Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2026-08-12 Wednesday

Episode Date: August 12, 2026

Democracy Now! Wednesday, August 12, 2026

And this is Democracy Now. I know many people feel that at the start of Israel's military action in Gaza, my party didn't get it right. And I am sorry about that. The response has too often not been good enough. We need to do better. As Britain's new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, apologises for the Labour Party's stance on Gaza, We'll speak to Britain's former Labor Party leader, British MP Jeremy Corbyn. He recently chaired a tribunal on Gaza that concluded Britain was complicit in genocide.

Today, we teach children about history's worst war crimes against humanity. They're asked to reflect about how those crimes ever came about. Our future history books will report with shame, though, that had the opportunity to stop this carnage, but failed to act to achieve it. We'll speak with British MP Jeremy Corbyn and the other co-chairs of the Gaza Tribunal, the Israeli political scientist Neve Gordon, and the Palestinian-Jurbanian international law expert Shahad Hamuri. We will talk about the Tribunal, their new book, and Britain's escalating crackdown on pro-Palestinian activists.

All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now. Democracy Now.org, the war and peace report. I'm Amy Goodman. We're broadcasting from the UK from London. In Colombia, the death toll from Monday's massive earthquake has topped 250 and is expected to rise as search and rescue crews raised to find survivors trapped under. rubble. More than 2,700 people have been reported missing. Hundreds more are injured. This is a

volunteer helping to search for victims in the city of Pereira, which was left devastated by the earthquake. Three people have been rescued here and two more over there. Thank God they're unharmed. Not too badly injured. Everything's going well, thanks to all of us. Geologists report that Monday's earthquake was the strongest to hit Colombia since 1970. The United States Navy said Tuesday it fired on a Panama flag cargo ship attempting to break the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports in the Gulf of Oman. The missile strikes reportedly targeted the ship's engine room, leaving it disabled. The Pentagon did not say whether it killed or injured any sailors. The attack came, as President Trump told reporters, U.S. forces are in total control.

of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump's claim came as mediators in Qatar, announced that negotiations between Iran and Oman over the Strait of Hormuz have reached an advanced stage. This is a spokesperson for Qatar's foreign ministry. We have heard positive statements from both capitals in the recent couple of days, and we are eagerly awaiting. Our main priority here is the reopening of the strait,

maintaining the ceasefire, and making sure that we are able to push forward towards the negotiation. The emerging deal would see vessels enter the strait along a northern route, the Iranian waters. Ships exiting the strait would follow a southern route through Amani waters. Meanwhile, six people were killed and ten others wounded when Iran-allied Houthi fighters attacked a ship in the Bab al-Mandab Strait. The Houthis say the ship was carrying Saudi military equipment. Last month, the Houthis declared a naval blockade of Saudi ports. An alleged Iranian threat to assassinate President Trump led to a secret U.S. operation last month

that possibly endangered the lives of journalists and White House staffers. That's according to the Washington Post, which reports Trump secretly swapped planes just before departing the NATO summit in Turkey, hiding in the United States, hiding in the Washington Post, hiding in an airport catering truck normally used to load food and supplies onto planes. Trump was then loaded onto a smaller military aircraft that departed Turkey separately, even as the White House told the public he was flying on Air Force One alongside the reporters, White House staff, and crew members. The White House was responding to what it considered a credible Iranian threat to shoot down Air Force One.

that followed the joint U.S. Israeli assassination of Iran's supreme leader, members of his family and other top officials in February. Stephen Cash, executive director of the steady state and a former CIA intelligence officer, said, quote, it appears that the idea was we can reduce the danger to President Trump by offering up 100 or so people to be killed by the Iranians in his place, unquote. At least four civilians are dead in Russia and Ukraine after a series of deadly drone attacks overnight. Among the dead are two people killed by a Russian drone attack on Ukraine's Kherson region, and a man and child killed after Ukrainian drones struck the Russian city of Noverosizk. This follows Russian attacks on Ukraine that killed at least 12 people the previous night, leaving dozens more wounded.

Ukraine accused Russia of using North Korean missiles. in those attacks and said a children's hospital was among buildings struck. According to the United Nations, Russia's holding over 16,000 Ukrainian civilians in detention. Many are kept in isolation and are not being treated according to standards of international law. This is a Ukrainian former prisoner of war who testified to the United Nations Tuesday about torture and sexual abuse by Russian forces. I was lucky enough to survive. Not many of my friends were lucky enough.

