Throw your arms around the world at Christmas time!

When families across the United Kingdom sit down to their Christmas feasts tomorrow, more than likely they will do so accompanied by traditional festive anthems by artists such as Slade, Wizzard, the Pogues, Darkness, Mud, Boney M, Paul McCartney and Chris Rea, but the song that’s at the top of the charts for the season of goodwill this year is already a huge favourite, although it’s taken 39 years to get to the top of the hit parade.

The 2023 No 1 is many people’s best-loved Christmas anthem of all time and was penned and produced in 1984 by the late George Michael, accompanied by his Wham! partner Andrew Ridgeley, with the express aim of landing the top spot that year… unfortunately the mission was not accomplished, it was beaten to the summit by the second best-selling UK single of all time.

The Wham! classic Last Christmas reached second spot that year but was kept off the top by perhaps the most famous of all festive anthems… Do They Know It’s Christmas?

The 1984 Christmas No 1 was the brainchild of Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, who wrote it in response to the famine in Ethiopia, and it was released by Band Aid, a supergroup assembled by Geldof and Ure that consisted of leading British and Irish acts including Michael, as well as other famous performers such as Bono, Phil Collins, Boy George, Tony Hadley, Gary and Martin Kemp, Rick Parfitt, Simon Le Bon, Paul Young, Paul Weller and Sting.

There will be few UK citizens tucking into their turkey tomorrow who are not familiar with the words “feed the world, feed the world, let them know it's Christmas time again”. But those lyrics are perhaps more resonant this year than they have been at any other time in all the 39 years since the anthem first topped the charts.

For this year “there's a world outside your window, and it's a world of dread and fear, where the only water flowing, is the bitter sting of tears”.

And, just in case you’ve had your head buried in the sand for the past two months, the name of that place is Gaza… the scene of perhaps the most horrific genocide the world has ever witnessed, that is being condoned by the governments of the UK and United States and carried out by the Zionist monsters who hold office in the state of Israel.

I’m pretty certain the vast majority of those unable to resist the temptation of the parsnips and sprouts laid out before them will know why they are seated at the table enjoying such a bounty… after all, we are surely all aware we are commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ and reflecting on its significance, emphasising the themes of love, peace and goodwill toward everyone.

I’m also pretty sure most people will be aware of where Jesus’ birth took place, but just in case you need reminding it was in Bethlehem in Judea… a city in the now Israeli-occupied West Bank of Palestine, not suffering the constant bombing that has left thousands of children dead and missing under the rubble they once called home in Gaza but nonetheless facing tyranny, terror and torture daily at the hands of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF).

In 1984 Young, Glenn Gregory and Marilyn asked in that year’s festive No 1: “Do they know it's Christmas time at all?”

Well, in Bethlehem you can be sure they are very much aware it’s Christmas time but – while those of us in the UK are commemorating Jesus’ birth with a feast and the giving of gifts – the people in his homeland will not be gathering together to remember his birth, they will be mourning the tens of thousands of children and civilians slaughtered by Israel’s bombing with Christmas officially cancelled there… remember that when you tuck into your turkey and roast potatoes.

Unlike Gaza’s starving and homeless refugees, I’ll be spending the day with my family in a comfortable, warm house although the words of the first Christmas carol I can remember singing at primary school will be ringing in my ears: “O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie, above thy deep and dreamless sleep, the silent stars go by.

“Yet in thy dark streets shineth, the everlasting light, the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.

“For Christ is born of Mary, and gathered all above, while mortals sleep, the angels keep their watch of wondering love.

“O morning stars together, proclaim the holy birth, and praises sing to God the king, and peace to men on earth.”

But in Bethlehem there will be no Christmas 2023 and in Gaza, for sure, there will be no deep or dreamless sleep and no peace for anyone… just sadness, sorrow and suffering for each and everyone.

So while Bethlehem mourns the genocide in Gaza how can families across the world justify their indulgence in commemorating the birth of Christ? Personally, I know I can’t… I’d like to enjoy the day with games and family fun but fear it’ll just be a case of feeling sad and glum.

