When Palestinian existence is portrayed as hate

^{Israel and its supporters would have you believe that just being a Palestinian is a lethal threat.}


_{An Israeli settler burns a Palestinian flag during a Palestinian protest against a Jewish settlement outpost, in Salfit in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on November 30, 2020}

I am a Palestinian. And increasingly, that fact alone is treated as a provocation.

In recent months, I have watched anti-Semitism — a real, lethal form of hatred with a long and horrific history — be stripped of its meaning and weaponised to silence Palestinians, criminalise solidarity with us, and shield Israel from accountability as it carries out a genocide in Gaza. This is not about protecting Jewish people. It is about protecting power.

The pattern is now impossible to ignore.

A children’s educator, Ms Rachel, whose entire public work is built around care, learning, and empathy, is branded “Anti-Semite of the Year” — not for her engaging in any form of hate speech, but for expressing concern for Palestinian children. For acknowledging that children in Gaza are being bombed, starved, and traumatised. For expressing compassion.

As a Palestinian, I hear the message clearly: even empathy for our children is dangerous.

Then there is Palestine Action, a protest movement that targets weapons manufacturers supplying Israel’s military. Instead of being debated, challenged, or even criticised within a democratic framework, it is proscribed as a “terrorist” organisation, casually equated with ISIL (ISIS) – a group responsible for mass executions, sexual slavery, and genocidal violence.

This comparison is not just obscene. It is deliberate. It collapses the meaning of “terrorism” so completely that political dissent becomes extremism by definition. Resistance becomes pathology. Protest becomes “terror”. And Palestinians, once again, are framed not as a people under occupation, but as a permanent threat.


Language itself is now being criminalised. Phrases like “globalise the Intifada” are banned without any serious engagement with history or meaning. Intifada — a word that literally means “shaking off” — is torn from its political context as an uprising against military occupation and reduced to a slur. Palestinians are denied even the right to name their resistance.

At the same time, international law is being actively dismantled.

Staff and judges at the International Criminal Court are sanctioned and intimidated for daring to investigate Israeli war crimes. Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on Palestine, has not only been sanctioned, but also relentlessly smeared — because she uses the language of international law to describe occupation, apartheid, and genocide.

When international law is applied to African leaders, it is celebrated.
When it is applied to Israel, it is treated as an act of hostility.


This brings us to Australia — and to one of the most revealing moments of all.

After the horrific Bondi Beach attack, which shocked and horrified people across Australia, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused the Australian government of encouraging anti-Semitism. Not because of any incitement, not because of inflammatory rhetoric — but because Australia had moved towards recognising Palestine as a state.

Read that again.

The diplomatic recognition of Palestinian statehood — long framed as essential to peace and grounded in international law — is presented as a moral failing, even as a contributor to anti-Semitic violence. Palestinian existence itself is treated as the problem.

What makes this moment so disturbing is not only that Netanyahu made this claim, but that so many centres of power ran with it rather than challenged it.

Instead of forcefully rejecting the idea that recognising Palestinian rights could “encourage anti-Semitism”, governments, institutions, and commentators allowed the premise to stand. Some echoed it outright. Others stayed silent. Almost none confronted the dangerous logic at its core: that Palestinian political recognition is inherently destabilising, provocative, or threatening.

This is how moral collapse happens — not with thunder, but with acquiescence.

The result is not safety for the Jewish people, but erasure of the Palestinian people.

As a Palestinian, I find it devastating.

It means my identity is not merely contested — it is criminalised. My grief is not simply ignored — it is politicised. My demand for justice is not debated — it is pathologised as hatred.


Anti-Semitism is real. It must be confronted seriously and without hesitation. The Jewish people deserve safety, dignity, and protection — everywhere. But when anti-Semitism is stretched to include children’s educators, UN experts, international judges, protest movements, chants, words, and even the diplomatic recognition of Palestine, then the term no longer serves to protect Jewish people.

It protects a state from accountability.

Worse still, this weaponisation endangers Jews by collapsing Jewish identity into the actions of a government committing mass atrocities. It tells the world that Israel speaks for all Jews — and that anyone who objects must therefore be hostile to Jews themselves. That is not protection. It is recklessness masquerading as morality.

For Palestinians like me, the psychological toll is immense.

I am tired of having to preface every sentence with disclaimers.

I am deeply pained by watching my people starve while being lectured about tone.

I am angry that international law seems to apply only in certain politically convenient cases.

And I am grieving — not just for Gaza, but for the moral collapse unfolding around it.

Opposing genocide is not anti-Semitism.

Solidarity is not “terrorism”.

Recognising Palestine is not incitement.

Naming your suffering is not violence.


If the world insists on calling me an anti-Semite for refusing to accept the annihilation of my people, then it is not anti-Semitism that is being countered.

It is genocide that is being justified.

And history will remember who helped make that possible.

How many countries has Israel attacked in 2025?

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2025/12/29/all-the-countries-israel-attacked-in-2025-animated-map

Israel has attacked more countries than any other country this year. In 2025, Israel attacked at least six countries, including Palestine, Iran, Lebanon, Qatar, Syria, and Yemen. It also carried out strikes in Tunisian, Maltese and Greek territorial waters on aid flotillas heading for Gaza.

According to Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), an independent conflict monitor, from January 1 to December 5, Israel carried out at least 10,631 attacks, marking one of the broadest geographic military offensives in a single year.


How are attacks measured?

ACLED collects and records reported information on political violence, demonstrations, and other select non-violent, politically important events from local, national and international news sources and international bodies.

For mapping Israeli attacks over this past year, we filtered for violent events including air and drone strikes, shelling and missile attacks, remote explosives, and other armed attacks.

These events involve violent attacks by Israeli forces; however, they exclude the significant rise in attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Additionally, they do not cover other Israeli assaults, such as home demolitions or raids that occur daily.

Where has Israel attacked the most?

Gaza has remained the deadliest area, with Israel killing more than 25,000 people this year and injuring at least 62,000. Israel has violated a ceasefire in Gaza, which took effect at noon on October 10, hundreds of times, killing at least 400 Palestinians and injuring 1,100. Israel also repeatedly violated the first ceasefire earlier in 2025, eventually ending it.

According to ACLED, in 2025, up to December 5, 2025, Israel attacked:

- Gaza and the occupied West Bank 8,332 times
- Lebanon 1,653 times
- Iran 379 times
- Syria 207 times
- Yemen 48 times
- Qatar once
- Tunisian waters twice, Maltese and Greek waters once each

These statistics are based on verified reports and likely undercount the actual number of attacks due to reporting gaps in conflict zones.

Over the year, Israel has launched at least 8,332 attacks across Palestine – an average of 25 a day.

This includes at least 7,024 attacks across Gaza and 1,308 across the occupied West Bank.

Despite an earlier ceasefire that started on January 19, which was also broken by Israel by March 18, it continued attacks across Gaza, including on those seeking food aid.

Israel has reduced Gaza to rubble and forced the displacement of two million people. Satellite imagery from March 18 through May 22 shows an area in Gaza City packed with thousands of displaced people.


Israel has also accelerated its attacks across the West Bank, launching the largest military assault in decades as it seeks to suppress resistance and tighten control in areas including Jenin, Tulkarem and the Nur Shams refugee camps.

Additionally, and not included in this count, are settler violence events, which have surged this year.

So far, in 2025, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has documented a record 1,680 settler attacks across more than 270 communities - an average of five per day.

_{A Palestinian, Yahya Dalal, 32, inspects cars burned in an Israeli settler attack in Huwara in the occupied West Bank, on November 21, 2025}

Despite a ceasefire with Hezbollah, Israel launched more than 1,653 attacks across Lebanon this year, averaging nearly five attacks a day.

Even after the ceasefire took hold in November 2024, Israel carried out frequent strikes, largely concentrated in southern Lebanon but extending to the Bekaa Valley and the outskirts of the capital, Beirut.

The Israeli army continues to station soldiers in five high-altitude locations in southern Lebanon despite a formal commitment to withdraw from the area.

Satellite imagery from Dhayra in southern Lebanon shows entire areas flattened by Israeli attacks.

Continues with attacks on Iran, Syria, Yemen, Qatar, International Waters
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/longform/2025/12/29/all-the-countries-israel-attacked-in-2025-animated-map

Tents flooded by heavy rains in Gaza amid calls for Israel to let in aid


_{Displaced Palestinians walk past a large pool of rainwater near tent shelters in Gaza City, December 28}

Severe weather conditions are bringing further misery to displaced Palestinians in Gaza, who have already suffered relentless bombardment, siege and loss in Israel’s genocidal war for more than two years, as Israel continues to block critical shelter and aid supplies into the territory.

Flimsy tents were flooded and makeshift camps engulfed in mud on Monday following heavy winter rains lashing the enclave in recent days.

The harsh conditions have added to the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, most of whom are reduced to sheltering in tents and other makeshift structures since Israel’s war destroyed an estimated 80 percent of the buildings there.

Officials are warning that severe conditions also bring new dangers, with the threat of disease and illness as overwhelmed and damaged sewage systems contaminate floodwaters, and the risk that damaged buildings could collapse amid heavy rainfall.

At least 15 people, including babies, have died this month from hypothermia following the rains and plunging temperatures, according to the authorities in Gaza.

Two-month-old baby Arkan Firas Musleh was the latest infant to die Monday as a result of the extreme cold.  Gaza’s Ministry of Health also announced the death of a Palestinian man in a building collapse onto a tent in the Tel al-Hawa neighbourhood of Gaza City.

On Sunday, a 30-year-old woman was killed when a partially destroyed wall collapsed onto her tent in the Remal neighbourhood to the west of Gaza City amid fierce winds, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

Officials have warned people not to shelter in damaged buildings, but the tents offer limited protection from the heavy rain and no real protection against flooding.

Contaminated floodwater

Reporting from Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood, where most of the buildings have been reduced to rubble by Israeli attacks, Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary said the heavy rains had created deep puddles and thick mud that was difficult to pass in places.

“People are struggling to walk in those mud puddles,” she said. “These are not only water, but it’s also sewage, rubbish.”

A team of municipal workers were trying to pump sewage from the overwhelmed network, amid reports of flooded tents from residents.

“Families are saying that sewage water has been coming into their tents,” she said.

Calls for aid deliveries

Aid groups have called for the international community to pressure Israel to lift restrictions on life-saving aid deliveries into the territory, which they say are falling far short of the amount called for under the US-brokered ceasefire.

“More rain. More human misery, despair and death,” Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of UNRWA, the top United Nations group overseeing aid in Gaza, wrote on social media on Sunday.

“Harsh winter weather is compounding more than two years of suffering. People in Gaza are surviving in flimsy, waterlogged tents and among ruins.”

There was “nothing inevitable about this”, he added. “Aid supplies are not being allowed in at the scale required.”

More Israeli attacks

Meanwhile, despite the ceasefire that came into effect on October 10, Israeli attacks on Palestinians have continued in Gaza.

Three Palestinians were injured on Monday when Israeli forces targeted the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza, a medical source told Al Jazeera Arabic.

Witnesses said the attack happened in an area from which Israeli forces had withdrawn under the ceasefire agreement.

Witnesses also reported an Israeli air raid on the eastern areas of the Bureij camp in central Gaza, artillery shelling east of Rafah and further Israeli attacks east of Gaza City, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

A 20-point plan proposed by United States President Donald Trump in September called for an initial truce followed by steps towards a wider peace. So far, as part of the first phase, there has been the exchange of captives held in Gaza and prisoners in Israeli jails, and a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces from the enclave. However, it still occupies almost half of the territory.

However, Israeli attacks have not stopped, while humanitarian aid flows into the territory have not been what was promised.

Winter floods wreak havoc on Gaza displacement camps as Israel blocks aid


_{Palestinians try to recover their tent after overnight rainfall flooded a beachside tent camp in Khan Younis, the southern Gaza Strip.}

Winter rain has lashed the Gaza Strip over the weekend, flooding displacement camps with ankle-deep water as Palestinians struggled to stay dry in flimsy, worn-out tents. These Palestinians have been displaced after more than two years of Israel’s genocidal war, which has destroyed much of the besieged enclave.

In Khan Younis, soaked blankets and swamped clay cooking ovens added to the misery. Children in flip-flops navigated through puddles while adults desperately used shovels and tin cans to remove water from tents or extracted collapsed shelters from mud.

