Home Office officials are reportedly investigating whether the activist group Palestine Action is being funded via the proxies of the Iranian regime.
It comes after Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said there would be a vote in Parliament about whether the UK should proscribe the group as a terror organisation.
The move, which will be voted on by both houses of Parliament next week, follows Palestine Action’s latest stunt at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire on Friday, where activists spray painted two military planes red.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer described the incident as a “disgraceful” act of vandalism, while opposition leader Kemi Badenoch said the security breach at the RAF base was “deeply concerning”.
"This is not lawful protest, it is politically-motivated criminality,” she added.
Home Office officials have concerns about the group’s source of donations amid a claimed lack of accountability surrounding its finances, reported the Times.
Because the organisation is not a charity, it is not bound by enhanced financial transparency rules, but the group’s ability to raise significant sums for legal costs has raised eyebrows.
The activist group invites donations on its website, where it states it is committed to “dismantling the apartheid regime in Israel through targeted campaigns against companies that profit from the occupation and genocide of the Palestinian people”.
The Times reported that NGO Monitor, a research institute that publishes analysis about non-governmental organisations, their funders, and stakeholders, said: “Palestine Action does not publish financial information, reflecting a lack of transparency and accountability.”
The Times also noted that, according to Palestine Action's website, “Our funding is sometimes inconsistent but we always assign donations towards arrestee and prisoner support.”
MPs are set to vote on Cooper’s motion on Wednesday. If it passes, the House of Lords will have the final say the following day, before the proscription order takes effect on July 4.
Approximately 1,000 demonstrators gathered at a rally in central London on Monday to oppose the Home Secretary’s decision to proscribe the controversial direct-action group.
The Metropolitan Police imposed restrictions that moved the protest from outside Parliament to Trafalgar Square. During clashes, several were detained, and protesters chanted: “No justice, no peace, no racist police.”
