Trump administration to designate UK protest group Palestine Action as global terror org

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The Trump administration intends to declare Palestine Action, a U.K.-based protest group, as a global terrorist organization.

The designation, first reported by The Telegraph , which like POLITICO is part of the Axel Springer Global Network, means the group joins a list that includes Hamas, al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in a move that will leave supporters facing a lifetime ban from entering the country.

It is the first known case of a British Left-wing activist group being subjected to American counter-terrorism sanctions for supporting an act of terrorism .

Its assets in the United States, including bank accounts and property, will be frozen, while Americans will be blocked from doing business with the group.

The sanctions also prohibit people from giving funds, goods or services to Palestine Action, effectively cutting it off from the global financial system.

British citizens who continue to fund the organization or take part in protests could = face sanctions and visa bans, The Telegraph reported.

They also risk being left unable to open a bank account or get a mortgage.

The sanctions mean Richard Barnard, who co-founded Palestine Action in the United Kingdom in July 2020 alongside Huda Ammori , who is also a British citizen, will both face lifetime bans from the United States.

The move follows the U.K. Government’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist group after activists broke into RAF Brize Norton and damaged military aircraft in June 2025.

“The UK-based Palestine Action has 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 enterprise and coerce the British Government,” a U.S. official, granted anonymity to discuss internal thinking, told The Telegraph.

“Palestine Action has promoted its acts of terrorism on social media, encouraging the use of similar tactics internationally, including within the United States and along the US-Mexican border,” the official added.

“Violations of US sanctions may result in the imposition of civil or criminal penalties on US and foreign persons.”

The White House and State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Palestine Action has conducted a campaign of trespass, vandalism and property damage against companies and buildings in the U.K. it claims are linked to “Zionism” since the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel.

In August 2024, more than a dozen activists ram-raided the Horizon facility near Bristol of Elbit Systems, an Israeli-owned arms company, using a prison van. The activists attacked police officers with sledgehammers, according to police.

In November that year, protesters stole two busts of Israel’s first president from Manchester University and daubed campus buildings, a research center, and a Jewish charity office with red paint to mark the 107th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration.

The group’s American branch, Palestine Action US, was formed with a similar aim to target, disrupt, and vandalize companies and defense contractors connected to Israel.

It later rebranded as Unity of Fields in 2024, transitioning from an anti-weapons protest into a “militant propaganda front” targeting the United States government and its allies.

Last year, The Telegraph revealed it helped fuel violent protests in Los Angeles.

The group celebrated attacks on police and encouraged an “intifada” in response to the detention of illegal migrants.

Then-Sen. Marco Rubio implored the justice department to open a domestic terror investigation into the “anti-Zionist” group over fears it could harm American citizens, before he became secretary of state.

In July, Rubio called for a global crackdown on “far-Left terror” as he convinced more than 66 countries to hammer out the issue.

“The very idea that far-Left terrorism could be a serious threat is treated as a Right-wing fever dream, or worse, as a dangerous fascist conspiracy,” he said.

In July, the Court of Appeal in Britain upheld the decision by the Home Office to proscribe the terror group. Five senior judges said Palestine Action was no “ordinary protest group” after siding with the Government over the proscription.

However, three Supreme Court judges have since granted Ammori the right to challenge the ban, which came into place last year after the attack on RAF Brize Norton.

In July, the judges gave Ammori permission on the basis that Yvette Cooper, the then home secretary, had incorrectly applied her own policy.

The new U.S. designation could make the argument more difficult. The challenge will be heard between Oct 1 and Dec 21.

Nahal Toosi and Myah Ward contributed to this report.

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