The direct action group Palestine Action has just been designated a proscribed organisation in the UK. This means that Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000 applies. (See below). Both Hamas, in its entirety, and at least Hezbollah’s military wings are proscribed organisations in the UK. It is a serious offence to be a member of them or to support them. This is the relevant section from the Terrorism Act:
Support.
(1)A person commits an offence if—
(a)he invites support for a proscribed organisation, and
(b)the support is not, or is not restricted to, the provision of money or other property (within the meaning of section 15).
[F1(1A)A person commits an offence if the person—
(a)expresses an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed organisation, and
(b)in doing so is reckless as to whether a person to whom the expression is directed will be encouraged to support a proscribed organisation.] [1]
The “reckless” qualification might just allow an academic to express carefully worded ‘support’ for Hamas, perhaps explaining its position. But it would be a very brave, or reckless, academic who took a risk with how a court might interpret 1A b). For example when Professor John Mearsheimer says that in international law Hamas’s actions on 7 October, excluding the killing of civilians, were legitimate, that could certainly be seen as expressing a supportive opinion and even being “reckless” about whether anyone in the audience of Judge Napolitano’s podcast might be influenced by that to support Hamas. (He deplored the killing of civilians).
In essence, in the UK , it is an offence punishable by 14 years in jail to even argue that Hamas, or Hezbollah have legitimacy.
Meanwhile, it is not an offence in the UK to express support, or indeed to provide support, for, Israel, an enterprise which is currently carrying out mass starvation of a civilian population, has been bombing hospitals, blocking the import of baby formula into a war zone, carrying out illegal ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, and shooting children in the head for having the impudence to throw a few stones at the armoured vehicles of their apartheid regime. The British government is doing just that.
Strange.
Notes