Opinion
The Guardian view on Tory ideology: Thatcherism isn’t working – it never did

Editorial
Wed, 6 December 2023 

Photograph: John Redman/AP

A spectre is haunting British politics. Its outline is instantly recognisable to every Briton of a certain age: hair coiffed into a halo, shoulders firmed up with pads and, jutting out from the left wrist, the inevitable handbag.

More than three decades after she was driven out of No 10, and a decade after her death, Margaret Thatcher still casts a long shadow over the country she once ruled, and her party. Rishi Sunak sat in her old Rover (and tweeted about it, naturally) and Liz Truss copied her wardrobe. She influenced the Labour party under Tony Blair, though this admiration was first tempered by Labour under Ed Miliband and even more under Jeremy Corbyn. Sir Keir Starmer’s praise for Mrs Thatcher is perhaps more about internal Labour politics than about the Tories’ “leaderene”.

For some, however, she remained the country’s “saviour”. As the UK became the sick man of Europe, along came its first woman prime minister – closing down industries and cutting spending. Supporters acknowledge this hurt, but say it worked. History has not been kind about such judgments. Her emphasis on monetarism proved wrong. She bequeathed a dismal legacy of greed and inequality.

At its very outset in 1979, her government claimed public spending “lay at the heart of Britain’s economic difficulties”. Yet over her 11 years in power, while tax rates fell, especially for top earners, national insurance contributions and VAT rose. The result, as the economists Kevin Albertson and Paul Stepney observe, is that by her forced departure in 1990, central government took more of national income than it did in 1979. They also point out that in cash terms, the state spent more by the end of Thatcher’s time in Downing Street than it did at the start. Measured against GDP, the state did shrink in the late 1980s – but as soon as recession returned under her successor, John Major, it grew again.

Consider too her other big boasts. Property-owning democracy? More than 1.5m council homes were flogged off at a vast discount, and hardly any built to replace them. Today the state pays vast sums to landlords to house tenants. Popular share ownership? Even after all the “Tell Sid” campaigns, individual ownership of shares slumped in the 198os – and today is less than half what it was in 1981. The state sell-offs have not been successes: witness the mess at Thames Water.

There was no Thatcher miracle, only a myth manufactured by the Iron Lady herself. Politicians and their admirers enjoy the idea of a visionary leader engineering a sensational transformation, which is why Westminster thrills to the sound of a “northern powerhouse” or a “green new deal”. But, in a mature economy with an ageing population, it is both economically implausible and damaging to democracy. If Westminster keeps telling the people of Blyth or Blaenau Gwent that they are living through some golden age, despite all the evidence in their payslips and on their high streets, then the established tribes of SW1 will eventually be ignored altogether. And to a large degree this is the story of British electoral politics over the past few years. Myths can cost a country dear.

UK

Boris Johnson ‘trying to rewrite history’ before Covid inquiry appearance

Peter Walker, Pippa Crerar and Ben Quinn
Wed, 6 December 2023 

Photograph: Kirsty O’Connor/AP

Boris Johnson has been accused of trying to rewrite history in advance of his appearance at the Covid inquiry on Wednesday, as unions and relatives of those who died said his team had been briefing favourable stories to newspapers.

The TUC and Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK, both core participants for this module of the inquiry, said the briefings had been about trying to salvage his legacy and contained “the usual lies and bluster”.

Johnson’s team have apparently helped to provide newspapers with a string of favourable stories before his appearance.


While briefings are within the rules, this is not the case if they rely on any materials provided to the inquiry, including witness statements. Heather Hallett, the chair of the inquiry, explicitly warned against briefing out details of witness statements in October.

Allies of Johnson insist he has not done this and that apparent direct quotes from his witness statement appearing in one report must have been leaked from another source.

If Lady Hallett sees things a different way, an already uncomfortable 48 hours for Johnson being questioned by Hugo Keith KC, the inquiry counsel, could begin with a direct reprimand.

After the existence of “disgusting and misogynistic” WhatsApp messages involving Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s former chief aide, was revealed in advance by the former chancellor George Osborne on his podcast, Hallett urged all those with access to evidence “to respect the terms on which it has been shared with them”.

It comes amid reports that six months-worth of Johnson’s own WhatsApp messages covering the start of the pandemic and lockdown cannot be retrieved due to “technical issues”.

Nathan Oswin, who leads on the inquiry for the TUC, said: “This inquiry is about learning the lessons of what went wrong so that we can save lives in the future. It shouldn’t be abused by politicians looking to salvage their legacies and rewrite history. Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak must play by the rules and put people above their own political fortunes.”

Matt Fowler, a spokesperson for Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK, said: “Boris Johnson’s team appear to have been leaking his witness statement left, right and centre ahead of his appearance tomorrow. Unsurprisingly, the claims he’s making are the usual lies and bluster.

“The inquiry has already entirely debunked the claim that ‘he got the big calls right’. In reality, when news of the pandemic first struck, Johnson treated it all like it was a joke, and as cases began to rise he delayed locking down, causing thousands of unnecessary deaths, such as my dad’s. Even worse, when the second wave came around he repeated all of the same mistakes, leading to even more people dying than in the first wave.”

A source close to Johnson insisted that the former PM’s team had not leaked any evidence in advance, adding: “We are as upset about this as they are.”

Bereaved relatives and others are expected to protest outside the inquiry venue in Paddington, west London, as Johnson arrives. He is the only witness this week for the current module, which examines decision-making and government structures during Covid.

Johnson is expected to admit that errors were made but try to argue that there were some successes, for example the speed of the initial vaccine rollout, and efforts to swiftly reopen the economy as the pandemic eased.

He has spent many hours been briefed by his own legal team but, like all witnesses, he will face Keith and barristers for core participants without any support or notes.

As well as a chronology of the decisions made, he is likely to also be asked about the structure and personalities of a Downing Street operation described by some previous witnesses as having a “culture of fear”, “poisonous” and “mad”.

WAIT, WHAT?!

