Home Secretary decides to proscribe Palestine Action after ‘disgraceful attack’

The incident is being investigated by counter-terror police.

Criminal offence

The ban under terror laws will make it a criminal offence to belong to or support the group, and will be punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

A draft order will be laid in Parliament next Monday, and if approved after debates by MPs and peers, the ban could come into force by Friday.

Ms Cooper said in a written ministerial statement: “The disgraceful attack on Brize Norton in the early hours of the morning on Friday 20 June is the latest in a long history of unacceptable criminal damage committed by Palestine Action.

“The UK’s defence enterprise is vital to the nation’s national security and this Government will not tolerate those that put that security at risk.”

Demonstrations

Palestine Action posted footage online showing two people inside the base at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on Friday morning.

The clip shows one person riding an electric scooter up to an Airbus Voyager air-to-air refuelling tanker and appearing to spray paint into its jet engine.

The group has staged a series of demonstrations in recent months, including spraying the London offices of Allianz Insurance with red paint over its alleged links to Israeli defence company Elbit, and vandalising US President Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf course in South Ayrshire.

Ms Cooper said Palestine Action’s activity has increased since 2024 and its methods have become “more aggressive”, with its members showing “willingness to use violence”.

She named three attacks at Thales defence factory in Glasgow in 2022, Instro Precision in Kent and Elbit Systems UK in Bristol in 2024, as causing damage costing millions of pounds.

Ms Cooper said the ban will allow law enforcement to “effectively disrupt the escalating actions of this serious group”, describing a further vandalism attack on a Jewish-owned business last month that Palestine Action claimed responsibility for as “clearly intimidatory and unacceptable”.

“Proscription represents a legitimate response to the threat posed by Palestine Action,” she said.

“Its activities meet the threshold set out in the statutory tests established under the Terrorism Act 2000.”

‘Let them go’

The announcement comes as protesters clashed with police at a demonstration in support of Palestine Action in central London on Monday.

The crowd surged towards police when officers tried to detain someone in Trafalgar Square in central London, while onlookers chanted “let them go”.

The protest had initially been planned to take place outside the Houses of Parliament, but the location was changed early on Monday morning after the Metropolitan Police imposed an exclusion zone.

The Met Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said he was “shocked” by the planned protest and described Palestine Action as an “organised extremist criminal group”.

Asked about Sir Mark’s comments, Palestine Action spokesperson Max Geller said on Monday: “It’s really troubling that the head of the Met would pre-empt the Government and ban us from protesting (at the Houses of Parliament).

“It’s a frustrating turn for democracy in this country.”

Obligation

A spokesperson for Palestine Action previously accused the UK of failing to meet its obligation to prevent or punish genocide.

The spokesperson said: “When our Government fails to uphold their moral and legal obligations, it is the responsibility of ordinary citizens to take direct action. The terrorists are the ones committing a genocide, not those who break the tools used to commit it.”

The Home Secretary added the proscription is specific to Palestine Action and does not affect lawful protest groups or others campaigning on issues around Palestine and the Middle East.

“It is vitally important that those seeking to protest peacefully, including pro-Palestinian groups, those opposing the actions of the Israeli government, and those demanding changes in the UK’s foreign policy, can continue to do so,” she said.

In response to the Home Secretary’s decision proscribing Palestine Action as a terror group, Plaid Cymru Westminster Leader, Liz Saville Roberts MP said: “Non-violent protest is a cornerstone of any healthy democracy, enabling people to challenge injustice and to hold those in power to account. Banning organisations that speak out against war and genocide is a dangerous erosion of our fundamental right to free speech. From Greenham Common to the Iraq War, history shows that non-violent direct action has been essential in shaping public discourse and advancing justice.

“Proscribing Palestine Action appears to be a disproportionate and unnecessary move by the UK Government. The UK prides itself on protecting freedom of expression but silencing such voices undermines democratic engagement and sets a worrying precedent for other countries across the world.”

The Home Secretary has the power to proscribe an organisation under the Terrorism Act of 2000 if she believes it is “concerned in terrorism”.

Some 81 organisations have been proscribed under the 2000 Act, including Islamist terrorist groups such as Hamas and al Qaida, far-right groups such as National Action, and Russian private military company the Wagner Group.