NOVEMBER 1-7
WEEK of GLOBAL RESISTANCE
to STOP U.S. IMPERIALISM & GENOCIDE
This year SHUT DOWN DRONE WARFARE (SDDW) Fall Actions will be a "Kick Off for A New Campaign": We want to help build a stronger network of global communities working in coordination to STOP U.S Imperialism & Genocide. Several other national organizations are already co-sponsors. (see below) This global call to action in the fall is only the beginning. We invite national and international organizations to sign on as sponsors/endorsers of the week and to plan simultaneous actions at U.S. Bases, Weapons Industries and AI Data Centers around the world. Organize actions for one day, or numerous days during or near the Week of Global Resistance. We recommend planning actions during weekday commute hours, if possible, when personnel are going into and out of military bases, weapons industry workplaces, AI Data Centers, etc. Educate, educate, educate and encourage resistance from within. Please spread the word: Help us get more sponsors & endorsers! More details to come soon.
"Week of Global Resistance" Co-sponsors: ShutDownDroneWarfare.org, BanKillerDrones.org, Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space, and Witness Against Empire.
Will your organization sponsor or endorse? Please contact: toby4peace@sonic.net
The above global call to action is part of SDDW Fall Action Week:
SHUT DOWN DRONE WARFARE! (SDDW)
ShutDownDroneWarfare.org
SDDW Fall Action Week:
NEW: Simultaneous Actions at both Creech AFB & Holloman AFB!
November 1-7, 2026
Nov.1-7, Creech AFB Fall Action, Indian Springs, NV
Nov. 4-6, Holloman AFB Fall Action, Alamogordo, NM
17 years of persistent resistance! Come for all or part of Fall Actions!
Shut Down Drone Warfare (SDDW) Campaign is Co-Sponsored by Veterans For Peace, Ban Killer Drones & CODEPINK
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
We need as many people there as possible to carry our message - no more of our tax dollars for endless wars. Can we count you in? Sign up here:
https://www.codepink.org/novdc26
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
The Trump administration is escalating its attack on Cuba, cutting off the island’s access to oil in a deliberate attempt to induce famine and mass suffering. This is collective punishment, plain and simple.
In response, we’re releasing a public Call to Conscience, already signed by influential public figures, elected officials, artists, and organizations—including 22 members of the New York City Council, Kal Penn, Mark Ruffalo, Susan Sarandon, Alice Walker, 50501, Movement for Black Lives, The People’s Forum, IFCO Pastors for Peace, ANSWER Coalition, and many others—demanding an end to this brutal policy.
The letter is open for everyone to sign. Add your name today. Cutting off energy to an island nation is not policy—it is a tactic of starvation.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
VIDEO:
What Cubans Really Think About Trump
By Jeff Seal, May 28, 2026
Mr. Seal is a comedian and a visual journalist.
End Texas Torture of Revolutionary Elder Xinachtli
Organization Support Letter
Letter to demand the immediate medical treatment and release of Chicano political prisoner Xinachtli (Alvaro Hernandez #00255735)
To the Texas Department of Criminal Justice,
We, the undersigned organizations, write to urge immediate action to protect the life, health, and human rights of Xinachtli (legal name Alvaro Hernandez). Xinachtli is 73-year-old Chicano community organizer from Texas who has spent 23 years in solitary confinement and 30 years incarcerated as part of a 50-year sentence. His health is now in a critical and life-threatening state and requires prompt and comprehensive medical intervention.
Since his conviction in 1997, Xinachtli has spent decades in conditions that have caused significant physical and psychological harm. As an elder in worsening health, these conditions have effectively become a de facto death sentence.
Xinachtli’s current medical condition is severe. His physical, mental, and overall well-being have declined rapidly in recent weeks. He now requires both a wheelchair and a walker, has experienced multiple falls, and is suffering from rapid weight loss. He is currently housed in the McConnell Unit infirmary, where he is receiving only palliative measures and is being denied a medical diagnosis, access to his medical records, and adequate diagnostic testing or treatment.
A virtual clinical visit with licensed medical doctor Dr. Dona Kim Murphey underscores the severity of his condition. In her report of the visit, she wrote: "Given the history of recent neck/back trauma and recurrent urinary tract infections with numbness, weakness, and bowel and bladder incontinence, I am concerned about nerve root or spinal cord injury and/or abscesses that can lead to permanent sensorimotor dysfunction."
Despite his age and visible disabilities, he remains in solitary confinement under the Security Threat Group designation as a 73-year-old. During his time in the infirmary, prison staff threw away all of his belongings and “lost” his commissary card, leaving him completely without basic necessities. He is experiencing hunger, and the lack of consistent nutrition is worsening his medical condition. McConnell Unit staff have also consistently given him incorrect forms, including forms for medical records and medical visitation, creating further barriers to care and communication.
A family visit on November 29 confirmed the seriousness of his condition. Xinachtli, who was once able to walk on his own, can no longer stand without assistance. He struggled to breathe, has lost more than 30 pounds, relied heavily on his wheelchair, and was in severe pain throughout the visit.
In light of these conditions, we, the undersigned organizations, demand that TDCJ take immediate action to save Xinachtli’s life and comply with its legal and ethical obligations.
We urge the immediate implementation of the following actions:
Immediate re-instatement of his access to commissary to buy hygiene, food, and other critical items. Immediate transfer to the TDCJ hospital in Galveston for a full medical evaluation and treatment, including complete access to his medical records and full transparency regarding all procedures. Transfer to a geriatric and medical unit that is fully accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Xinachtli requests placement at the Richard P LeBlanc Unit in Beaumont, Texas. Approval of Medical Recommended Intensive Supervision, the release program for individuals with serious medical conditions and disabilities, in recognition of the severity and progression of his current health issues. Failure to act will result in the continued and foreseeable deterioration of Xinachtli’s health, amounting to state-sanctioned death. We urge TDCJ to take swift and decisive action to meet these requests and to fulfill its responsibility to safeguard his life and well-being.
We stand united in calling for immediate and decisive action. Xinachtli’s life depends on it.
