Trump Administration Imposes Terror Sanctions on Palestine Action Activists

When the Trump administration targeted the U.K.-based anti-genocide protest group Palestine Action with U.S. counterterrorism sanctions, it didn’t just restrict a foreign political network.

The U.S. Treasury Department announced the sanctions against Palestine Action, alongside groups like Autistici/Inventati and Masar Badil, under the banner of protecting Americans from the risks posed by far-left terrorism.

“A major threshold has been crossed,” said Max Geller, an American peace activist and former spokesperson for Palestine Action who left the group in 2025. “They’re now treating regular Americans who want to effectively oppose genocide as terrorists.”

Untangling the Scope of Treasury Sanctions and Financial Isolation

The practical machinery of these sanctions carries immediate consequences for anyone previously tied to the movement. Under directives overseen by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, sanctioned entities and individuals are walled off from the American financial architecture. According to official Treasury outlines, blocked groups and affiliates cannot receive funds, goods, or services from any U.S. person or business.

For individuals like Geller, who currently resides in London, the operational ambiguity is suffocating. Geller noted that he frequently wonders if his everyday financial lifelines—ranging from traditional bank accounts to digital tools like Venmo and PayPal—risk sudden freezing. Traveling back and forth across the Atlantic to visit his elderly parents, once a routine family obligation, has suddenly transformed into a high-stakes legal gamble.

“They want people scared to even think about supporting or engaging in this kind of work,” Geller said. “This is about materially hurting Palestine.”

Legal scholars point out that this vagueness is hardly accidental. Xiangnong (George) Wang, a staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute who specializes in U.S. sanctions, emphasizes that the lack of transparent boundaries from federal regulators creates an intentional atmosphere of intimidation. “Treasury hasn’t been clear on where the line is, and that’s part of the chilling effect,” Wang explained. “In sanctioning Palestine Action, I think their target is more broadly a community of people and groups, including Americans who engage with Palestine Action.”

The Transatlantic Pipeline of Dissent and Government Crackdowns

The American sanctions arrive on the heels of an increasingly draconian legal crusade waged by the British government. Last year, as activists faced intensifying criminal trials for blockading Elbit Systems facilities, the U.K. officially proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist organization, making membership punishable by up to 14 years behind bars. More than 1,200 people have since faced arrest and charges under the U.K.’s Terror Act for attending rallies merely supporting the group.

Reporting from The Telegraph indicated that Palestine Action co-founders Huda Ammori and Richard Barnard could face lifetime travel bans preventing entry into the United States, while ordinary British citizens suspected of supporting the network may encounter severe visa restrictions.

Despite the accumulating legal pressure, core organizers remain defiant. In an interview with The Intercept, Ammori argued that the movement must pivot rather than surrender. “We are facing unprecedented attacks on dissent by the same powers that are committing genocide in Gaza,” Ammori said. “We are at a point in history where it’s extremely crucial to continue to resist and grow in our movement, rather than back down and to adapt and become less reliant on institutions which are essentially controlled by the powers we’re fighting against.”

Weaponizing Counterterrorism Against Human Rights Advocacy

The campaign against Palestine Action is part of a broader systemic White House effort to penalize vocal opposition to Israeli military operations in Gaza and international accountability efforts. Last year, the administration slapped sanctions directly on the International Criminal Court after the tribunal issued arrest warrants for Israeli leaders. Those punitive measures extended to individuals cooperating with the court, such as U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese.

Civil society watchdogs have forcefully condemned the administration’s trajectory. Raed Jarrar, advocacy director with Democracy for the Arab World Now—an organization that recently filed a lawsuit to overturn Trump’s sanctions against the ICC—stated that the executive branch is systematically subverting legal frameworks. “The Trump administration is once again weaponizing counterterrorism authorities to criminalize Palestinian political organizing and solidarity,” Jarrar noted. “Sanctions are supposed to target genuine threats to national security, not serve as a political weapon against movements challenging Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.”

The widening dragnet has already impacted humanitarian initiatives. Pro-Palestine organizer Fergie Chambers, a previous supporter of Palestine Action, was detained in Spain last month pending extradition on alleged charges of funding terror groups. The Sameer Project, a humanitarian aid organization that delivered meals and essential services to displaced families in Gaza, had previously received financial support from Chambers. This month, the aid group announced it was forced to pause its operations in Gaza due to depleted funding.

Domestically, the enforcement mechanisms deployed under National Security Presidential Memorandum 7 (NSPM-7) have increasingly targeted left-wing political coalitions, stretching from anti-deportation campaigns resisting Immigration and Customs Enforcement to protesters in the Prairieland Detention Center trial and in Minneapolis. Yet, despite the mounting arrests and asset freezes, underground cells and regional offshoots continue operating internationally, determined to sever the financial and material logistics fueling military supply chains.