UK

South East Water pays out £2.3m in dividends amid widened losses and Ofwat probe

Holly Williams, PA Business Editor
Thu, 7 December 2023 



South East Water has revealed it paid out £2.3 million in dividends to investors despite widened losses and a £3 million cost hit from summer heatwaves and supply interruptions.

Details of the payout came as the supplier – which is under investigation by regulator Ofwat over its service to customers and record in maintaining a water supply – reported pre-tax losses of £18.1 million for the six months to September 30, against losses of £12.7 million a year earlier.

It comes just days after troubled rival Thames Water announced a £37.5 million dividend to its parent company – with the payout being probed by Ofwat over concerns it may have broken rules designed to protect customers and the environment.

South East Water insisted its dividend was down on the £4.5 million paid out a year earlier and was “lower than Ofwat’s view of what is a reasonable nominal dividend yield”.

But it comes after a dire summer for South East Water, which is currently the worst performer for water supply interruptions in England and Wales, according to Ofwat.

It revealed in half-year results that costs surged over the half-year, pushed higher by a bill for a summer of water interruptions, with £3 million forked out – including £1.5 million in compensation and £700,000 for providing bottled water to households and customers.

South East Water imposed a hosepipe ban earlier this year, blaming exceptionally hot weather and more people working from home for ramping up demand and “testing” its infrastructure.

Ofwat launched a probe into the firm in November, saying that “too many customers have been failed too often” by the supplier.

South East Water serves about 2.2 million households and businesses in Surrey, Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire.

The group’s bosses said on announcing its results: “Unprecedented extreme weather events were the cause of the majority of supply interruptions, but we appreciate that problems experienced by our customers will result in lower levels of customer satisfaction.

“We are deeply sorry to customers who have been affected by supply interruptions and continue to work tirelessly to recover.

“We have 52 teams actively repairing leaks, and 40 technicians proactively looking for them.”

New UK animal welfare minister backed seal and wild bird culls

Daisy Cooper MP, the Liberal Democrats’ deputy leader, said: “What an embarrassing mess. How is a gun going to save fish from drowning in sewage?


Helena Horton and Rowena Mason
Wed, 6 December 2023 

Photograph: linkedin

Downing Street is facing calls to explain why it has appointed a wealthy, unelected shooting enthusiast as its animal welfare minister after it emerged he has backed the culling of seals and wild birds.

Robbie Douglas-Miller, who was last week given a peerage to allow him to become minister in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), owns a grouse moor in Scotland and has argued for the relaxation of rules on shooting wild birds that prey on salmon.

He is also on the board of a fishery which applied to obtain a licence to kill seals in 2021; last year he gained a licence to kill wild cormorants and sawbill ducks.

In 2016, Douglas-Miller complained about the impact of seals and birds on salmon stock. The peer said in a letter to supporters of the Atlantic Salmon Trust, which he chaired: “Difficulties do remain with a lack of understanding of the impact of predation by increasing numbers of fish-eating birds and a burgeoning seal population – all enjoying protection by law.”

Experts disagree that shooting seals protects salmon. Hugo Tagholm, executive director of Oceana UK, said overfishing, salmon farming and poor water quality are drivers of salmon decline, not seals which evolved alongside salmon: “It is these issues we should be focused on, not shooting our seals. The UK can be proud of the fact that it is home to internationally important populations of seals. But they need our protection: since they are slow to reproduce and vulnerable to the climate crisis and disease, any increase in adult mortality can quickly affect a population, destroying a keystone species of our rich marine wildlife.”

Douglas-Miller was made a baron on Friday in a surprise appointment as an environment minister and given the portfolio responsibility for animal welfare this week.

In September, he signed a letter with fellow grouse moor owners lobbying the Scottish government to water down new laws that bring in licences for grouse-shooting in an effort to address persecution of birds of prey.

Scotland is a stronghold for the grey seal and thousands of tourists travel to see them and their fuzzy, white young. With big eyes and long whiskers, they are one of the rarest species of seal and about 50% of the world’s population lives in British and Irish waters. Dr Ruth Tingay, a bird expert who runs the Raptor Persecution blog, said: “This appointment is both surprising and concerning in equal measures. I’m also deeply suspicious of the timing of it.

“We’ve already got one wealthy, unelected grouse moor-owning Defra minister in Lord Benyon, why do we need another one and why has this appointment been made now when the government is hurtling towards certain defeat in an imminent general election?”

Douglas-Miller owns over 4,000 acres in Scotland and is relatively unknown in the environment sector.

His family once ran the famous Jenners department store known as the Harrods of the North, which was frequented by the Queen and held a Royal Warrant.

The minister is also connected with King Charles. The monarch was a patron of the Atlantic Salmon Trust and Alister Jack, the Scotland secretary, sat on the board.

There now appears to be a trend of unelected, grousemoor owning Lords being given positions at Defra. Lord Benyon has for years been a Defra minister. He owns vast swathes of land and last year was subject to protests for restricting parts of his estate from ramblers. Douglas-Miller has also been criticised by ramblers for obstructing access to his estate.

Caroline Lucas, Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, said: “This appears to be a wholly inappropriate appointment, which is something we’ve come to expect from Rishi Sunak. An unelected wealthy landowner who has restricted public access to nature, and supported shooting at protected birds, is not someone I’d trust to prioritise animal protection, improve nature access and urgently restore our natural environment.

“There are many questions to be answered. What will his responsibilities within the department be, and why do we still not know a whole four days after his appointment? Did the government consider his potential conflicts of interest before giving him the job? And why, when Rishi Sunak has 349 other MPs to choose for the job, does he opt for an unelected landowner?”

Daisy Cooper MP, the Liberal Democrats’ deputy leader, said: “What an embarrassing mess. How is a gun going to save fish from drowning in sewage?

“This Conservative government cannot be trusted to keep animals safe. They have failed spectacularly on the environment and the public are fed up of it.”

A Defra spokesperson said: “The minister is fully committed to the government’s world-leading reforms on animal welfare, conservation and nature recovery.”

