FOI documents show that Israel is behind the crackdown on dissent in the UK

This should surprise no one...

You know how we’ve seen a massive wave of suppression in the UK with journalists, activists, social media users and protesters being treated as terrorists? Well, you’ll be unsurprised to hear this was being coordinated with the Israeli embassy.

A series of freedom of information requests have shown that Israeli interference in our justice system is extensive. Such interference is completely illegal, of course, not that anything will happen.

Released emails discussed the introduction of moves to crack down on dissent, such as the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, and coordination with Facebook and Instagram. They showed the Israeli embassy pressured the Attorney General’s Office to clamp down on pro-Palestinian protests - and arms manufacturer Elbit Systems was regularly meeting with high-ranking officials.

Redactions in the documents were justified by the Attorney General’s Office as the details “would be likely to prejudice the UK’s relations with Israel”. Basically, we can’t know the full extent to which Israel is interfering in our politics because this would upset Israel.

The documents demonstrate that Israel holds influence over government ministers, the Attorney General’s Office, the Crown Prosecution Service, and the police.

The latest revelation is that the AGO passed on contact details of the CPS and counter-terrorism police to the Israeli embassy in a heavily-redacted email. Needless to say, the CPS is supposed to be operationally independent and there is no reason for the Israeli embassy to be in contact with it.

The email was sent by Nicola Smith, the head of international law at the AGO, to Daniela Grudsky Ekstein, Israel’s deputy ambassador to the UK.

Smith and Ekstein had met 11 days prior to this email. All we know is they discussed the people who had worked on the Palestine Action case. We are not allowed to know any further details about the conversation. Isn’t that nice?

This is just the latest piece of evidence of Israel interfering in the Palestine Action case. The CPS was having great difficulty prosecuting members of Palestine Action, and other activists, because when they appeared in court, juries would acquit them. Therefore, politicians started pressuring judges into not allowing defendants to explain their motivations so they could not elicit sympathy from the jury. How can justice possibly be served if you can’t explain why you did something?

The rules were changed during Suella Braverman’s reign of terror so that the European Convention on Human Rights would not apply in such cases. The defendants were treated as terrorists, even when they were not charged under the Terrorism Act, even when the alleged crimes would not constitute terrorism, according to international legal standards. All this was done to clamp down on dissent and protect the genocidal state of Israel.

One internal file admitted: “Palestine Action does not meet the threshold for proscription as they do not commit, participate in, prepare for, promote, encourage, or otherwise be concerned with acts of terrorism”.

Despite this, members of Palestine Action, the so-called Filton 18, have been in prison for over eight months without trial because they tried to stop the UK sending arms to Israel so it can blow up children. How can this be a crime when the UK has suspended some arms licences on the basis that Israel is violating international humanitarian law?

If someone is going to shoot a child and you take that gun and destroy it, you are not in the wrong, and that is essentially what Palestine Action has done.

In August 2024, members of Palestine Action drove a modified prison van into an Elbit Systems factory in Bristol, causing £1 million worth of damage. The team dismantled weapons systems, including the quad copters that mimic the sound of women and children crying to lure Palestinians into the open to be shot.

These weapons were being sent to Israel to commit war crimes, but no one in the UK has been prosecuted for facilitating those war crimes. I think our so-called justice system is a bit upside down, don’t you?

None of the Filton 18 were charged with terrorism offences, yet they have had their rights restricted as though they were, with limits on their legal support, family visits, healthcare and religious rights while they await trial. This is because they were arrested under powers granted by the Terrorism Act. How can this be anything other than an abuse of power?

It’s not just the Israeli embassy that has been interfering in our justice system. FOI documents show that Home Office ministers and staff have been pressuring police and prosecutors to act against Palestine Action since way before 7 October. Their goal was to “reassure” Elbit Systems.

Absurdly, a briefing note for one meeting read:

“A director from the Attorney General’s Office will be attending to represent the CPS. The CPS declined to participate in this meeting to preserve their operational independence.”

The note admits that such a meeting would jeopardise operational independence, yet the CPS sent a representative anyway? Clearly, if you are sending a representative to the meeting, you are not preserving your operational independence!

Documents confirm ministers, police, the CPS and attorney general were meeting with Elbit Systems to discuss Palestine Action, but the details were redacted. One meeting with Elbit was attended by three members of Yvette Cooper’s Home Office.

How can it be justifiable for Elbit Systems to be meeting with such people? Even if you see the arms manufacturer as the victim of a crime, the only people it needs to be speaking to are police. Elbit just needs to hand over its evidence and submit witness statements. That’s it. Anything beyond that is political interference.

Ominously, it has been revealed by Declassified UK that Elbit Systems has its own intelligence cell that coordinates with British police on a two-weekly basis. An Israeli arms manufacturer is not just building its weapons of genocide here, it’s spying on our citizens and telling police who to prosecute.

Such interference surely violates the Crown Prosecution Service’s General Principle 2.1:

“The independence of the prosecutor is central to the criminal justice system of a democratic society. Prosecutors are independent from persons or agencies that are not part of the prosecution decision-making process. CPS prosecutors are also independent from the police and other investigators. Prosecutors must be free to carry out their professional duties without political interference and must not be affected by improper or undue pressure or influence from any source.”

It’s worth pointing out that not only do government ministers interfere to prosecute opponents of Israel, they interfere to protect suspected war criminals, such as Tzipi Livni and Gideon Saar. In the latter case, the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, held a secret meeting with his Israeli counterpart and personally ensured he would not face arrest. If he can protect suspected war criminals, he can protect those who oppose war criminals, but he chooses not to. In fact, our government does the opposite.

The clear evidence of political interference in the Filton 18 cases has led to calls for the charges to be dropped. In a “democracy”, any court case would be free from political interference, yet we have interference not just from our own government, but a foreign government too. How can anyone possibly say justice is going to be served?

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