Two of my friends were beaten up to death in detention centers in the Dinesk region. Two of my friends died because of the conditions they were put in in Russian prisons and were returned in plastic bags to their homeland. Meanwhile, a Moscow court has decided Russia's main anti-war and liberal political party cannot run in next month's parliamentary elections. On Monday, hundreds of young supporters gathered outside the Moscow courthouse during the hearing, showing their support for the anti-war party by singing songs and waving flags. In Minnesota, Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan has won the Democratic Party's Senate primary securing about 60 percent of the vote in a matchup against her better-funded

opponent, Congresswoman Angie Craig. Flanagan had the backing of progressives, including Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who supported her calls for Medicare for all, a higher federal minimum wage, universal child care, and more. She spoke to supporters after polls closed Tuesday evening. We are going to stop Donald Trump's billion dollar a day, a legal war in Iran and the crushing gas and fertilizer prices. Fight the corruption, whether it's in the White House or in the halls of Congress, because the grift has to stop. Flanagan is a member of the white earth band of Ojibwe. She could become the first Native American woman to serve in the Senate.

Her primary opponent, Angie Craig, was endorsed by Democratic Party leaders, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Craig's campaign outspent Flanagan by a more-than-a-one. than four to one margin and benefited from nearly $10 million in dark money spent on her behalf. Craig's loss marks another defeat for APAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which encouraged its members to support her campaign. Meanwhile, progressive Democrat Matt Little has won the race to fill the congressional seat Craig left to pursue her failed Senate candidacy. Little campaign on a pledge to support Medicare for all while seeking to ban corporate

money from politics, he defeated two challengers whom he accused of receiving support from APEC. In Wisconsin, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley appears to have narrowly defeated Democratic Socialist Francesca Hong for the Democratic Party's gubernatorial nomination. With 98 percent of the expected vote tallied, Hong is trailing by about 3,000 votes and it's unexpectedly poor showing for Hong after most polls. showed her leading the rest by double digits. In South Carolina, Darling Graham will advance to a runoff in the race

to win the Republican Party's nomination to replace her brother, Senator Lindsey Graham, who died in July. Darling Graham spoke to supporters after polls closed. I want to thank President Trump, his steadfast support, and his complete and total endorsement

means so much to me. A federal judge in Boston blocked the U.S. Postal Service from enforcing part of Trump's executive order to tighten mail in voting rules before November's congressional elections. The order requires states to submit lists of eligible voters who may receive mail ballots. If the states refused to do so, USPS would not deliver the ballots. Sophia Lynn Lakin, a voting rights lawyer with the ACLU, said in a statement, quote, Today's ruling sends another necessary message to an administration that continues to weaponize portions of the government to sow chaos into our elections, she said. ICE is planning to spend up to $20 million to purchase thousands of gloves that can release painful electric shocks. This week, the Department of Homeland Security announced ICE agents and officers could begin carrying the gloves by March.

The devices are manufactured by compliant technologies LLC based in Lexington, Kentucky, and have been used in recent years by municipal police departments and jails. This comes after the ACLU revealed federal immigration agents deployed to Los Angeles last summer, used racist slurs against Latinos they targeted and racially profiled in operations. The discoveries came as part of a federal case that's compiled months of body camera footage depositions and text messages. The Trump administration's awarded a $158 million contract to a group founded by a former ICE agent to legally represent unaccompanied immigrant children in the U.S.

The Minneapolis-based Our Rescue was founded in 2013 by Tim Ballard, who quit his job in federal immigration enforcement to combat the sex trafficking of children, and inspiring the 2023 movie Sound of Freedom. The film drew widespread acclaim from conservatives, but others criticized it for featuring conspiracy theories perpetuated by the far-right group, QAnon. Ballard abruptly left our rescue in July 23. In the months after his departure,

he was accused of sex trafficking, forced labor, and abusing women himself. The contract between our rescue and the Office of Refugee Resettlement could reportedly increase up to $244 million. This comes after the federal government also awarded a $150 million contract to a small Texas law firm

with ties to the Trump administration to represent unaccompanied immigrant children in court. Burke Law Group is based in Houston and primarily focuses on administrative law. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the number of confirmed Ebola cases has surpassed 4,000. It's now the second largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded. The World Health Organization's recommended testing an existing Ebola vaccine

to see if it could protect against the strain now spreading in the DRC. This is the WHO's Director General Tedros Adnan Gaboriasis. It's moving really, really fast. And I can't time it from you, my feelings, maybe, expressing my. my feelings properly would be better. I'm deeply, deeply concerned by how the situation is on the ground. Executions are scheduled in Alabama, Oklahoma, and Tennessee Thursday. And what would be the first time since 2010, three people are put to death on the same day in the United States.

