#johnglenmp — Public Fediverse posts

Is the UK government going to take action?

The signs of a more robust stance are promising

September 2026

But as ever with government, words are not always matched by deeds. The Foreign Secretary’s statement and his subsequent remarks in a video expressing shock at being told medicines are being withheld from Gaza have drawn a series of rebukes and threats from a variety of sources.

In parliament he said that the proposal to build settlement E1 as it’s known ‘crosses a red line and cuts through the heart of the West Bank and risks making a Palestinian state unviable. This is indeed the stated intention of some Israeli politicians. During the debate some MPs referred to ‘settler terrorism’.

His additional remarks made in a video have inflamed the situation further. “Frankly, it was horrific, what is unfolding,” Mr Miliband said. “The stories that people were telling me of medicines being blocked [and] children dying while waiting for vital life-saving treatment.” The Israelis have denied that there are any restrictions despite considerable evidence they have from charities like Physicians for Human Rights and Global Human Rights Clinic as well as a host of other NGOs and charities.

The US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has accused the Labour government of ‘Jew hate’ and that “they know no boundaries and and know no facts”. Strong stuff. A difficult claim to make as the Foreign Secretary is Jewish. The Times of Israel called his remarks ‘political positioning’ among other criticisms.

These are the familiar responses to any kind of criticism of Israel despite the mass of evidence of violence in the West Bank and Gaza.

Vigil

The 144th vigil took place yesterday (5th September) with around 25 in attendance. Filming has started of our video ‘Because …’ where we ask some participants why are they here. We will be continuing over the next few weeks running up to our 150th vigil.

The local MP, Mr John Glen has still not put in an appearance. We learned that one participant has written over 40 times to him yet has never received a reply. Mr Glen is a member the Conservative Friends of Israel lobby organisation. He has never mentioned the vigils in his weekly column courtesy of the Salisbury Journal. An MP is elected to represent all his or her constituents not just those who agree with them.

Double standards?

An enormous fuss was made last week over a Channel 4 film showing Reform party aids soliciting foreign donations which are illegal under electoral law. The undercover filming appeared to show two Reform aids seeking to conceal the source of foreign donations to make them appear as though they were from the UK. Two have been relieved of their posts. Yet there is no equivalent fuss of the huge amount of money the Israeli government has poured into its lobbying and the effect it has had on the attitudes of MPs towards the conflict.

Around £1.5 million has been spent by the Israeli government and it is thought that 180 MPs are members of the various party’s friends groups. This raises the obvious question ‘who are you representing?’ How can a member of parliament be such a friend and claim to be an impartial judge of both British interests and what is right in the Middle East and for Israel? Where do their loyalties lie?

Picture: courtesy of Peter Gloyns.

Sources: Times of Israel, Independent, MSN, Ha’aretz.

• Is the UK government going to take action?
• UK government signals change re: Israel
• Uyghur campaign: last day (for now)
• Good response to our 143rd vigil
• Exeter University in the spotlight

Will the UK’s attitude to Israel change?

Will the new prime minister really make significant changes?

Vigil #136

July 2026

Questions, questions, which are posed following the near certainty of Andy Burnham becoming the new prime minister of Britain and his stated apologies for the UK’s uncritical support of Israel and its genocidal actions in Gaza. It is one thing to offer Israel support and sympathy after the horrific attack on October 7th but quite another to continue to offer such support while the destruction of Gaza took place including the near total demolition of medical facilities, schools and other public facilities. The deliberate killing of children, over 20,000 so far – not as an accidental consequence of military action but as a matter of stated policy – is unsupportable yet our nation has continued to support it.

We noted in a previous post that Mr Burnham waited until he had the succession in the bag so to speak, before making this announcement and wondered if this was because he was mindful of the huge number of MPs who are members of a Friends of Israel group – 69 of whom are in his own party and over 200 in the House of Commons as a whole – as well as the powerful influence Israeli lobbying has over our media including the BBC. If this is correct, the question becomes will he be able to follow through? If he did not feel comfortable with promising a reset because of fears of a lobbying backlash, how likely is it he can withstand this influence and lobbying once he gets into No 10?

