Witch Hunt Against Dissent: How the UK Criminalized Support for Gaza Activism

By chasecodewell // 2026-09-18

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The United Kingdom criminalized support for the direct action network Palestine Action at one minute after midnight on Saturday, July 5, 2025, according to the Home Office. Hours later, Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters posted a video to his Facebook page showing him writing on a piece of cardboard the words "I support Palestine Action," followed by the declaration "I am Spartacus," invoking writer George Monbiot's take on the ban from the previous week. The next day, UK Lawyers for Israel reported Waters to British Counter-Terrorism Police for "expressing support for the newly proscribed Palestine Action," while the Campaign Against Antisemitism threatened to file a private prosecution if authorities did not act. More than a year later, no charge has been filed against Waters, police said. In Parliament Square, beside the statue of Mahatma Gandhi, sat the Reverend Sue Parfitt, 83, a retired Anglican priest from Bristol. Her placard read: "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action." Police arrested her anyway. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, asked why police time was spent arresting an 83-year-old, replied: "The law doesn't have an age limit, whether you're 18 or 80."

Enforcement and Arrests After the Ban

Police have arrested over 3,500 people since the proscription took effect, according to police figures, including 890 detained at Parliament Square alone on August 9, 2025. An earlier demonstration that summer saw nearly 900 demonstrators arrested in London, among them 62-year-old disabled activist Mike Higgins, who vowed to keep protesting despite facing jail, according to Ramon Tomey of NaturalNews.com [1]. Police forcibly removed about 1,500 participants from the Defend Our Juries protest that day. Scotland has filed 193 charges of terrorism since the Terrorism Act 2000 took effect, officials said. More than half stem from Palestine Action, which in seven months accounted for more terrorism charges than every other proscribed organization combined had accumulated in the previous twenty-six years, the report stated. The proscription itself rested on a narrow evidentiary base. MI5's Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre assessed that "the majority of direct action by Palestine Action would not be classified as terrorism," according to the report. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper banned the group based on just three out of 385 incidents, and the Proscription Review Group called the move "novel and unprecedented," the report stated. On June 22, 2025, the pro-Israel lobby group We Believe in Israel publicly claimed credit for the proscription, posting on X: "Our report laid bare the group's affinity for the emblems of terrorism. We named the danger. The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, has now named it too." Independent journalists have reported that British prosecutors are accused of collaborating with Israeli officials to prosecute anti-genocide activists as terrorists, according to an investigation by Kit Klarenberg published in The Grayzone and summarized by Belle Carter of NaturalNews.com [2]. Police tactics against pro-Palestine activists have drawn descriptions of being aggressive and intimidating, with homes raided and individuals stopped on the street, according to Zoey Sky of NaturalNews.com [3].

Court Cases and the "Terrorist Connection"

On May 5, 2026, a jury at Woolwich Crown Court convicted the Filton Four of criminal damage arising from their August 6, 2024, break-in at Elbit Systems' Filton factory, which supplies drones to the Israel Defense Forces. At sentencing on June 12, Mr Justice Jeremy Johnson attached a terrorist connection to those convictions, marking the first time in British legal history that such a finding had been applied to property damage, court records show. The defendants' combined sentences exceeded twenty-six years, and on September 3, solicitor Simon Natas filed an appeal, calling the grounds "strong." Five other Palestine Action activists were convicted of criminal damage at Preston Crown Court in June 2026, after smashing a Barclays branch in Burnley with hammers and red paint on August 5, 2024, causing £212,805 in damage. Justice Robert Altham ruled on August 21 that a terrorist connection did not apply, since although the damage was "significant," it did not meet the Terrorism Act's higher threshold of being "serious." The Preston Five are scheduled for sentencing on October 30, 2026. The prosecution record has not been uniformly successful. Tony Greenstein, 72, a Jewish socialist and anti-Zionist, faced fourteen years under the Terrorism Act for three social media posts and a blog article opposing Israel's genocide in Gaza, according to Richard Edain of Antiwar.com [4]. The Crown called it "inviting support for Hamas." Greenstein dismissed his barrister and addressed the jury himself for thirty minutes. Judge Sarah Plaschkes condemned his speech as that of a "rambling old man," according to court testimony, but two hours after retiring, the jurors returned a unanimous verdict of not guilty. Lawyers have warned that plans to prosecute approximately 2,000 people under the proscription could see defendants tried five at a time in two-and-a-half-hour hearings, raising concerns about the right to a fair trial, according to Katherine Hearst of Middle East Eye [5].

