WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.419 Imagine for a second, right, that you're walking 00:00:02.419 --> 00:00:05.320 down the street on a typical weekend. You know, 00:00:05.320 --> 00:00:06.980 you're just running errands. Maybe grabbing a 00:00:06.980 --> 00:00:09.060 coffee or something. Exactly. And you happen 00:00:09.060 --> 00:00:12.259 to be wearing this homemade, slightly goofy punny 00:00:12.259 --> 00:00:14.419 t -shirt. Okay. Next thing you know, you are 00:00:14.419 --> 00:00:16.859 completely surrounded by police, placed under 00:00:16.859 --> 00:00:20.579 arrest, and you are facing the very real threat 00:00:20.579 --> 00:00:26.429 of up to 14 years in prison. Wow. 14 years. Yeah, 00:00:26.469 --> 00:00:28.690 14 years under severe counterterrorism laws. 00:00:28.969 --> 00:00:31.589 I mean, it sounds like a heavy handed plot from 00:00:31.589 --> 00:00:34.429 a dystopian novel. It really does. But what happens 00:00:34.429 --> 00:00:37.310 when that exact scenario plays out in a modern 00:00:37.310 --> 00:00:40.090 democracy? Like how does a country actually draw 00:00:40.090 --> 00:00:43.329 the line between civil disobedience, severe property 00:00:43.329 --> 00:00:46.530 damage and literal terrorism? It's a question 00:00:46.530 --> 00:00:49.299 that. Honestly, it completely challenges the 00:00:49.299 --> 00:00:52.100 foundation of how society manages protest, especially 00:00:52.100 --> 00:00:54.979 in an era of globalized conflict. Welcome to 00:00:54.979 --> 00:00:57.439 today's Deep Dive. Our mission today is to unpack 00:00:57.439 --> 00:01:00.200 this massive, highly detailed Wikipedia article 00:01:00.200 --> 00:01:03.299 regarding a UK -based direct action group called 00:01:03.299 --> 00:01:05.879 Palestine Action. Over the last few years, and 00:01:05.879 --> 00:01:09.340 culminating right now in early 2026, this group 00:01:09.340 --> 00:01:12.379 has been at the absolute center of a historic 00:01:12.379 --> 00:01:15.719 ongoing legal earthquake in the UK regarding 00:01:15.719 --> 00:01:19.040 free speech and terrorism laws. It's a huge case. 00:01:19.219 --> 00:01:21.459 It is. And we've got a thick stack of sources 00:01:21.459 --> 00:01:24.439 detailing their specific tactics, the government's 00:01:24.439 --> 00:01:27.040 unprecedented response and the massive civil 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:29.480 liberties backlash that followed all of it. And 00:01:29.480 --> 00:01:32.400 just a really quick but crucial note for you 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:34.900 listening before we dive in. Because the source 00:01:34.900 --> 00:01:37.560 material involves the highly politically charged 00:01:37.560 --> 00:01:40.819 ongoing conflict in Gaza and Israel, we are putting 00:01:40.819 --> 00:01:43.640 our personal opinions entirely aside today. Absolutely. 00:01:43.799 --> 00:01:45.540 Entirely aside. We aren't here to take sides. 00:01:45.659 --> 00:01:47.599 We aren't endorsing any viewpoints or making 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:49.719 judgments on the underlying conflict. We are 00:01:49.719 --> 00:01:52.599 strictly acting as impartial guides. Our only 00:01:52.599 --> 00:01:55.579 job is to unpack the facts, the events and the 00:01:55.579 --> 00:01:58.120 legal battles exactly as they are presented in 00:01:58.120 --> 00:01:59.950 the text. in front of us. With those boundaries 00:01:59.950 --> 00:02:01.810 in place, let's look at how this actually started. 00:02:02.010 --> 00:02:03.969 So according to the sources, Palisade Action 00:02:03.969 --> 00:02:07.629 was founded in July 2020 by Huda Amori and Richard 00:02:07.629 --> 00:02:10.419 Barnard. Right. And to understand their trajectory, 00:02:10.539 --> 00:02:12.240 you really have to look closely at their stated 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:15.180 goal. The group's purpose, in their own words, 00:02:15.319 --> 00:02:18.419 is ending global participation in what they describe 00:02:18.419 --> 00:02:21.500 as Israel's genocidal and apartheid regime. OK. 00:02:21.680 --> 00:02:24.840 And to achieve this, they chose a very specific 00:02:24.840 --> 00:02:28.800 focus, which was the UK arms industry. They explicitly 00:02:28.800 --> 00:02:31.539 accused these companies of being complicit in 00:02:31.539 --> 00:02:33.960 conducting a genocide. And their chosen method 00:02:33.960 --> 00:02:36.719 to stop this wasn't, you know, organizing traditional 00:02:36.719 --> 00:02:39.659 marches. with banners or lobbying politicians. 