The Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has announced she plans to make membership and support for the group illegal

bristolpost Administrator

16:24, 23 Jun 2025

Palestine Action smashed up the headquarters of Elbit Systems in Bristol back in March 2025Palestine Action smashed up the headquarters of Elbit Systems in Bristol back in March 2025(Image: Palestine Action)

Soon-to-be-banned Palestine Action targeted Bristol-based businesses more than 20 times – causing damage and disruption believed to run into the millions of pounds.

The Home Secretary Yvette Cooper today (Monday, June 23) announced she had decided to proscribe the group and will lay an order before Parliament next week to make membership and support for it illegal.

It followed the vandalism of two planes inside RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on Friday.

The organisation formed in July 2020 but has dramatically increased its activity since October 2023.

In Bristol the group’s primary focus has been on Elbit Systems UK in Filton, which it claims manufactures weapons for the Israeli military.

The company denies this and has said its UK arm supplies the British military and nothing made in Bristol is sold to Israel. However, linked company Elbit Systems Ltd is an Israeli-based defence company.

The most notable of these attacks was in August last year when the group issued a press release claiming to have smashed into the Elbit UK premises using a prison van and destroyed equipment inside.

Police said Elbit workers were assaulted with weapons with one suffering a head injury. Two police officers were also alleged to have been attacked with a sledgehammer. Eighteen people are currently awaiting trial.

Other incidents claimed by Palestine Action include an attack on Barclays in Broadmead on June 10 last year during which the windows were smashed and red paint thrown.

It was justified by saying the bank should stop investing in Israeli defence companies and fossil fuel.

The group has also targeted Aviva in Stoke Gifford which it claimed provides the mandatory employers liability insurance for UAV Engines in Staffordshire, a drone engine factory owned by Elbit Systems.

Fellow insurance company Allianz has also been targeted on more than one occasion amid claims it provides employer liability insurance to Elbit Systems.

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.”

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”.

Barclays Bank branches up and down the country were smashed up in a co-ordinated attack by activist group, Palestine ActionBarclays Bank branches up and down the country were smashed up in a co-ordinated attack by activist group, Palestine Action(Image: Paul Gillis)

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.”

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

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.

Seven people were arrested after a Palestine Action protest at Elbit Systems UK, 600 Aztec West, BristolSeven people were arrested after a Palestine Action protest at Elbit Systems UK, 600 Aztec West, Bristol(Image: Palestine Action)

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.

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.