WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.520 Welcome to the Deep Dive. I am really glad you 00:00:03.520 --> 00:00:05.919 could join us today because we have a genuinely 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:08.619 fascinating sequence of events to explore. We 00:00:08.619 --> 00:00:10.339 really do. It's one of those stories that, you 00:00:10.339 --> 00:00:12.880 know, starts small and then just completely snowballs. 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:15.560 Exactly. You know how sometimes a localized story 00:00:15.560 --> 00:00:18.359 just escalates until it's testing the absolute 00:00:18.359 --> 00:00:20.559 limits of a country's legal and political systems? 00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:23.480 That is exactly what we are looking at today. 00:00:23.559 --> 00:00:26.780 We are pulling our information from a comprehensively 00:00:26.780 --> 00:00:29.699 documented Wikipedia article, and it details 00:00:29.699 --> 00:00:32.390 the complete history. of a British direct action 00:00:32.390 --> 00:00:35.390 network called Palestine Action. Okay, let's 00:00:35.390 --> 00:00:37.670 unpack this. We are looking at a group that went 00:00:37.670 --> 00:00:40.369 from splashing red paint on buildings to breaching 00:00:40.369 --> 00:00:42.950 a Royal Air Force base, triggering a national 00:00:42.950 --> 00:00:45.530 terrorism ban, and culminating in a historic 00:00:45.530 --> 00:00:48.549 high court reversal just weeks ago in February 00:00:48.549 --> 00:00:51.810 2026. It is a staggering timeline. It really 00:00:51.810 --> 00:00:54.130 is. Now, before we get into the weeds, I want 00:00:54.130 --> 00:00:56.479 to be crystal clear with you. Because our source 00:00:56.479 --> 00:00:58.840 material covers highly charged political actions 00:00:58.840 --> 00:01:01.600 and touches on the ongoing Gaza conflict, this 00:01:01.600 --> 00:01:03.840 deep dive is strictly reporting the facts and 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:06.000 events exactly as they are documented in the 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:08.500 source. Absolutely. We are definitely not taking 00:01:08.500 --> 00:01:10.859 sides here. Right. No endorsements of the group's 00:01:10.859 --> 00:01:13.159 actions and no validation of the government's 00:01:13.159 --> 00:01:15.400 response either. Our goal is simply to help you 00:01:15.400 --> 00:01:18.040 understand the incredible legal and social sequence 00:01:18.040 --> 00:01:20.540 of events contained in this material. And what's 00:01:20.540 --> 00:01:22.500 fascinating here is that this single group's 00:01:22.500 --> 00:01:26.140 timeline. serves as a massive stress test for 00:01:26.140 --> 00:01:29.180 British law. As we go through these events, you 00:01:29.180 --> 00:01:31.900 will see how it forces society to examine the 00:01:31.900 --> 00:01:34.859 very boundaries between civil disobedience, economic 00:01:34.859 --> 00:01:38.760 sabotage, and national security. It asks this 00:01:38.760 --> 00:01:41.400 critical question, at what point does disruptive 00:01:41.400 --> 00:01:44.959 protest actually cross the legal... threshold 00:01:44.959 --> 00:01:47.879 into terrorism. Which is a huge question. It 00:01:47.879 --> 00:01:50.439 is. The state's machinery was essentially forced 00:01:50.439 --> 00:01:53.340 to react to tactics. It just hadn't fully anticipated 00:01:53.340 --> 00:01:55.719 on this scale. So to understand how the state 00:01:55.719 --> 00:01:57.780 reacted, we really need to look at who they were 00:01:57.780 --> 00:01:59.659 dealing with and what the initial goals were. 00:01:59.739 --> 00:02:02.120 Right. According to our source, Palestine Action 00:02:02.120 --> 00:02:05.060 was founded in July 2020. The founders were Huda 00:02:05.060 --> 00:02:07.719 Amori and Richard Barnard, and their stated mission 00:02:07.719 --> 00:02:10.159 was to end global participation in what they 00:02:10.159 --> 00:02:13.280 described as Israel's regime. And they decided 00:02:13.280 --> 00:02:16.360 to focus that mission very specifically on... 00:02:16.650 --> 00:02:19.150 The U .K. arms industry. Exactly. The targets 00:02:19.150 --> 00:02:22.090 were highly specific. They primarily went after 00:02:22.090 --> 00:02:24.370 a company called Elbit Systems. That's an Israeli 00:02:24.370 --> 00:02:26.949 weapons manufacturer. And