UK lawmakers approve ban of Palestine Action as terrorist group

LONDON (Reuters) -British lawmakers voted on Wednesday to ban pro-Palestinian campaign group Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation, after its activists broke into a military base and damaged two planes in protest at what it says is Britain's support for Israel.

Palestine Action, which describes itself as a direct action movement that uses disruptive methods, has routinely targeted companies in Britain with links to Israel, including Israeli defence firm Elbit Systems, which it has called its "main target".

Britain's Labour government accused the group of causing millions of pounds of damage through action at a Thales factory in 2022, an Elbit site last year and at the Royal Air Force base in southern England last month - the trigger for the decision to ban, or proscribe, the group.

Proscription would officially designate Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation on a par with Islamic State or al Qaeda under British law, making it a crime to support or belong to the groups.

Britain's proscription order will reach parliament's upper chamber, the House of Lords, on Thursday. If approved by lawmakers there, Palestine Action's ban would become effective in the following days.

The group, which has called its proscription unjustified and an "abuse of power," has challenged the decision in court and an urgent hearing is expected on Friday.

United Nations experts appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council have urged Britain to reconsider its move, arguing that acts of property damage without the intention to endanger life should not be considered terrorism.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, Britain's interior minister, says that violence and criminal damage have no place in legitimate protest, and that a zero-tolerance approach was necessary for national security.

On Tuesday, the group said its activists had blocked the entrance to an Elbit site in Bristol, southwestern England, and that other members had occupied the rooftop of a subcontracting firm in Suffolk, eastern England, it said had links to Elbit.

Israel has repeatedly denied committing abuses in its war in Gaza, which began after Palestinian militant group Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

In addition to Palestine Action, the proscription order approved by Britain's parliament includes neo-Nazi group Maniacs Murder Cult and the Russian Imperial Movement, a white supremacist group which seeks to create a new Russian imperial state.

The vote on the three groups was taken together, meaning all three had to be banned or none of them.

(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar; Editing by Alison Williams)