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Over 500 Turkish civil society groups have come out in support for the new Gaza aid flotilla, which left Barcelona on 12 April. The flotilla is the largest so far and is currently in Syracuse, Sicily, en route to Gaza.

The flotilla expands

Global Sumud Flotilla board member Fatih Varol said that the ordinary people of Turkiye “deeply feels the suffering of Gaza”. The groups who have formally voiced their support represent around 40m Turkish people and have donated millions of euros in financial support.

The volunteer-crewed convoy is the latest to try to break Israel’s siege. Previous flotillas have been violently and illegally seized by the occupation’s military, with volunteers beaten and even raped. But opponents of genocide are refusing to be deterred from trying to bring help to the around 1.8m surviving Palestinians suffering under Israel’s constant bombing and criminal starvation blockade.

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

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A hustings in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, showed progressives are fully intent on holding the controversial Labour council to account at the upcoming local election.

The 23 April event took place in the Ashbrow ward of Huddersfield, which is more diverse and has higher levels of deprivation than other parts of Kirklees. The question and answer session saw independent and Green candidates highlight why local people need to challenge Labour’s behaviour in Kirklees.

“We need fighting councillors who put people first” in Kirklees

Independent Mike Forster, standing as a People’s Alliance for Change and Equality candidate in Ashbrow, was the first to speak. He has campaigned hard against unpopular council decisions to privatise dementia homes, allow a local property development to cause a public health crisis, and close leisure centres.

Criticising the lack of democracy on Kirklees Council and how the ruling Labour cabinet has failed to listen to local people, he insisted:

We need fighting councillors who put people first.

Labour has passed on central government cuts by making highly unpopular decisions. And Forster believes councillors absolutely can and should “demand more resources” from Westminster. As he stressed:

let’s stop playing by the rules that they set, and instead by the rules that people want, which is resources for the community and not for the rich.

With the council putting the burden of tight finances onto ordinary people, Forster asked how:

the council has found £36m in their back pocket to go to a private company to renovate the George Hotel.

The private sector had failed to maintain the prominent historic building. So the council took on the risk to invest in its refurbishment so the private sector could benefit from it in the future.

Forster also queried why:

they want to spend £26m, together with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, on a brand new bus station.

As he asserted:

I was talking to some young people the other night, and they said, ‘we don’t need a new bus station. We need youth services.’

Why are they wasting this money?

Forster reiterated his point again and again. The council’s priorities are wrong. There is money available, both nationally and locally. But political elites won’t just hand it to communities. Ordinary people need to push to get it, and elect people who will fight for it.

The council missed out on government money for no good reason

Green candidate Martin Price, meanwhile, highlighted that having just a small number of councillors pushing the cabinet hard can make a difference. He explained that a previous government scheme for insulation ran in Kirklees for seven years. As he said:

It was instigated by the Green Party when we had one Green councillor. Labour needed that one Green councillor to vote with them. The price was a Warm Homes Scheme that cost £11m that insulated thousands of homes across the whole of Kirklees. It also created lots of jobs because Kirklees people did the work.

A similar government scheme is currently running and was “available to all councils”, he said. It would have given funding for:

free wall, loft and underfloor insulation, air source heat pumps and solar panels.

However, he insisted:

Unfortunately, Kirklees Council decided it was not for the residents of Ashbrow and Kirklees. They did not apply for the funding. A bit of paperwork has cost council taxpayers dearly.

He also spoke about the need to prioritise local services and oppose privatisation. And when there was discussion of the money the council has spent on unnecessary legal fees, defending its unpopular decisions, Price suggested this could have all been avoided if the council had simply listened to and consulted local residents.

