Published: July 7, 2025, 02:58 AM
Tulip Siddiq, a British MP of Bangladeshi origin, was among 385 lawmakers who voted in favour of designating the campaign group Palestine Action as a "terrorist" organisation — a move that has sparked widespread criticism from human rights advocates and some fellow parliamentarians.
The vote, which passed with 385 in favour and 26 against in the UK House of Commons, follows a high-profile incident last month where Palestine Action activists infiltrated a military base and sprayed red paint on two aircraft to protest the UK`s support for Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza.
A post on X (formerly Twitter) by Muslim news outlet 5Pillars identified Tulip Siddiq among the Muslim MPs who voted for the ban, noting that most Muslim MPs did not register a vote on the matter.
Once finalised by the House of Lords, the ban will criminalise any support for or affiliation with Palestine Action — placing the protest group in the same legal category as internationally recognised terrorist organisations such as al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS). Supporters could face arrest, prosecution, and surveillance.
Critics have described the move as a dangerous overreach. Independent MP Zarah Sultana, who was suspended from the Labour Party last year, condemned the decision:
Amnesty International UK’s Chief Executive, Sacha Deshmukh, also voiced strong opposition, calling the ban "unprecedented legal overreach" and warning that the move granted authorities sweeping powers to suppress legitimate protest.
Palestine Action, which was founded in July 2020, uses direct-action tactics to target companies involved in supplying arms to Israel, including Israeli firm Elbit Systems and French arms giant Thales. The group has caused millions of pounds in property damage, according to UK authorities, but insists its actions are a necessary form of protest against what it calls "corporate enablers of Israeli war crimes."
Just a day before the vote, the group said its activists had blocked access to an Elbit site in Bristol and occupied the rooftop of a subcontractor’s facility in Suffolk.
Despite mounting pressure from UN experts — who argue that property damage without intent to harm life should not constitute terrorism — UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper defended the proscription. She maintained that the government must take a zero-tolerance stance on what she called “violence and criminal damage masquerading as protest.”
Al Jazeera`s Davor Veselinovic reported that some MPs felt "boxed in" during the vote, as rejecting the measure would have meant failing to ban two other unrelated organisations listed in the same order.
Palestine Action has vowed to challenge the ruling in court, calling the decision "unjustified" and "an abuse of power." The House of Lords is expected to review the measure this week, after which the ban could take legal effect within days.
