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The Guardian
an hour ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘It's a complete assault on free speech': how Palestine Action was targeted for proscription as terrorists
If this interview had taken place in a week's time, Huda Ammori might have been arrested. If this interview had been published in a week's time, the Guardian might also have been breaking the law. Ammori, a co-founder of Palestine Action, said she was finding it 'very hard to absorb the reality of what's happening here'. She said: 'I don't have a single conviction but if this goes through I would have co-founded what will be a terrorist organisation.' By 'this' she means the UK government's hugely controversial proposal to ban Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws, placing it alongside the likes of Islamic State and National Action – the first time a direct action group would be classified in this way. If the group is proscribed next week, as is expected, being a member of or inviting support for Palestine Action will carry a maximum penalty of 14 years. Wearing clothing or publishing a logo that arouses reasonable suspicion that someone supports Palestine Action will carry a sentence of up to six months. As far as the government is concerned – and campaign groups that have been lobbying ministers – Palestine Action deserves it. This week Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, decried its 'long history of unacceptable criminal damage' and claimed: 'Its methods have become more aggressive, with its members demonstrating a willingness to use violence.' Beyond the claim and counter-claim, the debate over the decision to ban Palestine Action is as much about free speech and the use of counter-terrorism laws to stop protests. If Ammori is concerned for herself, she does not show it. In an exclusive interview, she said: 'Obviously people in Palestine Action understand the severity of what's happening and there's a sense of frustration, but there's also a lot of unity in terms of wanting to fight this and not crumble to pressure. 'I think they're completely shooting themselves in the foot if they do this – they are completely delegitimising their own laws, which I think are already quite illegitimate, but in the sense that there have been thousands of people who've come out on the streets, so many people on social media, people in the media etc who've come out in support. I can't think of any precedent for that, where a group is facing proscription and there's an outpouring of support from the general public. I think that says enough about whether or not we should be labelled terrorists.' Cooper announced the proscription plan on Monday, three days after Palestine Action broke into RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire and sprayed paint into the jet engines of two military aircraft that it claimed were helping to refuel US and Israeli fighter jets. It was a deeply embarrassing security breach at a time when the government is trying to bolster its defence credentials. It was a far cry from when Palestine Action started out in 2020. Ammori said they had so little funds that they would go to actions carrying supplies in plastic carrier bags and make stencils out of cardboard. The 31-year-old said her activism was piqued by volunteering with refugees in Greece while she was at university. Many of them were from Palestine and Iraq, where her father and mother respectively are originally from, and she realised 'you have to tackle the root cause of these issues'. She later worked for the Palestine Solidarity Campaign on boycott and divestment campaigns and lobbying MPs, but she left after two years after feeling as if 'you're constantly banging your head against a brick wall, you're constantly trying to reason with people, with the facts, and what you get back is nothing and the complicity continues'. Ammori then joined up with others who had carried out direct actions (as she had done in 2017) against the Israeli arms manufacturer subsidiary Elbit Systems UK, to form Palestine Action 'with the aim of ending British complicity with the colonisation of Palestine'. She estimates the group has carried out hundreds of actions, occupying buildings, spraying red paint and destroying equipment, taking video footage to share on social media, going from 'strength to strength'. As its activities have increased since Israel began its assault on Gaza after the 7 October 2023 attacks by Hamas, so has pressure on the government to clamp down on the group, even though its activists are already routinely arrested and charged under existing laws for offences such as criminal damage, violent disorder and burglary. Cooper said they had caused millions of pounds of damage during a 'nationwide campaign of direct criminal action against businesses and institutions, including key national infrastructure and defence firms'. Ammori believes part of the reason for proscription is that Palestine Action activists have regularly been acquitted, and where convicted jail time has been rare, although she estimates that dozens have spent time in prison while awaiting trial. 'They've tried to do a few different things to try and deter us, from making it harder to rely on legal defences or increasing use of remand, or they raid you a lot more and then put more severe charges on you,' she said. 