they have multiple 00:02:26.949 --> 00:02:29.770 factories and subsidiaries operating across the 00:02:29.770 --> 00:02:32.490 United Kingdom. They also heavily targeted Leonardo, 00:02:32.810 --> 00:02:35.969 which is a major aerospace company. Yeah. Targeting 00:02:35.969 --> 00:02:38.069 the supply chain was the core strategy here. 00:02:38.189 --> 00:02:41.050 They went after various logistical firms, lobbying 00:02:41.050 --> 00:02:44.639 firms. Essentially, anyone they believed was 00:02:44.639 --> 00:02:47.439 complicit in the manufacturing or distribution 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:49.860 of weapons. But the defining characteristic of 00:02:49.860 --> 00:02:52.300 Palestine action wasn't just who they targeted. 00:02:52.439 --> 00:02:54.900 No, it was the methodology. Right. They completely 00:02:54.900 --> 00:02:57.960 bypassed the traditional protest model. Yeah. 00:02:58.020 --> 00:03:00.000 There was no standing outside a factory gate 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:02.199 with picket signs asking for a meeting with management. 00:03:02.259 --> 00:03:05.280 Right. None of that. They engaged in direct physical 00:03:05.280 --> 00:03:08.240 economic sabotage that was explicitly designed 00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:11.310 to halt production lines entirely. And the signature 00:03:11.310 --> 00:03:14.229 visual of these protests was highly coordinated. 00:03:14.969 --> 00:03:16.669 Activists would show up wearing these bright 00:03:16.669 --> 00:03:19.610 red boiler suits and they would climb onto the 00:03:19.610 --> 00:03:22.509 roofs of these manufacturing facilities. Occupy 00:03:22.509 --> 00:03:24.789 them. Occupy them, sometimes for days at a time. 00:03:24.889 --> 00:03:28.930 They used sledgehammers to systematically dismantle 00:03:28.930 --> 00:03:31.870 machinery on the roof, smash windows. But the 00:03:31.870 --> 00:03:34.370 most recognizable tactic, the one that produced 00:03:34.370 --> 00:03:37.509 all those viral images, was daubing these buildings 00:03:37.509 --> 00:03:40.740 in massive amounts of red paint. And they weren't 00:03:40.740 --> 00:03:43.120 just using paintbrushes. They were using repurposed 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:46.400 fire extinguishers to just blast the facades 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:48.219 of these factories. Which, when you think about 00:03:48.219 --> 00:03:51.139 it, the logistics of orchestrating these occupations 00:03:51.139 --> 00:03:53.719 are quite complex. You have individuals successfully 00:03:53.719 --> 00:03:57.110 breaching... Private, supposedly secure corporate 00:03:57.110 --> 00:03:59.849 facilities. They are scaling the architecture 00:03:59.849 --> 00:04:02.909 and entrenching themselves so deeply that police 00:04:02.909 --> 00:04:05.030 actually had to bring in specialist climbing 00:04:05.030 --> 00:04:07.729 teams just to remove them. It's wild. And the 00:04:07.729 --> 00:04:09.810 source mentions one specific instance in Bristol 00:04:09.810 --> 00:04:12.110 that really paints a picture. Activists literally 00:04:12.110 --> 00:04:14.689 drove a cherry picker style vehicle right up 00:04:14.689 --> 00:04:17.110 to the second floor of an Elbit facility. A cherry 00:04:17.110 --> 00:04:21.259 picker? Yeah. Broad daylight. They used a hammer 00:04:21.259 --> 00:04:24.240 attached to a rope to systematically smash the 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:26.959 reinforced windows before dousing the interior 00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:29.759 offices with red paint. The visual of someone 00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:32.879 casually operating heavy machinery to smash second 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:35.360 -story windows is definitely striking. It really 00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:38.420 is. And they didn't stop at factories. They also 00:04:38.420 --> 00:04:40.560 went after academic institutions they felt were 00:04:40.560 --> 00:04:42.980 involved in the supply chain. At the University 00:04:42.980 --> 00:04:45.779 of Manchester, members broke into a glass cabinet 00:04:45.779 --> 00:04:47.899 in the chemistry building and walked off with 00:04:47.899 --> 00:04:50.279 two busts of Chaim Weizmann. He was the first 00:04:50.279 --> 00:04:52.240 president of Israel, right? Exactly, and a former 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:54.720 teacher at that university. The group released 00:04:54.720 --> 00:04:58.040 a statement claiming they had abducted the busts. 