Francesca Nadine, a 31-year-old former florist and lifeguard, is unknown when she visited her friend Heba Muraisi in a British prison a week ago.
“I’d just break her if I hugged her too hard, that’s how thin she was,” Nadine said.
Imprisoned for protesting Israel’s war on Gaza, Mraisi had only been drinking water mixed with salt and fortified with vitamins since the beginning of November, an incredibly long time to live without solid food.
During their conversation, Nadine Muraisi feared that he was only hours away from death.
But last Wednesday night, during the 73rd hunger strike, Muraisi and two other prisoners, Kamran Ahmed and Levi Chiaramello, announced that they were ending their protest against the treatment of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government and would start feeding themselves again.
Irish Republican Army prisoner Kieran Doherty survived for 73 daysIn the year Before he died on hunger strike in 1981, no one had shown such endurance in a UK prison.
Moraisi and other supporters said they won The Times newspaper Elbit, Israel’s largest arms manufacturer, has reported losing a British defense contract worth more than £2-billion (CDN$3.8 billion).
There is no direct evidence that the actions of the hunger strikers influenced the government’s decision. But activists took credit anyway.
“Even when you’re in prison, you can take action to disrupt Israel’s arsenal,” Nadin said.
‘Terror’ protest?
The hunger strike was sparked by an angry debate in the UK over a rational protest against Israel’s military assault on Gaza and its historic treatment of Palestinians.
At the heart of the matter is the question of when protest becomes an act of terrorism.
In July, the British government took what had never been beforeHe took steps to classify the protest group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization.
Over the years, members of Palestine Action have carried out escalating actions and destruction Companies related to Israel Operating in Britain. Their direct action campaign included several members of the group breaking into UK military bases in June and vandalizing British military aircraft and painting them red.
Security Minister Dan Jarvis He told the House of Commons. The group’s actions in September are far from the usual protests, which put lives and property at risk. “I have satisfied the relevant requirements in the Terrorism Act 2000 and it should be banned.”
As a result, anyone who is a member of the group or shows signs of support for Palestinian action can now face up to 14 years in prison.
Mass arrests
It is remembered that more than 2,400 people were arrested by the British police.
A British panel of judges is currently considering whether to overturn the designation after human rights organizations such as Amnesty International intervened.
The three hunger strikers were not part of the plane crash but were involved in previous crimes, including theft and criminal damage at the Elbitt facility near Bristol.
All of them have been in prison for more than a year without trial and were protesting the long wait and prison conditions. They also asked to meet with government ministers. And they refused.
“This is the last step in the persecution of people who oppose the government’s position on Gaza,” Nadine said earlier. He was found guilty Trespassing and Destruction in relation to its actions against British companies with Israeli links.
Inhibition of polarization
The issue of banning Palestinian action is becoming politicized.
Irish hip hop trio Kennycap has been banned from entering the country by the Canadian government. Carney’s administration said the group’s comments about Israel’s war on Gaza fueled political violence and promoted hatred. Several Jewish groups are calling on Ottawa to ban the group from June, but others say the decision to ban them sets a dangerous precedent. CBC’s Michelle Gusob reports.
UK-based human rights organizations say Starmer’s government has misused anti-terror laws, while Israel’s supporters want the crackdown on its opponents to go further.
According to Human Rights Watch’s Yasmin Ahmed, labeling protesters as terrorists just for holding up signs puts the UK government in terrible company.
“It puts them in the same bucket with Hungary, Russia, Hong Kong and China[where]they have used counter-terrorism measures to suppress dissent,” Ahmed told CBC News in London.
She said the police have full powers to deal with disruptive protesters without trampling on civil liberties.
“Terrorism should be equated with the most serious crimes (and) what this does is undermine the concept of fighting a terrorist and equate it with people who have a symbol,” Ahmed said.
Recent opinion polls reflect deep divisions in British society over the Palestinian cause and, more importantly, over Israel’s actions in Gaza.
YouGov survey In the year In October 2025, 33 percent of Britons believed it was right to designate the group as a terrorist group, while 27 percent believed it was wrong to do so.
Other YouGov surveys, however, show stronger public support for the group’s causes. For example, the majority of the population of England Reported favor The ban on arms exports to Israel and public sympathy for the “Palestinian side” reached an all-time high of 37 percent in mid-2025.
Supporters of Israel
The pro-Israeli British parliament is among those pushing for the Starmer government to continue its crackdown on the Palestinian Authority. Among them are his English counterpart John Woodko.ck, also known as Lord Walney.
Former Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson appointed Woodcock to the British post In 2020, he was an independent consultant on political violence He continues to serve in the role under Starmer until February 2025.
In his 2024 report, Woodcock named Palestine Action an extremist group. Following the group’s airport attack in July 2025, Woodcock strongly supported the Labor government’s decision to designate it as a terrorist organization and continues to do so.
“One of the signs that bans have been relatively effective is to see a reduction in the number of attacks over a period of time,” Woodcock told CBC News in an interview.
He praised the Labor government for ignoring the hunger strikers and refusing to be swayed by them.
“It was a stupid thing to do,” he said.
However, Woodcock acknowledged that “terrorist” activities may need to be re-examined. He said police resources are being wasted on policing Palestine Action protesters who simply carry signs at sit-ins and other protests.
One option would be to give police more powers to recruit, fundraise and publicize the activities of banned groups, he said, and make the penalties for holding signs harsher.
“It seems blindingly obvious to many people, I think, that an organization like Palestine Action should not be free to broadcast their crimes on social media.
High resistances
Demonstrations in Britain against Israel’s military action in Gaza and decades of occupation of the Palestinian territories have become the largest anti-war movements in British history.
Although the last major demonstration in London in October 2025 drew more than 600,000 people, protest leaders said. Police estimate He puts the number closer to 100,000.
Since Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, which has killed nearly 1,200 people, the Israel Defense Forces have been bombarded and heavily injured. The ground campaign in Gaza killed more than a dozen people. 71,000 people, according to Gaza health officials.
Most of the health care facilities in the area have been destroyed, leaving hundreds of thousands of people living in tents and starving. Even after the ceasefire agreement came into effect in 2010 Gaza health authorities The Israeli attack claimed the lives of more than 440 people, including 100 children.
Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, Jewish settlers They have intensified their attacks on Palestinian communities, destroying homes and businesses and injuring hundreds.
Some UK observers believe that critics of the hunger strikers should not be so quick to downplay the impact of their actions.
“On social media, the actions of hunger strikers aAnd the issue of the broader pro-Palestinian movement has resonated far and wide,” he said. Bart CammaertsProfessor of Politics and Communication at the London School of Economics, via email to CBC.
“Hunger strikes bring … solidarity with the activists and their causes, to direct public attention to the plight of the imprisoned activists and to highlight the irrationality of the government in relation to these activists,” Cammaerts said.
The focus will now shift to the British High Court’s judicial review of the decision to ban Palestinian action. The trial took place in early December, and the jury’s decision could come at any time.
As it is the first time the British government has designated a direct action opposition group as terrorists, the judges’ decision will have significant implications for the future of human rights and anti-Israel protests.
Meanwhile, Heba Muraisi and two other HuFrancesca Nadine said the strikers are now in prison and undergoing a “rehabilitation” process.
“I spoke to (Muraisi) and she felt positive about everything she had achieved on hunger strike,” Nadine said.