Signed, Xinachtli Freedom Campaign and supporting organizations
Endorsing Organizations:
Al-Awda Houston; All African People’s Revolutionary Party; Anakbayan Houston; Anti-Imperialist Solidarity; Artists for Black Lives' Equality; Black Alliance for Peace - Solidarity Network; Columbia University Students for a Democratic Society; Community Liberation Programs; Community Powered ATX; Contra Gentrificación; Diaspora Pa’lante Collective; Down South; DSA Emerge; Entre nos kc; Fighting Racism Workshops; Frontera Water Protectors; GC Harm Reductionists; JERICHO MOVEMENT; Jericho Movement Providence; Montrose Anarchist Collective; NYC Jericho Movement; OC Focus; Palestine Solidarity TX; Partisan Defense Committee; Partido Nacional de la Raza Unida; PDX Anti-Repression; Red Star Texas; Root Cause; San Francisco Solidarity Collective; Shine White Support Team; Sunrise Columbia; UC San Diego Faculty for Justice in Palestine; Viva Palestina, EPTX; Water Justice and Technology Studio; Workshops4Gaza.
Sign the endorsement letter for your organization here:
https://cryptpad.fr/form/#/2/form/view/MiR1f+iLiRBJC7gSTyfhyxJoLIDhThxRafPatxdbMWI/
IMPORTANT LINKS TO MATERIALS FOR XINACHTLI FREEDOM CAMPAIGN:
PHONE BLAST: Your community can sign up for a 15-minute-long call shift here: bit.ly/xphoneblast
FUNDRAISER: Here is the link to Jericho's fundraiser for Xinachtli: http://givebutter.com/jerichomovement
CASE HISTORY: Learn more about Xinachtli and his case through our website: https://freealvaro.net
CONTACT INFO:
Follow us on Instagram: @freexinachtlinow
Email us:
xinachtlifreedomcampaign@protonmail.com
COALITION FOLDER:
https://drive.proton.me/urls/SP3KTC1RK4#KARGiPQVYIvR
In the folder you will find: Two pictures of Xinachtli from 2024; The latest updated graphics for the phone blast; The original TRO emergency motion filing; Maria Salazar's declaration; Dr. Murphy's report from her Dec. 9 medical visit; Letter from Amnesty International declaring Xinachtli's situation a human rights violation; Free Xinachtli zine (which gives background on him and his case); and The most recent press release detailing who Xinachtli is as well as his medical situation.
Write to:
Alvaro Hernandez CID #00255735
TDCJ-W.G. McConnell Unit
PO Box 660400
Dallas, TX 75266-0400
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
 ‘Freedom Zone’ launches important human rights event October 30 Global Festival in Support of Russian Political Prisoners _________________________________________________________ THE LOCATIONS: Berlin, Munich, Warsaw, New York, Minnesota, Budva, Melbourne, Helsinki, Haifa, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Vilnius, São Paulo, Florianópolis, Batumi, Tbilisi, Belgrade, Riga, Paris, Yerevan, Milan, Vienna, London, Madrid THE AUDIENCE: Anyone concerned about political prisoners in Russia
Lectures, auctions, letter evenings, film screenings and other events will take place in more than 20 countries, including the US, Brazil and Australia, demonstrating worldwide solidarity with the prisoners of the Russian regime. Speakers in different cities will include such well-known opponents of the Putin regime as Daria Serenko, Mikhail Lobanov, Sasha and Nadezhda Skochilenko, Ivan Philippov, Alexey Ponomaryov and other prominent Russian exiles. Funds raised will go towards supporting political prisoners, covering the costs of legal representation, visits from loved ones and other needs. It is also possible to join the international campaign by making an online donation. This global festival will be a tangible expression of opposition to lawlessness in Russia and support for its victims. Let’s show that we stand shoulder to shoulder with those who have been unjustly convicted! ______________________________________________ ‘Freedom Zone’ was founded by Kseniia Kagarlitskaia, daughter of political prisoner Boris Kagarlitsky. Since 2024, the organisation has been holding charity events (festivals) abroad to raise funds for political prisoners in Russia, raising awareness of the unlawful persecution and inhumane prison conditions faced by people in the Russian Federation, as well as campaigning for the release of political prisoners. Website: https://freedom-zone.com/festival Contact: Kseniia Kagarlitskaiazona.svobody@gmail.com +38268347993 Telegram @pruesha ___________________________________________________________________ Donation link: https://buymeacoffee.com/zonasvobodk Russia Confirms Jailing of Antiwar Leader Boris Kagarlitsky In a secret trial on June 5, 2024, the Russian Supreme Court’s Military Chamber confirmed a sentence of five years in a penal colony for left-wing sociologist and online journalist Boris Kagarlitsky. His crime? “Justifying terrorism” — a sham charge used to silence opponents of Putin’s war on Ukraine. The court disregarded a plea for freedom sent by thirty-seven international luminaries. Kagarlitsky, a leading Marxist thinker in Russia’s post-Soviet period, recently addressed socialists who won’t criticize Putin: “To my Western colleagues, who…call for an understanding of Putin and his regime, I would like to ask a very simple question. [Would] you want to live in a country where there is no free press or independent courts? In a country where the police have the right to break into your house without a warrant? …In a country which…broadcasts appeals on TV to destroy Paris, London, Warsaw, with a nuclear strike?” Thousands of antiwar critics have been forced to flee Russia or are behind bars, swept up in Putin’s vicious crackdown on dissidents. Opposition to the war is consistently highest among the poorest workers. Recently, RusNews journalists Roman Ivanov and Maria Ponomarenko were sentenced to seven, and six years respectively, for reporting the military’s brutal assault on Ukraine. A massive global solidarity campaign that garnered support from thousands was launched at Kagarlitsky’s arrest. Now, it has been revived. This internationalism will bolster the repressed Russian left and Ukrainian resistance to Putin’s imperialism. To sign the online petition at freeboris.info —Freedom Socialist Party, August 2024 https://socialism.com/fs-article/russia-jails-prominent-antiwar-leader-boris-kagarlitsky/#:~:text=In%20a%20secret%20trial%20on,of%20Putin's%20war%20on%20Ukraine. Petition in Support of Boris KagarlitskyWe, the undersigned, were deeply shocked to learn that on February 13 the leading Russian socialist intellectual and antiwar activist Dr. Boris Kagarlitsky (65) was sentenced to five years in prison. Dr. Kagarlitsky was arrested on the absurd charge of 'justifying terrorism' in July last year. After a global campaign reflecting his worldwide reputation as a writer and critic of capitalism and imperialism, his trial ended on December 12 with a guilty verdict and a fine of 609,000 roubles. The prosecution then appealed against the fine as 'unjust due to its excessive leniency' and claimed falsely that Dr. Kagarlitsky was unable to pay the fine and had failed to cooperate with the court. In fact, he had paid the fine in full and provided the court with everything it requested. On February 13 a military court of appeal sent him to prison for five years and banned him from running a website for two years after his release. The reversal of the original court decision is a deliberate insult to the many thousands of activists, academics, and artists around the world who respect Dr. Kagarlitsky and took