US designates UK-based Palestine Action as foreign 'terrorist group'

The United States on Wednesday named the UK-based Palestine Action group, which has been banned by the British government, as a “specially designated global terrorist” organisation.

The US also issued sanctions against the group, claiming the move was for supporting “an act of terrorism”.

Set up in 2020, Palestine Action is appealing against the UK government ban, which has led to thousands of arrests. Rights groups have decried the ban, saying it was aimed at criminalising dissent.

Palestine Action had increasingly targeted Israel-linked defence companies in Britain, especially Israel’s largest defence firm Elbit Systems.

Responding to the US move on Wednesday, Huda Ammori, co-founder of Palestine Action, said the group’s activities “have always been about saving lives by disrupting the Israeli war machine”.

“The fact that Trump is now taking inspiration from Britain’s repression of the movement for Palestinian freedom exposes just how dangerous this ban is and should be a wake-up call to anyone who cares about free speech and civil liberties,” Ammori said in a statement to Reuters.

Palestine Action’s stated goal on its website is to end “global participation in Israel’s genocidal and apartheid regime”.

It gained visibility after Israel launched a devastating military onslaught on Gaza following the Oct 7, 2023 attack by fighters from Palestinian group Hamas in southern Israel.

Since coming to power for his second term, US President Donald Trump has issued orders for his government to designate what it terms “far-left” groups as terrorist organisations.

Wednesday’s US action also designated Italy-based Autistici/Inventati (also known as A/I Collective) as a “terrorist” organisation.

The US Treasury Department also imposed sanctions on the transnational group Masar Badil, saying it operates as a front for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The latter group had already been designated by the US as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation.

US State Department spokesperson Tommy Piggot declared all three groups, including Palestine Action, as being “violent far-left terrorist groups”.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington would bring “the full weight of our economic tools to bear” against far-left groups.

“Political terrorism has no place in our society, and we will continue to cut the financial lifelines of these groups until they are eliminated.”

In April, Amnesty International declared that the leaders of the United States, Israel and Russia were seeking to impose a new “predatory” world order in their crackdowns on dissent.