From Resistance to Repression: A Year of Britain’s Attack on Direct Action

The Criminalisation of Direct Action Exposes Britain’s Complicity in Israel’s Genocide of Palestinians

Source: PA / James Manning

It is a hot Summer’s night in England. The air is thick, and the breeze non-existent. The direct-action network Palestine Action has just been proscribed as a terrorist organisation by the British government. (Ironically, it was the British Government that had originally signed away Palestinian land to the Israeli occupation in the shape of Ben Gurion and with no Muslim or Christian Palestinians present). I recall sweltering nights sleeping in Jenin refugee camp in the north of the Occupied West Bank in August 2022. The fan in the bedroom was frustratingly loud, like one from a headmaster’s cobweb-ridden cupboard. There was no way I would fall asleep with that whirring. I would wrestle with a thin bedsheet covering me, keeping the window open whilst feeling anxious on high alert, whilst gunshots ricocheted off the walls. I would tilt my head in different directions, familiarising myself with the distance of where the sounds of gunshots were coming from. They were usually not too close.

Now I sit wondering what would be appropriate to wear to sleep whilst hypervigilant to the fear activists increasingly have of British armed police potentially raiding their homes, the same way I knew any night the Israeli occupation could boot down the door and storm into my bedroom as part of routine harassment towards anyone in Jenin Camp. This had occurred in the same bedroom in the guesthouse a couple of months later, whilst a journalist stayed. Earlier this year, British armed police raided the homes of people accused of participating in the action against Filton, the quadcopter drone manufacturer company in Bristol. Twenty-four people were arrested and imprisoned. The weeks following the proscription of Palestine Action, Defend Our Juries took to the streets with protestors, including pensioners dependent on walking sticks, holding up placards stating, ‘I Do Not Support Genocide- I Support Palestine Action’. An 86-year-old man was arrested, with his home raided. A couple of weeks later, 522 people holding the same placard were arrested; the majority of those present were pensioners. Over 900 protestors were arrested the following weekend, in what is believed to be the largest mass arrest in British history.

We have witnessed an increase in the abuse of police powers in the last few months across the UK. On 15^th July 2025, three activists in Edinburgh who independently took direct action in an attempt to shut down a Leonardo aerospace factory, for supplying the Israeli occupation with components for F-35 fighter jets, were all charged under the Terrorism Act. Six more people were arrested whilst being raided by armed police; the Filton 18 is now the Filton 24. More activists were arrested and their homes raided by counter terrorism police for spraying red paint on an aircraft at RAF Brize Norton, resulting in 33 political prisoners. Protestors had said that they were protesting British complicity in selling weapons to the Israeli occupation and providing intelligence from RAF spy planes, which they say was used to assist in the genocide of Palestinians. This is denied by the UK Government.

The Government’s use of anti-terrorism laws on those engaged in direct action is shortly to be challenged in the Courts. There is no precedent in Britain for such legislation to be deployed against those engaged in direct action and peaceful protest. It is surely a waste of police resources arresting and charging hundreds of often elderly members of the public for demanding an end to Britain’s colonial complicity in the supply chain for F-35 fighter jets. All the while, as we witness the destruction and pleas for support in ending the genocide via Instagram uploads from the community in Gaza, more vocal voices, such as the young inspiring Palestinian journalists Anas Al Sharif and Hossam Shabbat were targeted, engulfing their loved ones with grief. The British Government continues to clutch straws in justifying supporting their Israeli allies to continue genocide against Palestinians. Meanwhile, too many Members of Parliament benefit from funding from the Israeli lobby.

The proscription of Palestine Action means an increase in what amounts to psychological warfare on many who do not believe that Palestine Action should be proscribed as a terrorist group and who peacefully protested in order to make that point. The proscription creates paranoia, fear, division and deters British citizens from resisting their government’s complicity in the genocide of Palestinians. Six of the Filton 24 activists accused are currently on hunger strike. Teuta Hoxha, one of the Filton 24 activists currently in HMP Peterborough prison, is on her second hunger strike; her previous hunger strike lasted 28 days. She was demanding her library job to be reinstated, her mail to be received, and electrolytes to be given to her. Her health was rapidly deteriorating.

