Palestine

Christopher Ketcham
Nov 14, 2025

On November 12, the day I interviewed Parfitt, it was revealed that four UN special rapporteurs on human rights had sent a letter to the UK government exactly two months earlier, on September 12, warning that the proscription of Palestine Action violated human rights. “[M]ere property damage is not sufficient to constitute terrorism according to international standards,” said the letter. The UN officials condemned the proscription as “unnecessary” and said it gave rise to “disproportionate restrictions” on the rights of freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.. They observed that “abuse of laws to proscribe organizations as terrorist that are not genuinely so has more commonly occurred in States that are authoritarian.”

I asked Parfitt what she thought of her government’s actions. “I can’t imagine why one wouldn’t see it as legitimate to try to stop the weapons being made or the airplanes that are being used to drop the weapons,” she replied. “That’s why I oppose the very idea that Palestine Action should be deemed to be a terrorist organization. And the fact that I’m now called a terrorist is ridiculous.”