London - Afrasianet - Since the British government decided to ban the  Palestine Action  movement and classify it as a "terrorist" organization, the police have recently intensified their prosecution of pro-Palestinian activists with the "Terrorism Law", as the campaign of arrests has expanded to include even those who raised banners in support ofPalestine despite the fact that it did not contain any references to the banned organization.

Britain's Supreme Court has warned police against abusing their powers or misinterpreting the law, after defenders of the movement presented evidence showing that police used the law to arrest demonstrators for wearing T-shirts that read "Free Palestine" or for holding up banners denouncing what they described   as Israel's genocide in Gaza.

Last weekend, police arrested around 100 demonstrators across the country during anti-movement protests, including the elderly, as protesters defied the ban and raised slogans and banners in support of the Palestine Action movement. 

Mass arrests

These scenes were repeated in the British protest squares during the previous week as well, when the police took the initiative to arrest 72 protesters on the basis of expressing solidarity with the movement, bringing the number of people arrested under the "Terrorism Law" to 200 people, while other protesters repeatedly said that they were arrested simply for carrying signs in support of Palestine or Gaza.

There were fears that this "legal action" could turn into a broad targeting of the Palestine solidarity movement and a criminalization of protest against the genocide in  the Gaza Strip.

The overly broad interpretation of terrorism in Britain and police misinterpretation of the law has been a concern for rights groups for years, with the UN Human Rights Committee and the British Supreme Court earlier calling  for a review of the definition of terrorism contained in the General Act 2000.

Chris Doyle, a British activist in the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, stresses that peaceful demonstration is one of the basic rights that should not be violated under any circumstances, stressing that the controversy surrounding the ban of the "Palestine Action" movement should not reflect negatively on freedom of expression, or push demonstrators to impose self-censorship on their opinions and positions.

Doyle, who is also the head of the Centre for Arab-British Understanding, believes that  the Labour government is  heading in a worrying direction, warning that its insistence on dealing with criminal offences committed by some of the movement's activists under the Terrorism Act could confuse law enforcement, narrow the space for protest and overwhelm the justice system as a result of the widespread arrest campaign.

Despite the harsh criticism levelled at it, the British government defends the path it has chosen to deal with the movement, accusing it of "deviating from peaceful protest and committing terrorist misdemeanors".

On June 23, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced a travel ban bill approved by parliament after activists stormed the Bryce Norton military base and spray-painted red on two military planes, in an incident that Prime Minister Keir Starmer described as  "disgraceful". 

Pressure campaign

For years, the movement has targeted British military companies in a campaign to pressure the authorities to stop arms exports to Israel, and now affiliation with them or solidarity with them is prohibited under the British Terrorism Act, and the penalty is up to 14 years in prison.

The group is trying to persuade the court to fully review the decision to ban it and put it on the terror lists, after it had previously rejected an appeal to temporarily ban the ban filed by the organization a few hours before it came into effect on July 5.

The Palestine Solidarity Movement suffered another loss a few weeks ago before the British judiciary, as the Supreme Court did not object to the continued supply of weapons to Israel, nor did it oppose the supply of spare parts to the Israeli army for the  F-35 jets, which it relies on to launch air strikes against the Gaza Strip, despite activists filing a lawsuit demanding a halt to the export of these weapons. 

The British government's move to ban Palestine Action raises concerns about a wider systematic crackdown on other pro-Palestinian associations and institutions, with the Guardian reporting that British banks have frozen the bank accounts of two organizations in solidarity with the Palestinians.

The newspaper revealed that both the "Friends of Manchester Greater for Palestine" organization and the "Scottish Solidarity Campaign with Palestine" have frozen their assets, while the two movements are one of the active associations in the mobilization in support of the Palestinian cause and protest against the government's policies in support of Israel.

Nihad Khanfar, a professor of law at the University of London, points out that the Labour Party government is waging a fierce attack and declared war – through the Ministry of the Interior and the Counter-Terrorism Police and under the cover of the British Public Prosecution – on freedom of opinion and expression, as the arrests are no longer limited to those who are in solidarity with the banned "Palestine Action" movement, but have now extended to associations that provide aid to Gaza and voices opposing the genocide against its residents. 

Contradictory Policies

The British government insists that the move does not seek to restrict the Palestinian protest movement, with British Security Secretary Dan Jarvis earlier telling parliament that the ban "does not in any way affect the protest movement against Israeli policies and the government continues to guarantee the right of supporters of Palestine to demonstrate."

As the Labor government escalates its fight against pro-Palestinian activists, it has once again chosen to intensify pressure on the Israeli government after issuing a statement signed by 28 foreign ministers of Western and European countries, in an attempt to urge Tel Aviv to immediately stop the war on Gaza and to exacerbate the systematic starvation campaign against its population.

While the Europeans failed to agree a few days ago on imposing sanctions on Israel, Britain led the unprecedented statement in the context of the government's attempts to raise the tone of warning towards Tel Aviv, with Foreign Secretary David Lammy threatening to  impose new sanctions if there is no ceasefire in the Strip.

But Doyle believes that the government's position is based on a stark contradiction, claiming that it is making efforts to ensure respect for international law and exerting pressure on Israel to stop a genocidal war, while tightening the noose on the Palestine solidarity movement, which only demands government decisions that are also consistent with international humanitarian law.

For his part, Khanfar believes that the Interior Ministry is waging a fierce campaign against the Palestinian solidarity movement, in clear contradiction to the statements of the foreign minister, "which did not provide any serious move to punish Israel."