https://znetwork.org/author/jonathancook/ Independent Left News, Analysis, Vision and Strategy Sat, 14 Feb 2026 17:01:34 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://znetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-Z_logo_512-32x32.png https://znetwork.org/author/jonathancook/ 32 32 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/starmer-is-toast-but-the-dark-forces-that-brought-him-to-power-are-as-strong-as-ever/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/starmer-is-toast-but-the-dark-forces-that-brought-him-to-power-are-as-strong-as-ever/#comments Sat, 14 Feb 2026 17:01:26 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294727 Some 30 years ago, British politics became, by design, a black box – an arena for moneyed power brokers to wield political influence hermetically sealed off from the view of voters. Only now, with the release of a portion of the Epstein Files, is a dim light being shone into its recesses, indicating how completely the billionaire class [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/starmer-is-toast-but-the-dark-forces-that-brought-him-to-power-are-as-strong-as-ever/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-jury-were-right-to-acquit-the-palestine-action-defendants-heres-why-2/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-jury-were-right-to-acquit-the-palestine-action-defendants-heres-why-2/#respond Sun, 08 Feb 2026 15:48:03 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294499 Even before the trial began, the British government had done its utmost to prejudice the proceedings against six Palestine Action activists. It declared that they belonged to a terrorist organisation and that they were engaged in a terrorist enterprise in breaking into an Israeli weapons factory in Filton, Bristol – one, British officials avoided mentioning, [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-jury-were-right-to-acquit-the-palestine-action-defendants-heres-why-2/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-guardian-joins-the-cheerleading-for-a-war-of-aggression-against-iran/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-guardian-joins-the-cheerleading-for-a-war-of-aggression-against-iran/#respond Sun, 01 Feb 2026 15:43:07 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294265 International law is absolutely clear. If the US attacks Iran, it would be a war of aggression and the “supreme international crime”. The job of even supposedly liberal media like the Guardian is to persuade you this is not what is at stake. To disbelieve your lying eyes. Look at this astonishingly dishonest headline and [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-guardian-joins-the-cheerleading-for-a-war-of-aggression-against-iran/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-bbc-pushes-the-case-for-an-illegal-war-on-iran-with-even-bigger-lies-than-trumps/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-bbc-pushes-the-case-for-an-illegal-war-on-iran-with-even-bigger-lies-than-trumps/#respond Sat, 31 Jan 2026 11:58:29 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1294228 Here is another example of utterly irresponsible journalism from the BBC on tonight’s News at Ten. Diplomatic correspondent Caroline Hawley starts by credulously amplifying a fantastical death toll of “tens of thousands of dead” from recent protests in Iran – figures provided by regime opponents. Contrast that with the BBC’s constant, two years of caution [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-bbc-pushes-the-case-for-an-illegal-war-on-iran-with-even-bigger-lies-than-trumps/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trumps-board-of-peace-is-the-nail-in-gazas-coffin/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trumps-board-of-peace-is-the-nail-in-gazas-coffin/#respond Sun, 25 Jan 2026 16:12:58 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293958 US President Donald Trump has declared the three-month “ceasefire” in Gaza a great success, and now wants to move on to phase two of his so-called “peace plan”.  What does success look like? Israeli soldiers have killed more than 460 Palestinians since October, including at least 100 children. Israel has levelled another 2,500 buildings, the last of the few that were still standing.  And [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trumps-board-of-peace-is-the-nail-in-gazas-coffin/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/barristers-powerful-speech-at-filton-trial-reminds-jury-of-its-right-to-defy-judge/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/barristers-powerful-speech-at-filton-trial-reminds-jury-of-its-right-to-defy-judge/#respond Thu, 15 Jan 2026 16:56:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293510 Starmer and the media need convictions to justify Palestine Action’s proscription as a terrorist group. Rajiv Menon KC spells out to the jury why it is a vital last defence against government tyranny. My thanks to Craig Murray, former UK ambassador turned whistleblower, for alerting me to what he rightly calls “one of the greatest legal speeches [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/barristers-powerful-speech-at-filton-trial-reminds-jury-of-its-right-to-defy-judge/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/genocide-isnt-a-mistake-which-is-why-the-media-cant-tell-you-the-truth-about-gaza/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/genocide-isnt-a-mistake-which-is-why-the-media-cant-tell-you-the-truth-about-gaza/#respond Sun, 11 Jan 2026 16:55:05 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293361 The Voice of Hind Rajab, a devastating dramatised retelling of Israel’s slow-motion murder of a five-year-old in Gaza, arrives in UK cinemas next week. Please take the opportunity to see it. The vast majority of Americans were denied such an opportunity when it was released there last month. Here’s what happened to the film in [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/genocide-isnt-a-mistake-which-is-why-the-media-cant-tell-you-the-truth-about-gaza/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-path-to-caracas-was-paved-in-gaza/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-path-to-caracas-was-paved-in-gaza/#respond