What did he actually say? Plenty of high-profile people have denounced what's happening in Gaza. Either he said something 'extra' or he's been singled out for some reason...
He claims he's the first person to be arrested under this law, that was introduced in 2000, so he must have said something pretty "extra" if what he claims is true.
posted a video on social media explaining the situation. He said that on Thursday 15 August he was escorted off a plane by six cops. They explained that he was being arrested under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000 – for, quote:
expressing an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation
Presumably, in Medhurst’s case this is either Hamas or Hezbollah.
They also explain that he's not the first "journalist" to be arrested under this law.
He says he was arrested under section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000 which makes it illegal to stay anything even remotely non critical about a "proscribed organisation" like Hamas. It is extraordinarily repressive.
To clarify this is part of what section 12 says:
Proscription makes it a criminal offence to:
express an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation, reckless as to whether a person to whom the expression is directed will be encouraged to support a proscribed organisation.
I don't have a problem with any element of that law.
I'm profoundly comfortable with people being arrested and imprisoned for substantial sentences for expressing support for Hamas and similar Jihadi terror groups.
Only a handful of countries consider Hamas a terror group. Funnily enough these are the same countries that are complicit in Israel's genocide in Gaza.
This is a "leopards ate my face" law. It's fine until you get caught up in it however unlikely that appears now.
Only a handful of countries consider Hamas a terror group. Funnily enough these are the same countries that are complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Those are also more or less the only countries I'd trust to be able to correctly identify a terrorist group.
This is a “leopards ate my face” law. It’s fine until you get caught up in it however unlikely that appears now.
I simply don't support terrorist organisations. It isn't difficult.
Hamas being designated a terrorist group arose because of US and Israeli pressure to de-legitimise any entity that represents Palestinians in the same way that the PLO was regarded as a terror group pre Oslo.
It is political repression and nothing more.
Many of these same countries branded Nelson Mandela and the ANC as a terror group.
Yes that's my point. They were a terror group and then weren't when the US decided. In the same way that Sudan was a state sponsor of terror until the US decided otherwise.
In both cases recognising the occupation of Palestine made them not terrorists.
Also if committing massacres made the PLO a terror group then surely Israel and it's military wing should be a state sponsor of terror many times over since October 7th but instead it receives billions in funding and weapons from the US and UK
Also if committing massacres made the PLO a terror group
No, it's when you commit terrorist acts that you become a terrorist group. Like the PLO did, repeatedly, over many many years, and bragged about.
Terrorists are by definition non-state actors.
And yes I've seen the Pallywood stuff coming out of Gaza just like everyone else has. It's the same bullshit they pull every time they cross a line and find their shit getting pushed in by Israel like in Lebanon in 1982.
receives billions in funding and weapons from the US and UK
In 2023 total UK arms exports to Israel totalled £18.2 million. We do not provide them with foreign financial assistance.
So you were only off by a little bit.
In 2023 Israel received approx. £3.3 bn in foreign assistance from the USA, the large majority loaned to purchase US supplies of both defensive and offensive munitions. That same year, Egypt also received about £1.5 bn in foreign assistance from the USA, Jordan £1.7 bn, etc.
The only men on this planet willing to do something about children being murdered in Gaza are to be found in Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Resistance Axis. So obviously the Western Zionist media have no answer but to frame these Resistance fighters as "terrorists"
Do you also denounce the French resistance when you condemn the Nazis?
I'm so bored of Westerners comparing the only armed front that Palestinians/Arabs have to their oppressors, and acting like this is some kind of nuanced comment
They hate Iran, Syria, Hamas, Hezbollah, etc. because they fight back. Because they refuse to roll over when the Israelis and Americans snap their fingers.