US issues sanctions against UK-based direct action group Palestine Action

US labels group ‘global terrorist’ as Palestine Action challenge against proscription in UK nears supreme court hearing

The US ⁠has ​issued sanctions against ⁠the UK-based direct action organisation Palestine ⁠Action, describing it as a “transnational terror group”.

The US Department of the Treasury labelled Palestine Action a specially designated global terrorist on Wednesday, which allows the US to freeze the assets of foreign individuals and entities.

Palestine Action became the first direct action group to be proscribed under the UK’s Terrorism Act in July last year, placing it alongside the likes of Islamic State and Boko Haram. The UK ban is the subject of a legal challenge that will be heard by the UK supreme court in November.

The powers used to sanction the organisation in the US were introduced by President George W Bush shortly after the 9/11 attacks by al-Qaida on the twin towers in New York.

Announcing the sanctions on Palestine Action and two other organisations, the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said: “Far-left extremists, their fronts, and their enablers should be on notice: we will bring the full weight of our economic tools to bear. 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 co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, who is behind the legal challenge to the UK ban, said in response: “Palestine Action’s activities in the US and elsewhere have always been about saving lives by disrupting the Israeli war machine, which is committing a genocide in Gaza with the support of the US government. Trump has been at the centre of the mass murder of Palestinians, enabling the Zionist regime at every turn.

“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. By banning a direct action protest group under terrorism legislation for the first time in British history, Keir Starmer’s government has created a blueprint for authoritarian governments around the world to suppress political dissent, and to criminalise British citizens who travel or live abroad.

“Trump’s decision to adopt Keir Starmer’s designation of Palestine Action as a ‘terrorist’ group should be the final nail in the coffin of this dangerous, draconian and disproportionate ban.”

As well as freezing the assets of those sanctioned, the listing forbids US citizens and entities from doing business with them.

The US Treasury website said the group had “supported numerous acts of terrorism since July 2020, including acts that have physically injured UK law enforcement personnel, as well as acts intended to intimidate lawful commercial enterprises and coerce the UK government. The group’s actions include multiple high-profile instances of breaking into defense infrastructure and British military installations, and causing millions of dollars’ worth of damage to military equipment.”

It said the group had promoted its activities on social media, “encouraging the use of similar tactics internationally, including within the United States and along the US-Mexican border”.

In the UK, Palestine Action has focused largely on factories run by the Israeli weapons firm Elbit Systems, as well as other companies that do business with it.

In March last year, Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf course on the west coast of Scotland was targeted by protesters . The clubhouse at the five-star resort in Ayrshire was graffitied and the course dug up and painted with the words “Gaza is not 4 sale”.

The then UK foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, moved to ban the group last year after recommendations from officials, who nevertheless conceded that proscribing Palestine Action would be “relatively novel” as “there was no known precedent of an organisation being proscribed on the basis that it was concerned in terrorism mainly due to its use or threat of action involving serious damage to property”.