RED TORY

Jacob Rees-Mogg: Keir Starmer would be welcomed by the Tories with open arms

“He must be among the most ardent of Eurosceptics, a member of the ‘Go for Growth’ movement, a Thatcherite – a Trussite even – a capitalist, a sensible, free market Conservative.

“I’m of course talking about the leader of the Labour party – the socialist party – Sir Keir Starmer.”

Archie Mitchell
Wed, 6 December 2023 


Sir Keir Starmer would be welcomed into the Conservative Party with “open arms”, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg has said.

The top Tory and arch-Brexiteer said the Labour leader’s recent article in the Telegraph, in which Sir Keir praised Margaret Thatcher, sounded like a Conservative minister launching a leadership bid.

Sir Keir’s article, under the headline “voters have been betrayed on Brexit and immigration”, read like something by “the most ardent of Eurosceptics” or a “Trussite”, Sir Jacob added.

He added: “As a Tory member, I would like to extend a welcome to the Leader of the Opposition with open arms.”

The Tory former minister was commenting after Rishi Sunak suggested Nigel Farage would be welcome to join the Conservatives – insisting his party was a “broad church”.

“The more pressing question is not whether Nigel Farage will join the Tory Party, but whether Keir Starmer is planning to defect and launch a Tory leadership bid,” he told GB News.

A Labour spokesman said: “What Jacob Rees-Mogg knows is that the travel is all in the opposite direction with former Tory voters backing Keir Starmer’s changed Labour Party to end thirteen years of Tory decline and give Britain its future back.”

The Labour leader sparked a backlash with his article, in which he said Mrs Thatcher had effected “meaningful change” and “set loose Britain’s natural entrepreneurialism”.

He also sought to outflank Mr Sunak by appealing to Tory voters on Brexit and migration.

In a shift from his staunch opposition to Britain leaving the EU, Sir Keir said the Tories have “failed to realise the possibilities of Brexit”.

He said he “profoundly disagrees” with the idea Labour should duck topics such as small boat crossings and immigration.

And he added: “This is a government that was elected on a promise that immigration would ‘come down’ and the British people would ‘always [be] in control’. For immigration to then triple is more than just yet another failure – it is a betrayal of their promises.”

Sir Jacob, who served as business secretary under Lizz Truss, said: “A man wrote an article for The Telegraph last week entitled ‘Voters have been betrayed on Brexit and Immigration.’

“This reads as if it were vintage Farage. The man in question went on to hail Margaret Thatcher, as the leader who dragged Britain out of its stupor by setting loose our natural entrepreneurialism.

“He then went on to criticise the wasted money, the high debt and the record-high tax burden. He sounds as if he could be a member of the ERG!”

Sir Jacob added: ““So, who is this man? This great Conservative-sounding figure? Is he a cabinet minister waiting in the wings for a Tory Party leadership bid? One setting out his stall – along with a number of other ministers who seem to be circling.

“He must be among the most ardent of Eurosceptics, a member of the ‘Go for Growth’ movement, a Thatcherite – a Trussite even – a capitalist, a sensible, free market Conservative.

“But – the man I’m referring to is not Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss or even me, for that matter.

“I’m of course talking about the leader of the Labour party – the socialist party – Sir Keir Starmer.”

Ireland to hold referendums on removing outdated gendered language from constitution

Euronews
Wed, 6 December 2023 

Ireland to hold referendums on removing outdated gendered language from constitution


Ireland is set to hold two referendums next year proposing amendments to two articles of its Constitution that refer to women's traditional domestic role as the foundation of Irish society.

The twin votes are set to be held on 8 March, International Women's Day.

One proposes to delete Article 41.2 of the Constitution, which states that "the State recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved", and that "mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home."



The proposal would replace this wording with an amended version that contained gender-neutral language.

Deputy Prime Minister Micheál Martin said on Tuesday the wording of the "outdated" article "no longer reflects modern life", while Equalities Minister Roderic O'Gorman noted "archaic" and "sexist" references to housewives "have achieved nothing".

The other vote would amend a different article of the Constitution to ensure that protections are not limited to families with married parents.

This amendment would "recognise that families can also be based on other enduring relationships than marriage", said Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, citing the example of a single-parent family or those headed by grandparents or guardians.

The Irish Constitution was drafted in 1937, at a time when public and private life in the country was dominated by a highly conservative and puritanical brand of Catholicism.

It took decades from the foundation of the current republic before divorce, contraception and homosexuality were legalised.

But social politics have moved quickly in Ireland since the 1990s especially, with the role of conservative Christianity in society and state declining dramatically.

In the last decade, the country has voted overwhelmingly to relax abortion laws and allow gay marriage.

However, in parallel, Ireland's far-right has surged in recent years, encompassing religious fundamentalists, nationalists and anti-immigrant voices.




The final wording of next year's referendums is due to be approved by the government on Thursday.

The government has rejected a proposal to hold a third vote on new language for a different article of the constitution, 40.1, which reads: "All citizens shall, as human persons, be held equal before the law. This shall not be held to mean that the State shall not in its enactments have due regard to differences of capacity, physical and moral, and of social function."

It was suggested by a parliamentary committee and officially appointed citizens' assembly that the wording of the article be updated "to refer explicitly to gender equality and non-discrimination".

Yet, Prime Minister Varadkar said the government had declined to take up the proposal for fear that specifying "any particular category" of identity might "unwittingly downgrade" others.

UK

I've been an RMT trade unionist for 30 years. This is why the government has it wrong on HS2

‘Yahoo News - Insights’ is a new series in which we hear directly from people with an inside track of the big issues. Here, union leader Mick Lynch explains why he thinks scrapping HS2 is a disaster for the British economy

Mick Lynch: 'Money for key public transport infrastructure projects that would transform the country, could easily be afforded if the political will was there.'

 (Getty) (Lucy North - PA Images via Getty Images)

Mick Lynch has been general secretary of the Rail Maritime Transport Workers union for two years and a member since 1993. Lynch has since become a well-known public figure, leading calls for better wages and working conditions for railway workers as well as campaigning against compulsory redundancies in the sector.

