Presenter of Double Down Newswatch, your one-stop shop for the best of independent media. youtube.com/@DoubleDownNews
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Next Wednesday sees the launch of Double Down Newswatch, a new weekly magazine programme that will showcase the best of independent media.
Here I explain why it's needed.
youtube.com/watch?v=O8OBmdrB…
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Richard Sanders retweeted
This is extraordinary.
Sagal Abid-Wali has more robustly condemned the Green Party "Zionism is racism" motion than the genocide in Gaza.
Sagal Abdi-Wali did not say anything to denounce or condemn Israel's genocide in the years before her selection as a candidate. She has repeatedly not answered emails asking for statements she made on Gaza since October 7th 2026.
She didn't sign a PSC Candidate Pledge to "uphold the rights of Palestinians."
She sat silent as her colleagues rewrote Camden's Constitution to allow the the Mayor to kick people out for holding signs and flags in the public gallery - in response to huge public outcry about Camden's investments in companies like Elbit and Palantir.
She didn't even answer emails from the Green Councillor on Camden Council, Lorna Russell, asking her to support motions for divestment from genocide.
But a Green Party motion? That gets condemned.
Telling.
Labour's candidate in the Holborn and St Pancras by-election has condemned the Green Party for declaring that Zionism is a form of racism, as her record on the issue of Israel and Palestine comes under scrutiny
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Richard Sanders retweeted
With the Holborn and St Pancras by-election tomorrow, we have REMOVED the paywall from our piece on Abdi-Wali.
Her campaign has been keen to avoid any serious scrutiny of their candidate. Read this if you want to understand Abdi-Wali from those who've worked with her ⬇️
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Richard Sanders retweeted
Yesterday, I found out the Labour Party was smearing me to The Times. They insinuated that I was sexist and unfairly ascribing views to Sagal Abdi-Wali, Labour’s candidate for Holborn & St Pancras, because I have published factually accurate, hard-hitting investigations into her political record and associations.
This is the second time the Labour Party has smeared me because of my factually accurate reporting exposing and scrutinising Labour Party politicians and officials.
It is obvious to me why they’re doing it – because they’re scared that voters in Holborn & St Pancras will find out the truth about Sagal Abdi-Wali and vote accordingly.
And they’re right to be scared. There is overwhelming evidence that there are serious questions to be asked about Sagal’s history, her funding, her political record, her political affiliations, her own conduct during this campaign, and her campaign’s repeated attempts to smear both journalists and local Muslim community groups.
It seems to me that the only correct response is to set out everything we know about Sagal’s political history and record, which I do in a mega-thread below. The Labour Party would rather you not know this – so please share this widely everywhere you can, and particularly with voters in Holborn & St Pancras. They need to know who they are voting for.
One last thing: I have repeatedly put right of replies and questions to Sagal’s campaign. They have never – not once – responded to a right of reply I have sent prior to publication. They have never raised issues with factual accuracy or balance.
And this is a pattern – multiple journalists have now raised concerns that Sagal and her campaign have been dodging proper scrutiny. Considering how she has failed to respond to Camden residents experiencing serious housing problems, and those requesting expressions of solidarity with the people of Palestine, that’s perhaps not surprising.
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The Times has this morning published a rather limp attempt to smear the Green campaign in Holborn and St Pancras and specifically @pauleholden - author of The Fraud - and @andrewfeinstein - the former independent candidate there.
I'd like point out that Izzy Lenga - a Camden councillor who attended a 2 month military training course in Israel, whose close relationship with the Labour candidate Paul and Andrew are criticised for highlighting - featured in Al Jazeera's Labour Files. She'd allowed herself to be the vehicle for entirely unfounded smears in the BBC's "infamous" 2019 Panorama about antisemitism in the Labour Party.
The BBC later acknowledged the story was untrue and that Lenga was actually referring to the far right. Her comments "got mixed up in the edit", they said.
Lenga herself made no attempt to correct the record./1
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The full Al Jazeera Investigative Unit film, episode 2 in The Labour Files, broadcast in Sept 2022, can be seen here.
youtube.com/watch?v=5DTMF0MS…
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So - let's be clear - the Labour Party would potentially ignore the expressed will of the British people, and possibly hand the country over to a Conservative/Reform coalition, rather than work with people who regard Zionism as racist?
theguardian.com/politics/202…
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Richard Sanders retweeted
CIA and Israeli Mossad - This is a crazy story. @JohnKiriakou
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Richard Sanders retweeted
It's normal when writing a profile to try to find people who have worked with a politician, but @PeterCarlyon4 seems to have struggled to find fans of hers in the council where she worked too.
Great piece - join @_TheLondoner to read it.
the-londoner.co.uk/sagal-abd…
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Very real crimes were committed on October 7. The media chose to report on crimes that were not committed in order to whip up a genocide.
Our 2024 Al Jazeera Investigative Unit film "October 7" told the story of what really happened.
youtube.com/watch?v=_0atzea-…
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Richard Sanders retweeted
🚨BREAKING: Israeli forces killed civil defense volunteer Mohammad Tamous in a strike in Gaza City while he was attempting to rescue wounded civilians.
He is the first victim of the FOURTH year of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
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So so predictable. Holborn & St Pancras voters have a real opportunity tomorrow to send a clear signal to the media/political class that this crap doesn't work anymore.
The Green Party member behind the recent “Zionism is racism” motion has links to an al-Qaeda terrorist serving jail time in the US.
lbc.co.uk/article/green-part…
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"For a cure, you need the correct diagnosis"
Zionism is racism. Spot on from @AlnaouqA
Opposition to racism cannot become conditional on whether the media or the political establishment will approve of it.
At a moment when the mainstream is already mobilising against this position, and once again reverting to its much tried and tested tactic of conflating anti-Zionism with antisemitism, the answer should be solidarity, not joining the chorus against it.
For a cure, you need the correct diagnosis. There is nothing inherently radical about insisting that the cause of Palestinian suffering must be properly identified.
78 years of dispossession and three years into a genocide, recognising Zionism as racism is not only past overdue, but it is fundamental to finally envisaging a system of justice, equality and freedom and not one of subjugation of a people for the benefit of another.
@AlnaouqA
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In the wake of the Greens' Zionism is racism motion the media/political class has gone full Corbyn on Zack Polansky.
Will it work this time?
My latest for Double Down Newswatch.
youtube.com/watch?v=_WWhkBri…
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It wouldn't even occur to @TheNewsAgents to ask a Palestinian what they think.
“The Greens are more extreme than mainstream Palestinian opinion - they’re saying violence is now legitimate.”
The Green Party's ‘Zionism is Racism’ motion calls for “the eradication of the Israeli state”, says @Freedland.
“And they’re happy to see that achieved by violence”.
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