(In the UK) Yvette Cooper Faces Controversy as New Protest Group Named After Her Targets

 

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has become a focal point of intense debate in the United Kingdom following the emergence of a pro-Palestinian protest group provocatively named “Yvette Cooper” on July 2, 2025. The group, formed to highlight alleged British complicity in Israeli arms deals, targeted companies such as Kuehne+Nagel and investors linked to Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer.

 This development coincides with Cooper’s controversial decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organization under the Terrorism Act 2000, a move that has sparked significant backlash from civil rights groups, UN experts, and legal scholars.The “Yvette Cooper” group’s actions, including symbolic protests like spray-painting facilities, aim to draw attention to the UK’s role in supporting Israel’s military operations, particularly in Gaza. Concurrently, Cooper’s push to ban Palestine Action, formalized through a draft order passed by Parliament on July 2, 2025, with 385 votes to 26, has been criticized as an overreach that threatens democratic freedoms.

 Critics, including human rights lawyer Jessica Simor QC and former Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn, argue that labeling nonviolent direct-action protests as terrorism—such as Palestine Action’s disruptions of Elbit sites—sets a dangerous precedent for criminalizing dissent. UN experts have urged the UK to reconsider, emphasizing that property damage without intent to harm lives should not be classified as terrorism.The simultaneous rise of the “Yvette Cooper” group and the Palestine Action ban has fueled nationwide discussions, placing Cooper at the heart of a contentious clash between activist resistance and government policy.

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