We, the undersigned organizations, committed to the protection of civil society, condemn the U.S. government's imposition of sanctions on four activists participating in a flotilla seeking to end the siege and blockade of Gaza. This is the third time over the last year that the U.S. government has used sanctions to disrupt and silence activists and nonprofits raising awareness of human rights violations committed by Israel and advocating for Palestine liberation. It serves as an alarming escalation of the Trump Administration's crackdown on civil society and human rights defenders supporting Palestine and weaponization of counterterrorism measures to do so. The U.S. government must rescind these groundless sanctions and halt its abuse of national security policy.

On May 19, 2026, the Israeli military intercepted the high-profile flotilla made up of 50 boats with over 300 activists from across the globe striving to enter Gaza. The Global Sumud Flotilla and Freedom Flotilla Coalition have organized convoys with hundreds of international volunteers over the last year in an attempt to break the siege and move a portion of aid into Gaza. UN human rights officials have affirmed that Israel's blockade amounts to a violation of humanitarian law by acting as collective punishment upon Palestinians. Flotillas have faced interceptions by Israeli forces and threats by the U.S. government "to impose consequences" on civil society actors by way of contriving links between them and terrorism, a ploy the administration has wielded consistently for the last year.

These sanctions come after the Department of Treasury designated two organizations as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs), which civil society has roundly condemned. Samidoun is a Vancouver-based organization founded by Palestinian diaspora working to raise awareness and support Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli jails; the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA) is an organization established in 2017 by the Palestinian diaspora that has been active in organizing several flotilla campaigns to Gaza. These designations have far-reaching financial and legal implications for those listed and any organization or entity associated with them, stifling the operating environment for activists and organizations working to uphold human rights and accountability for Palestinians.

We call on the USG to take the following steps:

  1. Immediately rescind the sanctions against these activists to ensure their ability to freely express and associate with individuals and organizations who share their views
  2. Clarify the legal status of flotillas traveling to Gaza pursuant to existing general licenses;
  3. Halt the deployment of national security measures that target, impede the work of, and attempt to silence civil society actors working to uphold human rights and accountability.

Signatories:

  1. Action Corps
  2. American Friends Service Committee
  3. American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) 
  4. Brooklyn For Peace
  5. Global Sanctions Coalition (GSC)
  6. Center for Responsible Economic Power (C-REP)
  7. Defending Rights & Dissent
  8. Democracy in the Arab World Now (DAWN)
  9. Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL)
  10. Historians for Peace and Democracy (HPAD)
  11. Just Foreign Policy
  12. Muslim Advocates
  13. Muslim Justice League
  14. National Lawyers Guild-Bay Area Chapter 
  15. Palestine Legal
  16. Parenting is Political and Generation Common Good
  17. Project Hajra 
  18. Project South 
  19. Win Without War