Politics
Pro-Israel Tories jump to Labour’s defence with lies about Palestine Action
Keir Starmer’s government has been doing its best to make an example of Palestine Action activists. And showing real unity with Labour on the topic of Israel’s settler colonial genocide, prominent Tories have jumped to defend the dangerous crackdown on protest rights.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and shadow home secretary Chris Philp are both very close to the Israel lobby and have been vocal in their smears against Palestine Action. As a judge handed down draconian ‘terrorism’ sentences on four anti-genocide activists, Badenoch blamed “these thugs” for injuring a police officer.
She suggested that police officers who had gone to help an Israeli weapons factory had somehow been:
risking their lives to protect us
Despite overwhelming expert consensus, Badenoch has previously denied Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Palestine Action
In reality, the events at the weapons factory saw one activist unintentionally inflict a minor injury on a police officer:
No, they didn’t.
One of them, Sam Corner, was found to have injured Sgt Evans without intent.
There was no such accusation against any of the others. Kemi Badenoch committed contempt of court on live television during their trial. https://t.co/5d7TNB4Fel
— Defend Our Juries (@DefendOurJuries) June 13, 2026
Philp also twisted the facts into a suggestion that “these violent thugs” had somehow gone out to attack police officers. He also talked about them “smashing up property“, as if it was random property and not a factory supplying weapons to a genocidal apartheid state.
3 of the 4 people didn’t attack the police officer and all of the 4 were cleared of violent intent. So the only disgrace here is the lie you’re telling to justify a clear miscarriage of justice & the use of anti-terror laws to justify your government’s complicity in a genocide. https://t.co/8WNKMNoM19
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) June 13, 2026
Philp recently sought to ‘understand the reasons‘ behind the racist pogroms in Belfast.
Shadow housing secretary James Cleverly used similar lines of attack.
They were acquitted on all charges until the State forced a rigged retrial that lied to the jury.
This wasn't justice. It was the death of it in Britain. https://t.co/8I1AkvWiWD
— Marl Karx (@BareLeft) June 14, 2026
Right to protest under attack
Green Party leader Zack Polanski has called government efforts to use Palestine Action as an example to deter opposition to genocide:
A truly dangerous attack on the right to protest.
He believes it’s “deeply authoritarian” and:
should worry all of us
As suffragettes faced imprisonment for their direct action in the past, Palestine Action is walking a similar path. And as journalist John McEvoy reported:
Being in court yesterday felt akin to witnessing a colonial crime: punishing activists with terrorism offences in order to set a precedent that taking direct action to stop a UK-backed genocide will not be tolerated.
The government thinks it needs to set an example. One reason for this is that, as late academic David Graeber said:
Nothing annoys forces of authority more than trying to bow out of the disciplinary game entirely and saying that we could just do things on our own. Direct action is a matter of acting as if you were already free.
The suffragettes did that. Palestine Action has done that. And no matter what Labour or Tory genocide apologists say or do, opponents of injustice will never stop fighting injustice.
Featured image via the Canary
By Ed Sykes
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