US designates Palestine Action as terrorist group

The United States has designated the UK-based direct action group Palestine Action as a terrorist organization, imposing sanctions that can freeze assets and bar Americans from doing business with the group.

The US Department of the Treasury announced the move Wednesday, describing Palestine Action as a “transnational terror group” and a specially designated global terrorist. The designation was announced alongside sanctions on two other organizations as part of what the Trump administration says is a broader effort targeting far-left terror groups around the world.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the government would use its financial powers against the groups. “Far-left extremists, their fronts, and their enablers should be on notice: We will bring the full weight of our economic tools to bear,” he said. “Political terrorism has no place in our society, and we will continue to cut the financial lifelines of these groups until they are eliminated.”

The Treasury accused Palestine Action of supporting “numerous acts of terrorism since July 2020,” including acts that physically injured UK law enforcement personnel, intimidated lawful businesses and sought to coerce the UK government. It said the group’s actions included break-ins at defense infrastructure and British military installations and caused millions of dollars in damage to military equipment. The Treasury also said the group promoted its activities on social media and encouraged similar tactics internationally, including in the United States and along the US-Mexico border.

Palestine Action has used direct action tactics against Israeli-linked arms companies in the UK. The Guardian reported that the group has focused largely on factories run by Israeli weapons firm Elbit Systems, as well as other companies that do business with it. In March last year, protesters targeted Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf course in Scotland, where the clubhouse was graffitied and the course was dug up and painted with the words “Gaza is not 4 sale,” The Guardian reported.

Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori rejected the US designation. In a social media post cited by the BBC, she said: “As a Palestinian and Iraqi, the fact the country which destroyed both my homelands is calling me a terrorist, is beyond hypocritical.”

In a statement to the BBC, Ammori said the group’s actions had “always been about saving lives” and said the ban should be a “wake-up call to anyone who cares about free speech and democracy.” In a longer statement reported by The Guardian, she said Palestine Action’s activities “in the US and elsewhere have always been about saving lives by disrupting the Israeli war machine,” and said Trump’s decision to adopt the UK designation “should be the final nail in the coffin of this dangerous, draconian and disproportionate ban.”

The US action follows the UK’s move to outlaw the group under anti-terror legislation. The BBC reported that supporting Palestine Action became illegal in the UK in 2025. The Guardian reported that Palestine Action became the first direct action group proscribed under the UK’s Terrorism Act in July last year, placing it alongside groups such as Islamic State and Boko Haram.

The UK ban remains under legal challenge. The BBC reported that Court of Appeal judges ruled in June that the government’s interference with freedom of expression rights was “justified and proportionate,” but Palestine Action has been given permission to challenge the decision in the Supreme Court. The Guardian reported that the Supreme Court case will be heard in November.

Four members of Palestine Action were jailed in June over a break-in at a defense firm that caused more than £1 million in damage, the BBC reported. One person was sentenced for causing grievous bodily harm to a police officer who was hit with a sledgehammer.