Exclusive: Neil Kinnock says Palestine Action are not terrorists in split with Starmer
Exclusive: Neil Kinnock says Palestine Action are not terrorists in split with Starmer
The former leader of the UK’s Labour party Neil Kinnock has condemned Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s proscription of Palestine Action, in rare criticism of his ally and successor.
Speaking exclusively to Middle East Eye, Kinnock said the Labour government had blunted terror laws by designating the activists, which call for an end to the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, a terrorist group.
Kinnock, who led Labour from 1983 to 1992, now sits as a peer in the House of Lords, where he refused to vote in favour of the proscription.
He told MEE that Britons have a right to be “extremely concerned about the appalling situation in Gaza” and added that the hundreds of people arrested in recent weeks for protesting the ban are not terrorists.
The intervention by Kinnock, who has previously been a vocal supporter of Starmer, marks the most high-profile divide in Labour ranks over the proscription.
Starmer’s government proscribed Palestine Action under anti-terror laws on 4 July, after its activists broke into RAF Brize Norton air base and attacked with paint and crowbars two planes they said were “used for military operations in Gaza and across the Middle East".
The designation puts Palestine Action on a par with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State under British law, making it a criminal offence to show support for or invite support for the group, punishable by up to 14 years in prison under the Terrorism Act 2000.
In response, protesters have regularly gathered in demonstrations opposing the ban, holding signs saying: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action".
On Saturday, Police made mass arrests in London, detaining nearly 900 people - including the elderly and relatives of Holocaust survivors - on terrorism charges.
“If people have committed a crime of facilitating or being associated with terrorists, they should be dealt with,” Kinnock said.
“Simply, I can’t see how belonging to or demonstrating for a group that is rightly extremely concerned about the appalling situation in Gaza is terrorism. That isn’t terrorism.”
The House of Commons voted 386 to 26 to ban Palestine Action, with just 10 Labour MPs voting against the government.
An attempt in the House of Lords to stop the proscription was defeated, with 16 peers voting for the “motion of regret” and 144 against. Kinnock abstained.
“I didn’t vote for the prohibition of Palestine Action, with a lot of Labour peers in the House of Lords,” Kinnock said.
“We have a library full of criminal law to enable us to deal with terrorists or suspected terrorists. By extending the title of terrorism to supporters of Palestine Action is blunting the law we already have. It was misguided for both positive and negative reasons.”
“It wouldn’t have been something I’d pursue because I want effective action against terrorists, not against protestors,” he added.
The Labour government has stood by the decision and the new home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, paid tribute to the Metropolitan Police on Sunday after its crackdown on the latest protest.
Committing war crimes
Since Israel’s war on Gaza began in October 2023, more than 64,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks.
Meanwhile, the UN-backed global hunger monitor has declared famine in Gaza after Israel has severely stifled aid deliveries to the Palestinian enclave.
Top legal experts, major international, Israeli and Palestinian rights groups, and governments have declared Israel’s onslaught as a genocide, a charge that Israel is currently defending itself against at the International Court of Justice.
However, the UK refuses to define it as such, with a letter emerging this week where David Lammy, who until Friday was foreign secretary, says the government has not concluded Israel is intentionally trying to destroy in whole or in part the Palestinians in Gaza.
Kinnock said despite recognising Israel is committing “war crimes” in Gaza he is unable to call it a genocide until it is proven in court.
“I’m not trying to make a legal definition. I know war crimes are being committed and that’s the view of legal experts,” he said.
“But genocide has a particular legal definition, which would have to be proven in court. I don’t have the evidence to show that. I know what my instincts tell me and I know what realities tell me about the war crimes.”
Despite Hamas responding positively to a US-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal over the weekend, Israel attempted to kill Hamas leaders and negotiators in an air strike on Doha on Tuesday.
The failed operation upended efforts to end the war and free Israelis held captive in Gaza, prompting outcry from the captives’ families and hundreds of thousands of people to take to the streets in protest in Israel.
Kinnock said that Israelis deserve “great credit” for having “enormous courage” to demonstrate against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is sought by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