In Tennessee, Republican Governor Bill Lee's refused to grant clemency to Darrell Hines, who's scheduled to be executed Thursday, despite his attorney's warnings, he could suffer cruel and unusual punishment. Hines' attorney said the physician likely to oversee the execution is unqualified to insert the IV to administer lethal drugs, citing the May botched execution attempt of Tony Carruthers. Governor Lee called off Carruthers' execution and granted him a one-year reprieve after the physician struggled for about an hour to insert the IV to administer the lethal drugs. Witnesses described the scene as a bloody,

mess, according to the Tennessee lookout. Hines has suffered two strokes that left him partially paralyzed. And millions of people in Greenland, Iceland, and northern Spain will witness a total solar eclipse today, the first of its kind since 1999. A partial eclipse will be visible across a vast swath of Western Europe, northwestern Africa, and some eastern states and provinces in North America. here in London and the UK, people are scrambling to get the special glasses to witness the eclipse. And those are some of the headlines. This is DemocracyNow. DemocracyNow.org, the Warren Peace Report.

I'm Amy Goodman here in London in the UK. Coming up, the Gaza Tribunal, Britain's complicity in genocide. We'll speak to British MP, Jeremy, Nive Gordon and Shahid Moodie. Stay with us. I ain't got no home on just a roaming round. Just a wandering worker I go from town to town. And the police make it hard for me no matter where I go.

And I ain't got no home in this world. I ain't got no home in this world. any more. Others and my sisters are stranded on this road long and dusty road at a million feet of tribe. Now the rich man took my home and drove me from my door. He got no in this world anymore. Farming on the shares. I was poor.

My crops are laid into. The banker's store And my wife took down and died All on the cabin floor This world anymore A rendition of the British musician Billy Bragg in our Democracy Now studio This is Democracy Now,

Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman. We're broadcasting from London where tonight the documentary about Democracy Now steal the story please. We'll be at the Curzon Theater Bloomsbury in the Bertha Dockhouse. We'll talk more about that later. But right now, the key issue of the day, Britain's new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, recently apologized for the Labor Party's initial stance on Gaza. On July 20th, Burnham became

Prime Minister, succeeding Kier Stormer, who announced his resignation in June. Burnham is Britain's seventh prime minister in a decade. He's the former mayor of Manchester. Shortly before becoming prime minister, Burnham posted this video online. I know many people feel that at the start of Israel's military action in Gaza, my party didn't get it right, and I am sorry about that. The response has too often not been good enough.

We need to do better. Yes, we have taken some important steps. These include recognising the Palestinian state, placing sanctions on Israeli ministers, and imposing waves of sanctions on violent settlers, and the organisations that support them. I also fully support the restrictions on arms licences to make sure that no British bombs or bullets can be used

by the IDF in Gaza or in the West Bank. But let's be honest. The UK was too slow to call for a ceasefire, and we must now do more to strengthen our approach. Israel continues to violate the ceasefire agreement, killing innocent Palestinians. We're seeing a surge in settler violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the continued expansion of illegal settlements, displacing Palestinian communities. And Netanyahu's government is clearly attempting to make a two-state solution impossible.

That's why we need to do more, which includes looking at further sanctions, both on those involved in the violence in Gaza, but also looking at measures to ban trade in Gaza. to ban trade in goods with illegal settlements. I, like many people, feel passionately about Gaza, and I will do everything I can to work with international partners to stop the suffering, to ensure the Israeli government adheres to international law

and to keep the prospect of a two-state solution alive, because this is the only way to lasting peace for both Israelis and Palestinians. That was Britain's new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham. Last year, an independent Gaza tribunal was held here in London. It featured testimony from 29 witnesses, including journalists, aid workers, doctors, and international law experts. The tribunal concluded the British government was complicit in Israel's genocide in Gaza by authorizing military, economic, and political support for Israel.

