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Friday, April 18, 2025
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Joint statement: In defense of our comrade Mohammed Khatib

We are republishing the following statement by Classe Contre Classe, Front Rev and the Popular Committee for Palestine in Belgium. Read more about the attempt to target Mohammed Khatib: Samidoun Europe coordinator Mohammed Khatib threatened with revocation of asylum in Belgium: Speak out to defend Palestine! Mohammed, the European coordinator of Samidoun, is currently serving as one of 1,000 international election observers in Venezuela of the upcoming elections on 28 July. 

On 15 April, in close collaboration with the Zionist state and in the midst of genocide, the Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, Nicole de Moor, initiated a procedure with the aim of withdrawing the political refugee status from our comrade Mohammed Khatib, as well as his right of residence in Belgium. This procedure embodies the imperialist solidarity of the Belgian state with the Israeli colonial state: Mohammed should have his papers withdrawn because his political work with Samidoun, the international Palestinian solidarity political prisoners network, “harms diplomatic relations with Israel”, according to Belgian intelligence.

We are used to saying that the Belgian police work slowly but effectively in their counter-revolutionary work. We note that it can also show zeal and act with speed when it comes to carrying out the dirty work of the imperialist bourgeoisie. It even seems that the whole political-bureaucratic apparatus is ready to sell out its own principles. The few old progressive rags with which the Western metropolitan bourgeoisie used to drape itself are falling to shreds in the light of the ongoing genocide.

Why our comrade? We are not going to repeat what others have said with far more accolade than we have: he was targeted because of Islamophobia, targeted because he was a refugee, attacked because of the political line he represents and hunted down because he was a revolutionary.

We believe that in the eyes of those in power, Mohammed has crossed another red line: practising revolutionary internationalism. Not the kind of internationalism that consists of institutional kowtowing or theatrical displays of solidarity. It’s internationalism from below, genuinely linked to the struggles of our metropolis. In these struggles, shoulder to shoulder, we nourish and enrich each other. An unbearable crime in the eyes of our enemies.

This relentlessness undoubtedly lies in the fact that the Belgian revolutionary left has more to learn from the Palestinian revolutionary movement than vice versa.

Nevertheless, our enemy’s determination to strike our comrade shows us what he fears: revolutionary internationalism.

From now on, we are going to draw inspiration from his way of doing things: we are going to work slowly and methodically in this direction, with Palestine as our compass.

In the meantime, we say to our Palestinian comrades:

Victory for the fighters
Honour to the martyrs
Health for the wounded
Freedom for the prisoners!

Long live international solidarity!

**

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As the Games open in Paris: “Israel” out of the Olympics — Boycott colonial athletics!

As the 2024 Olympic Games open in Paris, France on Friday, 26 July, they have been deemed the “Genocide Games” as they welcome the participation of dozens of Zionist soldiers amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the systematic destruction of Palestinian sport as part and parcel of the attack upon Palestinian life throughout Gaza and all of Palestine.

 

It is clear that the participation of the “Israeli” delegation at the Olympic Games is a direct endorsement of the Zionist genocide in Palestine, especially as the International Olympic Committee swiftly banned Russian and Belarusian athletes from sending a national delegation or from personal participation if they are involved in the war effort in Ukraine. Those who are participating are doing so under a neutral banner — and even this decision is being assailed as insufficiently harsh against Russia and Belarus. At the same time, active Zionist soldiers engaged in a genocide are competing openly, bearing the flag under which the genocide is being conducted. The decisions of the IOC appear to mirror the priorities of NATO, rather than those of justice or even international law and human rights.

In a statement to the Lebanese Olympic Committee, the Campaign to Boycott Supporters of “Israel” in Lebanon emphasized that the IOC is promulgating “rules” that aim to silence individual countries from speaking out against the continued participation of the genocidal Zionist regime. They noted: “The position of the International Olympic Committee and its recent message may explain the lack of response of the Olympic committees in other Arab countries to the messages of the boycott campaigns in those countries, out of fear of the ‘warning’ that reached them.”

The flag bearer of the Zionist delegation, Peter Paltchik, publicly flaunted his enthusiasm to send US-made missiles to rain down destruction on the Palestinian people in Gaza, and their delegation includes dozens of other members and veterans of the occupation military. Olympic athletes even visited occupation soldiers as they were carrying out the genocide in Gaza in order to express their support. Karim Zidan wrote, “Accompanied by the president of the Israeli Olympic Committee and other key officials within the national committee, the three Olympians—Inbar Lanir, Raz Hershko and Tina Nelson Lev—posed for pictures with some of the soldiers and commanders stationed along the Gaza border.” As the heroic Palestinian resistance is criminalized and designated as “terrorists” as they exercise their right to defend their land and people and engage in armed struggle for national liberation, genocidal colonialist soldiers are being celebrated as symbols of international sport by the IOC and the French state.

