Western governments are using elastic and dangerous laws to target Palestine solidarity organisations and individuals, but we must not be intimidated, argues John Clarke

On 15 October, the US and Canadian governments took coordinated action to try to stifle the activities of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. The US added Samidoun to the Treasury Department’s list of sanctioned organisations and individuals, while their Canadian counterparts designated it a ‘terrorist entity’ under the country’s criminal code. This attack follows the banning of Samidoun in Germany last October at the behest of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Samidoun rapidly described the measures that had been directed against it as ‘an attempt to repress political organizing in support of the Palestinian people’s struggle against genocide, colonialism and occupation, and the more than 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners that are being tortured and killed by the Zionist entity.’ A solidarity statement issued by Unity of Fields and published in Mondoweiss noted that imperialists ‘have always weaponized “terrorist” labels to delegitimize liberation movements, but the designation of Samidoun, an unarmed solidarity movement, is a qualitative escalation.’

Politically motivated

The Canadian authorities made it very clear that their intention was to cut Samidoun off from its supporters and to suppress its activities. An official statement stressed that ‘it is a criminal offence for anyone in Canada and Canadians abroad to knowingly deal with property owned or controlled by a terrorist group, and that it is also an offence to directly or indirectly provide property knowing that it will be used by or benefit a terrorist group.’

The statement asserted that ‘Samidoun has close links with and advances the interests of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which is a listed terrorist entity in Canada, the United States and the European Union.’ For its part, the US Department of the Treasury was considerably bolder and described Samidoun as ‘a sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization.’

Without accepting the right of Western governments to deem components of the Palestinian resistance movement to be ‘terrorist’ organisations, Samidoun has challenged these assertions. It stresses that the organisation functions as a prisoner-support network and ‘does not have any material or organizational ties to entities listed on the terrorist lists of the United States, Canada or the European Union.’

Samidoun has long been considered a prime target by Israel’s supporters in Canada and organisations like the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) have been calling for some time for the group to be targeted in just this way. The CIJA made clear that it wanted the organisation’s ability to engage in public activity and campaigns to be curtailed, claiming that ‘Samidoun officials call for violence and glorify terrorist organizations.’

The Canadian legislation that has been invoked in this case is enormously dangerous and harmful. The International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG) argues that while ‘ostensibly a tool to protect the safety and security of people in Canada and internationally, the terrorist entities list is an arbitrary political tool that undermines freedom of association, freedom of expression and due process in the courts.’

The ICLMG also points out that placing ‘an organization on the list is a secret, discretionary process through which the government can consider any information – including untested intelligence … Nor is there a coherent process in place to challenge such a listing. The result is an effective violation of due process and the presumption of innocence.’ At root, the ‘terrorist entities list is a political instrument, often used in discretionary ways to further the geopolitical interests of Canada and its allies.’

There can be no doubt that the attack on Samidoun is part of a broader politically motivated effort to disrupt and intimidate Palestine solidarity. In Toronto, a police ‘Hate Crimes Unit’ has, as described by The Breach, ‘engaged in surveillance, night raids, and “trumped up charges” against the Palestinian solidarity movement.’ This enormously well-resourced police operation has functioned in such a way as to try to further the ‘strategic incapacitation’ of campaigns and actions that challenge Israel’s crimes and Canadian government complicity in them.

Kevin Walby, an associate professor of criminal justice at the University of Winnipeg, has described the activities of this unit as the ‘height of political policing’. He notes that it is ‘driven by pervasive anti-Palestinian sentiment among government officials. And it undermines the very idea of hate speech law when police apply the charges so selectively to serve political interests.’

To make matters even worse, another article in The Breach found that a ‘secretive committee within the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General has given “politically-motivated” backing to the Toronto police’s targeting of pro-Palestine activism.’ This body, ‘known as the Hate Crime Working Group and formed in 2019, it is composed of nearly two dozen Crown prosecutors, some of whose public comments show pro-Israel and anti-Palestinian bias.’

The Breach found evidence of efforts by the working group to ensure that more serious charges were laid in cases involving Palestine solidarity. It also uncovered situations where charges that might have been dropped were followed through with and where people facing charges related to protest actions got particularly severe bail conditions imposed on them.

Just two days after the attack on Samidoun in North America, officers acting under the direction of the ‘Counter Terrorism Command’ of the Metropolitan Police Service raided the home of Asa Winstanley, associate editor of the Electronic Intifada. Though he was not arrested, his home was searched and some of his electronic devices were seized.

The raid on Winstanley’s home is part of a pattern of harassment of journalists and activists involved in Palestine solidarity. Indeed, the ‘letter handed to Winstanley by police refers to the raid on his home as being part of “Operation Incessantness”, perhaps indicative of a broad and ongoing crackdown against critics of Israel’s British-backed crimes.’

The actions of the police were justified on the basis of ‘vaguely worded provisions [of the Terrorism Act] relating to ‘encouragement of terrorism’. As Human Rights Watch has noted, ‘the definition of the encouragement of terrorism offense is overly broad, raising serious concerns about undue infringement on free speech.’ The same readiness to restrict supposedly fundamental freedoms in an effort to stifle pro-Palestine political activity is clearly at work on both sides of the Atlantic.

Broader attack

These latest examples of the ongoing and intensifying assault on the rights of those engaged in Palestine solidarity activities are very much part of a broader pattern. The severe sentences imposed on five supporters of Just Stop Oil in July by the British courts were shocking evidence of an effort to curtail protests through heavy-handed state intimidation.

Last year, Amnesty International commented on the initiatives that a number of US states were taking to limit rights of assembly and expression. sixteen ‘states introduced 23 bills restricting the right to protest, with five bills enacted in four states. Many of the bills would criminalize specific forms of protest, such as protests near fossil fuel pipelines, or increase penalties for existing crimes, such as “riot” or blocking roadways.’

Though efforts to restrict and contain the rights to protest and express dissent have been under escalating attack for some time, there is no doubt that the massive outpouring of outrage at Israel’s crimes that has taken place in the last year has shaken the governing authorities in Western countries and provoked their efforts at repression. Accordingly, we have seen expressions of solidarity with the Palestinian people defamed and attacked as ‘hate crimes’ and even treated as if they were acts of terrorism.

The Canadian and US attempt to suppress Samidoun is a sharp reminder that Palestine solidarity is under a very serious attack and this is precisely because it has gathered such momentum and had such an impact. It has been undertaken, moreover, as part of a broader assault on our democratic rights. We need to challenge this on various fronts but, most importantly, we must continue to take to the streets in defiance of any and all attempts to intimidate and stifle our movements and the struggles in which they are engaged.