00:02:39.800 --> 00:02:41.460 No, it was direct action. Yeah, direct action. 00:02:41.599 --> 00:02:44.139 And the scale and audacity of their tactics were 00:02:44.139 --> 00:02:46.560 definitely notable. They specifically targeted 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:49.000 major players like the Israeli weapons manufacturer 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:51.879 Elbit Systems and the aerospace company Leonardo. 00:02:52.280 --> 00:02:55.039 Huge companies. Massive. Activists would show 00:02:55.039 --> 00:02:57.500 up in bright red boiler suits, scale the roofs 00:02:57.500 --> 00:02:59.460 of drone factories, and just occupy them for 00:02:59.460 --> 00:03:01.780 days on end to halt production. I mean, in one 00:03:01.780 --> 00:03:03.680 instance, they broke into the University of Manchester 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:06.580 and physically removed two bus of Chaim Wiseman, 00:03:06.740 --> 00:03:09.139 the first president of Israel. Right. They also 00:03:09.139 --> 00:03:12.080 targeted historic buildings, splashing red paint 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:14.400 all over Somerset County Hall and the University 00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:17.080 of Cambridge's Senate House using repurposed 00:03:17.080 --> 00:03:19.800 fire extinguishers. Yeah, it was a highly visual, 00:03:19.960 --> 00:03:23.699 incredibly physical campaign aimed at maximum 00:03:23.699 --> 00:03:26.099 disruption. But we have to look at the actual 00:03:26.099 --> 00:03:28.139 physical and financial impact of those campaigns, 00:03:28.280 --> 00:03:31.370 too, because this wasn't just. minor graffiti 00:03:31.370 --> 00:03:33.789 that washes off with a power hose. No, not at 00:03:33.789 --> 00:03:37.449 all. We are talking about activists taking sledgehammers 00:03:37.449 --> 00:03:40.210 to windows. We are talking about severe physical 00:03:40.210 --> 00:03:42.729 danger to people on site. Yeah, the sources mentioned 00:03:42.729 --> 00:03:45.629 a break -in at Elbit's Aztec West premises in 00:03:45.629 --> 00:03:48.909 August 2024. Right. Two police officers and a 00:03:48.909 --> 00:03:51.330 company employee were injured there. One police 00:03:51.330 --> 00:03:53.430 officer was actually struck on the spine with 00:03:53.430 --> 00:03:55.650 a sledgehammer. Wow. Yeah, and they were unable 00:03:55.650 --> 00:03:57.849 to work for three months. That is a life -altering 00:03:57.849 --> 00:04:00.620 injury. Definitely. In another case, four activists 00:04:00.620 --> 00:04:03.300 used a cherry picker style vehicle to reach and 00:04:03.300 --> 00:04:05.719 smash second floor windows. So the financial 00:04:05.719 --> 00:04:07.900 damages quickly stretched into the millions of 00:04:07.900 --> 00:04:10.340 pounds. And the sources indicate these pressure 00:04:10.340 --> 00:04:12.840 campaigns actually achieved their stated goals 00:04:12.840 --> 00:04:16.540 in several instances, like the repeated occupations 00:04:16.540 --> 00:04:19.060 and property damage at an Elbit subsidiary in 00:04:19.060 --> 00:04:22.459 Oldham actually preceded its permanent closure 00:04:22.459 --> 00:04:25.839 and sale. And that Aztec West site we just mentioned 00:04:25.839 --> 00:04:28.259 eventually closed unexpectedly, too, even though 00:04:28.259 --> 00:04:31.399 its lease ran all the way until 2029. Right. 00:04:31.459 --> 00:04:34.399 And beyond the physical sites, these direct actions 00:04:34.399 --> 00:04:37.279 caused multi -day shutdowns and allegedly contributed 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:41.160 to the loss of a massive 2 .1 billion pound contract 00:04:41.160 --> 00:04:44.120 between Elbit UK and the Ministry of Defense. 