Fifty thousand shades

 In a letter dated 15th March 2024 I asked the Home Secretary to exercise powers conferred by Section 3 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and proscribe "the State of Israel" and "the Israel Defence Forces" as "organisations" which are "concerned in terrorism". A copy of that letter suitable for public circulation can be accessed via this link: Letter dated 15th March 2024 to the Home Secretary

 In this post I will try to set out in simple terms what "terrorism" is in United Kingdom Law. One purpose in doing so is to set out the framework in which questions should be considered about the actions of "the State of Israel" and/or "the Israel Defence Forces" in Palestine, particularly in Gaza, since 7th October 2023. The definition of "terrorism" in UK Law is set out in Section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2000. You can check the original text at this link: Section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2000 For convenience, I'm pasting below the text of Section 1 as it exists at that link on 7th April 2024. 1 Terrorism: interpretation. (1) In this Act “terrorism” means the use or threat of action where— (a) the action falls within subsection (2), (b) the use or threat is designed to influence the government or an international governmental organisation or to intimidate the public or a section of the public, and (c) the use or threat is made for the purpose

 I've written about the frustrations of Post-Covid "brain fog" in other contexts but I still find it frustrating when my brain simply won't work as I expect it to. Putting complex thoughts into words is particularly challenging, not least where "fifty thousand shades" arguably understates the complexities and subtleties of the "facts" and the "opinions" that I would like to capture and express. Not least of the difficulties is attempting to provide a description of a process, which has taken place over several months, where I have tried honestly to examine "fifty thousand shades" ... whether of grey and/or black ... of the global issue of the moment - the conflict between Palestinians and the state of Israel. The  reading I have done has taken me into areas of history ... and controversy ... that I had previously been unaware of. The process has taken me into exploration of matters, some of which took place over a century ago. S

 We live in a dauntingly complex world. The choice of "Fifty Thousand Shades" as the title for this blog seeks to acknowledge that complexity, at least to a degree.  In reality, "Fifty Thousand Shades" isn't adequate to reflect the (likely) millions of ways to choose starting points for discussion, the multiple possibilities of how the choice of facts is made and the weighting of the significance of the chosen facts. For better or worse, "Fifty Thousand Shades" is the platform on which I've decided to attempt to examine some dauntingly complex and visibly controversial issues.