The government banned Palestine Action, a non-violent direct action network on the basis that it was a terrorist organisation. They cited property damage as the main reason for this proscription. This put Palestine Action in the same political category as Al Qaeda and ISIS, a ridiculous decision.

A mass campaign of opposition to the ruling developed, led by Defend Our Juries who had been championing juries making their own decisions over climate activists trials. More than 2,780 people have been arrested for expressing support for the group – an act that potentially carries a 14-year prison sentence. The mass arrest campaign has been driven both by popular support for Palestine and opposition to the government’s authoritarian direction.

The ban will remain in place until a further hearing on 20 February on next steps – including the possibility of a government appeal. Until that hearing, it remains a serious criminal offence to express support for Palestine Action. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has said that the government wants to appeal – although whether an appeal is possible will be decided by the court on 20 February.. …

Palestine Action is a pro-Palestinian network which uses direct action to disrupt the UK arms industry and prevent weapons being sent to Israel. Actions included breaking into an RAF base in June 2025 and spray-painting two military aircraft, resulting in £7m of damage.

The government proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation in July 2025. This has meant that membership or expressing support for the group became punishable by up to 14 years in prison. The proscription was unprecedented, with direct action of this nature having previously been prosecuted under criminal damage laws, which carry much lighter sentences. Direct actions of this nature have often successfully been defended as free speech, including by Keir Starmer. 

Despite the group’s staunch commitment to non-violent methods, the proscription was justified on the basis that a terrorist organisation is defined as any group that uses or threatens violence or damage to property in order to influence a government or intimidate the public to advance an ideological cause.

But the judgment today found that while Palestine Action “promotes its political cause through criminality and encouragement of criminality”, the group’s activities have not “reached the level, scale and persistence” to justify the consequences of proscription. The judges also found that the decision to proscribe Palestine Action was a “disproportionate” interference with freedom of expression and protest rights.

It is notable that the judgment also did not challenge the Home Secretary’s characterisation of Palestine Action as an “organisation concerned with terrorism”. Today’s judgment could therefore be used as a precedent in future direct action cases, because this type of direct action is capable of being a terrorist action. Which is sobering when we consider that the only harm done by these actions was to the property of huge weapons companies.

The Home Secretary has said that she plans “to fight this judgment in the Court of Appeal.” She also said that “I have the deepest respect for our judiciary,” but that “Home secretaries must, however, retain the ability to take action to protect our national security and keep the public safe.”

Today’s judgment is a political victory, rather than a judicial one. Quite apart from the troubling aspects of the judgment which found some of Palestine Action’s activities amounted to terrorist actions, we cannot be complacent or rely on the rule of law for protection.

The mass arrest campaign against the proscription has attracted widespread support, with thousands showing up to actions. The campaign has been organised by Defend Our Juries, who are an activist group dedicated to defending the rule of law, and in particular the right of juries to acquit according to their conscience.

But any defence or even application of the rule of law is increasingly a political act. As the middle ground slips to the right and a Labour government expounds on the need to “keep the public safe” – even from itself – apparently conservative institutions can become battle grounds.

The institutions themselves are aware of this. From the spat between US Chief Justice Roberts and US Vice-President J D Vance about the role of the courts, to the UK Attorney General’s impassioned defence of the rule of law in his 2024 Bingham Lecture against a rising British populism centred on “sovereignty” and “safety”. Even Mark Carney’s speech to the World Economic Forum in January 2026 is notable for calling out that “the rules based order is fading, that the strong can do what they can, and the weak must suffer what they must.” Compliance, Carney advises, will not save us.

Symptoms of crisis

These are the symptoms of capitalism in crisis. The old world order is crumbling around us and familiar institutions will no longer shelter those privileged few it used to defend. As the contradictions inherent within capitalism come into sharper distinction, it becomes impossible to hide behind the pleasing fiction that courts will save us. Only we can save ourselves. And we will need to use every resource available. These will include bourgeois institutions like the courts or Parliament, but the real strength will be drawn from growing our networks, social movements and the organising force of the working class.

Today’s victory is a victory for social movements – for the direct actions of both Palestine Action and Defend Our Juries. It is also a victory for Palestine, allowing people in Britain to continue to pressure the UK arms industry to stop acting in complicity with the genocide in Palestine without risking a 14-year jail sentence.