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When police in<\/span> Kent, United Kingdom, arrested American peace activist Max Geller in 2021 for chaining himself to a van parked<\/a> in front of an Israeli-owned weapons factory, he knew he might be jailed and face charges for his protest.\u00a0<\/p>\n What he didn\u2019t realize was that he could be hit with U.S. sanctions five years later for his past ties to a so-called terrorist organization.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Trump administration on Wednesday announced sanctions against the U.K.-based anti-genocide protest group Palestine Action<\/a>, which organized the 2021 demonstration<\/a> and dozens of subsequent actions at U.K. factories owned by Israel\u2019s largest weapons manufacturer, Elbit Systems. The goal, in the U.S. government\u2019s words, is to \u201cprotect Americans from the risks posed by far-left terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA major threshold has been crossed,\u201d said Geller, who was previously Palestine Action\u2019s spokesperson but left the group in 2025, when\u00a0the British government made membership punishable<\/a> by 14 years in prison. \u201cThey\u2019re now treating regular Americans who want to effectively oppose genocide as terrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n The specific parameters of the U.S. sanctions are not yet clear, but Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pledged<\/a> the government would \u201ccontinue to cut the financial lifelines of these groups until they are eliminated.\u201d Sanctioned groups and individuals cannot receive funds, goods, or services from American people or business \u2014 meaning they\u2019re cut off from both the U.S. banking system and from any donations from Americans who might want to support them. They can have an isolating global effect: Financial institutions outside the U.S. that do business with American companies are often hesitant to affiliate with sanctioned individuals.<\/p>\n As a result, the sanctions could severely curtail their organizing abilities \u2014 and restrict their ability to try to stop the flow of weapons that Israel is using to carry out its ongoing genocide in Gaza.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are facing unprecedented attacks on dissent by the same powers that are committing genocide in Gaza,\u201d said Huda Ammori, co-founder of Palestine Action, in an interview with The Intercept. \u201cWe are at a point in history where it\u2019s extremely crucial to continue to resist and grow in our movement, rather than back down and to adapt and become less reliant on institutions which are essentially controlled by the powers we\u2019re fighting against.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n While the new U.S. sanctions are a part of a long history of post-9\/11 policies<\/a> in its so-called war on terror, the U.K. government has made itself notorious for its specific draconian crackdown on pro-Palestine dissent. Last year, as Palestine Action members began to face terror charges in court for their demonstrations, the U.K. government proscribed the group<\/a> as a terrorist organization. The organization in the U.K. immediately ceased operations after the terror proscription. Dozens of members in the U.K. are facing criminal trials for their actions at Elbit weapons factories, and more than 1,200 people have been arrested and charged under the U.K.\u2019s Terror Act for attending rallies merely supporting the group.\u00a0<\/p>\n Reporting from The Telegraph, which first reported the sanctions, suggested Ammori and fellow co-founder Richard Barnard would face lifetime bans from traveling to the U.S., and that British citizens who continue to support the group would be met with harsh visa restrictions.<\/p>\n Geller, who lives in London, wondered if his bank accounts would be frozen, along with his Venmo and PayPal accounts. He said he normally travels back and forth between the U.S. and U.K. to visit his elderly parents \u2014 and the thought of doing so now \u201csuddenly has become scary.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey want people scared to even think about supporting or engaging in this kind of work,\u201d Geller said. \u201cThis is about materially hurting Palestine.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The new sanctions against Palestine Action, which were announced alongside sanctions against Autistici\/Inventati and Masar Badil, were the latest attack in President Donald Trump\u2019s ongoing campaign to suppress advocacy for Palestinian rights and opposition to Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza. Last year, Trump issued sanctions against the International Criminal Court<\/a> after the court ordered war crime arrest warrants for Israel\u2019s leaders. Those sanctions targeted people and organizations that work with the court, such as U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese, who has been outspoken about the crippling effects of the sanctions<\/a>. The administration has also sanctioned<\/a> long-standing Palestinian human rights organizations<\/a> for their work with the ICC.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe Trump administration is once again weaponizing counterterrorism authorities to criminalize Palestinian political organizing and solidarity,\u201d said Raed Jarrar, advocacy director with Democracy for the Arab World Now<\/a>, which last month sued to reverse the Trump sanctions<\/a> on the ICC. \u201cSanctions are supposed to target genuine threats to national security, not serve as a political weapon against movements challenging Israel\u2019s treatment of Palestinians.\u201d<\/p>\n The vagueness of the new sanctions is meant to strike fear in anyone who is considering support for the sanctioned group, civil liberties advocates told The Intercept. Does a social media post expressing support violate sanctions? How about hosting a talk<\/a> with an individual in the group?<\/p>\n \u201cTreasury hasn\u2019t been clear on where the line is, and that\u2019s part of the chilling effect,\u201d said Xiangnong (George) Wang, a staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute who specializes in U.S. sanctions. \u201cIn sanctioning Palestine Action, I think their target is more broadly a community of people and groups, including Americans who engage with Palestine Action.\u201d<\/p>\n The Treasury Department did not respond to The Intercept\u2019s request for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n