The pro-Palestinian and BDS group Palestine Action is set to be proscribed as a terrorist organization under Section 3 of the UK’s Terrorism Act 2000, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced on Monday in a statement to Parliament.
A draft proscription order will be shown to Parliament on Monday, June 30, which, if passed, will make it illegal to be a member of, or invite support for, Palestine Action.
“Its activities meet the threshold set out in the statutory tests established under the Terrorism Act 2000,” she stated, adding that “this has been assessed through a robust evidence-based process, by a wide range of experts from across government, the police, and the Security Services.”
Cooper’s decision comes in light of “the disgraceful attack on Brize Norton in the early hours of the morning on Friday, June 20,” which she refers to as the “latest in a long history of unacceptable criminal damage.”
On Friday, pro-Palestinian activists from the group broke into a Royal Air Force base in central England, damaging and spraying red paint over two Voyager planes used for refueling and transport.
“The UK’s defence enterprise is vital to the nation’s national security, and this government will not tolerate those that put that security at risk,” Cooper added.
She also announced that Counter Terrorism Policing is investigating the Friday attack.
Cooper continued by saying that Palestine Action has orchestrated a “nationwide campaign of direct criminal action against businesses and institutions” since its establishment in 2020 but that the methods used have become more aggressive and violent since 2024.
She included examples of the group causing serious damage to property, including at Instro Precision in Kent, Thales in Glasgow, and Elbit Systems in Bristol. “The extent of damage across these three attacks alone, spreading the length and breadth of the UK, runs into the millions of pounds.”
She also spoke of Palestine Action’s online presence and media output, which she said has enabled it to “galvanize support, recruit, and train members across the UK to take part in criminal activity and raise considerable funds through online donations.”
“The group has a footprint in all 45 policing regions in the UK and has pledged to escalate its campaign.”
Cooper stressed that the government wishes to continue protecting the right to protest peacefully, “including pro-Palestinian groups, those opposing the actions of the Israeli government, and those demanding changes in the UK’s foreign policy,” calling this a “cornerstone of our democracy.”
However, she said that Palestine Action’s activities, including spraying red paint on a Jewish-owned business in North London, “do not represent legitimate or peaceful protest” and are instead “intimidatory and unacceptable.”
Group protests the decision
Palestine Action launched a mass protest against the move outside the Houses of Parliament. However, they were banned from entering this location and moved the protest to Trafalgar Square. In one troubling visual, a protester dressed as a concentration camp prisoner in a striped uniform with a Muslim moon and star in place of a Jewish star.
The organization claimed that Met Police officers made arrests and acted violently.
A group of 50 protest organizations, including Code Pink, the Muslim Vote, and the Palestine Youth Movement, co-signed a statement of support. “We stand in unequivocal solidarity with Palestine Action as they resist the Labour government’s defamatory threats of possible proscription,” it said. “This draconian action is a desperate ploy by a government exposed for its shameless participation in the Zionist genocide in Gaza.”
MP Jeremy Corbyn, who was expelled from Labour and is now an independent, called the decision “authoritarian” and “draconian” and vowed to continue campaigning against Israel.