Rishi Sunak announced he plans to scrap the Manchester leg of HS2. The announcement has largely been greeted with despair by political leaders in the North.

I grew up on a Paddington council estate, leaving school at 16 to become an electrician and worked in the construction industry.

After helping to form a new union in the sector, I was blacklisted for my trade union activity. This was confirmed when the conspiracy among major construction companies was finally brought to court. As a result of not being able to find work, I joined the railways in 1993 and worked at Eurostar, where I became an RMT activist. I never sought the post of general secretary but after being elected to the NEC and then assistant general secretary, I was encouraged to stand and I was elected in 2021.

Yesterday's announcement by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that a northern leg of HS2 has been scrapped is a disaster for the British economy and a slap in the face to future generations.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (pictured) has delivered a "slap in the face" to future generations, says Mick Lynch. (Alamy) (Danny Lawson, PA Images)


Britain needs an integrated affordable and modern high-speed rail system that can connect every village town and city promoting increased economic activity. There has been much talk about the escalating budget of HS2. No doubt the use of private contractors, greedy consultants and advisers has not helped with the cost of this project. However, cost is not the reason why the Tories are scrapping a major part of HS2.

When the banks were bailed out in 2009, £750 billion was found. When we needed to implement furlough due to the unprecedented global pandemic, £139billion was found. And when energy companies pleaded poverty due to rising prices and people were struggling to pay their bills, the government found £40 billion.

Money for key public transport infrastructure projects that would transform the country, could easily be afforded if the political will was there. Instead, we have a millionaire prime minister who uses a helicopter to get around and is out of touch with what the country needs going forward.

Rishi Sunak tried to spin the line that he was creating a northern network with improved rail and bus travel whilst appealing to the motoring lobby with promises of improved motorways. Considering he has just scrapped a major infrastructure project, the public would be wise to be sceptical. And we know you can’t trust the Tories on transport when they are planning to de-staff our railway and close nearly every railway ticket office.

The construction site for the HS2 project at Curzon Street in Birmingham. Sunak has now axed plans for HS2 to run from Birmingham to Manchester. (Alamy) (Jacob King, PA Images)

But even if Sunak carries out his plan, including having HS2-branded trains travelling on normal non high-speed railway lines and increased bus services, it will not make up for the fact high-speed line from Birmingham to Manchester has been abandoned. Sunak presents investments in public transport infrastructure as an either-or equation, where we can have local transport networks but not interconnect the whole country.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has already criticised the prime minister’s ‘network north’ initiative saying that it doesn’t deal with the east-west travel problem that is in desperate need of being addressed. Mayor Burnham has correctly pointed out that the abandonment of HS2 to the north of England and full connectivity, will increase divisions in the country and hinder economic growth where it is most needed.

The full HS2 project including the abandoned London to Leeds, which was scrapped in 2021, would have represented the start, not the finish, of a high-speed revolution in Britain. Such an approach presents a different vision for the country; one that is about creating tens of thousands of jobs, being environmentally sustainable and a Britain that is in step with the rest of the world in high-speed rail technology.

Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, has argued in favour of retaining the Manchester leg of HS2. (Alamy) (Danny Lawson, PA Images)

This has been reflected somewhat embarrassingly by historic tweets both from former transport secretary Grant Shapps and current chancellor Jeremy Hunt. Shapps said on X (formerly Twitter) at the beginning of last year: “Imagine Manchester to London by rail in just 70 minutes?

"Today I’m laying a Bill in Parliament that will make this a reality - taking HS2 tracks from Crewe to Manchester – improving services, increasing connections, boosting local economies & creating 17,500 direct jobs."

And Hunt said in 2020: "No HS2 = no ambition for our country just when the whole world is looking at us. Now is a time to be AMBITIOUS." Now these ministers, along with this zombie government, are abandoning future generations both economically and environmentally in a desperate attempt to appeal to the most short term reactionary politics in order to hoodwink the public at a general election.

This attitude is mirrored in how they treat existing railway workers and refuse to give a mandate to train operating companies to do a deal with RMT.

As general secretary of RMT, I will not stop our industrial campaigning for our members jobs, decent working conditions and a pay rise until we have a fair settlement for our people that protects jobs, conditions, pay, and the service we work on. And we will continue to fight for the future of high speed rail as it is a key part of building a genuine brighter tomorrow.

UK

TUC accuses government of ignoring recommendations on new strikes law


Alan Jones, PA Industrial Correspondent
Wed, 6 December 2023 


The Government has denied claims it has “ignored” recommendations from the conciliation service Acas over its controversial new law on providing minimum levels of service during strikes.

The TUC said “serious concerns” had been raised about the new regulations, which have sparked anger from unions and opposition politicians.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak has written to Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch saying ministers have “chosen to ignore” recommendations by Acas.

A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said: “This is total nonsense from the TUC. We carefully considered all the responses we received during the consultation period, including from Acas.

“The purpose of this legislation is to protect the lives and livelihoods of the public and ensure they can continue to access vital public services.

“This Act does not remove the ability to strike but people expect the Government to act in circumstances where their rights and freedoms are being disproportionately impacted and that’s what we are doing.”

Mr Nowak said: “Acas raised serious concerns about the balance, clarity and practicality of its plans. Yet the government still shamelessly claims it has consulted with Acas to justify its actions.

“Acas is one of a long list – including politicians, employers and civil society groups – that have criticised the regulations.

“These anti-strike laws are a deliberate attempt to restrict the right to strike – a fundamental British liberty. They are undemocratic, unworkable and likely illegal.

“Crucially, they will poison industrial relations and exacerbate disputes rather than help resolve them.”

An Acas spokesperson said: “Acas is governed by an independent council that includes employer, trade union and independent members. The Acas Council’s full response to the Government’s consultation on its Minimum Service Levels: Code of Practice on reasonable steps is available on the Acas website and is the consensus position of our council members.

