diff --git a/.github/workflows/JAPIPRBuildAction.yml b/.github/workflows/JAPIPRBuildAction.yml
index 56d2121c0..4b238b99d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/JAPIPRBuildAction.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/JAPIPRBuildAction.yml
@@ -12,12 +12,6 @@ jobs:
       with:
         ref: ${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}
         fetch-depth: 0
-    - name: Rebase
-      run: |
-        git config user.email 'hpccsystems@lexisnexisrisk.com'
-        git config user.name 'hpccsystems development'
-        git rebase origin/${{ github.event.pull_request.base.ref }}
-        git log --pretty=one -n 15
 
     - name: Set up JDK 11
       uses: actions/setup-java@v1
@@ -34,3 +28,7 @@ jobs:
 
     - name: Build with Maven
       run: mvn -B package --file pom.xml
+
+    # Expect a failure here, verifying that the test suite fails early on init issues
+    - name: Test Suite Verification
+      run: "! mvn test --activate-profiles jenkins-on-demand -Dhpccconn=https://bad_host:8010"
diff --git a/wsclient/src/test/java/org/hpccsystems/ws/client/BaseRemoteInitTest.java b/wsclient/src/test/java/org/hpccsystems/ws/client/BaseRemoteInitTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..abca7b7ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/wsclient/src/test/java/org/hpccsystems/ws/client/BaseRemoteInitTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+/*##############################################################################
+
+    HPCC SYSTEMS software Copyright (C) 2024 HPCC Systems®.
+
+    Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+    you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+    You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+    Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+    distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+    WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+    See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+    limitations under the License.
+############################################################################## */
+
+package org.hpccsystems.ws.client;
+
+import org.junit.Assert;
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
+
+@Category(org.hpccsystems.commons.annotations.RemoteTests.class)
+public class BaseRemoteInitTest
+{
+    @Test
+    public void initTest() throws Exception
+    {
+        String exceptionMessage = "";
+        if (BaseRemoteTest.initializationException != null)
+        {
+            exceptionMessage = BaseRemoteTest.initializationException.getMessage();
+        }
+
+        Assert.assertTrue("Error initializing test suite: " + exceptionMessage, BaseRemoteTest.initializationException == null);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/wsclient/src/test/java/org/hpccsystems/ws/client/BaseRemoteTest.java b/wsclient/src/test/java/org/hpccsystems/ws/client/BaseRemoteTest.java
index 402e2782d..08716ab48 100644
--- a/wsclient/src/test/java/org/hpccsystems/ws/client/BaseRemoteTest.java
+++ b/wsclient/src/test/java/org/hpccsystems/ws/client/BaseRemoteTest.java
@@ -17,9 +17,6 @@ HPCC SYSTEMS software Copyright (C) 2019 HPCC Systems®.
 
 package org.hpccsystems.ws.client;
 
-import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
-import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
-
 import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.net.InetAddress;
@@ -40,7 +37,9 @@ HPCC SYSTEMS software Copyright (C) 2019 HPCC Systems®.
 import org.hpccsystems.ws.client.platform.Platform;
 import org.hpccsystems.ws.client.utils.Connection;
 import org.hpccsystems.ws.client.wrappers.gen.wstopology.TpGroupWrapper;
+import org.junit.Assume;
 import org.junit.Assert;
+import org.junit.BeforeClass;
 import org.junit.experimental.categories.Category;
 
 import java.net.URL;
@@ -52,6 +51,7 @@ HPCC SYSTEMS software Copyright (C) 2019 HPCC Systems®.
 @Category(org.hpccsystems.commons.annotations.RemoteTests.class)
 public abstract class BaseRemoteTest
 {
+    public static Exception initializationException = null;
     protected static Platform platform;
     protected static HPCCWsClient wsclient;
 
@@ -85,6 +85,31 @@ public abstract class BaseRemoteTest
     public static final String DEFAULTHPCCSUPERFILENAME = "benchmark::all_types::superfile";
 
     static
+    {
+        try
+        {
+            initialize();
+        }
+        catch (Exception e)
+        {
+            initializationException = e;
+        }
+    }
+
+    @BeforeClass
+    public static void initCheck()
+    {
+        String exceptionMessage = "";
+        if (initializationException != null)
+        {
+            exceptionMessage = initializationException.getLocalizedMessage();
+            initializationException.printStackTrace();
+        }
+
+        Assume.assumeTrue("Error initializing test suite: " + exceptionMessage, initializationException == null);
+    }
+
+    public static void initialize() throws Exception
     {
         // This allows testing against locally created self signed certs to work.
         // In production certs will need to be created valid hostnames
@@ -146,10 +171,14 @@ public boolean verify(String hostname,javax.net.ssl.SSLSession sslSession)
             }
             catch (MalformedURLException e)
             {
-                fail("Could not acquire connection object based on: '" + connString + "' - " + e.getLocalizedMessage());
+                throw new Exception("Could not acquire connection object based on: '" + connString + "' - " + e.getLocalizedMessage());
+            }
+
+            if (connection == null)
+            {
+                throw new Exception("Could not acquire connection object based on: '" + connString + "'");
             }
 
-            Assert.assertNotNull("Could not acquire connection object", connection);
             connection.setCredentials(hpccUser, hpccPass);
 
             if (connTO != null)
@@ -159,8 +188,10 @@ public boolean verify(String hostname,javax.net.ssl.SSLSession sslSession)
                 connection.setSocketTimeoutMilli(Integer.valueOf(sockTO));
 
             platform = Platform.get(connection);
-
-            Assert.assertNotNull("Could not acquire platform object", platform);
+            if (platform == null)
+            {
+                throw new Exception("Could not acquire platform object");
+            }
         }
 
         try
@@ -200,10 +231,11 @@ public boolean verify(String hostname,javax.net.ssl.SSLSession sslSession)
         }
         catch (Exception e)
         {
-            fail("Could not acquire wsclient object: " + e.getMessage() );
+            throw new Exception("Could not acquire wsclient object: " + e.getMessage() );
         }
 
-        Assert.assertNotNull("Could not acquire wsclient object", wsclient);
+        if (wsclient == null)
+            throw new Exception("Could not acquire wsclient object");
 
         // Run the generate-datasets.ecl script if present in the project resources
         try
@@ -212,7 +244,7 @@ public boolean verify(String hostname,javax.net.ssl.SSLSession sslSession)
         }
         catch (Exception e)
         {
-            Assert.fail("Error executing test data generation scripts with error: " + e.getMessage());
+            throw new Exception("Error executing test data generation scripts with error: " + e.getMessage());
         }
     }
 
@@ -255,7 +287,7 @@ static public void executeMultiThreadedTask(Callable<String> callableTask, int t
         {
             try
             {
-                assertTrue(futures.get(threadIndex).get().isEmpty());
+                Assert.assertTrue(futures.get(threadIndex).get().isEmpty());
             }
             catch (InterruptedException | ExecutionException e)
             {