00:04:44.259 --> 00:04:46.579 2 .1 billion. Yeah, billion. So they were causing 00:04:46.579 --> 00:04:49.519 real... tangible economic disruption to these 00:04:49.519 --> 00:04:52.019 massive defense contractors. And that economic 00:04:52.019 --> 00:04:54.060 disruption, combined with the escalating nature 00:04:54.060 --> 00:04:56.199 of the targets, eventually pushed the situation 00:04:56.199 --> 00:04:58.519 to a breaking point. Because when a group starts 00:04:58.519 --> 00:05:00.839 successfully interfering with billions of pounds 00:05:00.839 --> 00:05:03.360 of defense contracts, the state's tolerance for 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:06.000 that disruption just drops to zero. Which brings 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:09.420 us to June 2025. This was the flashpoint that 00:05:09.420 --> 00:05:11.279 completely changed the trajectory of the group 00:05:11.279 --> 00:05:13.300 and the government's response. The RAF Bryce 00:05:13.300 --> 00:05:16.579 Norton incident. Yes. Activists riding electric 00:05:16.579 --> 00:05:19.240 scooters managed to completely infiltrate the 00:05:19.240 --> 00:05:22.220 RAF Bryce Norton military base. Just right onto 00:05:22.220 --> 00:05:24.860 a military base. Right onto the base. And once 00:05:24.860 --> 00:05:27.160 inside the perimeter. They used their signature 00:05:27.160 --> 00:05:30.160 repurposed fire extinguishers, but instead of 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:32.600 spraying a brick wall, they sprayed red paint 00:05:32.600 --> 00:05:35.600 directly into the engines of two Royal Air Force 00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:40.139 Airbus A330 MRTT refueling planes. Wow. They 00:05:40.139 --> 00:05:42.500 also painted the runway red to symbolize the 00:05:42.500 --> 00:05:44.800 blood of Palestinians killed in Gaza, and they 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:47.279 left a flag at the base. The dueling narratives 00:05:47.279 --> 00:05:50.000 that emerged around this specific event are fascinating 00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:53.319 to analyze. Palestine Action justified the break 00:05:53.319 --> 00:05:55.720 in by claiming these specific refueling planes 00:05:55.720 --> 00:05:58.319 were actively supplying U .S. and Israeli fighter 00:05:58.319 --> 00:06:00.759 jets. So they were framing their vandalism of 00:06:00.759 --> 00:06:03.379 military hardware as a direct act of genocide 00:06:03.379 --> 00:06:05.519 prevention and the prevention of British war 00:06:05.519 --> 00:06:07.500 crimes. Right. They called it genocide prevention. 00:06:07.839 --> 00:06:10.439 But the UK Ministry of Defense, backed by independent 00:06:10.439 --> 00:06:12.939 reporting from the BBC, countered that claim 00:06:12.939 --> 00:06:15.459 directly. What did they say? They stated unequivocally 00:06:15.459 --> 00:06:18.129 that those two specific aircraft had not refueled 00:06:18.129 --> 00:06:20.389 or supported the Israeli Air Force. However, 00:06:20.610 --> 00:06:23.490 the BBC did note that those jets had been used 00:06:23.490 --> 00:06:26.550 for British air operations in Yemen, Iraq, and 00:06:26.550 --> 00:06:28.970 Syria. Okay, so they were active military planes. 00:06:29.129 --> 00:06:31.810 Exactly. And regardless of where the planes had 00:06:31.810 --> 00:06:34.290 been deployed, the very act of infiltrating a 00:06:34.290 --> 00:06:37.329 highly secure military installation and damaging 00:06:37.329 --> 00:06:40.430 state military assets, well, that was viewed 00:06:40.430 --> 00:06:42.550 by the government as an intolerable threat to 00:06:42.550 --> 00:06:45.480 national security. Yet breaking into Briz Norton 00:06:45.480 --> 00:06:48.139 was clearly the final straw. The government's 00:06:48.139 --> 00:06:51.480 response was incredibly swift, led by Home Secretary 00:06:51.480 --> 00:06:55.920 Yvette Cooper. On July 5, 2025, Palestine Action 00:06:55.920 --> 00:06:58.279 was officially prescribed as a terrorist group 00:06:58.279 --> 00:07:01.540 under the Terrorism Act 2000. Let's pause and 00:07:01.540 --> 00:07:04.240 unpack what prescription actually means for you, 00:07:04.339 --> 00:07:06.480 the everyday citizen on the street. Yeah, please 00:07:06.480 --> 00:07:09.060 do. Because it fundamentally alters your legal 00:07:09.060 --> 00:07:11.660 reality. Prescription doesn't just mean the group's 00:07:11.660 --> 00:07:13.819 leaders are arrested. Under the Terrorism Act 00:07:13.819 --> 00:07:16.519 2000, simply being