Middle East Press On: Palestine Action Ban, Kurds, Israel: New Age Islam's Selection, 1 December 2025
By New Age Islam Edit Desk
1 December 2025
Clownish Proscriptions: Challenging The Palestine Action Ban
Israel Needs To Find A Way To Move On After Years Of Netanyahu Corruption Trial
Why Israel’s Security Interests Now Depend On Supporting The Kurds
Istanbul Derby Reborn In Gaza: Players Defy Genocide To Revive Sports
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Clownish Proscriptions: Challenging the Palestine Action Ban
by Dr Binoy Kampmark
November 30, 2025
On 20 June, members of Palestine Action broke into a Royal Airforce base at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, going on to spray paint two military aircraft activists claimed were being used in “direct participation in the commission of genocide and war crimes across the Middle East.” This was deemed so horrible as to draw the ire of then Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, who went on to invoke section 3 of the Terrorism Act to proscribe the organisation.
At the time, it seemed impulsive, rash and most likely intended to placate Israeli voices that something was being done about these bleeding hearts in Albion. Toby Cadman, Member of the International Bar Association’s War Crimes Committee Advisory Board, was in no doubt that the proscription was fashioned “as a blunt instrument to silence certain voices on Palestine at a moment when public opinion and government policy are sharply at odds.”
It did not take long for those well versed about human rights to protest this scrappy measure as absurd and needlessly authoritarian. The UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, counting among their number Francesca Albanese, Ben Saul and Irene Khan, issued a press release in early July expressing their bafflement at the proscription. “According to international standards, acts of protest that damage property, but are not intended to kill or injure people, should not be treated as terrorism.” Since the addition of Palestine Action to the naughty list of outlawed organisations, over 2,200 arrests have been made citing terrorism legislation, with 254 people charged with terrorism offences merely for participating in peaceful protests.
Even within government circles, this measure did not fly smoothly. That most terrier-like human rights activist and former diplomat Craig Murray got his hands on a leaked report by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) revealing that the impulsive decision to proscribe the organisation had been a fumbling episode riddled with mendacity. The JTAC could hardly be said to be devotees of Palestine Action, but they did struggle, at points, to see the alleged, outsized terrorist demon shadowing their actions. “The majority of the group’s activity would not be classified as terrorism under Section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2000.”
The process is well underway to challenge the order as a breach of Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention of Human Rights, which protect freedom of expression and freedom of assembly and association. On 17 October, the Court of Appeal confirmed that Huda Ammori, co-founder of Palestine Action, could seek a judicial review of the proscription decision by the Home Office. Three judges upheld the July decision by the lower court to grant judicial review, rejecting the flimsy arguments by the Home Office that Ammori could merely seek to “deproscribe” the organisation via application to the Secretary of State, then appeal further to the Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission (POAC), if refused. This could hardly be an adequate remedy.
The appeals court also found that the Secretary of State had failed to consider that the acts of protest used by Palestine Action could not meet the criminal threshold. The wider support shown for the organisation had also been ignored. The judges further singled out a mischief common to many governments: that the addition of Palestine Action to the list of proscribed organisations was done for an improper purpose. Organisations dedicated to civil disobedience should not fall within the proscription regime, yet here we were, seeing rattled politicians terrified by the actions of a less than incendiary organisation.
To give the finding a fine rounding off, the judges also noted that the criminalisation of the organisation potentially breached the Equality Act 2010, notably section 149. There had been little regard paid to eliminating discrimination, advancing equality of opportunity, and fostering good relations.
The organisation has been able to count on some powerful submissions to aid their cause. Liberty, the UK’s foremost domestic human rights organisation, paired with Amnesty International as intervening parties to assist the High Court in reaching its decision.
The feisty arguments of these bodies against the proscribing of Palestine Action draw from Lord Hoffman’s firm observation in a case concerning, rather strikingly, the actions of organised protesters keen to create mayhem on a US airbase. Not only did the judge refer to that “long and honourable history” of civil disobedience in the UK, he also thought reference to the suffragettes a reliably sturdy comparison. When it came to such actions as the destruction of property, it was “the mark of a civilised community” that such protestation and demonstration could be accommodated. There was a fundamental “moral difference” between those engaged in civil disobedience and those engaged in ordinary lawbreaking.
On 26 November, Raza Husain KC told urged the court to consider that the proscription was “repugnant to the tradition of the common law and contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights.” The government had “imposed extreme measures on a protest group (which enjoyed widespread popularity among the British public) seeking to expose, protest and prevent serious violations of international law by Israel, and the complicity of the UK government and companies in the UK therewith, including by seeking to obstruct the continuing supply of weapons and components to Israel.”
