'A very frightening time': US terror tag endangers UK Palestine Action activists, critics say

Washington's move to designate Palestine Action as a transnational terrorist organisation could place British activists associated with the group at heightened risk of surveillance and being frozen out of the financial system, campaigners warn. In a statement on its website, the US Department of the Treasury announced a slew of sanctions targeting “Violent Far-Left Terrorist Networks”, including Palestine Action and Masar Badil, a movement that advocates for an "alternative revolutionary path" for Palestinian rights and freedoms. Italian tech collective Autistici/Inventati was also designated as a terrorist group for allegedly supplying “specialized digital architecture, tools, and services for Antifa cells and other violent far-left extremists, including a foreign terrorist organization”. The statement described the move as "complementing" the British government's decision to proscribe Palestine Action in July last year, which will be subject to a legal challenge at the Supreme Court in November. Read more: 'A very frightening time': US terror tag endangers UK Palestine Action activists, critics say The designation raises questions about the fate of over 2,700 protesters who were arrested in the UK under the Terrorism Act for supporting the banned group, in London, April 2026 (Katherine Hearst/MEE)