Justice for Tony Greenstein

Justice for Tony Greenstein

On 18 August 2026*, British activist Tony Greenstein goes on trial at the Kingston Crown Court in London accused of ‘support for terrorism’ for backing Palestinian resistance against colonial occupation, the decades-long siege of Gaza and genocide. He is one of thousands who have been arrested under a UK government crackdown that effectively redefines terrorism as opposition to the government’s foreign policy of supporting genocide. Authoritarianism is rising, and we must act to defend our freedoms before it is too late. Our struggles are interconnected: an injury to one is an injury to all.

*The trial, originally scheduled for 5 January 2026, has been postponed to 18 August 2026.

Who is Tony?

Tony Greenstein is a 72-year old grandfather and carer. He is a Jewish socialist activist, writer, and trade unionist. He has a decades-long track record of fighting for social justice and equality, and opposing racism, fascism, colonialism, and imperialism. He has worked through grassroots organising, public scholarship, community-based action and charitable initiatives in solidarity with Palestine and other struggles against oppression.

Alongside this, Tony has served as a union representative for Unite the Union and UNISON, and remains a longstanding member of Brighton Trade Council, advocating for workers’ rights, collective power, and economic justice. Through decades of work with the Brighton Unemployed Workers Centre, and as a co-founder and trustee of the Brighton Trust, Tony has supported unemployed and homeless people, refugees, LGBTQ+ communities – including trans people – and children growing up in poverty and war. Alongside helping unemployed people access advice, advocacy and practical support, he helped organise outings, summer trips, and annual Christmas parties for their children, offering moments of joy, dignity, and normality amid economic hardship.

Tony has provided longstanding support for the Al-Tafawk Children’s Center, a refuge for homeless and refugee children in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank. After the children’s centre was destroyed by the Israeli military in both 2021 and 2023, he played a key role in campaigning and fundraising to rebuild it, not once, but twice. Following further displacement and grave atrocities more recently, his fundraiser remains the centre’s principal source of financial support today.

Tony’s support for Palestine is inseparable from his Jewish identity. Raised in the Jewish religious tradition and shaped by family histories of resistance to racism, he is the son of an Orthodox rabbi who marched against Mosley’s British Union of Fascists in the 1930s. Immersed from a young age in Holocaust history, he internalised its lessons as a mandate to oppose racism and injustice wherever they arise. His principled anti-Zionism led him to active involvement in Jewish groups, including the Jewish Network for Palestine and Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods. In 2025, he was invited to speak at the First Jewish Anti-Zionist Congress in Vienna.

Each year, Tony organises online Holocaust Memorial Day events that centre survivors’ voices while also giving space to Palestinians to share their lived experiences under Israeli occupation, affirming that remembering past atrocities entails a responsibility to oppose injustice in the present.

Tony is the author of the only book documenting the Fight against Fascism in Brighton and the South Coast, and of the recent book Zionism During the Holocaust, due to be republished in 2027 by Verso. Commenting on the book, renowned Jewish Israeli historian Professor Ilan Pappé from Exeter University described Greenstein as “a courageous and committed fighter against antisemitism.”

Across decades of organising, writing, and solidarity work, Tony’s character has been defined by moral courage and a refusal to turn away from suffering. His support for Palestinian liberation emerged not in spite of his Jewish identity, but because of it: rooted in a principled rejection of injustice wherever it occurs, and in a determination to ensure that the darkest lessons of history are neither forgotten nor misused.  

• Read Testimonials about Tony.
• Help sustain the Al-Tafawk Center in Jenin, a vital lifeline for children facing displacement and violence, through Tony’s fundraiser.
• Find out more about Tony’s book, Zionism During the Holocaust.
• Check out Tony’s blog.

Why is Tony on trial?

Tony is facing charges of “inviting support for terrorism” under Section 12 of the UK’s Terrorism Act. This offence carries a possible sentence of 14 years in prison. He is being prosecuted solely for writing in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for freedom from colonial occupation, apartheid, siege and genocide, all of which has been facilitated by Western governments. 

Tony’s case cannot be separated from the wider political moment. More than 2700 people have been arrested for stating their support for Palestine Action under the UK’s Terrorism Act, while environmental groups, animal rights activists, anti-racists and trade unionists are targeted under the Counter-Terrorism Act. The aim is to silence opposition to imperialist wars, economic injustice, structural racism, and climate catastrophe.​

Our democratic freedoms are under attack. Protest is being criminalised. Public debate is being shut down.  UN human rights experts, the UN human rights commissioner, and major human rights organisations say that the UK government crackdown is silencing activists, journalists and ordinary people who speak up. They have warned that Britain is sliding backwards on democracy and human rights.

What can you do?