisemitism brought by the Board of Deputies of British Jews—a charge vehemently denied by Sizer and many others familiar with the case. In February, Archbishop Welby refused to meet with Palestinian pastor Munther Isaac, only later apologizing and meeting with Isaac on a subsequent visit to the UK.

Charlotte Marshall, Director of Sabeel-Kairos UK, a registered Christian charity that works for justice and equality for Palestinians, said, “After years of pressing the Church of England to be more outspoken in its support of the Palestinian Christian community and challenge their oppression by the Israeli state, we are delighted to see the Archbishop of Canterbury calling for an end to Israel’s occupation as a ‘legal and moral necessity.’”


For the first time, we did not see the Archbishop apply ‘balance’, but rather stand in full support of the Palestinian people, stating that the occupation has ‘denied the Palestinian people dignity, freedom and hope.’” Charlotte Marshall, Director of Sabeel-Kairos UK

“For the first time,” Marshall told Mondoweiss, “we did not see the Archbishop apply ‘balance’, but rather stand in full support of the Palestinian people, stating that the occupation has ‘denied the Palestinian people dignity, freedom and hope.’”

Other recent statements from church leaders reflect the stark turn-around in the Church of England’s public position regarding the situation in Palestine. The week before the Archbishop spoke out, Bishop Rachel Treweek of Gloucester declared, “In the past I have been wary of using the word apartheid…, but having seen even more starkly how life is now in the occupied Palestinian territory, I wish to stand alongside other individuals and groups, not least Christians, in boldly naming apartheid.”

Soon after, Canon Richard Sewell, Dean of St. Georges College Jerusalem, wrote an Op-Ed in the UK’s Church Times, stating, “It must also be understood that the Israeli occupation of the West Bank from 1967, and the blockade of Gaza since 2007, are intolerable injustices.” While expressing his unwavering support of Israel’s right to exist, Sewell went on to criticize governments that support Israel’s occupation and blockade of Gaza, writing that such support “seems to have become a more or less accepted part of the political terrain by Israel’s allies….”

This criticism was taken up by Archbishop Welby: “To resist a world where actions such as torture, hostage-taking and indiscriminate violence become the norm, we must apply the law without fear or favour in all circumstances. But for too long it has been applied and upheld in a selective manner that threatens our common peace and security. Now is the time to reverse that deeply damaging trend.”

Sabeel-Kairos’s Marshall said, “This shift in tone, language, and hopefully policy by leaders brings us great hope that the Church intends to be more vocal in its support of international law equally applied across the globe and in its solidarity with Palestinians, and to seek to do all in its power to ensure the continued existence of the Palestinian Christian community in the Holy Land.”

Perhaps the Archbishop’s statement will move other church leaders in neighboring European countries and the U.S. to abandon their both-sidesing and boldly, unequivocally respond to the Palestinian Christians’ calls to help them and their Muslim neighbors gain their freedom and civil rights.

How X’s handling of UK riots could influence ongoing EU probe into the platform


By Eliza Gkritsi | Euractiv.com with Reuters
Aug 8, 2024

US tech entrepreneur Elon Musk (C) leaves after attending the 10th World Water Forum in Nusadua, Bali, Indonesia, 20 May 2024. [EPA-EFE/MADE NAGI]
 Euractiv is part of the Trust Project >>>


An ongoing European Commission investigation into social media platform X could be influenced by the platform’s handling of content related to riots in the UK, a spokesperson said on Friday (9 August).

Last month, European Union officials issued charges against X, owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk, under the Digital Services Act (DSA), which requires very large online platforms like X to do more to tackle illegal content and risks to public security. The charges revolve around advertising transparency and the platform’s blue checkmarks. Musk said he would sue the Commission over its accusations.

Two parts of the DSA investigation, launched in December 2023, into X are outstanding: illegal content and disinformation.

X’s involvement in the UK riots cannot be directly taken into account in the DSA investigation, but can inform the Commission’s probe in a broad sense, the spokesperson told Euractiv. The Commission is “closely following” the situation in the UK, as well as X’s response, because “it can say a lot” about their response to such incidents, the spokesperson said.

Should there be “spillovers” in the EU, such as content glorifying the riots or calling for similar protests, this could be part of the DSA ongoing investigation, said the spokesperson. This is the case with the October 2023 Hamas attacks in Israel, after which there were posts glorifying them in Europe, according to the spokesperson.

Elon Musk to sue the EU Commission after accusations of X breaching digital rulebook

The European Commission accused social media platform X of breaching the Digital Services Act (DSA) over its verified accounts policy and lapses in transparency, in preliminary findings released on Friday (12 July)

X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

While Britain has not been a member of the EU since 2020, harmful content in breach of DSA rules shared in Britain may have been seen by users in Europe, constituting a potential breach of the law.

Britain has been hit by a series of riots that erupted after three young girls were killed in a knife attack in Southport, northwest England, triggering a wave of false messaging online that wrongly identified the suspected killer as an Islamist migrant.

Elon Musk, the owner of X, has also weighed in. Responding to a post on X that blamed mass migration and open borders for the disorder in Britain, he wrote: “Civil war is inevitable.”