Wed, 07 Jan 2026 22:31:38 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1293198 For decades, the United States and Israel have stuck closely to their respective, scripted roles in the Middle East: the job of good cop and bad cop. The charade has continued despite Washington’s active participation in Israel’s 25-month slaughter of Gaza’s people – and a dawning realisation among ever-larger sections of western publics that they [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-path-to-caracas-was-paved-in-gaza/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-reporting-facts-in-britain-can-now-land-you-in-jail-for-14-years-as-a-terrorist/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-reporting-facts-in-britain-can-now-land-you-in-jail-for-14-years-as-a-terrorist/#respond Wed, 24 Dec 2025 18:35:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1292730 The moment the British government began proscribing political movements as terrorist organisations, rather than just militant groups, it was inevitable that saying factual things, making truthful statements, would become a crime. And lo behold, here we are. The Terrorism Act 2000 has a series of provisions that make it difficult to voice or show any [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-reporting-facts-in-britain-can-now-land-you-in-jail-for-14-years-as-a-terrorist/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/western-elites-fear-a-globalised-intifada-because-they-are-its-targets-not-jews/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/western-elites-fear-a-globalised-intifada-because-they-are-its-targets-not-jews/#respond Sat, 20 Dec 2025 17:15:56 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1292575 Western establishments’ fear of the phrase “Globalise the intifada” has little to do with any danger supposedly posed to Jewish populations from its use. The threat is posed by the slogan’s central idea, not by some specific target. “Globalise the intifada!” is the modern equivalent of “Power to the people!” – a slogan long used [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/western-elites-fear-a-globalised-intifada-because-they-are-its-targets-not-jews/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israels-biggest-con-trick-hiding-the-true-numbers-it-has-killed-in-gaza/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israels-biggest-con-trick-hiding-the-true-numbers-it-has-killed-in-gaza/#respond Thu, 11 Dec 2025 16:52:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1292250 Israel has penned us all into a ‘debate’, one entirely divorced from reality, that relates only to those killed directly by its bombs and gunfire – not the genocide it is waging by other means The biggest con trick Israel has managed to pull off over the past two years is imposing entirely phoney parameters [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israels-biggest-con-trick-hiding-the-true-numbers-it-has-killed-in-gaza/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-story-of-a-1930s-uprising-against-british-colonialism-is-key-to-understanding-gaza-today/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-story-of-a-1930s-uprising-against-british-colonialism-is-key-to-understanding-gaza-today/#respond Sat, 06 Dec 2025 17:55:53 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1292094 Anyone wondering why the British state and media, despite the latter’s pretension to serve as a watchdog on power, continue to cheerlead Israel’s genocidal slaughter of civilians in Gaza will find the answers in a new film. It recounts not the current period of history, but a story from nearly 90 years ago. Palestine 36, directed by the remarkable Palestinian [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-story-of-a-1930s-uprising-against-british-colonialism-is-key-to-understanding-gaza-today/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/breaking-free-of-media-group-think-is-a-scary-lonely-journey-i-know-i-was-forced-to-do-it/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/breaking-free-of-media-group-think-is-a-scary-lonely-journey-i-know-i-was-forced-to-do-it/#respond Sun, 16 Nov 2025 18:09:03 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1291336 [This is an adaptation of a talk I presented at an event “Reporting Gaza: Work, Life and Death”, organised by the South Wales National Union of Journalists, held at the Temple of Peace in Cardiff on 10 November 2025.] The past two years have seen a catastrophic failure by western journalists to report properly what [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/breaking-free-of-media-group-think-is-a-scary-lonely-journey-i-know-i-was-forced-to-do-it/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/bbc-news-has-a-long-record-of-disinformation-but-this-time-it-chose-the-wrong-target/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/bbc-news-has-a-long-record-of-disinformation-but-this-time-it-chose-the-wrong-target/#respond Thu, 13 Nov 2025 16:50:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1291196 The BBC’s now in a death loop: it grows ever more craven to the billionaires, shifting the political centre of gravity further rightwards, even as the billionaire-owned media claim it’s too ‘leftwing’ The BBC is in turmoil, its director-general and head of news forced to resign after a memo leaked to the Daily Telegraph highlighted [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/bbc-news-has-a-long-record-of-disinformation-but-this-time-it-chose-the-wrong-target/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/islam-vs-the-west-the-four-biggest-fallacies-about-islam-explained/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/islam-vs-the-west-the-four-biggest-fallacies-about-islam-explained/#comments Thu, 06 Nov 2025 16:45:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1290894 Isn’t Islam inherently violent? What stopped the Islamic world having an Enlightenment? Why are some