UK government sent police details to Israeli Embassy amid Gaza protest probe

UK government sent police details to Israeli Embassy amid Gaza protest probe
Campaigners calling for an end to the war in Gaza hold their daily demonstration in the town centre of Keighley, northwest England, on June 14, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 29 April 2025
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UK government sent police details to Israeli Embassy amid Gaza protest probe

UK government sent police details to Israeli Embassy amid Gaza protest probe
  • Redacted emails show communication between Attorney General’s Office, deputy ambassador
  • Solicitor: This ‘clearly raises questions and needs further investigation’

LONDON: The UK government sent the contact details of counterterrorism officials to the Israeli Embassy amid an investigation into a pro-Palestine demonstration, The Guardian reported on Tuesday.

 

This has raised concerns about foreign interference in the UK’s justice system, with legal experts questioning the involvement of Israeli officials in a British legal matter.

On Sept. 9 last year, an email was sent by the Attorney General’s Office to Israeli Deputy Ambassador to the UK Daniela Grudsky Ekstein.

The email carried the subject line “CPS/SO15 (Crown Prosecution Service/counterterrorism police) contact details.”

It followed the arrest, under the UK’s Terrorism Act, of 10 Palestine Action demonstrators a month earlier.

The demonstrators were arrested after protesting at an Israeli weapons factory based in the UK, with a further eight being arrested in November in relation to the same incident.

The email was sent by Nicola Smith, the AGO’s head of international law. It was obtained through a Freedom of Information request by The Guardian and came 11 days after Smith had met Grudsky Ekstein on Aug. 28.

Aside from the subject line, the content of the email was redacted. Minutes of the meeting between the two officials are available but heavily redacted.

Past disclosures of requests by the Israeli Embassy to the AGO show repeated attempts to intervene in individual British legal cases. The AGO has rejected intervention attempts by the embassy in the past.

In 2023, Douglas Wilson, AGO director general, said in a response to a redacted request from the embassy: “As we noted … the Crown Prosecution Service makes its prosecution decisions and manages its casework independently.

“The law officers are unable to intervene on an individual case or comment on issues related to active proceedings.”

Lydia​ Dagostino from Kellys Solicitors, which is representing several Palestine Action activists, said: “The information disclosed in response to a FoI request clearly raises questions and needs further investigation.

“Why, for example, did the Attorney General’s Office provide the contact details for the Crown Prosecution Service, an independent body, to the Israelis?​

“What further exchanges followed and was there discussions about ongoing criminal prosecutions?​”

International lawyer and academic Dr. Shahd Hammouri​ raised concerns about the evidence obtained by The Guardian “which indicates foreign influence.”

The use of anti-terror legislation by the UK government against the protesters has also caused alarm.

In November, four UN special rapporteurs wrote to the government and expressed concern over the “apparently unjustified use” of terrorism laws against the demonstrators.

The UK’s Terrorism Act 2000 allows people arrested under the act to be detained for up to 14 days without charge.

Those arrested in August were initially held for 36 hours without access to legal representation, the four experts warned. The protesters were then detained for a further seven days.

“Counterterrorism legislation, including the Terrorism Act 2000 and the Terrorism Act 2006, appears to have been increasingly used in the context of domestic support for Palestinian self-determination and political activism against the UK’s foreign policy on the conflict in the occupied Palestinian territory of Gaza,” the letter by the four human rights experts said.

“In particular, members of Palestine Action — a grassroots movement that organizes direct actions against Israeli weapons factories in the United Kingdom — have reportedly been arrested under counterterrorism legislation for conduct that appears to be in the nature of ordinary criminal offenses and does not appear to be genuinely ‘terrorist’ according to international standards.”

The 10 protesters arrested in August have had limited legal support, family visits, healthcare and religious rights while awaiting trial in prison, the letter added.

In response to the communication between the AGO and Israeli Embassy, Huda Ammori, co-founder of Palestine Action, said: “The timing of this correspondence coincides with the ongoing investigation into Palestine Action activists accused of dismantling the … site of Israel’s biggest arms producer.

“It seems apparent that the Attorney General’s Office has facilitated foreign interference in this case and potentially other ongoing criminal cases.”

A government source told The Guardian: “It has been routine under successive governments for AGO to help embassies get in contact with the relevant authorities purely for purposes of sharing information that could be relevant to a case.

“Decisions to prosecute, convict and sentence are, rightly, made independently of government by the Crown Prosecution Service, juries and judges respectively.”


China ‘strongly’ urges India, Pakistan to avoid escalation

China ‘strongly’ urges India, Pakistan to avoid escalation
Updated 10 May 2025
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China ‘strongly’ urges India, Pakistan to avoid escalation

China ‘strongly’ urges India, Pakistan to avoid escalation

BEIJING: China on Saturday urged India and Pakistan to avoid an escalation in fighting, Beijing’s foreign ministry said, as the conflict between its two nuclear-armed neighbors spiralled toward full-blown war.
“We strongly call on both India and Pakistan to give priority to peace and stability, remain calm and restrained, return to the track of political settlement through peaceful means and avoid taking actions that further escalate tensions,” a statement by a foreign ministry spokesperson said.


