Human rights activist arrested by anti-terror police for a single tweet faces censorship and snooping for speaking out against genocide
Brighton-based Jewish left-winger and human rights activist Tony Greenstein faces censorship and an assault on his privacy after he was arrested last week for a single tweet supporting Palestinian resistance in Gaza against Israeli genocide.
Greenstein was bailed until spring after a nine-hour detention and the confiscation of his electronics, but Skwawkbox understands that the bail conditions imposed upon him represent a severe invasion of his privacy and an assault on his freedom of speech:
- Greenstein must reside at his flat and sleep there every night – a significant issue when he has a son with special emotional needs living at a separate address
- He is banned from commenting on Twitter/X about Gaza and Palestine
- If he buys a new phone – his previous one remains with police – he must notify police of the phone number and also of the IMEI number of his handset
Phone manufacturer Blackview strongly recommends that anyone with a mobile phone keep their IMEI number – the unique 15-digit identifier of the physical handset – private and do not share it with anyone untrustworthy(!), because of the grave security risks, because possession of the IMEI allows a third party to:
- Track your phone. If your phone is stolen, the person who stole it can use your IMEI number to track your phone’s location [even if it is switched off or the SIM card is swapped]
- Block your phone from being used on a network. If you report your phone as stolen, your phone carrier can block your IMEI number from being used on their network. This will prevent the phone from being used to make calls, send text messages, or use the internet.
- Use your phone to commit fraud. Some criminals use stolen phones to commit fraud, such as making unauthorized calls or sending spam messages. They can also use your phone to access your personal information, such as your bank account details.
- Clone your phone. It is possible to clone a phone’s IMEI number. This means that the criminal can create a duplicate of your phone that has the same IMEI number. This can be used to commit fraud or to track your movements.
Of perhaps even greater concern is the ban on posts about Gaza and Palestine. As one of the UK’s most outspoken Jewish advocates of Palestinian rights and Israel advocates’ war on freedom of speech in the UK and elsewhere – and a fearless critic of Israel’s fake news and invented evidence used to justify its genocide in Gaza – Greenstein’s importance to the political debate is considerable – which may well be a contributing factor to his targeting by police, presumably acting on complaints from pro-Israel right-wingers.
Greenstein was given a suspended sentence in September after a farcical trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court in which he and fellow Palestine Action activists were convicted of criminal damage against Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit despite no damage being done, and so faces the imposition of that sentence if convicted of the latest accusation. The pro-Israel lobby, however, has no qualms about seeing troublesome opponents jailed for speaking out against mass murder and apartheid.
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A taste of what to expect as common place should Starmer get elected as PM. Yet another example of the impacts on freedom of thought and speech put in place, with Starmer’s backing, by the Tory Fascists.
The UK is a de-facto Police State.
Someone should publicly ask Starmer if he agrees or disagrees with the statement reported here by the Jerusalem Post:
https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-778367
“Israel should be sending Palestinian Gazans fleeing the fighting to refugee camps in Lebanon, with the entire Gaza Strip being emptied and leveled and turned into a museum like the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, Metula Council head David Azoulai told 103FM.
“After October 7, instead of urging people to go south, we should direct them to the beaches. The Navy can transport them to the shores of Lebanon, where there are already sufficient refugee camps. Then, a security strip should be established from the sea to the Gaza border fence, completely empty, as a reminder of what was once there. It should resemble the Auschwitz concentration camp,” he said in an interview with Ben Caspit and Yinon Magal.
“Tell everyone in Gaza to go to the beaches. Navy ships should load the terrorists onto the shores of Lebanon. The entire Gaza Strip should be emptied and leveled flat, just like in Auschwitz. Let it become a museum, showcasing the capabilities of the State of Israel and dissuading anyone from living in the Gaza Strip. This is what must be done To give them a visual representation.”
Worth recalling that Hamas are actually an elected organisation. They’ve never taken up arms against Britons directly only their colonial conquerors and those who’d profit from that Israeli colonialism.
