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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/ng-interactive/2025/jun/28/palestine-action-proscription-free-speech">theguardian.com</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Free speech target or terrorist gang? The inside story of Palestine Action \u2013 and the plan to ban it</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Haroon Siddique</div>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time">June 28, 2025</div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div id="gmail-maincontent"><p>If
this interview had taken place in a week\u2019s time, Huda Ammori might have
been arrested. If this interview had been published in a week\u2019s time,
the Guardian might also have been breaking the law.</p><p>Ammori, a
co-founder of Palestine Action, said she was finding it \u201cvery hard to
absorb the reality of what\u2019s happening here\u201d. She said: \u201cI don\u2019t have a
single conviction but if this goes through I would have co-founded what
will be a terrorist organisation.\u201d</p><p>By \u201cthis\u201d she means the UK government\u2019s hugely controversial <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/23/yvette-cooper-vows-ban-palestine-action-anti-terrorism-laws">proposal to ban Palestine Action</a>
under anti-terrorism laws, placing it alongside the likes of Islamic
State and National Action \u2013 the first time a direct action group would
be classified in this way.</p><p>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.</p><div id="gmail-img-2"><span><img alt="A woman holding a sign saying \u2018end this genocide\u2019 confronts police officers at a protest" src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/aca71506275bd6d0e92c47f2ad40b9bc6e1dd5a5/0_0_4786_3191/master/4786.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none" width="445" height="296.6976598412035" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img"></span></div><span></span></div></div></div></div><span>Palestine
Action protest in London after the hugely controversial UK government
proposal to ban the group under anti-terrorism laws.</span> Photograph: James Veysey/Shutterstock<p>As
far as the government is concerned \u2013 and campaign groups that have been
lobbying ministers \u2013 Palestine Action deserves it. This week <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/yvette-cooper">Yvette Cooper</a>,
the home secretary, decried its \u201clong history of unacceptable criminal
damage\u201d and claimed: \u201cIts methods have become more aggressive, with its
members demonstrating a willingness to use violence.\u201d</p><p>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.</p><p>If Ammori is concerned for herself, she
does not show it. In an exclusive interview, she said: \u201cObviously people
in Palestine Action understand the severity of what\u2019s happening and
there\u2019s a sense of frustration, but there\u2019s also a lot of unity in terms
of wanting to fight this and not crumble to pressure.</p><p>\u201cI think
they\u2019re completely shooting themselves in the foot if they do this \u2013
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\u2019ve come out on the streets, so many people on
social media, people in the media etc who\u2019ve come out in support. I
can\u2019t think of any precedent for that, where a group is facing
proscription and there\u2019s an outpouring of support from the general
public. I think that says enough about whether or not we should be
labelled terrorists.\u201d</p><p>Cooper announced the proscription plan on Monday, three days after Palestine Action <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jun/20/palestine-action-to-be-banned-after-vandalising-planes-at-raf-base">broke into RAF Brize Norton</a>
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.</p><div><span></span></div><div><span>Footage shows Palestine Action breaking into Brize Norton airbase \u2013 video </span></div><p>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.</p><p>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 \u201cyou have to tackle the root cause of these issues\u201d.</p><p>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 \u201cyou\u2019re constantly banging your head against a brick
wall, you\u2019re constantly trying to reason with people, with the facts,
and what you get back is nothing and the complicity continues\u201d.</p><p>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 \u201cwith the aim of ending British
complicity with the colonisation of Palestine\u201d.</p><div id="gmail-img-3"><span><img alt="Huda Ammori" src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/831134833ed6f2c4f73eca7f72eac2efde641428/0_0_1600_1067/master/1600.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none" width="445" height="296.759375" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img"></span></div><span></span><span>Huda Ammori, co-founder of Palestine Action.</span> Photograph: Abdullah Bailey<p>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 \u201cstrength to strength\u201d.</p><p>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.</p><p>Cooper
