The jury has spoken – supporting Palestinian resistance is not terrorism
JVL Introduction
“This is not my victory, this is all of our victories.”
So said Tony Greenstein addressing supporters on the steps of Kingston Crown Court on Friday after a jury of five women and seven men found him not guilty of inviting support for a proscribed terrorist organisation [Hamas] under Section 12(1) of the Terrorism Act 2000.
The jury threw out the charge, which related to three posts on X on October 7, 2023, after deliberating for two hours and 11 minutes, following a closing speech delivered by Greenstein himself.
In its report the Jewish Chronicle notes the Judge’s attempts to prevent Greenstein enlightening the jury about the context of the case: “On multiple occasions during his evidence, Judge Sarah Plaschkes KC halted proceedings to ask Greenstein to stop talking about the history of Israel and Palestine.”
It also quotes her indicating “that she had considered contempt of court against Greenstein” but concluded that it was “a rambling speech delivered by an old man” and would not have impacted the jury’s decision.
Readers may judge for themselves.
We are grateful to Greg Hadfield for publishing the text of that speech as prepared in advance. Hadfield notes it has not been checked against delivery and for legal reasons was not published until after the jury delivered its verdict.
See Crispin Flintoff’s YouTube channel for his daily coverage of the trial since it began on Tuesday.
This article was originally published by Greg Hadfield on Medium on Fri 21 Aug 2026. Read the original here.
The most important half-hour of my life
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Brilliant. Long but very well argued. Irrefutably.
Astonishingly eloquent and moving, courageous, and utterly convincing.
A great moment. Which has gone (so far) unreported by supposedly liberal outlets like The Guardian. For whatever reason.
Congratulations to Tony and his legal team for their service to freedom of speech and the Palestinian cause, to Crispin Flintoff and his YouTube channel for fully reporting the trial and verdict, and to JVL for reproducing Tony’s magnificent speech on this website.
And last but not least, to the jury for their devotion to truth, fairness and justice.
I am in awe. This is a landmark speech and should be quoted often.
I am moved to tears – of happiness and admiration – by the words and passion and truth of this historic speech. Thank you, Tony,for your courage and your indomitable spirit.
The speech is excellent and very moving and , in its very understatement, conveys what Tony Greenstein went through, and I thank him for his courage & all he does & has done. But can i encourage someone ( not sure if it had to be Tony & he has had enought to do & needs a rest) put in a complaint about the discriminatory remark of the judge .https://www.complaints.judicialconduct.gov.uk/makeacomplaint/ ?Speaking as a fellow 73 year old …
Astonishing speech. Brilliant, comrade Tony.
Amazing clarity and must have been an education to the jury to listen to that.
I admire the humanity of this man,
A brilliant speech, Tony
It speaks for all of us being currently prosecuted by the State for opposing genocide. Thank you.
So grateful that the jury saw it for what it was, a political witch-hunt by the British State whose hands are covered in the blood of the community whose extermination they have helped facilitate. As with my trial and the many trials of those opposing genocide, it ought never have taken place. It is such a waste of taxpayers’ money, it dishonours the sacrifices our grandparents made fighting for our freedoms, it exacts a huge mental & emotional price from the individual & it is a callous indictment of how Zionists view the suffering of the Palestinian people. Justice has prevailed and I am so grateful for Tony’s courage & integrity, I was crying with relief & happiness when I heard the verdict. #FreePalestine
What a brilliant statement. Well done Tony!
Oh my goodness. One of THE great speeches. So eloquent, so heartfelt. Astounding. Congratulations Tony.You have spoken for so many of us.
This was not a “rambling” speech from an “old man”, it was brilliant, lucid and coherent? Now I’m confused? Was it more about his delivery? Help! #confused
Fantastic speech total vindication and important arguments to build on!!
Amazing, Tony! First class! this speech is making legal history, because you have defeated, single handed, the whole system of Lies designed to support Israel’s crimes. Thank you for this huge victory for us all, but mainly, for you! Mabrouk!
Very big congratulations and heartfelt thanks to Tony Greenstein and to the jury for doing what is right. A sliver of sanity and justice in a dark world.