00:04:58.040 --> 00:05:00.740 Wow. And then at a Leonardo factory in Edinburgh, 00:05:00.899 --> 00:05:04.720 they escalated beyond just paint and glass. Activists 00:05:04.720 --> 00:05:07.319 managed to locate the actual internet cable boxes 00:05:07.319 --> 00:05:10.540 for the facility. Oh, right. They sprayed expanding 00:05:10.540 --> 00:05:13.339 foam directly into the hardware and cut the wires 00:05:13.339 --> 00:05:15.660 to completely sever the factory's communications. 00:05:16.300 --> 00:05:18.459 Which is a highly targeted form of logistical 00:05:18.459 --> 00:05:20.980 warfare. I mean, severing the internet of a modern 00:05:20.980 --> 00:05:24.100 aerospace manufacturer brings operations to an 00:05:24.100 --> 00:05:27.470 immediate grinding halt. Instantly. And the source 00:05:27.470 --> 00:05:29.170 material makes it clear that this wasn't just 00:05:29.170 --> 00:05:32.529 symbolic noise. It caused severe logistical disruption 00:05:32.529 --> 00:05:34.889 and millions of pounds in physical damage. Real 00:05:34.889 --> 00:05:38.069 economic impact. Exactly. The group's sustained 00:05:38.069 --> 00:05:40.910 pressure actually contributed to the permanent 00:05:40.910 --> 00:05:44.670 closure of an Elbit subsidiary in Oldham. Another 00:05:44.670 --> 00:05:47.850 site at Aztec West in Bristol closed down unexpectedly, 00:05:48.269 --> 00:05:51.050 too. They completely abandoned a lease that was 00:05:51.050 --> 00:05:54.370 supposed to run until 2029. And beyond the real 00:05:54.370 --> 00:05:56.810 estate, our source notes that these multi -day 00:05:56.810 --> 00:05:59.389 shutdowns potentially contributed to the loss 00:05:59.389 --> 00:06:03.269 of a massive £2 .1 billion Ministry of Defense 00:06:03.269 --> 00:06:06.600 contract. Billion with a B. So they were undeniably 00:06:06.600 --> 00:06:08.920 achieving their stated goals of economic disruption 00:06:08.920 --> 00:06:11.079 against private companies. But here's where it 00:06:11.079 --> 00:06:14.480 gets really interesting. In June 2025, the stakes 00:06:14.480 --> 00:06:17.120 completely changed. This is the pivot. The entire 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:19.500 narrative shifted from corporate vandalism to 00:06:19.500 --> 00:06:22.399 a national security crisis. Activists rode electric 00:06:22.399 --> 00:06:25.480 scooters onto RAF Brise Norton. Which is an active 00:06:25.480 --> 00:06:27.740 Royal Air Force military base in Oxfordshire. 00:06:28.170 --> 00:06:30.569 Right. They somehow bypassed military security, 00:06:30.810 --> 00:06:35.069 got right up to two Royal Air Force Airbus A330 00:06:35.069 --> 00:06:38.670 refueling planes and used those repurposed fire 00:06:38.670 --> 00:06:41.649 extinguishers to spray red paint directly into 00:06:41.649 --> 00:06:43.990 the jet engines. The jet engines. Yes. And the 00:06:43.990 --> 00:06:46.910 activists released statements afterward claiming 00:06:46.910 --> 00:06:49.209 that the base was being used to send flights 00:06:49.209 --> 00:06:52.110 to Cyprus for reconnaissance over Gaza and that 00:06:52.110 --> 00:06:54.930 Britain was actively refueling U .S. and Israeli 00:06:54.930 --> 00:07:01.539 fighter jets. They framed the vandalism. But 00:07:01.539 --> 00:07:04.279 the official pushback on that was strong. Very 00:07:04.279 --> 00:07:06.839 strong. The Ministry of Defense, along with subsequent 00:07:06.839 --> 00:07:09.800 reporting by the BBC, thoroughly rebutted that 00:07:09.800 --> 00:07:12.459 narrative. They released logs clarifying that 00:07:12.459 --> 00:07:14.939 those two specific aircraft had not been used 00:07:14.939 --> 00:07:17.300 to support the Israeli Air Force at all. Instead, 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:19.339 they had actually been deployed for U .K. air 00:07:19.339 --> 00:07:22.339 attacks in Yemen, Iraq and Syria. I imagine that 00:07:22.339 --> 00:07:24.800 claiming you are stopping war crimes by painting 00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:26.860 a military jet didn't exactly earn much sympathy 00:07:26.860 --> 00:07:28.980 from the Ministry of Defense, regardless of where 00:07:28.980 --> 