UK government sued for ‘misuse of IHRA definition’ to stifle Palestine support
Protesters throng Whitehall, London, during a national demonstration for Palestine on 31 January 2026
Amer Sultan reports in The New Arab on 9 July 2026:
Pro-Palestine campaigners have launched a landmark legal challenge against the British government, seeking to prevent ministers from using a controversial definition of antisemitism to penalise support for Palestinian rights.
The claim, filed on Thursday by the European Legal Support Centre (ELSC) against the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), centres on the government’s role in the resignation of a charity trustee after publicly criticising Israel’s system of apartheid against Palestinians.
The legal challenge is supported by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Britain’s largest pro-Palestine advocacy group, which says the case could have far-reaching implications for freedom of expression and political advocacy in the UK.
The claim has been brought on behalf of Bea Foster, a Christian preacher and long-time Palestine campaigner, who says she was forced to resign as a trustee of Burnley Bridges, an interfaith anti-racism charity she helped establish, following pressure linked to her personal social media posts about Palestine.
According to the ELSC, the charity came under pressure after the Department for Culture applied the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism when assessing Foster’s online posts.