Al Jazeera reports in a detailed investigation: “Israel used weapons in Gaza that made thousands of Palestinians evaporate.”
ASA WINSTANLEY, [email protected], @
Winstanley is an investigative journalist who lives in London. He just wrote the piece “The High Court has ruled Britain’s ban on Palestine Action unlawful” for the Electronic Intifada.
He writes of the group which openly targeted facilities in Britain making weapons for Israel: “A panel of judges found on Friday that the ban resulted in ‘very significant interference with the right to freedom of speech and the right to freedom of assembly.’
“Activists were jubilant.
“’Elbit Systems: pack up your bags. Palestine Action is back,’ lisa minerva luxx said at a press conference outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
“Elbit Systems is Israel’s biggest arms firm. It has at least six remaining sites in the UK but Palestine Action’s assertive campaigns have shut down four others.
“Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori called the ruling a ‘monumental victory’ and said the ban will be remembered as ‘one of the most extreme attacks on free speech in recent British history.’
“Ammori led the successful legal challenge, supported by a team of lawyers.
“The ruling keeps the ban in place temporarily, however.
“Details of how the group will be removed from the ‘terrorist’ proscription list are still to be settled by the court, with further proceedings in a week.
“Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she was ‘disappointed by the court’s decision’ and that the government would appeal.
“Her predecessor Yvette Cooper banned the direct action protest group last summer under Britain’s draconian ‘anti-terror’ law.
“This made expressing support for the group a criminal offense punishable by as many as 14 years in prison.
“Palestine Action’s direct action campaigns have been on hold for the last seven months while it pushed to reverse the ban.”
See Winstanley’s full report and video commentary. He is author of Weaponising Anti-Semitism: How the Israel Lobby Brought Down Jeremy Corbyn.
See documentary on Palestine Action: “To Kill a War Machine.”