THE UK Government’s claims that Palestine Action is a “violent” organisation that has committed “significant injury” are both false and defamatory, one of the group’s co-founders has said.
Huda Ammori rejected allegations from the top of the Labour Government, made after more than 500 people were arrested under terrorism laws on suspicion of supporting the proscribed group.
Asked on Monday whether the UK Government was reconsidering its decision to designate the group as a terrorist organisation following mass arrests on Saturday, the Prime Minister’s official spokesperson said they were not.
“Palestine Action was proscribed based on strong security advice following serious attacks the group has committed involving violence, significant injury and extensive criminal damage,” the spokesperson said.
Downing Street said the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre – an independent authority based within MI5 – had found the organisation had carried out three separate acts of terrorism.
The UK Government further said it is unable to provide “all of the detail at this stage” but the proscription has been made through a “robust, evidence-based process”.
“We’ve said that many people may not yet know the reality of this organisation, but the assessments are very clear: this is a violent organisation that has committed violence, significant injury and extensive criminal damage,” Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said.
Ammori said the claims Palestine Action is a violent organisation were “false and defamatory”.
She said: “Yvette Cooper and No 10’s claim that Palestine Action is a violent organisation is false and defamatory, and even disproven by the Government’s own intelligence assessment of Palestine Action’s activities and the Home Office spokesperson’s statement outside court just a few weeks ago.”
Ammori said the group does not advocate for violence against persons and the majority of its activities would not be classified as terrorism.
“Spraying red paint on war planes is not terrorism. Disrupting Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems by trespassing on their sites in Britain is not terrorism,” she said.
“It is the Israeli Defence Force and all those who arm and enable their war crimes who are the terrorists.”
She claimed the reason the UK Government has banned the group is “because they capitulated to the Israeli embassy, arms manufacturers, and pro-Israeli groups who lobbied them to ban us”.
Meanwhile, officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command will be working over the coming weeks to put together case files in relation to the 532 arrests made at a protest in London in Saturday, the force has said.
The demonstration, organised by Defend Our Juries, was held in Parliament Square, with the Metropolitan Police warning it would detain anyone expressing support for Palestine Action.
The majority of those arrested, 348, were aged 50 or over, according to a breakdown published by the Met on Sunday.
Amnesty International claimed that arrests “for the type of peaceful activity that took place in London over the weekend would violate international human rights law”.
Liz Thomson, the charity’s acting Scotland director, urged Police Scotland and the Lord Advocate not to follow the London police force’s lead.
“Similar scenes should never be replicated in Scotland,” she said. “Some arrests have been made by Police Scotland in recent weeks, reportedly of individuals displaying messages deemed to be in support of Palestine Action without any incitement to violence.
“Police Scotland and the Lord Advocate must be clear that they have obligations under the Human Rights Act and international law to uphold the right to peaceful protest – and that carrying out arrests for peaceful expression on this issue will be a violation of international human rights law.”
