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The activist group Palestine Action has been Home Office given permission to challenge in court On its designation as a terrorist organisation, the Court of Appeal rejected the Home Office’s appeal.
The Direct Action Group was banned by the government after several of its members broke into an Oxfordshire RAF base to spray-paint military aircraft.
Formed in 2020, Palestine action has held a series of direct action protests over the past five years, primarily against arms manufacturers’ operations and sales in the UK arms to israel
Revealing her intention to ban the group after the 23 June incident, former Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said it was the latest in a “long history of unacceptable criminal damage done by Palestine Action”.
The prohibition has labeled the group a terrorist organization and made it illegal to become a member of Palestine Action or to solicit support for it.
The group’s co-founder Huda Ammori sought to challenge the government’s decision, with her lawyers arguing that the ban violates the right to free speech, and is stifling legitimate protest.
Nearly 2,000 people have been arrested on suspicion Public protest in support of Palestine action Since it was banned.
Filing a case against all the protesters is a “huge burden” on counter-terrorism officials, sir. mark rowleyThe metropolitan police The commissioner has accepted.
About 500 people were dispersed by authorities because they were holding placards that read, “I oppose genocide, I support it.” Palestine action“, The most recent performance In Trafalgar Square earlier this month.
In summarizing the Court of Appeal decision dismissing the Home Office appeal, Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr said: “An application to set aside, with a right of appeal to POAC (Proscribed Organizations Appeal Commission), was not intended to be a means of challenging the initial decision.”
He added: “Judicial review would be a quicker means of challenging an order banning Palestine action than applying for de jure.”
What else has Palestine Action done in the past?
Palestine Action was founded on 30 July 2020 after a group of activists spray-painted the interior of Elbit Systems’ UK headquarters in London.
remains a defense contractor The main target of protest against Palestine Action Since its formation. Elbit Systems, based in Israel, is the country’s largest arms manufacturer. It supplies most of the drones and ground-based equipment used by the Israeli military.
In the UK, Elbit has several UK subsidiaries which operate across 16 sites across the country with 680 employees. Its latest new site is a manufacturing and development facility in Bristol, due to open in 2023.
On 19 May 2021, four members of Palestine Action wearing boiler suits climbed onto the roof of a drone factory owned by Elbit in Leicester.
This action was taken in response to a period of unrest in May that year, in which 256 Palestinians and 17 Israelis were killed.
Similar occupations have been carried out at Elbit-owned sites in Bristol, Oldham and Tamworth.
In April 2024, the group targeted Somerset County Hall, a Grade II-listed building owned by Somerset Council, by spraying it with red paint. This was in response to the local authority leasing a building near Bristol to Elbit.
In March 2025 the site was targeted for the 17th time by Palestine Action, with four members of the group using a cherry picker to damage the building. One used a hammer on a rope to break windows, while another spray painted the building.
In June 2025, four activists from the group reportedly damaged two aircraft at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire by using repurposed fire extinguishers to spray red paint on their turbine engines and causing further damage with crowbars.
Counter Terrorism Policing South East (CTPSE) said all four have been charged with knowingly entering a prohibited place for a purpose detrimental to the security or interests of the United Kingdom and conspiracy to cause criminal damage.