Canada designates Samidoun a terrorist entity after anti-Israel protests

Canada has listed Samidoun, a Vancouver-based anti-Israel organization, as a terror group, according to a news release from Public Safety Canada.

“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,” said Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc in a press release.

In a separate release, the United States said it, in a joint action with Canada, was designating Samidoun a “sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization.”

“The PFLP, which was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the U.S. Department of State in October 1997 and October 2001, respectively, uses Samidoun to maintain fundraising operations in both Europe and North America,” the U.S. press release says.

Founded in 2011, Samidoun has been a prominent organizer of protests in Canada since the October 7 Hamas attacks in Israel. Charlotte Kates, one of its directors in Canada, is facing a hate-speech investigation from the Vancouver Police Department after a rally last spring in which she praised the Hamas and Islamic Jihad attackers. (She has yet to be charged.)

Khaled Barakat, Kates’ husband and another director of the organization, has been specifically identified as playing a “critical” role in fundraising for the PFLP.

More to come

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