CAMPAIGNERS challenged Glasgow’s annual Pride event over the weekend over its sponsorship ties to Israel’s violence against Palestinians.
Hundreds of No Pride in Genocide (NPIG) activists gathered in Kelvingrove Park on Saturday, where the annual Pride march began, forming a “radical bloc” to demand that the event reject companies directly profiting from Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land and the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Among the event’s sponsors is US financing giant JP Morgan, which holds $22 million (£16.4m) in shares in Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, Elbit Systems, as well as $600m (£447m) in Israeli sovereign war bonds.
Last year, NIPG mobilised a similar bloc within the 2024 Pride march, with their numbers making up nearly half the total procession.
Despite pressure over the past year, the group say that Glasgow’s Pride organisers have refused to engage directly with them.
NPIG accuse organisers of enabling “pinkwashing” — a term used to describe promoting LGBTQ+ inclusivity to deflect from broader human rights abuses.
Zarah Sultana speaking after a march organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, from Russell Square to Whitehall in central London, June 21, 2025
This week, MPs shamefully approved the proscription of Palestine Action. Several challenged the move in the Commons. Zarah Sultana, Independent MP for Coventry South, gave an outstanding speech in condemnation. Because of the exceptional gravity of the issue, we reproduce her speech, lightly edited, here.
TWENTY-ONE years ago, a human rights barrister … defended an activist who broke into RAF Fairford trying to disable a bomber to prevent war crimes in Iraq. That became a landmark case in lawful, non-violent direct action against an illegal war. That barrister is now our Prime Minister, Keir Starmer KC. He argued that it was not terrorism, but conscience.
Fast-forward to June 20 2025: two Palestine Action activists entered RAF Brize Norton and sprayed red paint — red paint, not fire — on aircraft linked to surveillance flights over Gaza. Instead of prosecuting them for criminal damage, the Home Secretary is using the Terrorism Act 2000 to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist group.
This is an unprecedented and dangerous overreach of the state. Never before in Britain has it been a crime to simply support a group.
Palestine Action’s real crime is shutting down Elbit Systems sites that arm the Israeli military; its true offence is being audacious enough to expose the blood-soaked ties between this government and the genocidal Israeli apartheid state and its war machine.
Let us be clear: to equate a spray can of paint with a suicide bomb is not just absurd; it is grotesque. It is a deliberate distortion of the law to chill dissent, criminalise solidarity and suppress the truth.
Amnesty International, Liberty, over 266 senior lawyers and UN special rapporteurs have all opposed these draconian measures. Under this order, anyone expressing moral support for a proscribed group could face 14 years in prison. That includes wearing a badge, wearing a T-shirt, sharing a post or calling for de-proscription.
And journalists have no exemption either: there is no legal protection for reporting favourably, even factually, about Palestine Action.
Let us not forget what is happening in Gaza, where the real crimes are being ignored: hospitals bombed, children starved, and tens of thousands of people killed. Palestinian children now suffer more amputations per capita than children anywhere else on Earth.
Israel is on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice, and the Israeli Prime Minister faces an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, yet the government’s response is to criminalise solidarity and to continue exporting lethal F-35 jets that are decimating Gaza.
We also have to understand the history of this country and what built our democracy: the tradition of civil disobedience that includes the suffragettes, without whom I would not have the vote, let alone the privilege of being here as an MP.
Even those who oppose Palestine Action’s tactics must recognise the vast gulf between criminal damage and terrorism. If this order passes, what and who is next — climate protesters, striking workers, feminists in the street?
Already we have seen a wider crackdown on our civil liberties — musicians censored, journalists arrested, and demonstrators, including MPs sitting here, harassed — and now this government want to use anti-terror laws to make peaceful protest itself a crime. If our democratic institutions functioned as they should, none of this would be necessary.
