RSS
Canadian Police Raid Home of Samidoun Terror Charity Leader
Graffiti of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s logo in the West Bank city of Nablus. Photo: Harry Pockets.
JNS.org – Vancouver police raided the home of anti-Israel activist Charlotte Kates, 44, late last week as part of an investigation into her alleged violation of hate-crime laws.
“This is part of an ongoing investigation, a hate-crimes investigation,” Sgt. Steve Addison of the Vancouver Police Department told Canada’s Global News.
Kates, a former president of the University of Guelph, is the international coordinator of the Vancouver-based nonprofit Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, together with her husband, Khaled Barakat, a former senior official of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist organization.
Neighbors reported hearing a “bang” at around 9 a.m. and saw an armored police vehicle and the heavily armed Vancouver Police Department’s Emergency Response Team.
“I saw what looked like a tank with guys in tactical gear outside aiming a teargas gun at the house,” one neighbor told Global News.
One person was arrested at the home and then released, police said, without identifying the suspect arrested since charges had not been laid.
The investigation was opened on April 26 after a video on social media showed Kates making pro-terrorism statements at a demonstration involving several hundred outside the Vancouver Art Gallery.
In the video, Kates shouts from the art gallery steps that Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Hezbollah are not terrorist organizations. “These are resistance fighters. These are our heroes.”
She also said, “We say today, ‘Long live October 7.’” The crowd shouted the refrain back, the CBC reported.
“Portions of the video have been widely shared on social media, and viewed several hundred thousand times,” a police statement said at the time.
Kates was arrested on May 1 and later released with an order to appear in court on Oct. 8. She was told not to attend any more “protests, rallies or assemblies.”
Samidoun was designated a terror entity by the U.S. and Canada in a joint action on Oct. 15.
In the announcement, the U.S. Treasury Department described Samidoun as “a sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization.
“The PFLP, which was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the U.S. Department of State in October 1997 and October 2001, respectively, uses Samidoun to maintain fundraising operations in both Europe and North America.”
In August, Kates received a human rights award in Iran.
And in April, she spoke at an unauthorized Columbia University event, in which she said, “There is nothing wrong with being a member of Hamas, being a leader of Hamas, being a fighter in Hamas,” The New York Times reported.
According to Samidoun’s website, Kates and Barakat have been denied entry into Germany, which lists the organization as a terrorist entity. Its offices in Germany were raided in fall 2023.
The Netherlands, which designated Samidoun a terrorist organization last month, also denied the two entry in 2022, according to Samidoun’s website.
Samidoun is also listed as a terrorist entity by the European Union and Israel.
On May 4, 2022, B’nai Brith Canada started a letter-writing petition calling on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to declare Samidoun a terrorist entity and deport Kates, a U.S. citizen, and Barakat for incitement.
“It is essential that Canada’s leaders take proactive measures to ensure that our country remains a safe place for all Canadians. We will never allow the future of our democracy to be in the hands of terrorists,” said Michael Mostyn, B’nai Brith Canada’s chief executive officer.
The post Canadian Police Raid Home of Samidoun Terror Charity Leader first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
RSS
Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
RSS
Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.