{"id":806338,"date":"2026-10-18T07:08:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-18T07:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/806338\/"},"modified":"2026-10-18T07:08:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-18T07:08:12","slug":"uk-police-rule-out-probe-into-palestine-action-post-by-pm-advisers-wife-israel-palestine-conflict-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/806338\/","title":{"rendered":"UK police rule out probe into Palestine Action post by PM adviser\u2019s wife | Israel-Palestine conflict News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Officers determine post by Sarah Helm, seen to endorse Palestine Action, does \u2018not meet the criminal threshold\u2019.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Published On 18 Oct 202618 Oct 2026<\/p>\n

Police in the United Kingdom have determined that a social media post<\/a> by the wife of Prime Minister Andy Burnham\u2019s national security adviser that appears to endorse Palestine Action<\/a>, a group proscribed in the country as a \u201cterrorist\u201d organisation, does not merit a criminal investigation.<\/p>\n

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson on Saturday said that officers looked at Sarah Helm\u2019s post and ruled that it \u201cdid not meet the criminal threshold. No further police action will be taken.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

The police had said on Friday that Helm\u2019s post was \u201cbeing assessed to determine whether any further police investigation may be required\u201d.<\/p>\n

Helm, an author and journalist who is married to National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell, wrote on X on Thursday: \u201cGod help us authors who support Palestine and Palestine Action.\u201d<\/p>\n

Helm made the comment after publisher Faber said this week that its Irish author Sally Rooney<\/a> could not sell her books in the UK, after she announced her plans to use the royalties to support Palestine Action.<\/p>\n

\"FILEAuthor Sally Rooney poses for a photograph ahead of the announcement of the winner of the Costa Book Awards 2018 in London [File: Henry Nicholls\/Reuters]<\/p>\n

\u201cCurrent legislation in the UK has led to circumstances where Faber cannot pass on UK earnings to Sally Rooney for her work. To sell a writer\u2019s work and not\u00a0be able to pass on earnings is an unconscionable situation for a publisher,\u201d Faber said in a statement on its website.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs such, and in full agreement with Sally, we have taken the decision that we can no longer supply her works in the UK in any format,\u201d the British publisher said, adding that it would continue to sell her work in other countries and regions.<\/p>\n

The Campaign Against Antisemitism, a British NGO, had responded on X that Helm\u2019s post was \u201cgobsmacking\u201d and \u201cclearly, the police need to investigate and Ms Helm must face the full force of the law\u201d.<\/p>\n

After being asked for comment on Friday, a government spokesperson said Helm\u2019s comments did \u201cnot represent the government in any capacity\u201d.<\/p>\n

Palestine Action has been proscribed as a \u201cterrorist\u201d organisation since a July 2025 vote<\/a> by UK lawmakers.<\/p>\n

Amnesty International says more than \u20603,500 people have been arrested<\/a> in the UK for allegedly supporting Palestine Action since it was banned last year, many of them \u2060for holding up placards.<\/p>\n

Palestine Action challenged the government\u2019s decision to ban the group, but the Court of Appeal ruled in June that the proscription was lawful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Officers determine post by Sarah Helm, seen to endorse Palestine Action, does \u2018not meet the criminal threshold\u2019. Published…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":806339,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[591,3841,59,57,58,937,31283,9084,590,632,50,229,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-806338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-europe","tag-freedom-of-the-press","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-human-rights","tag-investigation","tag-israel","tag-israel-palestine-conflict","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/806339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}