Why opposing Israel's genocide got me arrested for terrorism

I'm no stranger to arrest and imprisonment under Britain's so-called fight against terrorism. But on Saturday, 9 August, it was for something quite different.

I was one of 532 people arrested in Parliament Square for "supporting terrorism" after carrying signs that read "I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action", organised by Defend Our Juries (DOJ), a protest rights campaign.

But no one was using violence for political aims. This was a silent and peaceful, coordinated gathering.

In July, Palestine Action (PA) was proscribed as a terrorist organisation after its members damaged Elbit Systems factories, the Israeli manufacturer and largest supplier of military drones to Israeli forces. PA members had also allegedly thrown paint on RAF planes believed to have flown spying missions for Israel over Gaza.

My arrest was under section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which makes it an offence for anyone who "displays an article" in support of a proscribed organisation. It was the largest mass arrest for terrorism in British history.

But unlike most terrorism arrests since the passing of the Act, the majority of those detained weren't Muslims. This time, it was Middle England being handcuffed and driven to nearby makeshift police processing centres.

Among them were retired surgeons and family doctors, former government advisers and senior military officers. There were also disabled and blind pensioners, people in wheelchairs, vicars, and members of the Jewish community.

Just like them, I was prepared to be arrested and face the consequences. And now, according to the law, I am counted among hundreds of terrorism suspects roaming the streets of Britain.

Schoolboy Zionism

As a child during the 1970s, I studied at King David Primary School in Birmingham. Most of my friends were Jewish. My school uniform carried the Star of David on my cap and blazer.

I knew nothing about Zionism, its violent history against Palestinians, or its campaign of terrorism against the British

During the festivals of Yom Kippur, Pesach and Hanukkah, I would sing Hebrew songs and prayers, and wave the flag of Israel with the innocent pride of a schoolboy.

My friends often spoke about going "home" to spend their holidays at kibbutzim in Israel. As one of only two Muslim children in my class, I loved my school.

I sometimes watched news reports about Israel and Palestine, but with little understanding, and I grew up believing Israel was a wonderful place.

I knew nothing about Zionism, its violent history against Palestinians, or its campaign of terrorism against the British.

Origins of dispossession

In 1919, after Britain's 1917 Balfour Declaration promising a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine, Jewish immigration gathered pace under British protection.

Zionist leaders such as Chaim Weizmann, who went on to become Israel's first president, pressed to make Palestine "as Jewish as England is English".

The problem was that other people had already been living there.

In the 1920s and early 1930s, British authorities prioritised Jewish immigration and facilitated settlement and land transfer to Zionist organisations over the rights of Indigenous Palestinians.

As arrivals increased and land changed hands, Palestinian farmers were displaced, unemployment rose in the towns, and economic hardship deepened while grievances went unanswered. Tensions rose.

In 1936, Palestinians launched a countrywide general strike that grew into a revolt against British rule and Zionist settlement.

After three years of revolt, British authorities had crushed the uprising, killing between 5,000 and 8,000 Palestinians, detaining around 9,000 in camps, and destroying at least 2,000 homes across the country.

To defuse unrest and regain control, Britain issued the 1939 White Paper, which capped Jewish immigration at 75,000 over five years (1939-44), required Arab consent for any arrivals beyond that, and restricted land sales.

War on Britain

In 1944, as London tightened limits on immigration, Zionist armed groups openly declared war on Britain.

Paramilitaries organised "illegal" immigration to Palestine, with smuggling gangs run by the Haganah ferrying people from Eastern Europe to build a Jewish state.

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As the numbers swelled, Britain simply could not stop the boats.

The Irgun, which had broken away from the Haganah, grew frustrated at the pace of settlement and intensified its campaign.

On 22 July 1946, the Irgun bombed the British administrative headquarters at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing 91 people. It remains one of the deadliest attacks ever directed at British authorities.

In 2006, a UK parliamentary Early Day Motion condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for attending a 60th anniversary event marking the bombing.

Menachem Begin, then leader of the Irgun - under whose command Irgun and Lehi fighters perpetrated the April 1948 Deir Yassin massacre, killing 107 Palestinian men, women and children - would later be elected Israel's sixth prime minister. 

Lehi, also known as the Stern Gang, had split from the Irgun earlier. It vowed to expel the British by force - even during World War Two - and to push for unrestricted Jewish immigration to Palestine.

The Irgun and Lehi carried out numerous attacks against British targets, both in Palestine and beyond.

In October 1946, the two groups targeted the British embassy in Rome and British military patrols in Germany.