Bravo, Tony! What a speech. What eloquence. What amazing historical and literary references and quotations, all woven into a mesmerising analysis and indictment of the politics of the day and the dystopian government and society we live in. A perfect argument about what terrorism really is and what it is massaged to be by a corrupt colonial minded regime. This speech will go down in history as one of the greats. It will also set a precedent for other trials like this and make it more difficult to convict people like the Filton 18. Rosamine, who was one of your loyal admirers would have been very proud of you. Congratulations, and freedom and justice for Palestine! P.S This should be published in the Jewish Chronicle.
Fantastic speech, comrade Tony. This is a historic victory. I wonder how long it will take for the banks to re-open your accounts now?
By speaking with the police investigators Tony managed to put on record his views.
The prosecution edited those statements, but still a lot got through to the jury.
Tony is also on a suspended sentence for ‘conspiring to attack ‘, the Shenstone : Elbit factory that makes military drone engines used against the Palestinian people.
No attack took place, and the court didn’t allow the jury to hear why people were taking direct action against the Apartheid Israel death factory in Shenstone.
We need government and union backing to close down all arms trading with Israel. And to fund the switch in production to socially useful purposes.
No loss of jobs, no reductions in pay and no more working for Genocide.
Tony has spent many years as a unite branch officer. Unite members at shenstone should meet up with Tony Greenstein and other Free Palestine unite activists.
For years now Free Palestine protestors have been demonstrating often against Elbit. It is of some cultural pride that this factory used to make engines for Triumph motor bikes.
Yet now there is shame to be known for making arms for the genocide in Palestine.
Are there no brave
My congratulations to Tony on his epic struggle and this historic victory.
In common with many of the oligarchs’ senior functionaries Judge Sarah Plaschkes appears to have carefully ensured that there is very little publicly available information available about her on the internet: a superficial search reveals nothing about her background, education or political or nonprofessional affiliations. However that present paucity of information will hardly be to her future advantage.
Plaschkes’ patronisingly idiotic comments in describing Tony’s masterful defence as “a rambling speech delivered by an old man”, combined with her transparent attempts to secure the security state’s desired outcome by insisting that all history preceding the October 7th 2023 was somehow irrelevant, will merely serve to secure her legacy in the pantheon of twitter age ‘fools’ [1]. Today’s historic trial and Plaschkes’ dismal failure to subvert the decent instincts of twelve ordinary citizens will now be ineradicably recorded for posterity.
May that be a salutary warning to the rest of the judiciary.
[1]. ‘Fool’ should be understood in the special sense of the Russian word дурак (durak), for which there is no single word in English, whose meaning is universalised in poetry by the legendary Soviet era poet, singer and satirist Bulat Okudzhava. A durak may or may not be clever but has no great interest in truth or justice in itself: a durak is primarily interested in achieving recognition or social success or power following received wisdom and often has little self-awareness of the limits of their understanding. Here is the text in translation of an Okudzhava poem from 1961, very resonant for our times: https://ruverses.com/bulat-okudzhava/song-about-fools/
There are videos of Okudzhava on youtube singing a later different version.
Tony say’s it as it is. Clearly for all to understand. He likes to talk and he does it well. Brilliant.
The judge made two dreadful comments. The first that Tony Greenstein’s speech was ‘long and rambling’ and the second that he was ‘an old man’.
What bloody cheek!
This man is a true hero of our ghastly police state Labour supported times.
Bravo! As rambling speeches by old men go, that was a breath of fresh air – closely argued, tenacious, incontrovertible. Congratulations to Tony.
As long as it needs to be and no longer . Tony’s immense courage against the combined force of the Zionist government ,press judiciary and police will be seen as important for us and our freedoms as all those others he quoted in defence . WE ARE ALL BENEFICIARIES OF THIS COURAGE >
An important and well written statement.
A masterpiece of argument, inspirational.
I’m in awe of Tony’s courage and eloquence in the face of the kind of state repression I never thought to see in this country. A Labour voter for most of my life, I can never consider doing so again: they are irredeemably compromised with their blatant attacks on our most basic civil liberties. As an anti-Zionist Jew myself, Tony speaks for me, and for many others.
Thank you on behalf of us all.
A triumph of a speech! Far more meaningful & eloquent than any Defence Barrister could have given on Tony’s behalf, regardless of their legal experience and commitment.
Glad the jury came to a sensible decision, but what does it say about our country, that this case even got to court? The Terrorism Act must be abolished. I do not want to live in a police state.
Most of us have mailing lists of friends (and other contacts) who’d want to read Tony’s speech if they could. Please could we make use of them?
My PC alerts have for the last few years checked daily international and UK news on matters to do with the Palestinians, civil rights and so on.
