this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2025
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UK Politics

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Miller was held for three and a half hours under Section 7, which deprives detained people of their right to silence and privacy despite carrying no assumed suspicion, and questioned about his trip to Lebanon. He was subsequently released without charge.

This will be the erosion of civil liberties Musk and Vance are so upset about , right ? Free association etc etc ?

Even the UN don’t like it.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2007/06/222542

[–] [email protected] -5 points 3 days ago

You mean the civil liberty to be associated with actual terrorists?

This isn't some case of him saying something the government doesn't like, this is the case of him having a really weird relationship with people who think blowing people up is a reasonable response to a minor slight.

[–] TheGrandNagus 10 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

Man who has links to a proscribed terrorist group and went abroad to attend funeral of a Hezbollah leader is questioned by police. More at 11.

Being pro Islamist terror group is not "anti-genocide speech".

[–] NickwithaC 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] TheGrandNagus 0 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

They're an absolute rag, aren't they.

Every piece of theirs I see here is some anti-Ukraine hitpiece, or apologist bullshit for terror groups that would love to see us dead and have repulsive attitudes towards women and LGBT people.

I would not feel safe in a room alone with a Skwawkbox writer.

It's quite disheartening to see Lemmy isn't as progressive as I thought.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Supporting links? ETA: Even so, human rights belong to humans, not just humans we like.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Supporting links?

Here:

One British attendee stood out: David Miller, a former University of Bristol professor with a long track record of antisemitic incitement.

Miller, who was dismissed from his university post for his obsessive demonization of Jews and Israel, has been bankrolled by Iran’s state-owned Press TV, where he co-hosts ‘Palestine Declassified’ with former British MP Chris Williamson—who was expelled from the UK’s Labour Party over his own antisemitism scandal. The program, which previously dedicated a special edition to targeting HonestReporting, has relentlessly pushed conspiracy theories, claiming that “Zionists” control world events, have a “stranglehold” over the media, and are “grooming young people.”

But Miller doesn’t just spew conspiracy theories from afar—he actively supports Hezbollah and its broader network of terrorist proxies.

And:

Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed paramilitary group in Lebanon, has been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the British government in its entirety since 2019. Previously, the government made a distinction between the group’s political and military wings.

Campaign group Labour Against Antisemitism (LAAS) said that they had reported Miller to the police following his posts about attending the ceremony.

Also:

If someone employed by the Iranian regime was reported to police in connection to a proscribed organisation, it would be remiss of the police not to pick him up to answer some questions.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Your links :

In 2000, HonestReporting started as a small email list alerting subscribers to anti-Israel media bias. When the organization took on The New York Times over the adjacent photo, the real fight back began as the power of numbers proved its value. Since then, HonestReporting has evolved into the world’s premier grassroots media watchdog organization defending Israel against media bias.

I hate to ask, but you have anything that doesn’t openly declare it reason for existing is to advance an Israeli narrative?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Here's a piece from the Socialist Worker Party:

[Miller] wrote, “Jews are not discriminated against,” “They are over-represented in Europe, North America and Latin America in positions of cultural, economic and political power,” “They are therefore in a position to discriminate against actually marginalised groups,” and, “Judeophobia barely exists.”

Such allegations lump together all Jews without any recognition of class or other differences. Miller targets Jews, not the actual ruling class, and plays on the idea of Jews as ultra-rich and manipulative.

Obviously, anti-Zionism isn't antisemitism, but that doesn't mean anti-Zionists can't be antisemitic, which Miller seems to be.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I am baffled as to why you should join the argument at this point, and talk about who Miller is, or is not.

If he was carrying a placard saying “burn the Jews” he is being antisemitic and should be arrested .

If he’s only been to funeral, he’s done nothing wrong. .

While you and others here are so obviously comfortable with your enemies being persecuted, I am not, because there’s a word for that ideology.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 days ago

You asked for an alternative source from the pro-Israeli one, with the main thrust of the quoted parts being that he's antisemitic, if I misunderstood what was being asked for then I apologise.

If he’s only been to funeral, he’s done nothing wrong.

He was detained under anti-terror laws for attending the funeral for the leader of a proscribed terror group and making several posts on social media in support of proscribed terror groups around the same time. I don't think the decision to apply those anti-terror laws are as unreasonable as you're making them out to be, even though they are fairly draconian in scope and I'd personally like to see them repealed.

[–] TheGrandNagus 5 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

When did I ever say or even imply that human rights should only belong to some people? That's not what I believe at all.

My point is that he wasn't detained by police because of "anti-genocide speech", but because he attended the funeral of a leader from a proscribed terrorist paramilitary.