part in the global campaign for his release. The section of Russian law used against Dr. Kagarlitsky effectively prohibits free expression. The decision to replace the fine with imprisonment was made under a completely trumped-up pretext. Undoubtedly, the court's action represents an attempt to silence criticism in the Russian Federation of the government's war in Ukraine, which is turning the country into a prison. The sham trial of Dr. Kagarlitsky is the latest in a wave of brutal repression against the left-wing movements in Russia. Organizations that have consistently criticized imperialism, Western and otherwise, are now under direct attack, many of them banned. Dozens of activists are already serving long terms simply because they disagree with the policies of the Russian government and have the courage to speak up. Many of them are tortured and subjected to life-threatening conditions in Russian penal colonies, deprived of basic medical care. Left-wing politicians are forced to flee Russia, facing criminal charges. International trade unions such as IndustriALL and the International Transport Federation are banned and any contact with them will result in long prison sentences. There is a clear reason for this crackdown on the Russian left. The heavy toll of the war gives rise to growing discontent among the mass of working people. The poor pay for this massacre with their lives and wellbeing, and opposition to war is consistently highest among the poorest. The left has the message and resolve to expose the connection between imperialist war and human suffering. Dr. Kagarlitsky has responded to the court's outrageous decision with calm and dignity: “We just need to live a little longer and survive this dark period for our country,” he said. Russia is nearing a period of radical change and upheaval, and freedom for Dr. Kagarlitsky and other activists is a condition for these changes to take a progressive course. We demand that Boris Kagarlitsky and all other antiwar prisoners be released immediately and unconditionally. We also call on the auth *..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........* *..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........* |
Self-portrait by Kevin Cooper
Funds for Kevin Cooper
Kevin was transferred out of San Quentin and is now at a healthcare facility in Stockton. He has received some long overdue healthcare. The art program is very different from the one at San Quentin but we are hopeful that Kevin can get back to painting soon.
For 41 years, an innocent man has been on death row in California.
Kevin Cooper was wrongfully convicted of the brutal 1983 murders of the Ryen family and houseguest. The case has a long history of police and prosecutorial misconduct, evidence tampering, and numerous constitutional violations including many incidences of the prosecution withholding evidence of innocence from the defense. You can learn more here .
In December 2018 Gov. Brown ordered limited DNA testing and in February 2019, Gov. Newsom ordered additional DNA testing. Meanwhile, Kevin remains on Death Row at San Quentin Prison.
The funds raised will be used to help Kevin purchase art supplies for his paintings . Additionally, being in prison is expensive, and this money would help Kevin pay for stamps, books, paper, toiletries, supplies, supplementary food, printing materials to educate the public about his case and/or video calls.
Please help ease the daily struggle of an innocent man on death row!
An immediate act of solidarity we can all do right now is to write to Kevin and assure him of our continuing support in his fight for justice. Here’s his address:
Kevin Cooper #C65304
Cell 107, Unit E1C
California Health Care Facility, Stockton (CHCF)
P.O. Box 213040
Stockton, CA 95213
www.freekevincooper.org
Call California Governor Newsom:
1-(916) 445-2841
Press 1 for English or 2 for Spanish,
press 6 to speak with a representative and
wait for someone to answer
(Monday-Friday, 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. PST—12:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M. EST)
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
Dr. Alter Still Needs Our Help!
Please sign the petition today!
https://www.change.org/p/texas-state-university-give-tom-alter-his-job-back
What you can do to support:
—Donate to help Tom Alter and his family with living and legal expenses: https://gofund.me/27c72f26d
—Sign and share this petition demanding Tom Alter be given his job back: https://www.change.org/p/texas-state-university-give-tom-alter-his-job-back
—Write to and call the President and Provost at Texas State University demanding that Tom Alter be given his job back:
President Kelly Damphousse: president@txstate.edu
President’s Office Phone: 512-245-2121
Provost Pranesh Aswath: xrk25@txstate.edu
Provost Office Phone: 512-245-2205
For more information about the reason for the firing of Dr. Tom Alter, read:
"Fired for Advocating Socialism: Professor Tom Alter Speaks Out"
Ashley Smith Interviews Dr. Tom Alter
—CounterPunch, September 24, 2025
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........* *..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........* |
Mumia Abu-Jamal is Innocent!
FREE HIM NOW!
Write to Mumia at:
Smart Communications/PADOC
Mumia Abu-Jamal #AM-8335
SCI Mahanoy
P.O. Box 33028
St. Petersburg, FL 33733
Join the Fight for Mumia's Life
Since September, Mumia Abu-Jamal's health has been declining at a concerning rate. He has lost weight, is anemic, has high blood pressure and an extreme flair up of his psoriasis, and his hair has fallen out. In April 2021 Mumia underwent open heart surgery. Since then, he has been denied cardiac rehabilitation care including a healthy diet and exercise.
He still needs more complicated treatment from a retinal specialist for his right eye if his eyesight is to be saved:
Donate to Mumia Abu-Jamal's Emergency Legal and Medical
Defense Fund
Mumia has instructed PrisonRadio to set up this fund. Gifts donated here are designated for the Mumia Abu-Jamal Medical and Legal Defense Fund. If you are writing a check or making a donation in another way, note this in the memo line.
Send to:
Mumia Medical and Legal Fund c/o Prison Radio
P.O. Box 411074, San Francisco, CA 94103
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
Resources for Resisting Federal Repression
https://www.nlg.org/federalrepressionresources/
Since June of 2020, activists have been subjected to an increasingly aggressive crackdown on protests by federal law enforcement. The federal response to the movement for Black Lives has included federal criminal charges for activists, door knocks by federal law enforcement agents, and increased use of federal troops to violently police protests.
The NLG National Office is releasing this resource page for activists who are resisting federal repression. It includes a link to our emergency hotline numbers, as well as our library of Know-Your-Rights materials, our recent federal repression webinar, and a list of some of our recommended resources for activists. We will continue to update this page.
Please visit the NLG Mass Defense Program page for general protest-related legal support hotlines run by NLG chapters.
Emergency Hotlines
If you are contacted by federal law enforcement, you should exercise all of your rights. It is always advisable to speak to an attorney before responding to federal authorities.
