Group that spray-painted military jets with ‘Palestinian blood’ fights Home Secretary’s move to class them as terrorists alongside ISIS and al-Qaeda
Palestine Action has launched an eleventh-hour legal challenge to block Home Secretary Yvette Cooper from banning them as a terrorist organisation – just days after causing up to £30 million of damage at Britain’s largest airbase.
The High Court granted the controversial group an urgent hearing on Monday after lawyers submitted a judicial review claim on behalf of co-founder Huda Ammori, 31, who is of Palestinian and Iraqi heritage.
At the Royal Courts of Justice, lawyers argued they would seek “interim relief” at a hearing on Friday that could derail the Government’s plans to make the activists the first direct action protest group ever classified as terrorists – putting them on par with Islamic State, al-Qaeda and neo-Nazi group National Action.
The dramatic legal manoeuvre comes after two Palestine Action members broke into RAF Brize Norton on electric scooters on June 20, spray-painting military aircraft engines with red paint and attacking them with crowbars in what they called a “direct intervention” against British support for Israel.
The £30m vandalism spree
In scenes that left defence chiefs stunned, the activists:
- Rode e-scooters straight onto the runway of the UK’s largest RAF base
- Sprayed red paint into the turbine engines of two Airbus Voyager aircraft
- Smashed the planes with crowbars
- Daubed paint across the runway
- Left a Palestinian flag at the scene
- Escaped undetected despite the base housing 5,800 personnel
Defence sources revealed one aircraft may be written off entirely, with engine replacement costs alone hitting £25 million. The group has cost the military an estimated £55 million through various attacks.
The act of vandalism committed at RAF Brize Norton is disgraceful,” blasted Prime Minister Keir Starmer on social media.
Terrorism laws invoked
Cooper announced on Monday she had decided to proscribe Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000, with a draft order to be laid before Parliament on June 30.
If passed, membership or inviting support for the group would become a criminal offence carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison and fines up to £5,000.
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,” Cooper declared.
The Home Secretary said the group’s activities had “increased in frequency and severity” with methods becoming “more aggressive” and members demonstrating “a willingness to use violence.”
‘Unhinged reaction’
The real crime here is not red paint being sprayed on these war planes, but the war crimes that have been enabled with those planes because of the UK Government’s complicity in Israel’s genocide,” the group declared.
Geller, an American citizen married to a British woman with two British children, warned the ban could force him to leave the country as visa forms require disclosure of membership in terrorist organisations.
Legal heavyweight support
The group’s legal team at Birnberg Peirce has secured supporting statements from Amnesty International, Liberty and the European Legal Support Centre, all raising concerns about the “unlawful misuse of anti-terror measures to criminalise dissent.”
Ammori, who submitted the judicial review application, said: “I have been left with no choice but to request this urgent hearing… the Home Secretary’s decision to try to steamroll this through Parliament immediately, without proper opportunity for MPs and Peers to debate.
A further hearing in the week of July 21 will determine whether the group can mount a full legal challenge to the proscription.
History of havoc
Since its formation in 2020, Palestine Action has:
- Targeted defence firm Elbit Systems across Britain
- Occupied factory rooftops for days
- Sprayed Allianz Insurance offices with red paint
- Vandalised Trump’s Turnberry golf course
- Attacked a Jewish-owned business in North London
- Published “The Underground Manual” encouraging creation of cells
The group claimed the RAF aircraft were supporting Israeli operations, but defence sources dismissed this as “totally inaccurate,” stating the planes support Operation Shader against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
“The aircraft targeted are not used in support of Israeli forces. Israel operates their own fleet,” an RAF source said.
Terror threat assessment
Counter Terrorism Police are leading the criminal investigation, with five arrests already made – including a 29-year-old woman and three men on suspicion of terrorism offences.
The Government says Palestine Action meets terrorism thresholds through:
- Progressing its political cause” through serious property damage
- Attempting to influence government
- Creating “serious risk to health or safety” by throwing pyrotechnics and smoke bombs
- Causing “panic among staff who feared for their safety”
Celebrity backing
Irish author Sally Rooney penned a Guardian opinion piece titled: “Israel kills innocent Palestinians. Activists spray-paint a plane. Guess which the UK government calls terrorism.”
The group has raised over £79,000 of a £100,000 legal fighting fund through online donations.
As Parliament prepares to debate the unprecedented proscription order, the stage is set for a constitutional showdown over where the line between protest and terrorism truly lies.
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