In London, an Irgun operative planted a large bomb at the Colonial Office that failed to detonate. In 1947, the Stern Gang posted 21 letter bombs from Italy to senior British politicians - including Clement Attlee, Winston Churchill and Ernest Bevin - most were intercepted.

British intelligence, whose key concern postwar was Zionist terrorism, believed Bevin was a prime obstacle to the establishment of a Jewish state and warned that Victory in Europe Day could be a "D-Day for Jewish terrorists in the Middle East". Had the devices succeeded, hundreds might have been killed.

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In 1944, the Stern Gang assassinated Lord Moyne, Britain's minister resident in the Middle East. In July 1947, the Irgun abducted two British sergeants, Clifford Martin and Mervyn Paice, hanged them, and booby-trapped their bodies with explosives.

Although the British carried out numerous reprisals, ultimately, the "Sergeants' affair", as it became known, led to Britain's withdrawal from Palestine.

Zionist terrorism against Britain was rewarded with the establishment of the world's first Jewish homeland.

Meanwhile, in 1948, the Haganah formed the backbone of Israeli forces; the Irgun and Lehi were disbanded and their fighters absorbed into the Israeli military later that year.

Terror reframed

Britain's experience in Palestine should not be minimised.

Yet despite the bitter Zionist violence it suffered, successive British governments funded, trained and armed Israeli forces as Israel systematically seized Palestinian land and committed genocide, while remaining impervious to war crimes charges.

That contradiction helps explain how long before 9/11, the word "terrorism" became synonymous with Islam, first deployed by Israel to smear Palestinian resistance as "terrorism". After 9/11, that framing hardened across the West.

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Britain's support for Israel is not only illogical but deeply counterproductive.

The cost of that uncritical support soon became clear. In 2002, Osama bin Laden wrote his "Letter to America" explaining the key reasons why al-Qaeda was fighting the West. He cited Palestine as the primary cause, mentioning western support for Israel 20 times.

Two decades later, following Israel's 2023 invasion of Gaza, Bin Laden's letter went viral on TikTok as young Americans began to question the reasons behind the 9/11 attacks and the meaning of terrorism.

The 9/11 attacks and what followed led to the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. They led to Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib. They led to attacks in Britain and to unprecedented anti-terrorism laws that have shaken the foundations of the English legal system.

New legislation has been passed almost yearly for nearly 25 years. But the proscription of Palestine Action is the straw that broke the camel's back.

As long as Muslims were the targets, few people cared. Now, hundreds of ordinary Britons are openly flouting these laws. The term "terrorism" has become meaningless, applied to placard-carriers but not to genocide perpetrators.

In her attempt to justify the proscription, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper claimed PA "targets Jewish businesses" - as if kosher butchers in Stamford Hill had been attacked.

What she failed to mention was that Elbit Systems is Israel's largest weapons manufacturer, with 16 sites across Britain. It employs many former Israeli soldiers, from management to security.

Filton 24

In August 2024, six activists were arrested at Elbit Systems' Bristol site while destroying quadcopters and weapons intended for use in Gaza.

Since then, a further 18 have been arrested for alleged involvement in this action. They were detained under counterterrorism powers, held incommunicado in what the United Nations suggested could amount to "enforced disappearance".

They are now known as the Filton 24. Many were raided at dawn, some at gunpoint. Though none were charged with terrorism offences, some will spend up to two years in prison before trial. The Crown Prosecution Service has introduced a terrorism connection to their case so that if convicted, they could face much harsher sentences.

The Crown Prosecution Service has introduced a terrorism connection to their case so that if convicted, they could face much harsher sentences

This crackdown on British activists comes against the backdrop of Israel's long record of international censure.

Long before 7 October 2023, Israel was accused by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch of enacting apartheid laws, and by the UN of ethnic cleansing and allowing illegal settlements.

Since then, Israel has been charged at the International Court of Justice with genocide, while the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for its prime minister for crimes against humanity.

For Cooper to act in favour of a foreign state committing war crimes while criminalising her own citizens, in a desperate attempt to prevent them, borders on treasonous behaviour in deed if not in law.

Before Saturday's action, right-wing Reform UK leader Nigel Farage had called for my arrest for promoting the DOJ protest. After my arrest, the pro-Israel peer, Lord Walney, called on the government to revoke my passport.

I am accustomed to fear tactics and know how to challenge them. The next DOJ gathering has already been announced and aims to bring together over 1,000 participants.

Israel's stranglehold over the West is ending. Palestinian voices are being heard through the rubble of Gaza. The British people have woken up, and there is no going back.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.