Diane Abbott leads rebellion against banning Palestine Action
UNITED KINGDOM, JUL 3 – Labour MP Diane Abbott opposes criminalizing Palestine Action under UK anti-terror laws after MPs voted 385 to 26, risking 14-year prison terms for supporters, amid protests against military ties to Israel.
- On June 25, 2025, MPs in the Commons voted 385 to 26 to classify Palestine Action as a terrorist organization under the Terrorism Act 2000, making involvement or support punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
- This action followed a June 20 incident where two Palestine Action activists sprayed red paint on RAF Brize Norton aircraft linked to Gaza surveillance, leading to five arrests on terror suspicion.
- Supporters and legal experts opposed the ban, warning it conflates direct action with terrorism, restricts free speech, and suppresses legitimate protest during ongoing violence and alleged genocide in Gaza.
- Security Minister Dan Jarvis argued that Palestine Action should be banned, asserting that it does not qualify as a lawful protest group, while critics condemned Labour’s connections to pro-Israel lobbying and pointed to undisclosed conflicts of interest among its members.
- The ban's outcome could criminalize solidarity broadly, risking infringement on democratic protest rights and intensifying political divisions amid calls for legal challenges and further parliamentary debate.
18 Articles
18 Articles
Solidarity with Gaza is not antisemitic - Death to hypocrisy - International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine
The mass movement for solidarity with the population of Gaza and of Palestine worldwide is labelled antisemitic and subject to repression both collectively by the banning of Palestine solidarity organizations (Palestine Action in Britain labelled as terrorist, threat of dissolution against Urgence Palestine in France for example) and against individuals including many academics sacked for denouncing the Israeli genocide in Gaza. IVP606 - July 20…
We Are All Palestine Action
By Writers Against the War on Gaza – July 2, 2025 “If we defeat the government’s attempts to destroy our organization, victory in our fight against Elbit is near,” a spokesperson for Palestine Action told us this week. “If they do proscribe us, then let a thousand Palestine Actions bloom.” On Friday, June 20, two members of Palestine Action rode into the UK’s largest military base on e-scooters, carrying a Palestinian flag and fire extinguishers…
Gap in law could see young people ‘committing terrorist acts by weekend’ – peer
Lord Walney made the warning as he backed the Government’s plan to proscribe the protest group Palestine Action. Young people “are going to be committing terrorist acts, probably, by the weekend”, Lord Walney has warned during a debate on the proscription of protest group Palestine Action. The former independent adviser on political violence and disruption described a “gap in the law”, because the Government cannot proscribe protest groups which…
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