This week, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control in a joint action with Canada Public Safety Ministery have officially designating the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, or “Samidoun,” as a foreign terrorist organization and you would never guess why. Toronto Star ran a story yesterday, October 15, 2024, citing Canadian officials who accused the organization of spreading hate. Seriously? The US' reason was that Samidoun act as a sham charity that serves as a fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Again, zero evidence. I will get to that in a in minute! 

Who is Samidoun? Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is an international network of organizers and activists working to build solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in their struggle for freedom. Samidoun developed out of the September-October 2011 hunger strike of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, seeing a need for a dedicated network to support Palestinian prisoners. Its goal is to raise awareness and provide resources about Palestinian political prisoners, their conditions, their demands, and their work for freedom for themselves, their fellow prisoners according to Samidoun's website.  Samidoun, based in Vancouver, is a registered Canadian not-for-profit organization since 2012. After Israel designated Samidoun as a terror group in 2022, Jonathan A. Greenblatt, ADL's CEO and National Director, who act as the second Israeli ambassador to the US lobbied the US, Canada, and the EU to designate Samidoun as a terror group.The Apartheid Defense League revealed on its website that on multiple times, ADL has shared intelligence about Samidoun’s activities with Congress and the Administration and encouraged the government to take action against them. Samidoun chapters in the U.S., Canada and other Western countries. Why does the expression, "Squeaky wheels get most of the oil," springs in mind? I would like to share the following story from 2012 as it directly relates to the issue of terrorism and how it is treated by our public officials when the perpetrator is not an Arab or Muslim. On January 26, 2012, I contacted the offices of my state and US Reps by phone to express my concerns about the suggestion by Andrew Adler, the owner and publisher of The Atlanta Jewish Times that the Israeli Mossad should assassinate President Barack Obama. I wanted to ask the officials to publicly condemn the editor remarks. Anyway, ADL never condemned the threat and its head then joked that the editor was crazy. But here is the feedback yours truly get from my calls: 1-US Rep. Pat Tiberi [R] will pass your message. 2-US Sen. Rob Portman [R] the president gets threats all the time. Secret Service will pursue it. The Sen. will contact you. 3- US Sen. Sherrod Brown [D] Unaware of the story! "This is international news!" Will pass your concern along and get a written statement. I am not holding my breath! 4- Ohio Governor John Kasich [R] Get a voice mail. Left a message. This is like dancing in the dark. No one sees you and you do not enjoy it. 5- Dep. of Homeland Security: They are aware of it! It is being investigated by the Secret Service. In response to my question, “As of today, the man has not been arrested or questioned by the FBI or DHS, why?" The answer was: “Things take time!”  I should add that my Army veteran friend, Marc Daniele walled his two US Senators from the State of Montana and DHS get the same treatment too. Like it or not, when it comes to terrorism, America has two standards: one for Jews, and the other for non-Jews. Neither Canada nor the US produced any evidence that Samidoun has provided any fund to the PFLP or any other fighting Palestinian groups. But let's assume that Samidoun did defend Palestinian prisoners who identified affiliated with the PFLP, Hamas, Jihad, or Abbas, how is this crime or providing funds? I know Samidoun has adopted high profile prisoners' cases such as: Abdullah Ibrahim, Khalida Jarar, Samir Issawai, and Ahmad Saddat.  Georges Abdullah is a Christian Lebanese prisoner who is held in France and has completed his minimum portion of his life sentence in 1999 but several requests for parole were denied. In 2003, the court granted him parole, but the US Department of State objected to the court decision. Georges is the longest held prisoner in Europe.Every two years Abdallah has the right to ask for a new release date, which has been refused more than five times. Khalida Jarrar is a Palestinian from Ramallah who was arrested several times since 2015. Khalida was later charged and convicted of "incitement" by an Israeli military court and sentenced to 15 months in prison of which I served 6 months before I was released under international pressure. He was arrested several times since 2015 by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). One of those arrests resulted in me being held under the Administrative Detention Act (ADA). Ahmad Sa'adat is the secretary-general of the PFLP. He was abducted by Palestinian Authority security forces prison in February 2002. He was held there under an agreement with Israel, the U.S., and Britain in a PA prison in Jericho under U.S. and British guards. He remained in the PA jails, without trial or charge, an imprisonment that was internationally condemned. Four years later, he was kidnapped by the IOF as reported by Samidoun. But like many of 12,000 Palestinian prisoners Israel currently is holding, 7,000 of them are being held under ADA. ADA is a procedure that allows the Israeli military to hold prisoners indefinitely on secret evidence without charging them or allowing them to stand trial. It is renewable every 6 months indefinitely and a practice that was not even deployed during the Nazi era. After all, since when does the Israeli law extend to Canada and the U.S. and how come both countries are bending backward to accommodate Israel?       When a 34-year-old Boston attorney made a difficult decision in 1770 to represent the British soldiers accused of murdering American patriots in an incident that helped spark the Revolution. No one accused John Adams who later became the second US President of being traitor or breaking the law. Adam said the reason he took the case was because he felt everyone was entitled to a defense. In America, we believe in presumption of innocence and that you are innocent until you are proven guilty and there is no such thing as guilt by association. Samidoun is being targeted only because it exposes Israeli and US lies and defends the Palestinian prisoners' rights to freedom.      According to New York Times story, 10.15.2024, Jonathan Greenblatt and his Apartheid Defense League (ADL) were having a heyday today celebrating the action against Samidoun by the US and Canada. If ADL truly believe in free speech and safety and security of our country, they should: Stop attempting to silence free speech or any criticism of Israel.Stop spying on Arab/Muslim Americans.Stop labeling Palestine-solidarity groups Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) as extremistQuit calling Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) as a pro-Hamas groupQuit labeling the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) as a pro-terror groupProvide proof that Samidoun has raised funds for the PFLP or shut up.Before badmouthing other pro-Palestinian groups, ADL should first register as foreign lobbying group as required by US law. I wonder if we can also do the same with all US and Canadian tax-exempt charities that fund settlements in occupied territories? They're criminals under international law as expressed by the ICJ in 2012 and again 2024 - not to mention a recent UNGA resolution. Given the current Israeli genocide in Gaza, the US and Canadian governments should also treat anyone who enlist in the IOF and take part in the war against Palestinians and Lebanese as we treat Americans and Canadians who join groups in the Middle East to fight against US and NATO occupation forces. Terrorists. Just a thought! I do stand by Samidoun because it is a human rights organization, not a terror group! Mahmoud El-Yousseph is a Palestinian freelancer for Islamicity.com and ColumbusFreePress.com. He can be reached at elyousseph6@yahoo.com.