The tribunal was held amidst an escalating, crackdown. in Britain targeting pro-Palestinian activists. Since July of last year, British police have arrested over 3,000 people for expressing support for the group Palestine action. Last year, the British government declared the group to be a terrorist organization making support for the group punishable by up to 14 years in prison. We're joined right now by the Gaza Tribunal's three co-chairs. Jeremy Corbyn is a member of the British Parliament who served as Labor Party leader from 2015 to 2020. He has served in the British Parliament since 1983. Neve Gordon is an Israeli political scientist and professor of international law and human rights at Queen Mary

University of London, the first director of Physicians for Human Rights Israel. And Shahed Hamoudi is a Palestinian Jordanian lecturer in international law and legal theory at the University of Kent. The three have just published a new book. It's titled The Gaza Tribunal Britain's complicity in genocide. We'll spend the hour with them. MP Corbyn, it's an honor to have you back on democracy now. Can you respond to the new prime minister, Andy Burnham, a man you know well over the

and his apology, what exactly does it mean? Well, it isn't really an apology. What it says is we got it wrong, which isn't quite the same thing, and says we've got to do better in the future. Then goes on to reiterate what we were told in Parliament that no weapons being sold to Israel could be used conceivably to kill people in Gaza. Well, if that is the case, then we should cease all arms trade with Israel, and we should certainly cease being a very important supplier of parts for the F-35 jets,

which has still been used to bomb and kill people in Gaza. And so it's not enough. It's not enough also to say we will sanction settlement goods, whilst at the same time not sanctioning those companies that work in and out of settlements and in Israel, which are supplying parts for other weapons. Likewise, the manufactured weapons by Israel, by Elbit systems at factories in Britain. So he hasn't gone, as far as I'm concerned, anything like far enough in this. And the point you made in addition is that if he is serious about a complete change of policy, if he's serious, it's a big if, then why are we

criminalising people who take part in protest in Britain. A number have already been convicted and face long stretches in prison. These are non-violent direct action protests. And there are also probably 2,500 to 3,000 people who have been arrested for holding a placard in contravention of the Terrorism Act 2000, which is basically labeling anyone that holds a placard up saying, I support Palestine action, calling them a terrorist.

These includes people in their 80s and even 90s, retired Anglican clergy people and many others. It's an absurd situation. If we are going to be serious about supporting the Palestinian people and the genocide they're still going through, we would also stop allowing Israel to use the Royal Air Force. space in our criteria. We'd stop the sharing of security information with Israel. We would isolate Israel's military actions, all of which are directed against the Palestinian people. It's simply

not enough. You know, just coming into London overnight, I was looking at the news, and it's completely inundated with the controversial proposal, the plan now to release many people from prison to be able to fill it with other people. And you're talking about 3,000 people not clear they would all go to prison. But that's who we're talking about clearing the prisons for? We're talking about serious criminals being released early in order to make space for peaceful protesters who have simply said it's not on their conscience any longer that they can do nothing about the killing of Palestinian people. It is an absurd situation. I do think, think, by the way, there needs to be a reform by our prison system. And prisons should be a place

of rehabilitation and education rather than solely of punishment. But then that's, maybe it's a wider issue. But we're concentrating on this work that we did, which was, and it was wonderful working with Shahad and Neve to do this. And I want to talk about the tribunal, but one more thing. With your position as MP, you've presented a Private members bill to Parliament. You did that about a year ago. Now, for the world, they don't understand private members' bill, but is this still relevant, and what did you propose?

It's extremely relevant and is still very relevant. Because the government had consistently refused to have an open inquiry into the way decisions were made, what information was shared in the bombardment of Gaza, and the use of RAF bases, I then proposed a private member's bill, which means it's a backbench bill by an individual MP, i.e. myself, it got through its first stage, and so we had the bill printed and published

and the details of the bill very carefully thought out and presented. It was then blocked for the main debate, which is when it would become a live issue within Parliament. We expected that. So we then set up the independent tribunal, which we're now talking about. We're now into a new session of Parliament because each parliamentary session lasts around a year. The new session is underway.

I've secured a slot for the 11th of September to present the bill again. And hopefully, I can't predict for certainty what will happen, we get a debate on it. Basically, what we're saying is after the Iraq war, the complexity of Britain in the war crimes in Iraq became very obvious through Sir John Chilcott's inquiry. We want another inquiry, but this time with more teeth, to deal with the connivance of people in misleading information, selling weapons which have been used to kill people.

If the Foreign Office are really expecting us to believe that none of these weapons that we're sending to Israel at the moment can be used to kill anybody in Gaza, then we need to know exactly what weapons are being sold. We don't. Professor Neve Gordon, you have are getting a number of signatures. You can tell us how many. An open letter, what, to the prime minister.

