Jonathan Cook – jonathan-cook.net Dec 4, 2025
Six political prisoners who targeted factories arming Israel’s genocide are weeks into a hunger strike. But in contrast to the IRA’s 1980s hunger strike, this one is being blanked by the media
If we truly had a free media in the UK, rather than one serving the interests only of the state and billionaire class, this would be a front-page news story:
Six political prisoners – held unlawfully for a year or more on remand, and retroactively deemed to be “terrorists” for trying to stop the Gaza genocide – have been on hunger strike for many weeks in prison. At least one is already seriously ill.
There has been blanket silence from the media on these developments, and barely any coverage of the appalling conditions these political prisoners are being subjected to since Palestine Action was reclassified by Sir Keir Starmer’s government as a terrorist organisation – after their arrests.
Notably, it is the first time a direct-action group, one that directs its violence against property – that is, factories making weapons to kill civilians in Gaza – rather than people, has been declared a terrorist organisation and put on the same footing as al-Qaeda and Islamic State.
Under Britain’s draconian Terrorism Act, anyone expressing an opinion, even inadvertently, that might “encourage support” for a proscribed organisation – now including Palestine Action – can be arrested for supporting terrorism and faces a terrorism conviction.
With at least 2,500 people arrested for holding placards stating “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action”, Britain’s jails could soon be flooded with many more such political prisoners.
Ousting the review judge in the appeal against Palestine Action’s proscription, and replacing him with three new judges, is a desperate attempt to create a veneer of judicial authority in support of the actions of Starmer’s outlaw government.
My latest: https://t.co/r84WPOfAT4 pic.twitter.com/ace8CbDIZv
— Jonathan Cook (@Jonathan_K_Cook) November 26, 2025
A judicial review of the government’s decision was heard in the past few days at the High Court, though again you are unlikely to know this, given the lack of interest from the British media. The judges’ ruling on the lawfulness of the government’s decision is expected in mid-January.
But a related ruling this week from a judge in Jersey, hearing a terrorism case against peace activist Natalie Strecker, opens the door even more widely to political prosecutions. Despite freeing Strecker, Judge Saunders appeared to accept the British government’s argument that it is unlawful to advocate for international law, which expressly states that occupied peoples such as the Palestinians have a right to resist their illegal occupation.
For anyone with a long memory, the current silence from our media should be shocking. The last major hunger strike by political prisoners in the UK occurred in the early 1980s. It was then that the Provisional IRA – an organisation that expressly claimed responsibility for bombing pubs, hotels, and public parks, in acts that killed many hundreds of civilians – organised a hunger strike in the Maze Prison, near Belfast, demanding improved prison conditions.
One of the hunger strikers, Bobby Sands, became a household name in Britain. His story dominated headlines for weeks, and led to a major confrontation, through the media, with the Thatcher government. His death reverberated long afterwards, and ultimately ushered in the Northern Ireland peace process.
Contrast that with our current moment. Imprisoned members of Palestine Action, an organisation that expressly eschews violence against people, and which is trying to stop a slaughter in Gaza that major human groups and genocide scholars are agreed amounts to a genocide, are on hunger strike because their rights are being grossly and systematically violated – as political prisoners. And there’s barely a peep from the media.
Notably, there was similarly minimal media coverage of the prison conditions and legal abuses of another recent political prisoner. Journalist and publisher Julian Assange spent five years in London’s high-security Belmarsh prison, on trumped-up charges to justify extradition to the US for publishing details of British and US war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The media gave his case the most cursory coverage and avoided detailing what he was accused of – because those details would have painted a damning picture the British and US governments. Without a trace of irony, the press paid more attention to speeches from the very politicians jailing Assange in which they condemned the suffering of political prisoners, including journalists, in Russia and China.
None of this should be normal. The Palestine Action hunger strike is very obviously a major news story. The fact that it is getting almost no coverage is evidence of active government suppression, and active media collusion in that suppression.
Even hunger strikes by Palestinian political prisoners held illegally in Israeli jails receive more coverage from the Israeli press than the British media are giving a hunger strike by the political prisoners of Palestine Action.
Francesca Nadin, a former Palestine Action political prisoner, has told the Electronic Intifada that “mainstream” journalists who show interest in the hunger strike cannot get their stories past editors. She observes that there has been “almost a complete blackout in the mainstream media about this story”.