State and Local Hotlines
If you have been contacted by the FBI or other federal law enforcement, in one of the following areas, you may be able to get help or information from one of these local NLG hotlines for:
Portland, Oregon: (833) 680-1312
San Francisco, California: (415) 285-1041 or fbi_hotline@nlgsf.org
Seattle, Washington: (206) 658-7963
National Hotline
If you are located in an area with no hotline, you can call the following number:
National NLG Federal Defense Hotline: (212) 679-2811
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
Articles
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
1) Can You Afford to Watch TV?
The streaming era has provided viewers a lot of great things to watch. But it comes at a price.
By James Poniewozik, Nov. 2, 2026
James Poniewozik is the chief television critic for The New York Times. He spent much of the ’80s adjusting the cable box to tune in the scrambled signal for HBO, which his parents didn’t pay for.
Jon Hamm in “American Hostage,” a timely drama on MGM+. The series is good, but is it worth $7.99 per month? Steven Ackerman/MGM+
A little over a month ago, “American Hostage” premiered. The series, about a real-life armed standoff at an Indiana mortgage office in 1977, is one of those out-of-nowhere surprises I love to discover as a TV critic. It has committed performances from Jon Hamm and Giovanni Ribisi and eerily timely things to say about the frustrations of the powerless with the powerful.
You should watch it if you can. Which you probably can’t, unless you reach into your wallet, one more time.
See, “American Hostage” is on MGM+. What is MGM+? Good question! It’s a streaming service, descended from the premium channel Epix. (What is Epix? No time for that!) More saliently, it is $7.99 a month. That is, it’s $7.99 on top of the endlessly scrolling list of subscriptions you probably already have.
(Note: With many of the plans I discuss here, there are multiple pricing options — monthly or annual, with or without ads, bundled this way and that way. You may want a calculator.)
TV critics are not traditionally in the habit of considering price when they decide what to cover. This isn’t restaurant criticism. But lately TV consumption has begun to feel like high-end dining, with no limit of upcharges and price hikes and caviar supplements sending the tab to the heavens.
This is frustrating for consumers in inflationary times. But it’s also not great for the art, or at least for the experience and conversation around it. It creates yet another division of haves, choosing from a vast menu in media’s first class, and have-nots, missing out in steerage. It turns a medium that was once universal, if frustrating, into one that is increasingly inaccessible, if often excellent. “American Hostage” is good. But is it $7.99-a-month good? Is any show?
Once, TV was free — well, save for the investment in a set and an antenna and your precious time watching ads. Everyone had access to the same air and the same shows. I was born in the rabbit-ears era of TV, and I will not romanticize it as having been better. But like so many aspects of life “improved” by technology, it was less complicated.
This changed with the popularization of cable. “The Sopranos” helped turn HBO from an occasional domestic luxury (or motel-room amenity) into a cultural must-have. Increasingly, the TV worth watching and talking about was something you had to pay for. And then pay a little more. Cable channels proliferated, and the cable bundle — smushing together the channels you watched with the many you didn’t — got fatter and fatter.
Oversqueezed media consumers wished it could be different. If only you could pick and choose which platforms you subscribed to! Somewhere on Wall Street, a finger curled on a monkey’s paw, and the streaming business was born.
Now, if you had an internet connection (another fee, unless your neighbor’s Wi-Fi password hygiene was lax), you could choose your services à la carte: Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Peacock. Disney+, Paramount+, AMC+. YouTube TV and YouTube Premium. Dropout, for comedy. Shudder, for horror. Crunchyroll, for anime. Want to follow pro sports? You may want a second job.
I am familiar with all of these because my work requires that I be able to watch anything that runs anywhere. Someday when I retire, dismantling my monthly media commitments will resemble unwinding the assets of a bankrupt Fortune 500 corporation.
At the same time, I am writing for people who are weighing another subscription against gas and groceries. And we all exist in an economy that is increasingly built around subscriptions for damn near everything, as discussed in a recent episode of “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver.” (HBO Max, starting at $10.99/month with ads.)
Sure, $7.99 is cheaper than a matinee movie ticket where I live, let alone a Broadway show or concert. But is it worth it for you? How would I know? As a critic, I know what is worthwhile, and the streaming era has created more spaces for the worthwhile to flourish.
The best of the art form is now scattered across a lot of walled gardens whose walls get a little higher every year. At this point, the rate of announcements you receive for streaming price increases — which are outstripping inflation — rivals the texts from candidates asking for donations. (PBS, despite its funding challenges, looks like a better deal every day.)
So the medium that used to be a pop-culture lingua franca becomes a Tower of Babel. The stories you experience and the references you get are determined by the purchase decisions you’ve made. A terrific show — say, last year’s “Hal & Harper” on Mubi — can languish on an obscure service, its audience curtailed before it even premieres.
And a population already fragmented by tastes, demographics and subcultures becomes further subdivided by economics. You can go rogue and share streaming passwords. You can create a system of reminders to drop various platforms. Or you can just give up, pick a service or two, and pray the algorithm gives you something good.
What’s good this year? There’s the new “East of Eden” on Netflix ($8.99 a month with ads, $19.99 without, $26.99 in 4K). There’s my favorite new series of the year, “Widow’s Bay” on Apple TV ($14.99 a month ad-free — or “free,” I guess, if you buy qualifying Apple products every three months for eternity). There’s a great new installment of FX’s “The Lowdown,” which streams on Hulu ($12.49 with ads, or part of an array of bundles as lengthy as the instructions for a tax return).
There’s also “Cupertino,” a new legal drama about the tech industry that I enjoyed more the longer it went on — and which blessedly airs on CBS, one of those old broadcast networks whose signal still flies magically through the air and can be gathered by an antenna.
Don’t have an antenna? There are plenty of streaming services with a “live TV” feature. It’ll cost you.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
2) Trump Says U.S. to End $4 Billion in Aid to Israel in Favor of New Deal
The president’s announcement on Election Day, which he said was part of an agreement reached months ago, was a sign of how quickly the politics surrounding Israel have shifted.
By David E. Sanger, Nov. 3, 2026
President Trump said that he had reached a deal with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel months ago. Tierney L. Cross/The New York Times
President Trump said on Tuesday that the bulk of American aid to Israel would be “cut off at the end of the year,” under an agreement reached with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu months ago. He described the Election Day declaration chiefly as a political effort to take a “bad talking point” away from the left wing of the Democratic Party.