[Edited by Georgi Gotev]

 

Social media site X is ‘only a place of misery’, Government minister says

Jess Phillips, the minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, spoke out after a spat between the PM and X boss Elon Musk.

Katrine Bussey

Aug 10, 2024

A UK government minister told how she scaled back her use of the social media platform X, claiming it had become “a bit despotic” and was “a place of misery now”.

Jess Phillips, the minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, spoke out in the wake of a spat between UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and the platform’s boss, Elon Musk.

The social media tycoon called the PM “two-tier Keir”, as he posted a series of images, videos and memes related to recent rioting in the UK, with Mr Musk suggesting that not all communities are “protected in Britain”.

Downing Street had already criticised Mr Musk for tweeting that “civil war is inevitable” in the UK, with Sir Keir’s official spokesman insisting there was “no justification for comments like that”.

Ms Phillips said although she had previously been “massively addicted to Twitter”, referencing the former name of X, she had removed the app from her phone after Mr Musk took over the company.

Speaking at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the government minister said of the social media platform: “Fundamentally for me now I think that I am sort of done with it, I don’t wish to fish in that particular pond any more.”

She told the audience: “I used to be massively addicted to Twitter, I have got a very addictive personality, I was massively addicted to it.”

But she added: “The only power we now have over what is becoming a bit despotic is that we opt out of it, you vote with your feet in this instance rather than pen and paper.”

I don’t think that it is a place of light, I think it is only a place of misery now

Jess Phillips MP

Asked by host Matthew Stadlen if she would encourage people to quit the site, she said that would be “too dramatic”.

But Ms Phillips said: “Personally for me, I don’t think it is a space where there is any fun to be had any more.

“I don’t think that it is a place of light, I think it is only a place of misery now.”


She added that she did not want to “strop off” and leave the site, but said: “I’m just not going to use it very much.”

Speaking about Mr Musk she told the audience: “As soon as he took it over I took the app off my phone, so I have to log in to Twitter.

“So already there is a barrier.”

The comments follow Ms Phillips sharing her concerns about the impact of social media companies more generally.

The Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley said while Mr Musk had “every right” to express his views on British politics as a private citizen, “as a commercial citizen, who literally can control the way we see different things, you are getting into a more dangerous area”.

She added: “I have for a long time felt quite anxious that there are a number of big companies in the world, most of them tech-based, whether it’s Twitter, Meta, Amazon as well, where all the films we watch on TV are from these companies.

“Like literally what we decide we are going to watch comes from them. When I am lying in bed, the next book I am going to read is designed by one of these men.

“What has worried me is the idea of how much power and money these big companies have without any democratic institution to hold them to account. I have thought for a long time their power would massively outstrip that of democratic governments around the world.

“And I suppose we are now at the point of seeing whether it actually hits the road and that actually is coming to pass.”

Poll shows what Brits think of Elon Musk - and the billionaire won't like it

New polling by Find Out Now reveals that Elon Musk is making moire than half of Twitter/X users in the X consider quitting the social network because of his recent behaviour

Elon Musk is making people wanting to leave his social network, polling reveals (
Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)News

By Dave Burke

Political Correspondent

MIRROR

 11 Aug 2024

Almost half of Twitter/X users are considering quitting the social network because of Elon Musk.

New polling shows the billionaire tycoon's behaviour, which saw him claim the UK is heading for civil war, is also putting motorists off buying a Tesla - another firm he owns. It found that 46% are weighing up leaving X because of Mr Musk, while 56% disagree with his civil war remark, which he made as far-right riots broke out.

Mr Musk has been criticised by No10 for his incendiary posts as thugs ran riot in Britain's towns and cities.He came under fire after branding Mr Starmer “two-tier Keir” - echoing conspiracy theorists who whined that far-right thugs were treated more harshly than other groups.

No10 said there's "no justification" for such remarks. Following the survey of over 3,000 voters, Jon McLeod, Partner at crisis PR experts DRD Partnership, said: "This poll suggests there's a 'Musk-lash' brewing in the British public. Taking on a Prime Minister, who has just won a huge majority isn't smart PR - it just looks weird."

He went on: "Tesla and Twitter /X need to work to win back the hearts and minds of the British public." A survey by Find Out Now revealed that most adults aged 25 to 34 - 57% - are considering closing their X account as a result of Mr Musk.

It found that 24% agree with him that the UK is heading toward civil war, while 56% disagree. In a separate survey of 2,027 adults in the UK, it emerged nearly 53% have been put off buying a Tesla car because of him. And of 104 Tesla owners, 28% said they now regret their purchase because of the way Mr Musk has behaved.


It comes as a Government minister says she's deleted X from her phone as it's become "a place of misery". Jess Phillips said she was "massively addicted" to the social media site, but warned that under Mr Musk it's become "a bit despotic".

She said: "Personally for me, I don't think it is a space where there is any fun to be had any more. I don't think that it is a place of light, I think it is only a place of misery now."

