British pro-Israel MP suggests Palestine Action activists should expect to be shot
British MP Rupert Lowe has suggested the Palestine Action activists who recently infiltrated a military base to spray-paint planes should have expected to be fired at.
The independent parliamentarian said in a post on X on Thursday that "if you break into a military base with the intent to cause damage, you should expect to be shot," adding that "nobody of sound mind would disagree".
The British government is set to ban the direct action group Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation after activists broke into RAF Brize Norton, the largest airbase in Britain, last week and spray-painted two planes while on electric scooters.
The activists then evaded security and escaped the base, which they said they targeted because flights leave there daily "for RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, a base used for military operations in Gaza and across the Middle East".
Lowe was embroiled in an antisemitism scandal last month after a leaked recording showed him remarking on the size of a camera, saying: "In days gone by you'd call it a Jewish camera, but that would be politically incorrect. Because it's so small."
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The MP was previously a member of Nigel Farage's anti-immigration Reform party, but was suspended in March after calling Reform a "protest party led by the Messiah" and criticising Farage.
Lowe has been vocally pro-Israel and said on 11 June in a Facebook post: "Getting rather fed up of MPs spending their time opining about Palestine rather than focusing on what's actually happening in the country they're supposed to represent."
Israel's war on Gaza: Who are Palestine Action? Read More »
In February, he said that "not a single Palestinian 'refugee' should be allowed to settle in the UK".
Lowe has also called for bans on non-stun halal and kosher slaughter and face veils.
Earlier this month, the MP revealed he asked his gamekeeper to shoot his 17-year-old dog in the back of the head at his estate in Gloucestershire.
He said the dog, Cromwell, could no longer use his back legs and described his decision as "humane". He did not take the dog to a vet, he added, because dogs often panic when they visit a vet.
Banning Palestine Action
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has said she will bring legislation to proscribe the group Palestine Action before Parliament on 30 June.
Several MPs, including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, have voiced opposition to the move, describing it as an attack on the right to protest.
If passed, the legislation will designate the pro-Palestine group as a proscribed terrorist organisation, making it illegal not only to be a member of the group but also to show support for it.
It would mark the first time a direct action group has been proscribed in the UK, placing Palestine Action on a par with al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) under British law.
Palestine Action have launched a fundraising campaign to challenge the ban.
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