“We were giving them 4 billion,” Mr. Trump told Brian Kilmeade of Fox News in a morning interview, just as polls were opening on the East Coast. “We are. But it gets cut off at the end of the year.”
Instead, he described a different agreement in which the United States would continue selling weaponry to Israel. But he said Israel would pay for it.
Mr. Netanyahu has spoken in recent months about moving away from aid from the United States but has not laid out a timetable. Mr. Trump’s comments appeared to recognize that it would be extraordinarily difficult to get new aid packages through Congress, and perhaps impossible after Tuesday’s election. But he never actually mentioned Gaza or the remarkably rapid erosion of support for Israel in the United States amid its actions in the three years since the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks.
“They don’t need it,” Mr. Trump said of the American aid, “and because why should we suffer the slings from lunatics like an El-Sayed when they don’t need it?” he said, a reference to Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate for an open Senate seat in Michigan, who has been among the most openly critical of Israel.
“It’s a bad talking point,” Mr. Trump said. He went on to add “Israel’s our No. 1,” but a “thriving country.”
Mr. Netanyahu had his own reasons to get out of the arrangement: Control over aid to Israel has increasingly become a cudgel for those in Congress trying to compel Israeli government action. If Israel were to receive American armaments through more traditional military sales, or as part of a trade and technology agreement, the process could become less of a ritualized battle in Congress — though congressional oversight would not end.
The timing of Mr. Trump’s statement was remarkable: Just as polls opened in the United States, a Republican president was walking away from what has become a mainstay of American foreign policy for decades. Mr. Netanyahu’s office did not immediately comment on the president’s statement, and it is bound to come up as Mr. Netanyahu attempts to form a government after an inconclusive election in Israel last week.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
3) U.S. Military Strikes Iran’s Qeshm Island in What U.S. Officials Call a Defensive Measure
The action was limited, the officials said, with no immediate plans to escalate. The strikes come on the eve of the midterm elections.
By Helene Cooper, Tyler Pager and Jonathan Swan, Published Nov. 2, 2026, Updated Nov. 3, 2026
The U.S. military struck Iran’s Qeshm Island on Monday in what American officials described as a small-scale defensive measure against Iranians accused of planning missile strikes against U.S. assets.
The U.S. strikes were limited, the officials said, adding that there are no immediate plans to escalate. Yet the military action comes on the eve of the midterm elections.
President Trump, meanwhile, has been considering renewed strikes against Iran after the elections.
But the president, who has changed his mind several times on how to conduct the war, said earlier Monday on social media that an agreement with Iran “could happen.” His multiple about-faces on Iran have left many in his own administration and government uncertain as to what his next steps will be.
In an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, Mr. Trump said on Monday night that “this isn’t a war” with Iran. “But this isn’t like a war that’s going on,” he said. “There’s no war raging. It could happen if they don’t make a deal, but they want to make a deal very badly, and there’s a very good chance we make a deal.”
Vice President JD Vance said on Monday that the U.S. and Iran have made some “progress” and that both he and Mr. Trump felt “pretty good” about the possibilities for an agreement.
Monday’s strike on Qeshm Island, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, was similar to other small-scale strikes that the United States has conducted against Iran over the past few weeks, one U.S. official said. He said the strikes are meant to stop Iran from attacking ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
Previous strikes, another official said, have hit empty cruise missile launchers. The second official said that Monday’s strike came after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps shot down an American drone, and shot at, but missed, two American fighter jets flying over the Strait of Hormuz.
Even if only limited and defensive, these U.S. attacks over the past few weeks, which neither Iran nor the United States publicly acknowledged, marked the first American bombing of targets inside Iran since two days of strikes at the beginning of September.
The United States also destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers in early September in retaliation for Iran launching missiles at — and missing — two American warships in the Arabian Sea.
Erica L. Green contributed.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
4) Flouting Consumer Law, Insurers Refuse to Pay Medical Bills for Emergency Care
A law to end surprise medical bills has generated millions of high-dollar payouts for doctors. Health plans are now fighting back by frequently withholding money.
By Margot Sanger-Katz and Sarah Kliff, Nov. 3, 2026
The authors are covering the implementation of the No Surprises Act. They welcome tips at nytimes.com/tips.
A Flight for Life medical helicopter crew prepares for takeoff in Waukesha, Wis., last month. A major insurance company has refused to pay the company more than $2 million for its services. Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York Times
Over the past two years, Flight for Life has airlifted car crash victims, premature babies and adults struggling to breathe to hospitals across southeastern Wisconsin.
Anthem, the major health insurer, covered dozens of those patients, but it has refused to pay $2.1 million it owes the company for their helicopter rides.
The amounts due for each emergency medical flight range from $9,382 to $62,373. Anthem has historically paid its bills, but late last year it suddenly stopped.
“It was like a faucet they just shut off,” said Flight for Life’s executive director, Leif Erickson.
The insurer’s willful nonpayment is the latest in a cascade of unintended consequences brought about by a widely supported law that was intended to protect patients from surprise medical bills.
The law, which took effect in 2022, calls for arbitrators to decide appropriate levels of reimbursement, and it has already triggered millions of disputes between medical care providers and insurers. Doctors have prevailed overwhelmingly, winning arbitration settlements that sometimes far exceeded the usual insurer rates.
Now, fed up with what they consider unfair outcomes, insurers are fighting back by refusing to pay.
The law, the No Surprises Act, was enacted with a large bipartisan majority to ensure patients never got excessive bills in situations, like emergencies, where they could not pick their doctors.
The arbitration system set up by the law was supposed to resolve billing disputes when health care providers and insurers could not agree on a price: An arbitrator reviews a proposed dollar amount from each side and decides which one is most reasonable. Insurers are required to pay that amount within 30 days, and billing patients for anything beyond that is prohibited.
Lawmakers expected the system to be used rarely and to produce reasonable payments. Instead, doctors and other health care providers have been swamping arbitrators with millions of claims, often for amounts that far exceed what is customarily paid for a service. And they have won the vast majority of their cases — sometimes receiving sums such as $440,000 for a breast reduction, $73,000 for an ankle X-ray, or $125,000 for assisting on prostate surgery.
Insurers have sued doctors and lobbied Congress to change the law, contending that the large awards and lopsided results are driving up health insurance premiums.
But with Washington moving slowly, they have adopted the strategy of simply declining to pay.
Nearly 30 percent of arbitration awards has gone unpaid since 2024, according to an analysis of 400,000 such awards provided by a major medical billing firm that The New York Times reviewed.
