American-style intensive livestock farms are spreading across Europe, with new data revealing more than 24,000 megafarms across the continent.

In the UK alone, there are now 1,824 industrial-scale pig and poultry farms, according to the data obtained by AGtivist that relates to 2023.

The countries with the largest number of intensive poultry farm units are France, UK, Germany, Italy and Poland in that order. For poultry farming alone, the UK ranks as having the second-highest number of intensive farms at 1,553, behind France with 2,342.

The top 10 countries for intensive pig and poultry farms combined are Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, UK, Denmark, Poland, Belgium and Hungary, according to information obtained from the European Commission, and country-specific regulatory agencies and colleges.

Revealed: More than 24,000 factory farms have opened across Europe

Intensive livestock farms such as those found across the US are spreading across the continent, according to new data

^{Helena Horton (The Guardian)}

On my first day, the second official day of the mission, we were overrun; it was pure chaos. At the aid site’s entrance gates, we had people waiting in five lanes separated by metal fencing. One lane was strictly for women and children. The other four were all men, and they were letting people in, five, 10, 20 at a time – whatever we could handle. It was not organized, and people were getting smushed and trampled. Eventually, there were so many people in the lanes that the gates burst.

We fell back, letting people get the aid. They were never aggressive towards us. They were only trying to get aid – aid, by the way, that consisted of flour, rice, lentils, tea bags, and noodles; things that need water. They don’t have any water. And we’re not giving out water.

We soon had to fall back again, to a second perimeter. At that point, some personnel started firing warning shots in the air. I was later told that the Israeli military needed to clear those people out because they were going to come through. They soon showed up with tanks, as some sort of security presence, but we had pushed people out by then.

This idea that the Israeli military isn't involved is bullshit. They're very much involved. They have offices in our compounds. We share our radio communications with them. The higher-ups claim the Israeli military is not involved, but it feels like they’re the man behind the curtain. Sure, they’re not on-site with us, but their snipers and tanks are just hundreds of meters away. You can hear them shooting all day.ere.

People sometimes have to travel miles to get to the sites – and that means through Israeli-controlled areas. Any excuse the military can come up with to say someone is a threat, they’ll take. There’s not really any international media in these areas, and the West doesn’t really want to believe the Palestinian media, so you get to this point where the truth itself is murky. All the while, all I’ve heard all day is Israeli tanks, machine guns, snipers, and bombs.

But never any fire from the opposite direction.

EXCLUSIVE: American Security Contractor Unloads On US-Israeli ‘Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’

I thought I was signing up for an aid mission. But what I've witnessed in Gaza is horrific.

^{Anonymous (Zeteo)}

cross-posted from: lemmy.world/post/30705764

I wonder why would it be the case... 🤔

Public support for Israel in western Europe at lowest ever recorded by YouGov

Survey says fewer than a fifth of respondents in six countries hold a favourable opinion of the country

^{Jon Henley (The Guardian)}