Credit: Palestine Action
The direct action group Palestine Action will officially be designated a terrorist organisation in the United Kingdom within hours, following the High Court’s rejection of the group’s application for interim relief. The pro-Palestinian group is seeking an urgent appeal.
The direct action group will now become the first of its kind to ever be designated under the Terrorism Act amid widespread criticism and concern.
Palestine Action will now be placed in the same category as Islamic State, al-Qaida and the far-right group National Action.
British lawmakers voted Wednesday in favour of banning the pro-Palestinian activist group Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation despite widespread criticism.
The draft order to amend the Terrorism Act 2000 and proscribe three organisations, including Palestine Action, which was formally presented by Labour’s Home Secretary Yvette Cooper earlier this week, was passed in the House of Commons by 385 votes to 26.
Being a member of, or showing support for, Palestine Action will be a criminal offence from 00:01 5 July 2025.
According the the groups X account Palestine Action is seeking an urgent appeal to prevent a “dystopian nightmare which criminalises thousands of people overnight.”
UN human rights experts on Tuesday called on the UK to abandon its plans, warning that classifying Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation would violate international norms.
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“We are concerned at the unjustified labelling of a political protest movement as terrorist,” the UN special rapporteurs said in a joint statement.
They noted that under international law, terrorism must involve criminal acts intended to cause death, serious injury or hostage taking — not property damage alone.
“Acts of protest that damage property, but are not intended to kill or injure, should not be treated as terrorism,” the statement said.
British Home Secretary Yvette Cooper justified the move by claiming the group had caused property damage at military and arms facilities for political purposes, which she said meets the legal threshold for terrorism.
“Britain will always take the action needed to defend our democracy and national security,” she said in a statement.
The group has created major headlines in recent years for its relentless campaign of direct action against UK-based Israel-linked arms manufacturers.
The groups activists film themselves breaking into properties belonging to arms dealers, damaging products, spraying blood red paint on the walls and waving Palestinian flags.
Palestine Action have been credited with causing millions of pounds worth of damage to the industry.
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