Brazil’s Lula to visit China ahead of regional summit

Brazil’s Lula to visit China ahead of regional summit
Updated 10 May 2025
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Brazil’s Lula to visit China ahead of regional summit

Brazil’s Lula to visit China ahead of regional summit
  • Beijing is Brazil’s biggest trading partner. Its exports to China reached more than $94 billion last year

BEIJING: Brazil’s president will begin a five-day trip to China on Saturday, Beijing announced, ahead of a gathering of Latin American leaders in the country next week.
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s state visit comes at the invitation of counterpart President Xi Jinping and will last until Wednesday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday.
Since returning to power in early 2023, Lula has sought to improve ties with both China and the United States.
Beijing is Brazil’s biggest trading partner. Its exports to China reached more than $94 billion last year, according to the United Nations Comtrade Database.
The South American agricultural power sends mainly soybeans and other primary commodities to China, while the Asian giant sells semiconductors, telephones, vehicles and medicines to Brazil.
The two presidents are expected to attend next week’s summit between China and the 33-member Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
China is seeking to replace the United States as the main political and economic external influence in Latin America, where leaders have urged a united front against President Donald Trump’s global tariff blitz.
Two-thirds of Latin American countries have joined Beijing’s trillion-dollar Belt and Road infrastructure program, and China has surpassed the United States as the biggest trading partner of Brazil, Peru and Chile, among others.


South Korean conservative party moves to switch presidential candidates as election turmoil deepens

South Korean conservative party moves to switch presidential candidates as election turmoil deepens
Updated 10 May 2025
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South Korean conservative party moves to switch presidential candidates as election turmoil deepens

South Korean conservative party moves to switch presidential candidates as election turmoil deepens
  • The replacement still requires confirmation through an all-party vote Saturday and approval by the party’s national committee Sunday
  • Han and Kim have lagged well behind Lee in recent opinion polls. Lee, who spearheaded the Democrats’ efforts to oust Yoon

SEOUL, South Korea: South Korea’s embattled conservative party has taken the unprecedented step of nullifying its primary and replacing presidential candidate Kim Moon Soo with former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo just one week after Kim’s selection, deepening internal turmoil ahead of the June 3 presidential by-election.
Saturday’s move by the People Power Party’s leadership, which Kim denounced as an “overnight political coup,” underscores the desperation and disarray within the party following the ouster of former President Yoon Suk Yeol over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law in December.
Kim, a staunch conservative and former labor minister under Yoon, was named the PPP’s presidential candidate on May 3 after winning 56.3 percent of the primary vote, defeating a reformist rival who had criticized Yoon’s martial law. But the PPP’s leadership, dominated by Yoon loyalists, has spent the past week pressuring Kim to step aside and back Han, whom they believe stands a stronger chance against liberal Democratic Party frontrunner Lee Jae-myung.
Han served as acting president after Yoon was impeached by the legislature in December and officially removed by the Constitutional Court in April. He resigned from office May 2 to pursue a presidential bid, arguing his long public service career qualifies him to lead the country amid growing geopolitical uncertainty and trade challenges intensified by the policies of US President Donald Trump.
After failed talks between Han and Kim to unify their candidacies, the PPP’s emergency committee canceled Kim’s nomination in the early hours of Saturday and officially registered Han as a party member and its new presidential candidate.
The replacement still requires confirmation through an all-party vote Saturday and approval by the party’s national committee Sunday, which is the deadline for candidates to register with the election authorities.
Han in a message issued through the party claimed “if we unite, we can surely win.”
Speaking at a news conference, Kim lamented “democracy in our party died” and vowed to take unspecified legal and political steps, but it remained unclear whether any realistic path existed to restore his candidacy without the party’s cooperation.
Kim had opposed the legislature’s impeachment of Yoon on Dec. 14, though he said he disagreed with Yoon’s decision to declare martial law on Dec. 3. Kim had gained popularity among hard-line PPP supporters after he solely defied a Dec. 11 demand by an opposition lawmaker that all Cabinet members stand and bow in a gesture of apology for Yoon’s martial law enactment at the Assembly.
Han and Kim have lagged well behind Lee in recent opinion polls. Lee, who spearheaded the Democrats’ efforts to oust Yoon, ridiculed the PPP efforts to switch candidacies, telling reporters Thursday, “I have heard of forced marriages but never heard of forced unity.”
Lee has long cultivated an image as an anti-establishment figure capable of tackling South Korea’s entrenched inequality and corruption. However, critics view him as a populist who fuels division and vilifies opponents, warning that his leadership could further polarize the country.
He currently faces five trials for corruption and other criminal charges. If he becomes president, those trials likely will stop because of special presidential immunity from most criminal charges.