a member of the group, fundraising 00:07:16.519 --> 00:07:19.220 for it, or even wearing items of clothing that 00:07:19.220 --> 00:07:21.339 arouse a reasonable suspicion of support becomes 00:07:21.339 --> 00:07:23.779 a severe criminal. offense. Just wearing a piece 00:07:23.779 --> 00:07:26.600 of clothing. Yes. And expressing an opinion supportive 00:07:26.600 --> 00:07:29.019 of the group if the state deems it reckless as 00:07:29.019 --> 00:07:31.319 to whether it encourages others to support them, 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:34.839 that's illegal too. The maximum penalty for membership 00:07:34.839 --> 00:07:38.060 or inviting support is up to 14 years in prison. 00:07:38.259 --> 00:07:40.439 And the political mechanics of how this got passed 00:07:40.439 --> 00:07:43.899 into law are wild to me. The government didn't 00:07:43.899 --> 00:07:46.300 just hold a straightforward vote on banning Palestine 00:07:46.300 --> 00:07:48.959 action. No, they didn't. They bundled the group 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:52.170 into a single voting order with two violent neo 00:07:52.170 --> 00:07:55.029 -Nazi groups, including one literally called 00:07:55.029 --> 00:07:58.230 the Maniacs Murder Cult. Yes, the Maniacs Murder 00:07:58.230 --> 00:08:00.050 Cult and another called the Russian Imperial 00:08:00.050 --> 00:08:02.490 Movement. It was a highly calculated legislative 00:08:02.490 --> 00:08:05.310 maneuver. Members of parliament couldn't vote 00:08:05.310 --> 00:08:07.750 to ban the neo -Nazis but spare the protest group 00:08:07.750 --> 00:08:10.889 or vice versa. They had to ban all three simultaneously 00:08:10.889 --> 00:08:13.730 or none at all. Which is crazy. And this move 00:08:13.730 --> 00:08:15.689 faced heavy criticism in the House of Lords. 00:08:16.379 --> 00:08:18.939 Baroness Jones openly called it a sneaky way 00:08:18.939 --> 00:08:21.399 to force the vote through because it put immense 00:08:21.399 --> 00:08:24.160 political pressure on MPs. I mean, nobody wants 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:26.459 to be the politician who votes against banning 00:08:26.459 --> 00:08:28.920 a group called the maniacs murder cult. Exactly. 00:08:29.100 --> 00:08:31.699 And the strategy worked perfectly. The House 00:08:31.699 --> 00:08:35.740 of Commons voted 385 to 26 in favor of prescription. 00:08:36.269 --> 00:08:38.570 The fallout from that vote was immediate. It 00:08:38.570 --> 00:08:40.830 triggered a massive wave of arrests that really 00:08:40.830 --> 00:08:43.110 demonstrates how broadly counterterrorism laws 00:08:43.110 --> 00:08:45.509 can sweep up the general public. Between July 00:08:45.509 --> 00:08:49.970 and November 2025, over 2 ,545 individuals were 00:08:49.970 --> 00:08:52.370 arrested by British police. Over two and a half 00:08:52.370 --> 00:08:54.990 thousand people. Yes. And the vast majority of 00:08:54.990 --> 00:08:56.950 these people weren't scaling buildings or holding 00:08:56.950 --> 00:08:59.429 sledgehammers. Most of them were arrested simply 00:08:59.429 --> 00:09:01.730 for holding cardboard signs at protests that 00:09:01.730 --> 00:09:04.850 read, I oppose genocide. I support Palestine 00:09:04.850 --> 00:09:07.529 action. Right. We even have that absurd example 00:09:07.529 --> 00:09:09.389 from the source text of a man being arrested 00:09:09.389 --> 00:09:12.049 and eventually de -arrested simply for wearing 00:09:12.049 --> 00:09:14.649 a mocking T -shirt that said plasticine action. 00:09:14.710 --> 00:09:16.429 The punny T -shirt you mentioned at the start. 00:09:16.570 --> 00:09:18.590 Yeah. Imagine the sheer amount of police paperwork 00:09:18.590 --> 00:09:21.330 and taxpayer money generated over a plasticine 00:09:21.330 --> 00:09:24.049 pun. But it completely changed the landscape 00:09:24.049 --> 00:09:26.409 of public demonstration. You could just be swept 00:09:26.409 --> 00:09:29.529 up in a terror raid for a joke. And that sweeping 00:09:29.529 --> 00:09:32.110 action came with a staggering financial cost 00:09:32.110 --> 00:09:35.070 to the public. Just policing the ban over a single 00:09:35.070 --> 00:09:37.809 four day period cost the Metropolitan Police 00:09:37.809 --> 00:09:40.750 over eight point seven three million pounds. 