The UK’s contentious designation of Palestine Action as a “terrorist” organization is set to be challenged by the co-founder of the group.
After the Court of Appeal last month determined that the proscription order impedes the rights to freedom of speech and protest, Huda Ammori will file the case with London’s High Court on Wednesday.
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On Wednesday, the judicial review is scheduled to begin. Thursday and December 2 are the scheduled dates for the next hearings.
If Ammori is successful, the ban might be lifted, putting an end to a months-long civil disobedience campaign that has resulted in hundreds of arrests.
Since the terrorist organization’s outlawing in July, more than 2, 000 people have been detained under the Terrorism Act, primarily for holding signs that read “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”
The direct action group’s membership or showing support for them is currently a criminal offense that can lead to prison time of up to 14 years.
After two of its members entered the RAF Brize Norton military base in Oxfordshire in June and sprayed red paint on Voyager planes, which activists claimed were used in Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza, the group’s government suspended it.
In a separate incident in August 2024, members of the group reportedly destroyed quadcopter drones, which the group claims are used by the Israeli military to target Palestinians in Gaza. They broke into the company’s Filton, Bristol, headquarters. 24 of the group’s members are still being detained overall.
Ammori claimed that the Palestine Action ban is “absurd and authoritarian.”
She claimed that “proscribing Palestine Action” was done to combat dissent and defend Israel’s weapons industry.
The courts have a chance to correct the injustices the government has committed and restore some sanity. We will fight the ban even if it doesn’t work, and I’m certain that we will ultimately prevail.
Political conflict
The ban is “political,” according to Defend Our Juries, a campaign group that coordinates demonstrations across the UK with sign-wielding demonstrators regularly being detained.
According to Lex Korte, the group’s legal coordinator and cofounder, “the reason there are protest groups is because our government isn’t listening to what the ongoing protests are about.”
In recent months, thousands of protesters have urged the UK to put an end to its alleged complicity in Israel’s assault on Gaza. They have also received calls from experts of international law and human rights organizations. Shadow R1 surveillance flights over the Gaza Strip are carried out by the UK, which are essential components of F-35 jets.
A direct action group’s designation as a terrorist organization was the first time in British history when Palestine Action was banned. Additionally, it is the first time a prohibited group has been granted judicial review.
According to Korte, the term “terrorism” has always been associated with a strong political connotation.
He said that the inclusion of criminal damage that doesn’t necessitate any acts of violence against people has been criticized as being “too vague” and [of including] acts that aren’t considered terrorist acts, particularly the Terrorism Act 2000.
We’re highlighting the unfairness of the proscription of Palestine Action, Korte said, “by inviting arrest with your behavior and that kind of method.”
UK complicity in Gaza is challenged by direct action.
In a report released on Tuesday, the London-based human rights advocacy group Cage International highlighted the “draconian use of terrorism legislation to shut down direct action.”
“Direct action has never been arbitrary or gratuitous.” It stated that it has been focused on the specific nodes that make war possible, including government infrastructure, manufacturers, insurers, logistics companies, financiers, universities, and lobbyists.
Principled disruption becomes not only necessary but legitimate when conventional channels fail to restrain state-sanctioned harm.
Despite the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling in July 2024 that Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, constitutes a violation of international law, the report asserts that the UK continues to support the conflict in Gaza through military, trade, and diplomatic ties.
Additionally, the ICJ recommended six provisional measures to reduce the risk of such acts and concluded that Israel’s actions could constitute genocide.
According to Cage, there has been a “significant shift in the landscape of activism in the UK” between 2020 and 2025 as a result of Palestine Action. As a result, operations at locations that were linked to the production or facilitation of weapons by Israeli forces were stopped, including Elbit’s site in Bristol, which hosted numerous protests led to Palestine Action’s suspension of operations, some of which came days before the organization was banned.
The UK has steadily expanded its authoritarian counter-terrorism powers to thwart dissent and defuse itself from public scrutiny, according to Anas Mustapha, Cage’s Head of Public Advocacy, Al Jazeera reported.
However, Palestine Action’s prohibition extended beyond what the general public would accept. Because of a shift in the general public consciousness, it backfired. People recognized those who were acting to stop British involvement in such acts so that they could see what was happening in Gaza.
Judges at London’s High Court, according to Korte of Defend Our Juries, would need to comprehend “the gravitas that]their] decision has, both to regular people and their lives as well as to the Palestinian people and the international community.”
Since October 2023, Israel has systematically harmed Gaza, injuring 170 Palestinians and injuring 863 others. During the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, 139 people were killed in Israel, and about 200 were taken prisoner.
