NGOs Driving Antisemitism in Europe and around the Globe: Part I

Samidoun, a "Vancouver-based terrorist group," was founded in 2012 by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a designated terrorist organization in the United States, European Union and Canada. In practice, Samidoun is a front for the PFLP. Pictured: An anti-Israel protest by Samidoun in Duisburg, Germany, on October 9, 2023. (Photo by Ina Fassbender/AFP via Getty Images)

Antisemitism in the West, which has risen to unprecedented levels since the October 7 attacks on Israel, is being deliberately driven by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with links to Palestinian terrorist organizations.

One of the most active NGOs, Samidoun ("Steadfast"), a "Vancouver-based terrorist group," was founded in 2012 -- ostensibly to "assist Palestinian prisoners" -- by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a designated terrorist organization in the United States, European Union and Canada. In practice, Samidoun is a front for the PFLP. The PFLP is an active terrorist organization, which participated in the October 7, 2023 atrocities, including in hostage taking, and shared celebratory videos and other material of the massacres online.

Israel designated Samidoun a terrorist organization in 2021, and this October, the U.S. Treasury Department and government of Canada also designated Samidoun, calling it "a sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine".

Samidoun has branches throughout the West: In Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and in the United States. Samidoun also has branches in Lebanon, Iran and the West Bank and Gaza.

According to NGO Monitor:

"Samidoun branches, including in Western countries, publicly support and celebrate the PFLP, its actions and its leaders; campaign for the release of jailed PFLP members; and promote anti-Israel campaigns. Moreover, Samidoun advocates for Palestinians' 'natural right to armed resistance.'"

On October 7, as the Hamas invasion and atrocities were unfolding in southern Israel, Samidoun released a long statement celebrating the attack:

"As the morning dawns on 7 October 2023, the resistance is rising throughout occupied Palestine, smashing the siege on Gaza with a comprehensive offensive confronting the occupier by land and air, taking control of Palestinian land, seizing occupation settlers and soldiers and launching thousands of missiles as Palestinian resistance forces fight to advance return and the liberation of Palestine... From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."

The first pro-Hamas demonstrations to take to the streets on and after October 7 were not protesting Israel's response to the October 7 atrocities: there were none yet. The demonstrators were celebrating what the terrorists and their European supporters hoped was the beginning of a "Palestine" ethnically cleansed of Jews. Samidoun Netherlands posted to Facebook on October 7, 2023:

""URGENT! ... Come to Rotterdam and show support for the Palestinian resistance during their operation against the Israeli colonial regime. The resistance has successfully broken through the colonial siege in a bold and heroic operation."

Samidoun Spain, on October 7, 2023, shared a poster that said:

"We call for mass assistance in support of the brave and dignified Palestinian resistance that has today proven to be more alive and willing to reclaim the land that has been stripped from them by Israeli colonialism for over 75 years... Our responsibility is to support the right of the Palestinian people to defend themselves by all means within their reach from extermination to liberation and return to a free Palestine from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. SEE YOU IN THE STREETS!"

Despite the undisguised support for terrorism and ethnic cleansing that Samidoun displayed on October 7, 2023 and since, it was allowed to continue its activities, as it does to this day.

In Amsterdam, Samidoun was involved in the encampment at the University of Amsterdam, where in May 2024, the police stood passively by, as Hamas sympathizers beat Jews and other pro-Israel bystanders with bats.

On November 8, 2024, Samidoun hailed the pogrom in Amsterdam and threatened:

"The people of Amsterdam declared last night that Zionism will not be tolerated here. Amsterdam is a Zionism-free city. And if it isn't already, we'll take care of that."

One month earlier, the Dutch parliament had voted overwhelmingly to call for Samidoun to be designated a terrorist organization.

Samidoun's European coordinator, Mohammed Khatib, resides in Belgium. During a webinar, in which he was joined by Hamas leader Basem Naim, he described October 7, 2023 as a "glorious day" that made him proud.

The Belgian government has confirmed that Hamas operates on its territory through shell companies. At the end of September, in the center of Brussels, Samidoun held a rally inciting violence expressing support for Hamas, with participants chanting: "Hassan [Nasrallah] hit, hit Tel Aviv, Please Sir, in the name of Allah... Hamas we are here for you."

Israel's ambassador to Belgium Idit Rosenzweig-Abu tweeted a video from the rally: "And the only organization flag is #Samidoun. It is always Samidoun."