Muslims so into head-chopping? And isn’t Hamas the same as Islamic State? A recent conversation with a friend highlighted to me how little most westerners know about Islam, and how they struggle to distinguish between Islam and Islamism. This lack [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/islam-vs-the-west-the-four-biggest-fallacies-about-islam-explained/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/it-was-never-a-gaza-war-the-ceasefire-is-a-lie-cut-from-the-same-cloth/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/it-was-never-a-gaza-war-the-ceasefire-is-a-lie-cut-from-the-same-cloth/#comments Sat, 18 Oct 2025 14:15:15 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1290133 Ceasefires stick because the two sides in a war have reached military stalemate – or because the incentives for each side in laying down their arms outweigh those of continuing the bloodshed. None of this applies in Gaza. The past two years in the enclave have been many things. But the one thing they have [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/it-was-never-a-gaza-war-the-ceasefire-is-a-lie-cut-from-the-same-cloth/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/it-is-the-west-not-gaza-that-needs-to-be-deradicalised/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/it-is-the-west-not-gaza-that-needs-to-be-deradicalised/#respond Thu, 09 Oct 2025 15:53:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1289702 This brutal war on Palestinians has not just unleashed Israel’s demons. It has unmasked our own regimes, as they crack down on humanitarian activism. Anniversaries are often a cause for celebration. But who could have imagined back in October 2023 that we would now be marking the two-year anniversary of a genocide, documented in the minutest [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/it-is-the-west-not-gaza-that-needs-to-be-deradicalised/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/recognition-of-palestine-is-a-repeat-of-the-wests-oslo-peace-fraud/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/recognition-of-palestine-is-a-repeat-of-the-wests-oslo-peace-fraud/#respond Sat, 27 Sep 2025 16:32:52 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1289176 The reluctant recognition of Palestinian statehood by Britain, France, Australia, Canada this week is a con – it is the same switch and bait that has been blocking the creation of a Palestinian state for three decades now. Imagine that these four leading western countries had recognised Palestine not in late 2025, when Palestine is [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/recognition-of-palestine-is-a-repeat-of-the-wests-oslo-peace-fraud/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-billionaire-class-want-you-thinking-israel-controls-the-west/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-billionaire-class-want-you-thinking-israel-controls-the-west/#respond Thu, 11 Sep 2025 15:52:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1288432 Western elites don’t care what you think or say, so long as you don’t notice that they are the ones making money from a genocide, asset-stripping western economies and trashing our planet. Inevitably, the more extreme the West’s actions – by, for example, actively aiding Israel’s genocide in Gaza – the more extreme the assumptions [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-billionaire-class-want-you-thinking-israel-controls-the-west/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zvideo/even-the-medias-gaza-investigations-hide-the-real-story-of-israels-atrocities/ https://znetwork.org/zvideo/even-the-medias-gaza-investigations-hide-the-real-story-of-israels-atrocities/#respond Sat, 30 Aug 2025 15:37:40 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=video&p=1287943 An investigation by CNN into Israel’s strike on the Nasser Hospital this week – an attack that killed more than 20 people, including emergency workers and five journalists – is a case study in how even well-intentioned journalism, ostensibly examining Israeli crimes, ends up concealing more than it reveals. CNN’s detailed examination of footage of Monday’s strike [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/zvideo/even-the-medias-gaza-investigations-hide-the-real-story-of-israels-atrocities/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-western-media-helped-turn-israels-genocide-into-fake-news/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-western-media-helped-turn-israels-genocide-into-fake-news/#respond Thu, 28 Aug 2025 15:56:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1287883 Israel’s justification for the mass slaughter of Gaza’s people and their starvation – now officially confirmed as a famine engineered by Israel – was built on a parade of easily discredited lies from the start: of beheaded infants, of babies in ovens, of mass rape.  It should surprise no one that Israel continued advancing similarly outrageous lies [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-western-media-helped-turn-israels-genocide-into-fake-news/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-police-pulled-over-my-car-the-lack-of-a-reason-should-worry-us-all/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-police-pulled-over-my-car-the-lack-of-a-reason-should-worry-us-all/#respond Thu, 21 Aug 2025 15:50:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1287582 Many thanks to everyone who responded to my recent social media post on my being stopped by Thames Valley police this week in irregular circumstances and in an equally irregular manner. From those responses, I have been able to come up with the most plausible explanation for why police pulled me over at around midday [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-police-pulled-over-my-car-the-lack-of-a-reason-should-worry-us-all/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/our-complicity-in-gaza-has-set-the-stage-for-a-second-genocide-in-the-west-bank/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/our-complicity-in-gaza-has-set-the-stage-for-a-second-genocide-in-the-west-bank/#respond