No other conflict in recent years has captured the emotions of so many people as Israel’s war on Gaza, with the former’s reputation taking blow after blow due to its own blows on thousands of Palestinian civilians’ lives. It is extremely revealing how small, recent events at home have reached the chattering classes tucked up in their halls of power when worse events abroad conjure no action.

Activists from Palestine Action, a self-described “movement committed to ending global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime,” broke into a British military base and damaged two planes in protest of the British government’s support for the government of Israel. The damage, which consisted of spray painting the planes red, was estimated to cost a whopping seven million pounds. It never ceases to amaze me at the number of rich people the government can create at the expense of so many.

The group commented that its “activists have interrupted Britain’s direct participation in the commission of genocide and war crimes across the Middle East.” The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, sprinted to Parliament to immediately move measures to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist group under the 2000 Terrorism Act, commenting on X that there must be little tolerance for terrorism. The groups of vandals that regularly spray paint state-owned trains in London must be quivering with fear of being labeled as terrorists because they are damaging critical state infrastructure!

The vote to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist group passed Parliament by 385 votes to 26, showing that stupidity springs eternal from one of the world’s oldest parliamentary systems. They have now joined the ranks of Al-Qaeda with all the fabulous consequences that come with it, including up to fourteen years in prison for those convicted of “supporting” the group. ...

The events that have engulfed Gaza since the October 7 attack have captured the emotions of millions of people around the globe. The reaction has made so much progress in exposing the utter contempt the British political class has for their own supposed principles. Conservative ministers that rally against violations of freedom of speech amongst the party faithful when it is politically expedient are doing their very best to expose their hypocrisy when they call for Bob Vylan to be investigated for inciting violence. Cabinet ministers appear to be happy to show how utterly awful their principles are through comparison. Baroness Jacqui Smith said the comments were “disgusting” but chose the fence sitting position for Gaza. She is happy to call it intolerable but will make no real effort to stop the weapons sales.

The Israel lobby’s influence has also come to the fore and this will be extremely beneficial in the fight against foreign government influence in British politics. The British political class is devoid of principle, any sense of self awareness, or backbone. Public property damage and chants spur more action than the actual death and destruction of thousands of people’s lives. The government will state that it cannot cancel these licences because the decision may get caught up in hefty and lengthy legal action, but that only further exposes the illegitimacy of the entire system. The average person’s freedom of speech, freedom of association, and freedom to voluntary exchange is violated on a daily basis to such an extent that it is dragging the entire country’s progress back—but the government cannot end some licences because of various legal strait jackets. The British political system has constructed a legal system that no longer defend the freedoms of the individual. Instead, it seeks to entrench the politically powerful to prevent any change and preserve their power to routinely violate our natural rights. The crackdown on Palestine Action and Bob Vylan merely put it under a microscope.