Palestine Action and the Hypocrisy of the British State

Palestine Action and the Hypocrisy of the British State

In 2022, Yvette Cooper stood in Parliament dressed as a suffragette. It was a tribute, she claimed, to the brave women who defied the law, smashed windows, and disrupted the status quo to demand justice. Today, she’s backing legislation to brand those doing exactly that—fighting injustice through direct action—as terrorists.

Back then, it was a costume. Turns out, that’s all it ever was.

In fact, it’s worse than performative. It’s sponsored.

Yvette Cooper has reportedly accepted at least £215,000 from pro-Israel lobby sources—funds from Labour Friends of Israel donors like Gary Lubner and others, intended to bolster her office team.

And now, as the Home Secretary, she’s the one who will ultimately decide whether to officially ban Palestine Action under terrorism legislation. It hasn’t happened yet—but her selfie with a grinning Tsipi Hotovely suggests the outcome might already be written in ink.

When she champions legislation to criminalise activists exposing war crimes, she’s not defending principle—she’s protecting her paymasters.

The suffragettes went to prison for their beliefs. Yvette’s selling hers off by the paragraph.

A Tale of Two Movements

The suffragettes chained themselves to railings. They attacked property. They were labelled extremists and enemies of the state. Sound familiar?

Palestine Action pours red paint over factories that produce weapons used to bomb children. They occupy offices that profit from occupation. They target Elbit Systems—an arms manufacturer deeply embedded in Israel’s machinery of war.

And now, they’re set to be criminalised. Not for harming people, but for embarrassing power.

Apartheid, Article 2(f), and Conscience on Trial

UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese didn’t mince her words:

“Persecuting those who fight apartheid is an act of apartheid itself.”
(Convention on the Crime of Apartheid, Article 2f)

She went further—calling for an investigation into whether the UK, by targeting Palestine Action, is participating in a joint criminal enterprise. That’s international law speak for: you knew what you were doing, and you did it anyway.

Article 2(f) doesn’t just protect people suffering under apartheid—it protects those who oppose it. The moment you start locking up the dissenters, you’re not neutral anymore. You’re involved.

State-Sanctioned Amnesia

It’s not just Cooper. The entire British political class has collective amnesia when it comes to our own history. The suffragettes were jailed, beaten, and vilified. Now they’re icons.

Palestine Action? Jailed, beaten, vilified. One day, probably icons too. If they survive this government’s crackdown.

You can almost hear the future museum tour guide: “This was the spray paint can Yara used to deface the Elbit drone showroom. She’s now on the £10 note.”

The Real Crime is Conscience

Throwing paint on a weapons factory is terrorism. But selling weapons to a state committing genocide? That’s just business.

Britain supplies parts. Hosts diplomats like Tsipi Hotovely. Arrests activists. And then wonders why people take matters into their own hands.

You don’t get to arm apartheid and criminalise the people trying to stop it. Unless, of course, you’re fine with being on the wrong side of history. Again.

The Precedent: Who’s Next?

This goes beyond Palestine Action. Today it’s them. Tomorrow, it’s Just Stop Oil. Extinction Rebellion. Striking NHS workers. Angry farmers. Anyone who dares disrupt the machinery of power.

This isn’t the thin end of the wedge. It is the wedge.

The British state is setting the precedent that direct action—civil disobedience with a conscience—is terrorism. Even Orwell might be impressed by the efficiency of it all.

Conclusion: You Can’t Ban the Truth. You Can’t Criminalize Conscience.

Fitting that this is being written on June 25th, Orwell’s birthday (and mine).
He warned us. We ignored him.
But some of us are still fighting.