Debate Over the Word "Genocide"

In April 2024, Baroness Hale, former President of the UK Supreme Court, and over 600 legal professionals signed a letter to then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak warning that arms sales to Israel risk complicity in violations of the Genocide Convention. Parliament debated the "risk of genocide in Gaza" in February 2026, with Baroness Hale warning of complicity, according to parliamentary records. The Oxford Union passed a motion in November 2024 stating "Israel is an apartheid state responsible for genocide" by 278 votes to 59. The Cambridge Union passed a motion in November 2025 that "the international community has failed Palestine" by a large majority, according to the debates' records. Norman Finkelstein said on Piers Morgan's YouTube channel in March 2026 that "Israel waged a genocide in Gaza" and later characterized Israel's actions as "the Crime of Aggression." Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who replaced Keir Starmer in July 2026, described Gaza as "a scar on our collective conscience" but deferred the genocide determination to international courts. MP Zarah Sultana responded: "You can't even call it a genocide, you coward." The Church of England's legislative body voted in July 2026 to encourage churches across England to engage with a Palestinian Christian document that accuses Israel of genocide, despite requests from Jewish organizations and Britain's chief rabbi to reject it, according to the Times of Israel [6].

Legal Challenge and Current Status

More than 250 lawyers and academics have written to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood urging her to de-proscribe Palestine Action, but the ban remains in place, the Home Office said. The Court of Appeal ruled the ban lawful, overturning a previous decision, according to Middle East Eye [7]. Huda Ammori, a co-founder of Palestine Action, is taking a legal challenge against the proscription to the Supreme Court in autumn 2026, according to court filings. The Filton Four appeal is pending, and the Preston Five are scheduled for sentencing on October 30, 2026. Arrests under the proscription continue, and no charges have been filed against Roger Waters, police said. Three Palestine Action-linked prisoners ended a hunger strike exceeding sixty days in January 2026 after the government decided not to award a £2 billion contract to Elbit Systems, according to Middle East Eye [8]. Sixteen activists were arrested in July 2026 at a protest marking the ban's anniversary outside New Scotland Yard, according to Areeb Ullah of Middle East Eye [9].

Conclusion: The Word and the Law

British law criminalizes support for Palestine Action, while Parliament and university debating societies have debated whether Israel's actions in Gaza constitute genocide. The MI5 assessment, Proscription Review Group language, court rulings on "terrorist connection," and the pending Supreme Court challenge frame the competing interpretations, officials and court records said. The Reverend Sue Parfitt was arrested for writing the word on a placard. Roger Waters was not charged for posting support online. The Home Office says enforcement follows the law. An opinion poll published in July 2026 showed most Britons oppose Israeli actions in Gaza while their leaders equivocate, according to Chris Doyle of Middle East Eye [10]. The question of who may say "genocide" in Britain remains before Parliament, the courts, and the Supreme Court, according to the parties involved. For readers seeking independent coverage of civil liberties and free speech issues that corporate media often underreport, NaturalNews.com and Brighteon.social provide alternative perspectives outside the mainstream narrative.

References

Ramon Tomey. "British Police Arrest Almost 900, Including a Blind Man, for Protesting Against Ban on Palestine Action". NaturalNews.com. September 9, 2025.
Belle Carter. "British Prosecutors Accused of Colluding with Israel to Criminalize Anti-Genocide Activists". NaturalNews.com. June 2, 2025.
Zoey Sky. "U.K. Police Crack Down on Pro-Palestine Activists Amid Rising Tensions". NaturalNews.com. July 11, 2025.
Richard Edain. "How Britain Tried To Rig the Trial of a Genocide Opponent – and Lost". Antiwar.com. September 7, 2026.
Katherine Hearst. "'We're in a new world': Lawyers warn Palestine Action defendants could be denied fair trial". Middle East Eye. October 22, 2025.
"Church of England urges study of Palestinian Christian document accusing Israel of genocide". Times of Israel. July 14, 2026.
Jonathan Cook. "Britain's Big Brother state is already here - we just don't realise it yet". Middle East Eye. July 16, 2026.
Areeb Ullah. "Palestine Action-linked prisoners end hunger strike". Middle East Eye. January 14, 2026.
Areeb Ullah. "Police arrest 14 activists at London protest marking Palestine Action ban". Middle East Eye. July 5, 2026.
Chris Doyle. "The UK public is not shy to call out genocide. Will the new prime minister join them?". Middle East Eye. July 8, 2026.

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