By Ed Sykes

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Starmer’s failing Labour government is under pressure on all fronts. And now it has been revealed that Big Oil are pushing hard to get the North Sea exploited for oil. This is despite little evidence such a move could offset the Iran war energy crisis. Yet the oil lobby has enjoyed weekly meetings since Starmer took power…

US president Donald Trump said on 23 April that Starmer was done for unless he started drilling:

NEW: Donald Trump says his relationship with Keir Starmer can only recover if he opens the North Sea and controls immigration

“If he doesn’t, I don’t think he stands a chance”

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— Politics UK (@PolitlcsUK) April 23, 2026

And Reform UK’s Nigel Farage also called for drilling in March 2026. Not that the UK oil lobby struggle to get access to politicians…

On 22 April, investigative journalists from the excellent Democracy for Sale team reported that Big Oil is trying to make Labour open up the North Sea oil fields. Let’s be clear here, as Democracy for Sale said themselves, there is little evidence drilling the North Sea will help fix the oil crisis.

A crisis which was caused by Donald Trump’s attack on Iran anyway…

Nevertheless, the investigation found that:

the main North Sea industry lobby group, Offshore Energies UK (OEUK), has spearheaded a campaign to overturn the ban on new North Sea drilling and to end the windfall tax on energy profits.

Oil lobby enjoys weekly access to government

The level of access the oil lobby has enjoyed since July 2024 – when Starmer took power – has been remarkable. Democracy for Sale confirmed this through freedom of information (FOI) requests:

Lobbyists for OEUK and its members, which include BP, Shell and a host of major oil and gas firms, have met UK and Scottish ministers 96 times since July 2024 – a rate of more than once a week.

The report also said:

OEUK’s head of public affairs is a former Tory special advisor who has repeatedly met with parliamentarians. On at least two occasions, MPs have made parliamentary contributions echoing OEUK talking points a day after being briefed by the lobby group.

And that a senior oil executive had had a call with energy secretary Ed Miliband days after Labour took office:

in which she called for “new exploration licenses” in the North Sea and also raised “concerns on the energy profits levy” introduced in the wake of soaring profits after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The levy taxed powerful (and already wealthy) oil firms profits. In a later meeting with another energy minister:

BP’s Kingham warned that the windfall tax would “kill off” BP’s investment in renewables – even as the company was already scaling back its energy transition plans. In another meeting, a Shell UK executive called for “continuous drilling in the North Sea.

Is Labour wavering under Big Oil’s demands?

So far, Democracy for Sale said Miliband has:

refused to backtrack on Labour’s manifesto pledge.

But chancellor Rachel Reeves:

recently told BBC radio she would be “very happy” to back new North Sea exploration.

The oil lobby has pulled the stops out to change Labour policy:

Ahead of November’s autumn budget, OEUK held a parliamentary reception attended by ministers and MPs. The government simultaneously softened its position on North Sea oil and gas, allowing new production on or near existing fields, so long as it doesn’t require new exploration.

And they’ve been actively pushing propaganda pieces in the legacy media. Democracy for Sale reported:

OEUK’s lobbying effort has been bearing fruit across the British media. “We’re sitting on a goldmine!” So WHY won’t Red Ed drop his Net Zero madness?”, the Daily Mail reported this month, citing OEUK research.

The outlet said that that Mail article was just one of:

788 stories in the British media in the past year to mention the trade group.

And the lobby group has been active in Scotland too, where such industries are politically sensitive:

It secured 44 meetings with MSPs and ministers after the Scottish government introduced a presumption against new offshore fossil fuel licences in 2023.

An OEUK representative told Democracy for Sale:

We are an apolitical organisation regularly engaging with parliamentary parties across the UK. Our sector contributes billions of pounds to the UK economy, supports thousands of good jobs and safeguards energy security while driving down carbon emissions. We will continue to represent it with pride.

Plenty of criticism too…

MPs and pressure groups critical of the oil lobby spoke out too. Green MP Sian Berry said:

the scale and depth of access OEUK has been given to government ministers is absolutely shocking.

Adding that it would be reckless for the Labour government to be swayed by the lobby. Tessa Khan, who is executive director of climate action organisation Uplift, told the reporters:

New drilling won’t make any difference to the price we pay for gas. It is a distraction from the genuine solutions, like more renewables, and upgrading homes with solar power and heat pumps, which are the only way to insulate ourselves from energy shocks.