It shows the damage done to our democracy by the Israel lobby, that the rights of our citizens to express themselves are being state curtailed in favour of the whims of what is merely a foreign country. And a sizeable proportion of our population is either Black, Asian and Mixed-Race. Israel’s non-tourist areas would hazardous to them and there are towns where they could not even rent a room. If they can’t criticise what is merely a foreign, what chance they being allowed to hold domestic racism in policing, education, health, welfare etc, to account?
No point voting Starmer et al if you are Black!
“Worth recalling that Hamas are actually an elected organisation.”
They were once upon a time?
https://freedomhouse.org/country/gaza-strip/freedom-world/2023
It is worth recalling that Hamas were proscribed in the UK over 20yrs ago under the 2000 Terrorism Act, way back in the days when Robin Cook was Foreign Sec.
Worth recalling that legal justifications were used to excuse slavery and the exterminations and torture of western empire. The quasi legal arguments used to condemn resistance by Zulus, Native Americans, people of India, Native Australians against western empire are now used by racist filth who’d sooner side with settlers on the other side of the globe, than warn Black Britons or the horrors they’d face in apartheid Israel.
It was only November 2021 when the BBC announced that Hamas was soon to be declared a terrorist organisation. See –
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59346441
The Kenyan so-called Mau, Mau were similarly treated as terrorists by the media yet nearly 60 years later the UK government compensated Kenyan victims of British racial oppression. 90,000 had been subjected to either death, torture including castration, rape, rape with rodents etc. A further 160,000 had been imprisoned without trial. Making a total of 250,000 victimised in total.
The extent of the horror was documented in Prof Caroline Elkins Pulitzer Prize history ‘Imperial Reckoning’.
Let’s hope racist filth won’t make us wait 60 years for justice for Palestinian victims.
Bernie – Did you read past the headline of the BBC article that you’ve quoted? 🤔
“Home Secretary Priti Patel has announced she is seeking to declare the whole of Palestinian militant group Hamas a terrorist organisation.
The military wing of the group which controls Gaza is already proscribed a terrorist organisation by the UK.
However, the change will also cover the Islamist movement’s political wing.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/proscribed-terror-groups-or-organisations–2/proscribed-terrorist-groups-or-organisations-accessible-version#list-of-proscribed-international-terrorist-groups
Hamas IDQ was proscribed by the UK in March 2001. At the time it was HM government’s assessment that there was a sufficient distinction between the so called political and military wings of Hamas, such that they should be treated as different organisations, and that only the military wing was concerned in terrorism. The government now assess that the approach of distinguishing between the various parts of Hamas is artificial. Hamas is a complex but single terrorist organisation
As you say, Skwawkie, this may result from complaints made by bad-faith actors, in the Brighton area.
My only surprise is the local ‘Bobbies’ seem to have fallen for it, without much effort being exerted, on them. As I recall, there were elements within this local constabulary, who tried to close down Simon Maginn, by tweeting warnings about his #itwasascam tweets.
Perhaps, HM Inspector of Constabulary needs to hold an investigation of this East Sussex police force and their connections, and inter-actions, with Zionist rabble-rousers, in the area.
We have to take a very clear stance against this and in solidarity with Tony.
Tje Americans – as dense as they are – at least passed a law to equate antizionism with antisemitism; no matter how ridiculous that actually is.
But here in
blightedblighty, you don’t even get that courtesy. The law and your civil liberties are arbitrarily withdrawn and abused if you so much as murmur discontent with a foreign state.Just shows how far in Israel has its hooks into other countries’ policies and business.
…And certain politicians.
The ones who won’t wear any Israeli *ahem* influence are demonised.
An elderly (but dynamic) British Jewish man is arrested for criticising Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza? The man is an expert on the Holocaust, the history of Israel & Palestine, and the current war. He has already been harassed by the State (under Braverman’s regime when she was Home Sec) for protesting arms manufacture for oppressive regimes, an illadvised prosecution causing tremendous stress to him. This is abusive enough. While Tony finds it hard to curb his loquaciousness and not give anyone else a chance to speak, and is widely known for this tendency, he is by a long shot one of the most informed independent scholar’s on the history of Zionism and the history of Israel and its oppression of Palestinians. The fact that this has happened does not surprise me. The Met Police are as dim a bunch as one can find and ill trained. Common sense has not been applied and they are doing a Pavlovian response to an unddoubted malicious complaint by CAA or similar dissemblers. What would Tony like those who know and understand the truth to do? Can we raise funds Can we stand by him at Court. Can we help get his case publicised? Rosie Brocklehurt aka Poetry Museum.