Can you explain what you are calling for? So again, the prime minister said that Britain got it wrong, and we are suggesting that if it got it wrong, then this shouldn't remain on the realm of discourse, but should manifest itself into action. So we're raising, of course, the criminalization of the Palestine action activist, and we can talk a bit more about how they've been criminalized maybe later on, and we're calling to deprescribe. the group, which was prescribed as a terrorist group in July 2025.

If you could actually address that right now, because I think it can be puzzling to many people around the world that these protesters are now called terrorists. And there are a handful who have been sentenced. So there's two issues here. One is we have a group of people that decided that, that protesting and calling on the government to change its actions is no longer viable

in terms of bringing about change. And therefore, they have decided to take direct action and to try to stop the transfer of these weapons that have been used to kill Palestinians in Gaza to the Israeli military, to be used, used for the destruction of the Gaza Strip. They have been criminalized by the British government in such a way that they have been prescribed

not as a radical movement, but as an actual terrorist group. And if they are a terrorist group that then the sentences they will receive for carrying out what could be really minor property offenses like riding graffiti on an airplane as a terrorist act. And anyone that supports them, and that's the 3,000 and somewhat retired people that you mentioned, can also be sentenced to jail. Now, what happened, the second issue is that what happened in the trials is that these people were, not allowed to explain their motivations. Now, let me give you an example. Let's say someone wants to attack right here in the studio, Jeremy Corbyn, and Shaiyad jumps up and pushes that person away. And that person sprains their ankle and sues Shaiad. She is not allowed to explain in court

that basically she was trying to defend Corbyn from the attack. So, these people that were sentenced are not allowed to explain their motivation to prevent a much greater harm than the harm that they carried out, which was the destruction of property. That is not allowed in court. And then the legislature also distinguished between the verdict and the sentencing. So the jury could not hear their motivations, had to decide whether they destroyed some property, decided that they did indeed destroy some property. But then instead of being tried for a criminal offense of the destruction of property, they were tried as terrorists. So there's a separation between verdict and sentencing, and the judge can decide on that separation. and can decide to judge them as terrorists for a crime that actually the whole court case was about the destruction of property.

So I want to turn to the case of the British lawyer facing contempt charges over his closing speech during a trial of Palestine action activists. Rajiv Menin-K-C. is accused of misleading the jury and ignoring directions by the judge when representatives. when representing Charlotte Head, one of the four activists jailed for criminal damage after they broke into an Elbit Systems Weapons Factory in Fulton in August of 2024. At a recent online webinar titled Descent Into Authoritarianism, the Regiv Menin KC case, legal experts spoke about the contempt of court charges being brought against Menon. At the end of the event, Menon himself spoke briefly to thank supporters and spoke about the case of the Filton 24, the activist arrest in charge for their direct action break in at the Open Systems Weapons Factory. This is what he said. It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the Filton 24. The incredible young people who risked everything. Excuse me, to speak truth to power and to do what they thought was right when they engaged in direct action against the Elbit Systems factory and Filton. It was an enormous privilege for me to represent Charlotte Head, together with Simon and Kate.

We fight on for her against the draconian sentence that she received from the very judge who instigated the proceedings against me. and that battle will continue as long as it needs to continue. So that's Rijiv Menin, who has been held now in contempt of court, the attorney for the Palestine action activists. Israeli professor Neve Gordon, you cite him directly in this letter, open letter that scores of people have signed on to scholars and practitioners of international law. Talk about including him and what exactly you are demanding of Prime Minister Burnham in this open letter. Well, basically, the judge is not allowing the defense lawyers to defend their clients.

It's not allowing to explain the context in which their actions took place and is not allowing the lawyer to do his job in this case. When the lawyer tried to do his job, which is his calling, I need to the best of my effort to defend these people, he was held in contempt of court. And if it goes through, he might even be debarred. And this is one of the UK's major barristers and who is well respected, and it is unheard of this kind of attack, both on the activists. that were not allowed to speak during the trials and explain their motivations and about the defense team that were not allowed to carry their jobs. And so there's a whole, what we see here is, again, this I think is also part of the complicity of the British government.

Because as it enhances diplomatic support, inviting the President of Israel to come to meetings here, the one that signed the rockets on the Gaza border that were later being launched against civilians in Gaza. As it's doing that, it is introducing new legislation that includes what we've just discussed, but also includes outlawing speech like, the river to the sea, intifada, anti-Zionism, and things like that, to silence any kind of mobilization in collective action against probably the worst crime in the 21st century. And so we're seeing this double movement of those that have been supporting the genocide, basically being spread a red carpet, while those that take a stance and come out against it being criminalized.

