US sanctions block crowdfunding for Palestine Action's UK supreme court challenge
CrowdJustice refused to host a fundraiser for Palestine Action's legal fees because payment processor Stripe cited US sanctions against the group. Co-founder Huda Ammori says this leaves them unable to finance their fight against the UK ban.
UK company CrowdJustice has declined to set up an online fundraiser to cover Palestine Action's legal costs for its supreme court challenge against the group's proscription in Britain. The refusal stems from a statement by Stripe, the US payment processor CrowdJustice relies on, that it cannot support accounts or transactions connected to Palestine Action, including fundraising for legal proceedings.
The United States imposed sanctions on Palestine Action last month, invoking powers that President George W Bush introduced in 2001 following the September 11 attacks.
Huda Ammori, co-founder of Palestine Action and the person bringing the legal challenge, said the group's reliance — and that of other platforms — on US services now prevents it from raising funds for the case. She contrasted this with the government, which continues spending millions of pounds defending the ban, a policy that has led to more than 3,700 arrests of people holding signs.
According to the Independent, the Home Office has already spent £700,000 defending the proscription at the high court, with the total expected to climb further since the case moved to the court of appeal — which overturned the high court's earlier ruling that the ban was unlawful — and is now headed to the supreme court in November.
When then-home secretary Yvette Cooper announced plans to ban Palestine Action last June, grouping it alongside organisations such as Islamic State and Boko Haram, an earlier CrowdJustice campaign raised more than £300,000 within days.
Ammori argued that powerful interests have united against citizens acting on conscience against Israel's military campaign, and said the supreme court case carries major implications for free speech in Britain as well as for Palestinians. Separately, former British diplomat Craig Murray, who is challenging the ban's legality in Scotland, had his own CrowdJustice fundraiser taken down after the US designated the group a global terrorist organisation. Stripe said it does not comment on individual users, and CrowdJustice was also approached for comment.
