Biden admin outlaws Palestinian organization for funding terrorism: 'Sham charity'

JERUSALEM—The Biden administration on Tuesday designated the Palestinian non-governmental organization Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network as an "international fundraiser" for a Palestinian terrorist group.

The classification of Samidoun as a terrorist organization comes six months after Fox News Digital published a May expose on calls for the Biden administration to outlaw the Palestinian group in the U.S.

The U.S. Treasury Department announced on its website that "In a joint action with Canada, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, or ‘Samidoun,’ a sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization."

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The U.S. government designated the PFLP a foreign terrorist organization in 1997. According to Treasury, the PFLP "uses Samidoun to maintain fundraising operations in both Europe and North America. Also designated today is Khaled Barakat, a member of the PFLP’s leadership. Together, Samidoun and Barakat play critical roles in external fundraising for the PFLP."

Samidoun has chapters in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Iran, as well as in numerous European countries, including Sweden, France and Spain. Germany outlawed Samidoun in November and Israel classified the Palestinian organization as a terrorist entity in 2021. 

"Organizations like Samidoun masquerade as charitable actors that claim to provide humanitarian support to those in need, yet in reality divert funds for much-needed assistance to support terrorist groups," said Bradley T. Smith, acting under secretary of the treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence. "The United States, together with Canada and our like-minded partners, will continue to disrupt those who seek to finance the PFLP, Hamas, and other terrorist organizations."

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Dominic LeBlanc, Canada's minister of public safety, democratic institutions and intergovernmental affairs, followed suit, annoucing that "Canada remains committed to working with our key partners and allies, like the United States, to counter terrorist organizations and their fundraisers." He continued, "Today’s joint action with the U.S. sends a strong message that our two nations will not tolerate this type of activity and will do everything in our power to ensure robust measures are in place to address terrorist financing."

The Trudeau administration has faced criticism for failing to act to combat huge levels of antisemitism since the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre of Israelis. Canada's Global News reported a Jewish school for girls was shot at for a second time in a year on the eve of Yom Kippur on Friday in Toronto.

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The Treasury Department said the ban on Samidoun builds on its actions to counter terrorism after Hamas’ massacre of nearly 1,200 people, including over 30 Americans, in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

The goal of the latest Treasury sanction is to crack down on "terrorists and terrorist organizations that abuse the nonprofit organization sector by raising funds under the guise of charitable work," wrote the agency.

Samidoun lashed out at the U.S.and Canada for listing its organization as a terrorist group, writing on its website, "Samidoun is particularly targeted because of our political and vocal support for the Palestinian prisoners movement and the Palestinian people’s right to resistance."

The outlawed group defiantly declared, "Our response to this designation is clear: we will keep struggling to stop the genocide, stop imperialist support for Israel, until the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea."