From approximately 3am on Friday 24 April, People Against Genocide began occupying the roof of the Leicester factory of UAV Tactical Systems. Elbit Systems, Israel’s biggest weapons maker, owns the company. UAV Tactical Systems produces drones for the Israeli military’s killer drone fleet, of which Elbit supplies over 85%.

Then at approximately 10am, an action taker from the group occupying the roof abseiled into the factory through a hole made with power tools. Whilst abseiling into the weapons factory, the action taker proceeded to damage the ceiling and air supply to the clean room.

The clean room is used to make essential components for Israeli military drones and, once contaminated, it could be out of use for several months.

The action involved four people from direct action group People Against Genocide. They successfully evaded recently-increased security patrols at the plant, and used 10m extension ladders to ascend over razor-wire fencing, gaining access to the factory roof. The team next began to use high-grade power tools to cut their way through the roof, to damage weaponry inside.

UAV Tactical Systems was originally a joint venture between Elbit and French arms giant Thales. But since January 2026, the Israeli weapons firm has owned the company entirely.

In addition to other military drones, UAV Tactical Systems is responsible for developing the Watchkeeper drone, based on Elbit’s Hermes 450 drone which has been central to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and linked to the killing of seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen in April 2024.

The UAV Tactical Systems plant has been the scene of numerous protests and actions over the years.

On today’s action, a spokesperson for People Against Genocide said:

Israel continues to slaughter people across West Asia, with weapons manufactured in the UK. We cannot stand idly by while Elbit continues to manufacture death and destruction here in Leicester.

Petitions, protests and lobbying decision makers who are actively involved in the Gaza genocide, has unsurprisingly, failed to create necessary change. Therefore, rather than appeal to politicians or the government, we’re bypassing the complicit decision makers and are taking direct action to shut Elbit down and disrupt the murderous Israeli war machine ourselves.

Elbit Systems markets its drones as “battle-tested” on Palestinians, and uses them to commit genocide in Palestine and to slaughter people across the region. For the people murdered by Elbit’s weaponry and for those whose lives are threatened everyday by Israeli military drones, today, we have shut Elbit down.

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By The Canary

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When the judge entered the chamber at Birmingham Crown Court for day two of Majid Freeman’s trial, DC Sean Lambert was already waiting in the witness box.

Perhaps one of the most significant points of the day came in the afternoon, mentioned only as a passing thought.

Cellebrite

The prosecution’s lead counsel, Tom Williams, had handed over to his colleague Laura Jeffrey for a review of the “agreed-upon facts” of the trial. DC Lambert was being asked to confirm the details of a mobile phone that had been seized from Freeman’s room shortly after his arrest in July 2024.

Jeffrey asks:

It says ‘Cellebrite’ on the side [of this screenshot], but that’s just a reference to the software used to conduct the forensic examination [of the phone]. Is that correct?

“Yes”, Lambert replied.

What was not mentioned in the court room is that Cellebrite was founded by ex-IDF operative Yossi Carmil and is staffed by dozens of former Unit 8200 Israeli intelligence personnel.

This is something you’d think might be relevant in the case of a man facing up to ten years in a British jail, almost exclusively for social media posts related to the Gaza genocide.

The Universal Forensic Extraction Device, which extracts data including contacts, locations, deleted messages, and calls from smartphones and other devices, is Cellebrite’s “flagship tool”. Freedom of Information requests have previously revealed twenty-six of the UK’s forty-seven police forces admitting to using the technology, with others planning trials.

Cellebrite have not shied away from their own involvement in military operations in Gaza, either. The company has claimed that they have been “instrumental” in assisting Israeli intelligence with phone-hacking services.

Freeman’s online activity

On day two, the prosecution resumed on page 49 of the black evidence bundle – a so-called “timeline” of Freeman’s online activity.

At the beginning of day one, the jury were told that some messages presented to them would be taken from private message exchanges found on Freeman’s phone, rather than public posts. Some would pre-date the UK’s proscription of Hamas – a decision taken by then Home Secretary Priti Patel in November 2021.

In 2017, Patel had been forced to resign as international development secretary after conducting secret, unauthorised meetings with Israeli government officials including the now wanted fugitive Benjamin Netanyahu.

As reams of material were skimmed through, it became increasingly difficult to discern between the various categories the material was organized into. Whether this is deliberate is a matter of speculation, but many were simply reposts of major media organisations, including Al Jazeera and Middle East Eye.

Others seemed totally irrelevant to any accusations of illegality. Freeman posts a story about the ‘Fajr campaign’, where young people from across Palestine would take buses to al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem for early morning prayers. The campaign was a way of staking their continued claim to the sacred site.

In another public post, Freeman shares screenshots of a conversation with a friend in Gaza, wishing him an Eid Mubarak. He asks:

Are things still difficult there, or getting back to normal?

His friend replies:

It is air, land, and sea. 14 were killed today.

The brutal context

It was impossible to disconnect the social media timeline from the sheer brutality of the crimes Freeman was responding to. Strangely, this seemed to be the prosecution’s intention.

Other posts are certainly more impassioned in tone. One expressed hope that the Israeli war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu suffers “a slow, painful death.” Arguably, a view shared by many.

I wondered: is it illegal to express such an opinion? If not, why was it included in the evidence bundle?

Again, the prosecution were “building a narrative”. The defendant is not an ordinary person traumatised by a constant stream of the most brutal acts known to humanity, but a violent and radical “jihadi”.

Shared Twitter posts

A huge number of the posts are not Freeman’s own words, but shares of others’ content. This begs the question: does sharing a post equal endorsement and/or responsibility?

One Twitter post read:

The IOF have released documentation of some of the resistance fighters killed by an aircraft in Khan Yunis. May Allah accept their shahada [testimony of faith] and give them victory over the occupiers.

Another screenshot said:

If they claim to support Palestine but don’t support armed resistance then they are not our true friends. They want Palestinians to suffer in silence.

The post does not mention Hamas. So, is support for any armed resistance to military occupation now proscribed in Britain?

On my taxi journey home, I gave my driver a brief overview of Freeman’s case. He said:

But I support the Palestinians’ right to resist. I support anyone’s right to resist tyranny.

“Just don’t write that online”, I replied.

Featured image via CAGE International

By The Canary

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Early on Tuesday afternoon, 21 April, settlers were spotted near the school and houses in the Western area of al Mughayyir village, northeast of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Shortly afterwards, an urgent appeal was put out on the residents’ WhatsApp groups for people to make their way to the boys’ school as settlers were gathering there and had started shooting.

School children in the West Bank

13 year old Aws Hamdi al-Naasan was fatally shot in the head outside his school, while he and others were trying to get out of harm’s way.

In 2019, Aws said farewell to his father, Hamdi al Naasan, also martyred by settlers bullets.

“Open the road.”

Palestinian children protest at barbed wire erected by Israeli settlers in occupied West Bank village of Um al-Khair—calling for their basic right to access their school, move freely, & live without occupation.

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Imagine your child facing this on the way to class pic.twitter.com/UEYzUWQUbU

— PM of Palestine (@PalestinePMO) April 23, 2026

As 33 year old Jihad Marzouk Abu Naim was leading the schoolchildren to safety he too was shot, this time in the chest. He was also martyred. Abu Naim, whose wife is eight months pregnant, was about to become a father for the first time.

Settler colonialist murderers

Local residents say they have identified the murderer as illegal settler Shmuel Wendy, head of the Homesh Yeshiva “religious school”, a figure who is familiar to the community of al Mughayyir and the nearby al Khalil Valley (Hebron).

Unsurprisingly, Wendy, who calls for the “full normalisation of the settlement enterprise”, denies even being in al Mughayyir on that day. He’s said to be planning to file a “massive lawsuit” against the Arab-Jewish grassroots movement known as Standing Together which claimed, along with many others, that Wendy was responsible for the killing.

Here, a previous video shows an armed Wendy, who can be seen intimidating and assaulting Palestinians in the al Khaleel Valley, along with other young thugs. Abu Hammam, the uncle of the martyr Jihad Marzouk Abu Naim, is one of these Palestinians. Not long ago he was forcibly displaced from his land because of violence and threats from settlers and the occupation army,

Homesh Yeshiva, in the Northern West Bank, was established in May 2023 on the site of the formerly evacuated illegal West Bank outpost of Homesh. It is situated on stolen Palestinian land.

