United Kingdom Home Secretary Yvette Cooper seeks to designate Palestine Action a proscribed group under an anti-terror law after its followers vandalized two aircraft at a Royal Air Force base last week.
“I have decided to proscribe Palestine Action under section 3 of the Terrorism Act 2000. A draft proscription order will be laid in Parliament on Monday 30 June. If passed, it will make it illegal to be a member of, or invite support for, Palestine Action,” Cooper said in a statement posted to the UK Parliament website on Monday.
Terrorism Act 2000 makes it a criminal offense to belong to a proscribed group, with a penalty of up to 14 years in prison or a fine. Wearing clothing or displaying items supporting such a group could result in six months in prison and/or a fine of up to £5,000 (~$6,700).
On June 20, Palestine Action, a U.K.-based anti-Israel group that has engaged in numerous acts of violence, broke into the RAF Brize Norton base in Oxfordshire, and damaged two Voyager aircraft, used for cargo and refueling.
A video of the incident released by the group shows a vandal riding an electric scooter onto the base and spray-painting the engine of one of the planes, while pro-Palestinian Arabic music plays in the background.
According to Palestine Action, which claimed responsibility for the vandalism, two activists “used repurposed fire extinguishers to spray red paint into the turbine engines of two Airbus Voyagers and caused further damage using crowbars.”
The red paint, intended to symbolize “Palestinian bloodshed,” was also sprayed across the runway, the group said. A Palestine Liberation Organization flag was left at the scene, and the activists reportedly managed to evade both security and arrest.
Palestine Action said it targeted and damaged the planes, claiming they were used to support what it called Israel’s “genocide” against Arabs in the Gaza Strip. The U.K. government has denied that the Voyager aircraft were involved in operations in Gaza. It has previously stated that Shadow R1 reconnaissance planes have been flown from Cyprus to assist in efforts to locate Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
On Monday, hundreds of protesters gathered in Trafalgar Square to denounce the home secretary’s decision, resulting in clashes with police.
Palestine Action said in a statement, “The real crime here is not the red paint sprayed on these warplanes, but the war crimes enabled by those planes due to the U.K. government’s complicity in Israel’s genocide.”
On Sunday, before the protest, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley expressed his shock and frustration in a statement on the Metropolitan Police website, condemning the decision of individuals to demonstrate in support of such a radical group.
“This is an organized extremist criminal group, whose proscription as terrorists is being actively considered,” he said. “Members are alleged to have caused millions of pounds of criminal damage, assaulted a police officer with a sledgehammer. … Multiple members of the group are awaiting trial accused of serious offenses.”
However, he noted that until the government votes on the home secretary’s proposal, the police could not by law prevent the protest.
Home Secretary Cooper noted that Palestine Action has a long history of violence: “Since its inception in 2020, Palestine Action has orchestrated a nationwide campaign of direct criminal action against businesses and institutions, including key national infrastructure and defense firms.”
These included attacks on Instro Precision in Kent and Elbit Systems UK in Bristol, the Thales defense factory in Glasgow, and an attack on a Jewish-owned business just last month.
“Its activity has increased in frequency and severity since the start of 2024,” Cooper noted.
The Sunday Times reported in a detailed analysis on March 8 that the group ramped up its violent activity from 17 attacks in 2020 to 170 in 2024.
Since the group’s founding in July 2020, it has claimed responsibility for 356 “direct actions” against British-based firms and institutions it claims have links to Israeli defense firms, the paper reported.
The attacks targeted defense and engineering firms, banks, property companies, accountancy firms, universities and other institutions.
Seventy-six companies have been impacted.
Among the companies and institutions targeted have been Elbit Systems, BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, Barclays, BNY Mellon, property firms Bell Group and Fisher German, and the universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Birmingham.