Some preliminary thoughts on the Court of Appeal decision on Palestine Action

16th June 2026 * Why it is important to understand how (bad) law is structured * Yesterday the Court of Appeal handed Palestine Action a heavy defeat, reversing a favourable High Court decision. The Court of Appeal decision is here. * This blog does not support Palestine Action or any other proscribed organisation, but this blog often looks at the use and misuse of terrorism and other coercive laws. And on the face of it, it does look like terrorism law is being misused, at least in respect of the mass arrests of people for merely holding signs expressing support for Palestine Action. For hundreds, if not thousands, of people are facing criminal sanctions for a speech act: according to the judgment 2,000 have been arrested and “there are currently over 700 cases pending in the criminal courts of England and Wales, and many more at the pre-charge stage”. This would appear to be a ludicrous situation and not a use to which one would expect terrorism law to be put. (Terrorism law is a…