'A very frightening time': US terror tag endangers UK Palestine Action activists, critics say

'A very frightening time': US terror tag endangers UK Palestine Action activists, critics say Submitted by Katherine Hearst on Fri, 08/28/2026 - 12:39 Washington announced the sanctions days before it was revealed that activists who targeted Trump's Scottish golf resort could face sentencing as 'terrorists' The designation raises questions about the fate of over 2,700 protesters who were arrested in the UK under the Terrorism Act for supporting the banned group, in London, April 2026 (Katherine Hearst/MEE) Off Washington's move to designate Palestine Action as a transnational terrorist organisation could place British activists associated with the group at heightened risk of surveillance and being frozen out of the financial system, campaigners warn. In a statement on its website, the US Department of the Treasury announced a slew of sanctions targeting “Violent Far-Left Terrorist Networks”, including Palestine Action and Masar Badil , a movement that advocates for an "alternative revolutionary path" for Palestinian rights and freedoms. Italian tech collective Autistici/Inventati was also designated as a terrorist group for allegedly supplying “specialized digital architecture, tools, and services for Antifa cells and other violent far-left extremists, including a foreign terrorist organization”. The statement described the move as "complementing" the British government's decision to proscribe Palestine Action in July last year, which will be subject to a legal challenge at the Supreme Court in November. “It’s a very frightening time,” former Palestine Action member and US citizen Max Geller told Middle East Eye. “I have American bank accounts, I don’t know if I’m going to suddenly be de-banked or if every single one of my Paypal transactions with my friends are going to be scrutinised.” Geller, who is a resident in the UK and has elderly parents in the US, says the ban could prevent them from seeing their grandchildren. “Suddenly going back home has become a very stressful and scary prospect,” Geller said. “No one knows what this means yet. They don’t use these laws on American citizens, so no one really knows what it means for people like me.” Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori said that the economic sanctions represent “an extra layer on top of proscription” and are likely to make activists’ lives more difficult. “There is so much reliance in the Western world on these institutions that you don’t think about how intertwined they are with the US financial system until you’re at the opposite end of their repression,” Ammori told MEE. There are also concerns about supporters being subjected to heightened levels of surveillance and intelligence sharing between London and Washington. "It puts people at more of a risk. The US are known for trying to quash who they perceive as enemies of the American empire, and we are now firmly in their sights," Ammori said. 'Suddenly going back home has become a very stressful and scary prospect' - Max Geller, US citizen and former Palestine Action activist Tim Crosland, a former government lawyer and co-founder of the London-based campaign group Defend our Juries, said that the designation raises questions about what might happen to the more than 2,700 people arrested in the UK under the British Terrorism Act 2000 for expressing support for Palestine Action. “Are they now in danger of having their bank accounts closed and not being able to operate within the financial system?” he told MEE. UN Special Rapporteur for Palestine Francesca Albanese, who was sanctioned by the Trump administration in July last year, previously told MEE that she is now unable to carry out regular financial transactions as a result. The sanction decision cited her recommendations that the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecute Israeli officials and executives of US companies accused of complicity in Israeli crimes in Palestine. “Does that apply to people who've held up signs saying 'I support Palestine Action'?” Crosland said. “Will the British government give the US the personal data of the people who've done that? Because they haven't got the data unless somebody gives it to them.” 'Serious damage' On Friday, days after Washington's announcement of the sanctions, it was revealed that seven protesters associated with Palestine Action accused of vandalising one of US President Donald Trump’s Scottish golf resorts could face charges with a “terrorist connection”. In March 2025, the activists allegedly broke into and dug up Trump’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland, spray painting the clubhouse with the words “Gaza is not 4 sale”. All seven are charged with malicious damage “aggravated by reason of having a terrorist connection”. If the connection is applied, the defendants could face aggravated custodial sentences and treatment as terrorists for decades following their release. Raza Husain KC, who represented Ammori during a judicial review of the government’s proscription in November, noted that then-Prime Minister Keir Starmer had spoken to Trump twice following the incident on 10 and 30 March. Declassified UK reported in November that the British government had “refused to confirm or deny” whether the leaders had discussed the direct action group during the calls. On 13 March, Trump’s son Eric met with Scottish First Minister John Swinney. A Freedom of Information disclosure revealed that Swinney “noted with concern the recent incident at the Trump Turnberry property, condemning the damage caused by vandalism and offered reassurance that the relevant authorities would continue to take the incident seriously”. 