Teuta Hoxha, one of the Filton 24.

They reflect the steadfastness of Palestinian prisoners who demand their dignity using their bodies. A political prisoner in the US from the student intifada, Casey Goonan, had joined a hunger strike in solidarity with Hoxha. Malik Farrad Muhammad, a Palestinian captive from the 2020 George Floyd Rebellion, also joined the hunger strike from a US prison in solidarity with her demands. Former Guantanamo detainee and hunger striker Mansoor Adayfi also showed solidarity with Hoxha, demanding her release and for her health whilst in custody to be taken seriously. Protests were held in solidarity with her outside HMP Peterborough prison, in Belgium, Kuala Lumpur and in New York outside British embassies and consulates. Detaining activists on remand without trial is severely impacting them, whilst allegedly being mocked by Islamophobic Daily Mail-reading prison staff, regurgitating right-wing rhetoric to taunt detainees who many believe are political prisoners under surveillance by counter-terrorism units.

As we witness the repetition of administrative detention without trial used against British activists associated with taking action against arms factories supplying the Israeli occupation, we also see the parallel abuse of powers against Palestinians held in Israeli detention, thousands, including children, under administrative detention without trial. This is the residue of the two-tier British colonial ‘justice’ system’s impact on Palestinians since Britain colonised Palestine, before handing stolen land over to Israeli colonisers.

Dr Nasser Al-Laham, the chief bureau of Al-Mayadeen TV channel based in the Occupied West Bank, was arrested with his electronic devices confiscated on Monday 7^th July. He was released 9 days later. The confiscation of devices and electronics of advocates in Palestine, from individuals to organisations like Adameer, who advocate for Palestinian children’s rights in prison, is no different to electronic devices being confiscated by the UK government during raids or at borders under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act. We have seen this abuse of powers against several activists, including journalist and writer for the Electronic Intifada, Asa Winstanley.

Prior to the intensity of the escalation of arrests in recent months, including 50 people arrested on Friday 1^st August in Oxford Circus in central London for banging pots and pans, demanding food and provisions to enter Gaza, our documentary ‘To Kill A War Machine’, archived and re-visited the strength of direct action down the centuries. There is a whole history of direct action success from the Raytheon 9 in Ireland to the celebrated Suffragettes movement for votes for women, that we are seeking to portray. To Kill A War Machine was released earlier than intended, on 5^th July 2025, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) revoked their cinema certification following the proscription of Palestine Action, stating ‘further distribution or exhibition of To Kill a War Machine is likely to constitute an offence under the Terrorism Act 2000.’ Our documentary is currently being reviewed by lawyers before it can officially be shown again. Should, for any reason, the documentary be censored and blocked by mainstream media, it would be censoring a timeline of oppression that Palestinian communities have faced from the Great March of Return in 2018 and beyond.

When To Kill A War Machine was early released, community organisers across Britain and internationally mobilised with over 100 screenings in the short space of 2 weeks. Some cities, like Bristol, whose local activists and families are impacted by the Filton 24 ongoing cases, repeatedly screened the documentary on consecutive days before the proscription. Our documentary is a great example of the importance of archiving during times of repression and digital erasure. It is a thorough history lesson on direct action.

Huda Ammori, the co-founder of Palestine Action, is challenging the proscription of Palestine Action. On the 30^th of July, she was granted permission for a full judicial review of the Home Secretary’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action. If the legal challenge is successful, the ban would dissolve and be rendered unlawful. The legal challenge against the proscription will be heard on 26^th and 27^th November 2025. The one thing we must always champion and make clear as draconian repression increases in Britain and Europe is that direct action to halt genocide should not be illegal.

Shareefa Energy

Poet, Co-Producer – To Kill A War Machine