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If UK Climate Protestors Can’t Break the Law, Gaza Protestors Can’t Either
A pro-Hamas march in London, United Kingdom, Feb. 17, 2024. Photo: Chrissa Giannakoudi via Reuters Connect
In my view, climate change is a critical issue that should receive far more attention. So I ought to be glad that there’s a group in England called “Just Stop Oil,” which attempts to raise climate awareness, protesting the British government granting additional licenses to drill for fossil fuels.
But as part of their protest efforts, they’ve conducted “slow walks,” in which they impede traffic by marching on highways. They’ve also defaced paintings in museums. Recently, several of that group’s members were sentenced to jail. This is in accordance with a new British law that makes causing a “public nuisance” punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
The demonstrators claim these punishments are excessive, with the prison terms putting their non-violent acts on par with rape and robbery. Ian Fry, a UN Special Rapporteur, was quoted by the AP as calling the new law a “direct attack on the right to the freedom of peaceful assembly.”
At trial, the demonstrators did not deny their actions. Instead, they wanted to talk about the harm that oil drilling causes and ask that the jury therefore refuse to find them guilty. They contend that they should not be treated as criminals, since their goal is quite literally saving the planet.
But Judge Christopher Hehir said no — and he forbade any mention of the climate crisis in his courtroom. He explained that a jury’s job is to determine the facts, not to decide whether or not laws should apply. Just Stop Oil supporters holding signs outside asking the jury to acquit were arrested and charged with contempt of court.
In handing down the jail terms, the judge explained that while the crimes were non-violent, they still caused significant harm. The damaged works of art are priceless and irreplaceable. The enormous traffic jams caused by the “slow walking” resulted in high policing costs, inconvenienced tens of thousands of commuters, and forced people to miss funerals and appointments. To sum it up, he stated, “You clearly think your beliefs give you the right to commit crimes when you feel like it. [They] do not.”
This same logic should be applied to the anti-Israel protestors that set up encampments on college campuses, disrupt classes, and prevent access to buildings — along with the mobs that have closed bridges, blocked airports, and taken other actions that are against the law. They claim that they are “stopping genocide” or “fighting oppression,” and so they should have a special status that allows them to break the law.
Of course everyone has the right to protest and advocate for their views. That includes people who oppose Israel or oppose drilling for oil. But society also has the right to make laws to preserve public order and to protect the rights of people who disagree with the protests.
The right to peaceful assembly means that peaceful protestors cannot be silenced or arrested, and also that they cannot be moved to far away, out of sight places, where their protest will not be heard. But the right to hold signs on the side of the road is not the right to block it, and the right to pass out flyers on campus is not the right to barricade the quad.
When protesters feel the need to block traffic, it’s not because that’s necessary for their freedom of expression. Signs and chants on the sidewalk enable them to express themselves just fine. It’s because they can’t accept that drivers going by are unmoved by their demonstration, so they resort to trying to force the public to pay them more attention. People who believe so deeply in a cause often have trouble appreciating that others have different points of view, or that they can’t break the law and cause mob disorder to promote their own.
Even though I believe we need to limit the production of fossil fuels, I don’t support Just Stop Oil. Arguments that we have to get serious about climate need to be made in a manner which respects that others disagree or may not wish to participate. People whose views are anti-Israel are obligated to do the same. If governments, judicial systems, and university administrators don’t insist on this, they are showing an unacceptable bias against Israel themselves.
Shlomo Levin has a Master’s in International Law and Human Rights, and writes frequently about legal developments relating to human rights issues of particular interest to the Jewish community.
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Iran, US Task Experts to Design Framework for a Nuclear Deal, Tehran Says
Atomic symbol and USA and Iranian flags are seen in this illustration taken, September 8, 2022. Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Iran and the United States agreed on Saturday to task experts to start drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal, Iran’s foreign minister said, after a second round of talks following President Donald Trump’s threat of military action.
At their second indirect meeting in a week, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi negotiated for almost four hours in Rome with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, through an Omani official who shuttled messages between them.
Trump, who abandoned a 2015 nuclear pact between Tehran and world powers during his first term in 2018, has threatened to attack Iran unless it reaches a new deal swiftly that would prevent it from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, says it is willing to discuss limited curbs to its atomic work in return for lifting international sanctions.
Speaking on state TV after the talks, Araqchi described them as useful and conducted in a constructive atmosphere.
“We were able to make some progress on a number of principles and goals, and ultimately reached a better understanding,” he said.
“It was agreed that negotiations will continue and move into the next phase, in which expert-level meetings will begin on Wednesday in Oman. The experts will have the opportunity to start designing a framework for an agreement.”
The top negotiators would meet again in Oman next Saturday to “review the experts’ work and assess how closely it aligns with the principles of a potential agreement,” he added.
