On October 15, 2024 the US and Canada designated the NGO Samidoun as a terrorist entity, describing it as a “sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization.” Germany banned this NGO in November 2023, and on October 2, 2024 the Dutch Parliament called on the Netherlands to do the same. 

As NGO Monitor has demonstrated, in addition to its terror ties, Samidoun drives anti-Israel and antisemitic campaigns in the US and Canada – including on university campuses. Samidoun is a key member of broader anti-Israel networks of NGOs, activists, and funders – organizing and collaborating with other groups.  

(For more information on the NGO networks advancing antisemitism and anti-Israel activity in the US and Canada respectively, see NGO Monitor’s “Mapping the anti-Israel NGO Network in the US”, and “The NGO Network Driving Antisemitism in Canada”)

The organizations listed below are examples of NGOs that have worked with Samidoun and its leadership, and/or supported the group in recent years.  Though non-comprehensive, these particular organizations are already well-known as leading members of the anti-Israel network in North America, and many of which have already been criticized by elected officials.

Samidoun’s funding 

Samidoun does not publish financial information, reflecting a lack of transparency and accountability.

According to its website, “Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is a fiscally sponsored project of the Alliance for Global Justice, a 501(c)(3) Organization.”

In August 2021, Discover shut down credit card donations to the Alliance for Global Justice, reportedly due to the latter’s relationship with Samidoun.

Since February 2023, Alliance for Global Justice has been unable to accept credit card donations for itself or the 140 groups – including Samidoun – that it fiscally sponsors.

American NGOs

Al-Awda: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition

• Al-Awda lists Charlotte Kates – International Coordinator at Samidoun – as  a member of its National Board (as of October 21, 2024).
• Al-Awda and Samidoun are both members of the NY4Palestine Coalition.
• Al-Awda and Samidoun have worked together on events.  For instance, on May 21, 2020, Samidoun Europe Coordinator Mohammed Khatib spoke at an Al-Awda event “marking 72 years of Nakba and continued resistance.”

Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)

• In March 2024, students from Columbia and Barnard University Apartheid Divest Coalition,¹ of which SJP is a leading member, held an event titled “Resistance 101” – despite the university refusing to host the event on campus. The event was sponsored by Samidoun and Within our Lifetime. During the event, Kates stated, “There is nothing wrong with being a member of Hamas, being a leader of Hamas, being a fighter in Hamas.”
• Samidoun and SJP have endorsed and participated in many events and protests together, alongside other groups.

Within Our Lifetime (WOL)

• WOL and Samidoun are both members of the NY4Palestine Coalition.
• In March 2024, Samidon and WOL co-sponsored the “Resistance 101” event at Columbia University.
• The organizations have also sponsored anti-Israel protests together, including in January 2024.  According to the ADL, at an August 2020 protest organized by Samidoun, WOL, and others, participants carried Hezbollah and PFLP flags.

CODEPINK

In January 2023, CODEPINK partnered with Samidoun for a “week of action” calling for the release of PFLP Secretary-General Ahmad Sa’adat.  In 2008, Sa’adat was sentenced to 30 years in prison for heading an “illegal terrorist organization,” and planning attacks including the 2001 assassination of Israeli tourism minister, Rehavam Ze’evi.

National Lawyers Guild (NLG)

• NLG lists Charlotte Kates as a co-chair of its International Committee (as of October 21, 2024). 
• Samidoun has promoted and supported NLG initiatives. 
• Charlotte Kates serves on the steering committee (as of July 2023) of the “International People’s Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism,” alongside an NLG representative.

Canadian NGOs

Masar Badil

• Masar Badil – like Samidoun – is headed by Khaled Barakat.
• According to a September 2023 Masar Badil post, Masar Badil executive committee member, Zaid Abdulnasser, was the coordinator of Samidoun Germany until it was banned and dissolved by the German Government
• Masar Badil has co-sponsored rallies with Samidoun, including an April 29, 2024 protest in Vancouver during which participants praised the “Beautiful, brave and heroic resistance of the Palestinian people, which did not begin on October 7, which has continued for over 75 years.”

Palestinian Youth movement (PYM)

• The organization does not publish financial information, reflecting a lack of transparency and accountability. In the US, Honor the Earth serves as its fiscal sponsor.
• PYM often partners with Samidoun co-sponsoring events and protests and promoting each other’s events.
• PYM co-sponsored the April 29, 2024, Vancouver rally where participants praised the October 7th massacre (see above). At an August 2020 protest, which Samidoun co-hosted in New York with PYM, protestors held Hezbollah and PFLP flags. 
• In March 2021, PYM signed a statement  denouncing Israeli “attacks on Samidoun and its designation as a ‘terrorist organization.’”
• On January 25, 2022, PYM, Samidoun and WOL launched a campaign defending Somaya Falah. Falah was arrested by Israeli authorities for “communicating with a foreign agent and endangering the lives of citizenry.”
• Khaled Barakat was scheduled to speak at a December 2, 2021 event at the University of British Columbia, sponsored by PYM, Samidoun, and Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (see below). The gathering was intended to honor Georges Abdallah, convicted and sentenced by a French court to life in prison for “complicity in the [1982] assassinations” of a US military attaché and Israeli diplomat serving in Paris.  The university indefinitely postponed the event. 

Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR)

• SPHR does not publish financial information, reflecting a lack of transparency and accountability. Many SPHR chapters receive funding from university student associations; however, there is little transparency surrounding the amount of funds received. 
• In February 2021, SPHR at Queens University held a fundraising event for Samidoun.
• On January 19, 2021, SPHR posted a series of photos to Facebook urging students to purchase stickers, with proceeds going to Samidoun. 

Independent Jewish Voices (IJV)

• IVJ and Samidoun regularly organize protests together.  For instance, the organizations co-sponsored the April 29, 2024 Vancouver demonstration where protestors praised the October 7th massacre (see above).
• On February 8, 2021, IJV published a statement supporting an SPHR fundraiser on behalf of Samidoun.  

Just Peace Advocates/Mouvement pour une Paix Juste

• Just Peace Advocates regularly defends Samidoun, signing an April 2024 statement defending Samidoun and its leadership, and asserting that “The Zionist lobby has been on a witch-hunt against Kates, Samidoun and her husband, Khaled Barakat, for several years now.”
• Similarly, the organization co-organized a 2021 letter-writing campaign to the Canadian Minister of Public Security, demanding he not list Samidoun as a terror group.