Labour knew Palestine Action posed no violent threat, but banned it anyway amid lobby pressure

A damning new Declassified UK report shows the Labour government’s own advisers told it Palestine Action didn’t pose a clear violent threat. Yet amid pressure from pro-Israel lobbyists, who have significant influence on Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, the state opted to ban the group anyway. This unprecedented crackdown came amid ongoing UK support for the Israeli state’s genocide in Gaza.

Declassified‘s John McEvoy notes that “officials struggled to produce evidence the group posed a national security threat”. In particular, MI5’s Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre (JTAC) told the government “the majority of direct action by Palestine Action would not be classified as terrorism”. It also admitted that “PA branded media will highly unlikely explicitly advocate for violence against persons”.

The Proscription Review Group (PRG), meanwhile, admitted that it knew of no precedent for banning a non-violent direct action group on terror grounds. And both JTAC and the PRG told the government in March that only 3 out of 385 actions could possibly cross the threshold for banning Palestine Action.

Lobby pressure and establishment media complicity over Palestine Action

McEvoy adds that the government was aware that:

a ban on Palestine Action might give credence to claims that the pro-Israel lobby exerts influence over decision-making.

A Community Impact Assessment for the government – from “the Ministry of Housing, RICU (Research, Information and Communications Unit), and NPCC (National Police Chiefs’ Council)” – detailed previous reports of pro-Israel groups and individuals putting pressure on the government. Those wanting harsher consequences for direct action against companies complicit in Israel’s war crimes against Palestinians included, unsurprisingly:

• The Israeli embassy
• Elbit Systems – “Israel’s biggest military and arms company“
• Fossil fuel, arms trade, and pro–Israel lobbyist John Woodcock (aka ‘Lord Walney‘). The former Labour Friends of Israel chair had previously rallied against Jeremy Corbyn from within the Labour Party until his 2018 suspension over sexual harassment allegations, which pushed him to leave. He proudly supported war criminals and railed against the left, even backing Boris Johnson. Then, he received the reward of a peerage and an advisory ‘anti-extremist‘ role, despite having no relevant experience.

The Community Impact Assessment also noted the dangers for free speech and democracy of banning Palestine Action, including that such a decision:

could energise further calls from pro-Israel advocates to ban more moderate pro-Palestinian groups, emboldened by the precedent set.

It also seems likely, McEvoy suggests, that US president Donald Trump “may have weighed in on the issue”. And he points out that British establishment propaganda outlets played their part too by spreading misinformation relating to Iran. But as he insists:

The JTAC assessment of Palestine Action’s sources of funding makes no mention of Iran whatsoever, and nor does the Intelligence and Security Committee’s recent report on Iranian state threats to Britain.

The fact that government officials nonetheless sought to plant the idea of Iranian links, McEvoy says:

raises the prospect that a state-linked disinformation campaign was waged against Palestine Action in order to manufacture public consent for proscription.

Featured image via the Canary