What if everything you’ve been told about the military — “fighting for freedom,” “protecting democracy,” “serving your country” — was a lie?In this explosive episode of &quot;The Watchdog,&quot; British-Iraqi artist and host Lowkey sits down with former Army Ranger and intel insider Greg Stoker, who saw the beast from the inside and walked away from it.Stoker breaks the silence on:<ul><li>How the U.S. military breaks young men to serve the empire</li><li>Why most soldiers join out of economic desperation, not patriotism</li><li>The real reason so many vets kill themselves when they get out</li><li>How the Pentagon built the internet to spy on Americans and suppress dissent</li><li>Why Israel would collapse in weeks without U.S. money and weapons</li><li>Britain’s role as America’s lapdog in every foreign war</li></ul><blockquote>“It’s a tripartite genocide,” Stoker says. “The U.S. is the empire. Israel is the colony. And the U.K. gives the whole thing a stamp of legitimacy.”</blockquote> You won’t hear this on Fox. And you won’t hear it from military recruiters or the GOP establishment either. This is the raw truth about how our government feeds your sons and daughters into endless wars to prop up foreign regimes, while bankrupting your future.Lowkey’s U.K. tour starts in September. Tickets here: <a href='https://linktr.ee/lowkey0nline'>https://linktr.ee/lowkey0nline</a>Full episode on YouTube: <a href='https://youtu.be/1df4KXhYSNk'>https://youtu.be/1df4KXhYSNk</a><a rel="payment" href="https://www.patreon.com/MintPressNews">Support the show</a>The Watchdog is 100% independent and listener-supported. We don’t take corporate ad money. We don’t have billionaire backers. Episodes like this are only possible because of you. If you value fearless journalism and critical conversations, please consider joining our community of supporters: <a href='https://www.patreon.com/MintPressNews'>🔗 Support us on Patreon</a> Together, we can keep this work going. Lowkey is a British-Iraqi hip-hop artist, academic and political campaigner. As a musician, he has collaborated with the Arctic Monkeys, Wretch 32, Immortal Technique and Akala. He is a patron of Stop The War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Racial Justice Network and The Peace and Justice Project, founded by Jeremy Corbyn. He has spoken and performed on platforms from the Oxford Union to the Royal Albert Hall and Glastonbury. His latest album, Soundtrack To The Struggle 2, featured Noam Chomsky and Frankie Boyle and has been streamed millions of times.

<description>&lt;p&gt;What if everything you’ve been told about the military — “fighting for freedom,” “protecting democracy,” “serving your country” — was a lie?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this explosive episode of &amp;quot;The Watchdog,&amp;quot; British-Iraqi artist and host Lowkey sits down with former Army Ranger and intel insider Greg Stoker, who saw the beast from the inside and walked away from it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stoker breaks the silence on:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;How the U.S. military breaks young men to serve the empire&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Why most soldiers join out of economic desperation, not patriotism&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The real reason so many vets kill themselves when they get out&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;How the Pentagon built the internet to spy on Americans and suppress dissent&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Why Israel would collapse in weeks without U.S. money and weapons&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Britain’s role as America’s lapdog in every foreign war&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;“It’s a tripartite genocide,” Stoker says. “The U.S. is the empire. Israel is the colony. And the U.K. gives the whole thing a stamp of legitimacy.”&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;You won’t hear this on Fox. And you won’t hear it from military recruiters or the GOP establishment either.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br/&gt;This is the raw truth about how our government feeds your sons and daughters into endless wars to prop up foreign regimes, while bankrupting your future.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lowkey’s U.K. tour starts in September. Tickets here: &lt;a href='https://linktr.ee/lowkey0nline'&gt;https://linktr.ee/lowkey0nline&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Full episode on YouTube: &lt;a href='https://youtu.be/1df4KXhYSNk'&gt;https://youtu.be/1df4KXhYSNk&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a rel="payment" href="https://www.patreon.com/MintPressNews"&gt;Support the show&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;The Watchdog is 100% independent and listener-supported.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;We don’t take corporate ad money. We don’t have billionaire backers. Episodes like this are only possible because of you.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;If you value fearless journalism and critical conversations, please consider joining our community of supporters:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;a href='https://www.patreon.com/MintPressNews'&gt;🔗 &lt;b&gt;Support us on Patreon&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Together, we can keep this work going.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;em&gt;Lowkey&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;em&gt; is a British-Iraqi hip-hop artist, academic and political campaigner. As a musician, he has collaborated with the Arctic Monkeys, Wretch 32, Immortal Technique and Akala. He is a patron of Stop The War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Racial Justice Network and The Peace and Justice Project, founded by Jeremy Corbyn. He has spoken and performed on platforms from the Oxford Union to the Royal Albert Hall and Glastonbury. His latest album, Soundtrack To The Struggle 2, featured Noam Chomsky and Frankie Boyle and has been streamed millions of times.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>

