From the Liveblog of
Saturday, October 17, 2026
Post by wife of aide to British PM backing Palestine Action doesn’t warrant probe, UK police says
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LONDON — Police say a social media post by the wife of the British prime minister’s national security adviser backing the banned activist group Palestine Action did not merit a criminal investigation.
Sarah Helm, a journalist and author and wife of Jonathan Powell, Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s national security adviser, posted on X Thursday, “God help us authors who support Palestine and Palestine Action,” an activist group banned as terrorist by the UK government last year.
A spokesperson for the capital’s police force says specialist officers had looked at the post and ruled it “did not meet the criminal threshold” and “no further police action will be taken.”
Helm was commenting after publisher Faber said this week that its Irish author Sally Rooney cannot sell her books in the UK because of her support for Palestine Action, which it is now illegal in the UK to support or finance.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism had responded on X that Helm’s post was “gobsmacking” and “clearly, the police need to investigate and Ms Helm must face the full force of the law.”
More from today’s Liveblog:
- Flydubai captain recalls struggle to open cockpit door during attempted terror attack, in first TV interview
- Settler leader claims ‘provocateurs and terrorists’ causing violence in West Bank, violent Israelis ‘playing into their hands’
- Netanyahu condemns violence but casts doubt on documented settler assault of US photographer
The Times of Israel Community.