UK counter terrorism police arrest 4 anti-Israel activists over military base break in

By AP and ToI Staff 27 June 2025, 2:33 pm

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Police officers monitor protesters holding a banner during a protest in support of anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian group Palestine Action, in Trafalgar Square, central London, on June 23, 2025. (Henry Nicholls / AFP)

British counter terrorism police say they have arrested four people in connection with a break-in at a military base last week, during which two planes were vandalized.

Counter Terrorism Policing South East says in a statement that two men, 24 and 36, from London were arrested yesterday along with a 29-year-old woman of no fixed address “on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.”

A 41-year-old woman, of no fixed address, was also arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.

They remain in police custody.

The arrests relate to a break-in at the Royal Air Force base in Brize Norton, during which two planes were damaged with red paint.

The anti-Israel activist group Palestine Action subsequently released video footage appearing to show one of the two activists who entered the base spraying the paint into a jet’s turbine engines.

The group alleged that Britain was continuing to “send military cargo, fly spy planes over Gaza and refuel US/Israeli fighter jets,” and condemned the country as “an active participant in the Gaza genocide and war crimes across the Middle East.”

Earlier this week, the British government said it will ban Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws.

The measure means it will be a criminal offense to belong to or support the group. Doing so will be punishable by a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.

The government said a draft order for the ban will be laid in Parliament next week. Lawmakers still need to approve it.

Britain’s government has proscribed about 80 organizations, including Hamas and al-Qaida, and far-right groups such as National Action.

A spokesperson for Palestine Action says that the incident being treated as terrorism “further demonstrates that proscription is not about enabling prosecutions under terrorism laws – it’s about cracking down on non-violent protests which disrupt the flow of arms to Israel during its genocide in Palestine.”