Ultimately, issues of proportionality will be central to any successful judicial review. The property damage that arose in the case could not be compared with those instances counter-terrorism legislation was intended to cover, which considers the intent to commit acts of violence against people. The object of the organisation had to also be considered, distinguishing aims abhorrent to a society respecting human rights, and those whose intention was to uphold international law.
Saul, the UN Special Rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights, also intervened in the case to challenge the proscription as unlawful for being incompatible with Articles 10, 11 and 14 (the non-discrimination provision) of the ECHR, and grounds of public law. Assistance to that end has been supplied by notes from the UN special rapporteur on the rights of peaceful assembly and association, Gina Romero, and Khan, the UN Special Rapporteur for the promotion and protection of the right of freedom of opinion and expression.
Across the globe, protest is being curtailed by jittery authorities eager to see a rabid terrorist in the clothing of a demonstrator. This clownish effort by the Starmer government against Palestine Action, one of a long and running list, has brought the importance of civil disobedience and lawful assembly to the fore. Will the high court bite?
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20251130-clownish-proscriptions-challenging-the-palestine-action-ban/
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Israel Needs To Find A Way To Move On After Years Of Netanyahu Corruption Trial
By Jpost Editorial
December 1, 2025
Four years of investigations. Five years of an ongoing trial. Three hundred and thirty-three prosecution witnesses. Two hundred thousand dollars’ worth of cigars and champagne were allegedly received.
Finally, on Sunday, the bombshell dropped that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had submitted a formal request for a presidential pardon to President Isaac Herzog, in what the President’s Office described as an extraordinary move with significant implications.
Netanyahu’s attorney, Amit Hadad, delivered the 111-page request to the Legal Department of the President’s Office. Under standard procedure, it has now been transferred to the Justice Ministry’s Pardons Department, which will gather professional opinions from all relevant authorities.
Those assessments will then be forwarded to the President’s Legal Advisor and her team, who will prepare an additional recommendation for Herzog before he makes a final decision.
Sources yesterday told The Jerusalem Post that the estimate is that it will take weeks, even up to two months, to fully examine the request along with its supplementary materials.
And therein lies the rub. Weeks and months. In the world of Israeli bureaucracy, time stretches on in a never-ending cycle of committees, appeals, special requests, and meetings. The trial has been no different.
Many Israelis are frankly fed up with the trial and its length, whatever their personal stance on Netanyahu and his politics. Equally, there are many who wish to see the trial continue until its conclusion.
It was the second request for a pardon after US President Donald Trump took the highly unusual step of sending an official letter from the White House to Herzog, urging him to grant Netanyahu a full pardon from the corruption charges.
For months, Netanyahu said publicly that he would not ask for a pardon if it required admitting guilt. He insisted that the trial was “absurd” and a “witch hunt,” and that he would ultimately be acquitted.
Netanyahu thanks Trump for support, requesting pardon
In interviews and speeches after Trump’s letter, Netanyahu thanked Trump for his “incredible support” but repeated that he would not plead guilty or accept any arrangement that implied wrongdoing.
However, no such admission of guilt came with Netanyahu’s request. So where does that leave the country and its prime minister?
The best conclusion would probably have been the option of a plea bargain, followed by a quiet retreat from political life. But that is not Netanyahu’s style, plus that ship sailed long ago. So is this the second-best option? The truth is, justice should always be played out until the end, in order to guarantee a pillar of Israeli democracy.
For years, however, the Israeli judiciary has come under immense attack for its alleged politicization of legal matters.
As the Post wrote after the trial began, “Watching Israel’s prime minister appear in court on charges of fraud, bribery, and breach of trust should make all Israelis uncomfortable. At the same time, we should be proud of the fact that we live in a democracy in which all citizens should be treated equally and fairly by the law of the land.”
At that time, on top of being on trial, Netanyahu was attempting to form a government two weeks after the election. In the end, despite winning the most mandates, he failed to do so, leading to the short-lived Lapid-Bennett coalition, which was in essence anti-Bibi.
The judicial hoo-hah contributed, back then, to parties’ being adamant about not sitting in government with Netanyahu. Well, elections are at most 11 months away in Israel.
After two years of trauma, war, death, and incredible pressure across the whole of society, Israelis need to think carefully before choosing the next government. It will have to determine which way Israeli society moves into the future. With the haredi draft and West Bank annexation alone, there are major issues on the table to be faced in the future.