00:07:31.000 those planes were actually flying. Not at all. 00:07:31.120 --> 00:07:33.259 And if we connect this to the bigger picture, 00:07:33.399 --> 00:07:36.160 you have to look at how a sovereign state views 00:07:36.160 --> 00:07:39.459 its own security apparatus. Breaking into a private 00:07:39.459 --> 00:07:42.439 factory that manufactures drone parts is handled 00:07:42.439 --> 00:07:45.040 by the police as criminal damage or aggravated 00:07:45.040 --> 00:07:47.959 trespass? Right. Standard police work. but directly 00:07:47.959 --> 00:07:51.319 compromising active military aircraft on a highly 00:07:51.319 --> 00:07:54.339 secure Royal Air Force base. That fundamentally 00:07:54.339 --> 00:07:57.600 alters the state's calculus. The British government... 00:07:57.740 --> 00:07:59.879 viewed the Bries -Norton breach as a direct, 00:08:00.019 --> 00:08:02.500 unacceptable threat to national security. It 00:08:02.500 --> 00:08:05.000 crossed a red line. It crossed a definitive red 00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:07.899 line, and it triggered an unprecedented and overwhelming 00:08:07.899 --> 00:08:10.540 state response. And that response came swiftly. 00:08:10.920 --> 00:08:14.759 On July 5, 2025, just weeks after the base break 00:08:14.759 --> 00:08:17.040 -in, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper officially 00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:19.420 prescribed Palestine Action as a terrorist group. 00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:22.439 They used the Terrorism Act 2000. To understand 00:08:22.439 --> 00:08:23.920 the weight of that decision, you have to look 00:08:23.920 --> 00:08:26.339 at the history of that act. This is a piece of 00:08:26.339 --> 00:08:28.500 legislation. originally designed to combat groups 00:08:28.500 --> 00:08:31.500 like the IRA, and it was later adapted for international 00:08:31.500 --> 00:08:34.679 terror networks like al -Qaeda and ISIS. Serious 00:08:34.679 --> 00:08:37.419 international threats. Exactly. Prescription 00:08:37.419 --> 00:08:41.019 is the absolute nuclear option in British counterterrorism 00:08:41.019 --> 00:08:43.840 law. It means the group is outlawed entirely. 00:08:44.409 --> 00:08:47.269 And the penalties become draconian. Very severe. 00:08:47.509 --> 00:08:49.830 Under this act, simply being a member of the 00:08:49.830 --> 00:08:52.690 group or even inviting support for it carries 00:08:52.690 --> 00:08:55.750 a maximum penalty of up to 14 years in prison. 00:08:55.909 --> 00:08:58.789 14 years. And the political mechanics of how 00:08:58.789 --> 00:09:01.049 this ban actually passed through parliament are 00:09:01.049 --> 00:09:03.970 kind of a master class in legislative maneuvering. 00:09:04.009 --> 00:09:06.389 The government used a tactic called bundling. 00:09:06.490 --> 00:09:08.629 Right. They didn't present a standalone vote 00:09:08.629 --> 00:09:11.169 on banning Palestine action. Exactly. Instead, 00:09:11.330 --> 00:09:13.610 they bundled Palestine action into a single. 00:09:13.710 --> 00:09:17.149 prescription order alongside two violently extreme 00:09:17.149 --> 00:09:20.409 neo -Nazi groups, the Maniacs Murder Cult and 00:09:20.409 --> 00:09:22.210 the Russian Imperial Movement. Which essentially 00:09:22.210 --> 00:09:24.629 forces members of parliament into a political 00:09:24.629 --> 00:09:27.750 trap. Yeah. MPs couldn't vote to debate the merits 00:09:27.750 --> 00:09:30.149 of banning Khalistan action individually. They 00:09:30.149 --> 00:09:31.950 had to vote to ban all three groups simultaneously 00:09:31.950 --> 00:09:34.809 or none of them. One member of the House of Lords 00:09:34.809 --> 00:09:37.330 actually openly criticized the move as sneaky. 00:09:37.789 --> 00:09:40.629 Because if an MP voted against the ban due to 00:09:40.629 --> 00:09:42.950 civil liberty concerns regarding Palestine action. 00:09:43.210 --> 00:09:45.629 Their political opponents could easily weaponize 00:09:45.629 --> 00:09:47.710 that vote. They could accuse them of voting to 00:09:47.710 --> 00:09:50.690 protect violent neo -Nazi organizations. The 00:09:50.690 --> 00:09:53.149 pressure to push it through was immense and it 00:09:53.149 --> 00:09:55.169 resulted in an overwhelming House of Commons 00:09:55.169 --> 00:09:59.090 vote of 385 to 26. And once that ban took effect. 