As Britain escalates its repression of Palestine activists, so do European states continue their own assault on Palestine solidarity. Brutal repression has become the new normal for anyone involved in militant struggle against imperialism. In defiance of these attacks, activists have intensified solidarity efforts, making it clear that an injury to one is an injury to all. Sarah Guebre-Egziabher reports.
France: targeting free speech
In France, the state has gone after anyone who stands with the Palestinian resistance. Rima Hassan, a Palestinian member of the European Parliament for La France Insoumise (France Unbowed), was arrested in April for ‘apology for terrorism’, the French equivalent of an arrest under section 12 of the Terrorism Act. This followed complaints by Zionist organisations in relation to a tweet by Hassan which included this quote by Kōzō Okamoto, a member of the Japanese Red Army: ‘I gave my youth to the Palestinian cause. As long as there is oppression, resistance will not only be a right, but a duty’. The French press immediately jumped on the incident to spew racist lies about Hassan and the Palestinian resistance; however she has remained firm in her stance, condemning her arrest as political repression. On the first day of her trial in July, thousands gathered outside the court in solidarity. Proceedings have now been pushed back to October at the defence’s request.
Anasse Kazib, a trade unionist and leader of Révolution Permanente, faces the same charges as Hassan for tweets dated October 2023. His trial, initially set for July 2025, was pushed to June 2026. It was again postponed after the defence raised two questions on the constitutionality of the proceedings. The first concerned the automatic practice of adding all those charged for ‘apology for terrorism’ to the terrorism offenders register, whether ultimately convicted or not. The second issue raised whether the organisation French Jewish Youth, which initially lodged the complaint against Kazib, was qualified to form part of the civil party in the trial. Olivia Zemor, EuroPalestine founder, was convicted in March under this same legislation and was handed a 24-month suspended sentence for two articles published in October 2023. Julien Théry, a professor at Lyon 2 university, has repeatedly been suspended for his support for the Palestinian people following a harassment campaign by Zionist groups and the state. These are just a handful of the many cases of repression in France. Being a respected academic or even a member of Parliament (which, in theory, grants immunity) is no protection against the state’s attacks on supporters of Palestinian liberation.
Alongside the repression by the police and the courts, the government majority in Parliament is working hard to strengthen repressive legislation. In April, the government was forced to retract the ‘Yadan law’ designed to expand counter-terror powers and include criticism of Israel and Zionism as part of the state’s definition of anti-Semitism, after a petition gathered nearly a million signatures. The government is again trying to push through a law with the same objectives as the initial Yadan law, repackaged as fighting against ‘all discriminations’ rather than anti-Semitism specifically. Just as in Britain, anti-Semitism is being weaponised to crack down on pro-Palestine speech and protest.
Germany: following in Britain’s footsteps
In Germany, the Ulm 5, direct action activists affiliated with Palestine Action (PA) Germany, have been on trial since May. The five are alleged to have broken into and damaged the regional offices of Israeli weapons company Elbit systems in Ulm, Southern Germany, in September 2025. They have since been detained in high-security prisons. Their charges go beyond trespassing and property damage: they are also accused of ‘using the symbols of a proscribed organisation’, Hamas, for spray painting ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’, and belonging to a criminal organisation (PA Germany). These two charges are used to justify the harsh treatment of the Ulm 5 while on remand, and will likely be relied on to deliver brutal sentences. The parallel with the trial of the Filton 6 is obvious: the Ulm 5, while not facing terrorism charges, are being framed and effectively prosecuted as terrorists. One of the defendants, Daniel, was kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day while on remand, with visits limited to 30 minutes and phone call privileges withheld. The proscription of PA in Britain is used as evidence by the German prosecutors to qualify PA Germany as criminal. The same legal tools are being used across borders by imperialist states.
Terrorism legislation: a key weapon
In Czechia, six people have been arrested and are currently held in pre-trial detention in connection with a fire at a facility owned by a weapons manufacturer, LPP Holding, in March 2026. Five others in Bulgaria, Slovakia and Poland have also been arrested; together they are the ‘Czech Elbit 11’. The incident has been used to give Czech police carte blanche to repress the local Palestine movement, with terrorism legislation again being a go-to weapon: the charges against the 11 activists include membership of a terrorist organisation and committing a terrorist attack. The law allows for pre-trial detention to be extended to up to nine years; if convicted, they face potential life sentences.
Wherever the pro-Palestine move-ment is being repressed, terrorism legislation has featured heavily in the tools used by the state to do so. From London to Prague, our demand must be for all terrorism legislation to be scrapped. The terrorism label functions as a political attack on those who fight against the interests of their ruling classes. It is representative of states’ absolute desperation to quash solidarity with Palestine: having lost the ideological battle, imperialism must resort to brute force. Yet, the state is losing this battle as movements refuse to back down. Our best and only defence is political solidarity: the fight against state repression must be part of the fight against Zionism and European imperialism.
Resistance is not terrorism!
Defend the right to defend Palestine!
