On 26 August, the US Department of the Treasury announced sanctions on three organisations—Masar Badil, Autistici Inventati, and British direct action group Palestine Action—as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on the left. “We will bring the full weight of our economic tools to bear,” Secretary Scott Bessent stated in the announcement.
The measures will freeze the groups” US-based assets, prohibit different forms of support, and place supporters at risk of visa denials and personal finance restrictions due to the deep integration of US sanctions with the global financial system.
Palestine Action was labelled a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, echoing the UK’s 2025 ban introduced by Keir Starmer’s government. The British ban followed a series of direct action campaigns targeting companies and facilities complicit in the Gaza genocide, including Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems and Royal Air Force (RAF) bases.
Taking inspiration from the UK’s repression of Palestine solidarity
The original proscription of Palestine Action in the UK provoked widespread concern, with UN experts and legal scholars warning it would create a chilling effect on civil rights and embolden other governments to introduce equally repressive measures. “We’ve warned since July 2025 that Keir Starmer’s unprecedented ban on Palestine Action would embolden autocrats and demagogues around the world,” the group Defend Our Juries stated on Wednesday. “Today that warning has proved to be well-founded.”
“Whilst bowing down to the arms industry and Israel lobby, the UK government has encouraged Trump to escalate his domestic crackdown on civil liberties, which has led to the police killings and unlawful incarceration of so many,” Defend Our Juries said.
“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,” Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori added. “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.”
Palestine Action proscription caused “political trials and miscarriages of justice.”
Since the UK ban, thousands have been arrested for taking part in peaceful actions like holding signs reading “I Oppose Genocide. I support Palestine Action.” Imprisoned activists have faced harsh prison conditions and organised a large hunger strike in late 2025.
The proscription has also led to unprecedented legal consequences. For example, in the Filton 4 case, defendants were convicted of criminal damage but sentenced as terrorists. “These are the first cases in which defendants have been convicted by a jury on one charge, the offence of criminal damage, only to find themselves exposed to sentencing by their judge on the vastly more serious grounds of ‘terrorism,’” dozens of legal scholars and intellectuals wrote in an open letter to new Prime Minister Andy Burnham dated 25 August. In the letter, they warned the proscription of Palestine Action had enabled “political trials and miscarriages of justice.”
“Rather than change course and stop aiding and abetting Israel, the UK Home Office and its judicial system have chosen to punish activists who oppose war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide,” the letter stated. “Rather than put a stop to the most grievous state crime of the 21st century, our government has chosen to impose increasingly authoritarian restrictions upon political protest in general and upon Palestinian solidarity in particular.”
The letter signatories called for Burnham to end military cooperation with Israel, support international legal proceedings, and de-proscribe Palestine Action.
US sanctions signal “failure to stop solidarity”
Many other organisations in Britain and elsewhere have repeated calls for de-proscription in light of the US announcement. “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,” Ammori concluded on Wednesday.
Similarly, campaigners have pledged to continue efforts to de-proscribe Palestine Action and further strengthen solidarity with Palestine. “The US is trying to criminalise and silence opposition to its genocide in Gaza, attacks on Iran and across the region,” CODEPINK wrote. “It will not work.”
“When a superpower deploys its ultimate administrative warhead against a non-violent civil society movement, it does not demonstrate strength,” the Global Sumud Flotilla echoed. “It confesses absolute failure to stop solidarity.”