What if everything you’ve been told about the military — “fighting for freedom,” “protecting democracy,” “serving your country” — was a lie? In this explosive episode of "The Watchdog," British-Iraqi artist and host Lowkey sits down with former Army Ranger and intel insider Greg Stoker, who saw the beast from the inside and walked away from it. Stoker breaks the silence on: How the U.S. military breaks young men to serve the empireWhy most soldiers join out of economic desperation, not patrio...

Exposing the Military-Industrial Scam: Former US Soldier Greg Stoker on War, Gaza & Empire

On this powerful episode of &quot;The Watchdog,&quot; Lowkey sits down with Ahmed Alnaouq, a Palestinian writer, journalist, and co-founder of We Are Not Numbers—a collective that amplifies Palestinian voices through storytelling. Alnaouq joins from the U.K. to talk about his best-selling new book, &quot;We Are Not Numbers,&quot; a humanizing collection of 74 stories written by 59 Palestinians, two of whom have since been killed during Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza.Alnaouq speaks with urgency about the genocide unfolding in Gaza, the silencing of Palestinian voices, and why it is imperative to talk openly about Zionism—not as abstract theory, but as a lived reality. As he explains:<blockquote>“We Palestinians are the best equipped to talk about Zionism, because Zionism is a practice on us... We must talk about it!”</blockquote>The episode also revisits Alnaouq’s viral confrontation with Piers Morgan, during which he dismantled the media narrative that framed the conflict as a religious war. Instead, Alnaouq sets the record straight:<blockquote>“This is not a religious war. It is a war between colonizers and colonized, between occupiers and occupied… It’s not with the Jews.”</blockquote>With over 55,000 Palestinians—mostly women and children—killed in Gaza, and the United Nations warning of starvation and collapse, Alnaouq urges the world to act, speak out, and bear witness.We Are Not Numbers is available now and has already been translated into multiple languages.Watch the full interview on MintPress News and subscribe to The Watchdog for more conversations that challenge censorship, expose propaganda, and speak truth to power.<a rel="payment" href="https://www.patreon.com/MintPressNews">Support the show</a>The Watchdog is 100% independent and listener-supported. We don’t take corporate ad money. We don’t have billionaire backers. Episodes like this are only possible because of you. If you value fearless journalism and critical conversations, please consider joining our community of supporters: <a href='https://www.patreon.com/MintPressNews'>🔗 Support us on Patreon</a> Together, we can keep this work going. Lowkey is a British-Iraqi hip-hop artist, academic and political campaigner. As a musician, he has collaborated with the Arctic Monkeys, Wretch 32, Immortal Technique and Akala. He is a patron of Stop The War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Racial Justice Network and The Peace and Justice Project, founded by Jeremy Corbyn. He has spoken and performed on platforms from the Oxford Union to the Royal Albert Hall and Glastonbury. His latest album, Soundtrack To The Struggle 2, featured Noam Chomsky and Frankie Boyle and has been streamed millions of times.