 Syria renews its demand for withdrawal of US occupation forces from its territory

DAMASCUS August 10. 2024 (Saba) -Syria renewed the demand of the US occupation to withdraw from its territory and that its presence is a flagrant violation of its sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity, and that the US support for the separatist SDF militia represents a cheap tool to implement its hostile plans. The Syrian Foreign Ministry said today in a statement received by the news agency SANA that the so-called "SDF" forces of the US occupation launched criminal attacks on our people in Deir Ezzor, Hasaka, and Qamishli, in addition to other villages in the eastern and northeastern regions. These barbaric attacks led to the martyrdom of a number of Syrian citizens, including women and children. US warplanes also supported the SDF militia by launching several raids targeting innocent civilians defending their families, villages and property. The Syrian Arabic Republic reaffirms that the United States occupation of part of Syrian territory represents a flagrant violation of Syria's sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, and that United States's support for its proxy separatist militias is a cheap tool to implement its anti-Syrian plans. Syria stresses that all these inhumane and immoral practices against its people in the eastern and northeastern regions, including the denial of food and drinking water, are aimed at compounding the suffering of Syrians and prolonging the war against them. Syria calls on United States to stop these practices, withdraw immediately from Syrian territory, and respect the will of Syrians who reject the existence and role of such separatist militias. Syria also affirms that the will of its people to liberate their land and preserve their sovereignty will be fulfilled, regardless of the sacrifices.

Trump’s Truth Social lost $16.4 million last quarter and had under $1 million in revenue

Truth Social parent company took hit from legal costs and investment in Truth+ service

Oliver O'Connell
New York

Donald Trump’s social media company Trump Media and Technology Group has reported a $16.4 million loss and less than $1 million in quarterly revenue, only months after it began trading publicly to much fanfare earlier this year.

The parent company of Truth Social said on Friday in its latest filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had earned $837,000 in revenue for the second quarter of 2024 — down 30 percent from the same period last year — and had also paid millions of dollars to cover legal expenses related to its merger with special purpose acquisition company Digital World Acquisition Corp.

Further, a press release states: “Additionally, the Company incurred $3.1 million of IT consulting and software licensing expenses, primarily related to its software licensing agreement to power its new TV streaming service.”

This month, Trump Media launched the Truth+ streaming service and believes its strong balance sheet of $344 million in cash and equivalents, with no debt, will enable the expansion and refinement of its new offering.

Nevertheless, its market capitalization of nearly $5 billion is considered an extraordinarily high valuation given its very modest sales.

Officials with Donald Trump's Truth Social revealed the parent company lost $16.4 million last quarter. (Getty Images)

The latest financial results are not especially surprising given how in April the company reported a $58 million loss for last year, leading to a collapse in its stock price.


At launch on March 27, shares in Trump Media closed at $66.22. On Friday, at market close, they were $26.21.

Trump Media stock prices have been volatile for nearly the entirety of its life as a publicly traded asset. Trump himself is the largest shareholder in the company 78.75 million shares that equates to almost 58 percent of the common stock.


In the wake of the assassination attempt on the former president, the company saw its stock price rise by 33 percent in Monday trading after a tumultuous weekend.

Trump Media saw a 48 percent price spike before the opening bells rang, putting the company on track for its single best trading day since it debuted in March.


Truth Social plays a major role in Trump’s campaign for reelection, with the former president usually posting several times a day.

He has 7.5 million followers on the site, which he started having been deplatformed by both Twitter and Facebook following the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Turkey Restores Instagram After 9-Day Ban | Here's What Happened

Instagram was first blocked in the country on August 2 after it was revealed that Instagram failed to comply with the "laws and rules" and public sensitivities of Ankara.

Outlook Web Desk
Updated on: 11 August 2024 

Turkey Restores Instagram After 9-Day Ban | Here's What Happened | Photo: Pexels

Following the nine-day ban on all services for Meta-owned Instagram, the government of Turkey has decided to restore its services. This decision was made after Türkiye revealed that social media platform Instagram had agreed to comply with the government's rules and regulations.

Instagram was first blocked in the country on August 2 after it was revealed that Instagram failed to comply with the "laws and rules" and public sensitivities of Ankara.

The ban was heavily criticised by Turkish people who carried out protests. Users, small business owners and more people who reached their customers through the platform called on the Erdogan-led government to lift the ban

After nine days of no access to Instagram, the services were resumed on August 9.

"As a result of our negotiations with Instagram officials, we will lift the access block...after they promised to work together to meet our demands regarding catalog crimes and on censorship imposed on users," stated Turkish minister for Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloglu on social media platform X.

Why Did Turkey Ban Instagram?

Turkey did not reveal the complete reasons for blocking the social media platform. As per the statements from government officials, the platform had not complied with the rules of the Republic and had allowed violated content to be uploaded.

On Saturday, Uraloglu stated that Instagram had "violations linked to content", adding that the Meta platform refused to delete thousands of posts involving "gambling, drugs and abuse of children".

Meta denied non-cooperation and revealed it had taken down almost 2,500 posts in the first half of 2024 at the request of the Turkish government.

Turkey further alleged that Instagram had removed all the condolence posts shared over the assassination of Hamas leader and Erdogan-ally Ismail Haniyeh.