LONDON: A retired British couple who took part in local pro-Palestine activist have had their joint bank account closed without explanation, The Guardian reported.
John Nicholson, 70, and Norma Turner, 86, are treasurer and chair, respectively, of Greater Manchester Friends of Palestine, which also had its bank account with Virgin Money frozen.
The couple said that their personal account with Yorkshire Building Society was used as a nest egg.
They received the full balance of the account via check after being informed of its closure.
Nicholson, a retired immigration barrister, and Turner, a former nurse, received a letter on Sept. 27 in which they were told that their account, which was opened about five years ago, would close on Sept. 30.
“Neither of us have never been in financial difficulties, never been in debt, (other than) mortgages, but paid those off. Never had any criminal record, fraud or anything of that sort of whatsoever,” Nicholson said.
“This is just inexplicable and, obviously, it’s not inexplicable because it’s to do with Palestine. It’s as simple as that but it’s inexplicable in that this was an amount of money we’ve got from retirement, put into a savings account, rolled it forward in a fixed-term bond, when that finished, rolled it forward in another one.
Yorkshire Building Society had, one month ago, “accepted quite happily” for the couple to roll forward the fix-term bond again, Nicholson said, adding that the account had no transactions.
He added: “This kind of behaviour has just never happened in our lifetime of activism before, and is suddenly happening to activists and to organisations and to people. If it isn’t Palestine, then why doesn’t YBS say what reason it is?”
The bank account of GMFP was frozen without explanation on July 10, five days after the banning of Palestine Action.
The Manchester organization had no connection with the proscribed group, sparking fears of a broader coordinated crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism in Britain.
The publicly listed activities of GMFP include letter-writing, individual consumer boycotting, leafleting, social media output, widespread protests and direct action.
A separate member of GMFP, also a signatory to the organization’s bank account, had their personal account frozen, too, but wished to remain anonymous.
Nicholson said: “We’ve absolutely no other idea of why anything could have happened to us other than (our pro-Palestinian activism) because that is pretty much the only thing that we’re doing in our lives at the moment.
“And then the ban came in on Palestine Action and we know that other people are having their bank accounts frozen,” he added, referring to the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
The SPSC had its account with Unity Trust bank frozen in June, apparently due to its website featuring a button to donate to Palestine Action before the group’s banning.
However, despite the button being removed after proscription, the account remains frozen.
YBS, Virgin Money and Unity Trust bank all declined to comment on individual cases when approached by The Guardian.
A spokesperson for the former said: “We never close savings accounts based on different opinions or beliefs. Accounts are closed only in very rare circumstances, with decisions made on the basis of the specific facts of the case.”