Anthem’s nonpayment rate was the highest by far, at 74 percent, but other large insurers, including Cigna, UnitedHealthcare and Aetna, have also declined to pay a significant portion.
Insurers often don’t pay awards
Share of cases where the insurer did not pay the arbitration award, according to data from HaloMD, a medical billing firm
The standoff has created dysfunction and lawlessness in a system that a growing number of lawmakers and administration officials say needs to be changed.
“The providers are succeeding in what feel like egregious award levels, and then the insurers are also doing some of this egregious behavior by not paying,” said Katie Keith, the director of Georgetown University’s Center for Health Policy and the Law. “But there’s not accountability on either side.”
Health plans, including Anthem, criticize HaloMD, the company that provided The Times with payment data, for using business tactics that exploit the arbitration system and result in large payouts.Only one of the major insurers the Times contacted disputed the accuracy of the data. A Cigna spokeswoman said that a significantly smaller share went unpaid in 2026 than what the Halo data showed.
Most large health insurers told The Times it is their policy not to pay awards if they believe the claim should never have qualified for the arbitration process, even when the arbitrator determined it to be eligible.
In the case of Flight for Life, Anthem says it will not pay because it believes the medevac service violated the arbitration system’s complex procedural rules, an assessment Flight for Life disputes.
Ariel Bayewitz, vice president of health economics at Elevance Health, Anthem’s parent company, said that the company “believes strongly” in paying eligible awards on time. But, he said, Anthem estimates that most claims that have moved through the arbitration system should have been found ineligible, because they either didn’t follow the rules or were for situations not covered under the consumer protection law.
“More providers are submitting ineligible cases because ineligible cases aren’t being dismissed like they should be,” he said.
Smaller health plans also have been withholding payments in cases where they think the award is unreasonable. Some even have form letters they send to doctors whose awards they won’t pay.
“The determination is not merely high; it is legally defective,” says one such letter, from the New York insurer EmblemHealth, declining to pay an award 99 times its usual rate for a breast reconstruction.
“Recently, we have observed a significant increase in very high-dollar claims, which we are actively reviewing and challenging as appropriate,” said Alex Gomez, a spokesman for the plan.
A spokeswoman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees the arbitration system, said the law always requires insurers to pay arbitration awards.
Doctors and air ambulance companies have turned to the courts, filing hundreds of lawsuits to enforce the arbitrators’ decisions, but three federal appeals courts have ruled that the No Surprises Act does not include a right to sue.
Stephen Ware, a professor of law at the University of Kansas, said that unlike most arbitration situations, the No Surprises Act does not explain how a ruling can be enforced. One appeals court decision suggested that the government could sue to force insurers to pay. So far, the Trump administration has not exercised such power.
‘We Just Want to Get Paid’
Doctors have said that the nonpayments make it hard to manage their practices. Some who have built their businesses around the arbitration system and its high payouts, have taken on debts to stay afloat.
Dr. Jennifer Raley, a managing partner at Wake Emergency Physicians in North Carolina, said her practice had $1.2 million in outstanding awards. It won 1,032 arbitration cases in 2025, with an average award around four times what insurers typically pay.
In January, it had to take out a line of credit to make payroll.
“We just want to get paid what we need to pay the people who saw the patients,” she said. PHI, a national air ambulance company, recently closed a base in Red Bluff, Calif., a small city between Sacramento and the Oregon border.
In an interview, PHI’s chief executive, Scott McCarty, cited $16.3 million in outstanding payments from Anthem as the cause of the closure.
“The insurance companies cannot unilaterally decide to breach a federal law if they don’t like the end result,” Mr. McCarty said. “That’s essentially what they are doing.”
Anthem spokeswoman Janey Kiryluik said that the insurer was “actively trying to bring PHI Air Medical into our network,” but that the medevac company had requested unreasonably high rates. She said that, in arbitration, it typically requests $56,000 per flight.
Dr. Brian McHugh, a neurosurgeon from Long Island, N.Y., has repeatedly received letters from Anthem challenging his awards on the grounds they are too expensive. Dr. McHugh often wins arbitration awards that are 40 times higher than what Anthem typically pays, according to federal data.
He said other doctors at his practice had stopped seeing Anthem patients.
Ms. Kiryluik said the insurer does not use a financial threshold as a “basis for holding payment,” and that it no longer uses the letter Dr. McHugh received.
Anthem, like all major insurers, supported the No Surprises Act when Congress was writing the legislation during the first Trump administration. But over the last six years, the company’s executives have soured on the law’s arbitration system, saying that it encourages abusive billing. Many of the high awards have been for scheduled procedures, not the emergency care the law was written to address.
Anthem defends its nonpayment policies as intentional. In a 13-page report, it estimated that 60 percent of its cases that arbitrators had decided should never have qualified. This year, it has not paid 83 percent of arbitration claims, according to the HaloMD data, a substantial jump from previous years.
The Labor Department, which oversees large employer health plans, is investigating Anthem’s failure to pay arbitration awards, according to documents The Times obtained. Ms. Kiryluik, the Anthem spokeswoman, said the plan was cooperating with the investigation.
The 400,000 claims that HaloMD shared with The Times make up around two-thirds of the total arbitration cases it has won since 2024. The data set only includes cases for which HaloMD could reliably track payments to doctors.
Anthem and other insurers contend that HaloMD is part of the problem. They say Halo typically submits unreasonably high bids to arbitration, sometimes winning 113 times typical insurer payments. The company has also been accused of filing a high volume of ineligible claims. Five insurers have sued Halo, accusing it of fraudulent behavior. Three of them, including one from Anthem, have been dismissed in federal court, on the grounds that courts can’t review the arbitrators’ decisions.
HaloMD spokesman Patrick Velliky said that the insurers’ lawsuits were “an attempt to intimidate physicians and clinicians out of seeking fair and sustainable reimbursement.”
The law set up a series of deadlines and procedures that doctors need to follow. They limited access to the system to certain situations. Cases where the patient has a government plan, like Medicare or Medicaid, are not eligible. Nor are situations where the doctor already has a contract with the health plan.
Insurers say they sometimes see doctors winning two times for the same care — first in a state-level system to resolve medical billing disputes, and then again through federal arbitration.
“We’re not going to pay it twice,” said Josh Goldberg, executive director of heath policy at Health Care Service Corporation, which covers 27 million people through six Blue Cross affiliates. “This is just a situation where we’re a little bit between a rock and a hard place.”
