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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.
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Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
The Israeli army said on Saturday that a missile fired from Yemen towards Israeli territory had been “most likely successfully intercepted,” while Yemen’s Houthi forces claimed responsibility for the launch.
Israel has threatened Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement – which has been attacking Israel in what it says is solidarity with Gaza – with a naval and air blockade if its attacks on Israel persist.
The Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group was responsible for Saturday’s attack, adding that it fired a missile towards the southern Israeli city of Beersheba.
Since the start of Israel’s war in Gaza in October 2023, the Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been firing at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade.
Most of the dozens of missiles and drones they have launched have been intercepted or fallen short. Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes.
The post Israel Says Missile Launched by Yemen’s Houthis ‘Most Likely’ Intercepted first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel
People attend the funeral procession of Iranian military commanders, nuclear scientists and others killed in Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 28, 2025. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Large crowds of mourners dressed in black lined streets in Iran’s capital Tehran as the country held a funeral on Saturday for top military commanders, nuclear scientists and some of the civilians killed during this month’s aerial war with Israel.
At least 16 scientists and 10 senior commanders were among those mourned at the funeral, according to state media, including armed forces chief Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Revolutionary Guards commander General Hossein Salami, and Guards Aerospace Force chief General Amir Ali Hajizadeh.
Their coffins were driven into Tehran’s Azadi Square adorned with their photos and national flags, as crowds waved flags and some reached out to touch the caskets and throw rose petals onto them. State-run Press TV showed an image of ballistic missiles on display.
Mass prayers were later held in the square.
State TV said the funeral, dubbed the “procession of the Martyrs of Power,” was held for a total of 60 people killed in the war, including four women and four children.
In attendance were President Masoud Pezeshkian and other senior figures including Ali Shamkhani, who was seriously wounded during the conflict and is an adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as Khamenei’s son Mojtaba.
“Today, Iranians, through heroic resistance against two regimes armed with nuclear weapons, protected their honor and dignity, and look to the future prouder, more dignified, and more resolute than ever,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, who also attended the funeral, said in a Telegram post.
There was no immediate statement from Khamenei, who has not appeared publicly since the conflict began. In past funerals, he led prayers over the coffins of senior commanders ahead of public ceremonies broadcast on state television.
Israel launched the air war on June 13, attacking Iranian nuclear facilities and killing top military commanders as well as civilians in the worst blow to the Islamic Republic since the 1980s war with Iraq.
Iran retaliated with barrages of missiles on Israeli military sites, infrastructure and cities. The United States entered the war on June 22 with strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
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Israel, the only Middle Eastern country widely believed to have nuclear weapons, said it aimed to prevent Tehran from developing its own nuclear weapons.
Iran denies having a nuclear weapons program. The U.N. nuclear watchdog has said it has “no credible indication” of an active, coordinated weapons program in Iran.
Bagheri, Salami and Hajizadeh were killed on June 13, the first day of the war. Bagheri was being buried at the Behesht Zahra cemetery outside Tehran mid-afternoon on Saturday. Salami and Hajizadeh were due to be buried on Sunday.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he would consider bombing Iran again, while Khamenei, who has appeared in two pre-recorded video messages since the start of the war, has said Iran would respond to any future US attack by striking US military bases in the Middle East.
A senior Israeli military official said on Friday that Israel had delivered a “major blow” to Iran’s nuclear project. On Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that Israel and the US “failed to achieve their stated objectives” in the war.
According to Iranian health ministry figures, 610 people were killed on the Iranian side in the war before a ceasefire went into effect on Tuesday. More than 4,700 were injured.
Activist news agency HRANA put the number of killed at 974, including 387 civilians.
Israel’s health ministry said 28 were killed in Israel and 3,238 injured.
The post Iran Holds Funeral for Commanders and Scientists Killed in War with Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival
Revellers dance as Avril Lavigne performs on the Other Stage during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, in Pilton, Somerset, Britain, June 30, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Dylan Martinez
i24 News – Chants of “death to the IDF” were heard during the English Glastonbury music festival on Saturday ahead of the appearance of the pro-Palestinian Irish rappers Kneecap.
One half of punk duo based Bob Vylan (who both use aliases to protect their privacy) shouted out during a section of their show “Death to the IDF” – the Israeli military. Videos posted on X (formerly Twitter) show the crowd responding to and repeating the cheer.
This comes after officials had petitioned the music festival to drop the band. The rap duo also expressed support for the following act, Kneecap, who the BCC refused to show live after one of its members, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh – better known by stage name Mo Chara – was charged with a terror offense.
The post Pro-Palestinian Rapper Leads ‘Death to the IDF’ Chant at English Music festival first appeared on Algemeiner.com.