Designated Terrorist Groups Samidoun – Based In U.S. And Canada, And Masar Badil – Active In Spain, Both Affiliated With The PFLP, Condemn American Strikes Against Houthis, Call On Anti-Israel Protesters Everywhere To Escalate Activities Against 'Fascist Powers'

The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI's Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here. 

On March 16, 2025, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, and its offshoot Masar Badil, issued statements in English condemning the recent U.S. strikes that targeted multiple leaders of the Iran-backed Yemeni jihadi Ansar Allah Movement, AKA the Houthis.

Samidoun, and Masar Badil were Designated as supporters of Foreign Terror Organization by the U.S. Treasury on October 15, 2024, in a statement that called Samidoun A "sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser for the PFLP [Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]".[1] In a coordinated effort, Canada listed Samidoun as a terrorist entity on October 11. Khaled Barakat the Canadian leader of Masar Badil, and husband of Samidoun's International Coordinator Charlotte Kates, was also Designated by the Canada and the U.S. Treasury on October 15, 2024, for being among the leaders of PFLP, a Designated Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the U.S. Department of State.

This is not the first time Samidoun and Masar Badil have issues statements of support for the Iran-backed Houthis. In June 2024, they led over 250 international jihadi and anti-Israel organizations in a statement of support for the Yemeni group's attack on U.S. and UK targets. In addition, as part of its efforts to platform the voices of "Resistance Axis" leaders, Masar Badil livestreamed in August 2024 an interview with Nasruddin Amer, chair of the board of the Yemeni Saba Media Agency and vice chair of the Media Authority of the Houthi movement. The interview prominently featured Samidoun International Coordinator Kates.[2]

The following is a review of the recent statements by Samidoun and Masar Badil.

Samidoun: "Zionist, American, Arab Alliance Against Yemen"

Samidoun's statement read: "Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network unequivocally condemns the latest US-Zionist assault on Yemen, which has taken the lives of dozens of martyrs and injured many more in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and Saada Governorate, and urges all supporters of Palestine to stand in defense of Yemen and all those in the region and around the world targeted for their resistance to genocide."

"The US' latest bombing of Yemen illustrates vividly once again that this is now and always has been a US-Zionist genocide in Gaza and throughout occupied Palestine, against the Arab nation and against the region as a whole."

It further accused Arab governments of conspiracy against Yemen.

"The complicity and involvement of the Arab reactionary regimes in the assault on Yemen further underlines the alliance of Zionism, imperialism and Arab reaction in the enemy camp confronting all those who stand for justice, unity, self-determination and national and international liberation."

Defending the Houthi attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, the statement said:

"Yemen's blockade of Zionist shipping is a blockade to break the siege and end genocide, the decolonization of the Red Sea from imperialist and Zionist control and domination. Yemen is leading the world in the implementation of the Genocide Convention and international law, requiring the Zionist regime to abide by its ceasefire conditions, end the siege on Gaza and stop blocking the entry of humanitarian aid. Any attack on Yemen is carried out, clearly and explicitly, to advance the project of genocide and starvation against the Palestinian people, through a bloody assault on the people of Yemen. The aggression on Yemen comes after Sayyed Abdel-Malik Badr al-Din al-Houthi announced that the four-day window for the Zionist regime to abide by its ceasefire agreement had expired and that, therefore, anti-genocide naval operations against Zionist shipping in the Bab al-Mandab strait would resume."

The statement further conflated the American airstrikes against the Houthis with President Donald Trump's policy of deporting foreign students who were inciting antisemitism in American universities, describing it as a policy of "fascist state."

Arrests, Deportations Are Policies Of A "Fascist State"

"These attacks come simultaneously with intensified repression by the fascist state powers in the heart of the imperial core. Let us be clear: their arrests and deportations are meant to silence the movement, create fear and impose terror in the hearts of the population in order to give them free rein to bombard Yemen, to assault Gaza, to starve the Palestinian people, to attack Tulkarem, to advance genocide throughout Palestine, to threaten Iran."

"Only Way To Fight Repression Is To Escalate"

Calling on anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian supporters everywhere to show solidarity with Yemen, the statement instructed them to "escalate" their activities.

"It is critical that the Palestine movement stands fully with Yemen against this attack and refuses to be silenced by repression, to ensure that there is no business as usual for genocide. The only way we can effectively fight repression is to defend all those under attack and to escalate, in size, strength and numbers, our support for Palestine, for Yemen and for all of the forces of resistance. We cannot fight repression as a series of individual battles, but must do so as part of the anti-imperialist, anti-Zionist struggle, for the liberation of Palestine, the Arab nation and the region."

"To Stand With Yemen Is To Stand With Palestine"

In conclusion, the statement assured Palestinians that the Houthis would not be intimidated by the U.S. airstrikes, and would continue to support them. It encouraged pro-Palestinian supporters to take the streets to show support for Houthis.

"The Yemeni people are making quite clear that they will never stop their defense of Palestine, despite the bombings of civilian homes, power plants and infrastructure, by the US-Zionist imperialist monster. It is incumbent upon us all to take that same stand for Yemen, to begin to live up to the Yemeni example set every day with courage and steadfastness; to fill the streets and squares, to raise our voices, to make it impossible for the imperialist assaults to continue. To stand with Yemen is to stand with Palestine, is to stand with the global resistance in defense of humanity."

The statement included a list of "hundreds of organizations and thousands of individuals who signed a statement in June 2024 "in defense of the Yemeni people against US-British-Zionist aggression."

Masar Badil Calls For International Popular Movement For Yemen, Palestine

Similarly, Vancouver-based Khaled Barakat, who heads Masar Badil, a pro-Palestinian, pro-Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) organization affiliated with Samidoun, issued a statement in which he said that "these disgusting and desperate American attacks will not succeed in separating the Yemeni people from their central cause, Palestine."

Barakat called upon the organizations and supporters of the Masar Badil and the international movements in solidarity with Palestine to "declare their revolutionary and practical solidarity with the Yemeni people supporting the Palestinian resistance and supporting our people in the Gaza Strip in the face of siege, starvation and the Zionist genocidal aggression."

He also called for "real and active mobilization in all areas in order to expose the US and Zionist policies targeting the people of Yemen who stood tall in the face of criminal wars for two decades, and still declare their steadfast position, standing united behind their revolutionary leadership and armed forces that imposed by force and will a naval blockade on the ports of occupied Palestine, which caused billions of dollars in losses for the enemy, its companies and supporters."