It is to be questioned how an MP and more particularly senior ministers – which includes shockingly, Sir Keir Starmer, Rachel Reeves and David Lammy – be members and act impartially as a minister. Whom do they serve? A question asked of the Salisbury MP, Mr John Glen a ‘proud’ member of the much larger Conservative Friends of Israel, which he said was unworthy of an answer. Sir Keir’s support which emerged when he made the quite disgraceful comment that Israel was justified in cutting off water and power to Gaza, led in part to his defenestration as prime minister.

Vigil 136

Picture courtesy of Peter Gloyns

About 30 attended the latest vigil on a hot evening. Quite a lot of support and thumbs up signs and passers by taking pictures, One offensive gesture noticed. Recognition was again quite high. No sign of Mr Glen and no mention of the vigil in his weekly column in the Salisbury Journal.

• Uyghur campaign: letter
• Uyghur campaign – day 11
• Risks of University Partnerships with Arms Firms and Israel
• Obituary: Daphne White
• Uyghurs: getting the word out

Fragile ceasefire in Gaza holds

Vigil number 113 held in Salisbury

February 2026

The vigils continue in Salisbury and around 25 braved the cold and rain on Saturday 31st January to hold the 113th such event. A fragile ceasefire continues to hold and plans are continuing for the Board of Peace. 492 have died since the October ceasefire and the total dead is now put at 71,660 by the Hamas Health Ministry. On this, news this week that the IDF has now accepted this as a correct figure having decried the statistics since 2023. A further 10,000 are thought to be under the rubble unaccounted for. Throughout the conflict, Israel has claimed it is engaged in targeted strikes and reports of indiscriminate attacks are according to Netanyahu, a ‘blood libel’.

The UN has reported that the ceasefire is making a difference as more aid is getting in to the territory. They say the famine is being reversed although aid is insufficient to meet all needs. Foreign media have not been allowed into Gaza preventing verification of claims and the reporting of facts on the ground. The Foreign Press Association has launched a claim in the Israel Supreme Court to allow journalists in now that a ceasefire is in place. They argue it is absurd to prevent journalists from entering.

We have noted in previous posts that despite 113 vigils having taken place, there has been no sign of the local MP Mr John Glen at any of them and he has never mentioned their existence in his weekly column in the local paper the Salisbury Journal. About 2 weeks ago, an attendee of the vigils has written to him for an answer but has not received a reply. Mr Glen is thought to be a member of the influential and well-funded Conservative Friends of Israel organisation as are a number of Labour and LibDem MPs. About 80% of conservative members are thought to be members. The question is whether being a member of this group overrides his role as the local MP employed to represent their interests not those of a foreign power?

Images courtesy of Peter Gloyns. A video of the vigil is available here.

Sources: BBC, Guardian, Al Jazeera, factually, UN.

#ConservativeFriendsOfIsrael #FPA #JohnGlenMP #peace #Salisbury #vigil

Vigil No. 107

Latest vigil – the last before Christmas – attracts strong attendance

December 2025

Over 40 attended this latest peace vigil in Salisbury. That we should feel it necessary to continue is an indication that genuine peace in the area does not seem to be on the horizon. The BBC programme World at One during the week has transmitted from the West Bank and Jerusalem and has witnessed some of the violence against Palestinians. The presenter was surprised at young boys going out morning and evening to attack homes and property. Because they are under age they cannot be stopped, touched or in any way prevented without dire consequences it was explained.

The aftermath of the horrific attack on Jews who were killed or injured on Bondi Beach, Australia continues. An uplifting story from the tragedy was the actions of a local man Ahmed al Ahmed who wrestled the gun of one of the attackers. Some of the hardliners interviewed by the BBC seem to imply that all Arabs are motivated by a desire to kill Jews. That there are some cannot be denied in the same way that some Jews want to see all Palestinians killed or removed. But are these the majority? Reports today are of members of a Jewish pro-Palestine group who have been arrested as part of the crackdown on protests by the Labour government. An irony indeed. There are Jewish groups who are in favour of fair treatment of Palestinians one such is Jewish Network for Palestine.

