Palestine Action are not terrorists. Israel is

Labelling bid activists arsenic extremists portion backing Israel’s genocide exposes the UK government’s motivation collapse.

The procreation that marched successful grounds numbers against the Iraq warfare learned 1 happening clearly: respectable protestation unsocial does not work. On the contented of Palestine, too, the powerfulness elite has repeatedly ignored the fashionable will. The media pays small attraction to hundreds of thousands marching, and the authorities remains unmoved contempt nationalist polls showing a bulk enactment for an arms embargo connected Israel.

This antiauthoritarian shortage successful Britain makes nonstop enactment look the lone almighty mode to reason Western war‑mongering successful the Middle East. And Britain’s ongoing subject enactment for Israel’s genocide successful Gaza is wherefore I enactment Palestine Action – the radical the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, is readying to proscribe arsenic a violent organisation aft its activists vandalised a Ministry of Defence aircraft.

I, too, person felt morally compelled to instrumentality nonstop action. In summertime 2014, erstwhile Israel bombed Gaza for 51 days – sidesplitting much than 2,200 Palestinians – I was a subordinate of the archetypal London Palestine Action group. We occupied the extortion of a drone‑engine mill owned by Elbit Systems, halting accumulation for 2 days. It remains 1 of my proudest moments.

But our radical burned retired and became dormant until relaunching nether a antithetic sanction successful 2023. By contrast, the nationwide Palestine Action, founded successful 2020, has mounted a sustained run against Elbit Systems, taking acold greater idiosyncratic risks.

Inspired by Smash EDO, the Raytheon Nine, and the 1996 enactment that decommissioned Hawk jets to halt Suharto’s bombing of East Timor, Palestine Action has destroyed millions of pounds’ worthy of subject equipment. They person go a superior thorn successful the broadside of the military–industrial complex. Many – often young women, queer radical and radical of colour – person been imprisoned, sacrificing their state arsenic governmental prisoners.

Crucially, Palestine Action has ne'er harmed a quality being. Their actions – non‑violent yet disruptive – person saved lives. By contrast, Israel’s genocide successful Gaza has killed oregon maimed astatine slightest 200,000 people, including tens of thousands of children. This constitutes authorities panic by immoderate standard. These brave activists are acting to forestall it due to the fact that their authorities refuses to.

If the British authorities had ne'er equipped Israel, oregon had stopped doing truthful astatine immoderate clip successful the past decade, Palestine Action would person had nary people and mightiness not person existed. Perhaps then, arsenic I write, Israel would not beryllium committing genocide successful Gaza either. But Britain’s cognition towards Palestinians has been rooted successful assemblage arrogance for implicit a century, originating with the Balfour Declaration.

Palestine Action’s nonstop involution has exposed the contradictions successful Britain’s presumption connected Israel. The Home Secretary’s program to proscribe the radical arsenic a violent organisation reveals the authoritarian quality of the existent Labour authorities and the racialised societal power underpinning the “war connected terror”.

By branding non‑violent resisters arsenic “terrorists”, the UK has taken a leafage straight from Israel’s playbook. Just this month, Israel did the aforesaid to the Palestinian rights radical Addameer. This maneuver is progressively utilized by authoritarian states astir the world. It is the roadworthy to fascism – and it threatens to further erode the antiauthoritarian freedoms we inactive person successful Britain.

But this maneuver volition not work. You tin prohibition a group, but not a question oregon an idea. Palestine Action has engaged acclaimed lawyer Gareth Pierce to situation the proscription successful court. And adjacent if the prohibition stays successful place, nonstop enactment volition persist arsenic agelong arsenic Britain supports Israel’s genocide.

Yet nonstop enactment unsocial cannot extremity this atrocity. It volition instrumentality each of us, from wrong and beyond organization politics, pressuring Britain from each angle. It won’t hap overnight, but it tin happen.

And erstwhile Palestine is free, past volition retrieve clearly: Keir Starmer and his authorities arsenic enablers of genocide, and Palestine Action arsenic heroic bid activists who laid down their liberty – and their bodies – to reason authorities terror.

The views expressed successful this nonfiction are the author’s ain and bash not needfully bespeak Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.