The U.N. human rights office said Thursday that the Trump administration’s designation of Palestine Action as a terrorist organization was a “disproportionate and unnecessary restriction” on freedom of speech, warning that it represented an expansive use of the term terrorism and could have a chilling effect on civil liberties.
Washington designated Palestine Action as a terrorist organization Wednesday, saying the move was part of President Donald Trump’s broader effort to crack down on left-wing groups as part of his counterterrorism agenda. Israel’s Foreign Ministry welcomed the designation.
The U.N. human rights office, led by U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, said the designation appeared to restrict fundamental rights, including freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, as well as participation in public affairs.
“Expansive use of the term ‘terrorism’ has been documented to have a chilling effect on civic space,” the office said.
Britain previously banned Palestine Action as a terrorist organization, a move that was also condemned by Türk’s office. The U.K. Supreme Court has said it will hear an appeal of a lower court ruling that Britain’s decision to ban the campaign group as a terrorist organization was lawful.
Palestine Action has targeted Israel-linked defense companies in Britain, particularly Israel’s largest defense firm, Elbit Systems, often blocking entrances or spraying buildings with red paint.
The group was banned by Britain shortly after a June 2025 break-in at Royal Air Force Brize Norton, during which activists damaged two military aircraft. The U.K. ban prompted protests in which about 3,000 people were arrested.
The group says its activities “have always been about saving lives by disrupting the Israeli war machine” and opposing Israel’s assault on Gaza. It says it uses “disruptive tactics” to target “corporate enablers of the Israeli military-industrial complex.”
The Trump administration has attempted to deport pro-Palestinian foreign protesters, threatened funding freezes for universities over protests, enforced social media screening for immigrants and sanctioned critics of U.S. ally Israel.
Ben Saul, U.N. special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism, and Francesca Albanese, a U.N. expert on the occupied Palestinian territories, also raised concerns about Washington’s designation.
Such steps aim to “silence critics,” Albanese said. She herself has been sanctioned by the U.S. after calling Israel’s military actions in Gaza a “genocidal campaign” and calling for war crime prosecutions.
Sarah McLaughlin, senior scholar of global expression at free speech group FIRE, said, “We must reject that censorship, not import it.”