Covering the tracks

The same afternoon as Abu Naim and al Naasan were martyred, residents of the village witnessed the occupation’s military and intelligence walking around al Mughayyir, trying to tamper with evidence of the crime.

They can be seen here searching for spent bullet casings.

The following day, the IOF gave al Mughayyir residents no time to mourn their loss.

When the funeral procession was taking place, they fired tear gas at the crowds, and later let off toxic gas bombs throughout the village.

Then around two in the morning the house raids began.

On 22 April, settlers also murdered 26 year old Odeh Awawda, in Deir Dibwan, East of Ramallah. He saw settlers coming towards his house, on the outskirts of the village.

He went outside to protect his family, but was shot in the pelvis by one of the illegal colonists and died of an internal hemorrage.

Residents were responding to Awawda’s call for help, on the village’s WhatsApp group. But as they made their way to his house to help him, Israeli occupation forces turned up and arrested the residents.

Justice!

Of course, there is no hope of justice or accountability for Palestinians, as the Israeli occupation is again investigating its own crimes.This is nothing more than for show — to silence any international criticism there may be to the cold-blooded killings of yet more Palestinians. Instead, there is only a continuation of the endless cycle of violence Palestinians endure 24 hours of every day, with no hope of any protection from anyone, anywhere.

Shmuel Wendy actually the murderer of al Mughayyir’s most recent martyrs, true, but the occupation’s police, military, illegal settlers, legal system and government are all part of the same crime-ridden society.

The IOF account of the shooting spree in al Mughayyir on 21 April differs greatly from that of the local residents. The occupation’s story is that a reserve soldier on active duty left the vehicle he was driving and started shooting at suspects who supposedly threw stones at him. But footage from residents shows something completely different. Gunfire was in the area of the school, somewhere where there are no settler roads. There is also video footage of children taking cover in their school, to try and avoid the settler’s bullets.

Settlers and soldiers in the West Bank now indistinguishable

Settler attacks are well organised and coordinated. Very often the IOF are full participants in the violence, which has the full backing of the so-called “Israeli” state. Since 7 October 2023, there has been a huge intensification of the militarisation of the illegal terrorist settler movement — including the formation of armed regional settler reservist militias, known as Hagmar, to which thousands of settlers have already enlisted. There are also settlements’ “emergency response” squads known as Kitat Konenut, who are  trained by the IOF and are given weapons by the occupation military as well. It is often impossible to tell the difference between illegal settler and the occupation’s military, as often both now wear uniform.

Since its creation in 1948, “Israel” has been treated by the West as something special. It is not. It is just another settler colony that systematically violates every law, with total impunity. But this terrorist state is only able to continue its genocide, forced displacement and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians because no meaningful action is ever taken against it.

It is time to end the hollow words of condemnation and do something. The Israeli occupation must face the consequences of its complete disregard for humanity, and so too must the governments who have aided and abetted its decades of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

‘They want to kill us by any means possible’

According to the Colonisation and Wall Resistance Commission, as of 22 April, 49 Palestinians  have been murdered by illegal settlers in the West Bank since 7 October, 2023. 14 of these Palestinians lost their lives in 2025, while since 1 January, 2026, 15 Palestinians have been murdered by these colonists as of 22 April.

A resident of al Mughayyir told the Canary, “They want to kill us by any means or method possible”. Yet despite all the, harassment, violence, killing and trauma, Palestinians refuse to leave their land. Instead, they say the blood of their martyrs will not be in vain. It will only make their resistance stronger.

Featured image via the Canary

By Charlie Jaay

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The sacking of Olly Robbins has deepened the row between Downing Street and the civil service (Alamy)

3 min read19 min

Downing Street has created a “very bad relationship” with Whitehall, which is making government “dysfunctional”, according to a former cabinet secretary.

