Welcome to Andy Worthington

Photos and Report: Dismay and Determination at the Global Vigils for Guantánamo’s Closure on November 6, 2024

9.11.24

Photos from, and my report about the nine monthly coordinated global vigils for the closure of Guantánamo that took place across the US and around the world on November 6, 2024, the day after the US Presidential Election that, alarmingly, will see Donald Trump reinstalled in the White House on January 20. It was a difficult day, of course, although it sharpened all our realizations that now President Biden has no more excuses for inaction, as he has just two months left to salvage something of a legacy on Guantánamo by finding new homes for the 16 men long approved for release who are still held.

UN Report Condemns Unparalleled Violence, Including Torture, Rape and Murder, in Israel’s Unaccountable Prisons for Palestinians

1.11.24

Key findings from, and my analysis of a significant report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, issued on October 10, dealing with Israel’s notorious and unaccountable prisons for Palestinians. Always brutal and fundamentally lawless, involving military courts and “administrative detention” (endlessly renewable imprisonment without charge or trial), the prisons, in which children are also held, along with women and men, have quadrupled their population since October 7, 2023, from around 5,000 “detainees” to around 20,000. Conditions in the prisons have noticeably worsened, with the ICRC prevented from visiting, on the orders of security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and with torture and abuse systematic and widespread, incidences of rape taking place, and over 50 “detainees”, including doctors abducted from hospitals, having died in unexplained circumstances. Much of the focus is on the notorious Sde Teiman prison, where “detainees” seized in Gaza have been held, although the abuse is widespread throughout the entire prison system, which, at various points, I compare with the US’s barbaric treatment of prisoners in the CIA “black sites”, at Bagram in Afghanistan, Abu Ghraib in Iraq, and Guantanamo, often finding that Israel has not only matched, but also exceeded the depths of depravity to which the US sank in its “war on terror.” This is my second article about the Commission’s report, the first having focused on its sections detailing Israel’s “war” on Gaza’s hospitals and its healthcare system.

The Failures of “Regeneration” Exposed on the 6th Anniversary of the Violent Eviction of the Tidemill Garden Occupation in Deptford

30.10.24

My reflections on the two-month occupation, and the subsequent violent eviction of the Old Tidemill Wildlife Garden in Deptford, to try to prevent its destruction as part of an ill-conceived and inappropriate housing development, undertaken by the housing association Peabody, in conjunction with Lewisham Council. Six years on, building work is still not complete, with most of the flats in the dense and unattractive blocks raised on the ghosts of the garden unoccupied, and work still ongoing on the conversion of the former primary school into ‘luxury’ flats and townhouses for private sale. I conclude that the Tidemill re-development — now known as ‘Frankham Walk’ — is part of a downturn in the whole wretched business of “regeneration” that has been so dominant over the last 20 years, and make particular reference to Thamesmead, the Brutalist estate on the outskirts of south east London, where Peabody’s £2bn plan for its “regeneration” is stalling, and where the developer is also in conflict with tenants who want their properties refurbished rather than destroyed. I also discuss how the new Labour government, despite promises to build 1.5m new homes, has no vision whatsoever about how to build genuinely affordable housing, and remains wedded to the private developer-led model that has been such a disaster over the last two decades.

Gaza: The Normalization of Genocide Through the Complete Complicity of the West and Its Colonization by Israel

