Welcome to Andy Worthington

Trump Unites the World in Support of the Palestinians Through His Call for Ethnic Cleansing and the US Takeover of Gaza

10.2.25

My analysis of, and condemnation of Donald Trump’s deranged press conference with Benjamin Netanyahu last week, when he called for the ethnic cleansing or forced displacement of the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip, framing it as a humanitarian move, and also, to everyone’s surprise, called for the US takeover of Gaza to develop it as “the Riviera of the Middle East.” Reassuringly, Trump’s performance galvanized support around the world for the Palestinians, more noticeably than at any time in the last 16 months, although his proposals are not only a complete affront to international law; they also undermine the ceasefire deal that he was instrumental in finalizing, via his Middle East Envoy, Steve Witkoff, just three weeks ago. I explain how the ceasefire deal, as I describe it, “isn’t something that can be tossed aside as an irrelevance, just because Trump wants to be seen as a humanitarian ethnic cleanser, and a conquering real estate developer”, and I express my hope that the ceasefire will hold, that international pressure will be applied to stop the escalation of Israel’s aggression in the West Bank, and that Israel, fundamentally fatigued and isolated as a result of its 15-month genocide, will realize that the only lasting solution is “for the Palestinians to be free to establish their own autonomous state in Gaza and the West Bank, with its capital in East Jerusalem — the only just solution, and the only guarantee of a lasting peace now as it has been for the last 58 years.”

Trump is Illegally Holding Migrants Seized in the US in the “War on Terror” Prison at Guantánamo Bay

8.2.25

In a disturbing development involving Guantánamo and Donald Trump’s “war on migrants”, it has emerged that ten Venezuelans seized on the US mainland and flown to Guantánamo are not being held in the migrant detention facility that has been used for migrants intercepted at sea since the 1990s, but are being held instead in Camp 6 of the “war on terror” prison, established in 2002. While the legality of sending migrants to the Guantánamo naval base has not been established, it is abundantly clear that no authority whatsoever exists to justify imprisoning migrants in the “war on terror” prison — even those, like these men, who are accused of involvement in the Tren de Aragua gang, designated as a terrorist group. As the Center for Victims of Torture explained in an important briefing yesterday, only those allegedly involved with Al-Qaeda, the Taliban or associated forces, in connection with the 9/11 attacks, can be held at Guantánamo according to the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), which justified its creation. As CVT added, the AUMF “does not authorize military detention of migrants, criminals or anyone broadly designated as a ‘terrorist’ or member of a Foreign Terrorist Organization.” As lawyers begin to prepare legal challenges, it seems inconceivable that the Trump administration can defend its actions — but these are such troubling times that nothing about the law seems certain anymore, as Trump seeks to position himself as thoroughly unaccountable.

To Hold 30,000 Migrants in Prison at Guantánamo, How Does Trump Propose to Redefine Them So They’re Beyond the Reach of the Law?

5.2.25

My detailed examination of Donald Trump’s cynical and provocative announcement, last week, that he had issued an executive order for the massive expansion of an existing migrant detention facility on the US naval base at Guantánamo Bay to hold 30,000 migrants as part of a monstrous “war on migrants” that has been unfolding since he took office just two weeks ago. I look at how Trump drew on the use of the facility to hold, at one point, 25,000 Haitian and Cuban migrants in the 1990s, and also at how he is using the proximity of the nearby “war on terror” prison to suggest that the migrants are “terrorists”, who should be held without rights, and how officials in his administration have reinforced this notion by describing those to be sent to the facility as “the worst of the worst.” I also examine the deeply troubling legal basis — or the lack of it — when it comes to holding migrants at Guantánamo, which has long been used by the US government as a “law-free zone”, and question who it is intended for, when Trump has already massively expanded the use of “expedited removal” to allow immigration enforcement agents in the US to remove undocumented migrants and send them back to their home countries without being able to meet with a lawyer or have any kind of immigration hearing. This is especially troubling as reports emerge of the first arrivals at the migrant facility, and I wonder, in particular, if Trump will, as I describe it, seek to create “a new law that would explicitly endorse holding undocumented migrants at Guantánamo indefinitely on the basis that they pose a direct threat to the US and its security as ‘invaders’ or ‘terrorists.’”

Israel Defeated As A Million Palestinians Return to Northern Gaza From Exile in the South

28.1.25

In my latest long read about Israel and Palestine, I celebrate, unreservedly, the triumph of the Palestinians over unimaginable adversity, as, via the terms of the ceasefire deal agreed on January 15, a million civilians began a “Great March of Return” from the south, where they had been exiled for up to 15 months, to their shattered homes in the north. This return, ending the four-month long “Generals’ Plan” for the erasure of northern Gaza, along with the withdrawal of Israeli soldiers from the Netzarim Corridor, which separates the north from the south, confirms the failure of Israel’s military aims, beyond its depraved determination to kill as many civilians as possible, demonstrating how every “war” — even one I describe as a “one-sided aerial pogrom lasting 15 months” — ends either with compromise, or with conquest and surrender, and with the compromises of the ceasefire deal clearly signalling the way forward, now that Israel’s seemingly endless genocidal fury has run its course. As Hamas officials once more begin to administer life in the Strip, I examine how the only way forward now is for Israel to drop its insistence that Hamas “can play no role” in Gaza’s post-war future, to recognize it as the administrative government, and to allow negotiations to proceed towards granting independence for Gaza via elections in which the Palestinian people themselves can decide who they want to represent them.

