Davin News Server

By Yves Engler  October 20, 2024

On Tuesday the Liberal government listed Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner 
Solidarity Network as a terror entity. Made in conjunction with 
Washington, the move criminalizes the Vancouver-based grassroots 
solidarity group. It’s now illegal to finance or materially assist Samidoun.

After Israel labeled Samidoun a terror organization in 2021, Zionist 
groups and the National Post began pushing Ottawa to follow suit. But 
the Liberals wavered under pushback from the BC Civil Liberties 
Association, Canadian Union of Postal Workers and dozens of other civil 
society organizations. After October 7 the Conservatives launched a full 
court press to list Samidoun that seems to have tipped the scales.

Listing Samidoun is a direct attack against those opposing genocide. An 
August parliamentary petition calling on the government to list the 
organization began, “Samidoun Prisoners Solidarity Network (Samidoun) is 
viewed as one of the main groups behind anti-Israeli protest rallies 
that have been staged across Canada.” Immediately after its listing 
Zionists started denouncing individuals and organizations that have 
worked with Samidoun or its two principal organizers Charlotte Kates and 
Khaled Barakat. For its part, Samidoun criticized its listing as “meant 
to introduce a norm in which organizations may be designated as 
‘terrorist’ for organizing demonstrations, lectures, publishing posters 
and engaging in entirely public and political work that challenges 
imperialist states’ complicity in Israeli war crimes, crimes against 
humanity, and ongoing genocide in Gaza.”

Notwithstanding the menacing “terror” label, no one claims Samidoun has 
engaged in any violence. Criticism of the group focused on its supports 
for Palestinian armed resistance and that someone burned a Canadian flag 
at a protest they co-organized October 7. But that isn’t illegal, let 
alone grounds to ban an organization.

In the government’s statement listing Samidoun they claim the group has 
“close links with and advances the interests of the Popular Front for 
the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which is a listed terrorist entity.” 
In its statement the US accused Samidoun of financing the secular 
leftist PFLP but curiously Canada hasn’t charged anyone associated with 
Samidoun for what was already illegal.

If Samidoun is a terrorist organization because it has ties to the PFLP 
— which has barely engaged in armed struggle for decades — then it won’t 
be long until they target other groups on the grounds they have “close 
links” to Samidoun. And on and on.

Created in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attack in the U.S., 
Canada’s terror list grants the government powers to ban an organization 
without providing a standard legal burden of proof. In essence the 
government can list a group and poof it’s illegal to assist it. It’s 
also near impossible for that organization to mount a defense against 
their listing.

Canada’s terror list reinforces the U.S.-led imperial system. It 
consists overwhelmingly of organizations viewed as challenging U.S. 
hegemony and is a concrete example of why Benjamin Netanyahu’s immediate 
response to the 9/11 attacks was to blurt out that “it’s very good”. 
Asked on the day of the attack how it would impact U.S.-Israel 
relations, the then former Israeli prime minister said it would 
“strengthen the bond between our two peoples, because we’ve experienced 
terror over so many decades, but the United States has now experienced a 
massive hemorrhaging of terror.”

During its first 12 years the list consisted solely of groups based 
abroad. That’s changing. According to the president of the Canadian 
Association for Intelligence and Security Studies Jessica Davis, 
Samidoun’s listing “is a rare case of a Canadian organization being 
listed, with someone leading it who is resident in Canada (and will 
likely feel the effects of this listing). If we’re going to see a legal 
challenge to this regime, it could well be this case.”

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https://mondoweiss.net/2024/10/the-addition-of-samidoun-to-canadas-terror-list-reflects-a-long-history-of-anti-palestinian-racism-in-service-of-u-s-interests/



-- 
Dr. Auric D. Hellman
adhellman1@gmail.com

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