Samidoun Sanctioned as Terrorists: Why It’s a Bigger Deal Than Realized

The Biden Administration’s Treasury Department delivered a powerful gut punch to the anti-Israel, pro-terrorism movement on October 15 by designating the Iran-linked Samidoun (Palestinian Prisoner Support Network) as a terrorist entity. The punch is potentially much more significant than it initially appears because it damages many other pro-terrorism and anti-Semitic groups and could even set the stage for prosecutions against some of them.

Samidoun is one of the most important groups named in Capital Research Center’s Marching Towards Violence, a groundbreaking study of the anti-Israel protest movement in the United States that named over 150 pro-terrorism groups that are behind the demonstrations and are contributing to a growing domestic terrorism threat.

The U.S. and Canadian governments jointly sanctioned Samidoun as “a sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser” for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a Marxist-Leninist terrorist group that is aligned with Hamas, is backed by the governments of Iran and Syria, and took part in the atrocities on October 7, 2023.

It also appears to have ties to Hezbollah, as Israel arrested a Belgian member of Samidoun who trained with Hezbollah in 2015 and was allegedly funneling money from Syria and Lebanon to PFLP operatives in Europe.

Samidoun’s website says it has a New York/New Jersey chapter and a chapter in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as well as a chapter in Portland under the name of Center for the Study and Preservation of Palestine. It barely conceals its terrorist connections by linking to social media pages for its chapters in Iran and “Occupied Palestine.”

Alliance for Global Justice

The nonprofit organization most at risk is the Alliance for Global Justice (AFGJ). It has long been aware of the overwhelming proof of Samidoun’s connection to PFLP front and refuses to end the relationship.

AFGJ is the fiscal sponsor of Samidoun in the U.S., which means it accepts donations on Samidoun’s behalf and allows Samidoun to operate through its registered nonprofit status. Such an arrangement means Samidoun is legally a component of AFGJ, so it does not have to comply with annual regulations or disclosures that are required of nonprofits. The result is that Samidoun can operate without any transparency and is financed through AFGJ.

AFGJ says it is committed to overthrowing the U.S.’s “liberal democracy” and defeating “global capitalism.” It is the fiscal sponsor for at least four other pro-Hamas groups: The United National Antiwar Coalition, the Arizona Palestine Solidarity Alliance, Popular Resistance, and the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI). PACBI is directly involved with Hamas and PFLP.

AFGJ supports virtually every anti-U.S. government, including North Korea. It is fully supportive of the Iran-backed dictatorship in Syria and defends Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Two of its fiscally sponsored projects pursue missions in support of the Marxist anti-American governments of Venezuela and Nicaragua. It also sponsors the Immigrant Solidarity Network, a U.S.-China Solidarity Network that speaks well of the Chinese government.

AFGJ Donors

The terrorist designation of Samidoun is embarrassing for the approximately 300 nongovernmental organizations, mostly politically left-of-center, that have funded AFGJ. It is impossible to know how much AFGJ money went to Samidoun or if a grant had a specific purpose unless it is stated on public filings.

AFGJ’s backers have included:

• Tides Center ($6.5 million to AFGJ since 2019).
• Tides Foundation ($3.62 million since 2018).
• Satterberg Foundation ($2.54 million since 2020).
• JPB Foundation,($2 million for “emergency relief response” for Movement for Black Lives in 2020, which has since expressed support for Hamas).
• New Venture Fund ($750,000 for “environmental programs” since 2020).
• NEO Philanthropy ($413,000 since 2020).
• Minnesota Freedom Fund, which has received attention for violent criminals including participants in the 2020 Minneapolis riots ($350,000 in 2022).
• Common Counsel Foundation, which provided $310,000, including a grant of $50,000 in 2016 for Assata’s Daughters, a group honoring convicted cop-murderer and Marxist terrorist Assata Shakur.
• Thousand Currents ($250,000 since 2021).
• The Open Society Foundations, led by George Soros and his son, Alexander ($250,000 in 2020 “to catalyze Black communities into the global movement for climate justice”).
• Groundswell Fund ($200,000 since 2020).
• Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation ($200,000 in 2021 to “conduct activities to educate and support black communities”).

