The UK Court of Appeal has ruled that the government’s decision to proscribe the pro-Palestinian direct action group Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation was lawful, overturning an earlier High Court ruling that found the ban unlawful.
In a decision handed down on Monday, five senior judges, led by the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, concluded that the ban represented a “justified and proportionate” interference with rights to freedom of expression and assembly.
The ruling allows the proscription, which has been in force since July 2025, to stand.
The Home Office had appealed against a February 2026 High Court ruling that found the then-Home Secretary Yvette Cooper’s decision to ban the group under the Terrorism Act 2000 was disproportionate.
Palestine Action, which campaigns against arms sales to Israel through tactics including criminal damage and vandalism of military sites, challenged the ban following its proscription.
Membership of or support for the group carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.
The Court of Appeal criticised the High Court for understating the latitude afforded to the Home Secretary in such national security decisions and rejected comparisons between Palestine Action and historical protest movements such as the suffragettes.
The judgment comes amid ongoing debates over the balance between national security, public order and the right to protest, particularly in relation to actions linked to the Israel-Gaza conflict.
Supporters of the group have described the ban as an attack on legitimate activism, while the government has maintained that the organisation crossed into terrorism through its repeated criminal actions aimed at influencing policy.
Palestine Action has not yet commented publicly on the latest ruling.