25.10.24

My latest long read about Israel’s ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip, focusing on the horrendous policy being implemented in the north, to ethnically cleanse or exterminate the entire remaining population, of around 400,000 people. Through a review of the first year of Israel’s assault, in which it claimed “the right to defend itself”, for which it received unconditional support from most of the government’s of the west, whilst also claiming that its aims were “eliminating Hamas” and rescuing the hostages seized on October 7 last year, I demonstrate how, with the implementation of this latest phase of its attacks, it has crossed a line into actions that cannot be defended through any of the excuses noted above. Israel has crossed a line by seeking to depopulate the whole of the north of the Gaza Strip, prior to it being declared a “closed military zone”, because the wholesale ethnic cleansing it has been undertaking for the last three weeks (allegedly to force everyone to evacuate to the south), accompanied by the intensity of its extermination of the civilian population, is making clear that its alleged aim of only pursuing military targets is nothing but a lie, behind which, as with Israel’s recent attacks on Lebanon, stands a now-exposed and profoundly illegal hunger for repopulating northern Gaza, and southern Lebanon, with Israel settlements. I also focus on how western complicity in these crimes is being exposed like never before, as Israel’s pretence of self-defence has evaporated, and stress how important it is for those of us in the west to recognize how our governments have been so thoroughly colonized by Israel that our own freedoms are also gravely threatened, because, to protect Israel and to continue supporting its actions, despite their startling brutality and illegality, our leaders seem determined to permanently erode the right to free speech, the right to protest and the right to dissent in any meaningful manner whatsoever.

The Bleakness of Guantánamo, as Biden’s End Nears

22.10.24

A crucial update on Guantánamo, with just two weeks left until the Presidential Election, in which I review Biden’s progress — or the lack of it — towards the prison’s closure over his nearly four years in office, look at what can be expected, and what should be pushed for after the election, and celebrate the importance of the efforts made by opponents of Guantánamo’s continued existence — via our ongoing monthly vigils, and our ongoing photo campaign — to pierce the fog of amnesia and inertia that engulfs the prison. With no one freed from Guantánamo for the last 18 months, I look at the plight of the 16 men still held despite being long approved for release, and mark the recent passing of Tina Kaidanow, the former ambassador appointed to facilitate resettlements for these men, whose efforts were stymied by her bosses when she negotiated resettlements in Oman that were cancelled because of the “political optics” after October 7 last year. I also examine the wreckage of the military commissions, where necessary plea deals with the 9/11 accused, whose prosecutions are impossible because of the torture to which they were subjected, were overruled by defense secretary Lloyd Austin, and I also provide a reminder about the absolutely devastating report and opinions about Guantánamo that were issued by UN Special Mandate holders last year, which were shamefully brushed aside by the Biden administration.

Where Will It End? The Limitless Depravity of the Renewed Assault on Northern Gaza

20.10.24

Another necessary update about Israel’s ongoing assault on northern Gaza, where, it is abundantly and heartrendingly clear, a particularly malignant version of the “Generals’ Plan” for the ethnic cleansing of the whole area, home to 400,000 inhabitants, has been underway since the start of the month, and is now being implemented with unprecedented savagery. Hundreds of civilians have been killed in relentless bombing raids, all three of northern Gaza’s surviving hospitals have been violently decommissioned, the western media haven’t even realized what is happening (or don’t care), and Israel’s leaders, meanwhile, are still promising that Israeli forces will operate in Gaza for “years to come”, even after the killing of Hamas’ leader, Yahya Sinwar, on Thursday. I point out how impossible the notion of continuing military operations in Gaza “for years to come” is, because, by then, quite genuinely, no Palestinian will be left alive, and I wonder whether western leaders — in the US in particular — have any intention of finally acting decisively to stop Israel before it matches the most notorious crimes against humanity committed by the Nazis in the Second World War. Without intervention, that is exactly where this unfettered genocidal fury is heading.

With Yahya Sinwar’s Death, Israel’s Genocidal Aims Are Exposed More Than Ever Before

17.10.24

With the death of Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’ leader, the inevitable triumphalism of Netanyahu, and wider Israeli society, is fundamentally misplaced, as I explain here, because he died on the frontline, not hiding in a tunnel, as Israel alleged, and will therefore be an inspiration to the continued resistance to Israel’s occupation. However, the triumphalism is most fundamentally misplaced because his death exposes how Israel’s claims regarding its actions over the last year — eliminating Hamas — has effectively reached a dead end, and it will be increasingly difficult for Netanyahu and his ministers to now avoid an ever-brighter burning spotlight shining on what they are really doing in Gaza, which, from the beginning, has been a project of collective punishment, ethnic cleansing and genocide, with the ultimate intention being to empty the Gaza Strip of its Palestinian population, and to colonize it with Israeli settlers. Can the west really continue to support a seemingly ceaseless genocide when its true basis has now been so clearly exposed?