'It hasn't [deterred us] so now they're hugely overreaching because they don't like us or agree with our cause.' She cites activists previously cleared by courts for actions against UK military bases trying to stop war crimes in Iraq, East Timor and Yemen, 'but as soon as it's done for Palestine that's it, you're branded as a terrorist. It's terrifying for everyone that Britain thinks it's appropriate to call to label this a terrorist organisation. The counter-terrorism laws in Britain are so extreme – it's one of the only countries, the only country, where it's actually an offence to recklessly show support for a proscribed organisation. So it's a complete assault on free speech.' She also points out that none of the overseas chapters of Palestine Action – unaffiliated to but inspired by the UK group – have been banned as terrorists. Ammori believes the Conservatives would not have resorted to proscription, as they had ample opportunity to do so while in government, and it is only under Labour that activists have been arrested – but not charged so far – under the Terrorism Act, which allows for them to be held without a charging decision for 14 days. '[Ministers] have gone off the back of what pro-Israel lobby groups have said about us, from probably Elbit Systems and the Israeli government over the years as well, rather than do any factchecking,' she said. 'It's just completely rushed and done for political agenda, and without any consultation with us.' Freedom of information requests have shown that the UK government has separately met Elbit and Israeli embassy officials, although documents have been heavily redacted so that details are scarce. A 2022 briefing note for the then home secretary, Priti Patel, before a meeting with Elbit had a section titled 'Past lobbying' but all details had been redacted. When asked previously about the document, Elbit did not comment. It did not respond to a request to comment on the matters raised in this article. Elements of Cooper's ministerial statement mirrored claims made by We Believe in Israel in a report published this month calling for Palestine Action to be banned – namely references to activists targeting infrastructure supporting Ukraine, Nato and Jewish-owned businesses and universities. Ammori insisted Palestine Action targeted 'all companies who work with Elbit Systems, regardless of the owners identity.' The We Believe in Israel report also said the group had been investigated in 2022 for links to Hamas-aligned networks abroad, citing a 'classified Metropolitan police briefing', although no charges resulted. It did not say how or why it had seen the briefing, but it reinforced Ammori's fears about UK government and law enforcement being swayed by external forces. A week ago, We Believe in Israel tweeted: 'Behind Palestine Action's theatre of resistance stands a darker puppeteer: the [Iranian] Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.' The only evidence it provided was that the IRGC's vocabulary 'echoes in Palestine Action's slogans'. Two days later, the Times was briefed by anonymous Home Office officials that they were investigating whether Palestine Action was funded by Iran, although Cooper did not mention this in her statement. Ammori rejected the allegation, insisting the group was funded by multiple individuals donating small amounts of cash. As proof, she pointed to a fundraiser for legal fees for the fight against proscription, which by Friday morning had raised more than £150,000, with an average donation of about £35. She said Palestine Action had shown people 'that you really have a lot of power and that you don't have to accept the fact that when our own government's breaking the law, when these factories are operating building weapons to kill people in Palestine, or weapons that they market as battle-tested on Palestinians and they are openly committing war crimes, that you actually have the power to stop that. 'I think that's something that's captured a lot of people's attention and hearts, and that's why we've gained so much support. People in these areas resonate more with the people on the roof than they do with the company building weapons to massacre people.' The Home Office was approached for comment.
The Sun
9 hours ago
- Politics
- The Sun
Labour accused of signing up to ‘migrant merry-go-round with France
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp has slammed the plan for failing to reduce overall numbers GIMMICK BOAT DEAL Labour accused of signing up to 'migrant merry-go-round with France LABOUR was last night accused of signing up to a 'migrant merry-go-round' with France. Ministers are expected to reach a 'one in, one-out' returns deal with the French in a bid to deter small boats. Advertisement 1 Labour's planned 'one in, one-out' returns deal with France has been slammed as a gimmick The agreement would see France take back Channel crossers in return for the UK accepting a legitimate asylum seeker with family already here. Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to turn the tide on a record year of small boats after promising to 'smash the gangs' in the election. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and her French counterpart Bruno Retailleau believe the returns plan would break the business model of the criminals. A government source said: 'It'll start as a pilot but it's to prove the point that if you pay for your passage on a boat then you could quite quickly find yourself back in France.' Advertisement But Tory Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp branded the proposals a 'gimmick'. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: 'We pay the French half a billion pounds to wave the boats off from Calais, and in return we get a migrant merry-go-round where the same number still come here. 'The French are failing to stop the boats at sea, failing to return them like the Belgians do, and now instead of demanding real enforcement, Labour are trying a 'one in, one out' gimmick.'
