UK ban on Palestine Action is challenged at top court, some protesters arrested

By Sam Tobin LONDON, Nov 4 (Reuters) - A co-founder of Palestine Action challenged Britain's decision to ban the campaign group as a terrorist organisation at the UK Supreme Court on Wednesday, arguing that the move was disproportionate and undermined counter-terrorism laws. The British government proscribed Palestine Action last year after a series of high-profile incidents mostly targeting defence firms, culminating in a break-in at the Royal Air Force's Brize Norton air base in which two planes were damaged.

Britain's Home Office (interior ministry) argues that the group's escalating actions, causing serious property damage, particularly a 2024 raid targeting Israeli defence firm Elbit Systems, amounted to terrorism and justified the ban. But the move has drawn criticism from civil liberties groups and prominent supporters including Irish novelist Sally Rooney, whose books can no longer be sold in Britain over her plans to provide royalties to the group.

There have been more than 3,600 arrests linked to support for Palestine Action between proscription in July 2025 and this June, representing more than one-third of all terrorism arrests in Britain since 9/11, according to Home Office statistics. With the arrest of over 300 people last weekend outside the US embassy in London, plus two dozen or so outside the Supreme Court on Wednesday, the figure is now more than 4,000 – though any resulting charges could be dropped if the ban is overturned.

LAWYER COMPARES GROUP TO SUFFRAGETTES Founded in 2020, Palestine Action carried out hundreds of "actions", many involving obstructing or occupying premises, or spraying graffiti and breaking windows of businesses they said were linked to providing arms to Israel. After Israel began bombarding Gaza in response to a deadly attack by Hamas-led fighters in October 2023, Palestine Action's campaign escalated, the Home Office says, with the Elbit raid causing an estimated £1 million ($1.35 million) of damage.

Lawyers representing Huda Ammori, who co-founded Palestine Action, said that, at the time the group was proscribed, government officials had assessed that just three of 385 actions carried out over five years had met the definition of terrorism. London's High Court initially ruled that the ban was unlawful, but the Court of Appeal overturned that decision in June, rejecting comparisons with historical groups such as the suffragettes who campaigned for women's right to vote.

Ammori's lawyer Raza Husain, however, said on Wednesday that the suffragettes and other groups "used tactics similar or more extreme than Palestine Action", citing the suffragettes' early 20th-century bombing campaign. The Home Office, though, says the 2024 Elbit attack did involve the use of violence and weapons against security staff and police officers, one of whom suffered a spinal injury when she was hit with a sledgehammer. The United States in August also designated Palestine Action as a terrorist group.

President Donald Trump has described activists who targeted his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland last year as "terrorists". ($1 = 0.7433 pounds) (Reporting by Sam TobinEditing by Gareth Jones)