'This isn't the Britain I grew up in': The activists raided by police over Palestine Action videos Read More » Also around that time, Trump took to his Truth Social account to denounce the activists as “terrorists” who had committed “serious damage” - wording which appeared to specifically reference language from the British Terrorism Act 2000 - and would “hopefully be treated harshly”. The UK government’s decision to proscribe the group rests primarily on its finding that its members had committed “serious damage to property with the aim of progressing its political cause”. “What emboldened him to use those words after speaking to Starmer? It must have been discussed,” Ammori told MEE. MEE contacted the Cabinet Office for comments. In June, four Palestine Action defendants were sentenced as terrorists in connection with a raid on an Elbit Systems factory near Bristol in August 2024. The jurors who convicted them of criminal charges were unaware of the potential designation, which the presiding judge, Justice Johnson, determined in a sentencing hearing. This marked the first time in British legal history that the designation had been applied to direct action protesters who were not convicted of terrorist offences or of causing intentional violence. In a separate case, following the convictions of five protesters who spray-painted and splintered the windows of a Barclays Bank branch in Lancashire, the presiding judge, Phillip Parry, announced that he intended to consider a terrorist connection to their criminal offences. But during a hearing last week, Judge Altham found that the damage committed by the activists was not substantial, and refused to apply the designation. 'A very strange boat' The Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) list was first established by the US just days after the 11 September 2001 attacks, when then-President George W Bush signed Executive Order 13224. Its first target was the largest Muslim charity in the US at the time, the Holy Land Foundation. Five Palestinian-American men were tried twice and sentenced to several years in prison (ranging from 15 to 65 years) on charges of providing funds to "Hamas-run groups", though no evidence was ever provided in court to demonstrate a link to violent activities. "The United States does not sanction persons for engaging in political speech or other constitutionally protected activities," the Treasury Department's statement on Wednesday said. “It’s a very strange boat to suddenly find yourself in,” Geller told MEE. “In the eyes of the American legal system, this organisation that I used to be a part of is the equivalent of Boko Haram or al-Qaeda,” he added. “It seems to be a harbinger for where things are headed. A lot of people might soon find themselves in this position.” Palestine Action case reveals the limits of terrorism discourse Read More » The US administration’s ban on Palestine Action aligns with its broader crackdown on left-wing groups as part of its fight against what it terms a worldwide “resurgence of far-left political terrorism”. The Treasury's statement on Wednesday said that the latest sanctions build on an executive order signed by Trump in November which designated Antifa - a loose network of anti-fascist activists - as a domestic terrorist organisation. In June, a Texas court sentenced anti-ICE protesters accused of ties to Antifa to up to 100 years in prison, in what is widely viewed as a test case for the administration’s crackdown on left-wing activism. In July, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted an international summit as a response to “a deliberate, ideologically motivated strategy to destabilize free societies by violently targeting our political and economic systems”. Why now? Campaigners have also questioned the timing of Washington's announcement of the sanctions, highlighting that it comes shortly after the UK Supreme Court granted Ammori the right to challenge Palestine Action’s proscription. “Is the Trump administration worried that Palestine Action might prevail at the European Court of Human Rights or in the British Supreme Court?” Geller said. The designation also follows the arrest of US citizen and financier of left-wing and humanitarian projects James “Fergie” Chambers by Spanish police following a US extradition request. Chambers acknowledged that he had participated in a protest coordinated by Palestine Action and had paid legal fees for some of its members. According to his lawyers, Chambers also donated around a million dollars to “humanitarian projects and causes” in Gaza . According to Ammori, the US submitted the indictment against Chambers on the same day that the Treasury Department announced its decision to sanction Palestine Action. “It feels like it's truly only being done as a PR stunt to build a groundswell of public support for either extraditing Fergie or preempting another Palestine Action legal victory,” Geller said. Palestine Action News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0