00:09:40.850 --> 00:09:42.730 Almost nine million pounds in four days. Yeah. 00:09:43.080 --> 00:09:45.460 When you factor in the long -term investigation 00:09:45.460 --> 00:09:48.700 and casework costs, the total quickly exceeded 00:09:48.700 --> 00:09:51.899 10 million pounds. Wow. The strain on the justice 00:09:51.899 --> 00:09:54.980 system was immense. Internal reports suggested 00:09:54.980 --> 00:09:57.620 they were preparing for over 400 trials, taking 00:09:57.620 --> 00:10:01.360 up 200 full days of court time just to process 00:10:01.360 --> 00:10:03.320 the supporters who had been holding signs or 00:10:03.320 --> 00:10:05.039 wearing T -shirts. I mean, you can't just arrest 00:10:05.039 --> 00:10:07.700 2 ,500 people for holding cardboard signs without 00:10:07.700 --> 00:10:09.759 triggering a massive civil liberties backlash. 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:11.799 You really can't. The pushback from human rights 00:10:11.799 --> 00:10:14.480 organizations... was fierce and immediate. Amnesty 00:10:14.480 --> 00:10:17.080 International, Liberty, and United Nations experts 00:10:17.080 --> 00:10:19.840 accused the UK government of fundamentally conflating 00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:23.100 protest with terrorism. Amnesty called it an 00:10:23.100 --> 00:10:26.220 unprecedented legal overreach. They argued that 00:10:26.220 --> 00:10:28.220 the UK's definition of terrorism was becoming 00:10:28.220 --> 00:10:30.559 dangerously broad compared to other democratic 00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:34.120 nations. And a declassified intelligence assessment 00:10:34.120 --> 00:10:38.000 published in September 2025 actually bolstered 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:40.210 that argument. It did. It admitted that the vast 00:10:40.210 --> 00:10:42.889 majority of Palestine actions activities, the 00:10:42.889 --> 00:10:45.710 sit -ins, the graffiti, the petty vandalism, 00:10:45.730 --> 00:10:48.490 did not meet the legal standard of terrorism. 00:10:49.009 --> 00:10:52.470 It noted that their actions mostly related to 00:10:52.470 --> 00:10:56.370 minor property damage. Alan Green, a senior counterterrorism 00:10:56.370 --> 00:10:58.570 researcher cited in the sources, pointed out 00:10:58.570 --> 00:11:00.870 that relying on property damage to label a group 00:11:00.870 --> 00:11:03.710 as terrorists marked a radical departure from 00:11:03.710 --> 00:11:05.789 how these severe laws had been used previously. 00:11:06.169 --> 00:11:08.909 And this created a profound chilling effect across 00:11:08.909 --> 00:11:11.710 the wider culture. It wasn't just activists on 00:11:11.710 --> 00:11:13.990 the front lines who were worried anymore. Normal 00:11:13.990 --> 00:11:16.250 people, writers and journalists were suddenly 00:11:16.250 --> 00:11:18.529 terrified of running afoul of the Terrorism Act. 00:11:18.669 --> 00:11:21.360 Like Sally Rooney. Yeah, the acclaimed author 00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:23.559 Sally Rooney actually provided a witness statement 00:11:23.559 --> 00:11:26.019 saying she genuinely feared her books would be 00:11:26.019 --> 00:11:28.279 pulled from UK shelves. Because she had publicly 00:11:28.279 --> 00:11:30.620 pledged support for Palestine Action before the 00:11:30.620 --> 00:11:33.720 ban. Exactly. She was worried it could theoretically 00:11:33.720 --> 00:11:36.620 be illegal for her British publishers or the 00:11:36.620 --> 00:11:40.000 BBC to pay her royalties, just on the suspicion 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:42.240 she might use that money to support the newly 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:44.960 prescribed group. That's a huge chilling effect 00:11:44.960 --> 00:11:47.960 on free speech. It is. And the prominent journalist 00:11:47.960 --> 00:11:50.500 Owen Jones had to write a column in The Guardian 00:11:50.500 --> 00:11:53.820 carefully stating right up front that he wasn't 00:11:53.820 --> 00:11:56.080 supporting the group just so he could report 00:11:56.080 --> 00:11:58.980 on the situation without risking 14 years in 00:11:58.980 --> 00:12:01.789 prison. But while high profile writers were worrying 00:12:01.789 --> 00:12:03.549 about their