US designates UK-based group as foreign terrorist organization

The United States on Wednesday designated the UK-based protest group Palestine Action as a specially designated global terrorist organization, imposing sanctions that freeze its assets in the country and ban American citizens from engaging with it. The move, announced by the Treasury Department, follows the British government's proscription of the group in July 2025 and marks the first time a British left-wing organization has been targeted by U.S. counterterrorism sanctions. The Treasury stated that Palestine Action has supported numerous acts of terrorism since its founding in 2020, including actions that physically injured UK law enforcement personnel and were intended to intimidate lawful commercial enterprises and coerce the British government. Officials said the group has promoted its activities on social media, encouraging similar tactics internationally, including within the United States and along the U.S.-Mexico border. The designation was part of a broader action that also sanctioned two other groups, the Italian-based Autistici Inventati and the pro-Palestinian movement Masar Badil, which the Treasury described as violent far-left terrorist networks.