Editors, it seems, are often using legal concerns as cover for refusing to report the strike. This is a pretext, not a reason.
Britain has a voluntary system of military censorship, called the D-Notice Committee. By joining the committee, British editors effectively agree to avoid reporting on anything the government declares to be a “national security” matter. In practice, that often concerns issues that might embarrass the government.
For editors, the system offers plausible deniability as they collude in censorship. For readers, it makes the media more than useless on the most urgent and serious matters of our time.
In contrast to the 1980s, when the British media was reporting – even if rarely sympathetically – IRA hunger strikes, the media is now even more under the thumb of the British state. As evidence, note the Guardian’s U-turn on the D-Notice Committee in 2014, when it faced harsh pushback from the security services over its Edward Snowden revelations into illegal mass surveillance by western states of their own populations.
For the first time the paper agreed to join the D-Notice Committee, becoming fully absorbed into the architecture of the national security state. It was rewarded with front-page “exclusive” interviews with the heads of MI5 and MI6. The Guardian revelled in what should have been the ultimate mark of shame for a newspaper that claimed to be a watchdog on power.
The truth is the assault on basic freedoms in Britain is now well advanced. Political dissent is under siege. The hunger strikes are not being televised, nor will the last gasps of our dying freedoms.
Support Jonathan in his work: Donate
Placard waving is pointless and their targets are the wrong ones. Factories? LOL. If anyone had any fight in them they’d be going straight to the big houses in the country and killing everyone they find. The french had the right idea in their revolution and it worked, for a time, until they went back to sleep.
What is this:
‘… Judge Saunders appeared to accept the British government’s argument that it is unlawful to advocate for international law, which expressly states that occupied peoples such as the Palestinians have a right to resist their illegal occupation’?
I understand that Jonathan Cook’s main purpose is to call attention to the hunger strike that is being ignored. Still, I am shaken by his statement that I quote above. Did he really mean to say that one Judge Saunders seemed to accept the British government’s argument [that] it is ‘UNLAWFUL TO ADVOCATE FOR’ a major provision of International Humanitarian Law, i.e. that an occupied people are entitled to armed resistance against the occupier? If Cook did mean to say that, then why did he not give that judge one hell of a pasting?
no one notice your wellbeing hungerstrike.
but Gaza atrocities of zioNAZIs is screaming !
better kill your politicians ! only this makes
impression in the world . skilled Mossad knows .
If in Britain “it is unlawful to advocate for international law” then what were the rotten governments and the corrupt courts everywhere doing by imposing on us the UN WHO Covid mandates and the toxic vaccines? On one hand, they say we are bound by the international UN policies, even institutionalizing woke DEI conventions on us, and then when it comes to a nation committing genocide which is totally anathema to all UN conventions, they say we have no right to protest or to advocate.
Of course in these days, blatant, in-your-face, lies and contradictions are entirely Kosher with our lying governments and corrupt courts, AS IS BLATANTLY KILLING WEAK AND DEFENSELESS HUMAN BEINGS DEEMED TO BE INFERIOR OR UNWANTED.
Thank you for stating the obvious, Obvious.
The ‘Free Palestine Activists’ have raised the stakes and are now on hunger strike. Thought I would check out what AI has to say. It is reporting that they are on hunger strike because of the severe condition they are facing in prison.
The truth is they are on hunger strike for being locked up as terrorists for supporting ‘Palestine Action’.
________________________________________________
“In recent weeks, six political prisoners associated with the banned group Palestine Action have embarked on a hunger strike in British jails, protesting against what they describe as inhumane and repressive conditions. These individuals are demanding better treatment, the lifting of bans on their group, and an end to systematic abuse within the prison system. Their actions have drawn attention to the plight of political prisoners and the broader issues of justice and human rights.
The hunger strike, which has now lasted for up to a month, reflects a growing discontent among detainees regarding their treatment and the conditions they face. As these prisoners refuse food, they are not only making a statement about their own situation but also drawing parallels to the struggles faced by political prisoners in other contexts, particularly in Palestine. The solidarity expressed by these individuals highlights the interconnectedness of struggles for justice across different regions.
As the situation develops, it is crucial for the public and authorities to engage with the concerns raised by these prisoners. Their hunger strike serves as a powerful reminder of the need for compassion, justice, and accountability within the prison system.”
