This article first appeared at Common Dreams on May 19, 2026 and is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.
Palestine supporters criticized the Trump administration’s announcement that the United States has imposed sanctions on four nonviolent activists who helped organize recent humanitarian flotillas attempting to reach Gaza.
The US Department of the Treasury said its Office of Foreign Assets Control is taking action against four people it links to a flotilla organized by the US-designated Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA), which the department says is trying to access Gaza in support of Hamas.
The individuals named in the Treasury announcement are Saif Abu Keshek, a Palestinian with Spanish and Swedish citizenship and a PCPA leader who helped organize the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF); Hisham Abdallah Sulayman Abu Mahfuz, who serves as PCPA president and is based in Jordan; Mohammed Khatib, a Belgium-based European coordinator for Samidoun, the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network; and Jaldia Abubakra Aueda, Samidoun’s coordinator in Madrid.
A critic described these measures as further use of US influence over international banking, finance, and technology to support Israel and noted they follow earlier sanctions on Palestinian groups and some individuals, including UN experts and officials such as Francesca Albanese
— Maureen Murphy (@maureenclarem) May 19, 2026
“The pro-terror flotilla attempting to reach Gaza is a ludicrous attempt to undermine President [Donald] Trump’s successful progress toward lasting peace in the region,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. He added that Treasury will continue efforts to disrupt what it describes as Hamas’ global financial support networks.
There is no publicly verified evidence that the humanitarian flotillas are linked to Hamas. At the same time, United Nations experts, many national governments, and numerous human rights organizations have accused Israel of committing serious violations against Palestinians, using terms such as genocide, apartheid, colonization, occupation, and ethnic cleansing.
Samidoun said the US sanctions—which freeze any US-based assets of the designated individuals and prohibit Americans from doing business with them—represent a further attack on Palestinians and pointed to Israel’s reported interception and seizure of GSF vessels at sea.
“Today’s sanctions by the US come hand-in-hand with today’s Israeli piracy of the Global Sumud Flotilla and the Freedom Flotilla, and the abduction of hundreds of international activists at sea,” the group said in a statement, arguing that such measures target Palestinian organizations and individuals.
Since the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, successive US administrations have provided Israel with tens of billions of dollars in military aid and diplomatic backing, including vetoes of multiple United Nations Security Council ceasefire resolutions. Estimates put total US financial assistance to Israel since 1948—adjusted for inflation—at roughly $300 billion.
Since returning to office, President Trump has intensified actions against pro-Palestinian activists, students, organizations, and some foreign nationals. Critics, including advocacy groups, academics, and some judges, have argued these actions threaten free speech, association, and academic freedom.
The administration has also imposed sanctions on International Criminal Court officials, including Prosecutor Karim Khan, after the Hague-based tribunal issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. The ICC also issued warrants for three Hamas leaders who were later killed in Israeli operations.
On Tuesday, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the ICC is pursuing his arrest and said he would “fight back,” including by ordering actions that he described as the removal of Palestinians from their homes in parts of the occupied West Bank.
The US also imposed sanctions on UN independent expert Francesca Albanese and members of her family; a federal judge temporarily blocked enforcement of those sanctions earlier this month, finding that the Italian analyst had, in the judge’s view, done no more than speak publicly.
“Every time Palestinians and their supporters organize internationally, Washington reaches for the terrorism label to shut them down,” Isabelle Hayslip, advocacy manager at Democracy for the Arab World Now, told Al Jazeera. She said the effect is that Palestinian diaspora communities increasingly face the threat of designation for publicly demanding their rights.
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