The United Kingdom’s High Court of Justice ruled against the government’s ban and proscription of the anti-Israel Palestine Action group as a terrorist entity on Feb. 13, prompting Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to say that her office will appeal and Jewish groups to express “concern.”
In its ruling on the ban, which went into effect on July 5 following repeated acts of violence, vandalism and break-ins into Israel-related facilities by members of the group, the court said the ban had been “disproportionate and unlawful,” The Guardian reported.
Despite the ruling, authorities have not released more than 2,500 people in custody for participating in or supporting Palestine Action since the proscription. As per the court’s ruling, the ban on Palestine Action remains in place until the government repeals it or legal procedures around the proscription are exhausted.
“The Government’s proscription followed a rigorous process, endorsed by Parliament. I will fight this judgment in the Court of Appeal,” Mahmood wrote on X.
The Metropolitan Police of London said in a statement that it would stop arresting people for showing support for Palestine Action, but would gather evidence for potential future prosecution. The ruling did not say that Palestine Action was not a terrorist group as the government had classified it, but that the procedure that led to the proscription was lacking.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council, both major umbrella groups, wrote in a statement following the ruling that they were “deeply concerned” by it.
The court acknowledged that Palestine Action has carried out acts of terrorism, the Jewish groups noted, and that those actions “are not consistent with democratic values and the rule of law.”
The Jewish groups added: “We recognize the vital importance of judicial oversight in matters of national security and civil liberties. However, the practical impact of Palestine Action’s activities on Jewish communal life has been significant and deeply unsettling.”
Palestine Action, the Jewish groups said, has “repeatedly targeted buildings hosting Jewish communal institutions, Jewish-owned businesses, or sites associated with Israel, in ways that cause fear and disruption far beyond the immediate protest sites.”
The groups “welcome the response of the Home Secretary and note her intention to fight the judgment in the court of appeal,” they added.
On Feb. 4, a London court acquitted six suspected Palestine Action activists of burglary, even though they confessed to breaking into a U.K. subsidiary of Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems in 2024.
Prosecutors may seek a retrial for lesser charges, but the acquittal by a jury showed that Palestine Action may enjoy more leeway from the judiciary than the government, as well as a possible indication of the popularity of the group’s cause.
During the trial, a police officer testified that one of the defendants, Samuel Corner, 23, had beaten her. He denied this, according to The Guardian. The prosecution showed footage it said was of Corner assaulting the officer at the Elbit Systems factory near Bristol on Aug. 6, according to the BBC.