It's absolute bullshit to say he was detained for anti-genocide speech. If you go to the funeral of the leader of a damn Islamic terror group then post about it on social media, you're probably going to get a call from the police.

The same would happen if you attended the funeral of an Islamic State or Al-Qaida leader. I can't believe this is controversial now. Just because Israel is a shitty apartheid regime doesn't mean anybody (including hardline Islamist terror groups) that are against them must be good guys.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/02/24/anti-zionist-british-academic-attends-hezbollah-funeral/

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago (1 children)

"questioned by police" is s very different implication than being held incommunicado, and you know that. Furthermore, I'm not so sure people fighting for their very right to exist is a terrorist. Certain nations label people terrorists so they can perpetuate terrorism, themselves.

[–] TheGrandNagus 1 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

"questioned by police" is s very different implication than being held incommunicado, and you know that.

Do you think it's wrong for police to question someone for attending the leader of an Iran-backed terrorist group's funeral?

If not, why not? How do you feel about if it was for an Al-Qaida leader's funeral? Or if he travelled to Russia to attend the funeral of a killed general? Do you think we should just do away with investigating links to terror groups altogether?

Furthermore, I'm not so sure people fighting for their very right to exist is a terrorist.

...what? Do you even know who Hezbollah are? How is Hezbollah fighting for their right to exist?

Perhaps you need to look up who they are and what they stand for, because I think you must have some wires crossed and are perhaps confusing them with someone else:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hezbollah

I mean just look at their ideology, FFS:

  • Shia Islamism

  • Jihadism (Shia)

  • Islamic nationalism

  • Anti-West

  • Antisemitism

  • Anti-homosexuality

Their list of allies includes the likes of Russia, North Korea, Iran...

Hezbollah are not good guys. They are a legit terrorist group. And I don't even mean terror group in the 'you can argue they're freedom fighters' way, I just mean straight up terrorists.

Certain nations label people terrorists so they can perpetuate terrorism, themselves.

I implore you to look up Hezbollah and tell me that you disagree with the widespread classification of them being a terrorist paramilitary.

E: this community is fucked in the head if there are this many people who are pro Hezbollah. I didn't realise this was an anti-LGBT, pro-Russia/Iran community. Weird. Most of Lemmy is fairly progressive.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The point being made, is the persecution of Miller, who has committed no crime, was not suspected of any crime, for attending a funeral.

You can flap all you want - whos funeral is was is immaterial. There’s not much nuance to it.

[–] TheGrandNagus -1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

He literally is suspended of a crime. Hezbollah is a proscribed terrorist group. You can't just pop in and visit them without raising eyebrows of the police, so Miller is rightly being questioned.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

What crime is he suspected of and by whom ?

[–] TheGrandNagus -1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Being involved with a proscribed terrorist group, on account of attending the funeral of their leader and putting messages of support on social media. That's in addition to other smoking guns like being paid by Iranian state media.

I'm not sure why you're having difficulty understanding this. Hezbollah is a terrorist group.

And suspected by the police. That's who investigate crime, silly billy. Who were you expecting to be questioning him, Batman?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You will of course have read the article, and got the bit where it said :

Miller was held for three and a half hours under Section 7, which deprives detained people of their right to silence and privacy despite carrying no assumed suspicion

Can you take us through what happened cognitively, at this point ?

Because it means the police didn’t have to suspect him of anything. And there is nothing that says this did suspect him of anything .

We really need you to nail this bit, before we can explain the concept that “guilt by association “ is not a real thing, at least in English law.

It’s the same legal standard that means if your mom sells crack, you aren’t automatically a crack dealer also.

[–] TheGrandNagus 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Skwawkbox have repeatedly lied in the past (and in this very article), so I'm not inclined to believe them here, they are a pro-Russia rag, after all. In addition they've been successfully sued for lying before.

Is there a better source alleging that? Because I can't find it anywhere.

It’s the same legal standard that means if your mom sells crack, you aren’t automatically a crack dealer also.

Except it's not something his "mom" did (nice job showing off you're not a British commenter, btw. Just another person sowing discord on political forums), it's something he did. At a minimum he visited and spent time with a proscribed terrorist group.

I'll ask again: if someone has dealings with terrorist groups, or visits Russian generals, do you think it's unreasonable for the police to ask them some questions?

Why are you so reluctant to accept Hezbollah are a terrorist group?

E: FFS, I'm talking to a 2 week old account who has almost exclusively posted anti-Ukraine comments. I really need to check for these things before I reply. There will be no further discussion with you, Dimitri 🇷🇺

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

I'm not doing apologia. Thanks for your reply.