Instead of Helping Implement the Proscription of Palestine Action You Should Be Doing Your Best to Frustrate It - As Martin Luther King said:
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Monday 30 June, 2025
Dear
Ben Jamal,
I
write as one of the original founders of Palestine Solidarity Campaign although
I resigned in 2022 as a result of PSC’s abandonment of anti-Zionism in the new
Constitution which you supported.
I
have subsequently observed in wry amusement that you now claim to have been
anti-Zionist all along. However as long as you don’t call for the replacement of
a Jewish Supremacist state by a Unitary Democratic State
it is impossible to consider PSC anti-Zionist.
We
are living through the world’s first live streamed genocide in Gaza and the
fulfilment of Zionism’s Messianic End Times. US and British imperialism are
wedded to supporting Hitler’s
Bastard Offspring. Today when genocidal and exterminationist ideas are
commonplace in Israel and when nearly half of Israeli Jews support
exterminating the Palestinians of Gaza, the last thing we should do is retreat
in the face of government threats of proscription. Today the Nazi doctrine of
Death by Hunger is the official policy of the Israeli government.
Ben Jamal
Despite
the creation of a mass Palestine solidarity movement, both in Britain and
internationally, we have not been able to stop the Genocide. At best we have
been able to limit the carnage and force Zionism’s mafia bosses in Tel Aviv to
admit a bare minimum of aid.
PSC, together with Stop the War Coalition and other groups, have organised impressive demonstrations in London but by themselves they have failed to change British government policy, wedded as it is to NATO and the alliance with the United States. Today we are led by war criminals and we must act accordingly.
A
chance was missed in January when the Police banned the march from starting
from outside the BBC. The Metropolitan Police adopted wholesale the Zionist smear that the marches offended Jews worshipping in a distant synagogue,. Instead of saying
that you would call the march at the BBC regardless of the Police’s attempt at
sabotage you meekly complied by rearranging the starting point in Whitehall, which
enabled the Police to kettle, harass, arrest and attack protestors.
By
way of contrast, one of the most successful groups in the past five years has
been Palestine Action. It has been so
successful that the government has been forced to try and proscribe it as a
terrorist organisation. This is the first attempt to ban a protest group as
‘terrorists’. This attempt has been met with a wave of opposition from other
protest and civil liberties groups,
charities and academics reaching
into the Home Office itself.
If
anything represented a line in the sand then this is surely the issue – the proscription
of a protest group as ‘terrorists’. It is an assault on the most basic of rights
of a democratic society, the right to protest and freedom of speech, Articles
10 and 11 of the European Convention of Human Rights.
As
you are aware, having often quoted them yourself, protest movements have a long
history of defying coercive and repressive laws when democratic rights and
basic freedoms were under attack. Slavery abolitionists, trade unionists,
Chartists and Suffragettes were prepared to put themselves on the line. As Martin
Luther King said
in his Letter from a Birmingham Gaol
‘one has a moral responsibility to
disobey unjust laws. I would agree with St. Augustine that "an unjust law
is no law at all."
A
law, which is passed, which erodes our democratic rights is an immoral law.
This was the position of the Suffragettes, the Chartists and all manner of
social movements in the past. This is a law fit for a Police State and yet you
insist that PSC branches and members meekly comply. In your ‘advice’
you write
PSC’s position is clear – we will not
allow any branch to jeopardise the organisation and the movement by
taking such actions in the name of PSC. It is vitally important for
all branches to understand this and to act accordingly – ensure that
no branch communications profess support for a proscribed
organisation, that no events are planned in support of a proscribed
organisation, and that no clothing or signs are used which profess support for
a proscribed organisation
The
Police, the Courts and the State have been implacably opposed to the Palestine
solidarity movement. Why? Because the West’s alliance with Israel is
based on strategic imperialist interests. Israel is the West’s attack dog. This
is why Palestine Action has been targeted. To the state Palestine Action’s
opposition to Britain’s military co-operation with Israel is no different from
that of Hamas. Hence the proposed proscription.
Whereas
Western regimes have supported the Zionists the people have supported the Palestinians
as opinion
polls have consistently demonstrated.
The reception of the audience at Glastonbury to Kneecap and Bobby Vylan’s
chants
of ‘death to the IDF’ demonstrates who has the ear of the young.
We
see this in the decision
of the High Court on Monday approving the sale of F-35 components even
though the judges knew full well that they will be used to commit genocide.
The
Guardian reported
on Saturday that ‘concerns about
proscribing Palestine Action extended into the home secretary’s own
department.’ A senior civil servant was quoted as saying that ‘Home Office staff are concerned about the
“absurd” decision to ban Palestine Action under UK anti-terrorism laws.’
“From desk to desk, colleagues are exchanging
concerned and bemused conversations about how absurd this is and how impossible
it will be to enforce. Are they really going to prosecute as terrorists
everyone who expresses support for Palestine Action’s work to disrupt the flow
of arms to Israel as it commits war crimes?
If
ever there was a time for civil disobedience it is now. It is fine citing the
example of groups in the past which broke the law for the common good but there
comes a time when PSC has to decide which is more important – obedience to the
law or solidarity with the Palestinians. If PSCrefuses to contemplate civil
disobedience it is more of an NGO than a solidarity campaign.
The time to refuse to accede to the proscription of Palestine Action, whilst Zionist genocide
groups go unmolested, is now. If thousands of people openly defy the
proscription by refusing to accept Police State Starmer’s equation of Protest
Groups with Terrorism then the law will
become inoperable.
As
it says in Ecclesiastes
3 (and Pete Seeger’s song Turn, Turn, Turn)
‘To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under
the heaven.’
