The author came away from a trip to Britain and Israel last month deeply concerned about human rights, Julian Assange and the Palestinian people.
Wall painting by unknown artist of Muhammad al-Durrah who was killed by Israeli Occupation forces in Gaza in September 2000. (Imad J. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons)
By John Kiriakou
Special to Consortium News
I had occasion to visit London and Jerusalem to meet with members of the (establishment) media, of the two respective parliaments and people from think tanks and universities.
I took this trip to talk with interested parties about a human rights case. Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, leader of a group called the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), is being held in solitary confinement in a prison in Nigeria. His crime? He gave an interview to the BBC in which he said that Nigeria’s 70 million Biafrans want a referendum on independence.
Nnamdi is a British citizen; his wife and child live in Manchester, England. He renounced his Nigerian citizenship years ago.
In the spring of 2021, Nnamdi was in Kenya to meet with Biafrans to discuss independence from the corrupt, violent and Muslim fundamentalist government of Nigeria.
But the Kenyan government was working in concert with the Nigerians. Kenyan agents kidnapped Nnamdi, put him on a Nigerian government jet, and rendered him to Nigeria, where he was tortured and charged with treason, a death penalty offense.
[Biafra lost a bitter war of independence from Nigeria that lasted from 1966 to 1970 during which a government blockade caused the starvation of as many as 2 million Biafrans. Britain, as the former colonial power, backed the government side despite worldwide popular support for Biafra.]
[Related: Cruelties of the Queen’s Reign]
Bruce Fein, Nnamdi’s U.S. attorney — a constitutional scholar and former U.S. associate deputy attorney general — went to the United Nations Working Group on Human Rights, which found that the Kenyan and Nigerian action against Nnamdi was a violation of 16 international laws. The body called on Nigeria to release him immediately and to pay him restitution. The Nigerian government ignored the order.
UK Journalists & Politicians
Fein and I traveled to the U.K. to meet with journalists from the BBC, ITV, ITN and elsewhere, as well as with two members of the House of Lords who focus on human rights issues. This is a British citizen we’re talking about, after all.
The response from the journalists was good, but these things take time. And everybody warned us that racism might be a hinderance. Convincing the politicians would be more difficult, they told us. Nnamdi wasn’t “really” British, after all. He’s black. He’s naturalized. And, despite the fact that some 99 percent of Biafrans are Christian, he is a convert to Judaism. Action is going to take a second trip. It might even take a third.
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Following those meetings in London, we traveled to Jerusalem, thinking that because Nnamdi is Jewish, the Israelis might be willing to make a public statement about his situation. [Israel supported Biafran independence in 1968]. We met with two senior members of the Knesset, including a prominent cabinet minister, as well as two professors from the University of Tel Aviv and representatives of one of the country’s leading think tanks. There was very little interest in helping. Sure, they said, Nnamdi is Jewish. But he’s a convert. And he’s black. And he’s British. Let the Brits worry about him.
Overall, for me personally, the trip was substantively disappointing — not just because of the lack of interest in Nnamdi Kanu. That project is at the beginning of its life. The rest of the disappointment came on the issues of Julian Assange and the Palestinian people.
Supporters of Julian Assange outside Belmarsh Prison in London, Jan. 22. (Alisdare Hickson, Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0)
I took the opportunity to ask every British journalist I spoke with — and these were arguably the most important journalists in the U.K.— about Assange’s extradition. They were unanimous in their response. They said that Julian would be extradited to the United States because the U.K. is Washington’s lapdog. (At least they understood that.) It doesn’t matter who the British prime minister is. What Washington wants, Washington gets. Prime Minister Liz Truss, for all her imperialist, “go-it-alone” rhetoric, will do exactly as U.S. President Joe Biden tells her to do. Julian will be extradited.
Israel was worse. I asked everybody I spoke with how the Nov. 1 election would be different from the previous four elections, which resulted in weak coalition governments that quickly collapsed. It wouldn’t, they agreed. There were only two issues in this election: Security and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in Jerusalem, May 25, 2021. (State Department, Ron Przysucha)
One Knesset member who is a part of Deputy Prime Minister Benny Gantz’s Blue and White Party, which calls itself a “liberal political alliance,” told me, “Literally the only issue in this election is ‘Do you want Bibi or do you not want Bibi. That’s it.’” He went on to say that he believed Netanyahu would be the next prime minister. Again.
That is precisely why the Israeli Arab party, the United Arab List, announced a few months ago that it would not participate in the next coalition government. It had been a partner in Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s most recent government, but it ended up with nothing to show for it, other than the hostility of a majority of Palestinians, who consider its members to be traitors.