00:09:59.629 --> 00:10:02.830 The dragnet was immediate. Immediate. By the 00:10:02.830 --> 00:10:06.190 end of November 2025, over 2 ,500 people had 00:10:06.190 --> 00:10:08.110 been arrested. And the vast majority of these 00:10:08.110 --> 00:10:09.889 individuals weren't anywhere near a military 00:10:09.889 --> 00:10:12.990 base or a factory roof. They were swept up simply 00:10:12.990 --> 00:10:15.330 for showing public support for a newly banned 00:10:15.330 --> 00:10:18.090 organization. The primary mechanism for this 00:10:18.090 --> 00:10:21.269 sweeping crackdown was Section 13 of the Terrorism 00:10:21.269 --> 00:10:24.559 Act. Section 13 essentially criminalizes the 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:27.200 act of wearing, carrying, or displaying items 00:10:27.200 --> 00:10:30.000 that arouse reasonable suspicion that an individual 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:32.500 is a member or supporter of a prescribed group. 00:10:32.659 --> 00:10:34.639 And that carries a penalty of up to six months 00:10:34.639 --> 00:10:36.559 in prison. Right. And the application of Section 00:10:36.559 --> 00:10:39.460 13 resulted in some truly surreal arrests that 00:10:39.460 --> 00:10:41.580 really highlight just how wide the net was cast. 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:44.940 On the very day the ban took effect, July 5th, 00:10:44.940 --> 00:10:47.620 a group protested in London and 29 people were 00:10:47.620 --> 00:10:49.980 immediately arrested. Just for protesting. Yeah, 00:10:50.059 --> 00:10:52.820 and one of them was an 83 -year -old retired 00:10:52.820 --> 00:10:56.440 priest, Reverend Sue Parfit. Wow. In another 00:10:56.440 --> 00:10:58.779 instance, the police arrested a man simply for 00:10:58.779 --> 00:11:01.139 wearing a t -shirt that said, Plasticine Action. 00:11:01.559 --> 00:11:04.720 Plasticine. Like the play. Exactly. He wore it 00:11:04.720 --> 00:11:06.980 to mock the ban, but the police apparently had 00:11:06.980 --> 00:11:09.960 to seriously evaluate a children's modeling clay 00:11:09.960 --> 00:11:12.820 pun as a potential threat to national security. 00:11:13.220 --> 00:11:15.720 That is surreal. He was later de -arrested, but 00:11:15.720 --> 00:11:18.659 the chilling effect was very clear. In August, 00:11:18.940 --> 00:11:20.840 a screenwriter in Edinburgh was arrested for 00:11:20.840 --> 00:11:23.039 wearing a T -shirt that simply read, genocide 00:11:23.039 --> 00:11:26.080 in Palestine, time to take action. And civil 00:11:26.080 --> 00:11:28.100 liberties groups immediately sounded the alarm 00:11:28.100 --> 00:11:30.480 over this. Organizations like Amnesty International, 00:11:30.940 --> 00:11:33.120 Liberty. and several U .N. experts argued that 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:35.720 the U .K. was fundamentally misusing counterterrorism 00:11:35.720 --> 00:11:38.460 laws. They said the state was conflating disruptive 00:11:38.460 --> 00:11:41.820 civil disobedience with actual terrorism. Amnesty 00:11:41.820 --> 00:11:43.940 issued statements warning that this represented 00:11:43.940 --> 00:11:46.659 an unprecedented legal overreach. Furthermore, 00:11:46.899 --> 00:11:49.360 a declassified intelligence report published 00:11:49.360 --> 00:11:52.360 in September 2025 surfaced, and it essentially 00:11:52.360 --> 00:11:54.679 admitted that the vast majority of the group's 00:11:54.679 --> 00:11:57.399 actions, the graffiti, the petty vandalism, the 00:11:57.399 --> 00:12:00.580 sit -ins, did not actually meet the legal threshold 00:12:00.580 --> 00:12:03.980 of terrorism. A senior counterterrorism researcher 00:12:03.980 --> 00:12:06.879 pointed out that relying on minor property damage 00:12:06.879 --> 00:12:09.879 to justify a terror ban marked a radical concerning 00:12:09.879 --> 00:12:12.120 departure from how these laws had been historically 00:12:12.120 --> 00:12:14.440 applied. And while thousands were dealing with 00:12:14.440 --> 00:12:17.000 arrests over T -shirts and signs, the human toll 00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:19.159 for the activists who actually carried out the 00:12:19.159 --> 00:12:21.299 direct action was intensifying in the prison 00:12:21.299 --> 00:12:24.620 system. Our source details the harrowing situation 00:12:24.620 --> 00:12:27.980 of a group dubbed the Filton 18. Right. The Filton 00:12:27.980 --> 00:12:30.759 18. These were activists arrested by counterterror 00:12:30.759 --> 00:12:33.500 police following a very severe raid on an Elbit 00:12:33.500 --> 00:12:36.200 facility at Aztec West. This was back in August 00:12:36.200 --> 00:12:39.539 2024. During that raid, a police officer was 00:12:39.539 --> 00:12:41.519 struck with a sledgehammer and severely injured. 