<description>&lt;p&gt;On this powerful episode of &amp;quot;The Watchdog,&amp;quot; Lowkey sits down with Ahmed Alnaouq, a Palestinian writer, journalist, and co-founder of We Are Not Numbers—a collective that amplifies Palestinian voices through storytelling. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Alnaouq joins from the U.K. to talk about his best-selling new book, &amp;quot;We Are Not Numbers,&amp;quot; a humanizing collection of 74 stories written by 59 Palestinians, two of whom have since been killed during Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Alnaouq speaks with urgency about the genocide unfolding in Gaza, the silencing of Palestinian voices, and why it is imperative to talk openly about Zionism—not as abstract theory, but as a lived reality. As he explains:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;“We Palestinians are the best equipped to talk about Zionism, because Zionism is a practice on us... We must talk about it!”&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;The episode also revisits Alnaouq’s viral confrontation with Piers Morgan, during which he dismantled the media narrative that framed the conflict as a religious war. Instead, Alnaouq sets the record straight:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;“This is not a religious war. It is a war between colonizers and colonized, between occupiers and occupied… It’s not with the Jews.”&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;With over 55,000 Palestinians—mostly women and children—killed in Gaza, and the United Nations warning of starvation and collapse, Alnaouq urges the world to act, speak out, and bear witness.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We Are Not Numbers is available now and has already been translated into multiple languages.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Watch the full interview on MintPress News and subscribe to The Watchdog for more conversations that challenge censorship, expose propaganda, and speak truth to power.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a rel="payment" href="https://www.patreon.com/MintPressNews"&gt;Support the show&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;The Watchdog is 100% independent and listener-supported.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;We don’t take corporate ad money. We don’t have billionaire backers. Episodes like this are only possible because of you.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;If you value fearless journalism and critical conversations, please consider joining our community of supporters:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;a href='https://www.patreon.com/MintPressNews'&gt;🔗 &lt;b&gt;Support us on Patreon&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Together, we can keep this work going.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;em&gt;Lowkey&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;em&gt; is a British-Iraqi hip-hop artist, academic and political campaigner. As a musician, he has collaborated with the Arctic Monkeys, Wretch 32, Immortal Technique and Akala. He is a patron of Stop The War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Racial Justice Network and The Peace and Justice Project, founded by Jeremy Corbyn. He has spoken and performed on platforms from the Oxford Union to the Royal Albert Hall and Glastonbury. His latest album, Soundtrack To The Struggle 2, featured Noam Chomsky and Frankie Boyle and has been streamed millions of times.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>

On this powerful episode of "The Watchdog," Lowkey sits down with Ahmed Alnaouq, a Palestinian writer, journalist, and co-founder of We Are Not Numbers—a collective that amplifies Palestinian voices through storytelling.  Alnaouq joins from the U.K. to talk about his best-selling new book, "We Are Not Numbers," a humanizing collection of 74 stories written by 59 Palestinians, two of whom have since been killed during Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza. Alnaouq speaks with urgency about the gen...

Lowkey Meets Gazan Writer Who Confronted Piers Morgan

In this powerful episode of &quot;The Watchdog,&quot; host Lowkey speaks with Palestinian-American author and activist Susan Abulhawa about her firsthand experiences inside Gaza during the ongoing Israeli assault. As one of the few Western-based voices to enter the besieged enclave during the genocide, Abulhawa shares her deeply personal account of life under bombardment, the psychological toll of witnessing mass devastation, and the political cost of speaking uncomfortable truths in Western institutions.Abulhawa reflects on the eerie stillness of Gaza’s ruins, the erasure of daily life, and the overwhelming sense of loss she encountered, both human and environmental. She also opens up about the backlash she faced upon returning to the West, including de-platforming, public smears, and institutional silencing, such as censorship from major academic venues like Oxford.This episode intersects witness, memory, and resistance, and why narratives like Abulhawa’s are crucial to breaking the wall of manufactured silence surrounding Israel’s actions in Gaza.<a rel="payment" href="https://www.patreon.com/MintPressNews">Support the show</a>The Watchdog is 100% independent and listener-supported. We don’t take corporate ad money. We don’t have billionaire backers. Episodes like this are only possible because of you. If you value fearless journalism and critical conversations, please consider joining our community of supporters: <a href='https://www.patreon.com/MintPressNews'>🔗 Support us on Patreon</a> Together, we can keep this work going. Lowkey is a British-Iraqi hip-hop artist, academic and political campaigner. As a musician, he has collaborated with the Arctic Monkeys, Wretch 32, Immortal Technique and Akala. He is a patron of Stop The War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Racial Justice Network and The Peace and Justice Project, founded by Jeremy Corbyn. He has spoken and performed on platforms from the Oxford Union to the Royal Albert Hall and Glastonbury. His latest album, Soundtrack To The Struggle 2, featured Noam Chomsky and Frankie Boyle and has been streamed millions of times.

