Pressure mounts for UK government to designate PFLP as terror org

Pressure is mounting for the United Kingdom to designate the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), one of the groups involved in October 7 and terror attacks predating it, according to a Friday article by the Jewish Chronicle. 

The PFLP, who made headlines in the 1960s and 1970s after hijacking planes, is banned in the United States, Canada, Japan and the European Union.

While under EU law, the PFLP was subject to financial sanctions in the UK, it no longer applies due to a Brexit loophole, according to the JC.

Legal loopholes protecting PFLP

The UK’s Jewish Board of Deputies and the Jewish Leadership Council warned the UK government in 2018, according to the source, that the PFLP and the political wing of Hamas would benefit from the loophole.

Despite being designated as terrorists elsewhere, and the attacks committed by the groups, both the PFLP and the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade (AAMB) are legal groups in the UK.

A Board of Deputies spokesperson said, according to the source, “The PFLP and the AAMB were not on the UK’s list of proscribed terror organisations when the country left the EU, creating a gap in enforcement. 

“We have urged for some time that this situation should be remedied. We sincerely hope that the government will now act to close the loophole opened up by Brexit and re-proscribe the PFLP and AAMB.”

A spokesperson for the Community Security Trust told the JC, “The PFLP has a long record of terrorism, internationally in the past and up to the present day in Israel and the West Bank. They boasted of taking part in the October 7 terror attack and it is galling to see their flag being flown freely on anti-Israel protests since then here in Britain. 

“We urged the Home Office in October last year to proscribe the PFLP and all Palestinian armed groups that took part in the October 7 massacres and we hope they will take action soon.”