Don’t Look Away From the Inferno of Extermination in Northern Gaza

15.10.24

My update on the horrendous situation in northern Gaza, following an Israeli attack, on Sunday night, on displaced civilians and medical patients in the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Hospital, in Deir al-Balah in northern Gaza, in which a video captured a 19-year old student being burned alive. This image has gone viral, prompting widespread outrage, and I can only hope that it helps people to understand that the attack on the Al-Aqsa camp is just part of a truly depraved plan to empty the whole of northern Gaza of its 400,000 remaining residents. In theory, this involves issuing evacuation orders, and letting everyone leave, but the reality is far worse, as Israel is forcing the remaining hospitals to close, cutting off all supplies of food, water and medical supplies, engaging in increasing numbers of bombing raids, and also killing those who try to leave, via the use of snipers, and armed drones and quadcopters.

UN Report Confirms Israel Guilty of War Crimes and “Extermination” in Attacks on Gaza’s Hospitals

13.10.24

Key findings from, and my analysis of a hugely significant report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, issued on October 10, which found that “Israel has perpetrated a concerted policy to destroy Gaza’s healthcare system as part of a broader assault on Gaza, committing war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination with relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities.”

As the World Turns Away, Israel Renews Its Genocidal Assault on Northern Gaza

9.10.24

My latest article, providing urgent updates about deadly new developments in northern Gaza, largely ignored in the western media. Coinciding with the anniversary of the October 7 attacks, and the start of Israel’s year-long genocide, a horrific new plan has been initiated by the Israel military — to empty the whole of northern Gaza of its remaining 400,000 inhabitants. The plan, first publicized last month, is intended to create a “closed military zone” in the whole of the north of Gaza, with those still living there given just one week to comply with evacuation orders before they will, inevitably, be regarded as terrorists who can be killed. To secure its aims, however, Israel is already killing civilians, in bombing raids, through the use of armed drones and quadcopters, and via snipers on the ground, with additional reports that soldiers are going house to house and summarily executing those they find. A total siege has also been imposed, preventing the delivery of any food, water, fuel or medical supplies. Evacuation orders have been issued for the last three hospitals in the north, even though 300 critical ill patients have nowhere to go, and journalists have been specifically targeted, with one killed today, and several severely wounded.

Back to the top

Andy Worthington

Investigative journalist, author, campaigner, commentator and public speaker. Recognized as an authority on Guantánamo and the “war on terror.” Co-founder, Close Guantánamo and We Stand With Shaker. Also, photo-journalist (The State of London), and singer and songwriter (The Four Fathers).
Email Andy Worthington

CD: Love and War

The Four Fathers on Bandcamp

The Guantánamo Files book cover

The Guantánamo Files

The Battle of the Beanfield book cover

The Battle of the Beanfield

Stonehenge: Celebration & Subversion book cover

Stonehenge: Celebration & Subversion

Outside The Law DVD cover

Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo

RSS

Posts & Comments

World Wide Web Consortium

XHTML & CSS

WordPress

Powered by WordPress

Designed by Josh King-Farlow

Please support Andy Worthington, independent journalist:

Archives

In Touch

Follow me on Facebook

Become a fan on Facebook

Subscribe to me on YouTubeSubscribe to me on YouTube

The State of London

The State of London. 16 photos of London

Andy's Flickr photos

Campaigns

Categories

Tag Cloud

Abu Zubaydah Al-Qaeda Andy Worthington British prisoners Center for Constitutional Rights CIA torture prisons Close Guantanamo Donald Trump Four Fathers Guantanamo Housing crisis Hunger strikes London Military Commission NHS NHS privatisation Periodic Review Boards Photos President Obama Reprieve Shaker Aamer The Four Fathers Torture UK austerity UK protest US courts Video We Stand With Shaker WikiLeaks Yemenis in Guantanamo