Gaza Hostage Exchanges: The 90 Freed Palestinian Women and Children Ignored by the Western Media

23.1.25

My analysis of the hostage releases that took place as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal on Sunday, when three young Israeli hostages were freed, in exchange for 90 Palestinian women and children. Predictably, the western media focused almost exclusively on the Israelis, reinforcing the notion, entrenched over the last 15 months, that Palestinian lives have no value to western politicians and the mainstream media. In fact, almost all of those released had never been charged with a crime, and many had only been seized and “disappeared” into Israel’s extensive prison network of brutal and fundamentally lawless prisons for Palestinians because of social media posts or taking part in protests, making them, in quite a fundamental manner, hostages as well. The west’s indifference not only fails to credit Palestinian women and children with stories worth recounting; it also fails to examine or hold Israel to account for a truly repulsive prison system in which over 10,000 Palestinians are currently held, many without charge or trial, and many others under “administrative detention”, which can be endlessly renewed every six months without any trial ever taking place. I also reiterate my hope that, because the hostage releases are phased over the next three months at least, Netanyahu cannot seriously contemplate resuming the genocide in Gaza that many still want, especially as the devastation in Gaza becomes ever more apparent, and, hopefully, as international bodies are allowed in to to assist with the enormous humanitarian requirements of the surviving population, and to begin the plans for its reconstruction.

No Return to Genocide As the Gaza Ceasefire Begins and the Extent of Israel’s Policy of Extermination Is Revealed

21.1.25

As the ceasefire in Gaza enters its third day, I report on what must be the almost unimaginable relief of Palestinians now that the relentless fear of sudden death has come to an end, but how they now face the new challenges of finding out whether or not their homes have survived, and searching for the remains of their loved ones, buried in the rubble or shot in the streets. While I hope that the release of hostages in stages over the next 18 weeks means that Israel cannot resume its deadly violence, I also note the vital return of humanitarian aid, but point out how it also needs to be accompanied by foreign support in rebuilding Gaza’s destroyed hospitals and healthcare system, and the almost unthinkable task of reconstruction in general — not just for its own sake, but also as another crucial obstacle to any attempts by Israel to think that it can resume the policies of extermination that it has been inflicting on Gaza for the last 15 months.

Video: “Guantánamo at 23”, My New America Event with Tom Wilner and Karen Greenberg, and My One-Hour Podcast Interview with Margaret Flowers

19.1.25

The video of the powerful and poignant online discussion about Guantánamo, hosted by New America, which took place on January 14, marking the 23rd anniversary of the opening of the prison three days earlier, featuring myself, Tom Wilner and Karen Greenberg, and moderated by Peter Bergen. Also included: a link to my one-hour interview with the activist Margaret Flowers for her “Clearing the FOG” podcast on Popular Resistance.

Dare We Hope That the Gaza Ceasefire Deal Will End the Horror of Israel’s Extermination of the Palestinian People?

17.1.25

My report about the ceasefire deal for Gaza, which was announced on January 15, and which will begin to be implemented on Sunday (January 19), the day before Donald Trump’s inauguration. I examine how Trump, via his envoy Steve Witkoff, seems to have played a central role, to fulfil his intention of starting his presidency as the “hero” who stopped the war and secured the release of Israeli hostages, the first of whom will be freed as his presidency begins. This would seem to unmistakably show up President Biden and Antony Blinken for their own failures to have ever stood up to Netanyahu, especially as the ceasefire deal is almost identical to one that could — and should — have been implemented eight long months ago. While I have no hopes that Trump, surrounded by rabidly enthusiastic supporters of Israel, will bring peace to the Palestinians, with the most likely scenario being that violence will be ramped up in the West Bank, I’m unwilling to declare that the ceasefire will be broken by Netanyahu after the first of its three phases, as some are discussing, because Hamas has only agreed to free hostages over all three phases of the deal, and the release of hostages is so important within Israel itself that any backsliding could be politically fatal. I also hope that the ceasefire will last because international organizations and observers will have to be allowed into Gaza in significant numbers, and, in addition, because of a creeping war fatigue in the Israeli military, exacerbated by the pursuit of soldiers in courts around the world, following on from the ripples of accountability created by the issuing of arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant in November.

Photos and Report: Close Guantánamo Vigils Marking the 23rd Anniversary of the Prison’s Opening, January 11, 2025

13.1.25

Photos from, and my report about the vigils for the closure of Guantánamo that took place across the US and in London on January 11, 2025, the truly shameful 23rd anniversary of the opening of the prison. Most of those involved are part of the coordinated monthly global vigils that have been taking place on the first Wednesday of every month for the last two years, and which will continue under Donald Trump. With 15 men recently released, the vigils involved a huge sense of relief that Biden had finally taken action after 20 months in which no prisoners were freed, but 15 men still remain, all held in what I describe as “varying states of lawlessness.”

Video: I Discuss Guantánamo Past, Present and Future with David Swanson on Talk World Radio

8.1.25

The video of my half-hour interview with the great peace activist David Swanson for his Talk World Radio show, which is syndicated by the Pacifica Network throughout the US, in which I was very helpfully and generously given the time to explain the many crimes of Guantánamo past, present and future. As David helpfully entitled the show, “Close Guantánamo While Its Victims Are Still Alive.”

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, singer/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