Terror arrests surge by 660% due to Palestine Action ban
According to official figures, there has been a staggering 660 percent annual increase in terrorist arrests due to support for the Palestine Action.
The pro-Palestinian protest group was banned under terrorism laws in July this year. Hundreds of people protested the ban on terrorism by carrying banners saying “I am against genocide, I support the Palestine Action”, which is now considered a crime under terrorism laws.
Government figures published on Thursday show that of the 1,886 arrests for terrorism-related activities in the year to September, 1,630, or 86 per cent, were linked to support for Palestine Action.
The total number of people arrested for terrorism last year was 248. Those arrested for support of Palestine Action were 4.4 times more likely to be women and much older than those normally arrested for terrorism offences.
The average age of arrests linked to support for Palestine Action was 57, while the average age for arrests not linked to Palestine Action was 30.
In the months before Palestine Action was banned, between April and June 2025, 63 people were arrested for terrorism-related activities. Following the ban on Palestine Action, this rate increased by 2,608 percent, with 1,706 arrests recorded from July to September.
Palestine Movement co-founder Huda Ammori challenged the group’s ban in the Supreme Court, with her lawyers arguing the impact of the ban was “dramatic, serious, widespread and potentially lifelong”.
Raza Husain KC told judges then home secretary Yvette Cooper’s decision to ban the organization in June 2025 was “new and unprecedented”. “This is the first direct action civil disobedience organization that does not advocate violence and will be banned as terrorism,” he told the court.
He said the decision Ms Cooper was hesitating on was “so extreme that it would make the UK an international outlier”.
The court heard that the Foreign Office had informed the Home Office that although Palestine Action was active in other countries, “its activities are largely viewed by international partners as activism and not as extremism or terrorism”.
Sir James Eadie KC, on behalf of the government, argued that it was for parliament to decide what actions constituted terrorism. He said that a group of security experts informed the Minister of Internal Affairs that some actions of Palestine Action could be described as terrorist acts.
The data comes after two police forces confirmed they would arrest people chanting “globalise the intifada” after a targeted attack on Australia’s Jewish community in Sydney, saying the “context has changed”.
Two men were arrested on suspicion of racially aggravated public order offenses after chanting “slogans calling for an intifada”, the Metropolitan Police said.
