US Designates Far-Left Palestine Action a Global Terrorist Group
Washington has put the British anti-Israel group Palestine Action under counterterrorism sanctions, freezing any US-held assets and cutting it off from American business ties. The move comes more than a year after Britain outlawed the group following attacks on defense companies and military sites.
Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori, who has accused both Washington and London of suppressing political dissent over Gaza. Photo: Martin Pope/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
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The Trump administration has imposed sweeping counterterrorism sanctions on Palestine Action, placing the far-left organization under the same US regime used against foreign terrorist networks. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said violent extremists and their supporters were “on notice” and promised to use Washington’s financial powers against them.
“Political terrorism has no place in our society”, Bessent said. According to the US Treasury Department, Palestine Action had supported numerous acts of terrorism since 2020, including attacks that injured British police officers, targeted military facilities and caused millions of dollars in damage.
The designation freezes any Palestine Action assets under US jurisdiction and generally bars Americans and US companies from doing business with the group. Washington also sanctioned the Italian organization Autistici Inventati and Masar Badil, which Treasury linked to the already sanctioned Samidoun network and, through it, to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
Founded in 2020, Palestine Action built its profile through direct-action attacks on companies connected to Israel, particularly the Israeli defense manufacturer Elbit Systems. Activists broke into facilities, damaged equipment and disrupted operations while presenting them as attempts to stop weapons from reaching Israel.
The group later broadened its targets. In June 2025, activists entered RAF Brize Norton, one of Britain’s most important military air bases, and damaged two Voyager aircraft. Britain’s Defense Ministry described the incident as an attack on national security.
US officials cited this broader pattern in Wednesday’s designation. Treasury said Palestine Action had broken into defense infrastructure and British military installations, intimidated lawful businesses and encouraged similar tactics internationally, including in the United States.
Britain banned Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act 2000 in July 2025. The government pointed not only to the Brize Norton raid but also to attacks on Thales in Glasgow, Instro Precision in Kent and Elbit Systems UK in Bristol.
Supporters of Palestine Action outside the Royal Courts of Justice during Huda Ammori’s legal challenge to the group’s proscription. Photo: Mark Kerrison/In Pictures/Getty Images
The Ban Heads to the Supreme Court
The British proscription made membership in Palestine Action, as well as certain forms of support for the organization, a criminal offense. By the end of March 2026, authorities had recorded 2,819 arrests linked to suspected support for the banned group, with 484 people charged.
Co-founder Huda Ammori is challenging the ban. A lower court initially ruled in her favor on parts of the case, but the Court of Appeal later upheld the government’s decision.
The dispute will now reach the UK Supreme Court, where hearings are scheduled for 4 and 5 November. The justices will consider whether the government acted lawfully in using Britain’s terrorism legislation to outlaw Palestine Action.
Ammori condemned the US sanctions and accused both Washington and London of suppressing political dissent over Gaza. The US government says its action targets violence, serious property damage and coercion rather than political speech. Treasury’s designation means Palestine Action is now formally treated as a terrorist organization on both sides of the Atlantic.
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