Met Rules Sarah Helm’s Pro‑Palestine Action Post Not Criminal
The police decision highlights enforcement discretion as a wider legal fight over the 2025 proscription of Palestine Action heads to the Supreme Court.
Overview
- The Metropolitan Police said specialist officers assessed Sarah Helm’s post and on Monday found it did not meet the criminal threshold, so no further police action will be taken.
- Helm had posted support for authors who back Palestine Action and later asked how to sign a public letter calling for the group’s ban to be lifted.
- Downing Street said Helm’s views do not represent the government while the Campaign Against Antisemitism had pushed the police to investigate her.
- The case sits against a fraught background: the government proscribed Palestine Action in July 2025, Amnesty reports more than 3,500 arrests linked to the ban, and the policy faces a Supreme Court hearing on 4–5 November 2026.
- Publishers and authors have already felt the effects, with Faber saying it cannot pass UK earnings to Sally Rooney and stopping UK supply of her books, and lawyers say the Met’s decision could affect how other prosecutions for alleged support are argued.