publishing contracts and columns, 00:12:03.610 --> 00:12:06.470 the human toll inside the UK prison system was 00:12:06.470 --> 00:12:08.750 escalating dramatically for the activists who 00:12:08.750 --> 00:12:10.470 were actually locked up. Right. We have to talk 00:12:10.470 --> 00:12:12.809 about the Filton 18. This was a group of activists 00:12:12.809 --> 00:12:15.370 arrested following a raid on an Albit Systems 00:12:15.370 --> 00:12:18.250 headquarters in Bristol. Some of these individuals 00:12:18.250 --> 00:12:21.110 faced pretrial detention that stretched far beyond 00:12:21.110 --> 00:12:23.669 a year. To put that in legal context, the usual 00:12:23.669 --> 00:12:26.289 custody time limit in the UK before a trial must 00:12:26.289 --> 00:12:29.750 begin is six months. Six months. Yes. These individuals 00:12:29.750 --> 00:12:32.110 were being held in maximum security conditions 00:12:32.110 --> 00:12:34.789 for double that time without having faced a jury 00:12:34.789 --> 00:12:37.409 or been convicted of a crime. And the psychological 00:12:37.409 --> 00:12:39.909 and physical toll of that indefinite detention 00:12:39.909 --> 00:12:43.070 sparked the prisoners for Palestine hunger strikes. 00:12:44.039 --> 00:12:46.639 Activists in multiple high security prisons like 00:12:46.639 --> 00:12:49.500 Belmarsh, White Moor and Franklin refused food. 00:12:49.659 --> 00:12:52.100 And this wasn't a symbolic weekend fast. No, 00:12:52.120 --> 00:12:54.940 some of these prisoners refused food for an agonizing 00:12:54.940 --> 00:12:58.879 73 days. 73 days. Going 73 days without food 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:01.960 causes catastrophic, often irreversible damage 00:13:01.960 --> 00:13:04.820 to the human body. It does. The sheer desperation 00:13:04.820 --> 00:13:07.419 of that situation drew major international attention. 00:13:07.639 --> 00:13:10.480 Even Greta Thunberg traveled to London in December 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:13.659 2025 to protest in solidarity. with the hunger 00:13:13.659 --> 00:13:15.620 strikers. And she ended up getting arrested by 00:13:15.620 --> 00:13:18.279 London police as well. She did, which brings 00:13:18.279 --> 00:13:21.139 us to a critical juncture in the timeline. The 00:13:21.139 --> 00:13:23.559 formal organization of Palestine Action had dissolved 00:13:23.559 --> 00:13:26.080 following the ban, advising its supporters to 00:13:26.080 --> 00:13:29.179 stay safe. But the monumental legal fight over 00:13:29.179 --> 00:13:31.360 whether that initial ban was actually lawful 00:13:31.360 --> 00:13:34.000 was just getting started. Let's jump to the legal 00:13:34.000 --> 00:13:35.759 earthquake that brings us right up to the present 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:38.960 day, early 2026. Huda Amori, the co -founder 00:13:38.960 --> 00:13:40.940 of the group, took the UK government to the high 00:13:40.940 --> 00:13:43.340 court to challenge the prescription. But right 00:13:43.340 --> 00:13:45.559 before the trial started, there was a highly 00:13:45.559 --> 00:13:48.720 controversial procedural moment. The original 00:13:48.720 --> 00:13:51.720 judge, Mr. Justice Chamberlain, who had initially 00:13:51.720 --> 00:13:55.059 granted permission for the appeal, was inexplicably 00:13:55.059 --> 00:13:58.000 removed from the case without any rationale provided 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:00.460 to the public. Yeah, he was replaced by a three 00:14:00.460 --> 00:14:03.019 -judge panel consisting of Dame Victoria Sharp, 00:14:03.340 --> 00:14:07.179 Mrs. Justice Stein, and Mr. Justice Swift. Campaigners 00:14:07.179 --> 00:14:09.840 and legal observers immediately raised red flags 00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:12.779 about this sudden switch. Groups like Defend 00:14:12.779 --> 00:14:15.539 Our Juries noted that Justices Stein and Swift 00:14:15.539 --> 00:14:18.259 had historically ruled in favor of government 00:14:18.259 --> 00:14:21.620 interests in protest cases. And even more concerning 00:14:21.620 --> 00:14:24.299 to the activists, Dame Sharpe's brother reportedly 00:14:24.299 --> 00:14:27.379 had financial interests in the very defense company's 00:14:27.379 --> 00:14:29.740 Palestine action had been targeting. That's a 00:14:29.740 --> 00:14:32.279 huge conflict of interest. It set the stage for 00:14:32.279 --> 00:14:35.460 a highly tense, suspicious legal battle. And 00:14:35.460 --> 00:14:38.019 the hearing itself was incredibly dramatic, highlighting 00:14:38.019 --> 00:14:40.700 the strange nature of national security trials. 