Arms for Israel, handcuffs for Palestine Action activists in the UK

In 2023, a group named Palestine Action (PA) was formed in the United Kingdom by those who wished to assist the Palestinian freedom struggle. PA wanted to see an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, an end to the illegal occupation of Palestine, an end to torture, and the release of the 10,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

Palestine Action would like to see a total ban on arms sales to Israel, an end to intelligence sharing, and the imposition of sanctions on Israel until the liberation of Palestine is achieved. PA calls for Israeli war criminals to be indicted before the International Criminal Court and for the United Kingdom to arrest anyone suspected of committing such crimes if they come to the UK.

The UK sells arms to Israel. Israel has a mighty military manufacturing sector. It purchased British weapons partly because they are good-quality and relatively inexpensive, but also to keep the British sweet. Tel Aviv was keen to stay on the right side of the United Kingdom because the UK is still a middle-ranking power and has a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. MI6 (British external intelligence) is considered second only to the CIA in its reach and prowess.

The British-Israeli intelligence-sharing relationship was fruitful for both sides. Israel had a lot to offer in terms of some of the most advanced military and espionage technology in the world, as well as secret information garnered by Mossad (Israeli external intelligence). For Israel, maintaining cordial relations with the UK had long been a fairly easy task, especially when the Conservative Party was in office in London.

Palestine Action was revolted by the fact that His Majesty’s Government continued to issue export licences for weapons to Israel after the Israeli atrocities in Gaza had been exposed to the world.

After 7 October, the then British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, flew to Israel and gave a press conference alongside Benjamin Netanyahu. Sunak said, ‘I know Israel will abide by international law in this war’. Sunak does not have the excuse of stupidity. Anyone who knows anything about Israel is certain that it would grossly violate international law on a vast scale. And so it proved.

Palestine Action members demonstrated in London. They lobbied members of Parliament. They were a group of mostly left-wing people, many of them elderly. Most were white and came from Christian or post-Christian backgrounds. They were not generally motivated by ethnic or religious solidarity with the Palestinians, but by common humanity and compassion for an oppressed, brutalised and almost defenceless people.

Some PA activists broke into a factory that was making arms for Israel. They smashed up the weaponry. In July 2025, some of them broke into a Royal Air Force base at Brize Norton and sprayed paint into the engines. This damaged the aircraft but did not injure anyone.

The United Kingdom Government proscribed PA as a terrorist organisation in 2025. PA had not killed, wounded or kidnapped anyone, nor had it attempted to do so or threatened to do so. There are thousands of PA members, and only a handful have been convicted of non-violent offences.

Given this ludicrous situation, PA decided to draw attention to the injustice of its peaceful organisation being outlawed while the UK Government abetted genocide. President Isaac Herzog was even invited to visit the United Kingdom as his armed forces rained death on Palestinian civilians.

PA started demonstrating in central London on an almost weekly basis. People held up signs saying, ‘I support Palestine Action’. That was enough to get them arrested. Displaying support for, or approval of, a proscribed organisation is an arrestable offence. Some of those arrested were geriatrics in wheelchairs. It was a huge waste of police time. Hundreds of officers were deployed to Trafalgar Square to arrest elderly people who had never done anything wrong.

The United Kingdom is experiencing not so much a crime wave as a crime typhoon. Shoplifting has been unofficially decriminalised. The police tell shopkeepers not to bother reporting a theft if the item stolen is worth less than GBP 200. Even then, the police seldom, if ever, do anything. The retail trade is aghast. The police are too busy arresting people for the abhorrent felony of opposing genocide.

British-Israelis who have served in the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) in Gaza have sometimes come to the UK without being arrested. The same goes for some Israeli politicians who have publicly advocated crimes against humanity. PA has denounced the UK’s dereliction of its duty. The UK has signed and ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

The Labour Government is less crazily Zionist than the previous Conservative Government. Labour blocked a handful of export licences for arms to Israel but allowed the rest to continue. Some Israeli military officers are trained at British defence institutions. PA opposes both the arms sales and the training of Israeli military personnel.

PA has achieved some success. There is a growing swell of support for Palestinian liberation in the Labour Party. Grassroots Labour members tend to be sympathetic to Palestine. Labour MPs are less so, but there are still plenty of outspoken advocates of Palestinian freedom in the Labour Party. The UK recognised Palestine in 2025, partly because of the PA and partly to assuage the rising level of Palestinian solidarity within Labour.

Some people in the Labour Party are embarrassed by the preposterous ban on the PA, which is blatantly a non-violent organisation. They have called for the ban to be repealed.

PA is open to all faiths and ethnicities. It boasts Jewish members.

The UK Government does not denounce IDF crimes as terrorism. The definition of terrorism is daft. Bombing hospitals, bombing mosques, snipers shooting little boys in the testicles, sadistic torture, cutting off food, cutting off water, cutting off electricity, and the wilful murder of British aid workers are NOT considered terrorism by the government.

Conversely, holding up a sign IS terrorism. Opposing genocide is terrorism. Protesting for peace is terrorism. Pleading for mercy is terrorism. It makes a mockery of the very notion of terrorism to misapply it to dissidents. This is what happens in totalitarian societies: dissenters are mislabelled as terrorists.

The Conservative Party is still in hoc to Zionism and demands that the ban be maintained. Reform UK has taken in two of the most viciously anti-Palestinian MPs from the Conservative Party: Suella Braverman (known as ‘Cruella’) and Robert Jenrick. Both are Gentiles, but, fascinatingly, both are married to Jews. Gentiles have been becoming more obdurately Zionist than most Jews.

Under Andy Burnham, the PM since 20 July, there is little sign that the Labour Government will see sense. Relations with Israel are at a low ebb. Israel has spoken of de-recognising the Falklands as British and transferring recognition to Argentina. Javier Milei is a fanatical Zionist.

Israel has threatened to close the British Consulate in East Jerusalem, which handles relations with Palestine. The UK said that if Israel did so, the British would expel 27 Israeli diplomats. The United Kingdom does not want to impair relations with Israel any further. There are hardliners in Israel who have demanded anti-British action.

But there are moderates in Israel who want a reset. Much depends on the forthcoming Israeli election. It is neck and neck between Netanyahu’s Likud Party and the opposition. Being tough on the UK might even help Likud. Other Israelis are worried that they have alienated one of the few countries that was relatively friendly.