When Germany banned Samidoun in November 2023, its members reportedly simply fled to Switzerland to avoid charges.

Canada is another central hub for Samidoun. The organization's international leader, Khaled Barakat, also a senior member of the PFLP, has found a haven there. In 2022, Barakat was expelled from Germany for his "violent, antisemitic rhetoric", and his PFLP activities there. Canada, however, under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, evidently saw no problem in hosting him, despite the terrorist designation. Barakat's wife, Charlotte Kates, reportedly a communist since the age of 13, co-founded Samidoun in 2011 and is the organization's international coordinator.

Violent antisemitism in Canada has spiked to unprecedented levels, according to a November 4 report from NGO Monitor, titled "The NGO Network Driving Antisemitism in Canada":

"This dangerous spike is concurrent with an increase in activity by an interconnected and coordinated network of NGOs, whose campaigns of anti-Israel demonization, antisemitism, and intimidation create a hostile environment throughout Canada. A number of the leading groups are linked to Palestinian terror organizations and hide their sources of funding....

"This NGO network is responsible for violent public events, student encampments, statements, and legal actions. Ominously, many of these groups have publicly celebrated the Oct. 7th atrocities, and expressed support for Hamas and other Canadian-designated terrorist organizations....

"Samidoun – a Palestinian terror-linked NGO with chapters in Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa – is one of the key groups promoting hate and incitement in Canada through its planning and promotion of numerous antisemitic events and extensive partnerships across the country."

Charlotte Kates has traveled around Canada, inciting hatred against Jews and declaring the October 7 atrocities "heroic." At one October 7, 2024 rally in Vancouver, she declared, "And yes, we are Hezbollah and we are Hamas." At another, she said, "We stand with Palestinian resistance and their heroic action on October 7th... Long live October 7th."

For her efforts, Kates was honored with a "human rights award" from the Iranian regime.

In the United States, Samidoun has been involved in countless events, including marches in Washington, D.C., "All out for Palestine" rallies in New York City, and "Shut it Down for Palestine" in Seattle, among others. Samidoun also held a "Resistance 101" virtual training at Columbia University in March 2024 and helped set up the encampment on its campus.

Who funds this terrorist-supporting madness? Samidoun, which does not publish any donor information, has a financial sponsor in the US, the Alliance for Global Justice, a registered 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that reportedly works to bring about a communist revolution through building coalitions of organizations, many involved in pro-Hamas activity, and, according to its own website:

"We also act as fiscal sponsor to over 90 economic, social justice and human rights projects around the world that do not have their own tax-exempt status."

Who funds the Alliance for Global Justice? According to Influence Watch, several of the same megadonors that fund the Democratic Party in the US, such as George Soros' Open Society Foundations, and the Tides Foundation.

The Tides Foundation, which was once described as a "charitable money laundering" organization, and was previously supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, also sponsors anti-Israeli groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow, both of which are active in the ongoing protests. The Alliance for Global Justice also receives funds from the Arca Foundation, Surdna Foundation, Public Welfare Foundation, and the Brightwater Fund.

The support for groups such as Samidoun by the Alliance for Global Justice led to demands to revoke its tax-exempt status. US Representative Jim Banks wrote in a June 27, 2024 letter to the IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel:

"[T]he Alliance for Global Justice (AFGJ) has retained its tax-exempt status despite funding Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, a cutout for the designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)... The IRS has previously ruled that organizations that incite civil unrest and violate local ordinances do not qualify as tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3)."

It is now six months later, and the IRS has done nothing.

On November 20, 2024 Jason Smith, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee wrote in a letter to Werfel:

"Samidoun was designated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control as a 'sham charity' that serves as a fundraiser for terrorist organizations. Despite Samidoun's designation, and the Alliance's financial support of Samidoun, the IRS has yet to revoke the Alliance's tax-exempt status. Given this information and recent developments, it is clear that the Alliance's tax-exempt status should be revoked.

"This case is not complicated, which makes the failure to revoke the Alliance's tax-exempt status both concerning and confusing. As you know, if a nonprofit organization conducts substantial activities that do not further its exempt purposes, such activity may result in the loss of the organization's tax-exempt status."

The continued acceptance of terrorist-affiliated groups such as Samidoun in Western countries inevitably leads to the kinds of outcomes that we have witnessed in recent weeks, such as the pogrom in Amsterdam and the pro-terrorism riots in Montreal. When Western governments do nothing, the situation keeps deteriorating.

Robert Williams is based in the United States.