London – British Interior Minister Evit Cooper announced the government’s intention to include the “Nidal for Palestine” movement (Palestine Action)) on the list of terrorist organizations under the terrorist law of 2000, in a move that sparked widespread political and legal controversy.
The move comes after an operation carried out by activists from the movement, as they stormed the “Brez Norton” military base and sprayed war planes with red paint. Cooper described the incident as “shameful”, and confirmed that “this type of action poses a threat to British national security.”
Cooper said that the movement “has a long record of unacceptable criminal damage,” stressing that the draft resolution will be presented to Parliament next week, and if it passes, the affiliation of the movement or its support will be a criminal crime that may reach a sentence of 14 years of prison.
Information from within the British Ministry of Interior, which Al -Jazeera Net obtained, indicates that the list of banned terrorist organizations is reviewed periodically.
According to the Anti -Terrorism Law for the year 2000, the Minister of Interior can impose a ban on an organization if she is reasonably convinced that it is concerned with terrorist acts, and that measure was proportional to the nature of the threat.
The organization is defined as “concerned with terrorism” if it is committed or participates in terrorist acts, promises to it, encourages it, or glorifies it illegally, or is linked to any other form to terrorism.
Supported for #Palestine They organize a pause in front of the British Parliament to demand the cessation of arms sales to Israel#Al -Jazeera #Britain pic.twitter.com/YqTVjHnaKd
– Al -Jazeera Mubasher (@ajmubasher) June 4, 2025
The movement responds
“This is an unbalanced reaction to a peaceful work represented in spraying the paint in protest against the British government’s complicity in arming Israel to slaughter the Palestinian people.”
The spokeswoman believes that “the real crime is not the red coating of the warplanes, but rather the war crimes that enabled these planes to implement due to the collusion of the British government in genocide committed by Israel.”
The spokesman described what happened “as hypocrisy from Care StarmerNoting a shift in Starmer’s position, which had defended protesters who stormed a British air base in 2003 to prevent the bombing of Iraq, and that he was then considered their legal protest because their intention was to prevent war crimes.
“Today, it is subject to the pressure of the lobbies supporting Israel and weapons companies whose interests have been affected by our operations, and work to silence us.”
The spokeswoman continued that they are teachers, nurses, students and fathers. They participate in non -violent actions to disrupt the work of private companies that arrest Israel in exterminating the Palestinians, by spraying the paint or entering the factories’ headquarters. It is absurd to be classified alongside terrorist groups such as ISIS, Nashion Action and Boku Haram.
She added that former police officials, former conservative ministers and workers – such as Chris Philip and Roses Falcon – stated that the movement of the movement is an unjustified terrorist group.
In her interview with the island, she added that legal and human rights organizations are likely Amputation Liberty opposed the legislator, considering that their classification is a shocking step and an unacceptable escalation in the government’s campaign against freedom of protest in the country.
She said that future generations will look at those who stood against the British government’s complicity in this genocide as being on the right side of history.
The movement stressed that “the statement issued by the Minister of Interior contained false allegations adopted by pro -Israel pressure groups,” noting that “they appointed lawyers and followed all legal paths to appeal the decision.”
Opposition
Earlier yesterday morning, 7 legal and human rights organizations sent a message to the Minister of Interior in which the government urges not to proceed with the movement of the movement as a terrorist organization, warning against using terrorist laws to criminalize the movement supporting Palestine.
The message signed by the European Center for Legal Support, the Center for Law for the Public Authority, the International Center for Justice for the Palestinians, the anti -arms trade campaign, the solidarity campaign with Palestine, the British Palestinian Committee, and the Palestinian Youth Movement.
Jenin Hourani, a member of the Palestinian Youth Movement, told Al -Jazeera Net that the government is trying systematically criminalizing and isolating people who are demanding justice for the Palestinians and ending the ongoing genocide implemented by Israel, instead of fulfilling its international obligations to prevent genocide.
Hourani stated that Israel is under trial in the International Court of Justice for violating the genocide agreement, while the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for its leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The signatories of the letter considered that “Ballasin Action” uses non -violent means targeting sites related to these crimes, stressing that the classification of the movement is terrorist, a dangerous step to criminalize political protests, at a time when Israel is committing daily massacres against civilians trapped in Gaza.
Rising parliamentary opposition
In light of the intense controversy over the British government’s decision, a number of parliamentarians, including the ruling Labor Party deputies, expressed their rejection of this measure and considered it a dangerous escalation that threatens the right of peaceful protest and constitutes a deviation towards tyranny.
“It seems that the government is confused between protest and terrorism. To clarify, what Israel is doing is terrorism, and what it does in sixty action is the protest against it,” said Diane Abt, former deputy of the Ministry of Interior, said, through a tweet.
Meanwhile, MP John Trick said his support for the “Liberty” organization, which considered “it is necessary to face this trend towards authoritarianism.”
Representative Nadia Whitom also tweeted, “targeting non -violent protesters in this way is a misuse of anti -terrorist powers. This is a dangerous precedent that future governments can use against their opponents.”
While Representative Richard Bergon described the decision as a “dangerous step”, pointing to a long history in Britain of direct peaceful protests to oppose wars, such as women at the Greenham Common base.
In turn, MP Zara Sultana mentioned the position of Prime Minister Kiir Starmer in 2003. In a tweet, the former deputy of the Ministry of Finance, under the opposition, John McDunil, expressed his surprise at the government’s equality between the protesters in action and terrorist groups such as ISIS and Boku Haram, stressing that the anti -terrorist laws were not for this purpose.