“Any changes to Government policy or new laws around the handling of industrial action are a matter for the Government and Parliament.”

The TUC is holding a special conference on Saturday to discuss how to respond to the new regulations.

Biden now regrets the strength of his support for Netanyahu – he must act before it’s too late

Simon Tisdall

Guardian
Wed, 6 December 2023 

Photograph: Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters

Joe Biden has a Benjamin Netanyahu problem – and how he deals with it grows more urgent with each brutal, bloody day that passes. Thousands of Palestinian lives hang on the answer to this question. So, too, do hopes of stopping this hugely destructive war spreading beyond Gaza, and of progress towards a lasting peace.

The Israeli prime minister’s post-truce bombardment and ground invasion of southern Gaza is shaping up to be even more “hellish”, in a UN official’s words, than the indiscriminate mayhem in the north that preceded it. The US president has the potential leverage and clout to rein him in where European and Arab leaders do not. Biden must take the lead.

It was apparent long before the 7 October Hamas terrorist attacks on southern Israel, which killed about 1,200 people, that Netanyahu and Biden were barely on speaking terms. The usual White House invitation following last autumn’s election, which brought Netanyahu’s hard-right coalition to power, was withheld.

A principal reason was Biden’s disquiet over the extremist, anti-Palestinian policies espoused by the new government, notably in the occupied West Bank. Yet when Hamas attacked, Biden, being at heart a decent and honourable soul, set differences aside. His mistake, or perhaps his wilful self-deception, was to believe Netanyahu was a man of similar mettle. Biden immediately proposed $14bn in military aid, deployed aircraft carrier battlegroups and flew to Tel Aviv. His moving speech to a grieving nation offered the sort of solace and empathy wholly foreign to Netanyahu.

Yet this show of almost unconditional support was promptly interpreted by Netanyahu as carte blanche to do whatever he pleased in pursuing Hamas in Gaza. His main “achievement” to date, given that the terrorists remain undefeated, is an unprecedented slaughter of Palestinian civilians, reportedly totalling nearly 16,000 deaths.

Related: IDF campaign in southern Gaza has created ‘apocalyptic’ conditions, top UN official says

After initially doubting the sheer scale of the carnage, Biden has slowly – far too slowly – adjusted his stance, issuing increasingly strongly worded calls for proportionality, access for humanitarian assistance, and respect for international law.

Partly he is responding to Arab pressure and fears of a wider war, partly to growing dismay among Democrats and younger voters over Netanyahu’s actions. But he does seem to have been genuinely shocked. This is not the Israel he once knew and supported for decades in Congress.

Yet Netanyahu and his generals, while claiming to be listening to Biden, are really not. Their terrifying, post-truce targeting of Khan Younis, southern Gaza’s biggest city and the supposed base of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, is producing mass casualties again.

Antony Blinken, US secretary of state, told Netanyahu last week that Washington was losing patience. “The massive loss of civilian life and displacement of the scale we saw in northern Gaza [must] not be repeated in the south,” he said.

Blinken’s demand that Israel stop breaking international law, which it demonstrably does on a daily basis, was forcefully echoed by US vice-president Kamala Harris in Dubai. Defence secretary Lloyd Austin warned Netanyahu he was “replacing a tactical victory with a strategic defeat” by driving Palestinians into the arms of Hamas.

Netanyahu is within his rights to resist outside advice, even from Israel’s indispensable military, diplomatic and financial friend and partner. But that only makes sense if it serves Israel’s interest. This is the crux. From the beginning of this crisis, Netanyahu, as usual, has put his personal and political interests before his country’s.

After overseeing the worst security failure in 56 years, he hopes to salvage his reputation and his job by conducting a successful war – and preferably a long one. Right now, Netanyahu is deliberately, even proudly, rejecting US urgings to eschew tactics that will prospectively cause huge additional casualties in southern Gaza.

He continues to break promises not to obstruct aid supplies from Egypt. Meanwhile the army’s Orwellian QR code phone system for evacuating civilians to supposedly safe areas – apparently the best it can do in response to American pressure – is plainly unworkable amid telecoms blackouts.

More disobliging still, from the point of view of Arab neighbours and the international community, Netanyahu wants to create a permanent buffer zone in overcrowded Gazan territory. Preferring open-ended military occupation, he flatly rejects Biden’s view that the Palestinian Authority is best-placed to take charge of Gaza after the war and scoffs at talk of reviving the two-state solution.

On top of all that, he is ignoring, even courting, the risk of wider regional escalation – the nightmare Washington most fears. Since the Gaza truce ended on Friday, related violence has predictably flared anew from the West Bank and southern Lebanon to the Red Sea.

Netanyahu may calculate there is political advantage in being able to claim he “stood up” to the Americans. Biden must swiftly disabuse him of this notion – and of the bigger, pernicious idea that he can carry on prosecuting a war that collectively punishes a defenceless population, that increasingly harms US and western interests, and that is damaging to Israel’s long-term security.

Biden cannot continue to stand back or hide behind his officials. He must step in personally – and draw a line. What’s needed from the White House is less of the sympathetic uncle act, less of the soppy Joe, and more of the hard-headed pater familias and superpower commander-in-chief.

Biden needs to stop pleading and wheedling, spell out the concrete costs of this reckless course (including mooted US sanctions), and talk directly, as he did in October, to Israelis and the anti-Netanyahu, anti-extremist majority. Possible prime ministerial replacements include Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz. Biden must bang some heads together.

Netanyahu is not a fit person to lead Israel in this crisis. He cares not how many people die, as long as he survives. Weaponising the memory of October’s victims and endangering the remaining hostages, he is drawing Israelis into a deadly cul-de-sac over the heaped bodies of the people of Gaza.

Simon Tisdall is a foreign affairs commentator. He has been a foreign leader writer, foreign editor and US editor for the Guardian

Generation after generation, Israeli prison marks a rite of passage for Palestinian boys

Well-known Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi, center, is supported by her mother after she was released from prison by Israel, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, in the West Bank town of Ramallah. Tamimi's homecoming, along with her cousin, Wisam Tamimi, touched every home in the village of Nabi Saleh, where prison is a grim rite of passage for Palestinian boys. 