I want to bring in the third author of the new book, The Gaza Tribunal, Britain's complicity in genocide, Shahad Hamuri, a Palestinian-Jordanian lecture on international law and legal theory at the University of Kent served as co-chair of the Gaza Tribunal, along with the Israeli professor Neve Gordon and the British MP Jeremy Corbyn. Thanks so much for being with us, Shahad. If you could start off by talking about the awareness within the British populace, the public, how their taxpayer dollars are spent. What is the awareness of Britain's relationship with Israel?

So to begin with, let's be very clear, had it not been for the UK's material support to Israel, we could have saved tens of thousands of lives. And it was very clear for the people who went to the street that if something, to happen by the UK's government, we are able to save those lives. So an apology coming far too late into the future is almost offensive rather than anything that would relinquish people or allow us to breathe. So as to the British people's understanding of what was happening, it is indeed very disturbing to see the distortion that happened through mainstream media, such as the BBC, for example,

where representations of Palestinians as less human were not only normalized, but but also deep fear of the other was ingrained over and over and over again. Listening to the news, it was as if one is listening to the world saying that their life, and specifically their right to say no to a settler colony that has deprived us of our life for five generations now is criminalized over and over again. And the sad thing is that not only were the British people not allowed to know what was happening within their money, with their money, but also they were not allowed to even protest it,

and whoever protests it is also demonized within the media space. So this was clearly where the edge of the so-called democratic system has reached. We've reached the edge of the establishment's rule, or the establishment space where it allows us to express our opinions in the sense that the moment that we touch its own interests in West Asia and Israel being the main a factor of that interest in facilitating. that, that is where everything stops. That is where an autoimmune reaction happens within the system, so natural within the system, that it automatically reacted by blocking out any

imagination, any understanding or humanization to stop this bloodshed. Shahat Hamuri, you've talked about what's happened in the streets, but also the suites and the government offices, that there was a kind of policy to silence and even punish civil servants who dared to speak out. So as we saw in the testimonies that were presented in front of us, civil servants, and it must be said very close to or invoking questions that were discussing the Nuremberg trials, were faced with an option of you're either damned if you speak or damned if you don't, in the sense that if they were to follow their own consciousness and say no against decisions that would give economic

support to Israel. And let's be clear, under international law, any support to Israeli war economy, not just to the settlement economy was a form of supporting the genocide and falls outside of the UK's obligations when they tried to notify that. And when other civil servants try to note that sending weapons or anything of the like is indeed in violation of Britain's own law as well as international law, they were faced with the choice. You either leave your job or you stay silent.

I wanted to go to Mark Smith. He testified at the Gaza Tribunal. He was a British Foreign Office official who resigned in protest over continued arms sales to Israel. This was back in August, 2024. Smith was the lead official on the U.K. arms export licensing report, which assessed whether the U.K. was legally compliant. He chose to only testify by voice. I want to get your response to the Shahad. This is some of his testimony.

What I witnessed while working on that report was profoundly concerning. While I was working on the report, I was routinely asked to change the report. This was not to correct mistakes or to ensure accuracy, as would normally be the case, with a civil service report. but I was actually asked to alter the wording, placement of paragraphs, and to emit key information, so that it, quote, unquote, sounded less bad. So this is absolutely counter to what we are trained to do as civil servants, and it's something that I have never witnessed in my career, either prior to or follow. working on this particular report. It was also fully understood in the department that we would have these conversations in person and not want those conversations to be requested by a court.

So for anybody listening here, there have been hundreds, if not thousands, of conversations within the walls of the Foreign Office on the most controversial aspects. of our arms sales policy, which will never be seen by the public, which will never be put into a court, even a closed court, because we have them in person. So that was Mark Smith testifying at the Gaza Tribunal last year in London, chaired by our three guests today. He was a British Foreign Office official who resigned in protest. And this is Fran Heathcote, a British trade unionist and general. Secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union.

