I Will Stand With Palestine Action—No Matter What This Government Says

In an era where speaking out for justice is increasingly criminalised, we must make one thing absolutely clear: We all stand with Palestine Action.

The UK government's attempt to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation is not just an attack on one group—it's an attack on all those who dare to resist complicity in Israel's genocide and war crimes in Gaza. It’s an attempt to silence a growing movement that has, through bold and unapologetic action, exposed the British state's role in enabling and actively participating in the slaughter of Palestinians.

Palestine Action’s campaigns target companies like Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms manufacturer, which has long produced drones and weaponry used to massacre civilians in Gaza. Their protests have been disruptive, yes—but rightly so. The production and export of weapons used to kill children, flatten hospitals, and enforce apartheid demand disruption. In a just society, it would be the arms companies facing prosecution—not the people who shut them down.

Instead, what we’re witnessing is a deeply sinister inversion of justice. The same state that continues to arm Israel as it reduces Gaza to rubble now wants to criminalise those trying to stop it. This is not about “security.” It’s about shielding profit, maintaining imperial ties, and punishing dissent. It’s about sending a message: if you resist, you will be labelled a threat.

But here’s our message back: We will not be intimidated.

Palestine Action has inspired thousands of young people, especially those from working-class, Muslim, and refugee backgrounds, who see in Palestine their own struggle for dignity, safety and justice. I am one of them. As the child of Afghan refugees, I know what it’s like to see bombs fall on your people while the West debates “collateral damage.” I know what it’s like to feel powerless as your homeland is carved up by foreign interests. But Palestine Action reminds us that we are not powerless. That action, even when risky, even when criminalised, matters.

If this government thinks it can stop the tide of solidarity with Palestine by slapping on a terrorist label, it is gravely mistaken. They can criminalise the movement—but they cannot kill its cause. They cannot erase the images of children buried under rubble, or silence the cries from Gaza that still echo in our ears.

History will not look kindly on those who stood by in silence. But it will remember those who dared to act.

I stand with Palestine Action because I refuse to be complicit. Because resistance to apartheid is not terrorism. Because solidarity is not a crime.

And because the fight for Palestine’s freedom will never be dictated by the whims of those complicit in its oppression.