ISABEL DEBRE
Updated Wed, 6 December 2023 

NABI SALEH, West Bank (AP) — For all Palestinian parents, Marwan Tamimi said, there comes a moment they realize they're powerless to protect their children.

For the 48-year-old father of three, it came in June, when Israeli forces fired a large rubber bullet that struck the head of his eldest son, Wisam, as he watched a raid unfold from his grandmother's rooftop with his family. A week later, Marwan said, soldiers came for the 17-year-old, dragging him out of bed with a fractured skull as his mother cried.

Wisam was later charged with a range of offenses he denied — throwing stones, possessing weapons, placing an explosive device and causing bodily harm. He was sent to Israel's Ofer Prison. Last Saturday, after six months behind bars, he returned home with 38 other Palestinians in exchange for Israeli hostages released from Hamas captivity in Gaza — part of a temporary cease-fire in the war that started after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel.

His parents said they hadn't seen or heard from him in two months, since the war started. Wisam said he spent that time in an overcrowded cell and was denied adequate food and medication, was interrogated about his friends, and was beaten repeatedly.

“I yelled, ‘No, he’s my boy, you can’t take him, he’s injured,’” Marwan Tamimi said. “That’s when I realized they will take him. And if I stop them, they will put his life in danger.”

Wisam's homecoming last week, along with the release of his well-known activist cousin, Ahed Tamimi, touched every home in the village of Nabi Saleh, where prison is a grim rite of passage for Palestinian boys.

People clapped. Tears fell. Wisam hugged friends and family, one by one. But the euphoria spoke to pain as much as to joy in the occupied West Bank, where the United Nations estimates 750,000 Palestinians have been arrested since Israel captured the territory in the 1967 Mideast war.

The competing claims of Palestinians and Israelis have left their scars on Nabi Saleh, home to charismatic activists, journalists and lawyers known for their refusal to submit to occupation. Once an idyllic village on a hilly stretch of farmland growing grapes and green olives, it serves today as a powerful example of how Israeli prison over decades of war has crushed families, constrained lives and stamped out popular resistance.

Israel's security service didn't respond to questions about Wisam’s case. But the military defended large-scale arrests of Palestinians, including minors, as necessary to prevent militant attacks. In a statement to The Associated Press, the army said it aims to “preserve the rights and dignity" of Palestinian suspects during court proceedings and detention and that convicting a minor “requires a burden of proof of guilt beyond reasonable doubt."

Palestinian activists and human rights watchdogs say Israel's mass detentions seek to sow fear among the youngest, breaking communities that continue to defy Israeli military rule, now in its 57th year.

“We've seen that this system suppresses and intimidates the majority of children,” said Salwa Duaibis, co-founder of Military Court Watch, a Palestinian legal advocacy group. “It crushes their spirit so that even when they're 40, they'll be running away when they see soldiers."

IN EVERY HOUSE, A STORY

Most of Nabi Saleh's 550 residents are related by blood or marriage, and nearly all share the surname Tamimi. Most boys — like their fathers and grandfathers — have landed in prison at some point, as the close-knit village became known for its grassroots protest movement.

“We live in a village of resistance,” Wisam said. "Every house has its own story."

Wisam was raised on the history of his activist grandfather’s deportation to Jordan in 1970 and his triumphant return to Nabi Saleh as part of the 1993 Oslo Accords.

Wisam's father, Marwan, served time at the height of the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising, in 2002. His journalist uncle, Bilal, was locked up four times starting in the late 1980s, during the first intifada.

His neighbor, 45-year-old pastry chef Haitham Tamimi, said he was once held up and questioned in the street by a soldier who "found it suspicious I was from Nabi Saleh and hadn't been imprisoned." Haitham's explanation: He'd lived mostly in Jordan.

Before Israel and Hamas resumed their war Friday, the militant group had pushed for the release of high-profile prisoners in exchange for the remaining Gaza hostages.

But the vast majority of Palestinians passing through Israel’s ever-revolving prison door, experts say, are teenage boys and young men who mostly go unnamed, plucked from bed in the middle of the night for throwing stones and firebombs or associating with militants in towns and refugee camps near Israeli settlements. Most of the international community considers Israeli settlements illegal and obstacles to peace.

Under the weeklong cease-fire agreement, Israel released 240 Palestinian minors and women. Most of 14- to 17-year-olds freed had been detained for investigation and not convicted of a crime, reported the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, an advocacy group, based on data from the Israeli Prison Service. Over that same week, Israel arrested 260 other Palestinians, the group said.

Every year, the Israeli military court sentences hundreds of minors to prison, mostly for throwing stones, according to Military Court Watch. Most are 16 or 17.

Israel argues that stone-throwing can be dangerous and even deadly.

“The victim who gets hit in the head by stones doesn't care how old the person throwing it is,” said Maurice Hirsch, Israel's top military prosecutor from 2013 to 2016. “There are very young terrorists who commit very violent offenses.”

 Men wave after being released from prison by Israel, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, in the West Bank town of Ramallah. 

‘AN ORCHESTRA’ OF ARRESTS

The conviction rate for security offenses in the West Bank is more than 99%. Defense lawyers often encourage young clients to plead guilty to avoid lengthy trials and detentions. Some are never formally charged or tried, held under a practice known as “administrative detention” that allows Israeli authorities to arrest Palestinians based on secret evidence and renew detention indefinitely.

The pace of arrests — already quickening over the past two years — soared after Hamas' Oct. 7 rampage that killed 1,200 people and resulted in the abduction of more than 240.

Israel has arrested 3,450 Palestinians across the West Bank since the war erupted, according to the Israeli military, in a sweeping campaign aimed to deter militant attacks. An all-time high of 2,873 Palestinians are now held in administrative detention, according to Israeli rights group HaMoked.