We further believe that across some areas in the civil service and its related areas, the Civil Service Code is being used to prevent our members engaging inactivity to help the people of Gaza. Fran Heathcote, British Trade Unionist, Mark Smith, Shahid Hamoudi, talk about the significance of this testimony and also where this tribunal led. So, indeed, so as I said, when we teach students about the Nuremberg trials, we ask them how we're civil servants that were put in such positions, what is there more of responsibility? What we have with Mark Smith is someone who is clear that signing this paper is to have not only

blood on his hand, but to be complicit in the most atrocious crimes of which we cannot speak. And the fact that we see this reaction at all levels of the UK's government tells us how deeply ingrained is the establishment in establishing the borders of how far can British rule of law as well as British democracy go and within spaces we're not allowed to speak to speak when you see these things. These people were deprived of their human rights to say no to be in a genocide and indeed this is one of the most dangerous red lights that we could see in any government whereby it is absolutely normalized to hide away one of the biggest crimes in humanity,

even if it's just through signing papers and saying yes to cooperation of the Israeli military. We're going to break and then come back to this discussion. Shahat Hamuri is a Palestinian-Jordanian lecture in international law and legal theory at the University of Kent. Neve Gordon is a professor here in London, and Jeremy Corbyn is a professor. British MP. They are co-chairs of the Gaza Tribunal that has led to a new book, the Gaza Tribunal, Britain's complicity in genocide. We'll be back with them in a minute here in London. By the Palestinian Ood musician, Houd Asford, performing in our Democracy Now studio.

This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the Warren Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. We're broadcasting from London to today and tomorrow on Thursday. As we go back to the Gaza Tribunal, one of the witnesses was plastic surgeon, Dr. Victoria Rose. She first joined missions to Gaza through the charity ideals in 2019, where she contributed to the development and training of limb reconstruction specialists in Gaza. Since 2024, she's undertaken multiple humanitarian missions in Gaza.

In her testimony, she spoke about. about operating on children each and every day and shared her operating history from one single day in May of 2025. I looked at one day's operating in May, and we operated on six children. We started with an 18-month-old child. That's not the youngest child I treated, with a 15% burn. We then went on to a three-year-old boy with a 35% burn. In the UK, that is a 50-50 survival burn, and it would go to probably one of only two units that would be able to look after that child.

I then operated on a five-year-old girl who had had her arm blown off. She was down for an amputation, but we managed to salvage half of her hand and most of her forearm and shoulder. I then operated on her sister, whilst my colleagues operated on her mother in the theatre next door, her sister had had her left cheek and shoulder blown off.

I then operated on a seven-year-old girl who had had her knee blown off, and my final case was a 13-year-old boy who had his left ankle blown off, and his brother was, being operated in the theater next door. Dr. Victoria Rose testifying at the Gaza Tribunal in London last year. Again, we are joined by the co-chairs of the Gaza Tribunal, Shahad Hamuri, who teaches at the University of Kent, Neve Gordon, here in London, a professor, and British MP Jeremy Corbyn, who ended up co-authoring a book together, the Gaza Tribunal, Britain's complicity and genocide.

It. Neve Gordon, we just listened to what happened in a hospital. You are formerly the first Director of Physicians for Human Rights Israel. I'm wondering if you can talk about Israel's systematic attacks on hospitals and health care workers in Gaza, not to mention journalists right now. And also, how Britain has dealt with the issue of international law, the UK questioning the ICC's jurisdiction to protect Israel? So we heard from Victoria Rose about one day operating on children. In the testimony itself, we also heard about the conditions. under which she was operating. And these are conditions where all the hospitals,

all 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip, were bombed, a lot of them damage, but many of them completely destroyed, and where there was no med. Israel did not allow access to medicine, did not allow access to fuel that you need for electricity to run these hospitals. And basically, systematically,

and deliberately, decimated the medical field in the Gaza Strip. And I would say, the listener needs to understand that when you're attacking a hospital that serves a large population, it's not only the harm that is generated through the immediate attack, but it is the reverberating harm. And that reverberating harm, I would suggest, is equal to weapons of mass destruction because the amount of people that are going to be killed from these attacks is today unknown, but it's in thousands. And Dr. Abusa, the head of the Kmeladoan Hospital in Gaza, still imprisoned? So we have 1,700 health workers that were killed in the Gaza Strip, and that is about three times more than the level of civilians. So you're three times more.

likely to be killed in the Gaza Strip if you're a health worker than if you are a civilian. And then we have scores of doctors and health care workers that were disappeared or taken into Israeli jails. And we know that in these jails they have been tortured and some of them have been raped. So there's a systematic assault on the life-saving and life-sustaining situation in the Gaza Strip. And the English government is instead of looking at this pattern of assault where we have over 900 attacks on medical units in Gaza, instead of looking at it and seeing there's a pattern here, it's systematic and deliberate, is looking at each and every single attack and saying, maybe there was a reason to attack it because maybe combatants were hiding in the hospitals.

