Samidoun/aka/Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

 

"We acknowledge that the community was shocked by the phrase ['Death to Canada'], and the burning of the Canadian flag that came after the march was concluded."

"Yet, we at Samidoun stand by this phrase as the call to action, that it is."

"We are not just fighting against the Zionist state, we are fighting against imperialism."

"We see it as our duty to escalate the resistance [Hamas's 'Al-Aqsa Flood when the terrorists slaughtered 1,200 Israelis on October 7, 2023, mass raping and mutilating Israeli girls and women, abducting 240 civilians into Gaza], here."

Samidoun statement

Videos circulated online, the unidentified masked woman led a crowd of hundreds at the Vancouver Art Gallery Monday night in chants of “death to Canada, death to the United States and death to Israel,” while some in the group burned Canadian flags. Photo by Jarryd Jäger/x.com

 

Samidoun has acted with impunity from its headquarters in Vancouver, from where it sends out statements to its regional groups abroad. While in Canada it has been busy organizing protests and violent demonstrations against Israel and threatening Canadian Jews, inciting its supporters to decry the existence of the Jewish State, and to chant 'Intifada', 'Long Live the Resistance'! and 'From the River to the Sea', as well as its involvement in the protest camps set up on university campuses throughout the country.

To all of these violent provocations there has been no response from the federal government, setting the tone for governments and police services throughout the country at every level. While the Jewish community suffered hordes of 'protesters' organizing to march through Jewish areas of the country to harass and threaten them, and Jewish community centres, parochial schools, synagogues and private Jewish-owned businesses have been threatened, graffitied, shot at, firebombed, authorities appear incapable of responding to the unlawful activities.

The Jewish community in Canada has been left to huddle for safety and security through their own devices, finding comfort in the company of others within the community suffering the same insecurity and trepidation over how far they will continue to be isolated, threatened and savaged by antisemitism that has found a comfortable niche in an otherwise-tolerant society. The Liberal government of prime minister Justin Trudeau expresses empathy and commits to no practical response to end the nightmare.

 

A video of Vancouver protesters burning a Canadian flag added to tensions on Parliament Hill as Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre blamed the government for a rise in antisemitism and was silenced in the House for accusing Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly of pandering to Hamas supporters. CBC

 

Samidoun had organized a mass rally in Vancouver on the anniversary of the October 7 bloody slaughter in southern Israel, The purpose, to commemorate the "Al-Aqsa Flood", the operation by thousands of terrorists to pillage, destroy, rape, mutilate and murder Israelis. "We are Hezbollah and we are Hamas", one speaker stated to the cheering crowd following which a chant of "death to Canada, death to the United States and death to Israel", sounded as a collective profanity, in echo of such declarations commonly heard in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Samidoun representatives handed out pamphlets at the rally that detailed the risks and benefits of "complex co-ordinated terrorist attacks" in pursuit of political gains. Following the rally Samidoun issued an official statement laying claim to the chant of 'death to Canada' as a reflection of its goal to destroy the "colonial, capitalist state of Canada". Images of a Vancouver SkyTrain station graffitied with "GLORY 2 AL-AQSA FLOOD" were posted on the Samdoun Hawra Vancouver Instagram account.

A caption honoured the "brave resistance fighters" who committed the October 7 pogrom, with the tribute stating: "autonomous activists in so-called 'Vancouver' took to the streets early this morning, graffitiing on skytrain stations, targeting complicit businesses, to remind residents that despite the lies of the Occupation and its Western allies", their opposition would prevail.

Calls to list Samidoun as a terrorist entity came from various sources, including Conservative Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre, citing the "death to Canada" chant while calling for the federal government to act. On October 10, the Dutch parliament voted to designate Samidoun a terrorist organization. Samidoun's activities organizing extremist anti-Israel events in Europe is performed through its Vancouver headquarters. Germany banned Samidoun last yer after a series of rallies celebrating the October 7 attacks that "showed an absolute lack of regard for human life in an especially abhorrent way". 

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre pointed out that Samidoun serves as a front for a listed Canadian terror group, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Khaled Barakat, a top PFLP member founded Samidoun; its social media feeds circulate PFLP propaganda and organizes North American speaking opportunities for members of the PFLP. Samidoun's role since October 7 of last year has been to organize and coordinate hundreds of blockades, boycotts and demonstrations across Canada.

 

Samidoun banner with the slogan ”Long live October 7th." (Source: Telegram)

Now, finally, the federal government issued a statement on Tuesday designating Samidoun as the newest organization to be listed on Canada's terrorist file. Following hard on the heels of the United States making a similar statement of terrorist designation. Since Samidoun also has recognition by Revenue Canada as a legitimate charitable group, it can be assumed that status too will change. The group's headquarters in Vancouver, presumably will be disbanded, its principals exiled, its assets seized, and an investigation launched into the legitimacy status of its followers, quick to take up the chant "death to Canada".

That it was the "death to Canada" sentiments and the outrage of burning a Canadian flag after the torching of an Israeli flag that moved the government to action in the wake of newspaper editorials calling for the group's terror listing, along with that of the leader of the Parliamentary opposition; a one-time occasion revealing Samidoun's total democracy-destabilizing goal, and not its years of agitating against and threatening Jews in Canada, is in and of itself revelatory.

 

Dozens of protesters from the Samidoun organization are gathering in front of the Muelheim train station in Cologne, Germany, on April 15, 2023, to commemorate Palestinian Prisoners' Day (Ying Tang / NurPhoto via Getty Images)

"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."

Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc 

"In Canada, any bank accounts that Samidoun has, or that organizers have, are almost certainly being frozen, probably closed, reported to FINTRAC, our financial intelligence unit, and there’s probably a flurry of suspicious transaction reports and mandatory reporting going in on anyone associated with this organization."

"This process has not been tested in Canadian courts. A lot of the reason for that is because we are designating, for the most part, foreign entities. This is one of the only cases where I’ve seen a direct Canadian tie and a direct Canadian leader … who will be directly affected by a terrorist listing."

"[No charges have been announced against anyone involved in Samidoun]. In the case of an organization like Samidoun, or really any listed terrorist entity, the question comes down to what the people are doing to support the organization."

"Just being a member of an organization is not a criminal offence in Canada. However, as soon as you cross the line into conducting any kind of support or sort of advancement activities that are fairly concrete, then you come very close to facilitation [of a terrorist activity] and some of those activities."

Jessica Davis, counterterrorism expert, Carleton University