“Puddles formed, and there was a bad smell,” said Majdoleen Tarabein, displaced from Rafah in southern Gaza. “The tent flew away. We don’t know what to do or where to go.”

Aid deliveries to Gaza fall significantly short of ceasefire-mandated amounts, humanitarian organisations report. The Israeli military authority overseeing humanitarian aid stated that 4,200 aid trucks entered Gaza in the past week, along with sanitation equipment and winter supplies, but refused to specify the quantity of tents provided. Aid groups emphasise that current supplies cannot meet overwhelming needs.

Since the ceasefire, approximately 72,000 tents and 403,000 tarps have entered Gaza, according to Shelter Cluster, an international aid coalition led by the Norwegian Refugee Council.

“People in Gaza are surviving in flimsy, waterlogged tents and among ruins,” Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the UN refugee aid organisation in Gaza, said on social media. “There is nothing inevitable about this. Aid supplies are not being allowed in at the scale required.”

Trump threatens Hamas, warns Iran of more US strikes after Netanyahu talks


_{US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold a news conference lunch}

• Trump met Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago, where the US president praised the Israeli prime minister as a “hero” and threatened to attack Iran if the country moves to bolster its military capabilities.
• Trump also claimed that Israeli President Isaac Herzog would soon pardon Netanyahu of corruption charges. Herzog’s office released a statement saying he had not discussed the pardon request with Trump.
• Trump also waved away Israeli violations of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, instead warning there would be “hell to pay” if Hamas does not disarm.
• Trump added that the Lebanese group Hezbollah has been “behaving badly” when asked whether Israel could launch another war in Lebanon.
• The US president said he hopes Netanyahu will “get along” with the new government of Syria, despite Israel’s continued occupation of Syrian territory and repeated incursions.
• Netanyahu said Trump would be recognised with the annual Israel Prize.

In one sense, this is a victory for Netanyahu. He’s got the ear of Trump.

Before this meeting, everyone behind the scenes was saying the White House had had enough of Netanyahu and his foot-dragging on the Trump peace plan.

And now, after a quick meeting with Bibi, Trump is [basically] saying, “No, no, we’re not worried about Israel. They’re doing everything… look, in fact, they just gave me a lovely award.”

Yeah, Trump loves awards.

Trump says without Netanyahu, Israel ‘might not exist right now’

Trump has been asked about his appeal for Israeli authorities to drop their corruption case against Netanyahu. “He’s a wartime prime minister. He’s done a phenomenal job,” Trump said.

The US president then credited Netanyahu with navigating Israel through a “dangerous period” in its history. “Israel with other people might not exist right now, if you want to know the truth. That’s a pretty big statement, but it’s true,” he said.

“If you had the wrong prime minister, Israel right now would not exist because they were met with a force the likes of which very few countries could have handled.”


_{Trump and Netanyahu walk into the Mar-a-Lago residence}

Trump says Ran Gvili’s family currently at Mar-a-Lago

The US president has said the relatives of Ran Gvili, the only Israeli captive whose body remains in Gaza, are currently at Mar-a-Lago.

Israel has repeatedly accused Hamas of not fulfilling the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire by not returning Gvili’s body. Hamas has said finding the body remains a challenge due to the widespread destruction in Gaza.

“We’re doing everything we can to get his body back. And the parents just said, ‘Hopefully, he’s alive.’ And I said, ‘I love you to think that way,'” Trump said.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, was asked about his relationship with Trump: “We’ve never had a friend like President Trump in the White House. It’s not even close, and you can judge that by not merely by the frequency of our meetings, but by the content and the intensity.”

Trump says he will ‘knock the hell’ out of Iran if country builds up nuclear capacity

Donald Trump says that the US and Israel were “extremely victorious” in their attacks against Iran earlier this year and that they will “knock the hell” out of the country if it builds up its nuclear or military capacity.

“Now I hear that Iran is trying to build up again, and if they are, we’re going to have to knock them down. We’ll knock them down. We’ll knock the hell out of them,” Trump said.

US media previously reported that Netanyahu has been ratcheting up alarm over Iran’s ballistic missile programme and may use his talks with Trump to push for renewed strikes against Iran.

Trump says Israel ‘living up’ to ceasefire deal

Despite repeated violations and claims that Netanyahu and his allies have dragged their feet, Trump said that Israel is not to blame for the uncertainty in implementing phase two of the Gaza ceasefire deal.

