Trump administration designates three far-left groups as violent terrorist networks under new sanctions

The Treasury Department announced sanctions against three far-left international networks as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on politically motivated violence.

The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control took action against Autistici Inventati, an Italy-based nonprofit; Palestine Action, a U.K.-based organization which it designated a terrorist group; and Masar Badil, a Spain-based group that allegedly operates as a front for the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, already sanctioned by the U.S.

“Far-left extremists, their fronts and their enablers should be on notice: We will bring the full weight of our economic tools to bear,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “Political terrorism has no place in our society, and we will continue to cut the financial lifelines of these groups until they are eliminated.”

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Over the past year, Treasury Department officials have leveraged the powerful Office of Foreign Assets Control to investigate far-left nonprofits and activists, including Marxist influencer Hasan Piker and CodePink co-founders Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans, for allegedly violating U.S. sanctions against Cuba. Piker, Benjamin and Evans have denied any wrongdoing, and they haven’t been charged with any crimes.

The latest move comes amid wider coordinated interagency efforts against far-left groups. Yesterday, the State Department issued a report that Autistici Inventati provided services to overseas terrorist groups and violent far-left agitators causing chaos in American cities, according to a memo obtained by Fox News Digital.

The memo also revealed Portland-based Rose City Antifa, known for participating in riots and property destruction, is one of the U.S. groups that relied on Autistici Inventati tools and services.

Earlier this summer, Spanish authorities arrested wealthy far-left financier Fergie Cox, the estranged heir of the Cox cable TV empire, for extradition to the U.S. as part of a Justice Department investigation into his alleged funding of organizations including Palestine Action. Cox has denied any wrongdoing and is fighting extradition.

The Treasury Department also sanctioned two officials of Masar Badil.

The sanctions block the groups’ access to any property or property interests located in the U.S. or controlled by U.S. citizens.

The sanctions also freeze any bank accounts these organizations might have in the U.S. and prevent American citizens from conducting financial transactions with the groups.

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Last year, the U.K. government sanctioned Palestine Action, criminalizing any U.K. involvement or support for the group.

Founded in 2020, Palestine Action is known for aggressive campaigns against defense companies it believes is supporting Israel. Palestine Action has reportedly broken into facilities, occupied factories and destroyed equipment. U.K. government officials said that the group caused more than $1.3 million in damages to an Elbit Systems facility.

Huda Ammori, Palestine Action co-founder, denounced the sanctions in a message on the X social media platform.

“As a Palestinian and Iraqi, the fact the country which destroyed both my homelands is calling me a terrorist, is beyond hypocritical,” she said. “Trump is the antithesis to everything Palestine Action stands for.”

As for Masar Badil, the Treasury Department said the organization serves as a front for the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, which the U.S. and Canada sanctioned in 2024 after Treasury said it serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.

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The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine was designated a foreign terrorist organization after decades of international terrorist attacks, including airline hijackings in the 1960s and 1970s that killed more than 20 Americans.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine received its foreign terrorist organization designation alongside Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in 1997.

“Organizations like Samidoun masquerade as charitable actors that claim to provide humanitarian support to those in need, yet in reality divert funds for much-needed assistance to support terrorist groups,” then-Treasury Acting Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley Smith said in an October 2024 statement. “The United States, together with Canada and our like-minded partners, will continue to disrupt those who seek to finance the PFLP, Hamas and other terrorist organizations.”

Samidoun’s internal coordinator, Charlotte Kates, rushed to X to defend Palestine Action and Masar Badil shortly after Treasury announced the sanctions.

“The U.S.’ latest sanctions and designations are targeting Palestine Action and the @MasarBadil, attempting once again to bring the upsurge for Palestine to an end through criminalization and state terror,” Kates posted. “The fact is: designations can’t stop a resistance or a revolution.”

Masar Badil executive committee member Khaled Barakat told Fox News Digital in a statement that U.S. sanctions are part of Washington’s broader campaign against Palestinians, accusing the U.S. of working with Israel to suppress pro-Palestinian activism and criminalize those who organize or speak out in support of the Palestinian cause.

“The Trump administration is the primary perpetrator of terror in the world, along with its closest friend and co-conspirator, Benjamin Netanyahu and the Zionist regime,” Barakat said. “Rest assured, these sanctions will not quiet the voice of the Palestinian people, and our work and our movement will not be suppressed by state terror. The world knows it to be true: no sanctions will succeed in shoring up a declining empire. Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea.”

In a new report, “Building a Transnational Movement Around Armed Resistance Advocacy,” published yesterday by researchers at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, the authors said Masar Badil was directly involved in unrest on some campuses following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, and has repeatedly made efforts to physically mobilize to protest Israel and U.S. involvement.

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In addition to Palestine Action and Masar Badil, the Treasury Department sanctioned Autistici Inventati, saying the group provides services such as website hosting on foreign servers, encrypted email accounts and digital infrastructure to violent left-wing extremist groups, including sanctioned terrorist organizations such as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which was also designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 1997.

Lara Burns, a former FBI special agent who is now the head of terrorism research at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, detailed why the organizations sanctioned by the Treasury Department pose a dangerous threat.

“These networks are driving concepts that terror activities — that murder — are acts of legitimate resistance that are somehow justified, and that is a scary concept,” Burns told Fox News Digital. “The broader this message is and the farther this message reaches, the more normalized it becomes. And so, as these groups have been allowed to operate both here in the United States and abroad, the message has become louder.”

Organizations will operate under the cover of charity or activism to mask their true and potentially violent intentions, Burns said.

She noted that if nonprofit organizations “are driving pro-terror agendas under that cover, then the federal government needs to take action against them.” The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Burns said, has stealthily shifted from full-blown terrorist attacks to influence operations under the guise of activism, prisoner campaigns and transnational support networks.

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Fox News Digital reached out to Palestine Action and Autistici Inventati, the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, Kates and Ammori, but didn’t receive responses.