If this proscription passes, we have to understand that no campaign will be safe tomorrow. We have to recognise that this will go down as a dark day in our country’s history … People will ask, “Which side were you on?” and I stand with the millions of people who oppose genocide, because I am one of them. I oppose the blood-soaked hands of this government trying to silence us. So I say this loudly and proudly: we are all Palestine…
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.Keir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone obect to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Keir “I support Zionism without Qualification” Starmer supporting genocide.
FW Pomeroy’s Statue of Justice standing atop the Central Criminal Court building, Old Bailey, London
INTERNATIONAL legal associations and human rights groups have warned that the rule of law is under threat in Britain following the arrest of pro-Palestine activists through the misuse of counterterrorism laws.
An open letter, signed by 21 groups, relates to the case of Palestine Action protesters known as the “Filton 18,” who have been jailed over an action targeting a facility in Bristol owned by Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons firm.
The activists were detained under counterterror powers, despite being charged with criminal offences including aggravated burglary and criminal damage.
The Crown Prosecution Service has, however, said it will submit to the court that the offences had a “terrorist connection,” which could lead to more severe sentences.
The activists have consequently been denied bail and subjected to higher security protocols.
The 21 group’s letter states that the case “is a litmus test for democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights in the United Kingdom.”
They add that a freedom of information request shows that the government shared the contact details of counterterrorism police with the Israeli embassy during the investigation.
Vote Labour for Genocide.Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAUK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
PALESTINIAN activists targeted Elbit’s investors, insurers and landlords on Nakba Day today.
Filton weapons factory in Bristol, owned by the Israel-based international military technology company and defence contractor Elbit Systems, was also blocked by a repurposed ambulance as part of Palestine Action’s day of protest.
Speaking from the roof of the ambulance, one of the activists said: “Almost 20,000 Palestinian children have been killed, and that’s why we’re here to shut down this factory.”Actions took place against the Glasgow offices of Elbit’s insurers, Allianz, the Manchester-based landlords of Elbit’s Bristol HQ and the Edinburgh offices of Elbit’s investors, BNY Mellon.
UK Labour Party government Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are participants and complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide providing Israel with army and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
Keir Starmer with Home Secretary Yvette Cooper. (Photo: Benjamin Cremel / Alamy)
DECLASSIFIED UK Exclusive: Home Office met with Elbit Systems amid crackdown on Palestine Action, documents reveal.
Keir Starmer’s government held a private meeting with Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons company, Declassified has found.
The meeting occurred in December 2024 and was attended by three representatives from Elbit Systems and three officials from Yvette Cooper’s Home Office.
It took place months after Israeli forces used an Elbit drone to kill three British military veterans in Gaza who were protecting a humanitarian aid convoy.
The revelation comes in documents obtained by Declassified through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.
Under the previous Conservative government, the Home Office also met with Elbit Systems and attempted to encourage the UK police to crack down on pro-Palestine activism.
Elbit’s efforts to counter Palestine Action in Britain seem to have gone even further.
Documents seen by Declassified reveal the company has its own “intelligence cell” and shares “information with the [UK] police across the country on a two weekly basis”.
The Home Office is refusing to release details about its most recent meeting with Elbit Systems, including which officials were present and what was discussed.
It said that a recording of the meeting was made “but by mutual agreement [with Elbit] this was agreed… not to be released” through FOI.
Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori told Declassified: “There is clear evidence of collusion between government, prosecutors, police, the Israeli government and Elbit Systems in a bid to crackdown on Palestine Action’s relentless direct action campaign.
“Such collusion likely amounts to political and foreign interference in our judicial system, a potential abuse of process in prosecutions against Palestine Action”.
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Palestine Action’s Huda Ammori added: “Eighteen Palestine Action prisoners are detained under counter-terrorism powers in an unprecedented crackdown against anti-genocide activists.
“There must be full transparency of meetings with the government which reference Palestine Action, and an independent investigation into the validity of prosecutions against us, given the evidence of judicial interference”.
The Home Office and Elbit did not respond to a request for comment.
Glasgow Pride
