The British state’s continued crackdown on legitimate freedom of speech on Palestine has not been con-ducted alone – to supplement its official powers, it has relied on a cadre of hardline Zionist agitators to push forward the persecution of activists. While a vile coterie of individuals reporting individuals and organisations to the police has become an obstacle to the Palestine movement in Britain, one organisation stands out for its relentless pursuit of Zionist interests: UK Lawyers for Israel.
UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) is one of the heads of the virulent Zionist ecosystem in Britain today. It operates both as an ‘educational’ charity, an instrument of Israel’s Hasbara propaganda in Britain, as well as a lawyers’ association which brings regular legal challenges against individuals, organisations and governments for perceived ‘anti-Israel’ action. Originally registered in 2010 as Action 4 Peace Limited, according to Companies House, the organisation registered with the Charity Commission under the name UKLFI in 2016. Its list of patrons includes some of the most ardent Zionist public figures in Britain, primarily drawn from the membership rolls of the House of Lords, such as Lord Dyson, Lady Cosgrove and Baroness Deech.
UKLFI’s stated objectives, according to its website, are to ‘employ advocacy, legal research and campaigning to support Israel, Israeli organisations, Israelis, and/or supporters of Israel against BDS [campaigns for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel] and other attempts to undermine, attack or delegitimise them’. Its legal advocacy wing acts as a form of Zionist ‘lawfare’, using British courts to undermine individuals, local councils and NGOs who express support for the Palestinians or adopt BDS. Its first major legal action was against the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in 2011, where boats would sail into Gaza to deliver aid to the Palestinians who had been subject to Israel’s blockade. In 2010, the initial Gaza Freedom Flotilla was boarded by Israeli Special Forces, leading to the murder of nine activists, while UKLFI prevented the subsequent Gaza Freedom Flotilla II leaving port from Greece by accusing the fleet of delivering ‘materials to terrorists’.
This ‘lawfare’ practiced by UKLFI has seen it bring legal cases against an array of activists and organisations in the recent period. A SOAS University of London student and comrade of FRFI, Sarah, was reported to the Metropolitan Police by UKLFI, demanding her arrest and prosecution following a speech she allegedly gave at SOAS in October 2023 – the police complied in January 2024 and subsequently arrested another SOAS FRFI supporter in March 2025 under the same terrorism legislation. UKLFI brought an application to suspend Palestinian plastic surgeon Ghassan Abu-Sittah from practising medicine for social media posts supporting the Palestinian people and their struggle for self-determination. UKLFI’s harassment of academics and university officials is extensive; it had Stella Marris, rector of St. Andrew’s University discharged from her role for expressing her belief that Israel is conducting a genocide in Gaza, as well as shaking down SOAS University of London for £15,000 over spurious claims of a ‘toxic antisemitic environment’. UKLFI reported the band Kneecap to the police over claims of supporting terrorism, specifically the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, leading to the decision to charge band member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh under the Terrorism Act 2000 in May 2025.
UKLFI actively collaborates with the Israeli state. According to documents seen by Middle East Eye, UKLFI’s CEO Jonathan Turner met with officials in the Israeli Ministry of Justice to request evidence against two NGOs operating in the West Bank which UKLFI wanted to litigate against. Even when not working directly with the Israeli state, UKLFI frequently acts on its behalf. When Foreign Secretary David Lammy suspended 30 out of 350 British arms licences to Israel, UKLFI initiated a judicial review of the decision, arguing the suspensions were unlawful as there was no evidence these arms were being used in violation of international humanitarian law.
Outside its legal action wing, UKLFI devotes a significant amount of time to ‘education’ on Israel and Zionism. Despite one of its stated charitable objectives being ‘the promotion of racial harmony’, it has invited representatives of the Regavim, an NGO that supports Israeli settlement in the West Bank that was established by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, an unrepentant and open genocidaire, who along with targeting Palestinians has also referred to LGBT Pride Parades as ‘worse than bestiality’. Former UKLFI director Mark Lewis was involved in the relaunch of Herut UK, a revisionist Zionist organisation which openly praises Vladimir Jabotinsky, the founder of the militant Zionist organisation Betar as well as the terrorist group Irgun, which was one of the main participants in the 1948 Nakba, where 750,000 Palestinians were forced off their land by Zionist paramilitaries.
UKLFI’s rabid, unfiltered Zionism has caused even some figures within the British state to express scepticism towards the group. Labour MP Emily Thornberry, a member of Labour Friends of Israel and Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, referred to UKLFI spokesperson Natasha Hausdorff as ‘delusional’ when, at an inquiry into Israeli conduct in Gaza, Hausdorff claimed that Britain was actively supporting Palestinian militant groups like Hamas. UKLFI’s most offensive and brazen claim so far is that the famine caused by Israel’s offensive in Gaza will increase life expectancy, as it would reduce the level of obesity (The Guardian, 10 May 2025).
The genocide shows us that the need to sever Britain’s ties with Zionism has never been greater. While Labour MPs may roll their eyes at the more ludicrous claims made by UKLFI, this hasn’t stopped the Labour government utilising the group in its campaign to crush the Palestine movement. It is imperative to bring the fight to the Zionist organisations acting as the adjunct to British state repression.
End British support for Zionism!
Jacob O’Neill
FIGHT RACISM! FIGHT IMPERIALISM! 306 June/July 2025
