The UK High Court ruled on February 13 that the proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist group is “unlawful”. In July 2025, the ban which made showing support for the group a “terrorism offence” comparable to supporting Al-Qaeda, took effect, after four members reportedly broke into the Royal Air Force (RAF) Brize Norton base in June and spray-painted two military aircrafts resulting in £7 million of damage.
Over 2,350 people have been arrested since then, many of whom were elderly, for holding signs reading “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”
The ruling undermines the UK government’s use of anti-terrorism legislation to silence direct action groups, with three senior judges stating that despite Palestine Action’s tactics of “criminality” to promote the end of global participation in Israel’s “genocidal and apartheid regime”, it does not meet the threshold to be considered a terrorist organisation.
The proscription faced widespread opposition, with the UN Office of the High Commissioner releasing a statement in July, 2025 saying that the definition of a terrorist act should not include property damage, and that the UK’s stance “misuses the gravity and impact of terrorism.”
The UK government has opened up an appeal against the judgment, with Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood stating on X that she is “disappointed in the Court’s decision” and that she does not see the proscription as “disproportionate”, as the High Court described it.
Mahmood intends to “fight this judgment in the Court of Appeal.”
The ruling comes less than two weeks after six members of Palestine Action were found not guilty of aggravated burglary after over a year held in detention without trial, following an alleged break-in to an Elbit Systems factory in Filton, England. Elbit Systems is an Israeli defense firm that acts as a provider of weapons to the Israeli military, including drones involved in strikes on the Gaza Strip.
Huda Ammori, co-founder of Palestine Action, described feeling “vindicated”, and attributed the win in the High Court not only to the courtroom but also “to the people on the streets, the people holding the signs, the people disobeying the law” in an interview with Novara Media.
Ammori described the ruling as a “monumental victory both for our fundamental freedoms here in Britain and in the struggle for freedom for the Palestinian people”.
According to a YouGov poll conducted in September 2025, a record 57% of the British public see Israel’s continued military action in Gaza as unjustified.
Featured image: The Defend Our Juries / Palestine Action Protest in London on the 6th of September, 2025.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Author: indigonolan
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