I asked a senior Israeli elected official if he thought there was a place for Arabs and Muslims in the Knesset. His response capped my trip. “The thing about you Americans is that you think we’re enemies with the Palestinians. We’re not. It’s not possible to be enemies with animals, only with humans. And the Palestinians are animals.”
John Kiriakou is a former CIA counterterrorism officer and a former senior investigator with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. John became the sixth whistleblower indicted by the Obama administration under the Espionage Act—a law designed to punish spies. He served 23 months in prison as a result of his attempts to oppose the Bush administration’s torture program.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
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The wikipedia page on Biafra says Nnamdi Kanu “was released on bail on 24 April 2017 after spending more than 19 months without trial of his treason charges”.
It does not say he is currently in custody.
Maybe you should update that wiki page to catch up with the current state of the situation.
John: The last paragraph really got me going on an anti-Israeli tirade. I hate those bastards and no one listens. But with your clout, you at least can make a few ripples, if not waves. Send this to all US congressmen/women as well as Poilus himself. No one should be unaware of the reality of Israeli apartheid.
“I asked a senior Israeli elected official if he thought there was a place for Arabs and Muslims in the Knesset. His response capped my trip. “The thing about you Americans is that you think we’re enemies with the Palestinians. We’re not. It’s not possible to be enemies with animals, only with humans. And the Palestinians are animals.””
Is there a reason this senior Israeli official isn’t named? This is egregious.
After Assange, who will be the next journalists targeted? The “crime” seems to be embarrassing our betters (politicians, bureaucrats and Intelligence Agents) with facts. If and when Russia’s war with Ukraine becomes a war with NATO, will the Biden administration come after Joe Lauria, Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate, Chris Hedges and Robert Scheer, Patrick Lawrence, Scott Ritter (among many others) who have questioned or refuted the UkroNAZI propaganda? The US seems to have no recognition of recent history, but I’m sure they will dig deep to take down any who have disagreed with their Official Narratives.
Regarding that last paragraph, it proves beyond any doubt that the Israeli government are the animals. The. Zionists came into Palestine, stole the land, murdered the people, and they call THEM animals? This is why I support BDS. This is why EVERYONE should support BDS. And I agree with Fred Jones above. You should name the cretin who called the Palestinians animals. Name and shame. And the United States should stop sending money to Israel. Period.
Thank you Mr. Kiriakou for all of your efforts and for this report.
The quote in the final paragraph is chilling. Not for what it says about Palestinians but for what it reveals about Israelis… they’ve thrown away their humanity.
The mass hysteria is getting worse and worse.
There’s no hope for decent honest people to find justice in this lunatic asylum.
Who’s running this Theater of the Absurd?
Where nothing seems right and the most courageous and honest people are betrayed by the criminals running these governments.
Very depressing indeed.
You, being imprisoned for truth telling, know from
personal experience that the powers ruling the West
look at universal humanity as an enemy combatant.
Fascism and religious nationalism or fundamentalism
give an unconditional power to militarism.
ray P, you make most salient points here. I couldn’t agree more.
As for John describing his trip as depressing. When one is trying his damnedest to shine the bright light of truth on reality, being shut down, which is something I suspect John may have anticipated, is quite common when dealing with the radical extremist mentality. Such is the state of mind afflicting far too many in the Israeli fascist leadership.
John if I’m wrong about this assumption of your hopes I have some advice. There comes a time when one must come to grips with reality. In my opinion those war mongering, murders who come to power in Israel have shown us by their actions who and what they really are. Dealing with these people in reasonable manner has become impossible better to cut them off and let them dry in the wind. Quite a large number of world leaders fall into this category these days. Look around.
Your last paragraph here says it all and I’ve heard this “hater rhetoric” many times before from the mouths of radical fascist Israeli officials. It is what is is. Haters are gong to hate and this statement reveals the lack of any honest real argument to made by these individuals. You know resorting to calling names or making derogatory comments of the “other” is common among “dogs of war”.
We have seen this before.
This reasoning was the justification for the European settlers to engage in genocidal actions toward the native Americans and led to slave ownership in early American history.
If there is a Dog I’m pretty sure that Dog will be having none of it.
Thanks to John, another of the TRUE American heros, and the crew at CN.
>> I asked a senior Israeli elected official if he thought there was a place for Arabs and Muslims in the Knesset. … “The thing about you Americans is that you think we’re enemies with the Palestinians. We’re not. It’s not possible to be enemies with animals, only with humans. And the Palestinians are animals.” <<
That official has a name, and that name should be sent to the White House, to usa congress, uk parliament, United Nations and ICC poste haste.