“The crackdown in a way contradicts our intention not to open another front in the West Bank,” said Ami Ayalon, former director of Israel’s Shin Bet security service. “On one hand, we understand the more people killed and arrested, the more hatred rises. But on the other hand, we don't want to pay the price in terrorist attacks.”

Lawyers say the crackdown affects Palestinians of every stripe, branding people as security threats for even mild social media posts.

“It was an orchestra, as though a composer led all the courts across the country to understand they had a duty to arrest young men,” said Lea Tsemel, a prominent Israeli human rights lawyer. “We saw police stopping youngsters and checking phones to see if they could find anything constituting incitement.”

Israeli forces have ramped up deadly raids in the northern West Bank, such as in the flashpoint Jenin refugee camp, using airstrikes to target militants with unprecedented force.

The intensifying violence and constraints on Palestinian freedom of movement have generated fear in Nabi Saleh. New Israeli checkpoints have turned a 15-minute drive to the Palestinian city of Ramallah into a nauseating two-hour maze.

In recent months, Israeli troops repeatedly stormed the village. An explosive tear gas canister set Marwan Tamimi's SUV on fire in mid-October. A rubber projectile, much larger than a bullet, slammed into Wisam's head, causing brain bleeding and sending him to intensive care for a week. Four bullets sliced through Haitham Tamimi's car door, piercing his shoulder and killing his 2-year-old son, Mohammed, in June — an incident the army admitted was a mistake.

It's the latest chapter in the tumultuous history of a village once at the center of a spirited protest movement that began in 2009, inspired other villages and made global headlines. Each week, residents rallied over the loss of their ancestral lands and freshwater spring to the fast-growing Israeli settlement across the road.

The Friday marches, just after the midday call to prayer, became family affairs. Villagers waved national flags, clapped and crooned Palestinian songs while trying to reach their spring that had become a picnic spot for settlers. Inevitably, boys pelted Israeli jeeps with stones.

“We were showing the world what was really happening here, and it felt so good, so important,” said Janna Jihad, now 17, who became an internet fixture filming herself reporting on protests at just 7 years old.

Israel says troops responded only after protesters started throwing stones and trying to enter a military zone around the village. “The Tamimi family trained and organized these children to ambush soldiers,” said Hirsch, the former military prosecutor.

Troops sent protesters fleeing with tear gas, rubber-coated bullets, blasts of noxious liquid and live fire. They carried out nighttime raids, arresting most young men, and killed six Palestinian villagers during protests, all young men, residents said.

PARENTAL PLEAS AND THE ‘RESISTANCE’

Marwan Tamimi begged his sons to stay away from what Palestinians call the “muqawama,” or resistance.

Sensitive and studious, his youngest, Kenan, said he’d rather run on a soccer field than away from bullets. Now 14, he's resisted peer pressure to join protests.

“I don’t like going out,” he said, huddled over a princess coloring book with his 6-year-old sister last week.

Wisam had friends who confronted Israeli soldiers, like his cousin Ahed, whose arrest for slapping Israeli soldiers five years ago transformed her into a symbol of Palestinian resistance.

“All of us here, we care so much about our children. We tell them, ‘Look, don’t go and throw stones, you don’t need to prove yourself,’” Marwan Tamimi said.

But parents' pleas often go unheeded.

"There was nothing I could do to stop the boys,” said 56-year-old Imtithal Tamimi, mother of nine. Her son Mohammed, was disfigured at 14 when Israeli forces fired a rubber bullet that lodged in his head.

“Mohammed had no job, he wasn’t in school," she said. “He was trying to let off steam.”

All the men in her household got sucked into Israel’s prison system, she said, and she noticed a change in each when they emerged. Mohammed, now 21, couldn't shake his state of rage. Tamim, her eldest, locked himself in his bedroom for three months after serving a year. Her 64-year-old husband, Fadel passed in and out of prison for decades and struggles with a central nervous system disorder.

Mohammed, arrested for the third time the same night as Wisam, remains in jail. Imtihal hasn’t heard anything of his condition or whereabouts since the war started, when Israeli authorities banned prisoners from using phones or receiving visitors.

Wisam, his eyes sunken and face gray and gaunt, lost 12 kilograms (26 pounds) in prison, where he said he shared two daily meals of undercooked chicken and stale bread with 11 others, an account supported by prisoner rights groups. They were packed like teeth into a cell that held half that number before the war, he said, and on the rare occasions they were let out, guards ordered them to walk with wrists bound tight under their knees.

In response to questions, the Israeli Prison Service denied authorities were crowding cells or reducing meals. But national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has publicly promoted harsh disciplinary treatment of Palestinian prisoners. Parliament passed a temporary measure allowing prisons to fill beyond legal capacity.

For Wisam, 45 days in solitary confinement was the real torment. Every night, authorities blasted air conditioning in his tiny cell. He shivered in the darkness, homesick, imagining his mother warming him with her hug and cooking mansaf — milky mountains of rice with mutton. His only human contact came in the punches raining down on his head during daily interrogations, he said.

The Prison Service said Palestinians are detained according to law and had the right to file complaints over conditions. Palestinians say their complaints are not taken seriously and rarely yield results.

A week after his release, Wisam still winces when he catches sight of a grated door, even in his house. He fills shelves beside his bed with chocolate bars and chips, for his “canteen.” He spends his days quietly weaving lighter cases from plastic and string, a prison habit, and taking driving classes in hopes of preventing arrest even for traffic offenses.

When 22-year-old cousin Ahed emerged from prison last week, she also looked exhausted, her typically self-assured voice halting and frail in TV interviews.

“This is what I was trying to prevent,” said Marwan Tamimi, who moved his family to Ramallah at the height of the Nabi Saleh protests in 2014 so his boys could attend school and play without encountering soldiers.

The family returned home in 2021, after the military’s harsh response brought the rallies to an end. There were too many killed, wounded and imprisoned — and too few achievements, residents said.

