U.K. Supreme Court Hears Challenge to Ban on Palestine Action: What to Know

Britain’s decision to outlaw Palestine Action, a pro-Palestinian direct-action group, as a terrorist organization has been challenged in a succession of legal hearings since it was imposed last year. Now, the country’s Supreme Court is hearing a challenge against the ban to decide its future. The British government accused Palestine Action of orchestrating “a nationwide campaign of direct criminal action,” putting national security at risk.

According to the government’s independent adviser on counterterrorism legislation, it was the first time a protest group that did not call for violence against people was proscribed under counterterrorism laws. Here’s what to know. What is Palestine Action? Palestine Action was founded in 2020 as a pro-Palestinian protest group that largely focuses its efforts on demonstrations against corporate and military targets linked to the sale and export of defense equipment to Israel.

The group says it does not promote violence against individuals. It was co-founded by Huda Ammori, an advocate who had previously worked for a Palestinian rights organization, and Richard Barnard, an activist linked with other grass roots movements, including Extinction Rebellion, a global environmental group. During legal proceedings challenging the ban, Britain’s High Court said that the group claimed to have a mailing list of some 20,000 people but that the “extent and nature” of Palestine Action’s membership and organization was “largely unexplained.”

Analysts said that before it was disbanded, Palestine Action was run by a relatively small, committed group of activists. The group’s actions have drawn international attention. President Trump criticized it after activists were accused of vandalizing one of his Scottish golf resorts by defacing the clubhouse and spraying “Gaza is not 4 sale” across a green. Mr. Trump called the demonstrators “terrorists” and said he hoped they would be “ treated harshly .”

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