Drilling the North Sea clearly isn’t going to solve the energy crisis. And the oil lobby is concerned with is bottom line and not much else. Neither of these realities is reflect in amount of direct access they’ve had to government. The problem is that this government, wracked by internal and external crises, might not have the strength to resist these powerful vested interests.

Featured image via the Canary

By Joe Glenton

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The sinister Israeli thug behind a phone number that sent death threats to Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil has claimed she and other journalists are terrorists – and threatened a US journalist for asking questions.

Israeli thug threatening Drop Site

Amal Khalil was murdered in a double-tap strike on 22 April as she reported in southern Lebanon. The smears follow the same tactics used by the occupation military against journalists in Gaza to murder them and their families in their hundreds.

This is the smoking gun.

The Israeli number (+972 54-869-5113) that sent explicit death threats to Al-Akhbar correspondent Amal al-Khalil, & whose side later murdered her during the supposed ceasefire, has now been confronted on record.
The man who answered identifies himself as… https://t.co/Awk6SZ6bOW

— Hala Jaber (@HalaJaber) April 23, 2026

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When challenged by Drop Site journalist Jeremy Loffredo about the threats, the man – who identified himself as Gideon Gal Ben Avraham – made the sinister claim, along with an implied threat to Loffredo himself:

These are not innocent people. The journalists affiliated with Hezbollah that Israel eliminated were also spies for Hezbollah, approaching our soldiers and then informing the terrorist organization where our soldiers were in real time. Similarly, on October 7, journalists affiliated with Hamas were eliminated because they were intelligence officers. Send greetings to all journalists affiliated with Hezbollah, for anyone who works for the organization should know that they are destined for death.

I think about the possibilty [sic] that you are one of them too … am offering you to find another partner in Lebanon there are alote [sic] of good pepole [sic] over there Maronites . Sunnis . Druzes . And others try to cover there Narative [sic] … you are Naiv very Naiv.

Disgusting

Lebanese journalist Hala Jaber said that Avraham also:

even justifies the killing of journalists by airstrikes: “those journalists that had been executed by an air strike last month… they were giving [them] intel.”

This is not a lone psycho. This is the official Israeli mentality laid bare: any journalist reporting from Lebanon or Gaza is automatically branded a terrorist collaborator & marked for death. They are openly normalizing the assassination of the press.

Amal al-Khalil was not a combatant. She was a journalist documenting Israeli crimes. Her blood is on their hands, & they just admitted it out loud with zero shame. The world must see this.

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Before her murder, Amal Khalil gave an interview in which she spoke about Avraham’s threats:

“I received direct threats targeting me on my phone from the Mossad, from the Israelis, and they threatened to kill me.”

Lebanese journalist Amal Khalil speaking before she was killed by Israel. pic.twitter.com/RGoDTg0HUY

— Lowkey (@Lowkey0nline) April 23, 2026

Israel’s denials that it targets journalists are patent lies – and even some ‘mainstream’ western journalists are no longer hiding their contempt for the lies:

“And in the statement, as you’d expect, the IDF went on to say, yet again, that they do not target journalists and that the details of the incident are under review. Don’t hold your breath”@paraicobrien concluding his report on #C4News on the killing of journalist Amal Khalil pic.twitter.com/izLXMmqZ7x

— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) April 24, 2026

As in their genocide in Gaza, the coloniser forces have targeted Lebanese journalists, first responders and medics for murder. In March 2026, Israel murdered three well-known news journalists – Ali Shuaib, Fatima Ftouni and camera operator Mohamad Ftouni, who was Fatima’s brother, in a single, deliberate strike.

Israel is a terror state.

By Skwawkbox

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In an unprecedented action, more than 130 leading scholars and public figures are risking arrest on terror charges after writing an open letter to the Court of Appeal concerning Palestine Action.

The letter, dated 24 April 2026, simply reads:

We oppose genocide, we support Palestine Action.