00:14:40.840 --> 00:14:43.259 How so? On the final day, the courtroom was actually 00:14:43.259 --> 00:14:45.480 closed to the public so government lawyers could 00:14:45.480 --> 00:14:47.980 present confidential secret evidence. So no one 00:14:47.980 --> 00:14:50.799 could see what they were arguing. Exactly. Amore's 00:14:50.799 --> 00:14:53.960 own legal team had to leave the room. She was 00:14:53.960 --> 00:14:56.860 instead represented by a special advocate. Now, 00:14:56.940 --> 00:14:59.179 a special advocate is a state appointed lawyer 00:14:59.179 --> 00:15:01.259 who is allowed to see the secret government evidence, 00:15:01.539 --> 00:15:04.059 but they are legally forbidden from communicating 00:15:04.059 --> 00:15:06.259 with the person they are representing about what 00:15:06.259 --> 00:15:09.590 that evidence actually is. Wow. It makes mounting 00:15:09.590 --> 00:15:12.470 a defense incredibly difficult. Extremely. But 00:15:12.470 --> 00:15:15.730 despite all of those hurdles, the secret evidence, 00:15:15.889 --> 00:15:18.169 the special advocate, the controversial judge 00:15:18.169 --> 00:15:22.490 panel, the high court delivered an absolute bombshell 00:15:22.490 --> 00:15:26.970 verdict on February 13th, 2026. In a unanimous 00:15:26.970 --> 00:15:29.350 decision, the judges ruled that the prescription 00:15:29.350 --> 00:15:31.990 of Palestine action was unlawful. We really need 00:15:31.990 --> 00:15:33.970 to break down the nuance of why they ruled that 00:15:33.970 --> 00:15:35.809 way because it is vital for understanding the 00:15:35.809 --> 00:15:37.570 distinction the law is trying to make. Right. 00:15:37.649 --> 00:15:39.809 The judges did not excuse the group's actions. 00:15:39.870 --> 00:15:41.730 In fact, they explicitly described Palestine 00:15:41.730 --> 00:15:44.529 Action as an organization that promotes its political 00:15:44.529 --> 00:15:47.169 cause through criminality. So they weren't saying 00:15:47.169 --> 00:15:50.049 infiltrating a military base or smashing a window 00:15:50.049 --> 00:15:52.639 is perfectly legal behavior. Not at all. They 00:15:52.639 --> 00:15:55.039 acknowledged the sledgehammers, the damage, the 00:15:55.039 --> 00:15:58.200 danger. They even noted that a very small number 00:15:58.200 --> 00:16:00.720 of their actions did technically amount to terrorist 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:02.919 action under the broad definition of the law. 00:16:03.080 --> 00:16:05.700 Okay, so then why overturn the ban? The core 00:16:05.700 --> 00:16:08.580 of their ruling was about proportionality. They 00:16:08.580 --> 00:16:11.500 determined that banning the entire massive network 00:16:11.500 --> 00:16:14.240 and consequently criminalizing all of its casual 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:16.120 supporters, the people just holding cardboard 00:16:16.120 --> 00:16:19.600 signs or wearing T -shirts, was a disproportionate 00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:21.899 interference with the fundamental human rights 00:16:21.899 --> 00:16:25.100 to freedom of expression and freedom of association. 00:16:25.500 --> 00:16:27.360 That makes a lot of sense. They pointed out a 00:16:27.360 --> 00:16:30.399 very logical alternative. If members of the group 00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:33.759 commit vandalism or assault, you prosecute those 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:36.100 specific individuals for vandalism or assault. 