Former Labour leader Neil Kinnock has drawn a clear line in the sand between himself and Keir Starmer, after he announced his opposition to the government’s proscription of Palestine Action and claimed that the hastily-introduced law ‘is a misguided one’.
ALSO READ: Green Party demands BBC withdraws Eurovision coverage ‘if Israel allowed to compete’
Why were Palestine Action proscribed?
The activists found themselves proscribed as a terrorist organisation earlier this year, when members of the group broke into an RAF site and vandalised a fighter jet. In the months which have followed, hundreds of peaceful protesters have been arrested for supporting the group.
It has led to a huge wave of accusations regarding two-tier policing, with elderly and disabled demonstrators also finding themselves in handcuffs at the organised protests. The confusion over the new laws also led to someone being detained for wearing a ‘plasticine action’ t-shirt.
The subsequent chaos has irked Neil Kinnock, who believes that extending the definition of a terrorist to those sympathetic towards the Palestinian cause is ‘a blunting of the law’. Ultimately, the Labour stalwart said that supporting Palestine Action ‘is not terrorism’.
Neil Kinnock splits from Keir Starmer on proscription
The motion to ban Palestine Action was comprehensively voted through in Parliament, by 386 votes to 26. Only a handful of Labour MPs opposed the proscription, with Kinnock himself abstaining in the House of Lords. However, he has further outlined his opposition to the legislation.
“If people have committed a crime of facilitating or being associated with terrorists, they should be dealt with. Simply, I can’t see how belonging to or demonstrating for a group that is rightly extremely concerned about the appalling situation in Gaza is terrorism. That isn’t terrorism.”
“We have a library full of criminal law to enable us to deal with terrorists or suspected terrorists. By extending the title of terrorism to supporters of Palestine Action is blunting the law we already have. It was misguided for both positive and negative reasons.” | Neil Kinnock