
MPs HAVE voted 385 to 26 to designate Palestine Action a terrorist organisation, criminalising membership or support under the Terrorism Act 2000.
The move, expected to take effect later this week, follows the group’s recent break-in at RAF Brize Norton, where activists defaced military aircraft with red paint in protest against UK support for Israel’s war on Gaza.
The decision places Palestine Action alongside proscribed groups such as al-Qaeda and Islamic State, carrying penalties of up to 14 years in prison.
It has triggered a sharp backlash from rights organisations, artists, academics and legal experts, who warn that the government is using anti-terror powers to quash dissent.
Over 400 public figures, including Brian Eno, Tilda Swinton and George Monbiot – condemned the ban as an assault on democratic freedoms.
‘Whether we as individuals support Palestine Action is irrelevant: what is at stake here is the very principle of freedom of expression,’ read one statement.
Another, led by Artists for Palestine UK, warned: ‘The real threat to the life of the nation comes not from Palestine Action but from Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s efforts to ban it.’
Amnesty International’s UK director, Sacha Deshmukh, called the move ‘unprecedented legal overreach’, granting the state sweeping powers to arrest, detain, surveil and silence protest.
UN experts had previously warned the UK that property damage alone does not meet the international definition of terrorism.
Palestine Action called the ban ‘draconian’ and linked it to the UK’s complicity in the Gaza genocide.
Founded in 2020, Palestine Action targets arms companies supplying Israel, especially Elbit Systems.
Their actions have caused millions in damage, according to the government.
Six arrests followed the Brize Norton incident. Yvette Cooper insisted: ‘Violence and criminal damage have no place in legitimate protest.’
The group was proscribed alongside two far-right organisations, white supremacist group Russian Imperialist Movement and the neo-Nazi Maniac Murder Cult.
Critics say this was a deliberate attempt to silence opposition to the order.
‘They deliberately lumped us in with fascists to make the vote unchallengeable,’ said one activist.
Palestine Action is expected to challenge the ban in the High Court today.