And what we see is only trees and we've lost sight of the forest. And the forest is the destruction of the health system in Gaza. British MP Jeremy Corby. In the United States, the majority of those who voted in the Democratic caucus, we have not seen this before, people like Congressmember Rokane and others, voted to end military support for Israel. Talk about the shift, if there is one in the British Parliament, Also, coming back to your new Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, where he was on this and the space you feel protest, what role protest plays in moving this forward? I want to say a big thank you to all those in the United States that have protested in March for Gaza,

march for the Palestinian people, because I know the hardship they faced, and I know the number of students that, lost positions because of the encampments and so much else. So I'm going to say a big thank you to all our friends in the US for what they've done and continue to do on this. And it's clearly making a difference. Look at the election results in the Democrat primaries. Look at the change that's happening. In Britain, it's been a more complicated process because the British government's relationship

with Israel is incredibly close. It is security cooperation. And there is a huge Israeli influence on the British political system. and it's very hard to hit back against that in support of the Palestinian people. But nevertheless, we've had enormous demonstrations of Britain. The biggest was almost a million who marched on the US embassy. And I think my estimation is almost 2 million people in Britain have done something in support of the Palestinian cause. Parliament is way behind the curve and all this, but it's beginning to change.

Way behind the curve, but change is happening before my very eyes. One night there was a manoeuvre in Parliament to prevent a vote on a ceasefire. The reaction, the public reaction was so huge on that. A week later, you couldn't move for Labour MPs using the word ceasefire in their speeches in Parliament. Things have changed. Now, Andy Burnham said what he said. I think it's inadequate. I think it's very late.

I think it's very unclear. But nevertheless, he only said that for a reason. And that was the reason was the electoral pushback against the Labour Party because of its complicit in genocide and because of the findings of what this book is about. And so my message is this. Protest works. It can be very frustrating going on a march.

You think, well, what have I done? I've just been in a march. Whereas the Palestinian people are losing everything as a result. If it's all we can do, it's an act of solidarity, it does change things. But the points that Neve is making, the points that you're having, the points that Shahad was making. Palestinian kids are dying of starvation, of dehydration, of operations that can't succeed because of the lack of anesthetic

and even antiseptic. And within a few kilometres, everything is available. This is a human-made murder of Palestinian children. It is an act of genocide. Protest, please, do all you can. Our book is part of that protest. and we sent copies to Andy Burnham and to Ed Miliband and invited them to meet us to discuss the findings of our tribunal and have the courage to set up a government-sponsored public inquiry into Britain's complicity.

And Shahat-Murdy, from Palestine to Iran, your final thoughts? Well, they're all the same part of what needs to happen. And in the sense, if the UK regrets its position in relation to Palestine, then the UK needs to stop support. supporting the U.S. in its attacks against Israel, further destabilization as well as taking it away against the sovereignty of nations within West Asia. The U.S., UK, should have never been in West Asia. It's an area for its people, not for the plunder and exploitation of foreigners. And do you feel that Andy Burnham is listening?

I highly doubt it, to be honest. However, we shall try with every single point that we have to bring forward the paradoxes of what has happened to the English legal system as well as the English democratic system in order to put a mirror in front of them so that they can no longer claim any moral superiority after their hands are full of blood. And hoping that with that we can bring forward change little by little as per the fact that the British people are more than ever, as per the American people, aware of what is happening and aware of a very simple fact, and that is the people of the region should never be controlled by foreign entities, and they have every right to live equally like everyone else.

I want to thank you all for being with us. Shahat Humori, Palestinian Lecture in International Law and Legal Theory, University of Kent. Neve Gordon, Israeli political scientist, professor of international law and human rights at Queen Mary University of London and British MP Jeremy Corbyn. They three co-chaired the Gaza Tribunal and co-authored the new book, Just Out the Gaza Tribunal, Britten's complicity in genocide. That does it for our show.

I hope you all have glasses to see the total eclipse tonight or 90% here in London. You can watch it through a calendar. Oh, or through a colander. That's the new one that I've been hearing. And tonight at that same time, I'll be at the Bertha Dockhouse at the Curzon Cinema in Bloomsbury for two screenings at 620 and 9 of Steel This Story, please. Thanks to Dennis Moynihan. I'm Amy Goodman. Thanks so much for joining us.

I'm in London.