• The Guardian recently reported a concerning email from Israel to the UK.
• This communication has raised alarms among legal teams, particularly those defending activists in cases like the Palestine Action Filton 18 trial.
On September 9, 2024, The Guardian reported a concerning email sent by the Attorney General’s Office to Israel’s Deputy Ambassador to the UK, titled: “Crown Prosecution Service/counterterrorism police contact details.” The email, sent by Nicola Smith, head of international law at the Attorney General’s Office, came just 11 days after her meeting with Israel’s Deputy Ambassador, Grudsky Ekstein.
This communication has raised alarms among experts and legal teams, particularly those defending activists in cases like the Palestine Action Filton 18 trial, who now fear potential interference from the Israeli government in ongoing legal proceedings, aided by the Attorney General’s Office.
Anas Mustapha of CAGE International said: “The Zionist regime’s interference in British policing and the judiciary is not an isolated act — it is part of a broader, dangerous campaign to criminalise dissent, suppress the anti-war movement, and entrench authoritarianism in order to protect the Western colonial outpost that is Israel.
“This evidence of political interference is deeply concerning and amounts to an abuse of process. Every additional day the Filton 18 remain detained is a violation of their fundamental rights. They must be freed, and the case against them must be dropped immediately.”
Last August, ten Palestine Action activists were arrested under the Terrorism Act following a protest at an Israeli weapons factory, with another eight activists arrested in November in connection with the same incident.
The Filton 18 case has garnered widespread condemnation of the state’s use of terrorism legislation, including denunciations from four UN special rapporteurs.
Palestine Action has forced four UK companies to cut ties with Israeli arms firm Elbit Systems in 2024
Fisher German, the property managers of Elbit’s UAV Engines factory in Shenstone, Staffordshire, dropped all association with Elbit.
After a two month campaign, iO associates, Elbit’s sole UK recruiters, ended their association with the Israeli weapons maker, which was also their biggest client.
Naked Creativity, the listed website hosts of Elbit’s UAV Tactical Systems factory in Leicester, stopped working with Elbit after their London offices were spray painted with the slogan “Drop UAV”.
Most significantly, one of the world’s biggest shipping companies, Kuehne+Nagel, declared they’ve stopped working with Elbit and will refrain from doing so in the future.
Although the 18 individuals now face charges unrelated to terrorism, such as aggravated burglary and criminal damage, they are still being detained under “counter-terror” powers ahead of their trial in November.
While the defendants were not formally charged under the Terrorism Act, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) stated in a press release that it intends to argue in court that the offences have a “terrorist connection,” a claim that could result in harsher sentences
