Palestine Action ban can't come soon enough – they're a threat to innocent Gazans

OPINION

As own-goals go, this was a zinger. In response to Government plans to proscribe Palestine Action (PA) as a terrorist organisation, hundreds of protesters – some wearing black face coverings or Palestinian keffiyehs – massed in London yesterday, scuffling with police and shouting aggressively into their faces. Those who took to the streets this way may not be terrorists (one hopes). But if you were looking for proof of how PA attracts the ugly, aggressive, and unreasonable fringes of political activism in the name of so-called protest then this was it.

After all, who were yesterday's protesters actually defending? PA have launched hundreds of attacks on sites across the UK in the last five years causing millions of pounds of damage. Most recently breaking into RAF Brize Norton and damaging two military planes. At a time of intense instability in the Middle East how else could damaging one of Britain's few pieces of military hardware be seen as anything other than terrorism? So the banning of PA – putting them on a par with Hamas, al-Qaeda or ISIS under British law – can't happen soon enough.

To be clear, this isn't just another group of over-entitled headbangers who bandwagon lefty causes because they like a good fight. PA are malevolent, intimidating and violent. They commit acts of theft and damage, harass and terrorise, causing innocent people to fear for their safety.

By proscribing them as a terrorist organisation Home Secretary Yvette Cooper makes clear that the security of British citizens and businesses operating in this country will not be cowed or compromised by those who seek to enforce their views in dangerously extreme ways.

But all the useful idiots who raged in London yesterday about the 'unfairness' of suppressing 'free speech' (or rather free licence to damage and intimidate) all miss a trick. This kind of activism doesn't engage, it repels – doing nothing for the Palestinian cause other than associate it with aggression and intimidation.

What needs to be understood is that banning PA may actually help create the space for reasonable, thoughtful voices on Palestine to be heard rather than the dangerous hooligans who smash windows, throw paint, shout people down. Alienating those who might otherwise listen.

Week after week we have seen this country subjected to hate marches in the name of the Palestinian cause. (Notably shouting Free Palestine rather than specifying Free Palestine from Hamas). Little wonder the casual onlooker – regardless of their views on the Middle East – may well associate this side of the debate with naked aggression.

Certainly since town centres have become no-go areas because of the intimidating, often antisemitic, nature of these marches, it's hard for those of us who are Jewish to see it any other way.

If we could only dial down the din then there would be scope for reasonable debate. On how Hamas started this war. How if they laid down arms and returned the hostages – those still alive and those whose bodies remain hidden – it would end. And what this would mean for the innocents of Gaza.

All of which is impossible while Palestinian advocacy is hijacked by extremists promoting lawlessness, misinformation, and the demonisation of Israel.

Surely banning the likes of PA – and other groups which threaten our national security and the tranquillity of this country – is vital if there is to be a space for such reasonably considered discussion. One that can argue the case without hurling paint, causing massive damage, and threatening ordinary people.

If people truly cared about Palestine – as opposed to focusing on the hatred of Israel and the West – then they need to disown the hooligans who undermine their cause with violence and vitriol. Who spread lies, encourage antisemitism and create fear on our streets.

That's the message those supporting the cause of the Palestinians should be shouting – at reasonable volume – today. Otherwise that goal remains wide open.