4.1.24
On Tuesday, I was delighted to talk to the US radio host Misty Winston, on the Australian-based online radio station TNT Radio, about Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, and the imminent 22nd anniversary of the opening of the prison at Guantánamo Bay. The interview is available here on video, and I’ve also embedded it below, and the audio only version is available here.
Misty and I have spoken many times before, and our interview began 18 minutes into the one-hour show, after Misty spoke about the significance of the Jeffrey Epstein case, and her colleague Adam Clark spoke about the struggle against censorship — and for free speech — in the US election year.
Misty and I began by discussing Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza, with Misty thanking me for acknowledging, very early on in what Al Jazeera accurately calls “Israel’s War on Gaza”, but most western media disgracefully describe as the “Israeli-Hamas War”, that, after years of remaining silent on Israel’s crimes over the last 75 years, because I feared its impact on my Guantánamo work, I could no longer remain silent as what is very evidently a genocide began to unfold. Misty also thanked me for my writing, in which I’ve been covering the unforgivable lawlessness of Israel’s three-month assault, via my articles here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
Below is the video of the show, which I hope you have time to watch, and I also hope that you’ll share this article and/or the link to the show if you find it useful.
I ran through some of the key steps in the history of the last three months, from the early recognition that this was collective punishment, through the dawning awareness of genocidal intent, and the current Israeli enthusiasm for the complete ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip, and we then moved on to discuss the absolutely unforgivable death toll — over 30,000, according to the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, including 11,833 children and 6,009 women, and their assessment that 92% of those killed were civilians.
As I explained, watching a genocide take place in real time, openly celebrated by Israel, and fully endorsed by the west (and, in particular, the US government under Joe Biden, who seems mentally incapable of recognizing the enormity of the slaughter), has been making me feel physically sick, and all that keeps despair at bay, as, every day, we are consigned to a state of horrendous helplessness, is the bravery and steadfastness of the Palestinian people — and the almost unbelievable endurance of Gaza’s doctors and medics — and the realization that, around the world, and in vast numbers, people who have retained their fundamental humanity are also appalled to the core of their being.
In terms of accountability, the only glimmer of hope currently — in the complete abdication of responsibility of the International Criminal Court (ICC) — has come via South Africa’s powerful 84-page submission to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), accusing Israel of “genocidal acts” in Gaza, and backing up its claims with evidence drawn from those on the ground in Gaza, as well as from Israel’s leaders, and other prominent figures in the media and in Israeli society, who have openly incriminated themselves via a tsunami of genocidal comments since October 7. I’ll be writing more about this submission, which will be heard by the court next week, very soon.
As I explained, if we’re not to see the total collapse of international humanitarian law, then Israel’s leaders and its cheerleaders must be held to account, as well as the western leaders and major Zionist organizations in the west who have also supported and endorsed genocidal intent through their words and actions.
Misty and I also spoke about the 30 men still held at Guantánamo, and, in particular, the 16 men who have been unanimously approved for release by high-level US government review processes, but are still held because the decision to release them were purely administrative, and have no legal weight, meaning that there is no way whatsoever that the US government can be compelled to free them (via a ruling by a federal court judge, for example).
As I explained, what this means for the men approved for release is that they have been languishing at Guantánamo for what, on the coming anniversary, will be between 475 and 1,169 days since the US first decided that it no longer wanted to hold them — and in three cases for a staggering 5,102 days. This is unforgivable in its own right, of course, but what it also means, as I was at pains to point out, is that these men are still held as fundamentally without rights as they were when Guantánamo opened nearly 22 years ago, when its location was specifically chosen to be beyond the reach of the US courts.
I also noted how three other men — including Abu Zubaydah, for whom the post-9/11 torture program was specifically developed — remain as “forever prisoners”, their ongoing imprisonment without charge or trial repeatedly endorsed by these unaccountable review processes, and how the other eleven men, caught up in the military commission system, are no better represented in terms of the law, despite having been charged (and, in one notorious case, convicted), because the entire trial system is also irredeemably broken, fatally contaminated by the use of torture in CIA “black sites.”
I also spoke about events marking the imminent anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo, which I’ll be writing much more about in an article to be published soon, and I thank Misty for her interest in, and support of my work, and look forward to talking to her again soon.
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Andy Worthington is a freelance investigative journalist, activist, author, photographer (of an ongoing photo-journalism project, ‘The State of London’), film-maker and singer-songwriter (the lead singer and main songwriter for the London-based band The Four Fathers, whose music is available via Bandcamp). He is the co-founder of the Close Guantánamo campaign (see the ongoing photo campaign here) and the successful We Stand With Shaker campaign of 2014-15, and the author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison and of two other books: Stonehenge: Celebration and Subversion and The Battle of the Beanfield. He is also the co-director (with Polly Nash) of the documentary film, “Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo” (available on DVD here, or you can watch it online here, via the production company Spectacle, for £2.50).
In 2017, Andy became very involved in housing issues. He is the narrator of the documentary film, ‘Concrete Soldiers UK’, about the destruction of council estates, and the inspiring resistance of residents, he wrote a song ‘Grenfell’, in the aftermath of the entirely preventable fire in June 2017 that killed over 70 people, and, in 2018, he was part of the occupation of the Old Tidemill Wildlife Garden in Deptford, to try to prevent its destruction — and that of 16 structurally sound council flats next door — by Lewisham Council and Peabody.
Since 2019, Andy has become increasingly involved in environmental activism, recognizing that climate change poses an unprecedented threat to life on earth, and that the window for change — requiring a severe reduction in the emission of all greenhouse gases, and the dismantling of our suicidal global capitalist system — is rapidly shrinking, as tipping points are reached that are occurring much quicker than even pessimistic climate scientists expected. You can read his articles about the climate crisis here.
To receive new articles in your inbox, please subscribe to Andy’s RSS feed — and he can also be found on Facebook (and here), Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. Also see the six-part definitive Guantánamo prisoner list, The Complete Guantánamo Files, the definitive Guantánamo habeas list, the full military commissions list, and the chronological list of all Andy’s articles.
Please also consider joining the Close Guantánamo campaign, and, if you appreciate Andy’s work, feel free to make a donation.
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, singer/songwriter (The Four Fathers).
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4 Responses
Andy Worthington says...
When I posted this on Facebook, I wrote:
Here’s my latest article, linking to, and discussing my recent interview with the US radio host and activist Misty Winston on TNT Radio, in which we discussed the horrors of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza, and the imminent 22nd anniversary of the opening of the prison at Guantanamo Bay.
30 men are still held at Guantanamo, including 16 who have long been approved for release by high-level US government review processes, but they have not been freed because the decisions to release them were purely administrative, and, as a result, contain no mechanism whereby they can be legally enforced.
...on January 4th, 2024 at 6:14 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Lizzy Arizona wrote:
Thanks, appreciate your writing.
...on January 4th, 2024 at 11:07 pm
Andy Worthington says...
Thanks for the supportive words, Lizzy.
...on January 4th, 2024 at 11:07 pm
Andy Worthington says...
A sad update from the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor. The death toll in Gaza is now 30,676, including 12,040 children and 6,103 women. 28,201 of those killed are assessed to have been civilians. In addition, 58,960 people – of all ages – have been wounded, many of them severely. https://twitter.com/EuroMedHR/status/1742910421659754845
...on January 5th, 2024 at 12:47 am