FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 26, 2026

Media Contact: Melissa Garriga | [email protected] 

Solidarity with Palestine Action: Opposing Genocide is Not a Crime

The U.S. government has imposed sanctions and designated UK-based activist group Palestine Action (PA) a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist”.

In the same Executive Order, the U.S. has also imposed sanctions on Masar Badil, which it had previously designated as a “terrorist organization,” as well as Italy-based Autistici Inventati.

Palestine Action was founded in 2020 with the explicit demand to shut down British operations of Israeli weapons company Elbit Systems. Since they were founded, their actions have led to the permanent closure of two weapons factories and one office in London, repeated temporary closure of factories of Elbit and its subsidiaries, and millions of dollars in damages to weapons that would have otherwise been used to kill people in Gaza.

Palestine Action has revealed the supply chains of genocide that operate across Europe and North America. Their activism has drawn worldwide attention to the role of Elbit Systems in arming Israel's genocide. This is why Britain and the United States are so terrified of the direct action group.

The new sanctions imposed today will freeze all assets in the U.S., impose secondary sanctions on banks linked with PA, criminalize material support for the organization, block any other entities linked to the group, and threaten penalties on any U.S. or foreign person for violating their impositions.

The U.S. sanctions come after the UK government designated Palestine Action a “terrorist organization” in July 2025. Since then, the ban has faced repeated challenge in the courts, in the streets, and from international organizations like the United Nations.

Over 1,000 people have been arrested in the UK for expressing support for the organization. The ban is being appealed to the UK Supreme Court later this year and is currently under appeal in Scotland.

The U.S. is trying to criminalize and silence opposition to its genocide in Gaza, attacks on Iran and across the region. It will not work. People in the U.S. and across the world see through U.S. lies and propaganda. After almost three years of witnessing a genocide committed with our tax dollars, people in the United States continue to turn out at rallies, protest at factories, military bases, and Israeli consulates. These sanctions are a pitiful attempt to silence opposition to war and to chill others from standing in solidarity with unjustly targeted activists and organizations.

We oppose genocide; we stand with Palestine Action.

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