Charlotte Kates, International Coordinator Of Samidoun – Recently Designated A Terror Organization By U.S. And Canada: October 7 Proved That A Military Defeat Of Israel Is Possible; We Call For An End To The Terror Designation Of Samidoun, Hamas, PIJ, PFLP, Hizbullah; Russia And China Should Do More To Support And Be Friendly Forces To The Palestinians

In an October 27, 2024 Sunday Morning Marxist Forum video call, hosted by the Oakland, California Institute for the Critical Social Studies, Charlotte Kates, International Coordinator of Samidoun, addressed the U.S. and Canada's designation of Samidoun as a terrorist entity. She explained that Samidoun views the Palestinian resistance as critical in achieving the liberation of Palestinian prisoners, specifically through the tactic of capturing Israeli soldiers and "settlers" to facilitate prisoner exchanges. Kates also highlighted that the October 7 "Al-Aqsa Flood" demonstrated the potential for the military defeat of the "Zionist regime."

Kates argued that one of the purposes behind Samidoun's designation as a terrorist entity is to create fear and deter people from honoring the memory of Hamas leaders like Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, and Saleh Al-Arouri, as well as Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah. In response to a participant's question about Russia and China's roles in supporting Palestine, Kates discussed alternative trade and payment mechanisms used by countries to circumvent sanctions. She further stated that had Russia and China provided air defense systems to Hamas and Hizbullah, "this situation would be over a long time ago."

The forum was streamed live on ICSS Marxist's YouTube channel and moderated by Allan Miller, a statistics and data science instructor at UC Berkeley Extension. Kates was arrested in April 2024 on charges of hate speech following her remarks at a Vancouver rally glorifying the October 7 attacks and Palestinian terrorist organizations. On November 15, 2024, her home was raided by Vancouver police in connection with these charges. Kates is married to Khaled Barakat, a former senior official with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and a member of the executive committee of Masar Badil.

On November 15, Kates’ Vancouver home was raided by police in relation to a hate crimes investigation.[1]

Charlotte Kates: "Palestinians have an absolute right to resist the occupation by any means necessary to achieve their liberation.

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"Samidoun, as an organization, aims to publicize, promote, organize actions, demonstrations, direct actions, educational work, political work, in order to publicize and promote the role of the Palestinian political prisoners and work to achieve their liberation.

"We recognize that it is the Palestinian resistance that is on the front lines, that has by and large achieved the liberation of Palestinian political prisoners through the one mechanism that has been made clear over the decades, over and over and over again, that is the one reliable mechanism for the liberation of Palestinian political prisoners. That is, achieving a prisoner exchange through the capture of occupation soldiers and settlers and exchanging them for Palestinian political prisoners.

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"The 7th of October, 2023, or Al-Aqsa Flood, presented a reality in which it was now possible to envision, quite practically, the military defeat of the Zionist regime by the Palestinian resistance.

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"Samidoun has been designated as a so-called terrorist entity in Canada. It should be noted here that there is absolutely no allegation on the part of either of these states [i.e. Canada and the U.S.] that we have engaged in the armed struggle for the liberation of Palestine, [or] that we have participated in any activity other than public political activity, organizing demonstrations, protests, and actions.

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"And of course, one of the purposes of using these kinds of designations is to create fear. So that people won't speak to someone who is in Samidoun. Or that people will be afraid of carrying a slogan or a sign that says 'victory to the resistance'. Or, of honoring the memory of [Hamas leader] Yahya Sinwar, or [Hizbullah Secretary-General] Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, or [Hamas leader] Ismail Haniyyeh, or [top Hamas official] Saleh Al-Arouri, or any of the martyrs of Palestine as symbols and heroes of an international movement for justice and liberation.

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"Not only do we need to call for an end to the designation of Samidoun, we also need to fight to end the designation of Hamas, of [Palestinian] Islamic Jihad [PIJ], of Hizbullah, of the PFLP."

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Participant Polina Vasiliev: "I am wondering whether Russia, being the successor of the Soviet Union, one of the nations that signed in 1948 for the creation of the entity [Israel], whether they should be doing more. Is what they are doing enough in your opinion? Russia, China, powerful countries..."

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Kates: "There are meaningful military alliances. There is also meaningful development of alternative mechanisms of trade and payment... that help to sustain countries and movements that are targeted by sanctions.

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"If there were air defenses – if Palestinian people had air defenses – and even if the Lebanese resistance had more de facto air defenses, this situation would have been over a long time ago. So Russia and China can and should do more, at the same time that they are friendly forces to the Palestinian people."