The insurer is “not the final decider,” said Ms. Keith. She described Anthem’s strategy as “high-risk” because it flouts binding arbitration decisions.
But insurers expressed frustration that the system incentivizes arbitrators to find claims eligible. They get paid a flat fee for each dispute they resolve. If they rule a case is ineligible, they earn nothing.
The No Surprises Act gives the Trump administration authority to fine health insurers $100 for each day they do not pay an arbitration award. So far, it has not issued a single penalty.
Doctors have submitted hundreds of complaints about unpaid awards to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversee the system. Those that The Times spoke with said they had rarely received a response.
“There has to be some enforcement,” said Thomas LaGreca, a partner at Callagy Law, which files claims for providers. He estimates that 27 percent of clients claims remain unpaid six months after arbitration decisions. Health plans also said that C.M.S. had failed to respond to thousands of complaints about the large number of ineligible claims.
Spokespeople for both C.M.S. and the Labor Department declined to respond to questions about why they had not issued penalties to enforce the No Surprises Act.
A Trump administration spokesman told The Times in July that “the system is being gamed” by doctors and that the government was “actively working to clean it up.” The administration has not yet announced any policy changes.
Congress has recently taken a greater interest in reform, with one Senate committee hosting round table meetings and a top House Democrat introducing new legislation.
“There are problems on both sides, and I’ll readily admit that,” Representative Greg Murphy, Republican of North Carolina, said in an interview.
But Mr. Murphy, who worked as a urologist before running for office, said he believed that the “majority of abuses” had been committed by insurers who do not pay awards. He has introduced legislation that would stiffen penalties for nonpayment.
“I ran a small business,” he said. “If I don’t have income, guess what happens to the business? It dies.”
Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, chairs the Senate Health Committee and was an architect of the No Surprises Act. He has told those involved in the process that he views fixing its problems before he leaves office in January as a legacy project.
Representative Frank Pallone Jr., Democrat of New Jersey, was also an author of the original law. He has a different idea: abolishing the complex arbitration system altogether. Last month, he introduced a bill that would resolve billing disputes by setting a flat payment for doctors at the level insurers typically pay.
Mr. Pallone has been skeptical of arbitration supporting it as part of a compromise to get the surprise billing ban passed. He said the reality was even more chaotic than he had predicted. “We have the proof with the facts that shows that this arbitration system is out of hand,” he said.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
5) ‘It’s a War of Attrition’: Drones Give No Military Edge in Sudan
The weapons have become the No. 1 killer of civilians this year, according to the United Nations, devastating a population already overwhelmed by famine and drought.
By Matthew Mpoke Bigg, Reporting from Nairobi, Kenya, Nov. 3, 2026
“The use of drones in Sudan’s bloody civil war is accelerating, the United Nations human rights chief, Volker Türk, said last month. The weapons have enabled the Sudanese military and its adversary, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, to reach far beyond the front lines and wreak havoc deep inside enemy territory. But analysts say the use of sophisticated drones has not given either side a decisive edge in the civil war. Instead, they have become the No. 1 killer of civilians this year, adding to famine and a drought that the United Nations says now covers half of Sudan.”
A Sudanese man after being injured by drone strike in North Kordofan, Sudan, in September. El Tayeb Siddig/Reuters
Donkey carts and three-wheeled taxis hauled away the dead and the wounded. The staff at a hospital, run by the charity Doctors Without Borders, was so overwhelmed that security guards had to help unload victims.
Nyala, a city in southwestern Sudan, was attacked last week when a drone landed in a market where people were buying food for dinner and drinking tea in cafes, residents said. Many of the wounded had been hit by shrapnel or suffered severe burns, according to Dale Koninckx, the local project coordinator for Doctors Without Borders.
The use of drones in Sudan’s bloody civil war is accelerating, the United Nations human rights chief, Volker Türk, said last month. The weapons have enabled the Sudanese military and its adversary, the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, to reach far beyond the front lines and wreak havoc deep inside enemy territory.
But analysts say the use of sophisticated drones has not given either side a decisive edge in the civil war. Instead, they have become the No. 1 killer of civilians this year, adding to famine and a drought that the United Nations says now covers half of Sudan.
The main benefit of the drone war goes to the Turkish and Chinese companies making the drones, as well as the foreign powers who help to supply or fund them, analysts say.
“It’s a war of attrition,” said Andreas Krieg, an associate professor of security studies at King’s College London. “You are trying to grind down the other side and their willingness to sustain pressure and cost.”
The widespread use of drones in Sudan is part of a global trend that includes wars in Ukraine and the Middle East; in Sudan the warring parties have acquired sophisticated military technology through powerful foreign allies.
The Sudanese military has acquired drones made by Iran and Turkey, several analysts said, while the R.S.F. has relied on powerful Chinese drones supplied or operated by the United Arab Emirates.
A spokesman for the Sudanese government told journalists last week that a drone strike that hit the capital, Khartoum, had been launched from Ethiopia, which has strong ties to the Emirates. The Ethiopian government did not respond to a request for comment. The Emirates denies backing the R.S.F.
Drones are not unique to Sudan’s war. Many African governments as well as armed groups on the continent have scaled up their use of drones in recent years. But Sudan has experienced more drone attacks than any other African country since 2023, according to a report by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. More than 300 people were killed in drone strikes in the first three weeks of October alone, Mr. Türk said.
Emergency Lawyers, a human rights group that is tracking the violence in Sudan, put the toll in the attack on Nyala at 103 dead. Doctors Without Borders said that it had treated more than 150 patients at the hospital that it runs in the city and that 36 others had been killed. Other casualties had been taken elsewhere.
Neither side in the war claimed responsibility for the attack, but Nyala is a stronghold of the paramilitaries. A spokesman for the Sudanese Army did not reply for a request for comment.
The Sudanese Army and the R.S.F. have used drones differently throughout the war, according to Mohamed Osman, a researcher on Sudan for Human Rights Watch. The army has used them to strike enemy commanders and supply chains, including fuel depots.
In Nyala, paramilitary commanders live in proximity to the civilian population, Mr. Osman said. Casualties in the attack included combatants, according to Human Rights Watch.
The R.S.F. has used drones to target civilian infrastructure, such as electrical grids in Khartoum and other major cities. Those strikes have affected hospitals and water supplies, threatening civilian life. Both sides have been accused of committing war crimes.
Nafisa Hamid, a mother of five who sells onions at a market in Nyala, said in an interview that the war and its economic fallout had already pushed her to her limit before the attack last week.