So far, there seems to be little coverage of Tony’s trial and his speech to the jury … they need to be read and taken note of by more people (including Andy Burnham, the head honchos of the CPS and senior police officers :-)) ).
We have democratic standards that need to be protected. They’re fragile now, under pressure from what I’d argue is effective censorship at mainstream news outlets and government-initiated distortions of fair trials and fair policing.
Soviet’s Russia’s dissidents had to find, write and print in Samizdat newsletters any news the Kremlin didn’t want them to see. Then they had to hand-deliver what they printed. The consequences for dissidents discovered doing any of these activities were horrific.
Here in the 21st century in the UK, I think we should use the Russian dissidents’ examples more often than we do, to protect the rights we have and to protect other people’s rights too.
What a brilliant response to the State’s attempt to lock Tony up. There’s not a sentence or paragraph that wastes a single word.
I don’t know if Tony has pre-prepared this closing speech as a pamphlet, but I feel someone should.
One can see why the Judge felt the need to disparage what Tony said; what a small-minded comment ~ both ageist and patronising [matronising?]
Anyway, the Jury was clearly more convinced by Tony, than the State’s Prosecutor. WELL DONE, Tony.
Now let’s see what Andy Burnham, PM, is made of. Pure wind, I suspect [words borrowed from Blair ~ Eric, that is, not Tony (sic)].
fantastic Tony Now perhaps this be the beginning of the end legal of zionist and the beginning of real justice. As for the Judge calling you a old man what a cheek . Me approaching 91 at end sept am even older. I would not want across that judge. As for rambling for her yes but it was a brilliant.
I was privileged to have been inside the courtroom. The emotions ranged from anxiety and apprehension listening to the judge’s directions and the prosecutor’s polished presentation, to enormous admiration while listening to Tony’s heartfelt speech and then after a nail biting wait, the overwhelming joy and relief on hearing those two magical words NOT GUILTY.
Is there a recording of this speech? It would be great to have this for posterity as it was delivered. As an example, Mandela’s statement at the Rivonia trial gives a picture of the man. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5OJ205MdKI&t=216s where he speaks of how he is prepared to die to achieve a true democratic state for South Africa.
Tony’s speech was utterly brilliant as he himself is. We all benefit from Tony’s unique energy, steadfastness and courage. THANK YOU, Tony!
Excellent speech, Tony
A victory for us all
I hope someone makes a pamphlet out of Tony’s speech. It should go down in the annals of great speeches of dissent and rebellion going all the way back to William Hone’s victory in the battle for the free press and earlier. There are several contexts for the trial, one of which is the matter of ‘non-apologetic Zionists’ (as they call themselves) using the law to wage political battles. I’ve followed a lot of it, waves to and fro, partly because I got drawn into several cases both as a defendant and as a friend. I wish someone would write up these trials. They tell a significant story.
What a wonderful , wonderful speech, Tony. Sorry I’ve been out of things for so long due to illness and injury, but please accept heartfelt congratulations from an even older woman! We must all make sure that this speech is preserved — no, kept alive – kept alive to inspire future generations.
Thank you everyone for your kind comments. My speech was almost 2 years in the making. By that I mean that I had to clarify the ideas that would go into it – the real purpose of the terrorism laws, how they have redefined terrorism to mean its opposite, the tradition in Britain of fighting for basic democratic rights such as freedom of speech. And also a smattering of quotes that would succinctly make the point.
What happened on December 20 2023 when I was arrested was Orwellian. The use of terrorism laws to defend genocide shows up the hypocrisy of the British State.
But still when I arrived in Kingston my speech was too long and I availed myself of AI to cut it almost in half. Down to half an hour. Except that in the course of my speech it almost doubled to 50 minutes.
The spoken version will differ from the written version and I intend to get a transcript.
But what was clear to me when speaking was that the jury, who had been indifferent at first, warmed to the themes such as that the IDF had not merely starved children but even denied them anaesthetics and then burnt them and their parents alive.
When we bring out the inhumanity of the monsters who rule Israel today, including the Nazi Itamar Ben Gvir (neo-Nazi is too mild) then the argument is already won.
Israel has lost the narrative and it will never regain it again. The messianic fascists, who dream of a mythical empire have taken over. Israel has sowed the seeds of its own destruction.
And yes I have submitted a formal complaint about the judge to the relevant authority.