Robert Willams, Gatestone Institute, 12/23/24
- 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.
- 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…. It is now six months later, and the IRS has done nothing.
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 supportand 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.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21228/ngos-driving-antisemitism