said they had caused millions of pounds of damage during a \u201cnationwide
campaign of direct criminal action against businesses and institutions,
including key national infrastructure and defence firms\u201d.</p><p>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.</p><p>\u201cThey\u2019ve 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,\u201d she said. \u201cIt hasn\u2019t [deterred us]
so now they\u2019re hugely overreaching because they don\u2019t like us or agree
with our cause.\u201d</p><p>She cites activists previously <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2007/may/22/politics.iraq">cleared by courts</a>
for actions against UK military bases trying to stop war crimes in
Iraq, East Timor and Yemen, \u201cbut as soon as it\u2019s done for Palestine
that\u2019s it, you\u2019re branded as a terrorist. It\u2019s terrifying for everyone
that Britain thinks it\u2019s appropriate to call to label this a terrorist
organisation. The counter-terrorism laws in Britain are so extreme \u2013
it\u2019s one of the only countries, the only country, where it\u2019s actually an
offence to recklessly show support for a proscribed organisation. So
it\u2019s a complete assault on free speech.\u201d</p><p>She also points out that
none of the overseas chapters of Palestine Action \u2013 unaffiliated to but
inspired by the UK group \u2013 have been banned as terrorists.</p><div id="gmail-img-4"><span><img alt="A Palestine Action activist being arrested" src="https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/cb19c6df2abc472af8dfb5e7655d956b011e4c66/0_0_3840_2929/master/3840.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none" width="445" height="339.4283854166667" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img"></span></div><span></span><div class="gmail-container" lang="en" dir="ltr"><div class="gmail-content"><div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div id="gmail-maincontent"><span>Palestine
Action activists are already routinely arrested and charged under
existing laws for offences such as criminal damage, violent disorder and
burglary.</span> Photograph: Martin Pope/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock<p>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 \u2013 but not charged so far \u2013
under the Terrorism Act, which allows for them to be held without a
charging decision for 14 days.</p><p>\u201c[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,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just completely rushed and done
for political agenda, and without any consultation with us.\u201d</p><p>Freedom of information requests have shown that the UK government has separately <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/aug/20/israeli-embassy-officials-attempted-to-influence-uk-court-cases-documents-suggest">met Elbit and Israeli embassy officials</a>,
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 \u201cPast lobbying\u201d 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.</p><p>Elements of Cooper\u2019s ministerial statement mirrored claims made by We Believe in Israel in a report <a href="https://x.com/WeBelieveIsrael/status/1932019636473598380">published this month</a>
calling for Palestine Action to be banned \u2013 namely references to
activists targeting infrastructure supporting Ukraine, Nato and
Jewish-owned businesses and universities.</p><p>Ammori insisted Palestine Action targeted \u201call companies who work with Elbit Systems, regardless of the owners identity.\u201d</p><p>The
We Believe in Israel report also said the group had been investigated
in 2022 for links to Hamas-aligned networks abroad, citing a \u201cclassified
Metropolitan police briefing\u201d, although no charges resulted. It did not
say how or why it had seen the briefing, but it reinforced Ammori\u2019s
fears about UK government and law enforcement being swayed by external
forces.</p><p>A week ago, We Believe in Israel <a href="https://x.com/WeBelieveIsrael/status/1936535851120447528">tweeted</a>:
\u201cBehind Palestine Action\u2019s theatre of resistance stands a darker
puppeteer: the [Iranian] Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.\u201d The only
evidence it provided was that the IRGC\u2019s vocabulary \u201cechoes in Palestine
Action\u2019s slogans\u201d.</p><p>Two days later, <a href="https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/anger-over-palestine-action-ban-as-home-office-investigates-iran-link-9fjkdr763">the Times was briefed</a>
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.</p><p>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.</p><p>She said Palestine Action had shown people \u201cthat you
really have a lot of power and that you don\u2019t have to accept the fact
that when our own government\u2019s 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.</p><p>\u201cI
think that\u2019s something that\u2019s captured a lot of people\u2019s attention and
hearts, and that\u2019s why we\u2019ve 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.\u201d</p><p>The Home Office was approached for comment.</p></div></div></div>
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