The British government intends to pass legislation proscribing Palestine Action, effectively branding it a terrorist organisation, equivalent to al-Qaeda and Islamic State, with all the consequences that carries.
Their crime? Throwing a bit of paint on some RAF planes, barely causing any damage, to protest British imperialism’s aiding of Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza.
This is the same state that is prosecuting Mo Chara, of the pro-Palestine Irish rap group Kneecap, for ‘terrorism’ charges for allegedly waving a Hezbollah flag at a concert.
Let’s be clear, this is an absolute scandal.
Embarrassed by the security breach at an RAF base, and worried that Palestine Action and its activities have widespread support, the British ruling class is looking to issue an exemplary punishment to discourage others.
Ever since the beginning of Israel’s current genocidal assault on Gaza, the British state has sought to criminalise the Palestine solidarity movement.
Activists have been arrested and repressed by the police for exercising their democratic right to protest. This includes comrades from the RCP, and other organisations, who have been questioned and held by police for our choice of slogans.
They were later released without charge, as they couldn’t find any grounds for prosecution.
British establishment the real terrorists
The truth is that the real terrorists are the government of Israel and its accomplices, and among them we count Sir Keir Starmer and David Lammy, as well as the previous Tory government.
It is Starmer and his lackeys who have given full support to Netanyahu’s bloody campaign against the Palestinians, not Palestine Action.
This brutal campaign against the Palestinians – fully supported by Starmer and the rest – has killed tens of thousands, displaced hundreds of thousands, razed their buildings to the grounds, destroyed universities, schools, roads, and sewage and sanitation systems.
It has deliberately withheld aid, food, and medication for months on end, and now is using the delivery of pitiful amounts of aid as bait for further massacres.
A dusting of paint on a plane is nothing compared to the colossal death and destruction that Netanyahu has wrought upon Gaza and the Middle East, backed to the hilt by British imperialism.
That is terrorism.
Not only has Britain continued to supply the Israeli war machine, it has provided intelligence to Israel through hundreds of reconnaissance flights carried out by the RAF from its military base in Cyprus.
The British Ministry of Defence is even offering training programmes to IDF soldiers!
British-based companies supply parts and ammunition for the IDF, with the acquiescence of Starmer and his government of war criminals.
British state’s growing repression
Palestine Action activists have taken direct action to attempt to disrupt Britain’s part in the genocidal campaign against Gaza, in the full knowledge that they were putting their freedom at risk.
‘Anti-terror’ legislation has already been used against Palestine Action. The Filton 18, for example, took action against Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit near Bristol in August 2024.
They have been kept in draconian pre-trial detention for months on end, with the earliest trial set for November 2025, but many going into 2026. So, nearly two years of detention, before even being given a trial.
‘Anti-terror’ legislation was used against them even though they have only been charged formally with “aggravated burglary, criminal damage, and public disorder.”
It has now been revealed that British police closely collaborated with the Israeli embassy during the investigation.
The staunch support of Israeli genocide by Starmer and his fellow war-criminals is not a feeling shared amongst vast swathes of workers and youth.
Such is the strength of feeling over Palestine that last year a jury in Leicester found Palestine Action activists who had caused damage to an Elbit systems factory not guilty on the grounds that they acted to prevent greater loss of life and greater damage to property in Palestine.
It is fear of a repetition of this situation that the British imperialist state is looking to proscribe Palestine Action altogether.
The proscription of Palestine Action will give the state far more powers to clamp down on any protests that are related to the group in any way.
In a statement on the protest today about Palestine Action’s proscription, the Commissioner of the Met Police said that:
“If that [proscription] happens we will be determined to target those who continue to act in its name and those who show support for it.
“Until then we have no power in law to prevent tomorrow’s protest taking place.”
Those who came out to support Palestine Action at the Westminster protest today were greeted by rows of police, who harassed protesters and made multiple arrests.
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This was after applying harsh restrictions on it before it even took place, not even allowing it to take place outside the Houses of Parliament, for example.
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Hands off Palestine Action!
This is happening in the context of a wider attack on democratic rights. The Tory government passed a law to make it a criminal offence to topple a statue.
Last year, five Just Stop Oil activists were sentenced to four and five years in jail respectively for participating in a Zoom call! The charge? “Conspiracy to cause a public nuisance”.
Earlier this year, Youth Demand activists were also arrested on the same grounds for holding a briefing at a Quakers’ meeting hall, before they had even done anything.
Taken together, these measures are collectively signs of weakness and desperation from the British establishment.
It is imperative that we understand that the assault on Palestine Action is part of an attempt to criminalise the Palestine solidarity movement, and will have wider implications for civil and democratic rights in this country and beyond.
The whole of the Palestine solidarity movement, the left, revolutionary and democratic organisations, and the trade union movement must mobilise in a campaign of solidarity to defeat the government’s attempts to declare Palestine Action a terrorist organisation.
An injury to one is an injury to all – that should be our guiding principle.
- Hands off Palestine Action!
- Hands off Mo Chara!
- Mobilise to defend our democratic rights to freedom of expression and to protest!
- An injury to one is an injury to all!
- We know who the real terrorists are!
- Down with British imperialism! Down with the warmongers!
