UK How in Just 5 Years The Corbynista Huda Ammori Steered Palestine Action's Militant Campaign

[Social Media]

 

In just five years, Huda Ammori has steered Palestine Action from grassroots activism to the centre of a national security storm, with the group now under threat of being proscribed as a terrorist organisation. Her political awakening began in 2016 with an unexpected phone call from her Iraqi mother, urging her to join the Labour Party—an ironic suggestion, given the family’s bitterness over Tony Blair's role in the Iraq War.

 

 

For activists like Ammori, the rise of Jeremy Corbyn sparked a renewed sense of possibility. “The renewal of hope was alive, with Jeremy Corbyn, a committed anti-imperialist activist and politician, elected as leader of the Labour Party,” she wrote in The New Arab in 2022. Under Corbyn, Labour seemed to offer an unprecedented opportunity to push for an arms embargo against Israel. “Many of us fought long and hard for [an arms embargo] by passing motions, speaking at Labour meetings, lobbying several MPs, and in 2018 the Labour conference voted to sanction and freeze all arms sales to and from Israel.”

 

 

But Corbyn’s defeat in 2019 brought that momentum to a halt. “The options for implementing social and environmental justice through the political system were non-existent,” Ammori said. Out of that political void, she co-founded Palestine Action in 2020, an organisation inspired by the tactics of Extinction Rebellion. “From the black hole of politics, a new light through direct action and grassroots mobilisation took its place,” she wrote. For Ammori, the time for appealing to authority was over. “For me, the option is clear, my only regret is not seeing it sooner.”

 

 

Since its founding, Palestine Action has claimed responsibility for over 300 incidents targeting British-based defence firms, universities, and government buildings. But the group escalated dramatically last week when two activists broke into RAF Brize Norton, Britain’s largest air base, and attacked two military aircraft with crowbars and red spray paint. Video footage showed them speeding across the runway on electric scooters, damaging engines on a Voyager jet—used to transport prime ministers and royalty—before disappearing without a trace. Counter-terrorism police are now leading the investigation, and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is reportedly preparing to outlaw the group entirely.

 

 

Ammori, 31, is the daughter of a Palestinian father and Iraqi mother. A former student of international business and finance at the University of Manchester, she co-founded the group with Richard Barnard, a 51-year-old former Extinction Rebellion member known for his radical politics and extensive tattoos, including slogans such as “freedom” in Arabic and “all cops are bastards.” Together, they built a movement that attracts artists, dancers, and students, many of whom have been jailed for their activism.

 

One notable member, Audrey Xiarui Corno, a 22-year-old dancer, helped spray red paint across the Ministry of Defence in April 2024 and was arrested for occupying GRiD Defence Systems in June 2023. Released from prison earlier this month, she recently posted images of her supporters flipping off Aylesbury Crown Court.

 

Despite mounting criticism, the group has not hidden its intentions. Its website once hosted an “Underground Manual,” offering step-by-step instructions on how to form cells, choose targets, and evade detection. “Making your job to pick one a slightly easier process!” it stated cheerfully. The manual included surveillance advice and stressed documenting each action. Then-policing minister Chris Philp called it a guide to “smash up businesses with sledgehammers,” and former government adviser Lord Walney labelled it a test case for law enforcement’s response to “pernicious militants.”

 

Palestine Action’s rhetoric has grown sharper since the October 7 attacks. At a rally in November, Ammori declared: “We drive vans through their gates. We drive vans through their front doors. We occupy their rooms. We break inside and we destroy every single weapon.” She added, “Let me tell you, anyone who works at Elbit Systems they are also a target.”

 

Though denounced by Labour leadership under Keir Starmer, the group retains ties to some Corbyn-era figures. In 2021, MPs Ian Byrne and John McDonnell appeared at events alongside Ammori. McDonnell later defended the group’s arrested activists as “young people… just starting out at university,” claiming they acted because others in politics had failed to do so.

 

In a 2024 interview with New Left Review, Ammori spoke of the group’s long-term strategy: “By being security-conscious and working in small groups, we can make it difficult for the authorities to respond to individual actions by targeting the movement as a whole.”

 

A statement sent by the group to The Telegraph read: “When our government fails to uphold their moral and legal obligations, it is the responsibility of ordinary citizens to take direct action. The terrorists are the ones committing a genocide, not those who break the tools used to commit it.”

 

Critics argue otherwise. “Palestine Action has escalated from vandalising corporate property to targeting Jewish businesses and charities, and now sabotaging RAF aircraft,” said a spokesperson for the Campaign Against Antisemitism. “Their actions aren’t just intimidatory – they’re a direct assault on British values and democracy… There is no time to lose.”

 

Related Topic:

Watch: Activists Claim Damage to RAF Military Aircraft in Protest Against Gaza Operations

 

  Adapted by ASEAN Now from The Telegraph  2025-06-23

 

 

[Bkk Brian]

I'm sure Corbyn is proud of them.

 

Cost of damage by Palestine Action could hit £55m

Hundreds of attacks have cost defence industry tens of millions. Now there is fear an RAF aircraft engine sabotaged at Brize Norton is beyond repair.

Activists from Palestine Action are feared to have cost the government and firms making equipment for the British military as much as £55 million.
In a five-year campaign Palestine Action has conducted 356 attacks on sites across the UK, culminating in a raid on RAF Brize Norton last week in which two Voyager aircraft were damaged.

https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/palestine-action-vandalism-xrcnlpdgh

https://archive.ph/hlmNh

[JonnyF]

She walks around free while people rot in jail for years for rude tweets.

 

Welcome to modern Britain. 

[Watawattana]

I hope they are made to pay for all the damage they've caused.

[Jeff the Chef]

9 hours ago, Social Media said:

A statement sent by the group to The Telegraph read: “When our government fails to uphold their moral and legal obligations, it is the responsibility of ordinary citizens to take direct action. The terrorists are the ones committing a genocide, not those who break the tools used to commit it.”

 

I wonder what the outcome of a Referendum on the UK government supporting Israel, or not, would be if any governing party dared to put it to the UK electorate?

[FlorC]

Rebels with a good cause.