The words that have become synonymous with the campaign to Lift the Ban.

Sally Rooney, Greta Thunberg, and Judith Butler were among the first to put their names to this defiant declaration. Joining them are prominent artists and musicians such as Nadine Shah, Brian Eno, Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja, the actor Billy Howle, writers China Miéville, Lina Meruane and Tariq Ali, and political activists like Lindsey German of Stop the War and Vijay Prashad of the Tricontinental Institute.

The letter is on the Defend our Juries website. And there’s also a sign-on form that allows anyone who supports the scholars’ action to add their name.

Professors and researchers from University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, London School of Economics, Durham University, University of Warwick, University of Exeter and many other UK universities pledge their support for Palestine Action.

The list of signatories includes several senior professors of law: Yvette Russell from University of Bristol, Maria Aristodemou from Birkbeck, and Neve Gordon FacSS, Penny Green FacSS, and Hans Lindahl all from Queen Mary University of London.

Other prominent UK-based professors on the list are Nicola Pratt the president of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies and Eyal Weizman the founding director of Forensic Architecture.

The letter exposes the paradox of terror charges

If the police proceed to arrest these scholars on terror charges, it’ll further expose the authoritarian nature of the ban. But if they don’t, the more than 3,000 previous arrests of people for saying precisely the same thing will appear not just unlawful but arbitrary and discriminatory.

Today’s action by the scholars is organised by a number of academic critics of the ongoing genocide in Palestine. Many of them are signatories to previous open letters hosted by the group Protest is not Terrorism.

Over the last couple of years Israel has destroyed all of Gaza’s universities and killed scores of Palestinian scholars. Given the UK’s increasingly authoritarian response to anti-genocide protest, the organisers of this letter did not circulate it among colleagues in the West Bank.

Nevertheless, Palestinian academic voices are still represented by Abdaljawad Omar (Birzeit University), Karma Nabulsi (University of Oxford) and Rashid Khalidi (Columbia University), author of perhaps the most widely read recent history of the century-long war against Palestine.

Many well known international figures and political thinkers have signed the letter in solidarity. These include Verónica Gago (Professor of Social Sciences at University of Buenos Aires), Michael Hardt (Professor of Literature, Duke University) and Jacques Rancière (Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of Paris 8).

The letter arrives just days before the government’s appeal to uphold its unlawful proscription of Palestine Action comes before the Royal Courts of Justice on 28-29 April.

With more expected to sign the letter over the weekend, the scholars’ defiance is further evidence that the public does not support the government’s attempts to ban legitimate and necessary action to prevent a genocide.

Signatories comment

Penny Green, Professor of Law and Globalisation at Queen Mary University of London, said:

It is both indefensible and revealing that peaceful protesters opposing genocide are being branded as terrorists while the Labour government, itself complicit in Israel’s state terror, avoids all accountability.

Neve Gordon, Professor of International Law at Queen Mary University of London, said:

Instead of meeting its legal obligations as set by the Genocide Convention and international humanitarian law, Keir Starmer’s government has been providing military and diplomatic support to Israel as it perpetrates atrocity crimes while simultaneously silencing the messenger by proscribing Palestine Action as a terrorist group.

The decision to appeal the ruling rendering the proscription unlawful is yet another sign of the government’s moral bankruptcy.

Catherine Rottenberg, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths University of London, said:

With the ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing in Palestine and an illegal and horrific war raging in the Middle East, the insistence on proscribing a direct action group is not merely absurd, it is absolutely unconscionable.

In the name of defending freedom and democracy, our government is undermining both democracy and freedom. We the people must stand up and defend our freedoms, with Palestine Action as our most urgent test case.

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Peter Hallward, Professor of Philosophy at London’s Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy, said:

For anyone familiar with even a few strands of post-war European thought, it’s almost incomprehensible to think that we have so quickly forgotten a principle that once commanded universal and uncontroversial assent – that ‘never again’ really means what it says. Never, ever, anywhere. Especially not with our collusion!