Part of a Pro-PFLP/Pro-Hamas Network

The U.S. government designated Samidoun leader Khaled Barakat individually as a terrorist. His wife, Charlotte Kates, is listed as a director in Samidoun’s filings in Canada. Her LinkedIn page identifies her as Samidoun’s international coordinator since November 2011. She went to Iran in August to receive a human rights award from the government, an “honor” she shared with the leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group that participated in the October 7 attacks.

Both are involved with other groups likely to fall under the microscope. According to Samidoun, Barakat co-founded the Vancouver chapter of No One Is Illegal in 2002 with the stated mission of “fighting racism, deportation and repression.”

Barakat also leads Masar Badil (Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement), which launched in 2021 with opening events in Lebanon, Spain, and Brazil. Samidoun boasts that groups active in the U.S. took part in the Madrid conference including Palestinian Youth Movement, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Al-Awda, International League of People’s Struggles, and International Women’s Alliance.

Al-Awda (The Palestine Right to Return Coalition) currently lists Kates as a member of its National Board with the title of “Communications/Secretary.” The group endorsed the October 7 attacks by Hamas, PFLP, and other terrorist groups.

Kates’s LinkedIn page says she’s been a freelancer involved in organizing and communications for International Association of Democratic Lawyers since October 2014 and an “organizer and coordinator” for the pro-terrorism National Lawyers Guild’s International Committee since October 2009. The group currently says she is a “part-time organizer.”

She was also a communicators coordinator for Inclusion BC from 2011 to 2014. Before that, she worked for the pro-terrorism Center for Constitutional Rights from 2006 to 2009 as the advocacy program manager of its Guantanamo Global Justice Initiative.

Kates is also a senior official of the U.S. Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (USACBI), which names her as a member of its Organizing Collective alongside Sumaya Awad of the pro-terrorism Adalah Justice Project. USCABI is fiscally sponsored by the Samidoun-linked Al-Awda and Adalah Justice Project, which is fiscally sponsored by the Tides Center. USCABI is also admittedly closely tied to the Palestinian BDS [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] National Committee (BNC) and the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), which are essentially a single entity that serves as an umbrella for Palestinian terrorist groups including Hamas and PFLP. PACBI, like Samidoun, is fiscally sponsored by AFGJ.

In 2007, Kates’s byline identified her as an “organizer and activist” with New Jersey Solidarity-Activists for the Liberation of Palestine when she was writing in support of Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s U.S. leader Sami al-Arian, who was being prosecuted at the time.

New Jersey Solidarity says it is a registered student group at Rutgers University, where Kates received her law degree. The group’s website currently hosts a publication by PFLP spokesman Ghassan Kanafani and promotes various pro-PFLP resources and groups. It receives donations through the Education Action Solidarity Alliance.

Samidoun has close relationships with Within Our Lifetime, Bronx Anti-War Coalition, and Unity of Fields (formerly Palestine Action US)—all of which are pro-Hamas and pro-PFLP groups whose behavior qualifies them as domestic terrorist organizations. They consistently repost each other’s content on their social media pages and endorse each other’s protests and calls to action.

In March, Kates, Barakat, and WOL leader Nerdeen Kiswani held a joint event for Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a pro-terrorism coalition of over 115 groups. The three spoke in support of terrorism, especially PFLP, with Barakat hailing airplane hijackings as “one of the most important tactics that the Palestinian resistance have engaged in.”

Samidoun collaborated with Unity of Fields and Behind Enemy Lines, a chapter of Anti-Imperialist Resistance, in a protest to physically “shut down” the Democratic Party convention in July in opposition to the presidential nomination of Vice President Kamala Harris. It has a chapter in Ottawa under the name of Anti-Imperialist Resistance, indicating that the two groups are intertwined.

