UK Government Seeks to Uphold Ban on Pro-Palestine Group “Palestine Action”

Author: Vera Rousseff

April 29, 2026

HRRC condemns the UK government’s decision to classify the pro-Palestine group “Palestine Action” as a terrorist organization. The widespread arrests of pro-Palestine protesters supporting Palestine Action violate freedoms of speech and assembly and create a climate of fear that prevents activists from speaking out against Israel’s crimes in Palestine. We urge the UK Court of Appeal to uphold the High Court’s ruling that the government’s ban on Palestine Action was unlawful.

Protesters in London show support for Palestine Action [Image credit: Jack Taylor/Reuters]

The UK Home Office is appealing a High Court decision from last February, which ruled that the government’s ban on the pro-Palestine group “Palestine Action” was illegal. This week’s hearing began on Tuesday, April 28, and is set to conclude on Thursday, marking the latest development in a legal dispute that has been ongoing since the UK government first banned Palestine Action in July 2025.

Palestine Action, which was launched in 2020, targets Israeli weapons manufacturers and related companies in the UK, most notably Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons producer. As a direct-action group, they employ physical, disruptive protest tactics, such as smearing paint and damaging property, with the goal of “ending global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime.” In June 2025, Palestine Action activists broke into a UK air force base and damaged two military planes to protest the UK government’s support for Israel.

Several weeks after the break-in, the Home Office banned Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000, declaring that the group “encourages the creation of cells” and that its members demonstrate “a willingness to use violence.” Under the ban, supporting or becoming a member of Palestine Action became a criminal offence punishable by a maximum of 14 years in prison. The ban was met with fierce protests across the country, resulting in the arrests of thousands of pro-Palestine demonstrators. United Nations Human Rights Chief Volker Türk urged the UK government to rescind the ban, saying that it “risks hindering the legitimate exercise of fundamental freedoms across the UK” and “misuses the gravity and impact of terrorism.”

In February of this year, Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori successfully challenged the ban in court, leading the High Court to declare it unlawful. The judges argued that the ban was “disproportionate” and violated freedoms of speech and assembly as described in the European Convention on Human Rights. However, the court specified that the ban would remain in place while the government appealed the decision, meaning it is currently still illegal to show support for Palestine Action.

On Friday, April 24, the activist organization Defend Our Juries released a letter addressed to the UK’s Court of Appeal, stating “We oppose genocide, we support Palestine Action.” The letter bears more than 130 signatures from leading scholars and public figures, including climate activist Greta Thunberg, Irish writer Sally Rooney, American scholar Judith Butler, and dozens of professors and researchers from prominent UK universities.

In its appeal on Tuesday, the UK government said that Palestine Action’s activities meet the legal threshold to be considered terrorism. They further argued that the High Court’s ruling in February undercut the government’s ability to adequately respond to what they see as “escalating” activity in support of Palestine.

In a statement to Al Jazeera, Huda Ammori argued that the ban on Palestine Action has made people afraid to speak out against Israel’s crimes in Palestine. “I hope the Court of Appeal will uphold the High Court’s ruling and bring this dystopian abuse of power to an end,” she said.

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Glossary

• Apartheid: a system where people are kept separate and treated unfairly based on race or identity, especially by law. 

• Appeal: to ask a higher court to review and change a decision made by a lower court.

• Cells: small, secret groups within a larger organization, often used to carry out activities without being easily detected. 

• Court of Appeal: a higher court that reviews decisions made by lower courts.

• Criminal offence: an action that breaks the law and can be punished.

• Direct-action group: a group that takes immediate action, such as protests or disruptions, to achieve its goals.

• Disproportionate: when something is too extreme or not fair compared to the situation.

• Dystopian: describing an imagined society where there is great suffering, injustice, or lack of freedom, often under strict or unfair control. 

• Freedom of assembly: the right to gather in groups for protests or meetings.

• Freedom of speech: the right to express opinions without government punishment.

• Genocidal: related to genocide, which means the deliberate attempt to destroy a particular group of people, usually based on their ethnicity, religion, or nationality. 

• High Court: a senior court that deals with important legal cases.

• Home Office: a UK government department responsible for security, immigration, and law enforcement.

• Rescind: to officially cancel or take back a law or decision.

• Terrorism: the use of violence or threats to create fear, often for political reasons.

• Terrorism Act 2000: a UK law that defines and regulates actions related to terrorism.

• Undercut: to weaken something or make it less effective, often in an indirect way.