Palestine Action set to be condemned as terrorists after legal challenge fails

MPs overwhelmingly voted in favour of Home Secretary Yvette Cooper's decision to proscribe the protest group under the Terrorism Act 2000 with the House of Lords backing the move.

Now, the move is set to come into force at midnight after a High Court judge refused Ammori’s bid for a temporary block.

Justice Chamberlain said: "The interim relief sought here would suspend the effect of an order which the Secretary of State considers is required in the public interest, and which has been affirmed by both Houses of Parliament.

"In those circumstances, other things being equal, there is a strong reason to allow the Secretary of State to make the order in what she considers to be a lawful manner."

He continued: "The proscription order will undoubtedly have severe effects on the claimant and many others. The exercise of the power in respect of a group such as Palestine Action may also have wider consequences for the way the public understands the concept of ‘terrorism’ and for public confidence in the regime of the 2000 Act.

"It is not, however, the court’s function to comment on the wisdom of the use of the power in the case."

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Friday’s hearing comes after an estimated £7million worth of damage was caused to two Voyager planes at RAF Brize Norton on June 20, in an action claimed by Palestine Action.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced plans to proscribe Palestine Action on June 23, stating that the vandalism of the two planes was "disgraceful" and that the group had a "long history of unacceptable criminal damage".

Justice Chamberlain said that an assessment on whether to ban the group had been made as early as March, and "preceded" the incident at RAF Brize Norton.

Four people were charged in connection with the incident.

The group has accused Labour of complicity in what it says are Israeli war crimes in its ongoing bombardment of Gaza. Israel has repeatedly denied committing genocide in its war in Gaza, which began after Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

Ammori's lawyer Raza Husain said the proscription marked the first time Britain had sought to ban a group carrying out such direct action, describing it as "an ill-considered, discriminatory, authoritarian abuse of statutory power".

Speaking outside the Royal Courts of Justice, Israeli activist Yaen Kahn said: "We will remember July 4, a year since Keir Starmer was elected, this is fascism day. This is the day when Britain actually became a fascist state.

"I will never be silent because Gaza is being exterminated by Nazis. Hitler, who exterminated some members of my family, did it by law, and Britain is using the law.

"They are doing that so Israel can carry on and exterminate and annihilate every Palestinian. They have already exterminated half a million Palestinians in Gaza alone.

"This is a dark day in history. Now Britain has become officially complicit and is participating in the Israeli holocaust in Gaza."

It comes as least 20 Palestinians were killed on Friday in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza, according to local health officials, as President Donald Trump said he expected Hamas to respond to his "final proposal" for a ceasefire in Gaza in the next 24 hours.

Health officials at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, said the Israeli military had carried out an airstrike on a tent encampment west of the city around 2am, killing 15 Palestinians displaced by nearly two years of war.

Five were killed in northern Jabalia, medics said. The Israeli military had no immediate comment.