The US has designated Palestine Action a terrorist organisation, placing the British direct action group in the same category as Hamas, al-Qaeda and Islamic State.

The US has designated Palestine Action a terrorist organisation, placing the British direct action group in the same category as Hamas, al-Qaeda and Islamic State.

The designation means Palestine Action will face a raft of counter-terrorism measures in the US, including a freezing of any US-based assets and a ban on fundraising. Palestine Action members are also likely to face restrictions on entering the US.

Palestine Action cofounder Huda Ammori said Trump’s decision to follow the UK in the terror designation should be “a wake-up call to anyone who cares about free speech and civil liberties.”

She added: “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.”

US officials accused Palestine Action of promoting “acts of terrorism” and encouraging similar tactics in the US. Writing in support of the sanctions on X, US secretary of state Marco Rubio claimed: “Far-left terrorism poses a profound threat to the United States and the broader west.”

Palestine Action was one of three groups placed under sanctions by the US, along with Italy-based Autistici Inventati, which provides digital services to grassroots and social movements, and transnational group Masar Badil, which supports Palestinian liberation.

The move is the latest crackdown on leftwing activism by the Trump administration, including efforts to outlaw “antifa” as a terrorist organisation. In June, eight anti-ICE protesters received prison sentences ranging from 30 to 100 years each after a protest at an immigration detention centre in Prairieland, Texas, which resulted in one law enforcement officer being shot in the shoulder.

Palestine Action was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in July 2025 after activists broke into RAF Brize Norton and damaged military aircraft. Ammori was granted permission to challenge the proscription at the Supreme Court in July after the government successfully overturned her High Court victory on appeal.

“Trump labelling me a terrorist is the biggest compliment I’ve ever had,” Ammori told Novara Media. “Everyone in Palestine can now take pride in knowing the US empire hates us. We must be doing something right.”

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