The 1948 Convention remains categorically binding on us all, and it obliges us to ‘prevent and punish’ genocide by all the necessary means at our disposal.

If our government refuses to honour this obligation it is up to us to insist on it.

Başak Ertür, a Reader at Goldsmiths’ Centre for Research Architecture, said:

The use of the sharpest end of criminal law against people who inconvenience political power by acting with conscience is a textbook feature of authoritarianism. I’ve been wary of signing collective letters since I was put on trial in Turkey some years ago, along with hundreds of others, for adding my name to the Academics for Peace petition in 2016.

But the proscription of Palestine Action by executive fiat seems to me no less preposterous than what I have experienced, and therefore it feels exactly right that I now sign this letter, because indeed, I do oppose genocide and therefore support Palestine Action.

A spokesperson for Defend our Juries said:

The scholars who have signed this letter have spent their lives analysing complex political situations and moral problems and today have decided to put their liberty and reputations on the line because saving lives is not terrorism.

If the police start arresting these scholars on terrorism charges for peaceful expressions of political speech the state’s authoritarianism will be fully exposed. But if they don’t, the arrests of more than 3,000 people for saying precisely the same thing will be shown to be not just unlawful but also discriminatory.

We applaud the signatories of today’s letter in joining thousands of people who have publicly declared their support for Palestine Action.

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Featured image via the Canary

By The Canary

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The US State Department’s official page on its illegal war with Iran admits it launched the war at Israel’s request. It also adds that it has confirmed this repeatedly to the United Nations:

US in bed with Israel

Not that this is any surprise to anyone paying attention, but it’s nice to see it admitted. ‘Operation Epic Fury’ has been dubbed ‘Operation Epstein Distraction‘ for Trump appearing to launch it to divert media attention from his ‘alleged’ crimes committed with the ‘deceased’ serial child-rapist. But as Epstein was/is an Israeli spy, there’s really no conflict between the two positions.

‘Request’ is doing some heavy lifting, though. Secretary of State Marco Rubio admitted that Israel manoeuvred Trump into the war. Netanyahu’s furious visit to jolt Trump into action has led many to conclude that the wanted Israeli war criminal threatened to release some of Epstein’s worst info on Trump to twist his arm. Certainly that’s what ex-Israeli intelligence officer Ari Ben-Menashe believes.

Even Trump’s ‘MAGA’ base in the US is getting tired of Trump’s ‘Israel first’ policies, however. So seeing it in print that the US is wasting hundreds of billions and most of its weapon stocks to appease Benjamin Netanyahu and his imperial ambitions is not likely to fly too well.

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

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The Assisted Dying Bill has finally been pronounced dead, as it has run out of time to become law.

17 months after it was rushed through in the House of Commons, the horrendous bill, which could usher in euthanisation for disabled people, has failed in the Lords.

The Bill has been a farce from start to finish, something rushed through parliament because Keir Starmer made a promise to dying TV personality Esther Rantzen. The bill was spearheaded by MP Kim Leadbeater, who at every turn silenced opposition and painted them as anti-choice. When in fact, for the most part, they were disabled people terrified for their community.

Leadbeater making an arse of herself and the Assisted Dying Bill

In light of the Assisted Dying Bill failing, Leadbeater made a bizarre statement:

It is a choice, it’s a bit like gay marriage isn’t it? Marry who you want to marry, love who you want to love. It’s nothing to do with anybody else

Gay marriage isn’t a choice, it’s a right. Much like the way disabled people have the right to not be forced to kill ourselves by a system that won’t support us and family who make us feel like burdens.

The bill had such a whistle-stop tour in the Commons that it was barely even fucking written before MPs were made to vote on it. This felt like a deliberate choice as it meant those opposed had less time to scrutinise the bill.

When it made it to the committee stage, they tried to exclude disabled campaigners fighting against it.  The biggest red flag of the committee was when it excluded one of it own disabled members who opposed the Assisted Dying Bill. Due to Kim Leadbeater insisting the committee held long hours, Naz Shah was forced to leave a session early after her hearing aids ran out of battery. This again felt deliberate.

