Sarah Helm, the writer and wife of Britain’s National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell, has called for the UK's ban on the Palestine Action group to be lifted, after a police investigation into her social media posts.
The UK has proscribed the pro-Palestine group as a terrorist organisation and expressing support for the group is a criminal offence.
Police said at the weekend they closed their investigation of an earlier post by Ms Helm, and decided they would take no action as it did not meet the criminal threshold.
On Monday, Ms Helm asked: “Where do I sign?” in response to a letter calling for the ban to be lifted and backing Irish author Sally Rooney and her publisher Faber after they decided her books would no longer be sold in the UK.
Ms Rooney had been warned her plan to donate earnings from sales could be considered a criminal offence.
Ms Helm, a former Middle East correspondent for The Independent newspaper, had written “God help us authors who support Palestine and Palestine Action” in response to a clip criticising Ms Rooney.
Her stance on Palestine Action, which was banned in the UK in 2025 after an attack on a UK airbase, has led to questions whether it will affect Mr Powell’s role within government. More than 3,500 people have been arrested for supporting Palestine Action in the UK, mostly for holding up placards at demonstrations.
Last month, the UK imposed sanctions aimed at illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the Israeli government was turning a blind eye to the “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians.
Mr Powell visited Israel earlier this month in a bid to persuade the Israeli government not to close the UK’s Consulate General in Jerusalem, in response to the sanctions. The Consulate opened in 1838 and handles the country's relations with Palestinians in the city as well as in the West Bank and Gaza. It also provides consular services to Palestinians.
Mr Powell held talks with Israeli officials but ultimately failed to reach an agreement to keep it open. Instead it was downgraded to a mission and the number of staff reduced from 30 to a handful.
However, the compromise meant the UK did not enact a tit-for-tat removal of Israeli diplomatic staff from Britain.
In her latest social media post, Ms Helm wrote of Ms Rooney: “She’s free yes and found not guilty of posting a terrorist tweet, whereas others guilty of holding terrorist banners? So where do I sign the letter calling for such absurdity to halt and for Palestine Action to be unbanned under the Terrorism act?”
Ms Helm’s support of Ms Rooney has led to scrutiny of her social media output, which has been frequent and vociferous in backing pro-Palestinian causes.
Former Foreign Office official Ben Judah has highlighted posts made by Ms Helm after the October 7, 2023, attacks on Israel by Hamas, saying they were “genuinely shocking”.
In response to comments from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s saying Israel had a right to defend itself after “terrorists struck at the heart of Israel capturing and killing innocent women and children”, Ms Helm wrote “Not for the first time Von der Leyen is spouting empty dangerous glib tropes on a subject she apparently doesn’t understand”.