Samidoun Designated as a Terrorist Organization in the US and Canada
What took them so long?
In a week full of major developments affecting Jews in Canada and the war in Israel, in which observant Jews were offline observing the first two days of Succot, you might have missed the announcement by both the Canadian government: (Government of Canada lists Samidoun as a terrorist entity - Canada.ca) and the US government: (United States and Canada Target Key International Fundraiser for Foreign Terrorist Organization PFLP | U.S. Department of the Treasury) that the Samidoun Prisoners Solidarity Network has been listed in both countries as an illegal terrorist organization. The US announcement also says and that the leader of Samidoun in Canada, Khaled Barakat is a terrorist and a senior member of the leadership of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
The American notice warns that Samidoun is a phony charity which diverts donations to support terrorism:
“Organizations like Samidoun masquerade as charitable actors that claim to provide humanitarian support to those in need, yet in reality divert funds for much-needed assistance to support terrorist groups,” said Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Bradley T. Smith. “The United States, together with Canada and our like-minded partners, will continue to disrupt those who seek to finance the PFLP, Hamas, and other terrorist organizations.”
All of this has been known for a long time. If you follow the link associated with Barakat’s name just above, you will find an article written by Terry Glavin and published two years ago laying out the same information about him that was published on the United States department of the Treasury web site on October 15.
Khaled Barakat, leader of Samidoun in Canada and senior PFLP leader ——————-Image Source: Ottawa Citizen
Canada’s announcement doesn’t mention Barakat by name, but contains the following quote from Canada’s Minister of Public Safety:
“Violent extremism, acts of terrorism or terrorist financing have no place in Canadian society or abroad. The listing of Samidoun as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code sends a strong message that Canada will not tolerate this type of activity, and will do everything in its power to counter the ongoing threat to Canada’s national security and all people in Canada.”
- The Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs
This does raise the question of why Samidoun has been allowed to operate freely in Canada until now. Who in the Canadian bureaucracy approved Samidoun’s application to register as a non-profit? Why have they ignored the information in the public domain and allowed them to act openly and freely over many years? This is a question which the Canadian government announcement does not address.
While the wheels of the Canadian bureaucracy moved glacially until now, Samidoun was busy promoting an anti-Israel narrative in Canadian schools and other institutions. They played an important role during the first year of the October 7 war, organizing protest encampments on Canadian campuses. These protests made life hellish for Canadian Jews trying to study in the past year, at McGill University, University of Toronto, University of Ottawa and many other Canadian schools. They have also been central in promoting anti-Israel protests in Canadian high schools, through the Palestine Youth Movement (PYM) which is closely tied to them. (There was no indication that PYM has been designated as a terrorist organization in the October 15 announcements.).
Samidoun was recently in the news when members burned a Canadian flag at a Vancouver rally while chanting “Death to Canada” and “Death to Israel”. The rally was held on October 7 to mark the anniversary of the Hamas invasion, and celebrated the atrocities committed by Hamas on that day.
Canadian Jewish organizations issued press releases lauding the announcement that Samidoun has been banned n this country. The statement by Bnai Brith included the following:
“B’nai Brith has been campaigning for Canada to take this step for years,” said David Granovsky, B’nai Brith Canada’s Director of Government Relations. “By finally doing the right thing, Minister Dominic LeBlanc [Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs] has taken a bold step to uphold Canadian values and national security.”
The Centre for Israel for Jewish Affairs (CIJA) also hailed the decision and called for an investigation into how Barakat and his wife Charlotte Kates obtained Canadian citizenship:
CIJA is also calling on the federal government to re-examine whether Charlotte Kates and her husband, Khaled Barakat, obtained Canadian citizenship fraudulently by failing to disclose fully their affiliation with the PFLP. Questions surrounding the couple’s ties to the PFLP have persisted, and it is critical that Canadian citizenship laws be rigorously enforced to ensure transparency and public safety.
Celebrating on a Grim Anniversary
This is another shortened publishing week due to the upcoming festivals of Shmini Atzeret and Simchat Torah on Thursday and Friday. Shmini Atzeret is notable because it is the anniversary in the Jewish calendar of the Hamas invasion of Israel (October 7 on the secular calendar), which took place last year as Israelis celebrated the holiday. Indeed, by the time we arrived at synagogue in Atlanta a year ago, the news of the disaster was already spreading through the community.
Communities are grappling with how to mark the festival, on which we are commanded to be joyful and the dark anniversary at the same time. But this is something Jews are used to doing. On the same festival (one day in Israel and two days here) we celebrate the gift of the Torah and we observe Yiskor, to remember loved ones we have lost.
We are working on the second part of our survey of the history of Israel’s relationship with Lebanon. If you haven’t read Part 1 yet, you can read it here:
Israel and Lebanon: 77 Years of Conflict
With Israeli troops engaged on the ground, fighting Hezbollah’s Radwan force in southern Lebanon, and an ongoing Israeli bombing campaign aimed at degrading Hezbollah’s vast arsenal of rockets and other munitions, as well as the continued targeting of the surviving senior leaders, we were moved to do some reading on the history of Lebanon over the 77 ye…
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Thanks, David - another excellent topic to keep us up to date.