00:16:36.360 --> 00:16:39.799 Right. deploy the Terrorism Act to ban everyone 00:16:39.799 --> 00:16:42.019 who happens to agree with their underlying political 00:16:42.019 --> 00:16:44.580 cause. They found that the home secretary had 00:16:44.580 --> 00:16:46.820 failed to apply her own policy correctly when 00:16:46.820 --> 00:16:49.799 she used a sledgehammer to crack a nut, so to 00:16:49.799 --> 00:16:53.779 speak. So as of right now, March 2026, where 00:16:53.779 --> 00:16:56.620 do things actually stand? Just to be clear for 00:16:56.620 --> 00:16:59.580 everyone listening, the ban provisionally remains 00:16:59.580 --> 00:17:02.100 in place for the moment. Yes. The newly appointed 00:17:02.100 --> 00:17:04.680 home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, immediately 00:17:04.680 --> 00:17:07.200 announced she would contest the ruling. She's 00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:09.200 been granted leave to appeal, which basically 00:17:09.200 --> 00:17:11.039 means the court has given her official permission 00:17:11.039 --> 00:17:13.279 to challenge this ruling at the next level up 00:17:13.279 --> 00:17:15.119 in the court of appeal. So the legal fight is 00:17:15.119 --> 00:17:18.400 far from over. Far from it. However, the Metropolitan 00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:21.579 Police did confirm they would stop making arrests 00:17:21.579 --> 00:17:24.200 simply in connection with supporting Palestine 00:17:24.200 --> 00:17:26.440 action while this gets sorted out in the courts. 00:17:26.920 --> 00:17:29.859 This entire saga raises an incredibly important 00:17:29.859 --> 00:17:32.700 question for us to reflect on. This deep dive 00:17:32.700 --> 00:17:35.259 isn't just about one specific activist group 00:17:35.259 --> 00:17:37.500 or one specific conflict in the Middle East. 00:17:37.619 --> 00:17:40.279 It serves as a massive stress test for modern 00:17:40.279 --> 00:17:42.740 democracy as a whole. It really does. In an era 00:17:42.740 --> 00:17:45.359 defined by intense information flow and complex 00:17:45.359 --> 00:17:48.019 global conflicts, how do we define the boundaries 00:17:48.019 --> 00:17:51.039 of protest? Where does disruptive and even highly 00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:53.500 criminal civil disobedience end? And where does 00:17:53.500 --> 00:17:56.579 actual terrorism begin? And the way a state answers 00:17:56.579 --> 00:17:59.220 that question dictates the health of its civil 00:17:59.220 --> 00:18:02.359 liberties. When severe counterterrorism laws 00:18:02.359 --> 00:18:04.859 are used to manage domestic protest and property 00:18:04.859 --> 00:18:08.460 damage, the ripple effects touch everyone from 00:18:08.460 --> 00:18:11.039 an activist on a roof to an author writing a 00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:13.319 book to a person wearing a punny T -shirt on 00:18:13.319 --> 00:18:16.180 a Saturday afternoon. Absolutely. It really forces 00:18:16.180 --> 00:18:18.180 you to look at the future of protest differently. 00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:21.710 I want to leave you with a final. thought to 00:18:21.710 --> 00:18:24.130 mullover if the legal definition of terrorism 00:18:24.130 --> 00:18:27.009 continues to expand to encompass severe property 00:18:27.009 --> 00:18:29.630 damage and economic disruption aimed at forcing 00:18:29.630 --> 00:18:32.869 political change What happens tomorrow when different 00:18:32.869 --> 00:18:35.789 movements adopt these exact same tactics? It's 00:18:35.789 --> 00:18:38.230 a great question. Imagine climate activists systematically 00:18:38.230 --> 00:18:41.049 destroying fossil fuel infrastructure or infiltrating 00:18:41.049 --> 00:18:43.589 oil refineries to prevent environmental collapse. 00:18:44.089 --> 00:18:46.910 Under the precedents debated in this case, will 00:18:46.910 --> 00:18:48.730 environmental groups be classified alongside 00:18:48.730 --> 00:18:51.309 violent terror cells? Yeah. And taking it back 00:18:51.309 --> 00:18:54.509 even further, if today's anti -terror laws existed 00:18:54.509 --> 00:18:58.109 a century ago, With the suffragettes, who famously 00:18:58.109 --> 00:19:00.970 smashed windows and set fires to secure women 00:19:00.970 --> 00:19:03.569 the right to vote, have been locked away for 00:19:03.569 --> 00:19:06.450 14 years as a prescribed terrorist organization. 00:19:07.069 --> 00:19:09.130 It's a heavy question about the future of dissent, 00:19:09.130 --> 00:19:11.250 but one we all definitely need to be asking. 00:19:11.369 --> 00:19:13.349 It is. Thank you so much for joining us on this 00:19:13.349 --> 00:19:14.509 deep dive. Thank you for listening.