“I’m not concerned about anything that Israel is doing. I’m concerned about what other people are doing, or maybe aren’t doing, but I’m not concerned; they’ve lived up to the plan,” he said.

“Israel has lived up to the plan 100 percent,” he added.

However, when Trump was asked about Israel’s approach to the occupied West Bank and its support for illegal settlements there, the US president said, “I wouldn’t say we agree on the West Bank 100 percent.”

Trump again claims majority of Palestinians want to leave Gaza

The US president appeared to be responding to a May poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in which 49 percent of those surveyed said they would be willing to apply to Israel to leave the enclave.

However, the poll did not specify if leaving would be temporary or permanent. Previous polls have shown that only a fraction of the Gaza population supports permanent relocation, with more support for leaving while Gaza is being reconstructed.

Many Palestinians have voiced concerns over not being able to return if they leave. Trump had suggested a mass displacement of Palestinians from Gaza in February, but has since moved away from the position.

“I’ve always said it. I said, if they were given the opportunity to live in a better climate, they would move. They are there because they sort of have to be,” Trump said today.

“I think it would be a great opportunity, but let’s see if that opportunity presents itself. But we’re helping the people of Gaza a lot.

Netanyahu meets with Rubio before Trump

The Israeli prime minister has met with the top US diplomat before his meeting with Trump. In a post on the social media platform X, Netanyahu said it was a “great” meeting with Rubio.

The US secretary of state has been peripherally involved in the Gaza ceasefire negotiations, which have been spearheaded by Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is currently meeting in Florida with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio @SecRubio. pic.twitter.com/uT7E9DL5kO

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) December 29, 2025

Netanyahu pushes for more strikes on Iran, clashing with Trump’s priorities

Netanyahu has been warning of a grave Iranian threat to Israel and the world for more than 30 years.

Trump heeded those warnings in June and bombed Tehran’s nuclear facilities. But it appears that Netanyahu is still not satisfied and will be pushing for more military actions against Iran when he meets with Trump again today.

This time, the focus is on Iran’s missile programme. Israeli officials and their US allies are beating the drums of war against Iran once again, arguing that Tehran’s missiles must be addressed urgently.

But analysts said another clash with Iran would stand in stark opposition to Trump’s stated foreign policy priorities.

Sina Toossi, a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy, a think tank, said that — while Trump is pushing to deepen economic cooperation and forge diplomatic ties between Israel and Arab states — Netanyahu is seeking military domination over the region.

“This desire for perpetual US involvement, for perpetual wars against Iran to really break the Iranian state, reflects Israel’s aim for unchallenged dominance, unchallenged hegemony and expansionism,” Toossi said.

Netanyahu says he spoke with Elon Musk on Sunday

The Israeli prime minister says he spoke with billionaire Elon Musk, a prominent Trump ally, on Sunday to discuss technological development.

“The Prime Minister and Musk spoke at length about the advancement and development of AI technologies in Israel,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. “The Prime Minister said that we intend to catapult Israel forward and turn it into a global leader in the field, exactly as we did with cyber and other technologies.”

Netanyahu says Trump will be awarded Israel Prize

Speaking at the news conference, Netanyahu said Trump would be recognised with the annual Israel Prize, considered the country’s highest honour. Netanyahu added that it was the first time in history that the prize had not been given to an Israeli citizen.

“We decided to break a convention or create a new one, and that is to award the Israel Prize, which, in almost our 80 years, we’ve never awarded it to a non-Israeli, and we’re going to award it this year to President Trump,” Netanyahu said.

“I have to say that this reflects the overwhelming sentiment of Israelis across the spectrum. They appreciate what you’ve done to help Israel and to help our common battle against the terrorists and those who would destroy our civilisation.”

Netanyahu pardon request not discussed with Trump: Israeli president’s office

The office of Israeli President Isaac Herzog has issued a statement saying it has not had any ⁠conversations with ‍Trump since the US president sent a request for Netanyahu to be pardoned for bribery and corruption charges.

The statement came shortly after Trump told reporters at Mar-a-Lago that he had spoken to Herzog and a pardon to end Netanyahu’s five-year trial was “on its way”. Herzog had previously said he was reviewing legal opinions before responding to Trump’s request.