Lords criticised for doing their job

When it reached the Lord’s stage, so many people wanted to speak that the debate had to be spread out over two days. But despite two-thirds of the speakers being against the bill, it progressed to the committee stage. The committee was again corrupt as fuck, as it restricted evidence.

After that it was back to the Lords, where Charlie Falconer attempted to stop debate at every turn, whilst also digging himself an even bigger hole. Despite him being for the Assisted Dying Bill, Falconer exposed that pregnant women and poor people would be allowed assisted deaths.

The excuse for it being rushed through the Commons was that it would be scrutinised in the Lords, but when the Lords attempted to scrutinise it they were accused of filibustering and there was outrage

Opposition to Assisted Dying Bill painted as heartless, but that’s not true

At every turn, the ‘for’ side painted concerned disabled people as heartless bastards who wanted your nan to die in pain. As both a disabled person and someone who’s been there, this couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Nobody wants to see people forced to live their last days in pain, but assisted dying wouldn’t fix that. In fact, it would divert money from palliative care, which is already in a dire state.

It also doesn’t need saying just how much of a fucking state the Department of Work and Pensions is and how much they’re making disabled people feel like burdens. Something, by the way, the government said would be a cause for assisted dying.

Disabled and terminally ill people have been pitted against each other from the beginning, but it’s simply not true that we’re enemies. Everyone should have access to the care they need at the end of life, but throwing disabled people under the bus was never going to help that.

No dignity in dying until disabled people have dignity in life

In an ideal world, everyone should get a good death free from pain, but in a world that will assist disabled people to die before it assists them to live, this just isn’t possible.

It’s fucking fantastic news that the Assisted Dying Bill has failed today, but the fact that disabled voices were continuously silenced or shouted down throughout the whole debacle shows the horrendous fight we still have on our hands to be able to live with dignity.

Until then, there can never be a law which allows us to be killed off so easily.

Featured image via the Canary

By Rachel Charlton-Dailey

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1,688 council candidates have made the ‘Pledge for Palestine’ ahead of the May local elections. This includes more than 1,000 Green candidates, 200 Labour candidates, 200 independents and other local party candidates, as well as candidates from the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives.

Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) launched the ‘Candidate Pledge for Palestine’ in conjunction with Vote Palestine 2026, a campaign group that aims to raise the importance of Palestine in the local elections. Alongside PSC, Vote Palestine 2026 is endorsed by the Palestinian Youth Movement Britain, the British Palestinian Committee, the Palestinian Forum in Britain, and The Muslim Vote.

If elected to council, the pledge commits candidates to “take all appropriate steps to” to (1) uphold the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, (2) stand up to Israel for its crimes of genocide and apartheid, and (3) ensure their council is not complicit in Israel’s violations of international law, including by divesting pension funds from complicit companies.

Almost 5,000 councillors will be elected on 7 May, with ‘all out’ elections in all London boroughs and Birmingham, and seats up for grabs across much of England: from Plymouth on the south-west coast to Tyneside in the north-east.

London

Palestine was a major issue in the 2024 General Election and could prove decisive in key councils where Labour is under threat from the Greens, who are expected to make major gains. This is particularly true in London, where ‘all out’ elections could see Labour lose control of historic strongholds. For example:

Hackney

• Labour currently has a large majority (42/57 seats), but it is a key target for the Greens.
• 32 Green candidates have made the ‘Pledge for Palestine’, including the Green’s candidate for mayor, Zoe Garbett, as well as 6 Hackney Independent Socialist Collective candidates, compared to just 2 Labour candidates.

Camden

• Keir Starmer’s home borough has a large Labour majority (44/55 seats) but is expected to face a strong challenge from the Greens.
• 33 Green candidates have made the pledge, as well as 3 Camden People’s Alliance candidates, but no Labour candidates have.