<description>&lt;p&gt;In this powerful episode of &amp;quot;The Watchdog,&amp;quot; host Lowkey speaks with Palestinian-American author and activist Susan Abulhawa about her firsthand experiences inside Gaza during the ongoing Israeli assault. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As one of the few Western-based voices to enter the besieged enclave during the genocide, Abulhawa shares her deeply personal account of life under bombardment, the psychological toll of witnessing mass devastation, and the political cost of speaking uncomfortable truths in Western institutions.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Abulhawa reflects on the eerie stillness of Gaza’s ruins, the erasure of daily life, and the overwhelming sense of loss she encountered, both human and environmental. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;She also opens up about the backlash she faced upon returning to the West, including de-platforming, public smears, and institutional silencing, such as censorship from major academic venues like Oxford.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;This episode intersects witness, memory, and resistance, and why narratives like Abulhawa’s are crucial to breaking the wall of manufactured silence surrounding Israel’s actions in Gaza.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a rel="payment" href="https://www.patreon.com/MintPressNews"&gt;Support the show&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;The Watchdog is 100% independent and listener-supported.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;We don’t take corporate ad money. We don’t have billionaire backers. Episodes like this are only possible because of you.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;If you value fearless journalism and critical conversations, please consider joining our community of supporters:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;a href='https://www.patreon.com/MintPressNews'&gt;🔗 &lt;b&gt;Support us on Patreon&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Together, we can keep this work going.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;em&gt;Lowkey&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;em&gt; is a British-Iraqi hip-hop artist, academic and political campaigner. As a musician, he has collaborated with the Arctic Monkeys, Wretch 32, Immortal Technique and Akala. He is a patron of Stop The War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Racial Justice Network and The Peace and Justice Project, founded by Jeremy Corbyn. He has spoken and performed on platforms from the Oxford Union to the Royal Albert Hall and Glastonbury. His latest album, Soundtrack To The Struggle 2, featured Noam Chomsky and Frankie Boyle and has been streamed millions of times.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>

In this powerful episode of "The Watchdog," host Lowkey speaks with Palestinian-American author and activist Susan Abulhawa about her firsthand experiences inside Gaza during the ongoing Israeli assault.  As one of the few Western-based voices to enter the besieged enclave during the genocide, Abulhawa shares her deeply personal account of life under bombardment, the psychological toll of witnessing mass devastation, and the political cost of speaking uncomfortable truths in Western inst...

Wintess to Genocide: Susan Abulhawa on Gaza and the Price of Truth

It was a pogrom, the likes of which have not been seen in Europe since the days of World War Two. Or at least that is how corporate media across the world presented last month’s violence in Amsterdam, as Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv came to play Ajax in football’s Europa League.In total, five people were hospitalized, with a few dozen more minor injuries. And yet, the event generated hysteria across the West. President Biden, for example, <a href='https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/biden-condemns-attacks-israeli-soccer-fans-amsterdam-2024-11-08/'>described</a> the supposed attacks against Israelis as “despicable,” adding that they “echo dark moments in history when Jews persecuted.”Dutch King Willem-Alexander, meanwhile, <a href='https://www.thedailybeast.com/king-willem-alexander-says-dutch-failed-jews-in-soccer-attack-just-like-world-war-ii/'>compared</a> the events to the Holocaust.Yet even as public official after public official was denouncing the Dutch and spreading the persecution narrative, video clips showing a very different reality were going viral on social media, challenging the official story.On today’s episode of “The Watchdog,” Lowkey catches up with an eyewitness to November’s violence. Rachid El Ghazoui, better known as Appa, is a legend of Dutch hip hop. Active for over two decades, the rapper is known for his political content and his fierce criticism of racist Dutch politicians, such as Geert Wilders. His lyrics have made him a leading voice among the Moroccan community in the Netherlands.Appa tells a different story to Biden or King Willem-Alexander, presenting it as a tale of Israeli football thugs trashing a beautiful city, and then being challenged and overpowered by locals. As he told Lowkey:<blockquote>It actually started with the Maccabi Tel Aviv hooligans tearing up the streets, attacking people, throwing stuff at people, kicking people off their bikes, destroying taxis. Being hooligans, actually. They started singing racist songs in the main square, [about] killing Arabs and raping women”</blockquote> From there, the Israeli thugs were beaten back, and the resistance put up by locals – many of them of Moroccan descent – was treated as a vicious racist attack. Thus, what was a pretty typical case of European soccer hooliganism was transformed for political gain into a supposedly senseless anti-Semitic pogrom.The plot thickened even further after Israeli media revealed that Israel had <a href='https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/sports/article-827683'>sent</a> many Mossad agents to Amsterdam who were present among the Maccabi fans.Ajax won the game 5-0.<a rel="payment" href="https://www.patreon.com/MintPressNews">Support the show</a>The Watchdog is 100% independent and listener-supported. We don’t take corporate ad money. We don’t have billionaire backers. Episodes like this are only possible because of you. If you value fearless journalism and critical conversations, please consider joining our community of supporters: <a href='https://www.patreon.com/MintPressNews'>🔗 Support us on Patreon</a> Together, we can keep this work going. Lowkey is a British-Iraqi hip-hop artist, academic and political campaigner. As a musician, he has collaborated with the Arctic Monkeys, Wretch 32, Immortal Technique and Akala. He is a patron of Stop The War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Racial Justice Network and The Peace and Justice Project, founded by Jeremy Corbyn. He has spoken and performed on platforms from the Oxford Union to the Royal Albert Hall and Glastonbury. His latest album, Soundtrack To The Struggle 2, featured Noam Chomsky and Frankie Boyle and has been streamed millions of times.