Trump shares post falsely claiming Obama funded Iran’s nuclear programme

Donald Trump shared a falsehood-filled post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, claiming that former US President Barack Obama gave Iran $220bn to build nuclear weapons.

That claim runs contrary to statements made by Trump’s own intelligence chief, Tulsi Gabbard, earlier this year. Gabbard testified to Congress in June that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon.

But Trump has sought to blame his Democratic counterparts, including Obama, for failing to take a harder line on Iran. The Obama administration helped negotiate a 2015 Iran nuclear deal that saw the US lift sanctions against Iran, in exchange for stern limits on Tehran’s nuclear programme. The agreement included releasing Iranian assets that had been frozen in the US under the sanctions. The Iranian funds amounted to around $50bn, after the payment of foreign debts.

Trump’s post on Sunday also included a claim that Iran was close to having six nuclear bombs and had intercontinental ballistic missiles to destroy Israel and five US cities. There is no credible assessment by anyone, including Israel, that Iran ever had missiles that could reach US territory.

The post also promoted the great replacement theory, a racist conspiracy theory often promoted by white nationalists to spread fear that local populations are being intentionally replaced by non-white foreigners.

“Democrats wanted to replace you with uneducated Mexicans who would be easier to enslave,” the post said.

Tucker Carlson on Netanyahu visit: ‘This game has to end’

Influential right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson has cited a report from Axios saying that many of Trump’s aides have grown frustrated with Netanyahu over his reluctance to move to the next stage of the Gaza ceasefire.

“At some point, this game has to end,” Carlson wrote in his newsletter.

“How long will Netanyahu be allowed to parade into our country like he owns the place and demand our military fight his wars? For the sake of the United States and the West, we hope the president begins to agree with his team soon.”

The commentator is an influential figure for the Trump base and was thought to be close to the US president. But in recent months, he has grown vocally critical of pro-Israel policies that have reportedly triggered infighting with some of Trump’s allies.

Trump, Netanyahu meeting further ‘legitimises’ apartheid, says activist

Miko Peled, an Israeli-born activist, has condemned Monday’s meeting between Trump and Netanyahu as a “farce”.

“This entire peace plan and ceasefire. These are just attempts to legitimise the crimes of the apartheid state of Israel,” said Peled, who runs the Palestine Freedom House in Washington, DC.

He added that any efforts to end Israeli military actions in Gaza are empty gestures if the US continues to provide arms to Israel.

“There cannot be a ceasefire when the side that is engaged in violence and conducting the genocide is being provided with more arms. This is absolutely mad, absolute madness,” Peled said.

Trump green lights Netanyahu’s plan to attack Iran; silent on Gaza violation

In an extraordinary development, US President Donald Trump has just indicated that his country would join Benjamin Netanyahu in another invasion of the Islamic Republic of Iran. He made this announcement during a joint press conference with Netanyahu. Trump was also asked about the repeated ceasefire violations by his guest in Gaza. He ignored the question, saying this was a matter for another time. Rifat Jawaid calls it another glaring example of disdain for the Gaza peace deal pushed by Trump himself.

Jailed U.K. Palestine Action Activists Continue Hunger Strike Despite Health Risks

Alarm is growing over the treatment and deteriorating health of eight pro-Palestinian activists jailed in the United Kingdom who are on hunger strike to protest their detention. The activists remain imprisoned as they await trial over charges linked to their work with Palestine Action, which the British government has banned under its Terrorism Act over direct action protests against Israel's treatment of Palestinians. Several of the activists who began their hunger strike in early November are now in "a critical stage" and facing grave health risks or death, according to Dr. James Smith, a doctor supporting the hunger strikers. "This is an extremely critical moment, and, frankly speaking, it defies comprehension that members of the government have refused even to meet with the hunger strikers in an attempt to resolve this situation."

We also speak with Francesca Nadin, a spokesperson for Prisoners for Palestine, which is supporting the jailed activists. She says the harsh treatment of the hunger strikers is part of a "coordinated witch hunt that reflects the wider repression of the pro-Palestine movement" in the U.K. and around the world. "The people that have taken part in this hunger strike feel like they have no other choice left to them but to take this into their own hands," Nadin says.