Sat, 16 Aug 2025 11:50:32 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1287382 There is a revealing back story to Israel’s so-called E1 Plan, a massive settlement project that includes the building of many thousands of new homes. The plan’s goal is to irreversibly sever the illegally annexed eastern, Palestinian side of Jerusalem from the West Bank, and then break the illegally occupied West Bank into two separate [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/our-complicity-in-gaza-has-set-the-stage-for-a-second-genocide-in-the-west-bank/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israels-plan-for-full-control-of-gaza-heralds-a-new-nakba-so-the-west-is-panicking/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israels-plan-for-full-control-of-gaza-heralds-a-new-nakba-so-the-west-is-panicking/#respond Thu, 14 Aug 2025 15:52:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1287311 Netanyahu’s mass ethnic cleansing strategy pulls the rug out from under their cherished pretext for supporting Israeli criminality: the fabled two-state solution. If you thought western capitals were finally losing patience with Israel’s engineering of a famine in Gaza nearly two years into the genocide, you may be disappointed. As ever, events have moved on – even [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israels-plan-for-full-control-of-gaza-heralds-a-new-nakba-so-the-west-is-panicking/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israels-genocide-is-big-business-and-the-face-of-the-future/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israels-genocide-is-big-business-and-the-face-of-the-future/#respond Thu, 24 Jul 2025 15:56:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1286555 US corporations and military planners welcome the ‘legal maneuver space’ Israel has opened up for them to profit from warfare that slaughters and starves civilians [An audio version of this article is available here] The Financial Times revealed this month that a cabal of Israeli investors, one of the world’s top business consulting groups and [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israels-genocide-is-big-business-and-the-face-of-the-future/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/on-gaza-the-goal-is-to-confuse-us-about-where-rights-end-and-criminality-begins/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/on-gaza-the-goal-is-to-confuse-us-about-where-rights-end-and-criminality-begins/#respond Thu, 17 Jul 2025 15:54:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1286286 An Israeli Jew is charged over referring to ‘Nazi Israel’. An anti-genocide protester risks arrest as a terrorist for waving a Palestinian flag. Starmer is intentionally stoking a climate of fear A British-Israeli Jew, Yael Kahn, has been charged with causing “alarm or distress” for holding a placard referring to “Nazi Israel” at a London [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/on-gaza-the-goal-is-to-confuse-us-about-where-rights-end-and-criminality-begins/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-real-crimes-are-taking-place-in-gaza-not-at-glastonbury-or-brize-norton/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-real-crimes-are-taking-place-in-gaza-not-at-glastonbury-or-brize-norton/#respond Thu, 03 Jul 2025 15:55:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1285744 The British government is being rocked by a growing public backlash to Israel’s 21-month  slaughter in Gaza and the UK’s active collusion in it. That fallout came to a head over the weekend, when punk group Bob Vylan led Glastonbury’s crowds in chanting: “Death, death to the IDF,” referencing the Israeli army – a performance aired live on the BBC, [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-real-crimes-are-taking-place-in-gaza-not-at-glastonbury-or-brize-norton/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israel-is-fully-integrating-its-gaza-food-aid-hubs-into-the-genocide/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israel-is-fully-integrating-its-gaza-food-aid-hubs-into-the-genocide/#respond Wed, 04 Jun 2025 17:58:10 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1284575 It is entirely unsurprising that Israel has yet again been caught out in a lie – a lie that the BBC once again spread far and wide on its news services. Israel claimed that it had not fired at starving Palestinians queueing on Sunday morning to get food from one of its highly militarised “aid [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israel-is-fully-integrating-its-gaza-food-aid-hubs-into-the-genocide/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-short-guide-on-how-to-starve-a-population-to-death/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-short-guide-on-how-to-starve-a-population-to-death/#respond Thu, 29 May 2025 15:50:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1284334 Your ‘aid’ system will lead to chaos, as desperate, starving people fight for food. That’s great. They look like a swarming mass of the very ‘human animals’ you were talking about from the start A short guide on how to engineer a genocide by starvation and ethnic cleansing: 1. Choose your moment. Ok, you’ve been [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-short-guide-on-how-to-starve-a-population-to-death/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israels-claim-that-hamas-is-stealing-aid-is-patently-a-lie-heres-why/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israels-claim-that-hamas-is-stealing-aid-is-patently-a-lie-heres-why/#respond Tue, 27 May 2025 16:01:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1284259 Israel’s claim that Hamas is “stealing aid” is so preposterous no serious journalist or politician ought to give it any kind of airing – yet there it is continuously cropping up in the coverage of Gaza. How do I know Israel’s claim is utterly worthless? For this simple reason: Israel has a fleet of surveillance [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/israels-claim-that-hamas-is-stealing-aid-is-patently-a-lie-heres-why/feed/ 0