<description>&lt;p&gt;It was a pogrom, the likes of which have not been seen in Europe since the days of World War Two. Or at least that is how corporate media across the world presented last month’s violence in Amsterdam, as Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv came to play Ajax in football’s Europa League.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In total, five people were hospitalized, with a few dozen more minor injuries. And yet, the event generated hysteria across the West. President Biden, for example, &lt;a href='https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/biden-condemns-attacks-israeli-soccer-fans-amsterdam-2024-11-08/'&gt;described&lt;/a&gt; the supposed attacks against Israelis as “despicable,” adding that they “echo dark moments in history when Jews persecuted.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dutch King Willem-Alexander, meanwhile, &lt;a href='https://www.thedailybeast.com/king-willem-alexander-says-dutch-failed-jews-in-soccer-attack-just-like-world-war-ii/'&gt;compared&lt;/a&gt; the events to the Holocaust.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Yet even as public official after public official was denouncing the Dutch and spreading the persecution narrative, video clips showing a very different reality were going viral on social media, challenging the official story.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;On today’s episode of “The Watchdog,” Lowkey catches up with an eyewitness to November’s violence. Rachid El Ghazoui, better known as Appa, is a legend of Dutch hip hop. Active for over two decades, the rapper is known for his political content and his fierce criticism of racist Dutch politicians, such as Geert Wilders. His lyrics have made him a leading voice among the Moroccan community in the Netherlands.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Appa tells a different story to Biden or King Willem-Alexander, presenting it as a tale of Israeli football thugs trashing a beautiful city, and then being challenged and overpowered by locals. As he told Lowkey:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;It actually started with the Maccabi Tel Aviv hooligans tearing up the streets, attacking people, throwing stuff at people, kicking people off their bikes, destroying taxis. Being hooligans, actually. They started singing racist songs in the main square, [about] killing Arabs and raping women”&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br/&gt;From there, the Israeli thugs were beaten back, and the resistance put up by locals – many of them of Moroccan descent – was treated as a vicious racist attack. Thus, what was a pretty typical case of European soccer hooliganism was transformed for political gain into a supposedly senseless anti-Semitic pogrom.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The plot thickened even further after Israeli media revealed that Israel had &lt;a href='https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/sports/article-827683'&gt;sent&lt;/a&gt; many Mossad agents to Amsterdam who were present among the Maccabi fans.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ajax won the game 5-0.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a rel="payment" href="https://www.patreon.com/MintPressNews"&gt;Support the show&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;The Watchdog is 100% independent and listener-supported.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;We don’t take corporate ad money. We don’t have billionaire backers. Episodes like this are only possible because of you.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;If you value fearless journalism and critical conversations, please consider joining our community of supporters:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;a href='https://www.patreon.com/MintPressNews'&gt;🔗 &lt;b&gt;Support us on Patreon&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Together, we can keep this work going.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;em&gt;Lowkey&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;em&gt; is a British-Iraqi hip-hop artist, academic and political campaigner. As a musician, he has collaborated with the Arctic Monkeys, Wretch 32, Immortal Technique and Akala. He is a patron of Stop The War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Racial Justice Network and The Peace and Justice Project, founded by Jeremy Corbyn. He has spoken and performed on platforms from the Oxford Union to the Royal Albert Hall and Glastonbury. His latest album, Soundtrack To The Struggle 2, featured Noam Chomsky and Frankie Boyle and has been streamed millions of times.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>