Netanyahu has not shied away from the challenge of standing again for election, but maybe he should not do so again under the shadow of the trial. Maybe it is best to give Israelis the chance to express their views on Netanyahu at the ballot box. Does that mean doing away with justice and laws? No. But after 10 years of this, and moving forward into a post-Israel-Hamas War world, this issue needs to be put behind Israel.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-876768
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Why Israel’s Security Interests Now Depend On Supporting The Kurds
By Suzan Quitaz
November 30, 2025
Two significant outcomes of the Middle East Peace and Security (MEPS) Forum, held in the Kurdish city of Duhok Opens link in new window. in Kurdistan-Iraq: one is the show of unity between the Kurds in Iraq and Syria,Opens link in new window. and secondly, that “Syria will not return to being a centralized state.”
Masoud BarzaniOpens link in new window., the former president of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of the autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq, called for “not repeating the mistakes of the past” that led to Kurdish fragmentation and intra-division. It’s a key message to Damascus that the era of denying the legitimate rights of the Kurds in SyriaOpens link in new window. is gone.
The three-day summit brought together distinguished world leaders, policymakers, academics, and experts at a pivotal moment for the region post–October 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel.
The guest of honour, who caused a “social media frenzy,” was Commander-in-Chief Mazloum Abdi, the Kurdish-Syrian general of the American-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), who was invited by KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani.
Abdi speaking at the MEPS summit and pictured sitting next to Barzani with the Kurdish flag seen in the background was shared thousands of times on all social media platforms.
It showed the KRG’s commitment to the continued survival of the SDF-run Kurdish region of Rojava in northeast Syria. Needless to say, this enraged the regime in Damascus. Its Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa, a former colleague of mine at the Qatari news channel Alaraby TV, stated: “Western countries [are] continuing their interference in Syrian affairs through their support for SDF forces, and the Duhok Forum is evidence of that.” It’s ironic that al-Mustafa talks about “Western interference” but ignores the Turkification of Syria post-Assad.
President Barzani underlined that the Kurdish question in Syria must be resolved democratically and peacefully. Furthermore, Barzani stressed the importance of unity, cohesion, and coordination among Kurdish forces and political actors, and noted that the rights of the Kurdish people must not be violated.
Abdi also spoke about President Barzani’s role in efforts to bring Kurdish parties in Syria closer together and to rebuild unity among them, and added that he highly valued the KRG’s support over the past several years and praised the Kurdish Peshmerga for their contributions to defeating ISIS. He also had a message to Damascus: “Syria will not return to being a centralized state.” Furthermore, he added that “Kurds can be a political factor for prosperity, peace, and security in the Middle East.”
The Kurdish leadership in Syria must insist on federalism; this is the only way to secure Kurdish rights. The current regime in Damascus is an exclusive elite dominated by Sunni Arab Islamists. Ahmed al-Sharaa, the president, is a former leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), designated a terrorist organisation by the UN, the EU, and the United States.
He has allocated all key governmental positions to his former jihadi friends. To name a few, the Defense Minister post went to Murhaf Abu Qasra, previously known as Abu Hassan al-Hamawi, a key military leader in HTS.
The Foreign Minister post went to Assad al-Shaibani, who operated for years within jihadist militias under several aliases, including Abu Aisha, Abu Ammar al-Shami, and Zayd al-Attar.
Al-Shaibani was invited to speak at Chatham House on 13 November. This was his first public event in the United Kingdom. During the discussion, he was questioned about the situation with the Druze, the Kurds, and Israel.
He accused Israel of playing “a negative role in Syria’s future,” shoring up typical Arab fascist propaganda by committing horrific massacres against ethnic and religious minorities and always blaming “an outside force” to be behind it.
Back in March 2025, following the horrific massacres on the Druze in Suwayda, in which more than 1,000 people were murdered, and with UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk declaring that among the perpetrators were members of the security forces and individuals affiliated with Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government, al-Shaibani gave an interview to Alaraby TV, blaming Israel for being behind it, saying: “What is happening in Suwayda is happening in a Syrian city. The people of this city are our people, and the protection of all the residents in it is the responsibility of the state (…) what happened in Suwayda is done by Israel to spread sectarian sedition in that region.”
In regard to the Kurdish question, al-Shaibani opposes what he called a “special situation” in northeast Syria, Rojava, which for the past decade and a half has been governed by an autonomous Kurdish-led administration. Al-Shaibani talked about a “reintegration” of the south (Druze region) and northeast of Syria. His “reintegration” is nothing more than forcible assimilation.
The political decisions in Syria post-Assad are in the hands of the Turkish government. On a similar level, its media narrative is in line with the Turkish and Qatari rulers. As long as these two actors continue interfering in Syria’s internal affairs, the threat against minorities including the Kurds, the Druze, and the Alawites will continue. That threat is also extended to Israel.