It’s just over a week ago that a small group of representatives of the Palestine solidarity movement in my home town of Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, were granted an audience with our Conservative MP Alun Cairns, the “disgraced” former Secretary of State for Wales.

You can soon discover why I describe him as disgraced and why he’s the former Secretary of State for Wales if you go online… but, perhaps, it’d take a little more than a quick web search to discover the full reasons why Cairns will not support a permanent ceasefire in Gaza?

At his meeting with Barry’s Palestine solidarity delegation he, like many of his “Conservative Friends Of Israel” colleagues have also done, made reference to the 7 October false-flag attack attributed to Hamas and the alleged atrocities that took place during the bizarre incursion across the most technologically-advanced and heavily-guarded border on the planet.

He also made reference to Israeli propaganda that Hamas militants use civilians as human shields and hide in tunnels under hospitals as reason for his refusal to condemn Israel. But in two months of bombs falling on Gaza I’ve yet to see one Hamas militant amongst the rubble depicted on social media and have predominantly seen only dead or maimed children, none of whom could remotely have been described as human shields.

And if you switch off the BBC and other mainstream media outlets you should be well aware by now, if you take the trouble to question the narrative, that Cairns was simply spouting the Israeli propaganda created to justify its ethnic cleansing of Gaza… simply sticking to the script that pays for his indoctrination junkets to the “promised land” (see the 1917 Balfour Declaration for more on that).

A smattering of it may have a little truth to it, but any atrocity that occurred in October this year in Israel was not carried out by the Jerusalem-controlled Hamas puppets… but by the IDF, the brainwashed wretches enforcing the Likud party’s genocide in Gaza.

The mainstream media will tell you a group of Hamas insurgents, armed with muskets and crossbows (don’t bite, I’m simply introducing a little sarcasm to make a point), breached the most-sophisticated border surveillance that exists in hang-gliders and jeeps (no sarcasm here, this is actually the chosen Israeli narrative) and took hundreds, if not thousands, of hostages and barbarically killed many more.

But, if you bother to do a little research, you’ll discover Hamas is an organisation funded and put in power by Israel for the express purpose of justifying its slaughter of civilians in the Gaza Strip. And no, it does not control every member of the group allegedly spearheading the Palestinian response to 75 years of occupation by the terror state of Israel but be sure it has a pervasive and malevolent control of those who sit at the top of it… Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar.

And, what about the barbarity of the Hamas insurgents on 7 October? Just Israeli propaganda... with that alleged inhumanity now actually being openly carried out by the IDF ghouls in Gaza.

The Hamas insurgents allegedly killed hundreds of civilians attending the Nova music festival but even the Israeli press has carried stories largely attributing this slaughter to an IDF attack helicopter that opened fire indiscriminately at the event.

This report originated in Haaretz, the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, on 18 November and states an IDF combat helicopter opened fire on the Israeli festival-goers while engaging the Hamas fighters, with police estimates suggesting 364 people were killed at the festival although their identities were not revealed.

Separately, the Turkish state-run Anadolu Agency in Ankara, carried excerpts from Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, which highlighted the challenges faced by Israeli forces who “found it difficult to identify Hamas militants”... adding that the pilots “used artillery” against civilians at the festival. The report also said Hamas fighters were instructed to blend in with the crowd to deceive the air force into mistaking them for Israelis. Clearly the ploy didn’t work though as the IDF attack helicopter had no problem opening fire on its own citizens anyway.

And at the nearby Re’im kibbutz, allegedly the focal point of the Hamas attack, a skeleton Israeli tank regiment – strangely served by an inexperienced group of young women, untrained on the hi-tech machines they were put in charge of – were also ordered to fire indiscriminately on anyone in sight.

So, believe it, I’m not making it up, this comes from sources in Israel itself and clearly indicates the Zionist Likud government was responsible for much of the killing that occurred on 7 October.

I’d even question whether the attack was actually carried out by Hamas, being more than a little suspicious the faces hidden behind the masks could actually have been IDF operatives dropped there to take hostages so Israel could throw the blame on insurgents to defend the ethnic cleansing that has followed.