00:12:41.929 --> 00:12:43.990 But the controversy stemmed from their treatment 00:12:43.990 --> 00:12:46.389 within the legal system after the fact. They 00:12:46.389 --> 00:12:49.169 were placed in pretrial detention well past the 00:12:49.169 --> 00:12:51.990 standard six -month custody limit. Some of these 00:12:51.990 --> 00:12:54.029 individuals were facing the prospect of being 00:12:54.029 --> 00:12:56.110 held in maximum security conditions for over 00:12:56.110 --> 00:12:58.950 a year before even receiving a trial date. Which 00:12:58.950 --> 00:13:01.269 is a massive amount of time to be held without 00:13:01.269 --> 00:13:04.870 trial. It is. And that prolonged detention led 00:13:04.870 --> 00:13:07.049 to a desperate escalation from the activists 00:13:07.049 --> 00:13:09.929 themselves. They initiated a hunger strike. The 00:13:09.929 --> 00:13:12.830 strike began in November 2025, and it eventually 00:13:12.830 --> 00:13:16.230 grew to include up to 10 activists across various 00:13:16.230 --> 00:13:19.350 U .K. prisons. The physical and psychological 00:13:19.350 --> 00:13:21.789 toll of refusing food in a prison environment 00:13:21.789 --> 00:13:24.690 is profound. It really is. Two of those activists, 00:13:24.970 --> 00:13:27.649 Heba Marizi and Kamra Ahmed, sustained their 00:13:27.649 --> 00:13:30.590 hunger strike for a staggering 73 days. They 00:13:30.590 --> 00:13:34.379 finally ended it in mid -January. 2026. 73 days. 00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:37.659 That prolonged hunger strike acted as a catalyst 00:13:37.659 --> 00:13:40.480 for international solidarity. It drew high profile 00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:43.220 attention to the use of the Terrorism Act. Climate 00:13:43.220 --> 00:13:45.259 activist Greta Thunberg actually traveled to 00:13:45.259 --> 00:13:47.240 London to participate in a protest supporting 00:13:47.240 --> 00:13:49.480 the hunger strikers, and she was promptly arrested 00:13:49.480 --> 00:13:52.279 by the Metropolitan Police. But perhaps the most 00:13:52.279 --> 00:13:55.000 illustrative example of the Terrorism Act's far 00:13:55.000 --> 00:13:57.440 reaching implications came from the literary 00:13:57.440 --> 00:14:01.159 world. Yes. The Irish author Sally Rooney publicly 00:14:01.419 --> 00:14:03.539 pledged her continued support for the group. 00:14:03.759 --> 00:14:05.940 She even provided a witness statement for the 00:14:05.940 --> 00:14:08.360 court stating she would maintain her support 00:14:08.360 --> 00:14:10.700 even if it meant her books were essentially banned 00:14:10.700 --> 00:14:13.399 from sale in the UK. Because under the Terrorism 00:14:13.399 --> 00:14:16.220 Act, her publishers wouldn't legally be able 00:14:16.220 --> 00:14:19.059 to pay her royalties if there was a risk that 00:14:19.059 --> 00:14:21.240 the money might go toward financing a prescribed 00:14:21.240 --> 00:14:23.700 terror group. Which perfectly demonstrates the 00:14:23.700 --> 00:14:26.399 financial and logistical ripple effects of prescription. 00:14:26.659 --> 00:14:29.639 It doesn't just neutralize the individuals wielding 00:14:29.639 --> 00:14:32.759 sledgehammers. No. It potentially criminalizes 00:14:32.759 --> 00:14:35.340 the finances, publishing contracts, and speech 00:14:35.340 --> 00:14:37.179 of anyone publicly aligned with their stated 00:14:37.179 --> 00:14:39.580 cause. It isolates the group from the rest of 00:14:39.580 --> 00:14:42.019 society completely. So what does this all mean 00:14:42.019 --> 00:14:44.919 for the legal system? How do the courts reconcile 00:14:44.919 --> 00:14:47.659 the state's need for security with the rights 00:14:47.659 --> 00:14:50.759 of its citizens? That brings us to February 13, 00:14:51.100 --> 00:14:55.399 2026. This is when co -founder Huda Amori challenged 00:14:55.399 --> 00:14:58.419 the U .K. government in the high court. She initiated 00:14:58.419 --> 00:15:01.169 a judicial review. Which is essentially a legal 00:15:01.169 --> 00:15:04.529 mechanism where judges examine whether a government 00:15:04.529 --> 00:15:07.309 decision was actually lawful to begin with. And 00:15:07.309 --> 00:15:09.830 the lead up to this judicial review was steeped 00:15:09.830 --> 00:15:12.950 in procedural drama. Just a week before the hearing 00:15:12.950 --> 00:15:15.450 was scheduled, the judge who had initially granted 00:15:15.450 --> 00:15:18.049 permission for the appeal was suddenly removed 00:15:18.049 --> 00:15:21.490 from the case. No public explanation given. None. 00:15:21.950 --> 00:15:25.230 And replaced by a panel of three new judges. 