Supporters of Palestine Action stage a protest outside the Royal Court of Justice in London, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)The High Court has just ruled that the government’s ban of Palestine Action under terrorism legislation is unlawful.While the ban remains remains in place for now, it is a major victory to campaigners who have long opposed the decision.MPs voted to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation in July.The drastic move came after the group targeted an Israeli defence company’s UK base and an RAF centre.But the move to proscribe Palestine Action has sparked significant backlash from the left, especially amid Israel’s devastating ground offensive in Gaza.Regional friction spiked when Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked and killed 1,200 people on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023, taking a further 251 hostage.Israel then launched a military campaign in Gaza. The estimated death toll now exceeds 70,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities.While a ceasefire is currently in place, Gaza remains in a humanitarian crisis.Thousands of people have been arrested since Palestine Action was proscribed last July for showing support for the proscribed group.Here’s what you need to know.What Is Palestine Action?Palestine Action is a pro-Palestine organisation which describes itself as a “direct action movement committed to ending global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime”.It aims to target “corporate enablers of the Israeli military-industrial complex”.The group’s main target is “Elbit Systems” which is reportedly Israel’s biggest weapons producer.Its website says: “We do not appeal to politicians or anyone else to create the necessary changes, as we understand the depth of complicity within most global institutions.“Rather than begging those who are complicit to gain a moral compass, we go straight to the source and shut down the production of Israeli weapons.”It was set up a few years ago, before decades of tension between Israelis and Palestinians reached fever pitch in autumn 2023.What Did Palestine Action Do?The group has been accused of entering an RAF base, Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, on June 20, and spraying two aircrafts with red paint.The action was condemned by Keir Starmer at the time as “disgraceful”.Four people were subsequently arrested, and a security review was launched across the “whole defence estate”.A further two people were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage on Tuesday, July 1, after Palestine Action claimed it had blocked Israeli defence firm’s UK site in Bristol.Activists said they had covered it in red paint to “symbolise Palestinian bloodshed”.The government had already put forward its proposals to proscribe Palestine Action by the time of the second incident.MPs then decided to proscribe the group last summer, by 385 votes to 26.What Does It Mean To Be Proscribed?Once the proposal is passed into law, supporting the group will become a criminal offence.Anyone who is a member or expresses support for the group could face up to 14 years in prison.Security minister Dan Jarvis told MPs at the time that this will not stop protesters from expressing support for Palestine.He said: “Palestine Action is not a legitimate protest group.“People engaged in lawful protest don’t need weapons. People engaged in lawful protest do not throw smoke bombs and fire pyrotechnics around innocent members of the public.“And people engaged in lawful protest do not cause millions of pounds of damage to national security infrastructure, including submarines and defence equipment for Nato.”A Palestine Action spokesperson said last summer: “While the government is rushing through parliament absurd legislation to proscribe Palestine Action, the real terrorism is being committed in Gaza.“Palestine Action affirms that direct action is necessary in the face of Israel’s ongoing crimes against humanity of genocide, apartheid, and occupation, and to end British facilitation of those crimes.”Why Was There So Much Backlash By The Decision?There were concerns that the legislation to proscribe Palestine Action was grouped together with two white supremacist groups – Maniacs Murder Cult and Russia Imperial Movement – to help it pass.Some MPs warned that proscribing the group would undermine basic freedoms.Ten-Labour MP Zarah Sultana, who is now a Your Party MP, slammed the government’s move, saying: “To equate a spray can of paint with a suicide bomb isn’t just absurd, it is grotesque.“It is a deliberate distortion of the law to chill dissent, criminalise solidarity and suppress the truth.”Other MPs pointed out that the vote in the Commons took place on the 97th anniversary of women being granted equal suffrage.Labour’s Kim Johnson accused parliament for banning Palestine Action “for using tactics once seen in the Suffragette struggle”.97 years after women won equal suffrage, only 694 women have ever been elected. I’m #533.Wore my suffragette sash with pride – hand-stitched by Welsh seamstresses.How ironic that Parliament celebrated by banning PA for using tactics once seen in the Suffragette struggle. pic.twitter.com/U2hjBdmMFp— Kim Johnson (@KimJohnsonMP) July 3, 2025Meanwhile, the head of Human Rights Watch in the UK, Yasmine Ahmed, said proscribing the group was a “grave abuse of state power and a terrifying escalation in this government’s crusade to curtail protest rights”.She added: “We expect this of authoritarian regimes like Russia or China, not a country like the UK that professes to believe in democratic freedoms.”What Did The High Court Say?The High Court ruled the ban of Palestine Action under terrorism legislation is unlawful, although it remains in place for now.That means taking part in Palestine Action activities is still a serious offence.Three senior judges said that while the group uses criminality to promote its goals, its activities have not crossed the very high bar to make it a terrorist organisation.But, the judges decided the ban must stay in place until a further hearing later in February in case of a legal challenge.What’s The Response To The Ruling?The government said it will appeal the decision. Home secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “I am disappointed by the Court’s decision and disagree with the notion that banning this terrorist organisation is disproportionate.”She said the government’s proscription “followed a rigorous and evidence-based decision-making process, endorsed by parliament”.Palestine Action’s co-founder, Huda Ammori, said the ruling was a “monumental victory for both our fundamental freedoms in Britain and in the struggle for freedom for the Palestinian people”.She said the ban will be remembered as “one of the most extreme attacks on free speech in recent British history”, adding that it would be “profoundly unjust” for the government to go ahead with its appeal.Lib Dem Home Affairs spokesperson Max Wilkinson also slammed the government’s move.The MP said: “The Liberal Democrats have argued all along that the proscription of Palestine Action was a grave misuse of terrorism laws.“Placing Palestine Action in the same legal category as ISIS was disproportionate and risked undermining public trust and civil liberties.“This ruling does not place anyone above the law. Any individual members of Palestine Action who are accused of serious offences such as vandalism and violent disorder should be investigated, prosecuted, and, if convicted, sentenced accordingly. But these are potential criminal acts and not comparable to the horrors of terrorism.”Related…Donald Trump Says Israel Has Agreed To A 60-Day Ceasefire In GazaHundreds Of Palestinian Health Workers Remain Unlawfully Detained By Israel: NGOs’Don’t Know What The F*** They’re Doing’: Trump Rages As His Iran-Israel Ceasefire Deal Collapses HuffPost UK – Athena2 – All Entries (Public) Read More