UK Lawyers for Israel labelled a ‘major actor’ in repression of Palestine solidarity
A legal advocacy group has labelled UK Lawyers for Israel a “major actor” in what researchers have described as a systematic campaign of repression targeting pro-Palestinian activism in the UK.
The findings are published in a new database, the Index of Repression, compiled by the European Legal Support Centre (ELSC) in collaboration with Forensic Architecture, which documented 964 verified incidents of repression against expressions of solidarity with Palestine between 2019 and 2025.
The database, which launched on Wednesday, is the first UK-wide, cross-sector record of institutional action taken against pro-Palestinian activism across education, workplaces, protest spaces and cultural institutions, revealing what researchers describe as a systematic effort to silence pro-Palestinian expression.
Researchers say the index allows incidents to be searched by sector, actor, location and form of intervention, revealing patterns they say are obscured when cases are treated in isolation.
According to ELSC’s analysis, UKLFI appears repeatedly as an “initiating” or “escalating” actor against acts of Palestinian solidarity - often through complaint letters, legal threats or public pressure that prompts schools, universities, employers and public bodies to open disciplinary procedures or cancel events.
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Researchers from ELSC and Forensic Architecture stress that the 128 cases linked to UKLFI represent only those that could be independently verified, and likely understate the scale of its involvement.
Amira Abdelhamid, a senior legal researcher for ELSC, said UKLFI "exploited the law" to silence pro-Palestine activism by using the IHRA definition of anti-semitism and terror legislation.
"Time and time again we have seen many people feel intimidated by groups like UKLFI because they exploit the law to undermine and threaten individuals and institutions showing any show of support for the Palestinian cause," said Abdelhamid.
"These legal letters by UKLFI are then used by employers to take disciplinary action, leading them to then become disciplinary bodies who use their own code of conducts to clamp down on any opposition which inadvertently creates a chilling effect."
A spokesperson for UKLFI told Middle East Eye that "over the past three years UKLFI has been approached by thousands of distressed individuals, telling us about instances of anti-Jewish or anti-Israel hatred or discrimination, or support for terrorism."
"We highlight where we believe such action has breached the law or professional regulations, in order to prevent or discourage such harmful activities," the spokesperson told MEE.
"In all our work we strive to be accurate as to the facts and in our assessment of the legal and regulatory implications.
"We urge those who advocate for the rights of supporters of Palestine to show tolerance of, and respect for, the rights and beliefs of others, which would make many of our interventions unnecessary.”
Education a major site of repression
Within the database, education was identified as the most frequently targeted sector of repression, with ELSC and Forensic Architecture recording 336 incidents involving students, teachers and academics.
Both rights groups note that most cases follow a recurring pattern: an external allegation, rapid institutional response, and punitive action taken against the individual accused.
Among the incidents recorded is the case of a Palestinian family with two children at a UK primary school.
Following a confrontation outside the school in July 2025, during which another parent allegedly used racist and abusive language towards the child’s mother, the school withdrew the parents’ permission to be on school premises after the other parent made a complaint.
No equivalent action was taken against that parent.
Days later, the family’s Year 6 child briefly held a Palestinian flag on stage at the end of a school performance. The school accused the parents of live-streaming the moment, an allegation they deny.
On the final day of term, the child was placed in isolation after writing “Free Palestine” on a classmate’s shirt with the classmate’s permission, questioned without parental consent, and told she “could not be trusted”.
The family, who have relatives in Gaza, said the school failed to consider the emotional and political context of Israel’s ongoing war on Palestinians.
From smear to sanction
ELSC’s analysis identifies what it calls a three-stage architecture of repression: smear or distortion, institutionalisation, and material enforcement.
In many cases, allegations are first amplified by media outlets or pro-Israel advocacy groups, before being taken up by schools, employers or universities and converted into disciplinary or legal processes.
The index also names media outlets which it accuses of amplifying claims against acts of pro-Palestine solidarity including the Jewish Chronicle (49 incidents), the Telegraph (25 incidents) and the Daily Mail (20 incidents) newspapers.
Once individuals are formally labelled as antisemitic or extremist, police involvement and arrests or other forms of sanction often follow, the report says.
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