U.K. terrorism ban on Palestine Action group unlawful, court rules after appeal

Britain’s ban on ​pro-Palestinian campaign group Palestine Action as a terrorist ‌organisation was ruled unlawful by London’s High ​Court on Friday (February 13, 2026), though the ⁠ban will temporarily remain in place and the government said it would appeal the decision.

Palestine Action was ‌proscribed in July, having increasingly targeted Israel-linked defence companies – particularly Elbit Systems – in ‌Britain with “direct action”, often blocking entrances ‌or ⁠spraying red paint.

Britain’s Interior Ministry argued ⁠the group’s escalating actions, culminating in a June break-in at the RAF Brize Norton air base when ​activists damaged two planes, ‌amounted to terrorism.

Lawyers representing Huda Ammori, who co-founded Palestine Action in 2020, argued at a hearing last year that the move ‌was an authoritarian restriction on the ​right to protest.

The ban had put Palestine Action on a par ⁠with Islamic State or al Qaeda and made it a crime to be a ‌member. More arrested for holding signs

The High Court upheld two grounds of challenge, including that the ban was a disproportionate interference with the right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.

Judge Victoria Sharp ‌said that “Palestine Action is a group that promotes its ​political cause through criminality”, but that proscription was still disproportionate.

She added, however, ⁠that the ban would remain in place pending ⁠any appeal – which Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood immediately said the government would ‌pursue.

“I intend to fight this judgment in the Court of Appeal,” she said ​in a statement.