“I am very afraid,” she said.
Drones have made it nearly impossible for life in Sudan to return to normal, even in areas once considered far from the battlefield.
El Obeid, a city in the North Kordofan region, has been a strategic target for the paramilitaries for months. During the summer, the R.S.F. appeared to be closing in on the city in preparation for a siege.
That direct threat receded when the Sudanese Army retook nearby towns, and a highway that runs north from El Obeid to the city of Omdurman, near the capital, remains open.
Even so, a report by the U.N. Human Rights Council last week said that “sustained drone attacks along the route continue to impede civilian movement.” It added that strikes on infrastructure in the city had disrupted “access to water, health care and other basic services.”
The increasing prominence of long-range drones in the war has come at a time when there is little movement along the front lines. Sudan is increasingly split; the R.S.F. holds Darfur and much of Kordofan in the west, while the Sudanese armed forces control Khartoum and much of the east.
Blue Nile State, near the border with Ethiopia, also remains heavily contested, and in recent weeks the Sudanese military has gained ground in parts of Kordofan.
While the drones have enabled the combatants to penetrate battle lines without having to launch costly ground offensives, they are unlikely to lead to a shift in battlefield positions.
“Increasingly sophisticated drone capabilities enabled both parties to strike far beyond immediate front lines,” the U.N. said in a report in September.
But it added that “greater technical capability did not bring greater civilian protection.”
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
6) U.K. Supreme Court Hears Challenge to Ban on Palestine Action: What to Know
The government designated the protest group as a terrorist organization last year, prompting criticism. The country’s Supreme Court is hearing a challenge to the ban on Wednesday.
By Karla Adam, Reporting from London, Nov. 4, 2026
Britain’s decision to outlaw Palestine Action, a pro-Palestinian direct-action group, as a terrorist organization has been challenged in a succession of legal hearings since it was imposed last year. Now, the country’s Supreme Court is hearing a challenge against the ban to decide its future.
The British government accused Palestine Action of orchestrating “a nationwide campaign of direct criminal action,” putting national security at risk. According to the government’s independent adviser on counterterrorism legislation, it was the first time a protest group that did not call for violence against people was proscribed under counterterrorism laws.
Here’s what to know.
What is Palestine Action?
Palestine Action was founded in 2020 as a pro-Palestinian protest group that largely focuses its efforts on demonstrations against corporate and military targets linked to the sale and export of defense equipment to Israel. The group says it does not promote violence against individuals.
It was co-founded by Huda Ammori, an advocate who had previously worked for a Palestinian rights organization, and Richard Barnard, an activist linked with other grass roots movements, including Extinction Rebellion, a global environmental group.
During legal proceedings challenging the ban, Britain’s High Court said that the group claimed to have a mailing list of some 20,000 people but that the “extent and nature” of Palestine Action’s membership and organization was “largely unexplained.” Analysts said that before it was disbanded, Palestine Action was run by a relatively small, committed group of activists.
The group’s actions have drawn international attention. President Trump criticized it after activists were accused of vandalizing one of his Scottish golf resorts by defacing the clubhouse and spraying “Gaza is not 4 sale” across a green. Mr. Trump called the demonstrators “terrorists” and said he hoped they would be “treated harshly.”
Why was the group banned?
The Terrorism Act 2000, introduced under a previous Labour prime minister, Tony Blair, allows the government to ban any group “concerned in terrorism.” It contains a broad definition of terrorism that includes damage to property, not just people, if it is carried out for ideological reasons.
The British government announced its plan to designate Palestine Action a terrorist group in June 2025, three days after some of its members damaged military planes using red paint at Britain’s largest air force base, at Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. Yvette Cooper, then the home secretary, said the group’s activities met the legal definition of terrorism because they included “serious damage to property.”
The ban was imposed in July, and the group was added to the statutory list of more than 80 banned terrorist organizations, alongside the Islamic State, Al Qaeda, and Atomwaffen Division, a white supremacist group. At the time, Palestine Action said it was “plainly preposterous” to group it with such organizations.
The ban made it a criminal offense to belong to Palestine Action, express an opinion or belief in support of the group, or wear clothing or carry items that “arouse reasonable suspicion that the individual is a member or supporter” of the group, among other actions. The maximum penalty for belonging to or expressing support for the group is 14 years in prison.
In August, the United States followed suit, designating Palestine Action as a terrorist group.
More than 4,000 people had been arrested across Britain for showing support for the group as of Nov. 1, according to Defend Our Juries, a civil liberties group. Between Sept. 11, 2001, and March 31, 2025, there were a total of 5,734 terrorism arrests in Britain.
The arrests related to Palestine Action stemmed largely from coordinated demonstrations, analysts say, where some protesters have deliberately risked detention by holding placards reading: “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.” Hundreds of people were detained over the weekend outside the U.S. Embassy in London after staging such a protest.
Why has the ban faced criticism?
Some civil liberties organizations argue that using counterterrorism legislation against Palestine Action is overreach and part of a wider crackdown on protest in Britain. They contend that existing criminal laws cover property destruction, whereas proscription criminalizes anyone expressing moral support for the proscribed group, including by attending peaceful gatherings.
In July 2025, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, called the move a “disproportionate and unnecessary” expansion of counterterrorism powers and called on the British government to rescind its decision.
In written submissions to the Supreme Court, Amnesty International and Liberty argue that the proscription of Palestine Action has silenced broad segments of civil society, academics, journalists and even their own human rights organizations.
David Mead, a human rights law scholar at the University of East Anglia, said the central legal dispute turns on whether the ban is proportionate.
“The surprising thing is the U.K. state’s seeming need to use terrorism legislation on a group such as this,” Professor Mead said.
How has the ban been challenged in court?
Ms. Ammori, the co-founder, first challenged the ban in June 2025, and the case has since wound its way through the legal system. In February, the High Court ruled the ban unlawful, calling it disproportionate and an infringement on fundamental rights to free expression and assembly.
That decision was overturned in June by the Court of Appeal. Ms. Ammori appealed that ruling, sending the case to the Supreme Court for what will be the final word in British domestic courts.
Supreme Court rulings are usually issued in three to six months, but legal analysts said the court could rule sooner in this case as hundreds of people arrested and charged in relation to protests are awaiting trial.
Ms. Ammori has said that if the Supreme Court upholds the ban, she plans to take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.
Stephen Castle, Lizzie Dearden and Michael D. Shear contributed reporting.
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*..........*
