The journalist Asa Winstanley is best known for his investigative work on Israel lobby groups. In October 2024 his home was raided by the police, without a lawful warrant they subjected him to interrogation and removed items including his personal laptop and mobile phone. The Metropolitan Police then applied for a retrospective order to justify their actions, but last week a judge ruled the raid was illegal and ordered the return of the items. Winstanley was not charged or arrested for any offence, he quite rightly deserves an unreserved apology and compensation from the police for a blatantly illegal raid.

He is not the only pro-Palestinian journalist targeted by the police under the guise of counterterrorism. Last year Richard Medhurst was arrested and detained for 24 hours by police at Heathrow airport. Sarah Wilkinson was arrested, her home smashed up by the police, who demanded the locations of her contacts in Gaza.

This is state backed repression of independent journalists designed to harass, intimidate and silence those who tell the truth about Gaza. Counterterrorism laws are weaponised to crush any journalist who dares to stray from the mainstream media narrative on Gaza. While Israel murders the indigenous journalists of Gaza, the UK police act as their proxies murdering free speech on Gaza in the UK. Despite the threats to free speech posed by police actions, there has been no mainstream media coverage of these raids or Winstanley’s legal victory.

It’s clear the police are working in the best interests of the Zionist cause and are a Zionised force. Far from countering terrorism they act as terrorists, terrorising journalists who tell the truth about Gaza.