State targets Jewish anti-genocide activist Greenstein with ‘financial terrorism’ ‘debanking’ attack

Accounts across different banks closed or threatened as they ‘decide’ simultaneously to ‘review’

Well-known Jewish anti-genocide campaigner Tony Greenstein is under an apparent ‘financial terrorism’ attack from the British state, which appears to be ordering or intimidating banks to close his accounts one by one for his support of the Palestinian people.

Greenstein first had his account with HSBC subsidiary First Direct, with whom he has banked for more than thirty years, frozen in March without explanation, then un-frozen a couple of weeks later, equally without explanation. On Thursday, he then received an ‘urgent’ email telling him to sign in to his online banking and found a message telling him that – supposedly because of a ‘periodic review’, the bank had decided it would no longer offer him banking facilities:

Appeals and complaints, including one to First Direct’s chief executive, have been to no avail and the bank has refused to provide any further information about the reason for its decision – after somehow managing to get by without reviewing or withdrawing his bank account since 1992 – to close his accounts.

But this wasn’t all. Two weeks before that, First Direct’s parent bank HSBC also unilaterally withdrew Greenstein’s banking facility, for an account he used to send money to his wife for the care of their autistic son – again without explaining its reasons, and again using the same excuse of ‘periodic review’:

And now a completely separate bank, Santander, has also announced it is ‘reviewing’ his account, though this had not yet been suspended at the time of writing – and the closure of a Nationwide account for unexplained ‘regulatory reasons’ last year looks likely to have been part of the same phenomenon.

Greenstein posted a 1-star review of First Direct on the ‘independent’ review site Trustpilot, referring to the bank’s high-handed and unilateral targeting of him, apparently at the behest of the security state. The review was rapidly removed by the site after an apparent approach by the bank.

Greenstein, who is being pursued legally by the state for pro-Palestinian statements, links this ‘financial terrorism’ to the state’s persecution of him (and other anti-genocide activists’) under the Terrorism Act 2000 for supporting Palestinian resistance to Israel’s occupation and genocide – and to the Starmer regime’s use of the legislation to ‘proscribe’ non-violent direct action group Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation alongside the likes of ISIS and al-Qaeda.

According to a statement released by the Treasury in April this year, the government recognises the devastating effect that ‘debanking’ can have on a person’s life banks are already required to give at least two months’ notice to customers before closing their accounts and will be required to provide a “clear explanation” for closures, with tighter rules and longer notice periods coming into force in April 2026:

Banks and other payment service providers will be required to give customers at least 90 days’ notice before closing their account or terminating a payment service – an increase from the two months currently required – under new rules expected to come into force for relevant new contracts from April 2026.   

Banks will also need to provide a clear explanation to customers in writing, so people can challenge decisions, such as through the Financial Ombudsman Service. 

The new rules will give customers more time to challenge decisions they disagree with and find a new bank if their account is closed. This will support small businesses which have complained about their account being closed without reason at short notice – leaving them no time to complain or find a replacement bank.

None of these seem to have applied to protect Tony Greenstein or limit any of the banks apparently following state orders to target him. Aiding the commission of genocide is a crime under international law carrying a penalty of up to thirty years in prison, yet there seems to be impunity in the case of Israel and its enablers.

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