The British Government proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist group on 5 July 2025 under the UK’s Terrorism Act 2000.

Palestine Action, also called Pal Action, is a British direct action network founded in 2020 with the stated goal of “ending global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime“. With Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems as their primary target from the beginning, the organisation has been active in protests against the Gaza war in the United Kingdom, with many of their most high-profile actions such as the “Filton 24” case coming in response to the Gaza genocide. It is currently proscribed as a terrorist group under the Terrorism Act 2000, making membership of, material support for, or displaying items in support of the group a criminal offence in the UK. The group uses direct action to disrupt the UK arms industry, which it accuses of being complicit with Israel in conducting a genocide. Palestine Action have mounted 45 documented direct actions in the United Kingdom. Key targets of the group have been British factories of Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems as well as RAF Brize Norton, a Royal Air Force base. In their campaigns, Palestine Action have used protest, occupation of premises, and destruction of property, which sometimes resulted in its members being arrested. An action in Filton on 6 August 2024 resulted in a lengthy legal process during which the defendants were held on remand for 18 or more months, during which time some undertook a hunger strike. In May 2026, mixed verdicts were returned after a retrial, and in June 2026 the four activists were sentenced to a total of over 20 years imprisonment.

The British Government controversially proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist group on 5 July 2025 under the UK’s Terrorism Act 2000, citing property damage caused by a group of members at Brize Norton the month prior, where the activists sprayed military planes with red paint. Subsequent reporting has revealed that the UK government had been considering the proscription of the group for at least a year prior to that date. Civil liberties groups criticised the ban as conflating protest with terrorism. Between proscription and the end of April 2026, British police arrested at least 3,070 individuals for showing support to Palestine Action, many of these resulting from sit-ins in Parliament Square on 9 August 2025 and 6 September 2025, and in Trafalgar Square on 4 October 2025. Further silent vigils were held in November 2025, and during the wave of silent action over 600 more arrests were made. On 13 February 2026, the High Court of Justice ruled that the proscription was unlawful but would temporarily remain in place to allow the government to appeal. On 15 June 2026 the Court of Appeal overturned the High Court ruling and found the ban on Palestine Action to be lawful. The five judges said that the ban was a “justified and proportionate interference with individual rights”. Huda Ammori, one of the co-founders of Palestine Action, said that they would go to the Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights in order to overturn it.

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“Ik ben lid van een terroristische organisatie”