It was a pogrom, the likes of which have not been seen in Europe since the days of World War Two. Or at least that is how corporate media across the world presented last month’s violence in Amsterdam, as Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv came to play Ajax in football’s Europa League. In total, five people were hospitalized, with a few dozen more minor injuries. And yet, the event generated hysteria across the West. President Biden, for example, described the supposed attacks against Israelis as “...

Dutch Rapper Appa: Amsterdam 'Pogrom' Was Self-Defense Against Israeli Hooligans

Israel’s attack on its neighbors could not be sustained without support from the West. And much of that support comes from the United Kingdom. Only a few hundred kilometers from Gaza, the British military base in Akrotiri, Cyprus, serves as the “heartbeat” of the Israeli assault. Israeli warplanes fly there to be serviced and repaired, while Western supply planes fly into the base before making the final trip to Israel.“Almost no one in this country [the United Kingdom] had heard about it before Gaza and before our work on it,” investigative journalist and returning guest <a href='https://twitter.com/kennardmatt/'>Matt Kennard</a> told Lowkey today, adding:<blockquote>This is a colony that Britain retained after awarding independence to Cyprus in 1960. But it wasn’t really independent because Cyprus gave 3% of its land mass to the British, on which they built a massive air base on Akrotiri and a massive intelligence base at Dhekelia. And now, they are being used to facilitate a genocide in Gaza, through [supplying] arms, personnel and intelligence.”</blockquote> Kennard is a writer and journalist for <a href='https://declassifieduk.org/author/matt-kennard/'>Declassified UK</a>. He has broken several stories about secret British collaboration and support for Israeli actions. Previously, he worked as a reporter for The Financial Times and was a fellow and a director of the Center For Investigative Journalism in London. His<a href='https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/silent-coup-9781350464568/'> latest book</a> is “Silent Coup: How Corporations Overthrew Democracy.”For Kennard, Britain’s active support of Israeli actions makes them participants in the ongoing genocide. Last October, the British government <a href='https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/10/30/phuq-o30.html'>issued</a> a “D Notice” instructing media outlets not to report on any elite U.K. SAS commando operations in Gaza. This action immediately raises the question, “What are British special forces doing in Gaza?”In addition to weapons sales, logistical aid and political support, Britain also secretly trains Israeli troops. Despite this, the Israeli government has continued to attempt to infiltrate and surveil top-level British politicians. Boris Johnson, for instance, revealed that Benjamin Netanyahu personally attempted to place a listening device in his quarters. Kennard’s <a href='https://www.declassifieduk.org/revealed-third-of-british-cabinet-including-boris-johnson-has-been-funded-by-israel-or-pro-israel-lobby-groups/'>investigation</a> revealed that one-third of Johnson’s cabinet had their political careers funded either directly by Israel or by the pro-Israel lobby.<a rel="payment" href="https://www.patreon.com/MintPressNews">Support the show</a>The Watchdog is 100% independent and listener-supported. We don’t take corporate ad money. We don’t have billionaire backers. Episodes like this are only possible because of you. If you value fearless journalism and critical conversations, please consider joining our community of supporters: <a href='https://www.patreon.com/MintPressNews'>🔗 Support us on Patreon</a> Together, we can keep this work going. Lowkey is a British-Iraqi hip-hop artist, academic and political campaigner. As a musician, he has collaborated with the Arctic Monkeys, Wretch 32, Immortal Technique and Akala. He is a patron of Stop The War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Racial Justice Network and The Peace and Justice Project, founded by Jeremy Corbyn. He has spoken and performed on platforms from the Oxford Union to the Royal Albert Hall and Glastonbury. His latest album, Soundtrack To The Struggle 2, featured Noam Chomsky and Frankie Boyle and has been streamed millions of times.

