UK Court Upholds Designation of Palestine Action as Terrorist.

Photo by Nikolas Gannon on Unsplash.com 

The UK Court of Appeal has upheld the lawfulness of the UK government’s decision to designate the pro-Palestinian protest network Palestine Action as a terrorist group. 

Palestine Action self-describes as a “direct action movement committed to ending global complicity with Israel’s genocidal apartheid regime”. In July 2025, the British government proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist group under its national anti-terrorism legislation, the Terrorism Act 2000, after certain incidents of property damage involving military equipment. As a consequence of the ban, participating in the Palestine Action network was deemed a criminal offence, and thousands of arrests have been made during demonstrations in the months since the ban. Around 700 people have been charged under the Terrorism Act, though there are no convictions yet.

The ban was subsequently ruled as unlawful by London’s High Court in February 2026, which judged it as disproportionate and as a breach of free speech. The most recent decision by the UK Court of Appeal overturns the aforementioned previous ruling by the UK High Court. In the new ruling, the Court establishes that the designation of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation is lawful and proportionate. The Court justifies it by saying that the protest network does not constitute a civil disobedience organisation, as it has been operating covertly to “destroy property and cause injury”. The Court has also upheld the primacy of the British government’s judgment in matters of national security.

The UK Court’s decision is being widely criticised for constituting a dangerous step in the prosecution of peaceful protestors in the UK. Amnesty International has been vocal in criticising the use of counter-terrorism powers and laws to target peaceful protestors. Under criticism is also the UK’s very definition of terrorism, which is widely considered as too broad: experts criticise the fact that criminal damage, for instance, should not be included in a definition of terrorism and should instead fall under ordinary criminal law.

The upholding of the ban has elicited disappointment in arrested protestors, who for the most part have been engaging in peaceful protest. Palestine Action founders regard the ruling as one of the most insidious attacks to the right to protest in recent British history, and are committed to challenge it at the levels of the Supreme Court and the European Court of Human Rights.

written by Alessia Milillo