Palestine Action arrests in the UK include 28 Irish nationals, Digi Mart USA News (United Kingdom): One of Ireland’s leading children’s authors is among 28 Irish people who have been arrested under anti-terror laws in the UK over alleged links to Palestine Action. London-based Chris Haughton, the Irish children’s book author and illustrator and national children’s laureate for 2026 to 2029, was among more than 4,000 arrests linked to Palestine Action in the UK.
New figures show that, as of the year ending June 2026, 31 terror-related arrests in the UK were of people who define their nationality as Irish, 28 of which were linked to Palestine Action. This was more than any other nationality outside of Britain in the year ending June 2026.
The UK Supreme Court began hearing a challenge to the proscription of Palestine Action on Wednesday, November 4. Proscribing Palestine Action criminalized support, the invitation of support, or membership for the group.
A High Court judicial review had previously found the ban unlawful in February, but this was overturned by the Court of Appeal in June.
Under the legislation to date, more than 4,000 arrests, the majority for expressing support for the group, have resulted in thousands awaiting trial and potential prison sentences. Arrest figures continue to rise given the regularity of Palestine Action protests, where mass arrests take place for sign-holding.
A further two dozen protesters were arrested outside the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
“There’s 4,000 of us that have been arrested now,” Haughton, who was arrested for holding a sign declaring support for Palestine Action, told The Irish Times. “It’s absurd.” Haughton has pledged to donate proceeds from his children’s books to Sally Rooney, the Irish author who recently had her books removed from sale in the UK over her own commitment to donate their proceeds to Palestine Action.
Palestine Action was originally proscribed as a terror group on July 5, 2025, primarily after a series of “direct action” incidents that allegedly involved vandalism of Israeli-owned Elbit Systems drone factories in the UK. In one incident in August 2025, activists destroyed drones and computers, causing an estimated £1 million (€1.2 million) in damage to the Filton Elbit Systems factory before clashing with security and police, with one officer struck with a sledgehammer, fracturing their spine.
Elbit Systems UK Limited has denied that it supplies weapons or military equipment to the Israel Defence Forces or the Israeli Ministry of Defence. The International Association of Genocide Scholars has stated that Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide.
South Africa launched proceedings against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2023, alleging that Israel’s military actions in Gaza constituted genocide against the Palestinian people, but a ruling is not expected for years.
Jonathan Hall, an independent barrister appointed by the Home Secretary as the UK’s fourth Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, told The Irish Times it was the “first time” property damage was used as the primary basis for proscription. Arguing against the proscription in the Supreme Court on Wednesday, Raza Husain, a lawyer for the group, stated, “Palestine Action never advocated for violence against the person.” He told the court that only three of its 385 actions over five years met the legal definition of terrorism, and only because they involved property damage.
Alan Greene, a professor of constitutional law and human rights at the University of Birmingham, said proscribing Palestine Action as a terror group primarily based on property damage represents a marked change in the interpretation of UK terror legislation, when criminal law for vandalism could have sufficed. “This is a classic example of counterproductive counterterrorism,” he said.
“It has actually increased the prominence of Palestine Action.”
