UK court to rule on Palestine Action ‘terrorist’ label: What we know

The United Kingdom’s Court of Appeal is expected to rule on Monday whether the British government was right to proscribe the Palestine Action activist group as a “terrorist” organisation.

Palestine Action was formally proscribed by the UK last July. A court in London ruled earlier this month that four activists convicted of criminal damage at a British facility owned by an Israeli weapons group would be sentenced on the basis that their actions had a “terrorist connection”.

The proscription of Palestine Action as a “terrorist” organisation has been challenged in the High Court, which ruled in February that the ban was unlawful. The government then appealed that decision.

Palestine Action is a British protest group which was founded six years ago and describes itself as a movement “committed to ending global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime”.

It says it uses “disruptive tactics” to target “corporate enablers” and companies involved in the manufacture of weapons for Israel, such as Israeli group Elbit Systems, Italian aerospace company Leonardo, French multinational Thales and Teledyne from the United States. The group has targeted British facilities linked to those companies.

In all, British police have said action by the group has resulted in millions of pounds of criminal damage.

Days after the Brize Norton attack, members of parliament voted in favour of proscribing the group. That classified Palestine Action as a “terrorist” organisation, bringing it into the same category as armed groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS).

Critics decried the vote, arguing that while members of the group have caused damage to property, they have not committed violent acts that amount to terrorism.