Newham

• Labour currently holds 56 of 66 council seats, but here they face strong challenges from both the Greens and a pro-Palestine local party, the Newham Independents Party.
• Here, the pledge has been made by 28 Green candidates, 19 Newham Independents Party candidates, and 5 Labour candidates.

Islington

• Another Labour stronghold (currently 44/51 seats) at risk from the Greens, but here 29 Labour candidates have made the pledge, compared to 19 Greens and 6 Islington Community Independent candidates.

Across England

Outside of London, Labour also faces strong challenges in councils it has run for decades or more. For example:

Birmingham

• Labour holds a narrow majority (52/101 seats) and with all seats up for grabs, it could lose control of a council it has held since 2012.
• 27 Green candidates in Birmingham have made the pledge, as well as 4 independents and 1 Labour candidate.

Bradford

• Labour again holds a wafer-thin majority (46/90 seats) and again all seats are up for election.
• 16 Green candidates have made the pledge, 12 Your Bradford Independents Group candidates, and 6 Labour candidates.

Elsewhere, former Labour-held councils could move further from the party. For example:

Newcastle

• Labour currently holds 34/78 seats but could be pushed out of being the largest party by the Greens and independent challenges.
• 28 Green candidates have made the pledge, as well as 2 Newcastle Independents candidates, and 5 Labour candidates.
• This includes former Labour Mayor North of Tyne, Jamie Driscoll, who is now standing for the Greens and has made the pledge.

Oxford

• Labour lost control of the council when 9 of its councillors quit the party over its handling of Gaza. It now holds 21 of 48 seats, with half up for election on 7 May.
• 24 Green candidates have made the pledge, compared to 4 from Labour.

The ‘Pledge for Palestine’

Last year PSC launched the ‘Councillor Pledge for Palestine’, asking sitting councillors to make the pledge. More than 1,300 have done so.

PSC’s research has found that local council-administered pension funds invest more than £12bn in companies complicit in Israel’s crimes, including hundreds of millions of pounds invested in arms companies like BAE Systems, which makes parts for the Israeli fighter jets that have been used to decimate Gaza. So far more than 30 councils across the UK have passed motions supporting divestment from companies complicit in Israel’s crimes.

Polling commissioned by PSC shows that more than three times as many voters support local councils divesting pension funds from companies complicit in Israel’s crimes than oppose it. That ratio is 6:1 for Labour voters, 7:1 for Liberal Democrat voters, and 11:1 for Green voters.

Peter Leary, deputy director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said:

Voters are sickened not only by Israel’s war crimes and crimes against humanity, they are also sick of British complicity with it. The Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions is an essential movement to support the fundamental rights of Palestinian people and that can be carried out at a local level, just as it helped when apartheid was brought down in South Africa.

We’re pleased that candidates from all parties have been taking the pledge, some of them despite the failures of their national party’s policies to support divestment from human rights abusing companies.

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Councillors who can get their councils to stop all complicity – such as divesting pension funds that are linked to companies that are enabling Israel’s crimes – can play a crucial role and voters at these local elections will be looking carefully to see who stands on the side of freedom and justice for Palestine.

Rami Khayal, from the Birmingham Votes Palestine campaign, said:

Birmingham has long stood with Palestine. Throughout this genocide, the people have taken to the streets of our city.

We launched Birmingham Votes Palestine because we know that accountability begins locally: in pension funds, in procurement, in the choices councils make every day. Despite the will of this city, the sitting Labour council has failed in pushing West Midlands Pension Fund to divest over £450 million in complicit companies.

Labour is learning that silence has a cost; that it has lost this city. On 7 May, voters will make that cost tangible.

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Featured image via the Canary

By The Canary

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Prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi are quickly becoming an economic and political force, accruing multi-billion dollar valuations and drawing support from key officials in the Trump administration.

But backlash to the platforms is spreading — in Washington and in state capitals — with accusations of insider trading following White House military action in Venezuela and Iran and dogging several midterm election campaigns.

