{"id":41,"date":"2026-05-19T21:39:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T21:39:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=41"},"modified":"2026-05-19T21:39:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T21:39:22","slug":"trump-admin-sanctions-flotilla-activists-baselessly-claims-ties-to-hamas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=41","title":{"rendered":"Trump Admin Sanctions Flotilla Activists, Baselessly Claims Ties to Hamas"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/p>\n
\n
\n

Support justice-driven, accurate and transparent news \u2014 make a <\/span><\/i>quick donation<\/span><\/i> to Truthout today!\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Read more Legal Workers Protest After Woman Forced to Give Birth in Brooklyn Courtroom<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctioned four Gaza flotilla activists, baselessly smearing them as part of \u201cHamas support networks.\u201d <\/p>\n

The four activists \u2014 Saif Abukeshek, Jaldia Aueda, Hisham Abu Mahfuz, and Mohammed Khatib \u2014 are part of the Global Sumud Flotilla, a flotilla attempting to break Israel\u2019s siege of Gaza in order to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians. The Global Sumud Flotilla is organized by the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad, which the Department of the Treasury also sanctioned in January 2026.<\/p>\n

In a statement on Tuesday, the Department of the Treasury claimed that it is \u201ctaking action\u201d against individuals \u201cassociated with the pro-Hamas flotilla.\u201d It said that the flotilla is \u201cattempting to access Gaza in support of Hamas.\u201d <\/p>\n

The statement quoted Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, who called the flotilla \u201cpro-terror\u201d and its attempt to break Israel\u2019s siege of Gaza \u201ca ludicrous attempt to undermine President Trump\u2019s successful progress toward lasting peace in the region.\u201d Bessent claimed the sanctions were part of the treasury\u2019s work to \u201csever Hamas\u2019 global financial support networks.\u201d <\/p>\n

In the same statement, the U.S. Treasury announced additional sanctions on unrelated groups and individuals based in Egypt, and on the Palestinian Scholars Association in Gaza. It claimed \u2014 without evidence \u2014 that each of these groups are connected to Hamas, a refrain frequently parroted by Israel and its allies to silence all opposition to the genocide in Gaza.<\/p>\n

The decision comes as Israel intercepted the last of 50 boats on the latest flotilla headed to Gaza on Tuesday. Israel once again raided the vessels in international waters, and opened fire on at least two of them before kidnapping the activists on board. <\/p>\n

Read more Blanche Says Trump \u201cSlush Fund\u201d Payouts Could Include Jan. 6 Participants<\/a><\/p>\n

The flotilla has aimed to keep global attention on Gaza after the \u201cceasefire\u201d engineered by Trump went into effect in October 2025. Israel has repeatedly violated the ceasefire, killing at least 850 Palestinians in the enclave since it was enacted and continuing to deprive Palestinians of desperately needed resources.<\/p>\n

Saif Abukeshek, one of the four activists sanctioned on Tuesday, was abducted by Israeli forces in international waters last month while sailing with the Global Sumud Flotilla. After raiding the boats near the island of Crete, Israeli forces released the majority of the activists in Greece, but took Saif Abukeshek and fellow activist Thiago Avila to Israel, where they were detained and interrogated for a week before being deported. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am a human rights defender,\u201d Abukeshek said in an interview after his release. \u201cAnd [Israel] want[s] to criminalize solidarity work.\u201d <\/p>\n

Abukeshek recounted one of the Israelis who interrogated him saying that the solidarity flotilla \u201cis more dangerous\u201d than those who are \u201cthrowing bombs\u201d at Israel. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey consider this more dangerous because we tell people about what\u2019s happening, we create awareness,\u201d Abukeshek said. \u201cPeople start asking questions, why civilians are sailing through the Mediterranean to reach Gaza. Why there is no humanitarian aid entering Gaza and asking these questions make it complicated for them. Because they cannot justify it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trump administration\u2019s sanctioning of flotilla organizers is only the latest in its pattern of imposing sanctions on human rights lawyers, activists, and organizations working to end the genocide in Gaza. Others sanctioned by the U.S. have spoken of the debilitating effects of the sanctions, even outside of the U.S. Judges of the International Criminal Court, for example, have said that Trump\u2019s sanctions left them \u201cwiped out economically and socially.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Director of E. Jean Carroll Film Says Distribution Was \u201cQuite a Challenge\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Israel wants to \u201ccriminalize solidarity work,\u201d said one of the activists who was sanctioned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump Admin Sanctions Flotilla Activists, Baselessly Claims Ties to Hamas - Smart Moving Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=41\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump Admin Sanctions Flotilla Activists, Baselessly Claims Ties to Hamas - Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Israel wants to \u201ccriminalize solidarity work,\u201d said one of the activists who was sanctioned.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=41\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-19T21:39:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/014b287de41cd6870221e2423a2592bf.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=41#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=41\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa\"},\"headline\":\"Trump Admin Sanctions Flotilla Activists, Baselessly Claims Ties to Hamas\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-19T21:39:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=41\"},\"wordCount\":634,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=41#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/014b287de41cd6870221e2423a2592bf.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=41#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=41\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=41\",\"name\":\"Trump Admin Sanctions Flotilla Activists, Baselessly Claims Ties to Hamas - Smart Moving Home\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=41#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=41#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/014b287de41cd6870221e2423a2592bf.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-19T21:39:22+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=41#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=41\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=41#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/014b287de41cd6870221e2423a2592bf.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/014b287de41cd6870221e2423a2592bf.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=41#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Trump Admin Sanctions Flotilla Activists, Baselessly Claims Ties to Hamas\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Smart Moving Home\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Trump Admin Sanctions Flotilla Activists, Baselessly Claims Ties to Hamas - Smart Moving Home","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=41","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Trump Admin Sanctions Flotilla Activists, Baselessly Claims Ties to Hamas - Smart Moving Home","og_description":"Israel wants to \u201ccriminalize solidarity work,\u201d said one of the activists who was sanctioned.","og_url":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=41","og_site_name":"Smart Moving Home","article_published_time":"2026-05-19T21:39:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/014b287de41cd6870221e2423a2592bf.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=41#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=41"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa"},"headline":"Trump Admin Sanctions Flotilla Activists, Baselessly Claims Ties to Hamas","datePublished":"2026-05-19T21:39:22+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=41"},"wordCount":634,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=41#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/014b287de41cd6870221e2423a2592bf.jpg","articleSection":["Interesting"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=41#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=41","url":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=41","name":"Trump Admin Sanctions Flotilla Activists, Baselessly Claims Ties to Hamas - Smart Moving Home","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=41#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=41#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/014b287de41cd6870221e2423a2592bf.jpg","datePublished":"2026-05-19T21:39:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=41#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=41"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=41#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/014b287de41cd6870221e2423a2592bf.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/014b287de41cd6870221e2423a2592bf.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=41#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Trump Admin Sanctions Flotilla Activists, Baselessly Claims Ties to Hamas"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/","name":"Smart Moving Home","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/#\/schema\/person\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/smartmovinghome.com"],"url":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/40"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}