‘We acknowledge that the group was shocked by the phrase, and the burning of the Canadian flag … But, we at Samidoun stand by this phrase as the decision to motion that it’s’
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After Samidoun was roundly condemned for chanting “loss of life to Canada” at a Vancouver rally celebrating the one-year anniversary of the October 7 terrorist assaults, the anti-Israel group has doubled down on the slogan, saying it’s an correct illustration of what it intends to do.
“We acknowledge that the group was shocked by the phrase, and the burning of the Canadian flag that got here after the march was concluded. But, we at Samidoun stand by this phrase as the decision to motion that it’s,” wrote the group in a prolonged assertion posted to Instagram.
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Samidoun’s official Instagram account was delisted in June for violating the positioning’s guidelines towards selling terrorism. As such, the assertion was posted to Thawra Vancouver, an account consisting totally of Samidoun-affiliated statements and livestreams.
Final Monday, Samidoun led a mass rally outdoors Vancouver Artwork Gallery on the anniversary of the Oct.ober 7 assaults in Israel. The demonstration had been marketed as a commemoration of “Al-Aqsa Flood,” Hamas’s official identify for the operation that murdered greater than 1,100 civilians in an space of Israel referred to as the Gaza Envelope.
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“We’re Hezbollah and we’re Hamas,” an unidentified feminine speaker advised a cheering crowd on the occasion, earlier than main a chant of “loss of life to Canada, loss of life to the US and loss of life to Israel.”
5 masked organizers — one in all them sporting a inexperienced, Hamas-style headband — then burned a Canadian flag.
Samidoun confirmed that the “loss of life to Canada” chant was led by a member of its group and precisely mirrored its aim of destroying the “colonial, capitalist state of Canada.”
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“We aren’t simply combating towards the zionist state, we’re combating towards imperialism,” learn the assertion.
It then praised the perpetrators of Al-Aqsa Flood, and promised to echo their instance in Canada. “We see it as our responsibility to escalate the resistance right here,” it learn.
This type of rhetoric was in keeping with earlier Samidoun statements. On the rally itself, the group handed out pamphlets detailing the dangers and advantages of “complicated coordinated terrorist assaults” in pursuing political goals.
Within the wake of the rally, the Thawra Vancouver Instagram account posted photos of a Vancouver SkyTrain station graffitied with the phrases “GLORY 2 AL-AQSA FLOOD.”
A caption praised the “courageous resistance fighters” who dedicated the October 7 assaults, and mentioned that in tribute, “autonomous activists in so-called ‘Vancouver’ took to the streets early this morning, graffitiing on skytrain stations, focusing on complicit companies, to remind residents that regardless of the lies of the Occupation and its Western allies.”
Final week, Conservative Chief Pierre Poilievre cited the “loss of life to Canada” chant in calling for the Trudeau authorities to checklist Samidoun as a terror entity. He was joined within the name by B.C. Conservative Chief John Rustad.
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In The Netherlands, the Dutch authorities responded by truly doing so. On Oct. 10, the Dutch parliament voted 100 to 50 to designate Samidoun as a terrorist group.
Though the group is headquartered in Vancouver, it has been energetic in organizing extremist anti-Israel occasions all through Europe. Final 12 months, Samidoun was equally banned in Germany after it led a collection of rallies celebrating the October 7 assaults that, in keeping with German authorities, “showed an absolute lack of regard for human life in an particularly abhorrent means.”
Poilievre’s chief argument towards Samidoun is that it serves as a entrance for a gaggle that’s already a listed Canadian terror group, the Well-liked Entrance for the Liberation of Palestine.
Samidoun was based by a high PFLP member, Khaled Barakat, and makes no try to hide its hyperlinks to the PFLP, which stays an energetic Palestinian terror group. Samidoun’s numerous social media feeds are used to flow into PFLP propaganda, the group has organized North American talking dates for PFLP members, and so they even have fun PFLP birthdays and anniversaries.
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The “loss of life to Canada” chant was condemned by politicians starting from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to B.C. Premier David Eby, though they stopped in need of calling for sanctions towards the group.
Samidoun has been on the centre of the Canadian anti-Israel motion because the October 7 assault, serving to to coordinate tons of of blockades, boycotts and demonstrations in cities throughout Canada.
It was a Samidoun rally held within the instant wake of the massacres, as an illustration, that featured former B.C. Civil Liberties Affiliation govt director Harsha Walia not directly praising the mass homicide of greater than 300 attendees on the Nova Music Competition in southern Israel.
“How stunning is the spirit to get free that Palestinians actually discovered find out how to fly on hold gliders,” mentioned Walia in obvious reference to the paragliders that Hamas gunmen used to ambush the music competition.
Charlotte Kates, the spouse of Khaled Barakat, has repeatedly praised the October 7 attacks in public speeches held all over the place from Vancouver to Toronto to Madrid.
For all this, Samidoun has retained its official non-profit standing, with one in all its solely authorities sanctions being a short lived ban towards Kates making public appearances in Canada — though she’s been free to travel abroad. That ban expired on Oct. 8.
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