Telegraph
12 hours ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Palestine Action aren't terrorists. They're just attention-seeking idiots
Imagine the buzz this week among the members of Palestine Action. This group of disparate individuals suddenly went from frappuccino-sipping chatterati to official terrorists. Their golden moment came on Monday, when Yvette Cooper, Secretary of State for the Home Department, announced: 'I have decided to proscribe Palestine Action under section 3 of the Terrorism Act 2000.' Since then, the police have taken decisive action, and four members of the group have been arrested under section 41 of the Act. The WhatsApp groups must have gone berserk. Having come to public attention the previous week by breaking into RAF Brize Norton and spray-painting some military planes (more an abysmal failure of security than cunning planning), they were designated the new Public Enemy Number One. 'Gosh, chaps,' one member might have messaged the group from the comfort of their drawing room sofa, 'this is rather exciting.' Indeed, one member of Palestine Action said this week that they were 'all flummoxed at the moment' – which is just the sort of middle-class thing most terrorists don't say to one another. There is a decidedly farcical ring to it all. Palestine Action's UK followers clad themselves – around the neck or head and face, niqab-style – in the familiar fishnet-patterned keffiyeh of Palestine, and call one another 'comrade'. Yet this is more Sacha Baron Cohen-style Ealing comedy than feared militant group. While the 'comrades' were celebrating their designation as modern-day Che Guevaras, journalists were infiltrating their meetings – or, no disrespect to The Telegraph sleuths, simply logging on to their Zoom webinars. There, a plummy-voiced young woman talked through a nicely designed slideshow suggesting other RAF bases to raid with their spray paint canisters and offered advice about what to do when arrested – I think she meant to say 'captured'. 'NOTE,' read one slide in big capital letters, 'Everybody (even a millionaire) gets free legal advice in the police station.' Extremely useful intel for some 'comrades' who, once arrested, won't have to face the embarrassing situation of phoning Daddy, who might be chairing an important meeting in the City. Designating these folk as terrorists is an absurd overreaction, which mocks the work of those who hunt actual terrorists, the likes of al-Qaeda or al-Shabaab. I can imagine a militant member of Jamaat ul-Ahrar, pausing for some breakfast in his attempts to establish an Islamic caliphate in Pakistan, spitting out his aloo paratha as he spotted news of these amateurs elevated to official pariah status. But the word terrorist is the new misnomer, as inappropriate and hackneyed as the word Nazi was on the lips of Gary Lineker. Also labelled as terrorists – albeit not yet officially by the Home Secretary – are Kneecap. This rap group from Northern Ireland has been provoking the authorities with their pro-Palestinian mantra, with band member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh allegedly waving a flag in support of Hezbollah on stage. But like the members of Palestine Action, he is more twit than terrorist, his bandmates equally nincompoops. Fellow member JJ Ó Dochartaigh was working as a teacher in Ireland before he was relieved of the job after appearing on stage with 'Brits Out' painted on his buttocks. Their expletive-laden, provocative songs and antics are exactly what one should expect from childish, attention-seeking rappers. Although I do recommend their tune HOOD, which includes a tremendous takedown of the principals of lockdown ('f--- you curfew!'). Kneecap and Palestine Action were joined in their kindergarten of idiocy this week by Peta, the go-to insurgents of the animal rights movement, doubtless writhing in jealousy that, despite their best efforts, they are yet to be decried as terrorists at the House of Commons despatch box. Their innovation this week was to attack the Prince of Wales for breeding puppies – a low blow if ever I saw one. When, to mark his 43rd birthday, Prince William published a photo of himself stroking and cuddling four cocker spaniel puppies, most of us wanted to nuzzle up to those little bitey, bounding balls of fluff. To me, it was an effortless and heart-warming bid for kingship. Not for Peta, whose vice president Elisa Allen decried the Prince as 'staggeringly out of touch' for 'churning out a litter'. Fortunately, this very weekend offers all such wannabe revolutionaries the chance to gather with fellow middle-class and wealthy faux peaceniks at Glastonbury. There, as Kneecap belt out songs such as Get Your Brits Out and Fenian C----, they can wave their 'Free Palestine' and 'Down With Puppies' flags, safe in the knowledge that they'll all be far too smelly for anyone to contemplate arresting them.
LBCI
15 hours ago
- Politics
- LBCI
UK police arrest four over pro-Palestinian protest at military base
British police have arrested four people in connection with a pro-Palestinian protest last week in which military planes were sprayed with paint at an air base in England, authorities said Friday. A woman, 29, and two men aged 36 and 24, were arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism, while another woman, 41, was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, the police statement said. Two activists from the Palestine Action group broke into the air base in central England on June 20, damaging and spraying red paint over two planes used for refueling and transport, an act that was condemned by Prime Minister Keir Starmer as "disgraceful." Within days the government set out plans to use anti-terrorism laws to ban Palestine Action, making it a criminal offence to belong to the group. Interior minister Yvette Cooper then said its actions had become more aggressive and caused millions of pounds of damage.
DW
15 hours ago
- Politics
- DW
Four arrested over pro-Palestine vandalism at UK air base – DW – 06/27/2025
Activists broke into RAF Brize Norton in southern England last week. A video released by the group showed two of them riding scooters around the base and spraying red paint on a military aircraft. Four people have been arrested in connection with a pro-Palestinian protest that involved vandalizing military aircraft at an airbase in in the United Kingdom, authorities said. On June 20, two activists from the group Palestine Action allegedly broke into the Royal Air Force's Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire, England, where they sprayed red paint on two refueling and transport aircraft and damaged them with crowbars. Three individuals, aged 29 to 36, were arrested on suspicion of committing, preparing, or instigating acts of terrorism. A fourth person, a 41-year-old woman, was arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender, according to UK police. Palestine Action, who claimed the action, responded to the arrests by accusing authorities of cracking down on "nonviolent protests" that disrupt the flow of weapons to Israel during what it called the country's "genocide in Palestine." Last week, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer labeled the act "disgraceful," while Home Secretary Yvette Cooper on Monday announced plans to ban Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws. According to Cooper, the group's actions have become "more aggressive," with members showing a "willingness to use violence." The Home Secretary decided to proscribe the group following the incident. Once the ban takes effect next Friday, supporting the group will become a criminal offense punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, Palestine Action has targeted facilities linked to Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems, as well as other companies with ties to Israel.
