Declassified UK: Why was Israel given contact details for UK terror police?
Posted: 2nd May 2025
Why was Israel given contact details for UK terror police?
This week, it was revealed that the UK government likely shared the contact details of British counter-terrorism police and prosecutors with the Israeli embassy during an investigation into Palestine Action protests at an Israeli arms factory.
The report, published in the Guardian, was based on a Freedom of Information (FoI) disclosure which exposed how Nicola Smith, an official in the Attorney General’s Office, penned an email to the Israeli embassy in London with the header “Contacts CPS/SO15”.
CPS refers to the Crown Prosecution Service, the principal public agency in Britain for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. SO15 is the Counter Terrorism Command within London’s Metropolitan Police Service.
The email was sent to Daniela Grudsky Ekstein, Israel’s deputy ambassador to the UK, on 9 September 2024.
This came a month after ten Palestine Action activists were arrested under the Terrorism Act over a protest at the Bristol-based “research hub” of Israel’s largest arms firm, Elbit Systems. In November 2024, a further eight were arrested under the act in relation to the same incident.
Though the contents of the email remain redacted, the header “Contacts CPS/SO15” raises clear concerns about political policing in the service of the Israeli state. At the very least, it exposes an attempt by the Israeli government to interfere in Britain’s domestic policing.
Lydia Dagostino, a solicitor who represents some of the Palestine Action activists, said: “The information disclosed in response to an FoI request clearly raises questions and needs further investigation.
“Why, for example, did the Attorney General’s Office provide the contact details for the Crown Prosecution Service, an independent body, to the Israelis? What further exchanges followed and were there discussions about ongoing criminal prosecutions?”
Clare Hinchcliffe Rogers, the mother of imprisoned activist Zoe Rogers, wrote: “The sickening moment when you realise the British government has been in secret talks with Israel to decide the fate of your daughter and the Filton 18”.
The British public also needs to know whether discussions between the Home Office, British police, and Israeli embassy have led to the arrests of any journalists in Britain.
Strikingly, this would not be the first instance of political policing of Palestine Action.
In 2022, Britain’s then home secretary Priti Patel met privately with Martin Fausset, the CEO of Elbit Systems UK, to “discuss protests and security”.
Home Office documents subsequently revealed that the purpose of the meeting was to “reassure… Fausset that the criminal protest acts against Elbit Systems UK are taken seriously by Government”.
Palestine Action’s Huda Ammori told Declassified: “There must be full transparency of meetings with the government which reference Palestine Action, and an independent investigation into the validity of prosecutions against us, given the evidence of judicial interference”.