But, either way, the purpose of Israel leaving the border open to attack was the justification of the genocide that continues unabated this Christmas in Gaza, where the average age of the thousands who have been slaughtered by Israel is just five.

The Israelis taken hostage were allegedly held in tunnels under Gaza, the very same network built by Israel during its occupation there from 1967 to 2005.

During the brief ceasefire at the end of November many of those alleged hostages were handed over to Israel in exchange for imprisoned Palestinian women and children, who returned to those who were left of their families with bones broken and wrapped in bandages, with many displaying signs of far more serious abuse by their captors.

Conversely Hamas’ hostages returned to their homes in Israel smiling, carrying their pets and shaking the hands of their jailers… those same barbarians who Israel alleged had carried out unspeakable evil on 7 October.

So are the Hamas insurgents just really nice guys? Or were they perhaps Israeli operatives disguised in clean and nicely-pressed camouflage fatigues to look like terrorists? Trust me, Israeli propaganda knows no limits.

In the middle of November the IDF allegedly uncovered a large weapons stash under Al-Shifa, the largest medical complex and central hospital in Gaza, that provided an excuse to destroy it and anyone unfortunate enough to not be able to get out… with a trove of munitions proudly displayed on The Times Of Israel website on 15 November.

The report, and another from the same day, allegedly shows incubators for newborns, baby food and medical supplies that had been brought to the facility by IDF tanks from Israel and delivered in boxes clearly marked on all four sides with the words “medical supplies”.

How convenient that the words just happened to be in English for the world to see… the only thing missing perhaps the name of the supplier, Acme, and the presence of Wile E Coyote in the convoy.

So, were there really incubators and baby food in the boxes for the poor people Israel had spent the last six weeks blowing the c**p out of? Or did they really contain the same stash of weapons the IDF had so proudly taken pictures of in the tunnels they already knew existed (since they built them) under the hospital?

With that in mind, I’d just like to say to Cairns – and all the other friends of Israel, in both the Conservative and Labour ranks – that you can accept your pounds of flesh to turn a blind eye to genocide but don’t tell me anything that happened on 7 October justifies the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. I know it’s all a smokescreen that you’ve been nefariously convinced to spread... but it’s time for everyone to start to realise that too.

All the deaths that occurred on 7 October were tragic, but the finger of blame for each and every one points to Israel and its campaign to flatten Palestine, with the end justifying whatever means that can be tolerated by its Zionist sympathisers such as Cairns, Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer.

In 2024 there will probably be a general election in the UK and the US will vote in a new president. But if those currently in office now, who have not supported a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the genocide, are returned to government I fear all hope of humanity prevailing will be lost.

Across the Atlantic in the US there is almost no hope of it prevailing... since Joe “Say It Ain’t So” Biden will almost certainly contest a second term in office with his predecessor in the White House, Donald “My Weapon’s Bigger Than Yours” Trump.

And, since whoever wins that race will hold the power to veto any United Nations Security Council vote for a ceasefire in Gaza, there will be no justice for Palestine. I can offer no definitive solution to this tragedy, the whole democratic system across the globe is tainted, and be it Biden, Trump, Sunak or Starmer… none of them offer any humanitarian hope.

Our only recourse is to protest… although our governments are trying to prevent that too. But if you don’t stand for Gaza now, who’s going to stand for you when you’re the target in the globalists’ sights?

Ponder that over your turkey tomorrow, but I urge you to try to enjoy it because if the world keeps turning in the direction it’s now heading you may lose the opportunity to do so very soon!

Do your best to enjoy the day with family if you can, but come Saturday I urge you to see Israel for what it is, a terror state, and call it out by taking a stand and march for the innocent children of Palestine: “Say a prayer, pray for the other ones.”

And finally, a Christmas appeal to Cairns and his fellow “friends of Israel” on both sides of the political spectrum in the UK to rediscover their humanity when they hear the words of Geldof and Ure tomorrow: “At Christmas time, we let in light and we banish shade. And in our world of plenty, we can spread a smile of joy, throw your arms around the world at Christmas time.”