Israel should not withdraw from the “Syrian buffer zone” in the south and should continue providing support and protection to the Druze in Syria. Israel needs to strengthen its ties with the Kurds in Rojava and the autonomous Kurdish region in Iraq. It should put more pressure on the US administration not to withdraw its support of the SDF and to continue its military presence in Iraq, especially in the Kurdish region.
Kurds and Jews are natural allies
Kurds and Jews are often perceived as “others” or internal/external enemies by the same state actors who are hostile to Israel—e.g., Iran, Turkey, and some Arab countries. In fact, Kurdophobia is the second biggest hatred after antisemitism across much of the Middle East, often driven by state-sanctioned propaganda, media, and educational materials in countries like Iran, Turkey, Syria, and even some Arab and Muslim communities.
The Kurdish question has been politically weaponised; top officials in countries like Turkey, including Muslim Brotherhood–affiliated media outlets, often use anti-Kurdish rhetoric to discredit Kurdish movements by linking them to external “enemies,” meaning Israel.
Kurdish aspirations for establishing a homeland for the over 60–70 million Kurds are denied on the basis that “there is no such thing as the Kurdish people.” All Arab states, including the Palestinian Authority, have historically been opposed to an independent Kurdish state, viewing it as a potential “poisoned sword against the Arabs” or as an Israeli project to destabilise the region.
Historically, Jews and Kurds lived together in thriving communities for centuries. While almost all Jews from the region have since moved to Israel, Syrian and Iraqi Kurds, in particular, often show more positive views of Jews and Israel compared to Arab populations, partly due to a shared history of discrimination and rejection of Arab nationalist ideologies that often incorporate anti-Zionism, antisemitism, and anti-Kurdish sentiment.
Of course, with the exception of some Islamist Kurds who hold anti-Israel views, it aligns with broader regional Islamist sentiments.
There is a significant population of Kurdish Jews in Israel, primarily descended from those who fled Iraq and Iran in the mid-20th century. They number around 200,000 people today and are a well-integrated part of Israeli society. They played a central role in generating support for their Kurds and Kurdistan, and thanks to them the general Israeli public opinion of Kurds is often highly positive.
They also played a key role in pushing the Israeli government to provide support (humanitarian, military, and intelligence) to Kurdish groups in Iraq back in the 1960s.
Israel was also the only country to openly support the 2017 Kurdish independence referendum. Millions of Kurds, especially the younger generation, see the State of Israel as a model of a nation born from persecution.
Now it’s time Israel lent its support to the SDF.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-876713
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Istanbul Derby Reborn in Gaza: Players Defy Genocide to Revive Sports
November 30, 2025
Despite extensive destruction to the Gaza Strip’s sports facilities due to the two-year Israeli genocide, local athletes have held a symbolic football match to demonstrate resilience and revive athletic activity in the territory.
The event, held Saturday at a small, surviving five-a-side field in the Nuseirat refugee camp, featured Palestinian players who previously competed in Gaza’s local leagues. The match was staged to replicate the famous Istanbul derby between Turkish clubs Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe.
The symbolic game was organized by the Turkish aid association “Deniz Feneri” and saw the participating players wear the jerseys of the two rival Turkish teams. Flags of Turkey, Palestine, and both football clubs were displayed at the field, drawing a noticeable crowd of camp residents.
Haitham Abu Samra, the coordinator for Deniz Feneri, stated that the match was intended to “resurrect the sporting life that Israel assassinated over two years of genocide.” He added that the event aimed to “breathe life and hope” into a sports sector that has been significantly paralyzed.
The match, which ended with a victory for the team representing Galatasaray, concluded with a small trophy presentation and the distribution of symbolic medals.
Ayoub Abu Zaher, a sports coach and former player, emphasized the message of the event: “We came here to embody the spirit of the athlete and their right to practice sports despite the destruction, bombing, and killing in Gaza.” He called for greater opportunities for international sports outreach and joint activities.
The match underscores the immense losses incurred by the territory’s sporting sector.
Jibril Rajoub, President of the Palestinian Football Association, confirmed last week that over 289 sporting facilities have been completely destroyed, with fields and halls “leveled to the ground.” He reported that thousands of athletes have been killed, wounded, or remain missing.
According to the Government Media Office in Gaza, 894 Palestinians involved in various sports—including players, coaches, and administrators—have been killed since the genocide began on October 7, 2023.
The symbolic match took place two years after the start of the genocidal war, which was halted by the first phase of a ceasefire agreement signed on October 10, mediated by Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey. The Israeli genocide resulted in over 70,000 Palestinian casualties and extensive infrastructure damage, with the United Nations estimating reconstruction costs at approximately $70 billion.
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/istanbul-derby-reborn-in-gaza-players-defy-genocide-to-revive-sports/
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