After the High Court’s ruling, Palestine Action cofounder Ammori said that the UK ban “backfired.”

Palestine Action’s founders claimed that the UK’s ban on the group had “backfired” after the High Court declared that it was illegal to designate it as a “terror” organization. The United Nations human rights head and Irish novelist Sally Rooney were among those who denounced the UK’s June ban as an illiberal overreach since it equated Palestine Action with deadly far-right groups, al-Qaeda, and ISIL (ISIS).

On Friday, High Court judges dealt a massive blow to the government of Labour leader Keir Starmer, saying, “The decision to proscribe Palestine Action was disproportionate.”

“Today is a victory for Palestine,” Palestine Action cofounder Huda Ammori told Al Jazeera. The ban has “backfired on [the government] massively. They’ve made Palestine Action a household name. “They have spread the message and the power that ordinary people have to shut down weapons factories across the country and across the world. So for that, I thank them.”

The stated goal of Palestine Action, which was founded in 2020, has been to target weapons makers and related businesses in order to combat Israeli war crimes and what it claims is British complicity in them. Elbit Systems, the biggest arms manufacturer in Israel with multiple locations in the UK, is its primary target.

“That is what direct action is about. If you saw a building burning down with children inside, you wouldn’t hesitate to bang down the door to save those children’s lives. It is exactly the same principle. You don’t care about the value of the door. It is about those lives. It is about the liberation of Palestine. And so we do our bit to shut down the Israeli weapons trades from Britain.”

Since Israel started its genocidal assault in Gaza, the group has been a source of frustration for Starmer. Activists affiliated with Palestine Action have conducted a number of raids, frequently marking their targets with crimson spray paint meant to represent blood.

In connection with two actions, dozens are presently being held on remand. Some inmates, referred to as the “Filton 24,” are accused of taking part in a break-in at an Elbit Systems UK facility in Bristol. Others are charged with participating in an alleged break-in at Oxfordshire, the largest air base in the United Kingdom, where they are accused of spray-painting two Voyager transport and refueling aircraft. Following this raid, Palestine Action was outlawed by the authorities.

“At its core, Palestine Action is an organisation that promotes its political cause through criminality and encouragement of criminality. A very small number of its actions have amounted to terrorist action,” the High Court judges said.

Tens of thousands of people have protested against the ban. Almost 3,000 of them have been arrested for raising placards with slogans such as: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.” “The government committed a huge crime against its own population,” said Ammori. “It was unlawful for them to ban Palestine Action, and when they banned Palestine Action, they subsequently did thousands of unlawful arrests against their own citizens and tried to prosecute them through the courts for terrorism offences, for holding up signs.”