<description>&lt;p&gt;Israel’s attack on its neighbors could not be sustained without support from the West. And much of that support comes from the United Kingdom. Only a few hundred kilometers from Gaza, the British military base in Akrotiri, Cyprus, serves as the “heartbeat” of the Israeli assault. Israeli warplanes fly there to be serviced and repaired, while Western supply planes fly into the base before making the final trip to Israel.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;“Almost no one in this country [the United Kingdom] had heard about it before Gaza and before our work on it,” investigative journalist and returning guest &lt;a href='https://twitter.com/kennardmatt/'&gt;Matt Kennard&lt;/a&gt; told Lowkey today, adding:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;This is a colony that Britain retained after awarding independence to Cyprus in 1960. But it wasn’t really independent because Cyprus gave 3% of its land mass to the British, on which they built a massive air base on Akrotiri and a massive intelligence base at Dhekelia. And now, they are being used to facilitate a genocide in Gaza, through [supplying] arms, personnel and intelligence.”&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Kennard is a writer and journalist for &lt;a href='https://declassifieduk.org/author/matt-kennard/'&gt;Declassified UK&lt;/a&gt;. He has broken several stories about secret British collaboration and support for Israeli actions. Previously, he worked as a reporter for The Financial Times and was a fellow and a director of the Center For Investigative Journalism in London. His&lt;a href='https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/silent-coup-9781350464568/'&gt; latest book&lt;/a&gt; is “Silent Coup: How Corporations Overthrew Democracy.”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;For Kennard, Britain’s active support of Israeli actions makes them participants in the ongoing genocide. Last October, the British government &lt;a href='https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/10/30/phuq-o30.html'&gt;issued&lt;/a&gt; a “D Notice” instructing media outlets not to report on any elite U.K. SAS commando operations in Gaza. This action immediately raises the question, “What are British special forces doing in Gaza?”&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In addition to weapons sales, logistical aid and political support, Britain also secretly trains Israeli troops. Despite this, the Israeli government has continued to attempt to infiltrate and surveil top-level British politicians. Boris Johnson, for instance, revealed that Benjamin Netanyahu personally attempted to place a listening device in his quarters. Kennard’s &lt;a href='https://www.declassifieduk.org/revealed-third-of-british-cabinet-including-boris-johnson-has-been-funded-by-israel-or-pro-israel-lobby-groups/'&gt;investigation&lt;/a&gt; revealed that one-third of Johnson’s cabinet had their political careers funded either directly by Israel or by the pro-Israel lobby.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a rel="payment" href="https://www.patreon.com/MintPressNews"&gt;Support the show&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;The Watchdog is 100% independent and listener-supported.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;We don’t take corporate ad money. We don’t have billionaire backers. Episodes like this are only possible because of you.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;If you value fearless journalism and critical conversations, please consider joining our community of supporters:&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt; &lt;a href='https://www.patreon.com/MintPressNews'&gt;🔗 &lt;b&gt;Support us on Patreon&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Together, we can keep this work going.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;em&gt;Lowkey&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;em&gt; is a British-Iraqi hip-hop artist, academic and political campaigner. As a musician, he has collaborated with the Arctic Monkeys, Wretch 32, Immortal Technique and Akala. He is a patron of Stop The War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Racial Justice Network and The Peace and Justice Project, founded by Jeremy Corbyn. He has spoken and performed on platforms from the Oxford Union to the Royal Albert Hall and Glastonbury. His latest album, Soundtrack To The Struggle 2, featured Noam Chomsky and Frankie Boyle and has been streamed millions of times.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Israel’s attack on its neighbors could not be sustained without support from the West. And much of that support comes from the United Kingdom. Only a few hundred kilometers from Gaza, the British military base in Akrotiri, Cyprus, serves as the “heartbeat” of the Israeli assault. Israeli warplanes fly there to be serviced and repaired, while Western supply planes fly into the base before making the final trip to Israel. “Almost no one in this country [the United Kingdom] had heard about it be...

How the UK Powers Israel's War on Gaza: Matt Kennard Reveals Hidden Connections

The new MintPress podcast hosted by British-Iraqi hip hop artist Lowkey -- The Watchdog, closely examines organizations in the public interest including intelligence, lobby, and special interest groups influencing policies and that target dissent. The Watchdog goes against the grain by casting a light on stories largely ignored by the mainstream, corporate media. Listen to the latest Lowkey music on iTunes (https://music.apple.com/us/artist/lowkey/157616301) and Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/artist/7lNJ1ZVAHcx6V4HqC68xRY)

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