Now is that time but to the leadership of PSC,
afraid as you are of your own shadow, the idea of civil disobedience is something
you praise in history not something you yourselves participate in. Past heroism is easy to praise. Doing it yourself is something else.
PSC has never missed an opportunity to miss an
opportunity. Unlike the Anti-Apartheid Movement of the 1970s it is afraid to build
a popular movement that challenges the State’s support for genocide. The vast
majority of the population, both in Europe and the United States are utterly
sick of the genocide in Gaza yet PSC is afraid of breaking the law.
Now
is the ideal time to put a spoke into the Zionist wheel. Now is the time to
defy yet another anti-Palestinian law with both right and public opinion on our
side. Yet what do you do? You instruct
members and branches of PSC to fully implement the ban on supporting Palestine
Action if the law comes into effect. Let’s be blunt. You are doing the work of
the Zionists for them. You don’t know what to do with a mass movement except
march them up the hill and down again.
You
have no perspective beyond the accumulation of funds and the employment of more
staff. PSC has made over a million
pounds from Israel’s genocide in Gaza yet politically you are still as timid as
when, in 2022, you took anti-Zionism out of the constitution.
What
is your justification? The threat of 14 year prison sentences? I doubt if even
Lady Justice Carr, the most reactionary Chief Justice since Lord Denning would
dare impose such a sentence but more importantly public opinion would not stand
for it. The best way of avoiding prison sentences is mass defiance of the law
such that it will be impossible to implement it since it is clear to all that Palestine
Action is not a terrorist group. Embedding a lie within the law will not make
it true.
A mural was painted in Gaza over a year ago to thank us for taking direct action against Israel’s war machine.
— Palestine Action (@Pal_action) October 20, 2023
Now, more than ever, Palestinians need us to step up.
Join our workshop tomorrow and #ShutElbitDown: https://t.co/Aw3ubRyNC0 pic.twitter.com/cBqMk5gUuz
Your
fear of challenging the unjust laws that Yvette Cooper is proposing stems from
your fear of upsetting the applecart. To be blunt you are afraid of challenging
the undemocratic British state and prefer to sacrifice the Palestinians
instead. It was not PSC but Palestine Action that had a mural painted for
it in Gaza. Palestine Action have
achieved in 5 years more than PSC have done in 40.
What is the purpose of PSC if not to support the Palestinians? Palestine Action has closed 3 Elbit factories
and premises in its five years of existence. It has posed a challenge to the
Israeli state’s operations in this country which PSC with all its staff and
resources have not been able to match. Hence its proscription.
I am not at all surprised by your behaviour. When Palestine Action was
formed in July 2020 PSC did all that it could to strangle it at birth. Your ‘legal
advice’ then was a carbon copy of your advice today. You wrote:
PSC has sought legal advice about the potential
liabilities arising from the commission of acts of criminal damage of high
monetary levels ... If the value of the damage caused exceeds £5000 a person
can be sentenced to a maximum of 10 years imprisonment and/or an unlimited
fine.
These liabilities potentially extend to both
individuals encouraging or assisting criminal acts (including, for example,
providing financial support), and organisations, including PSC branches that
offered encouragement or assistance.
These concerns are not raised because PSC, or the
BDS Movement is opposed to any form of direct action. Instead, they are raised
because of the strategic and legal risks associated with the type of action
being conducted by the group.
If supporters
of the Palestinians had taken your advice and if members of PSC had gone along
with it then Palestine Action would not have existed. You were forced
to change course because PSC members and supporters disregarded your advice. Today
you write
that:
Publicly inviting support, for example
through a social media post, wearing clothing which indicates support, or
arranging a meeting where a member of a proscribed organisation speaks or a
speech indicating support for the organisation is given are all criminal
offences which can carry prison sentences of up to 14 years
That
is true, theoretically and that is why mass
action in defiance of this law is necessary and should be organised, with PSC’s
help if possible, without it if necessary. The proscription of Palestine Action
can only be challenged by mass defiance, not the timidity of PSC under your
tutelage. PSC itself should be taking the lead instead of trying to frighten
its members. There is nothing stopping national PSC declaring that its support
for PA remains unchanged.
You and the leadership of PSC have always been hostile to PA because you saw it as a competitor. In January
2022 when PA achieved its first victory with the closure of Elbit’s Oldham
factory PSC was eager
to claim the credit. You issued a statement which said:
We pay tribute to all
those who have campaigned since Elbit Systems purchased the site in 2007,
including many members of the Manchester PSC branch
As I wrote
at the time:
‘I have to pay tribute to whoever drafted the
statement. It must have taken some effort to draft a statement welcoming the
closure of the factory without at the same time mentioning the group which was
responsible for the campaign that was responsible for this success.
Because
British imperialism supports Zionism and Israel there is no legal way to
prevent the state supporting Israel short of mass action. That is why defiance
of the law is an essential component of any solidarity action. Of course that
does not mean we defy the law on any and every occasion but we choose the time
and place. This is such an occasion. The classifying of a protest group as a terrorist
group breaks new ground. It is a red line for more than just the Palestine
solidarity movement. It has united Palestine solidarity supporters with
virtually the whole liberal and even not so liberal establishment. It is
indefensible. If any issue was likely to be won by a refusal to cowtow to the
Police and State this is the time.
Your real
reasons for opposing a refusal to implement the law have nothing to do with
possible prison sentences for those who defy the law. They have everything to
do with your empire building and the cushy salaries that comes with it.
You say
that ‘The people of Palestine are depending on us now, during their darkest hour, and we cannot afford to let them down.’ Yet by colluding
in the implementation of this law that is precisely what you are doing. You are
helping the British state implement this police state law.
Tony
Greenstein
Supported by:
Leeds Students Against Apartheid Coalition