In July 2016, Black for Palestine took part in a Samidoun event in Brussels about “Black/Palestinian Solidarity and Struggles for Liberation.” One purpose of the event was to “lift up” Bilal Kayed, who was convicted by Israel of being a PFLP terrorist and was undertaking a hunger strike, and convicted cop-killer and Black Panther Party militant Mumia Abu Jamal.

Black for Palestine has made over 100 social media postings supporting terrorists, including the leader of PFLP, according to the Canary Mission. It also was involved in the creation of a “Black and Palestinian Solidarity Organizing Toolkit,” which endorsed Hamas by showcasing a glorifying image of a Hamas paraglider associated with the October 7 attacks with the words “Black Liberation for Palestinian Freedom” above it.

Hundreds of Coalition Members

One of the most striking things about Samidoun and Masar Badil is their ability to rally a wave of groups in the U.S. and around the world behind their calls to action. Such an ability to mobilize strongly hints at extensive beneath-the-surface relationships with hundreds of groups, including at least dozens in the United States.

Most recently, Samidoun, Masar Badil, and Alkarama Palestinian Women’s Mobilization published a statement on June 6 that declared full-throated support for the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists in Yemen, including their attacks on international shipping vessels. The text condemned the U.S. and British airstrikes on May 31 against militant Houthi targets, which the PFLP fronts predictably described as a “massacre.”

In less than a week, they recruited over 250 organizations to endorse the statement. The list of signatories includes at least 70 groups in the United States.

In May 2022, Samidoun assembled a coalition of over 60 groups to its side in the wake of negative media attention regarding its PFLP affiliation. The U.S.-based groups included:

• Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights at the University of Washington;
• Friends of Sabeel North America;
• the California chapter of Veterans for Peace; Labor for Palestine;
• Peace, Justice, Sustainability NOW in Florida;
• Nevadans for Palestinian Human Rights;
• Jews for Palestinian Right of Return;
• NYU Law Students for Justice in Palestine; and
• Students for Justice in Palestine chapters at Butler University; Chicago; Rutgers; UC Davis, and Wayne, NJ.

In 2021, over 35 organizations came to Samidoun’s defense when Israel designated it as a terrorist group. Most are based in Canada, but some are active in the U.S., including Palestinian Youth Movement, Jews for Palestinian Right of Return, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL), and USCABI. IADL and USCABI are linked to Kates.

The ability of Samidoun and its pro-PFLP allies to coordinate a network of activist groups means that the U.S. and Canadian governments should expect an onslaught of accusations of Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian bigotry, Zionist puppetry, and political persecution.

The Biden Administration is apparently forecasting that response and pre-emptively included wording in its press release about Samidoun’s designation to defend the legitimacy of its decision:

When terrorists and terrorist organization abuse the non-profit sector, legitimate organizations have more difficulty securing financial services. This impacts their ability to provide support for basic human needs like food, medicine, and shelter in Gaza and the West Bank. By publicly identifying sham charities, this action reduces the overall risk of the NPO sector and preserves access by legitimate humanitarian organizations to financial services.

The administration correctly states that groups like Samidoun are anything but pro-Palestinian.

If the welfare of Palestinians was their top priority, rather than a pro-terrorism ideological agenda to gain power, they would not engage in behaviors that undoubtedly make Palestinian lives immeasurably worse. In fact, PFLP and Hamas’s proxies are effectively anti-Palestinian because they jeopardize Palestinians’ well-being for the sake of colonizing them on behalf of the imperialist and crony capitalist Iranian regime.

Supporters of peace and foes of the Islamist-Marxist terrorism-industrial complex should be prepared with the facts to expose Samidoun and the pro-PFLP/Hamas network for what it really is.

Source: https://capitalresearch.org/article/samidoun-sanctioned-as-terrorists-why-its-a-bigger-deal-than-realized/