Such fear can only be assuaged by exposure to the citizens of the world.
Keep writing and keep visiting.
Amen bro!
Of course UK is US’s poodle. We’ve known that since the Iraq invasion. (And probably before)
A wonderful novel on the Nigerian civil war is entitled “Sozaboy” (meaning soldier boy) by the author Ken Saro-Wiwa. I do hope all political prisoners can be released. Thankyou to the brave people fighting for them.
Sigh.
Anyone referring to victims of oppression and violence as animals has it exactly backwards.
Nnamdi Kanu is not a good example. You should listen to his speeches, where he calls on his supporters to bomb cities and burn the country to the ground. Not just attacks on the political establishment, but broad attacks on other ethnicities who also struggle under the same misrule his Igbo complain about and whose cause he claimes he champions. Incidentally many of these other ethnic groups, at least at the street level, increasingly support the idea of an igbo president, being the last of the 3 large tribes that hasn’t provided a president (the political parties have internal arrangements that are supposed to rotate their candidaye nominations, but the arrangements are poorly thought through and often violated by the parties themselves) but this isnt what Kanu wants. He wants secession (There is a viable Igbo candidate for the 2023 elections, who I think is the least bad candidate, and he has all the momentum. We haven’t heard as much from Kanus supporters, perhaps in light of this, as they have rallied behind the eastern candidate. But winning may be tough, since the language from Kanu and increasingly much of the east, directed at the other parts of the country and in particular a northern base that is a lot less tolerant and forgiving of insults curses and dehumanizing threats, account for about 50% of the vote (other ethnicities similarly attacked, are lining up behind the Igbo candidate, as momentum builds in spite of Kanus tirades). On a final note, I am concerned about the elections aftermath given the climate of anger, the pervasive and acute poverty, and the distrust, originally between govtand citizens but not between tribes and individuals. Regardless of how fair the vote is, would eastern nigeria accept a defeat of their candidate? or in the event of a victory, will the north, a region prone to pogroms and bloody outbursts accept the victory of a candidate from a region that till recently was beating war drum in their direction?
“Nnamdi Kanu is not a good example. You should listen to his speeches, where he calls on his supporters to bomb cities and burn the country to the ground. Not just attacks on the political establishment, but broad attacks on other ethnicities who also struggle under the same misrule his Igbo complain about and whose cause he claimes he champions.”
Hmmm. ‘Burn it all down’ doesn’t strike me as an unreasonable response to implacable oppression if nothing else has worked. Those who feel differently can join together with the rest to attempt to defeat the oppression without the need for such a radical measure. “Divide And Conquer” is hardly by definition a strategy which should be tolerated just because other people aren’t willing to take steps required to change it.
Next time you talk an Israeli of such mentality, please convey that there is a significant percentage of Americans that feel the same way we feel about them, as they do about Palestinians.
More proof that America has lost it’s way. John the statement by this Israeli official is very telling and the sentiment is nothing new but as old as the conflict.
The U.S. government’s pursuit of it’s obscene affair with the government of Israel has led us to the right wing fascist doldrums which the U.S. ship of state currently wallows in.
I completely fail to make sense of it. The same problem I have with all predominate religions.
Speaking of animals, it’s suffice to say the rabid lap dog, Israel, that has taken up permanent residence in the lap of each and every president since JFK attempted to throw the hound to the floor, has become a plague or pox upon the American people and the world.
During that period the roles of pet and master seem to have been swapped.
I sincerely apologize to one and all K-9s who I may have been offended with my words here. The K-9 given proper environs and love are quite noble animals for the most part. Animals who never wantonly kill with weapons of mass destruction, simple because they can.
Unfortunately the same cannot be said about the two legged animal the human and Bibi is my case in point.
If I had been responsible for the number of deaths of dogs as Bibi has been for the deaths of Palestinians I would be in a Maximum security prison right now.
Thanks John and thanks to CN
John: you’re great, but why aren’t you stating the names of the individuals you’ve quoted? If they’re willing to make the statements you’ve relayed, then there is no reason the statements should not be attributed to them. Unless they want to play the “anonymous source” game.
Fred, That’s a good question. I’m certainly not trying to protect them. They should be ashamed of their positions. But I want to continue using them as sources, and if I go public with their identities, they’ll almost certainly cut me off.
Exactly. Just came here to say that.
Tnx Mr. Kiriakou… Truth telling US survivor of Mr. Nnamdi Kanu style “justice” here.
Your inclusion of Mr. Assange’s similar peril, IMO, sadly demos: our nation’s political choice 2 right wing policy worldwide may endanger other US truth tellers as well.