It is noteworthy that this group has called out the support of the BBC for Israel and its genocide. The claim by some Israelis (on one of the BBC interviews mentioned above) that support for a Palestinian state is a ‘reward for terrorism’ is weakened by these Jewish groups. They claim – which is never challenged by the BBC and other media interviewers – that the violence started on the October 7th two years ago, conveniently forgets the horrific violence on Arabs and Palestinians in 1948/49.

The photo of a key is a symbol of when people lost their homes in 1948/49, and latterly in Gaza, kept their keys in the hope of return.

A video of the vigil can be seen here. Video and photo by courtesy of Peter Gloyns.

107 vigils attended mostly by local people but no sign of the local MP, Mr John Glen. Neither is there a mention of any of the vigils in his weekly piece in the Salisbury Journal. He is reported to be a member of the Conservatives Friends of Israel group. The link explains the range and power of this underreported organisation. A large number of MPs are members and the question is: why are MPs like Mr Glen members of a lobbying organisation for a single country? Are they not there to a) support their constituents and b) to take impartial decisions in the interests of the UK? What is their attitude to genocide and apartheid?

Previous posts:

• Vigil No. 107
• Good attendance at vigil
• Minutes and Newsletter, December
• UK Human Rights Report: Current Threats and Government Actions
• Analysing the Shift in UK Migration Figures: What It Means

#107 #BBC #ConservativesForIsrael #JohnGlenMP #Palestine #Salisbury #vigil

Rain does not deter vigil

81st vigil attracts strong attendance despite rain

August 2025

The situation in Gaza gets ever worse with 63,000 now dead many of whom women and children. Around 330 have now died as a result of starvation and this number is set to grow. Peace looks a long way off and from the Israeli perspective, with American and Trump’s unqualified support, they are able to continue without let or hindrance. American support has even extended to banning members of the PLO from attending the UN.

The president of the PLO, Mahmoud Abbas and 80 other officials have had their visas revoked. The reason is because the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio blamed them for undermining peace efforts and for ‘seeking the unilateral recognition of a conjectural Palestinian state’. We seem to have entered a looking glass world as far as the Americans are concerned. The Palestinians are far from being as white as snow but they are far, far weaker than Israel who have all the weapons and materiel needed for the campaign of destruction in Gaza.

On the subject of weapons, the Defence and Security Equipment International exhibition to be held in London starting shortly will not feature a stand by the Israeli government. Their arms firms will still be there however. The UK government has decided not to allow a delegation to attend. “The Israeli government’s decision to further escalate its military operation in Gaza is wrong,” a UK government spokesperson said. “As a result, we can confirm that no Israeli government delegation will be invited to attend DSEI UK 2025.“

The BBC coyly refers to the exhibition using the word ‘defence’ and there will no doubt be defence firms there. But it is much more about our arms industry, heavily promoted and subsidised by our government, and which sells arms to many of the world’s troubled countries thus aiding in the carnage. The government claims it has ‘robust controls’ but with the big rise in open licences, this is a dubious claim. The fact that they were happy to allow Israel to attend until yesterday, only days before opening, speaks volumes. We should never forget the victims in these conflicts are women, children and the vulnerable. British firms profit, millions suffer. The extent of UK support for Israel is hard to quantify. RAF flights over Gaza continue the purpose of which is unclear.

There is still no sign of the local MP Mr John Glen and he did not mention the vigils in his weekly Salisbury Journal column which focused on his work getting to know people in his constituency. He is a member of the Friends of Israel lobby group in the Commons.

Recent posts:

• Rain does not deter vigil
• Gesture politics and Palestine
• Nigel Farage and immigration
• ‘What did you do in the war Daddy*?’
• Numbers swell at vigil

#DSEI #Gaza #JohnGlenMP #Palestine #PLO #Rubio #Salisbury #UN #US #vigil