00:15:25.889 --> 00:15:28.269 Campaigners were highly suspicious of the swap, 00:15:28.470 --> 00:15:30.750 adding to the tension during the hearing itself, 00:15:30.950 --> 00:15:34.090 the courtroom was closed to the public. And crucially, 00:15:34.190 --> 00:15:36.970 it was closed to Amore's own legal team for an 00:15:36.970 --> 00:15:39.429 entire day. This is what's known as a closed 00:15:39.429 --> 00:15:42.429 material procedure. It allowed government lawyers 00:15:42.429 --> 00:15:45.230 to present secret evidence to the judges. It's 00:15:45.230 --> 00:15:47.470 a highly controversial practice in British law 00:15:47.470 --> 00:15:49.909 where the defense cannot see or challenge the 00:15:49.909 --> 00:15:52.340 evidence being used against them. But despite 00:15:52.340 --> 00:15:54.720 the secret evidence and the sudden judge swap, 00:15:54.940 --> 00:15:57.399 the outcome sent shockwaves through the government. 00:15:57.600 --> 00:16:00.600 The panel of high court judges unanimously ruled 00:16:00.600 --> 00:16:02.460 that the government's prescription of Palestine 00:16:02.460 --> 00:16:05.340 action as a terrorist organization was, in fact, 00:16:05.399 --> 00:16:08.460 unlawful. Unanimous. And this raises an important 00:16:08.460 --> 00:16:11.019 question about how the law defines and applies 00:16:11.019 --> 00:16:14.309 the concept of proportionality. Right. It is 00:16:14.309 --> 00:16:17.090 vital to note here that the judges did not exonerate 00:16:17.090 --> 00:16:19.850 the activists. In their detailed ruling, they 00:16:19.850 --> 00:16:23.269 explicitly described Palestine Action as an organization 00:16:23.269 --> 00:16:26.649 that promotes its political cause through criminality. 00:16:26.730 --> 00:16:29.250 They didn't sugarcoat it. Not at all. They even 00:16:29.250 --> 00:16:31.210 acknowledged that a very small fraction of its 00:16:31.210 --> 00:16:33.570 actions might have technically met the definition 00:16:33.570 --> 00:16:37.059 of terrorist action. However, The legal test 00:16:37.059 --> 00:16:40.019 hinges on proportionality in human rights. The 00:16:40.019 --> 00:16:42.120 judges ruled that dropping a blanket terrorism 00:16:42.120 --> 00:16:45.179 ban over the entire network was a disproportionate 00:16:45.179 --> 00:16:47.299 interference with their supporters' human rights, 00:16:47.500 --> 00:16:50.000 specifically the right to freedom of expression 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:52.960 and freedom of association. The judges drew a 00:16:52.960 --> 00:16:55.320 very clear line in the sand regarding how a modern 00:16:55.320 --> 00:16:58.519 democracy must handle systemic vandalism. They 00:16:58.519 --> 00:17:00.419 pointed out that the individuals who scaled the 00:17:00.419 --> 00:17:02.440 factories, who smashed the windows, who damaged 00:17:02.440 --> 00:17:04.799 the military planes, they can and absolutely 00:17:04.799 --> 00:17:07.680 should be prosecuted under existing standard 00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:10.240 criminal laws. Because the state already has 00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:13.519 the tools to punish burglary, aggravated trespass 00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:16.279 and criminal damage. Exactly. The court essentially 00:17:16.279 --> 00:17:19.119 told the government, you do not need to invoke 00:17:19.119 --> 00:17:22.140 national security terror bans to prosecute people 00:17:22.140 --> 00:17:25.019 for vandalism, no matter how politically motivated 00:17:25.019 --> 00:17:27.819 or logistically disruptive that vandalism is. 00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:30.380 And the fallout from this ruling is still actively 00:17:30.380 --> 00:17:33.339 shaping the legal landscape. The ban provisionally 00:17:33.339 --> 