Key takeaways
- More than 4,000 people have been arrested in the UK in connection with Palestine Action since the group was banned under terrorism law in July 2025, according to The Irish Times.
- Home Office figures for the year ending June 2026 show 31 terror-related arrests of people who define their nationality as Irish, 28 of them linked to Palestine Action.
- The UK Supreme Court heard a two-day appeal beginning on November 4, 2026, and has not yet issued a judgment.
- The justices are asked only whether the ban is compatible with the freedom of expression and assembly protections in the European Convention on Human Rights.
- The UN human rights chief, Volker Türk, has previously criticised the ban as a misuse of counterterrorism law, while the UK government says the proscription was lawful and endorsed by Parliament.
The number of people arrested in the UK over Palestine Action, a direct-action group banned as a terrorist organisation in July 2025, has passed 4,000, according to reporting by The Irish Times on November 8 and 9, 2026. The newspaper’s analysis found that 3,630 people were arrested in the first year of the ban, a total it says exceeds any single year of arrests during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The figures arrive days after the UK Supreme Court heard a final appeal that could decide whether the ban survives.
Palestine Action is a British group founded in 2020 that campaigned against what it describes as UK military assistance to Israel. It was proscribed under the Terrorism Act 2000, which makes membership or support a criminal offence carrying up to 14 years in prison.
What is the Palestine Action ban and why is it contested?
Proscription is the legal process by which a UK Home Secretary designates a group as a terrorist organisation. According to Al Jazeera, Parliament moved to ban Palestine Action after members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged two aircraft in June 2025. The group was placed on a list that also includes Hamas and Hezbollah, as AFP noted in its report on a later High Court ruling.
The ban has been tested repeatedly in court. The High Court ruled the proscription unlawful in February 2026 but left it in force pending further hearings. The Court of Appeal then overturned that ruling on June 15, 2026, finding the ban lawful, according to the account of the case on Wikipedia.
Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, described the measure in 2025 as a “disturbing misuse” of counterterrorism laws, according to Al Jazeera. The Council of Europe also criticised what it called excessive limits on the right to protest, Al Jazeera reported. The UK government maintains that the proscription followed a rigorous process endorsed by Parliament, as the then Home Secretary said after the February High Court judgment, according to AFP.
How many arrests are linked to Palestine Action, and how many are Irish?
The Irish Times reported that, as of the year ending June 2026, 31 terror-related arrests in the UK involved people who define their nationality as Irish. Of those, 28 were linked to Palestine Action, making Irish nationals the largest group of non-British terror-related arrests, the newspaper said. Among them is Chris Haughton, a London-based illustrator and Ireland’s children’s laureate for 2026 to 2029, who told the paper he was arrested for holding a sign of support.
Earlier Home Office data reported by UnHerd showed 3,034 terrorism-related arrests in the year to December 31, 2025, compared with 248 the previous year. Of those, 2,779 were attributed to Palestine Action. The same data showed that people arrested in connection with the group had an average age of 59.
Mass arrests have continued. Police said 139 people were arrested outside the US Embassy in London on October 31, 2026, mostly for expressing support for a proscribed organisation, according to The Times of Israel. The Irish Times put the figure from that weekend at around 300. The sources differ, and the Metropolitan Police tally is the more specific one.
What is the Supreme Court being asked to decide?
The five Supreme Court justices began hearing the appeal brought by Huda Ammori, a Palestine Action co-founder, on November 4, 2026, according to Al Jazeera. Courthouse News reported that the court is considering only whether the ban is compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects freedom of expression and association. Permission to appeal was granted in July, and the court declined to hear a separate argument over how the Home Secretary applied her policy.
Ammori’s lawyers told the court that, at the time of proscription, officials had assessed only three of 385 actions over five years as meeting the legal definition of terrorism, according to the BBC. They argued that the ban had produced a “crisis in confidence” in anti-terror law. They also accepted that Palestine Action could not be described as an ordinary peaceful protest group.
The Home Office argued that the group’s escalating actions, including a 2024 raid on the Israeli defence firm Elbit Systems, amounted to terrorism, The Arab Weekly reported. A coalition of Jewish groups also made submissions, arguing that the group had increasingly targeted Jewish community interests, the BBC reported. The court is expected to reserve judgment, so a ruling will come at a later date.
Why does the ruling matter beyond Palestine Action?
The BBC reported that a number of related trials are in limbo until the Supreme Court rules. A ruling against the government could therefore affect pending prosecutions as well as the legal basis for the arrests. A ruling for the government would confirm the lawfulness of a proscription based largely on property damage, which The Irish Times described as a marked change in how UK terror legislation is interpreted.
The case also carries an international human rights dimension. Strasbourg-based protections under articles 10 and 11 of the Convention are the sole legal ground on appeal, and Ammori has said she would take the matter to the European Court of Human Rights if necessary, according to Wikipedia’s account of the case.
What to watch
- The Supreme Court judgment: No date has been announced. The outcome will determine whether the proscription stands and what happens to pending prosecutions.
- Further mass-arrest protests: Supporters have repeatedly gathered for sign-holding demonstrations, and police have responded with large numbers of arrests.
- Updated Home Office statistics: Quarterly terrorism arrest data will show how far Palestine Action cases continue to dominate the total.
- Irish and international reaction: Attention in Ireland is likely to rise after the new nationality figures, and UN human rights officials have already voiced concern.
- Possible Strasbourg action: A loss in London could lead to an application to the European Court of Human Rights.
Frequently asked questions
Why was Palestine Action banned in the UK?
Parliament voted to proscribe the group under the Terrorism Act 2000 after members broke into an RAF base and damaged two aircraft in June 2025. The ban took effect on July 5, 2025. Membership or support is now an offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.
How many people have been arrested over Palestine Action?
According to The Irish Times, more than 4,000 people have been arrested in the UK in connection with the group since the ban, including 3,630 in its first year. Most arrests were for displaying signs of support. The total is still rising as protests continue.
When will the Supreme Court rule on the Palestine Action ban?
No date has been set. The two-day hearing began on November 4, 2026, and the court is expected to reserve judgment. The five justices are considering only whether the ban is compatible with free expression and assembly rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Sources
- Children's author among 28 Irish arrested as part of UK 'terror' crackdown on Palestine Action
- 'It's absurd': Palestine Action UK arrests higher than those at peak of the Troubles
- UK Supreme Court hears appeal against Palestine Action's proscription
- Palestine Action co-founder challenges UK terror ban at Supreme Court
- Palestine Action ban undermined confidence in anti-terror laws, Supreme Court told (BBC via Yahoo)
- Palestine Action challenges UK terror ban at Supreme Court
- UK police arrest 139 people at London protest in support of banned Palestine Action
- Palestine Action responsible for 92% of UK terror arrests
- UK court rules Palestine Action may challenge 'antiterrorism' ban
- Palestine Action's legal challenge against UK government ban begins
Top image: Diliff / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
This article was produced by the Intelligence Report Desk. Sources are linked below.
