UK Court Upholds Terrorist Label for Palestine Action

The Court of Appeal ruled on June 15 that the UK government’s ban on Palestine Action as a terrorist organization was lawful, overturning a High Court decision that had found the proscription unlawful.

The ruling means support for the group remains a criminal offence under the Terrorism Act 2000, punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Palestine Action is participating in a nationwide sabotage campaign against Elbit Systems—a major supplier to the Ministry of Defence and one of Israel’s largest defense contractors—and any other company it deems to have links to Israel, such as banks.

The group was formally proscribed as a terrorist organization in July 2025.

Co-founded by Huda Ammori, who is Palestinian Iraqi, and Extinction Rebellion’s Richard Barnard, the group says it is a “direct action network dismantling British complicity with Israeli apartheid.”

Ammori’s challenge, supported by Amnesty International UK and Liberty, led to a Feb. 13 High Court ruling that the government’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action was unlawful.

However, on Monday, the Court of Appeal overturned that ruling and found the proscription lawful.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said in a June 15 post on X that the court found that Palestine Action has “carried out acts of terrorism, celebrated those who have taken part in those acts and promoted the use of violence.”

“It is not an ordinary protest or civil disobedience group, and its actions are not consistent with democratic values and the rule of law. This decision does not affect lawful protest in support of the Palestinian cause, which remains a fundamental democratic right,” she wrote.

“There is a difference between supporting Palestine and supporting a proscribed terrorist group. We will always take the strongest possible action to protect our national security and keep the public safe.”

The judgment cited extracts from a Palestine Action “Underground Manual” that encourages activists to form autonomous cells, carry out reconnaissance, damage targets, and avoid detection.

“It is, nonetheless, a fundamental mistake to overlook the fact that Palestine Action overtly promotes unlawful violence amounting to terrorism,” the court said.

It added that “it is not, as it claims, a direct action civil disobedience protest group like the suffragettes operating transparently in the open.”

“It is a covert organisation that operates using secret cells to avoid the detection and prosecution of those using violence to destroy the property of third parties. Palestine Action’s activities have caused injury as well as property damage,” the court said.

The group uses radical methods and language to pursue its goals.