A leader of the pro-Palestinian activist group Samidoun, arrested last week by Vancouver police in connection with an alleged hate crime, took part in an online discussion with a spokesman of the terrorist group Hamas this week.
Charlotte Kates, who serves as international co-ordinator for Samidoun, took part in a May 5 discussion with Osama Hamdan. Mr. Hamdan has been a media spokesman for Hamas since the Oct. 7 mass killings in Israel and was formerly a representative for the group in Lebanon.
Ms. Kates spoke of her brush with law enforcement earlier this month in the video, saying she had been arrested by the Vancouver police for “giving a speech that was unequivocally in support of the Palestinian resistance.”
Ms. Kates was arrested as part of a police investigation into a potential violation of hate speech laws after she praised the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas as “heroic and brave.” The attacks killed around 1,200 people in Israel, the majority of which were civilians.
Ms. Kates was banned from attending any protests, rallies, or assemblies until Oct. 8 as a result of her arrest, and is facing undisclosed charges, according to a statement from Samidoun.
Mr. Hamdan, meanwhile, characterized the Oct. 7 attacks as a “response to the process to liquidate the Palestinian struggle,” calling the violence an attempt to revive the Palestinian struggle.
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According to Ms. Kates, Israel has no future in the region. She said Oct. 7 “made it clear that it is not only possible to imagine a Palestine that is free of Zionism and a region that is free of imperialism but that is a future that can and will be accomplished by the Palestinian people and by their resistance.”
The recent pro-Palestine occupations at major Canadian and American universities were also mentioned by both Ms. Kates and Mr. Hamdan.
“We are seeing university students take to their campuses, take to the streets, and build encampments and say that this university cannot continue to operate as normal so long as it continues to be complicit in genocide,” Ms. Kates said.
The university occupiers were also praised by Mr. Hamdan, who said that he saw the occupiers and protestors as “heroes,” adding “this battle will not stop when the aggression against Gaza stops. The true battle is the destruction of the occupation.”
Samidoun, the pro-Palestinian activist group Ms. Kates is associated with, has previously been criticized for praising the actions of Hamas regarding Oct. 7 and was banned in Germany last year as a result of its activities.
“Samidoun is an international network which disseminates anti-Israel and anti-Jewish propaganda while claiming to promote solidarity with prisoners in different countries,” German Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser said. “Samidoun also supported and glorified various foreign terrorist organizations, including Hamas.”
While Canada has designated Hamas as a terrorist group, Samidoun has not been banned or had its activities restricted by the federal government.
Conservative Party Deputy Leader Melissa Lantsman noted earlier this year that Samidoun has ties to “the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and other entities that have been recognized by the government as terrorist entities,” and questioned what action has been taken by the government against Samidoun and its members.
In a response on Jan. 29, Liberal MP Jennifer O'Connell, who serves as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety, said that the government takes terror threats seriously but could not comment on specific groups be considered for terrorist classification.
The Epoch Times contacted Samidoun and the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
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