Some boats of Global Sumud Flotilla at dock in Augusta, Sicily, Italy, April 2026. (Ann Wright)
Samidoun called the sanctions — which freeze any of the targets’ U.S. assets and ban Americans from doing business with them — “the latest manifestation of the ongoing U.S. genocidal war on the Palestinian people” and pointed to Israel’s ongoing violent interception and seizure of GSF vessels on the high seas off the coast of Gaza.
The organisers of an aid flotilla bound for Gaza say Israeli forces raided 41 of their boats in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, while 10 vessels continue to sail towards the besieged Palestinian enclave. https://t.co/NOVoCWyab6
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) May 19, 2026
“Today’s sanctions by the U.S. 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.
“All of these sanctions targeting Palestinian organizations, not only those targeting us, are aiding and abetting genocide.”
Since the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023, the Biden and Trump administrations have supported Israel with tens of billions of dollars worth of armed aid and diplomatic cover, including vetoes of numerous United Nations Security Council Gaza ceasefire resolutions.
Total U.S. financial support for Israel since it was founded in 1948 —largely via the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Arabs — is approaching $300 billion in inflation-adjusted dollars.
Since returning to office, Trump has cracked down on pro-Palestinian activists, students, organizations and foreign nationals. Critics —including advocacy groups, academics, and some judges — have condemned what they have called attacks on free speech, association, and academic freedom.
[See: Israel Attacks New Flotilla, Abducting 428 People]
The Trump administration has sanctioned International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan and numerous other ICC jurists after the Hague-based tribunal issued warrants for the arrest of 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 arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders who were later killed by Israeli attacks.
Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said Tuesday that the ICC is also seeking his arrest, and that he would “fight back” by ordering the ethnic cleansing of hundreds of Palestinians from their homes in the illegally occupied West Bank.
The U.S. administration has sanctioned independent U.N. Palestine expert Francesca Albanese and her family — a move that was temporarily blocked earlier this month by a federal judge who asserted that the Italian humanitarian “has done nothing more than speak.”
“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. “The net keeps widening. Palestinian diaspora communities now live under constant threat of designation for demanding their rights.”
Brett Wilkins is a staff writer at Common Dreams.
This article is from Common Dreams.
Views expressed in this article and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
