Why the proscription of Palestine action will harm us all

Photos taken at the 02/07/2025 Manchester emergency demonstration to stop the ban of palestine action.

For those that aren't updated, the group Palestine action is an organisation which disrupts the arms industry in the United Kingdom with direct action. A key target has been British factories of Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems. Parliament and UK lawmakers were specifically riled up after The campaign group Palestine Action was behind the incident on June 20th; an RAF air base in Oxfordshire was broken into and red paint was sprayed over two planes used for refuelling and transport. It had previously been reported that there were fears that Palestine Action had “damaged beyond repair” one of the engines of the planes, although On Wednesday the plane embarked on a four-and-a-half-hour trip.

By the 2nd of July, a Debate and vote in the House of Commons was already underway, and passed the Commons on Wednesday by 385 votes to 26, in favour of prescribing Palestine action as a terrorist organisation.

Palestine Action co‑founder Huda Ammori applied for urgent interim relief to halt the Home Secretary’s order proscribing the group under the Terrorism Act 2000. The application seeks to prevent the ban from taking effect immediately, pending a full judicial review.

The High Court, under Mr Justice Chamberlain, scheduled a three-hour hearing today to determine whether to grant this interim relief.

Once proscription is in effect, supporting Palestine Action will become a criminal offence, with membership or expressing support for the direct action group punishable by up to 14 years in prison. According to the GOV.UK website, here are the following credentials to being proscribed: 

• commits or participates in acts of terrorism

• prepares for terrorism

• promotes or encourages terrorism (including the unlawful glorification of terrorism)

• is otherwise concerned in terrorism

“Terrorism” as defined in the act, means the use or threat of action which: involves serious violence against a person; involves serious damage to property; endangers a person’s life (other than that of the person committing the act); creates a serious risk to the health or safety of the public or section of the public or is designed seriously to interfere with or seriously to disrupt an electronic system.

The UK is quite figuratively in bed with Israel, the UK’s arms manufacturers have had a hand in 15% of every F35 that Israel has received since 2016, worth at least £368 million as well as supplying them with a multitude of different arms and weapons, designed to slaughter Palestinian people.

The government's massive redirect into condemning Palestine action instead of Israel's genocide (and the UKs complicity) in Gaza, is not a new tactic. They often try to stir the public in anger amongst themselves by encouraging infighting so you don't see the behaviour of the lawmakers and politicians.  

A clear example is June 2021, when Matt Hancock’s affair dominated headlines just as the EU Settlement Scheme deadline quietly passed—risking the rights of thousands of EU nationals. While not proven deliberate, the timing conveniently shifted focus from a major immigration crisis.

I could list many other examples but you get the picture. The government is snidely jingling a pair of keys in front of our eyes while snatching our rights away from under us. The right to protest is essential in a democracy, without a possibility of displaying disagreement publicly we are always falling victim to the next politician's ideologies. 

“We are trying to reason with the unreasonable here. Not only are they dangling keys in our faces as a distraction, they’re slipping a muzzle straight onto us. All of us. But you can’t snuff out a flame that burns this bright - they don’t realise this fight is from love. For humanity, for the Palestinian people; our passion for the people can never be proscribed. ‘The revolution will always be born from love.’” 

— A quote directly from a Palestine action member, still awaiting trial. 

Whether you are pro-Palestine or not, you should be concerned about the actions the government is taking against us, you should be terrified. Even writing this article within the next few hours could have me jailed for up to fourteen years under the guise of promoting or encouraging terrorism. 

“Spraying red paint on war planes is not terrorism… This is the first attempt in British history to criminalise direct action, political protest, as terrorism… It’s genuinely terrifying for anyone who cares about civil liberties in the UK.”

— Huda Ammori, quoted by the Jewish Voice for Labour via The Guardian

What can you do?:

Look up youthdemand.org, email your local MPs, show up to demos and protests. If you have any disposable income please consider donating to the people of Palestine directly.