Judge pauses much of Trump administration’s massive downsizing of federal agencies

Judge pauses much of Trump administration’s massive downsizing of federal agencies
Updated 10 May 2025
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Judge pauses much of Trump administration’s massive downsizing of federal agencies

Judge pauses much of Trump administration’s massive downsizing of federal agencies
  • The order, which expires in 14 days, does not require departments to rehire people

SAN FRANCISCO: The Republican administration must halt much of its dramatic downsizing of the federal workforce, a California judge ordered Friday.
Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco issued the emergency order in a lawsuit filed by labor unions and cities last week, one of multiple legal challenges to Republican President Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink the size of a federal government he calls bloated and expensive.
The temporary restraining order directs numerous federal agencies to halt acting on the president’s workforce executive order signed in February and a subsequent memo issued by the Department of Government Efficiency and the Office of Personnel Management.
The order, which expires in 14 days, does not require departments to rehire people. Plaintiffs asked that the effective date of any agency action be postponed and that departments stop implementing or enforcing the executive order, including taking any further action.
They limited their request to departments where dismantlement is already underway or poised to be underway, including at the the US Department of Health and Human Services, which announced in March it will lay off 10,000 workers and centralize divisions.
Illston, who was nominated to the bench by former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, said at a hearing Friday the president has authority to seek changes in the executive branch departments and agencies created by Congress.
“But he must do so in lawful ways,” she said. “He must do so with the cooperation of Congress, the Constitution is structured that way.”
Trump has repeatedly said voters gave him a mandate to remake the federal government, and he tapped billionaire Elon Musk to lead the charge through DOGE.
Tens of thousands of federal workers have been fired, left their jobs via deferred resignation programs or have been placed on leave as a result of Trump’s government-shrinking efforts. There is no official figure for the job cuts, but at least 75,000 federal employees took deferred resignation, and thousands of probationary workers have already been let go.
Lawyers for the government argued Friday that the executive order and memo calling for large-scale personnel reductions and reorganization plans provided only general principles that agencies should follow in exercising their own decision-making process.
“It expressly invites comments and proposals for legislative engagement as part of policies that those agencies wish to implement,” Eric Hamilton, a deputy assistant attorney general, said of the memo. “It is setting out guidance.”
But Danielle Leonard, an attorney for plaintiffs, said it was clear that the president, DOGE and OPM were making decisions outside of their authority and not inviting dialogue from agencies.
“They are not waiting for these planning documents” to go through long processes, she said. “They’re not asking for approval, and they’re not waiting for it.”
The temporary restraining order applies to departments including the departments of Agriculture, Energy, Labor, Interior, State, Treasury and Veteran Affairs.
It also applies to the National Science Foundation, Small Business Association, Social Security Administration and Environmental Protection Agency.
Some of the labor unions and nonprofit groups are also plaintiffs in another lawsuit before a San Francisco judge challenging the mass firings of probationary workers. In that case, Judge William Alsup ordered the government in March to reinstate those workers, but the US Supreme Court later blocked his order.
Plaintiffs include the cities of San Francisco, Chicago and Baltimore; labor group American Federation of Government Employees; and nonprofit groups Alliance for Retired Americans, Center for Taxpayer Rights and Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks.


Columbia suspends over 65 students following pro-Palestinian protest in library

Columbia suspends over 65 students following pro-Palestinian protest in library
Updated 10 May 2025
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Columbia suspends over 65 students following pro-Palestinian protest in library

Columbia suspends over 65 students following pro-Palestinian protest in library
  • Roughly 80 people were arrested in connection with the Wednesday evening demonstration at the university’s Butler Library
  • State Department reviewing visa status of library takeover participants for possible deportation, says Secretary Rubio

NEW YORK: Columbia University has suspended dozens of students and barred alums and others who participated in a pro-Palestinian demonstration inside the school’s main library earlier this week, a school spokesperson said Friday.
The Ivy League institution in Manhattan placed more than 65 students on interim suspension and barred 33 others, including those from affiliated institutions such as Barnard College, from setting foot on campus.
Interim suspension generally means that a student cannot come to campus, attend classes or participate in other university activities, according to Columbia’s website. The university declined to say how long the disciplinary measures would be in place, saying only that the decisions are pending further investigation.
An undisclosed number of alums who also participated in the protest are also now prevented from entering school grounds, according to Columbia.
Roughly 80 people were arrested in connection with the Wednesday evening demonstration at the university’s Butler Library. Most face trespassing charges, though some may also face disorderly conduct, police have said.
The mask-clad protesters pushed their way past campus security officers, raced into the building and hung Palestinian flags and other banners on bookshelves. Some protesters also scrawled phrases on library furniture and picture frames, including “Columbia will burn.”
New York City police in helmets and other protection broke up the demonstration at the request of university officials, who denounced the protests as an “outrageous” disruption for students studying and preparing for final exams.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said his office will be reviewing the visa status of those who participated in the library takeover for possible deportation.
The Trump administration has already pulled federal funding and detained international students at Columbia and other prestigious American universities over their handling of student protests against the war in Gaza.