Palestine Action: What has the group done, as it faces a ban?

EXPLAINER

MPs successful the UK person voted to proscribe the radical arsenic a violent organisation, but what has it really done?

Members of Parliament successful the United Kingdom voted overwhelmingly this week to proscribe the run group, Palestine Action, arsenic a violent organisation nether anti-terrorism laws, putting the radical connected a par with equipped groups specified arsenic al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS).

A draught bid to amend the Terrorism Act 2000 to bash this, brought by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, passed done the House of Commons connected Wednesday by 385 votes to 26.

Cooper tabled the bid successful parliament conscionable days aft Palestine Action activists broke into RAF Brize Norton, the largest presumption of the Royal Air Force successful Oxfordshire, and sprayed 2 subject planes with reddish paint, resulting successful millions of pounds of transgression damage, according to police.

On Friday, the High Court successful London is proceeding a situation to the order. Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori has asked for a impermanent artifact connected the legislation.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the Airbus Voyager incidental successful an X post, saying: “The enactment of vandalism committed astatine RAF Brize Norton is disgraceful.”

Palestine Action describes itself arsenic “a pro-Palestinian organisation which disrupts the arms manufacture successful the United Kingdom with nonstop action”. It says it is “committed to ending planetary information successful Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime”.

The authorities claims it is simply a “terrorist” outfit.

But what has the radical really done?

What happened astatine Brize Norton?

In the highest-profile determination made by the radical truthful far, activists sprayed reddish overgarment into the turbine engines of 2 Airbus Voyager aircraft, utilized for air-to-air refuelling.

According to Manaal Siddiqui, a spokesperson for Palestine Action, “These [Royal Air Force] craft tin beryllium utilized to refuel and person been utilized to refuel Israeli combatant jets.” He added that planes from Brize Norton alert to the British aerial unit basal successful Cyprus, from wherever they are “dispatched connected spy missions and that quality is shared with the Israeli authorities and the Israeli aerial forces”.

What other has the radical done?

Since its founding successful July 2020, Palestine Action (PA) has carried retired hundreds of protests crossed the UK aimed astatine disrupting the operations of companies they impeach of profiting from Israeli subject operations, with a peculiar absorption connected the Israeli arms manufacturer, Elbit Systems.

Palestine Action members’ tactics typically impact breaking into facilities, chaining themselves to machinery, daubing buildings with reddish overgarment and destroying equipment.

Activists inhabit the extortion of Guardtech, a institution based successful Brandon, UK, that they impeach of being successful concern with Israeli defence contractor Elbit Systems, connected July 1, 2025 [Martin Pope/Getty Images]

They see the pursuing incidents:

• The radical launched a bid of break-ins astatine Elbit’s Ferranti tract successful Oldham, adjacent Manchester successful bluish England. Between 2020 and aboriginal 2022, the tract was repeatedly occupied and vandalised, culminating successful Elbit closing the installation successful January 2022 – an result Palestine Action declared arsenic a large victory.
• In 2021, the radical occupied the Leicester drone mill operated by UAV Tactical Systems, a subsidiary of Elbit. Activists chained themselves to the extortion for astir a week. Ten radical were arrested, but aboriginal acquitted.
• Throughout 2022, PA’s actions became much frequent. In April, they blockaded different Elbit tract successful Braunstone, Leicestershire. In June, they broke into the Thales UK mill successful Glasgow and caused much than 1 cardinal pounds ($1.37m) of harm with fume bombs and spot destruction. Five activists were jailed.
• Following the motorboat of Israel’s warfare connected Gaza successful October 2023, Palestine Action intensified its efforts. They targeted the BBC’s office successful London with reddish overgarment to protestation against the broadcaster’s perceived pro-Israel bias, and blockaded facilities of arms manufacturers including Lockheed Martin, the US aerospace and defence radical which has a basal successful London, and Leonardo, the defence and information group.
• Palestine Action has besides expanded internationally. In November 2023, its recently launched US subdivision occupied the extortion of an Elbit installation successful Merrimack, New Hampshire, with 3 activists arrested and aboriginal released with misdemeanour charges.
• In August 2024, activists drove a van into Elbit’s office successful Bristol, stormed the gathering and caused extended damage. At astir the aforesaid time, they spray-painted the Ministry of Defence, successful cardinal London, reddish and defaced a statue of Arthur Balfour with herb ketchup wrong the House of Commons. Balfour was a erstwhile Conservative premier curate who, arsenic serving overseas caput successful 1917, authored the Balfour Declaration which supported the constitution of a Jewish Homeland successful Palestine.
• In June 2025, the radical carried retired 1 of its astir provocative actions to date: infiltrating RAF Brize Norton, the UK’s largest airbase. Activists utilized electrical scooters to breach information and vandalised subject craft with reddish paint.

What does Palestine Action accidental astir being banned?

In a connection posted connected its X profile, Palestine Action said: “The existent transgression present is not reddish overgarment being sprayed connected these warplanes, but the warfare crimes that person been enabled with those planes due to the fact that of the UK government’s complicity successful Israel’s genocide.”

The radical added that the government’s determination could hazard criminalising morganatic protest.

The connection besides accused Starmer of “hypocrisy” since the premier minister, backmost successful 2003, supported protesters who broke into an RAF basal to halt US bombers heading to Iraq. At the time, Starmer was a lawyer.

“I deliberation it’s a precise knee-jerk absorption from an embarrassed government, and it’s an overblown reaction,” Siddiqui said.

Siddiqui said it was unprecedented for Palestine Action to beryllium proscribed arsenic a violent organisation. “The bulk of the proscribed groups are international. The bulk of them instrumentality actions successful very, precise antithetic ways. Palestine Action would beryllium a implicit outlier. It’s a draconian attack for the authorities to stifle protests that they conscionable don’t like. It’s genuinely terrifying for anyone who cares astir civilian liberties successful the UK.”

In all, 81 groups are proscribed successful the UK nether the Terrorism Act 2000. They see governmental movements with equipped wings specified arsenic Hamas and Hezbollah, arsenic good arsenic equipped groups similar ISIS (ISIL), al-Qaeda and Tehreek-e Taliban Pakistan.