The US Department of Treasury and the Government of Canada have designated Samidoun and one of its main leaders, Khaled Barakat, as fundraisers for the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a terrorist organization that took part in the October 7 massacre, held hostages, and carried out assassinations against Israeli civilians, including 17-year-old Rina Shnerb in 2019 and Tourism Minister Rahavam Ze’evi in 2001.
In the notice, Samidoun was designated as a “sham charity” used by the PFLP to maintain fundraising operations in both Europe and North America; Barakat, a Canadian citizen and leading figure in the PFLP, was designated as leading fundraising and recruitment efforts to support the PFLP’s terrorist activity.
Samidoun is a Canada-registered organization that focuses on issues related to indicted Palestinian terrorists serving time in Israeli prisons. Ideologically, it is part of the far-left Marxist axis, openly supporting terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah and Hamas and backing “armed struggle,” a euphemism for terrorist attacks. Samidoun boasts active branches across the globe, including in the US, several European countries, Iran, Lebanon, Brazil, and other places.
Israel already designated Samidoun in 2021 as a terrorist group that serves as a proxy for the PFLP, and Germany too decided to ban the organization in October 2023 following years of close monitoring by local authorities. The Dutch parliament voted earlier this week to designate Samidoun as a terrorist organization, a decision that the government must then implement. Last week, the opposition leader in Canada, Pierre Poilievre, initiated a petition calling on the federal government to ban Samidoun.
Samidoun’s international coordinator, Charlotte Kates, is the partner of Khaled Barakat. She was arrested recently in her hometown of Vancouver following terror-supporting remarks she gave during a protest, where she celebrated the October 7th massacre; she now awaits trial. Kates and Barakat serve as leaders not only in the newly designated Samidoun but also in a similar tributary named Masar Badil.
Since 2019, various financial platforms and credit card companies, including American Express, PayPal, Donorbox, Plaid, and Discover, have reportedly stopped processing funding for Samidoun and their fiscal sponsor, the Alliance for Global Justice (AFGJ), citing fears of relations to terror activity.
Reactions
At the time of writing, Samidoun had not yet responded to the designation on their social media platforms. Unity of Fields, a US-based vandalism group that claims to be aligned with US adversaries, including terrorist organizations and totalitarian regimes around the globe, denounced the decision.
“This targeting of the Samidoun Palestinian Political Prisoners Network is a huge escalation in the Zionist counterinsurgency and weaponization of terrorist designations against liberation movements. Now is the moment all anti-Zionist organizations should be standing by Samidoun in their righteous cause.”
Meanwhile, pro-Israel groups lauded the US and Canadian decisions.
“This decisive action sets a strong precedent that organizations that promote violence and hate will not be tolerated in Canada. Listing the group as a terrorist entity means they will no longer be able to use our streets as a platform to incite hate and division against the Jewish community; this is a significant step toward ensuring the safety and security of Canada’s Jews,” Shimon Koffler Fogel, president and CEO of the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs in Canada, said.
“Samidoun has never hidden its affiliation with the PFLP, a Canadian-listed terrorist organization. Their open and unapologetic support for violent terrorist groups, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the PFLP, demonstrates just how dangerous they are. Their hateful rallies have encouraged participants to burn the Canadian flag and engage in chants of “Death to Canada!” The government’s decision is a welcome step, but one that is long overdue.”
Professor Gerald Steinberg, the founder and president of NGO Monitor, added, “NGO Monitor first raised concerns about Samidoun’s terror links and radical activities more than seven years ago. The joint designation of Samidoun shows that the two governments join Germany, France, and the Netherlands in recognizing the dangers of using NGO facades to support terror and mass murder like the October 7 atrocities.
“As NGO Monitor has documented, Samidoun is a major participant in campus-based mob violence across the US and Canada, and there are a number of similar NGOs that need close examination. Authorities should also examine the role of Alliance for Global Justice, which, as NGO Monitor has repeatedly highlighted, served as Samidoun’s fiscal sponsor in the US,” he concluded.