_________________________________________________
This is more ammunition for social media to declare just how bad the corporate Zionist media really is.
The precedent now; you get locked up for speaking out about the genocide in Gaza. You go on hunger strike…
Palestine Action group in UK prisons are on hunger strike?
Above is the question I AI.
Below is the full answer
Article: The Hunger Strike of Palestine Action Prisoners in the UK
Digital Marketing Services
In recent weeks, six political prisoners associated with the banned group Palestine Action have embarked on a hunger strike in British jails, protesting against what they describe as inhumane and repressive conditions. These individuals are demanding better treatment, the lifting of bans on their group, and an end to systematic abuse within the prison system. Their actions have drawn attention to the plight of political prisoners and the broader issues of justice and human rights.
The hunger strike, which has now lasted for up to a month, reflects a growing discontent among detainees regarding their treatment and the conditions they face. As these prisoners refuse food, they are not only making a statement about their own situation but also drawing parallels to the struggles faced by political prisoners in other contexts, particularly in Palestine. The solidarity expressed by these individuals highlights the interconnectedness of struggles for justice across different regions.
As the situation develops, it is crucial for the public and authorities to engage with the concerns raised by these prisoners. Their hunger strike serves as a powerful reminder of the need for compassion, justice, and accountability within the prison system.
Thematic Themes:
Human Rights
Political Prisoners
Solidarity in Struggle
Follow-up Questions:
What specific conditions are the Palestine Action prisoners protesting against?
How does the hunger strike relate to broader issues of political activism?
What can be done to improve the treatment of political prisoners in the UK?
Biblical References:
Isaiah 58:6-7 (KJV): “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house?”
Significance: This verse emphasizes the importance of justice and compassion for the oppressed, aligning with the hunger strikers’ call for humane treatment.
Proverbs 31:8-9 (KJV): “Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such as are appointed to destruction. Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.”
Significance: This passage encourages speaking out for those who cannot advocate for themselves, reflecting the need to address the concerns of political prisoners.
Matthew 25:36 (KJV): “Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.”
Significance: This verse highlights the Christian duty to care for those in prison, reminding us of the importance of compassion and support for all individuals, including political prisoners.
At least 95,000 Palestinians affected by intensified Israeli operations in northern West Bank
Every week, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) issues an update on the humanitarian situation in the occupied West Bank. Here are the key highlights of this week’s report:
Half of the 227 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces or settlers between January 1 and December 1 in the West Bank were in Jenin and Nablus governorates. Four were killed in the past week alone.
More than 95,000 Palestinians were affected by expanded operations by Israeli forces in the northern West Bank this week, particularly in Jenin and Tubas governorates.
The UN agency documented 1,680 attacks by Israeli settlers in more than 270 communities across the Palestinian territory so far this year – an average of five incidents per day.
The olive harvest continues to be marked by widespread settler violence, with 178 attacks documented in October and November in 88 communities.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/12/5/live-israel-sets-military-budget-at-34bn-keeps-attacking-gaza?update=4151813
5 Dec 2025 – 10:15 (10:15 GMT)
Art ‘extremely important’ for Palestinians in Gaza, says director
Ahmed Najar, Palestinian-British writer and director, says the cinema project in Gaza, which screens films amid the rubble in Gaza City, is “so important”.
“For these children, they have lost almost everything, their schools, their nurseries, their playgrounds. many of them lost members of their families, including siblings, parents,” Najar told Al Jazeera.
“To give them that [the cinema project] is so extremely important to help them survive the trauma … to give them a sense of normality,” he added.
Najar explained that art “matters more than ever in the middle of a genocide”.
“Its a matter of preserving your humanity because the intent here is to strip you of your humanity and identity to justify erasing you and killing,” he said.
“So art, identity, culture become extremely important,” Najar added.
Click here to share on social media
5 Dec 2025 – 10:00 (10:00 GMT)
WATCH: Makeshift movie screenings in Gaza City bring children ‘out of the ruin’
Children in Gaza City, traumatised from more than two years of mass bombardment and displacement, the loss of family, friends and the destruction of their homes and schools in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, are getting a brief reprieve through a local cinema initiative.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2025/12/5/live-israel-sets-military-budget-at-34bn-keeps-attacking-gaza?update=4151813
Unlawful government…how hum…when has Great Britain known anything else?