UK lawmakers voted Wednesday to ban Palestine Action, a UK-based group that aims to disrupt the operations of weapons manufacturers supplying the Israeli government.
Members of Parliament voted 382 to 26 in favor of the measure against the group after two Palestine Action activists broke into Britain’s largest air base in central England, damaging two military aircraft.
The draft proscription order will reach the House of Lords on Thursday. If approved by the upper house, the ban would go into effect in the following days.
A full ban would mean that it would be illegal under UK law to be a member of – or invite support for – Palestine Action. It would put the group on par with terrorist organizations such as Hamas, al Qaeda and ISIS – sparking condemnation from United Nations experts, human rights groups, and politicians.
British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper confirmed the government’s intention to proscribe the group on June 23, after two Palestine Action activists sprayed red paint into the turbine engines of two Airbus Voyagers.
Video from the scene showed activists spraying red paint into the turbine engines of two Airbus Voyagers, which the group said were targeted for their alleged role in carrying military cargo and for their use in refueling Israeli, American and British military aircraft.
Palestine Action announced on Monday that it had started legal proceedings against the government’s decision. The group’s co-founder Huda Ammori said the clampdown mirrored “many authoritarian regimes around the world who have used counter-terrorism to crush dissent.”
If the ban goes into effect, it would likely be the first time in UK history that a direct action protest group has been proscribed under anti-terror legislation, according to several human rights advocates.
Those who defy the ban could face up to 14 years in prison, according to UK counter-terrorism police and the government. Even wearing items of clothing which “arouse reasonable suspicion” that an individual is a member or supporter of the group could result in six months in prison or a fine, police say.
‘Grave misuse of anti-terrorism powers’
Human rights organisations have vehemently criticised the government’s move, saying it is the latest in a series of draconian measures taken by the state to clamp down on legitimate protest in the country.
Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK chief executive, said on June 23 that proscribing Palestine Action could risk an “unlawful interference” with the fundamental rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.
She wrote to parliamentarians on Tuesday to warn that outlawing the group would be a “grave misuse of anti-terrorism powers.”
“Proscribing Palestine Action will mean that by the weekend, millions of people living in the UK will have limitations on their freedom of speech,” she said.
Experts from the United Nations also added to the growing chorus of criticism on Tuesday, saying they were worried about the “unjustified labelling of a political protest movement as ‘terrorist’.”
Others have previously shared messages of solidarity with the group: “We are all Palestine Action,” Labour MP Zarah Sultana posted June 24 on X. Former Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell said the government’s proscription plan was “not what the counter terrorism laws were introduced for.”
Palestine Action called the government’s reaction to its air base action “unhinged.”
“The real crime here is not red paint being sprayed on these war planes, but the war crimes that have been enabled with those planes because of the UK Government’s complicity in Israel’s genocide,” the group said in a statement on June 24.
This is a developing story and will be updated.