Repression against Palestinians and their supporters has been worsening in recent months

The latest of these politically motivated charges happened a few days ago in Vancouver, BC, where Charlotte Kates, the international coordinator of Samidoun, was briefly detained and charged with alleged “hate speech” offenses. She was released on the outrageous condition that she does not attend any “protests, rallies or assemblies” until the court date of Oct. 8 (five months away). All this apparently for supporting the right of the Palestinian resistance to fight back against Zionist military oppression and saying “Long live October 7” during a rally speech on April 26.

The Zionist lobby has been on a witch hunt against Kates, Samidoun and her husband, Khaled Barakat; for several years now they have been pushing the federal government to include Samidoun on Canada’s “terrorist” list. CIJA [The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs] even included this demand as part of their last election platform. However, Kates questioning why Palestinian resistance groups are already on that same list is somehow unacceptable.