Antisemitism: Villans (#1) - PFLP and Samidoun

Some might think that the naive Western youth, having seen the suffering of poor children in Gaza on TikTok, had their hearts overflow with compassion, and in a spontaneous outburst, they rushed to the streets to demand justice for the oppressed. No.

I'm starting a new series named "Antisemitism: Villains". This series is the least predictable, as I am an absolute newbie in the field of terrorism sciences, and I am simply documenting my own research. It's likely to become the most long-running one too, as even just listing all the abbreviations took me a whole page.

PFLP and Samidoun: same, same, but … really the same

A brief historical overview. PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) was founded after the Arab defeat in the Six-Day war in 1967. Initially sponsored by Syria and supported by Jordan, it came under the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization, with Arafat as its leader) umbrella shortly after. Similarly to PLO, the PFLP is a secular organization. They follow a Marxist-Leninist ideology, fighting against the Western imperialism and for Pan Arabism.

During the 1960s and the 1970s, PFLP gained recognition for hijacking planes and busses, as well as carrying out suicide bombings. If you’ve heard of the plane hijacked and taken to Entebbe, this was the PFLP (if you haven’t heard about it, I strongly recommend reading about “Operation Entebbe”).

PFLP categorically denies the possibility of a two-state solution, their firm goal is the complete annihilation of the State of Israel. They strongly condemned the Oslo accords between PLO and Israel (1993) and, even more so, the negotiations in Camp David (2000). On these grounds, the paths of PFLP diverged from the PLO in the 1990s. However, this did not prevent them from taking an active part in the 2nd Intifada, and claiming many innocent lives.

Over the years, PFLP has branched out into several like-minded organizations that remain active to this day in Syria and Jordan. PFLP itself has always sought powerful backers, be it the USSR or China. With the collapse of the USSR, they had to reinvent themselves to a certain extent, but it is well known that the hatred towards Jews reconciles even the least reconcilable counterparts. Since the early 2000s, PFLP – the secular socialists! – have closely aligned themselves with the Islamic Regime of Iran, Hamas, and the Lebanese Hezbollah.

The United States, Canada, Japan, Israel and the European Union have designated PFLP as a terrorist organization. In 2012, the PFLP leaders established Samidoun. This is a hydra method, popular among extremists and/or fundamentalist Islamist organizations. Cutting off one head, results in three heads growing in its place. Banning one organization leads to its members founding several new ones with different names. The Muslim brotherhood operates in this way too, but that’s a topic for another time. No one bothers to deny the connection between PFLP and Samidoun. PFLP leaders and Samidoun leaders are the very same individuals. PFLP flags are waved proudly at the Samidoun events.

Samidoun’s mission is to liberate all Palestinian prisoners from every prison. A popular lie says that Israel kidnaps poor innocent Palestinians (most often children) and throws them in jail with no trial. It should be sufficient to look up the number of terror attacks regularly carried out by Palestinian terrorists to realize that there are enough terrorists to fill Israeli prisons to the brim. Jews are highly practical people; there is no motivation to imprison and feed innocents. However, Samidoun doesn’t even pretend. They are openly advocating for the release of bloodiest murderers serving life sentences for assassinations and terrorism.

Samidoun has an office in Tehran and close ties with the Iranian regime. Samidoun’s leaders are Khaled Barakat and Charlotte Kates - a husband and wife. Barakat is also the PFLP leader. During the 2nd Intifada he criticized its insufficient bloodiness, and urged for more frequent engagement of children as suicide bombers.

Not long ago, Germany added Samidoun to the list of terrorist entities. Barakat was earlier deported from the USA, and both of them, Barakat and Kates, were deported from the EU. Canada welcomed them with open arms. There was a petition to designate Samidoun as a terrorist group, but to no success. There was a petition to deport Barakat and Kates, again without success. They live in Vancouver, my neighbors.

Samidoun is registered in Canada as a non-profit organization. It actively crowdfunds and fundraises for socially significant purposes, such as the struggle for the rights of the oppressed and imprisoned Palestinian terrorists, as well as educational materials and campaigns against the malicious Zionists. Samidoun has numerous affiliated organizations, specifically youth and student groups, some of which they themselves have founded.

Barakat and Kates incite hatred against Jews with all their unwavering loyalty to the Iranian regime. They demand that the Canadian government remove PFLP, Hezbollah, and Hamas from the terrorist entities list. They fight to free Palestine from the river to the sea. They organize and sponsor anti-Israeli demonstrations and events. They orchestrated the witch hunt campaign against British Columbia’s Minister of Education, Selina Robinson, and they joyfully welcomed her dismissal. Celebratory posts appeared on both, Samidoun and PFLP, social media accounts.

Who else finances Samidoun? For example, Alliance for Global Justice (AFGJ) – it’s an anti-capitalist leftist fund. This fund is closely associated with autocracies in South America, with socialists in Venezuela, communists in Nicaragua, as well as the Cuban and the North Korean regimes. This fund sponsors Samidoun and nearly a dozen more pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli organizations, and also numerous projects of racial and LGBTQ+ activism. Last year the US tightened the reins a little on AFGJ for its affiliation with an organization involved in PFLP recruiting – CPV (Collectif Palestine Vaincra). I have an ambitious plan to draw a diagram of all these connections; it will look like a starry sky.

All in all, if you (or we) were surprised by the LGBTQ+ community supporting Palestine, here goes, they feed off the same feeder. If you/we thought that the shadow of communism faded into the past, if you/we were puzzled by all the revolution, uprising, resistance rhetoric, by the hammer and sickle imagery at the pro-Palestinian protests, and by the fervent support of the unions to the Palestinian cause - the explanation is PFLP and Samidoun.

To be continued.