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In a speech that lead to her arrest by Canadian authorities, Charlotte Kates, the International Coordinator of Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, said in an April 26 rally in Vancouver, British Columbia that the October 7 attack changed the world because it showed that Palestine was "almost free" of Zionism, from the River to the Sea. She led the crowd in a chant: "Long live October 7!" Kates went on to say that Hamas, the Popular Fron for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and Lebanese Hizbullah are not terrorist groups, but rather they are heroes. She told the audience that they must not be ashamed and afraid of these groups, who fight and "sacrifice for all of us" and for a better world. Kates demanded that these groups be removed from Canada's terror list. Kates then told the audience that they must "live up" to the example the resistance fighters set every day with their guns, rockets, and missiles.
Charlotte Kates' speech was uploaded to various accounts on X. The rally was streamed live on "Free Palestine Tri-cities BC" on Instagram. However the livestream no longer exists on the account. Kates is the wife of former PFLP official and fellow activist Khaled Barakat.
Charlotte Kates: "We demand a free Palestine from the River to the Sea. And we stand with the Palestinian resistance and their heroic and brave actions on October 7. As they said, long live October 7th! And we say today: long live October 7th!"
Crowd: "Long live October 7th!"
Kates: "They wanted to make... Justin Trudeau denounced that statement, Pierre Poilievre denounced that statement. Every one of these Canadian politicians who could not find one word to denounce the slaughter of 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza, who could not find one word to denounce the mass graves of Palestinian doctors, and patients, and mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers and beloved ones. They could not find one word. But they could find all the words to denounce the beautiful, brave, and heroic resistance of the Palestinian people – which did not begin on October 7, which has continued for over 75 years, which has continued for over 120 years, and which has never stopped fighting for the liberation of Palestine, and is today fighting not only for the liberation of Palestine, but for the defense of humanity against genocide.
"And so we must make it clear also that it is long past time to delist Palestinian and Lebanese resistance organizations from Canada's so-called list of terrorist entities. Hamas is not a terrorist organization. [Palestinian] Islamic Jihad is not a terrorist organization. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is not a terrorist organization. Hizbullah is not a terrorist organization. These are our resistance fighters. These are our heroes.
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"They are not terrorists. They are resistance fighters. They are freedom fighters. And they are heroes for a new world.
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"So I want all of us to not be silent about the resistance. To not be silent about the armed resistance. To be loud and clear about it and to say that it is true that October 7 changed the world.
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"It showed that Palestine is almost free of Zionism from the River to the Sea.
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"Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Hizbullah – these are not names to be ashamed of. These are not names to be afraid of. These are the names of those who fight and sacrifice for all of us and for a better world.
"And so what can we do here? We can camp-in on campus. And we can say that we demand that every resistance organization is off the so-called terror list, and that the Zionist regime and the settler-funders here are on it instead. Because everything that we can do is just to live up to the example that the resistance fighters set every day. Yes – with their guns, with their missiles, and with their rockets. But also, with their medicine, with their books, with their love, and with their hope and joy for the future of a liberated Palestine and for the future of humanity – and for one resistance front that stretches from Palestine to Yemen, to Syria, to Iran, to Iraq, to every single one of us that is committed to see the end of Zionism, the end of imperialism, and victory for Palestine. Victory for the resistance."
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