Fault lines over who is in charge of regulation are already emerging, with several frontline Democrats pushing to rein in the companies. In March, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order barring appointed state officials from using insider information to place bets on prediction markets. Regulation discussions are ongoing in other states, including Arizona and Massachusetts.

Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, meanwhile, is an adviser for both Kalshi and Polymarket. And both companies are spending big to win over the country’s political class, with Polymarket opening a pop-up bar on K Street, among other efforts. Both platforms did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Here are some of the most recent incidents that have piqued the anxiety of state and federal lawmakers.

The capture of Nicolás Maduro

Federal authorities on Thursday announced the arrest of a U.S. Army special forces soldier they accused of using confidential information to place more than a dozen bets on Polymarket tied to the January capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro.

Gannon Ken Van Dyke, a 38-year-old soldier who helped plan the Caracas operation, spent roughly $33,000 on the bets, earning more than $400,000 in payouts, the Justice Department said. Authorities charged him with unlawfully using confidential government information for personal gain, among other alleged offenses.

The operation saw U.S. forces capture Maduro overnight in his bedroom, before flying the longtime Venezuelan leader to New York City to face narco-terrorism charges.

Van Dyke’s alleged actions took advantage of that mission, the government officials argue.

“Our men and women in uniform are trusted with classified information in order to accomplish their mission as safely and effectively as possible, and are prohibited from using this highly sensitive information for personal financial gain,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement Thursday. “Widespread access to prediction markets is a relatively new phenomenon, but federal laws protecting national security information fully apply.”

U.S.-Iran ceasefire

In the hours before President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire with Iran in early April, at least 50 newly created Polymarket accounts spent thousands betting on a temporary peace, according to an Associated Press report.

One account, created just 12 minutes before Trump’s Truth Social announcement, made $48,500 on a $31,908 bet that a ceasefire would occur. Another cashed out for a profit of $200,000, the AP reported.

Polymarket also took heat after the U.S.’s initial strikes on Iran, with “six suspected insiders” placing bets on the attacks just before they took place, according to Blockchain company Bubblemaps, taking home more than $1 million.

Israeli authorities, meanwhile, charged two people in February for using classified information to place bets about military operations on Polymarket, according to NPR.

Congressional bets

On Wednesday, Kalshi announced that it was suspending three 2026 congressional candidates from the platform for betting on their own races. Minnesota Democrat Matthew Klein, Texas Republican Ezekiel Enriquez and Virginia Senate candidate Mark Moran were each given five-year bans and faced fines or penalties ranging from roughly $500 to more than $6,000.

Klein, who is running to replace outgoing House lawmaker Angie Craig in Minnesota’s 2nd District, issued an apology on X.

“This was a mistake, and I apologize,” he wrote. “My experience, like many other Minnesotans, points to the need for clearer rules and regulations for these types of markets.”

Enriquez has not appeared to publicly comment on his wager or suspension.

Moran, a former “FBoy Island” contestant who is running a long-shot bid to challenge Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) in Virginia, took a different tack, writing on X that he wanted to be caught.

“I traded $100 on myself, knowing this would happen (also knowing that I wouldn’t be vying for the democratic nomination) and the attention it would create to highlight how this company is destroying young men and as Senator I will go after Kalshi and impose significant penalties on them – 25% – a vice tax – to pay down our national debt,” he said.

Playing with Mother Nature

Several Polymarket traders made thousands of dollars in profits for accurately predicting sudden, anomalous spikes in the temperature at Paris’ Charles De Gaulle airport April 15, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Météo-France, the country’s weather service, is now investigating the incident, which could be tied to tampering.

MrBeast’s editor

In February, Kalshi reported Artem Kaptur, an editor for MrBeast, one of the world’s biggest influencers and most popular YouTube creators, to federal authorities for allegedly trading “on material, non-public information he obtained because of his employment” regarding the celebrity’s YouTube videos.

Kalshi suspended Kaptur from its platform for two years and imposed a financial penalty of more than $20,000. He was fired in March.

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