An uneasy calm prevailed over Nabi Saleh and other villages that had become symbols of civil disobedience. Without progress toward a political solution, protest leaders insist the relative quiet shouldn't be mistaken for acceptance.

Beneath the surface, pressure builds. More minors pass through Israel's jailhouse door.

“I expected to die in there,” Wisam said. “I don’t want to go there ever again."

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Palestinian Wisam Tamimi, 17, a released prisoner under the Israel Hamas cease fire agreement last week, poses for a photo at the family house in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, northwest of Ramallah, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. The release of Palestinian prisoners under the Israel-Hamas cease-fire agreement last week has touched nearly everyone in the occupied West Bank, where 750,000 Palestinians have been arrested since 1967. In negotiations with Israel to free hostages in Hamas captivity in Gaza, the militant group has pushed for the release of high-profile prisoners. But experts say most Palestinians passing through Israel's ever-revolving prison door are young men arrested in the middle of the night for throwing stones and firebombs in villages near Israeli settlements. 

 Palestinian demonstrators throw stones during clashes with Israeli troops following a demonstration in support of Palestinian prisoners in Nabi Saleh, Jan. 13, 2018, near the West Bank city of Ramallah. In negotiations with Israel to free hostages in Hamas captivity in Gaza, the militant group has pushed for the release of high-profile prisoners. But most Palestinians passing through Israel’s ever-revolving prison door are young men arrested in the middle of the night for throwing stones and firebombs in villages near Israeli settlements. Nabi Saleh is one such village, long known for its grassroots protest movement. 

The Palestinian Tamimi family pose for a photo with their son Wisam, 17 rear left, a released prisoner under the Israel Hamas cease fire agreement last week, at the family house in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, northwest of Ramallah, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. The release of Palestinian prisoners under the Israel-Hamas cease-fire agreement last week has touched nearly everyone in the occupied West Bank, where 750,000 Palestinians have been arrested since 1967. In negotiations with Israel to free hostages in Hamas captivity in Gaza, the militant group has pushed for the release of high-profile prisoners. But experts say most Palestinians passing through Israel's ever-revolving prison door are young men arrested in the middle of the night for throwing stones and firebombs in villages near Israeli settlements. 

 Palestinians hurl stones and wave a Palestinian flag toward Israeli soldiers to protest a march by Israeli settlers on April 10, 2023, in the West Bank village of Beita. In negotiations with Israel to free hostages in Hamas captivity in Gaza, the militant group has pushed for the release of high-profile prisoners. But most Palestinians passing through Israel’s ever-revolving prison door are young men arrested in the middle of the night for throwing stones and firebombs in villages near Israeli settlements. 

(AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed, File)

Palestinian Tamimi family gather for a meal with their son Wisam, 17 second right, a released prisoner under the Israel Hamas cease fire agreement last week, at the family house in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, northwest of Ramallah, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. The release of Palestinian prisoners under the Israel-Hamas cease-fire agreement last week has touched nearly everyone in the occupied West Bank, where 750,000 Palestinians have been arrested since 1967. In negotiations with Israel to free hostages in Hamas captivity in Gaza, the militant group has pushed for the release of high-profile prisoners. But experts say most Palestinians passing through Israel's ever-revolving prison door are young men arrested in the middle of the night for throwing stones and firebombs in villages near Israeli settlements.

 Palestinian demonstrators run from tear gas fired by Israeli troops during clashes following a demonstration in support of Palestinian prisoners in Nabi Saleh, Jan. 13, 2018, near the West Bank city of Ramallah. In negotiations with Israel to free hostages in Hamas captivity in Gaza, the militant group has pushed for the release of high-profile prisoners. But most Palestinians passing through Israel’s ever-revolving prison door are young men arrested in the middle of the night for throwing stones and firebombs in villages near Israeli settlements. Nabi Saleh is one such village, long known for its grassroots protest movement. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed, File)

A man smiles as he is welcomed after being released from prison by Israel, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023, in the West Bank town of Ramallah. The release of Palestinian prisoners under the Israel-Hamas cease-fire agreement last week has touched nearly everyone in the occupied West Bank, where 750,000 Palestinians have been arrested since 1967. In negotiations with Israel to free hostages in Hamas captivity in Gaza, the militant group has pushed for the release of high-profile prisoners. But experts say most Palestinians passing through Israel’s ever-revolving prison door are young men arrested in the middle of the night for throwing stones and firebombs in villages near Israeli settlements. 

 Israeli soldiers are seen during a military operation, Nov. 19, 2023, in the Balata refugee camp, West Bank. The release of Palestinian prisoners under the Israel-Hamas cease-fire agreement last week has touched nearly everyone in the occupied West Bank, where 750,000 Palestinians have been arrested since 1967. In negotiations with Israel to free hostages in Hamas captivity in Gaza, the militant group has pushed for the release of high-profile prisoners. But experts say most Palestinians passing through Israel’s ever-revolving prison door are young men arrested in the middle of the night for throwing stones and firebombs in villages near Israeli settlements. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed, File)

Palestinians throw stones at an Israeli military vehicle following a military raid of the Askar refugee camp, July 24, 2023, in the West Bank city of Nablus. In negotiations with Israel to free hostages in Hamas captivity in Gaza, the militant group has pushed for the release of high-profile prisoners. But most Palestinians passing through Israel’s ever-revolving prison door are young men arrested in the middle of the night for throwing stones and firebombs in villages near Israeli settlements. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed, File)

A security metal gate near an Israeli army post, closes the road at the main entrance of the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh, northwest of Ramallah, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2023. The release of Palestinian prisoners under the Israel-Hamas cease-fire agreement last week has touched nearly everyone in the occupied West Bank, where 750,000 Palestinians have been arrested since 1967. In negotiations with Israel to free hostages in Hamas captivity in Gaza, the militant group has pushed for the release of high-profile prisoners. But experts say most Palestinians passing through Israel's ever-revolving prison door are young men arrested in the middle of the night for throwing stones and firebombs in villages near Israeli settlements. 

(AP Photos/Nasser Nasser)