00:17:35.279 remains in place purely to allow the government 00:17:35.279 --> 00:17:37.519 time to appeal the ruling. But the Metropolitan 00:17:37.519 --> 00:17:40.099 Police immediately confirmed they have stopped 00:17:40.099 --> 00:17:42.359 arresting people under Section 13 for simply 00:17:42.359 --> 00:17:44.819 supporting the group. The financial resources 00:17:44.819 --> 00:17:47.700 burned through during this legal battle are really 00:17:47.700 --> 00:17:49.640 astonishing. Oh, absolutely. The government spent 00:17:49.640 --> 00:17:51.700 seven hundred thousand pounds just defending 00:17:51.700 --> 00:17:54.640 the ban during the judicial review and the cost 00:17:54.640 --> 00:17:56.740 to the Metropolitan Police to enforce the ban, 00:17:56.859 --> 00:17:59.240 managing protests, processing twenty five hundred 00:17:59.240 --> 00:18:02.029 arrests and deploying resources over. just a 00:18:02.029 --> 00:18:04.910 four -day period exceeded 10 million pounds. 00:18:05.190 --> 00:18:08.069 10 million pounds in four days perfectly illustrates 00:18:08.069 --> 00:18:11.569 the sheer unsustainability of applying counterterrorism 00:18:11.569 --> 00:18:15.089 policing to broad protest movements. It is a 00:18:15.089 --> 00:18:18.730 dizzying sequence of events. We have tracked 00:18:18.730 --> 00:18:21.210 a localized direct action group that started 00:18:21.210 --> 00:18:24.430 with red boiler suits and repurposed fire extinguishers 00:18:24.430 --> 00:18:27.190 escalating into a breach of a Royal Air Force 00:18:27.190 --> 00:18:30.750 base. The huge escalation. And that breach triggered 00:18:30.750 --> 00:18:33.470 a massive national security crisis, leading to 00:18:33.470 --> 00:18:36.890 the government utilizing its most severe counterterrorism 00:18:36.890 --> 00:18:39.910 legislation, sweeping up thousands of everyday 00:18:39.910 --> 00:18:42.829 supporters, sparking 73 -day hunger strikes in 00:18:42.829 --> 00:18:45.769 maximum security prisons, and ultimately resulting 00:18:45.769 --> 00:18:48.950 in a historic high court defeat that ruled the 00:18:48.950 --> 00:18:51.250 state had fundamentally overreached in its definition 00:18:51.250 --> 00:18:54.069 of terror. And as we close this analysis, there 00:18:54.069 --> 00:18:56.329 is a lingering detail buried in the statistics 00:18:56.329 --> 00:18:58.690 of our source material that really demands attention. 00:18:58.970 --> 00:19:01.109 During the height of these protests, more people 00:19:01.109 --> 00:19:03.269 were charged under Section 13 terrorism offenses, 00:19:03.410 --> 00:19:05.789 again, mostly for wearing T -shirts or carrying 00:19:05.789 --> 00:19:08.170 signs, than were charged under that same section 00:19:08.170 --> 00:19:11.430 during the entire two -decade global war on terror. 00:19:11.589 --> 00:19:15.089 That is staggering. It forces us to ask a difficult 00:19:15.089 --> 00:19:18.160 question about the future. As modern protest 00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:20.619 movements increasingly move away from the traditional 00:19:20.619 --> 00:19:23.660 model of simply marching with signs and instead 00:19:23.660 --> 00:19:26.700 actively embrace direct economic and logistical 00:19:26.700 --> 00:19:29.740 sabotage to force corporate or political change, 00:19:29.940 --> 00:19:33.720 how will the law adapt? Will Western democracies 00:19:33.720 --> 00:19:36.220 be forced to invent a completely new legal category 00:19:36.220 --> 00:19:38.819 that sits somewhere between aggravated trespass 00:19:38.819 --> 00:19:42.329 and international terrorism? How will societies 00:19:42.329 --> 00:19:45.390 in the future draw the line between highly disruptive 00:19:45.390 --> 00:19:48.730 civil disobedience and genuine terror? It is 00:19:48.730 --> 00:19:50.569 a legal frontier we are all going to have to 00:19:50.569 --> 00:19:52.589 watch unfold because the tactics are clearly 00:19:52.589 --> 00:19:55.490 changing faster than the laws can keep up. Thank 00:19:55.490 --> 00:19:57.309 you for joining us on this deep dive. We hope 00:19:57.309 --> 00:19:59.150 it helped you understand the incredibly complex 00:19:59.150 --> 00:20:01.650 mechanics of the story. Keep questioning the 00:20:01.650 --> 00:20:03.269 world around you. Keep looking for the facts 00:20:03.269 --> 00:20:05.130 beneath the headlines and we will catch you next 00:20:05.130 --> 00:20:05.470 time.