You may have heard recently about Samidoun, an extremist, anti-Israel, organization with a branch in Vancouver, ostensibly working to liberate Palestinian prisoners convicted of terrorism in Israel and elsewhere. This week, Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the federal Conservatives, demanded the government declare Samidoun a terrorist organization—as several other countries have already done. Doing so would block Samidoun’s ability to fundraise and would make it a crime for anyone to support it. Jewish leaders have long urged the same thing, citing evidence that Samidoun’s Canadian-based founders are members of a militant anarchist terrorist group known as the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The PFLP is outlawed in Canada, the U.S., the U.K., Germany, Israel and many other countries for carrying out dozens of suicide bombings, assassinations and airplane hijackings. But Samidoun’s status in Canada fell under scrutiny this week, after the group organized protests to coincide with the anniversary of Oct. 7. Some supporters tried to set fire to a Canadian flag, calling, “Death to Canada, death to USA and death to Israel.” Meanwhile, authorities in British Columbia were forced to lift bail conditions that had prevented Samidoun’s Vancouver-based director, Charlotte Kates, from participating in any protests for a period of six months. Kates was arrested in April after giving an antisemitic speech that praised the Oct. 7 massacre. But charges had not yet been laid before the bail deadline expired on Oct. 8. Kates is married to Khaled Barakat, suspected of being a high-ranking member of the PFLP, who also was granted Canadian citizenship. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, we’re joined by Gerald Steinberg, who founded the pro-Israel research institute NGO Monitor, to explain more about Samidoun’s terrorist ties and outline its operations on Canadian campuses.

What we talked about

• Read when Vancouver police arrested Charlotte Kates of Samidoun in May 1, 2024 after she praised the Oct. 7 massacre during a public rally in Vancouver, in The CJN.
• Read NGO Monitor’s fact sheet about Samidoun in Canada.
• Watch B’nai Brith’s video compilation of Samidoun director Charlotte Kates speeches in Toronto and elsewhere supporting convicted terrorists and suicide bombers, and sign a petition demanding Ottawa act.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

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• Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

In Montreal, 8,000 people watched wreaths laid on the stage. In Toronto, 20,000 people recited the Kaddish prayer. An interfaith choir sung in Ottawa. All across Canada, tens of thousands of Canadians gathered to observe the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel and remember the Jewish victims who had Canadian ties. The Oct. 7 anniversary also sparked political controversy in the House of Commons, when Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre condemned the Liberal government’s stance on Israel’s right to defend itself, and for not doing more to curb the explosion of antisemitism we’ve seen in Canada after Oct. 7. While the prime minister was absent from Question Period—he spoke to Ottawa’s Jewish community in person later that evening—all lawmakers in the House of Commons agreed to observe a moment of silence for the 1,200 Israeli victims of that dark day. On today’s episode of The CJN Daily, you’ll hear the politicians trade accusations across the floor of Parliament, and also hear some of what Jewish Canada sounded like from coast to coast, as Jews and non-Jewish allies marked the solemn anniversary of Oct. 7.

What we talked about:

• Read Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s statement on Oct. 7, 2024 and also watch his remarks and those of Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre speaking at the Jewish Federation of Ottawa’s evening vigil.
• Watch the Montreal Jewish community memorial rally here.
• Watch the Toronto Jewish community rally here.
• Watch the Vancouver rally here.

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)

Kibbutz Be’eri survivor Thomas Hand spent nearly a month last year believing his youngest daughter Emily, then 8, had been killed by Hamas terrorists who stormed their Israeli farming community on Oct. 7 and slaughtered over 100 residents. Hand would later learn that Emily had actually been one of the 30 Kibbutz Be’eri residents kidnapped into Gaza that day. The girl was held for 50 days-not in a tunnel, as it turns out, but in private apartments together four other Kibbutz members and also with Noa Argamani, the Nova music festival hostage, until the cease-fire/ prisoner exchange in November 2023 saw Emily among those released. Hand, 64, and his daughter, now 9, are trying to rebuild their lives. They and others from Be’eri have moved into a new temporary home at Kibbutz Hazterim, near Beersheba, away from their own bullet-riddled house, while the kibbutz rebuilds. Ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack, Hand and his daughter flew to Canada, to Vancouver, to share their story, and also some memories of Canadian victim Vivian Silver, a neighbour on the kibbutz. On this episode of The CJN Daily, Thomas Hand joins host Ellin Bessner, with some tough words for the Canadian government, which he accused of “giving Hamas a reward for the violence caused to Israeli citizens.”

What we talked about:

• Read more about the memorial projects being assembled for the victims of Oct. 7, including Vivian Silver, of Kibbutz Be’eri, in The CJN.
• Learn more about Kibbutz Be’eri’s fundraising campaign to return home in 2026.
• Here’s a list of memorial events being held for Oct. 7 across Canada, in The CJN.
• Example

Credits

• Host and writer: Ellin Bessner (@ebessner)
• Production team: Zachary Kauffman (producer), Michael Fraiman (executive producer)
• Music: Dov Beck-Levine

Support our show

• Subscribe to The CJN newsletter
• Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt)
• Subscribe to The CJN Daily (Not sure how? Click here)