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Lord Robin Butler, who led the civil service for a decade until 1998, said the row between No 10 and Olly Robbins over the security vetting of Lord Mandelson had made him “very sad” about the state of the relationship between politicians and civil servants. 

Last week, Prime Minister Keir Starmer sacked Robbins as the most senior civil servant in the Foreign Office, arguing that Robbins should have told him that UK Security Vetting (UKSV) had raised issues with Mandelson’s appointment as UK ambassador to the US.

Appearing before MPs earlier this week, Robbins confirmed that UKSV considered the case “borderline”, but stressed that Mandelson did not fail vetting. He went on to say that the Foreign Office faced “constant pressure” from No 10 to formalise Mandelson’s appointment quickly, and accused Downing Street of a “dismissive attitude” towards the vetting process.

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The saga will continue next week, with both Morgan McSweeney, Starmer’s former chief of staff, and Philip Barton, Robbins’ predecessor at the Foreign Office, both due to give evidence to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee about Mandelson’s appointment.

Speaking to this week’s episode of PoliticsHome podcast, The Rundown, Butler said the row “just made me very sad, actually”, adding: “Because what I remember was the civil service and the political advisors working harmoniously and with mutual respect, each doing their job but working together in the national interest, and that clearly hasn’t happened.”

He said the ongoing Mandelson row had exposed “very poor” communications between Starmer and Robbins, and described the relationship between Downing Street and Whitehall as “very ruptured”.

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“The Prime Minister, and particularly No 10 and the political wing of No 10, have created a very bad relationship with the civil servants in No 10, with the Cabinet Office and with departments like the FCDO, and that, I would go so far as to say, makes the government dysfunctional.”

The former head of the civil service did strike a note of optimism, telling PoliticsHome that once the Mandelson affair subsides, the new Cabinet Secretary Antonia Romeo “has got an opportunity to make a fresh start”.

“It’s a question of leadership, and I think Antonia has got the qualities to give that leadership. 

“I’m really hopeful that she’s going to make a difference.”

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He added: “I’m sure she’ll be working on improving the relationships between the Cabinet Secretary and those in No 10 on the political side and with the Prime Minister, I think she’s going to be very good at that — and that needs to be done.”

Butler appeared on The Rundown alongside Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA, Hannah Keenan, associate director at the Institute for Government think tank, and Suzannah Brecknell, co-editor of Civil Service World.

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The Rundown is presented by Alain Tolhurst, and is produced by Nick Hilton and edited by Ewan Cameron for Podot

• Click here to listen to the latest episode of The Rundown, or search for ‘PoliticsHome’ wherever you get your podcasts.

 

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Luke ‘The Nuke’ Littler gunning for glory

Luke Littler walked into Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena on Thursday night knowing exactly what was coming. The jeers arrived on cue – loud, sharp, and predictable.

But the 17‑year‑old was unaffected by the noise. He has heard much worse recently, and especially after Rotterdam, everything else feels like background static.

He told Sky Sports afterwards:

It is what it is. I’ve won and we move on to next week.

If anything, the boos now seem to sharpen him.

Littler didn’t just survive the noise in Liverpool; he thrived in it, beating Luke Humphries, Michael van Gerwen, and Jonny Clayton to claim his fifth nightly win of the Premier League season.

It was a performance that felt less like defiance and more like inevitability. It was another reminder that the teenager who stunned the world at the World Championship is no fleeting phenomenon.

But to understand why Liverpool barely registered, you have to go back to Rotterdam.

Rotterdam: the cauldron

Littler has been booed before. Darts crowds are tribal, emotional, and often unforgiving. But Rotterdam was different. He said:

Rotterdam was way louder than this tonight. This week was nothing compared to last week.

The hostility stemmed from his now‑infamous spat with Dutch No. 1 Gian van Veen on Night Nine in Manchester, a match that ended with Littler bristling after Van Veen turned towards him while throwing match darts.

Van Veen later said Littler was “out of order” for celebrating toward the crowd.

That single moment ignited something. By the time the Premier League caravan rolled into Rotterdam, the Dutch crowd had made up its mind. Every walk‑on, every dart, every pause was met with a wall of noise.

Littler didn’t crumble. He didn’t even flinch. He reached the final.

This is perhaps his greatest asset: the boos don’t break his focus; they don’t breach his ability to win. They push him onwards.

Liverpool: a different kind of test

Liverpool’s reception was hostile, but not venomous. The boos were loud, but not personal.

After Rotterdam, Littler seemed almost amused by the idea that this was supposed to rattle him. He said:

I even proved to people last week that I can win games under those circumstances and I’ve done it again. There is no anxiety there. I just expect the worst.

Against Humphries, he was clinical. Against Van Gerwen, he was electric, roaring after pinning the final two legs.

Against Clayton, he was ruthless. By the end of the night, he had closed the gap at the top of the table to just three points.

The Van Veen question

Three weeks on from the original flashpoint, Littler and Van Veen still haven’t spoken. Littler admitted:

I’m not the type of person to go up and talk to him. Maybe he is waiting for me to go and talk to him, but I’m not [that] type of person.

Adding:

We can obviously settle it on the dartboard.

That quiet yet loud confidence will ensure the atmosphere will be electric when they next meet.

A teenager learning that’s here to stay

What’s striking about Littler’s rise is not just his talent – although it is extraordinary – but his temperament.

Most 17‑year‑olds struggle with exam stress, not 10,000 people booing them in unison. Littler seems to draw energy from it.

He doesn’t chase the crowd. He doesn’t try to win them back. He simply plays.

The road ahead

Littler is already a world champion. He is already a Premier League contender. He is already a threat to the established order. Crowds don’t boo irrelevance; they boo danger.

With four regular weeks remaining, Littler is within striking distance of top spot. He insists he won’t settle for a playoff place. He wants Clayton. He wants the summit. He wants to prove that Rotterdam wasn’t a fluke and Liverpool wasn’t a reprieve.

He wants to win everything.

Even if the boos follow him from city to city, Littler has already survived the worst. The rest is just noise.

By Faz Ali

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Met police officers have arrested pensioner and activist Trudi Warner, handcuffing and forcing her into a police van.

Shrinking legal rights

Her supposed offence? Holding a placard citing the law outside Woolwich Crown Court. The placard told jurors of their legal right — and legal right it is — to choose to acquit defendants because of conscience.

The judge in the Woolwich retrial of anti-genocide activists has ordered that jurors should not be reminded of their legal rights. Presumably this is because they might be tempted to exercise it and acquit the defendants. The same defendant has already been acquitted once before — evidently not the first time a judge tries this tactic.

Ms Warner knows all about that law — having been prosecuted for doing the same outside another trial. At her own trial, the judge threw out the charges and derided the Crown Prosecution Service for bringing the case at all, intimating that it can’t be contempt of court to remind jurors of their legal rights.

Yet here we are again, watching the same activist handcuffed and hauled off for holding the same sign that can’t possibly be illegal:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Defend Our Juries (@defendourjuries)

The right to a fair trial

Defend Our Juries commented:

“There’s a High Court Ruling about this law” – Trudi ought to know, because the case was “the Secretary General vs Trudi Warner”. She was arrested in 2023 for holding this exact sign outside the trial of Insulate Britain protesters in 2023, and she DEFEATED the accusation in the High Court, much to the embarrassment of the government.

Just as with Insulate Britain activists who took action to prevent unneccesary deaths in the face of a fuel crisis, calling on the UK government to take action to retrofit homes in order to save lives, the Filton 24 activists facing re-trial today in Woolwich Crown Court are being denied the chance to tell jurors the whole truth under threat of charges of contempt. The Filton 24 took action to prevent UK-produced weapons being used to commit the worst crimes against humanity.

It was this type of corrupting of the right to a fair trial that lead Trudi to hold her sign in 2023, which replicates a 1670 placard situated inside the Old Bailey. After a year-long ordeal being pursued by the highest legal authority in the UK government, she won her case and proved that it is not unlawful to hold a sign outside a court reminding jurors of their rights.

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Jurors have an absolute right to acquit a defendant according to their conscience.
Jurors deserve to hear the whole truth.

Damn right. The Starmer police state is a rogue state.

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

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