Whilst Tony is banned directly from commenting on the matter via the SM platforms there is nothing to stop him commentating indirectly via a swarm of proxies with the appropriate attribution along the lines of either ‘this is what Tony Greenstein says’ or ‘this is what Tony Greenstein would likely say.’
It just needs properly organising. Perhaps a number of other prominent ‘foot blisters’ (irritants/thorns in the side of the criminal Western oligarchs and their lackeys) like Jonathan Cooke, Norman Finklestein et al might be approached and persuaded to be part of such a proxy swarm?
Given the very restrictive nature of the law perhaps it would have been wiser for Tony Greenstein to have restricted himself to criticising Israel instead of expressing his support for a proscribed organisation.
Proscription offences
Proscription makes it a criminal offence to:
▪ belong, or profess to belong, to a proscribed organisation in the UK or overseas (section 11 of the act)
▪ invite support for a proscribed organisation (the support invited need not be material support, such as the provision of money or other property, and can also include moral support or approval) (section 12(1))
▪ 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 (section 12(1A))
▪ arrange, manage or assist in arranging or managing a meeting in the knowledge that the meeting is to support or further the activities of a proscribed organisation, or is to be addressed by a person who belongs or professes to belong to a proscribed organisation (section 12(2)); or to address a meeting if the purpose of the address is to encourage support for, or further the activities of, a proscribed organisation (section 12(3))
▪ wear clothing or carry or display articles in public in such a way or in such circumstances as to arouse reasonable suspicion that the individual is a member or supporter of a proscribed organisation (section 13) publish an image of an item of clothing or other article, such as a flag or logo, in the same circumstances (section 13(1A))
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/proscribed-terror-groups-or-organisations–2/proscribed-terrorist-groups-or-organisations-accessible-version
Why BBC doesn’t call Hamas militants ‘terrorists’ – John Simpson: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67083432
Proscription is the issue here. ‘Liberal’ democracies should not be comfortable forbidding their citizens freedom of thought. (of course their use will increase under Sir show-me-you-papers once he’s PM).
“You say eether and I say eyether,
You say neether and I say nyther;
Eether, eyether, neether, nyther…….”
Terrorist or Freedom Fighter? Netanyahu’s industrialised genocide makes the answer very easy.
qwertboi – Many will agree with both the BBC’s stance and the general gist of your arguments but it doesn’t alter the fact that the law is the law and we are where we are. I am simply pointing out that unless Tony Greenstein’s intention was to challenge the law by having his day in court (if and when he ever gets charged) then he would have been wiser to avoid publishing his support for a prescribed organisation.
Tony has challenged the (authoritarian/fascistic) effect of the law very, very effectively – if only by stimulating discussions like ours (here now) amongst supposed ‘citizens’ in authoritarian neo-liberal outposts of the American empire laughingly called ‘the free world’.
I fully support the stance Tony Greenstein takes and thank him for it.
Secondary popint: when your analysis of the vile legislation in question identifies its authoritarian effect, why do you not criticise its result and consequence instead of blindly accepting it? (a forrmer party member that is capable of such analysis and who voted for Jeremy Coryn (at least once) would surely oppose it even at a cellular (atomic) level?
He was certainly unwise to indicate a preference for Hamas over the Israel Defence Force as if either had been a choice for Palestinian civilians. But given the barbaric nature of Israel’s actions towards Palestine, its power and weaponry it is understandable he should feel so passionate. That should not make his comment an arrestable offence however, particularly given the current genocide. Common sense is lacking on all sides in this arrest. The fact that only other proscribed organisations such as Hizbollah, embedded in Lebanon, Yemen and Iran are doing anything to support Hamas’s ongoing resistance and probably supplied Hamas’s own weaponry is indicative of what an appalling decision for the Palestinian people it was by Hamas to attack Israel. What on earth did they think they could get out of taking on a virtual fascist Israeli Government? Israel caused this. Hamas made it far worse.