This article originally appeared in the National Post.
By Casey Babb and Sheryl Saperia, October 10, 2024
A new lawsuit has been filed by Canadian victims of the October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel. The victims are seeking over $250 million in compensation from defendants including Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, Iran, Syria, and, shockingly, a Vancouver-based organization called Samidoun.
Samidoun, which styles itself as the Palestinian prisoner solidarity network, is alleged to have direct links with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a listed terrorist organization in Canada, the U.S., Israel, the U.K. and the European Union — including substantial overlap between the leadership of the organizations. According to Israel’s internal security service, Khaled Barakat — the husband of Samidoun leader Charlotte Kates — is also a senior figure in the PFLP, and the Israelis aren’t alone in their assessment. Palestinian outlets have described Barakat as a leader of the PFLP, or a member of the group’s governing central committee. Further, the Israelis have alleged Samidoun acts as the PFLP’s primary recruitment and propaganda arm overseas.
According to the newly issued statement of claim in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, “(T)he plaintiffs plead that the Samidoun Defendants have committed offences including, but not limited to, providing or collecting property for terrorist activity, providing or collecting property for the benefit of persons facilitating or carrying out terrorist activity, participating in the activity of a terrorist group, leaving Canada to participate in the activity of a terrorist group, and facilitating terrorist activity.”
Regardless of how this lawsuit unfolds, the Canadian government has the authority and likely an obligation to designate Samidoun as a terrorist entity for a variety of reasons.
For starters, one of the main criteria under Canada’s Criminal Code enabling the federal government to list a terrorist entity is if the person or group in question has “knowingly acted on behalf of, at the direction of or in association with an entity that has knowingly carried out, attempted to carry out, participated in or facilitated a terrorist activity.” It is well documented that the PFLP has a lengthy history of carrying out assassinations, suicide bombings, hijackings and murders — and if Samidoun is doing its dirty work in Canada — which many suspect it is — it needs to be listed.
In addition, a terror designation would also help Canada align with some of its closest allies. In 2021, Israel designated Samidoun a terrorist organization and an arm of the PFLP, while Germany banned Samidoun’s operations in October 2023, given the group’s alleged ties to Hamas. Barakat and Kates were also allegedly deported from Germany in 2019 and denied entry to the EU in 2022, both times being returned to Canada, where they live and carry out activities with relative impunity. Canada actually appears to be the headquarters of Samidoun’s global operation, where the organization enjoys non-profit status. Indeed, Samidoun was incorporated in Canada shortly after Kates and Barakat were expelled from Germany on account of their terror-supporting activities — something that didn’t appear to be an issue for Canadian authorities.
Fundamentally, it is well known that Canada is facing increased scrutiny from allies on a wide range of national security and defence issues, and Canadian authorities should take every opportunity to prove they remain a trustworthy partner committed to fighting terrorism. Relative to other issues the country needs to face, designating Samidoun a terrorist organization would be an easy win.
Moreover, we believe listing Samidoun as a terrorist organization would be an important public step in a country that feels increasingly lawless when it comes to extremism, fanaticism, hate speech, Jew hatred and incendiary rhetoric. In addition to engaging in activities that may warrant a terror designation, Samidoun routinely uses language that shamelessly glorifies barbaric acts of terrorism. At a rally it organized in Vancouver on Monday — the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attacks — protesters were seen burning the Canadian flag, chanting “death to Canada” and “death to the United States,” along with “we are Hezbollah and we are Hamas.” Perhaps being listed as a terrorist organization would have a welcome quieting effect on this insanity.
Where U.S. President Joe Biden described Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s killing as “… a measure of justice,” and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated that Nasrallah had been responsible for “… immense suffering across the region,” Samidoun stated that it was “mourning” Nasrallah’s death, and that it would continue on its “… jihadist path (and) follow (Nasrallah’s) approach.” Kates has actually described listed terrorist organizations — including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Hezbollah — as “heroes.”
All told, Canada is becoming a hub for terrorism and extremism — and the world is noticing. If Canada is serious about restoring law and order to its streets, one meaningful action would be to designate Samidoun as a terrorist entity. It can, and should, do it now.
Casey Babb is a senior fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute in Ottawa, a fellow with the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, an associate fellow with the Royal United Services Institute in London, and an adviser with Secure Canada in Toronto.
Sheryl Saperia is CEO of Secure Canada.
