In a frightening development, our government has succeeded in keeping Palestine Action proscribed as a ‘terrorist organisation’. Yesterday, it won its appeal against the High Court’s ruling that the proscription of Palestine Action was unlawful. This deeply repressive manoeuvre is unprecedented in British history. Never before has the UK government used terror legislation to try to prevent its own citizens from taking action against a genocide.
The proscription of Palestine Action was deemed unlawful at the High Court in February, with the High Court further ruling that the Home Office’s ban of Palestine Action breached the Home Secretary’s own policy around the use of this draconian power. Our government was quick to appeal. Soon after, the Met continued to arrest hundreds of determined and courageous activists who continued to hold signs opposing genocide and supporting Palestine Action.
Despite the fear our government has tried to instil in people of conscience, the past year has shown that you can ban an organisation – but you can’t ban principled commitment. And this idea is not a new one, as direct action targeting military bases and weapons factories has a long history in this country. These effective tactics have been used by sections of the peace movement for many decades, from Greenham Common to RAF Fairford.
Nobody should have to risk their freedom, employment and more to disrupt the supply of murder weapons. These weapons factories, as long as they continue to profit from genocidal slaughter, should not exist in the first place. Direct action tactics, which can include property damage, are used when all other avenues for change are blocked or ignored. There is no better example of this than the need to use direct action to confront the UK’s role in arming the Israeli genocide in Gaza.
Following last July’s proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, it has increasingly felt as though our government is determined to protect war criminals. And in a sense, it has been. The UK government has fought tooth and nail to crush Palestine Action and its direct action tactics, which target British weapons exports to Israel at the point of production.
Solidarity must go further than words on a page. Solidarity must be about action. The grassroots movement across the country which has sacrificed so much in its struggle against Israel’s genocide of Gaza exemplifies this in the highest regard. CAAT commends everyone who continues to take non-violent action against the genocide. Taking action to stop a genocide is a service to humanity. Saving lives is a noble act.
Thousands have also used civil disobedience to challenge the Palestine Action proscription. We have seen people from all walks of life dragged to police cells to face terrorism charges for holding signs condemning genocide and supporting Palestine Action.
Millions marching in the streets, hundreds of thousands of emails and phone calls to MPs, and hundreds of grassroots campaigns for Palestine have sprung up across the country. They seek to stop our government arming Israel but have been met with platitudes and reassurances that the UK’s partial export licence suspension to Israel is enough. Our government’s obfuscation of its role in aiding and abetting the Gaza genocide is fooling no one. Fifteen percent of the value of every F-35 continues to be produced in the UK, and UK arms to Israel continue to flow.
Yesterday’s Palestine Action appeal decision follows the sentencing of the Filton 4 as terrorists, despite facing no terrorism charges. Lottie Head, Samuel Corner, Ellie Kamio, and Fatema Zainab Rajwani will collectively face over 25 years in prison for saving lives by destroying dozens of drones produced by Israel’s largest weapons company, Elbit Systems. Their trial has been deeply political, with the jury prevented from hearing evidence about the defendants’ motivations, support for Palestinians and the possibility of terrorist sentencing, with the media barred from reporting on this suppression. As a barrister, Keir Starmer once represented those direct actionists, long vindicated by history, that his government now criminalises.
The government clearly wants people to give up and lose hope in their fight against Israel’s genocide of Gaza. It has not succeeded. The past several years of action and solidarity, with the Filton 25 and all others imprisoned for taking action against genocide, has shown the strength and resolve of the movement for Palestine.
Criminalisation and the weaponisation of terror legislation has not stopped people continuing to stand up for what is right and just. Neither will yesterday’s Court of Appeal decision. As Israel continues to decimate entire families and generations of Palestinians, people across the UK will continue to take action to stop British weapons contributing to this depraved slaughter. You can’t proscribe solidarity.
Photo from mass protests against DSEI 2025, photo credit to Natasa Leoni.