Echoing cautious comments last week from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, he added: “We cannot say for certain that we are optimistic. We are acting very cautiously. There is no reason either to be overly pessimistic.”
There was no immediate comment from the US side following the talks. Trump told reporters on Friday: “I’m for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific.”
Washington’s ally Israel, which opposed the 2015 agreement with Iran that Trump abandoned in 2018, has not ruled out an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming months, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
Since 2019, Iran has breached and far surpassed the 2015 deal’s limits on its uranium enrichment, producing stocks far above what the West says is necessary for a civilian energy program.
A senior Iranian official, who described Iran’s negotiating position on condition of anonymity on Friday, listed its red lines as never agreeing to dismantle its uranium enriching centrifuges, halt enrichment altogether or reduce its enriched uranium stockpile below levels agreed in the 2015 deal.
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Hamas Says Fate of US-Israeli Hostage Unknown After Guard Killed in Israel Strike
Varda Ben Baruch, the grandmother of Edan Alexander, 19, an Israeli army volunteer kidnapped by Hamas, attends a special Kabbalat Shabbat ceremony with families of other hostages, in Herzliya, Israel October 27, 2023 REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki
Hamas said on Saturday the fate of an Israeli dual national soldier believed to be the last US citizen held alive in Gaza was unknown, after the body of one of the guards who had been holding him was found killed by an Israeli strike.
A month after Israel abandoned the ceasefire with the resumption of intensive strikes across the breadth of Gaza, Israel was intensifying its attacks.
President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said in March that freeing Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old New Jersey native who was serving in the Israeli army when he was captured during the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks that precipitated the war, was a “top priority.” His release was at the center of talks held between Hamas leaders and US negotiator Adam Boehler last month.
Hamas had said on Tuesday that it had lost contact with the militants holding Alexander after their location was hit in an Israeli attack. On Saturday it said the body of one of the guards had been recovered.
“The fate of the prisoner and the rest of the captors remains unknown,” said Hamas armed wing Al-Qassam Brigades’ spokesperson Abu Ubaida.
“We are trying to protect all the hostages and preserve their lives … but their lives are in danger because of the criminal bombings by the enemy’s army,” Abu Ubaida said.
The Israeli military did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Hamas released 38 hostages under the ceasefire that began on January 19. Fifty-nine are still believed to be held in Gaza, fewer than half of them still alive.
Israel put Gaza under a total blockade in March and restarted its assault on March 18 after talks failed to extend the ceasefire. Hamas says it will free remaining hostages only under an agreement that permanently ends the war; Israel says it will agree only to a temporary pause.
On Friday, the Israeli military said it hit about 40 targets across the enclave over the past day. The military on Saturday announced that a 35-year-old soldier had died in combat in Gaza.
NETANYAHU STATEMENT
Late on Thursday Khalil Al-Hayya, Hamas’ Gaza chief, said the movement was willing to swap all remaining 59 hostages for Palestinians jailed in Israel in return for an end to the war and reconstruction of Gaza.
He dismissed an Israeli offer, which includes a demand that Hamas lay down its arms, as imposing “impossible conditions.”
Israel has not responded formally to Al-Hayya’s comments, but ministers have said repeatedly that Hamas must be disarmed completely and can play no role in the future governance of Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to give a statement later on Saturday.
Hamas on Saturday also released an undated and edited video of Israeli hostage Elkana Bohbot. Hamas has released several videos over the course of the war of hostages begging to be released. Israeli officials have dismissed past videos as propaganda.
After the video was released, Bohbot’s family said in a statement that they were “deeply shocked and devastated,” and expressed concern for his mental and physical condition.
“How much longer will he be expected to wait and ‘stay strong’?” the family asked, urging for all of the 59 hostages who are still held in Gaza to be brought home.
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Oman’s Sultan to Meet Putin in Moscow After Iran-US Talks
FILE PHOTO: Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said gives a speech after being sworn in before the royal family council in Muscat, Oman January 11, 2020. Photo: REUTERS/Sultan Al Hasani/File Photo
Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is set to visit Moscow on Monday, days after the start of a round of Muscat-mediated nuclear talks between the US and Iran.
The sultan will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
Iran and the US started a new round of nuclear talks in Rome on Saturday to resolve their decades-long standoff over Tehran’s atomic aims, under the shadow of President Donald Trump’s threat to unleash military action if diplomacy fails.
Ahead of Saturday’s talks, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. Following the meeting, Lavrov said Russia was “ready to assist, mediate and play any role that will be beneficial to Iran and the USA.”
Moscow has played a role in Iran’s nuclear negotiations in the past as a veto-wielding U.N. Security Council member and signatory to an earlier deal that Trump abandoned during his first term in 2018.
The sultan’s meetings in Moscow visit will focus on cooperation on regional and global issues, the Omani state news agency and the Kremlin said, without providing further detail.
The two leaders are also expected to discuss trade and economic ties, the Kremlin added.
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