The Paris Olympics have also, once again, highlighted the complicity of the French state in the colonization of Palestine and the ongoing genocide. French president Emmanuel Macron welcomed the Zionist regime’s president Isaac Herzog, who has not only presided over the genocide but has labeled boycott efforts a form of “terrorism.” This lines up well with the French state’s continued efforts to criminally prosecute activists and organizers for working to boycott and internationally isolate the Israeli regime, as well as its attempts to ban and criminalize demonstrations for Palestine and organizations working for Palestinian liberation, such as the Collectif Palestine Vaincra. France, alongside the United States, Germany, Britain, Italy, Canada and other imperialist powers, has been a full partner in the ongoing genocide in occupied Palestine.

Of course, France also continues to imprison Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, the Lebanese Arab Communist struggler for Palestine who has been jailed in French prisons for over 40 years, despite being eligible for release since 1999 and even having his release ordered by French courts, only for his return to Lebanon to be blocked by French politicians, acting together with U.S. officials.

Thousands of people have joined mass demonstrations in France against the participation of “Israel” in the Olympic Games. CAPJPO-Europalestine and Marchons pour la Palestine gathered daily for two months in front of the Olympic Games Organizing Committee in Aubervilliers. A mass demonstration in Paris — with the participation of Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandla Mandela, the grandson of Nelson Mandela, who has become an international spokesperson for the campaign to exclude the Zionist regime from the Olympics — brought large numbers into the streets against the celebration of genocide at the Games.

Protesters in Toulouse denounced the participation of “Israel” in the Olympic Games, including a rugby team, BRIC – Bourrassol Rugby International Club, that issued an official statement: “Today, we stand alongside the Collectif Palestine Vaincra to denounce the fact that athletes can compete in the 2024 Olympic Games under the banner of Israel, currently the perpetrator of war crimes and responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians.”

The Zionist genocide in Gaza has already taken the lives of hundreds of Palestinian athletes, including 69 Olympians. Palestinian stadiums and sports clubs have been targeted for destruction, and even children playing football in the yard of an UNRWA school where they were displaced were targeted by “Israeli” bombs. Mohammed Hamada, the first Palestinian Olympic weightlifter, has been denied participation in this year’s Olympics due to the genocide; he lost 20kg (44 pounds) due to the Zionist policy of imposed starvation against Palestinians in Gaza.

In addition, hundreds more Palestinian athletes are imprisoned by the Zionist regime, among the over 9,700 Palestinian prisoners in Zionist jails and the thousands more being held, their names and identities hidden, in the notorious detention camps for Palestinians in Gaza, where Palestinian hostages are subjected to the most severe forms of torture, abuse, starvation, medical mistreatment, forced amputation, sexual assault and other forms of state terror. Muazzaz Abayat, an amateur bodybuilder from Bethlehem, who prior to his detention weighed 109 kg and was solidly muscular, was released from Zionist jails emaciated and severely injured. He called upon the world: “We do not want you to free us from occupation. We want you to, at the very least, support our people….I am asking you to look at the condition of the Palestinian prisons. The country they call Israel is killing and torturing prisoners. There are horrible discoveries to be made.”

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all supporters of justice in Palestine — particularly sports clubs, athletes and people involved in international and local sport — to step up the athletic boycott of the Zionist regime. The Zionist regime is engaged in an active genocide against the Palestinian people, and its sporting infrastructure is deeply intertwined with the Zionist project for the past 76 years, including and especially its military. The Zionist sports project is one of colonialism and supremacy, weaponized in the genocide against the Palestinian people. It’s long past time to get “Israel” out of the Olympic Games! Further, we urge people of conscience to boycott, protest and disrupt all sporting events involving “Israeli” teams or representatives of the Zionist regime in occupied Palestine. There is no fair play for genocide, and it is long past time that “Israel” is a pariah in all aspects of international sporting.

As the Olympic Games open in Paris to the celebration of genocide and the welcoming of dozens of genocidal Zionist regime soldiers, their attempt to destroy Palestinian sport must inspire the outrage of all to exclude, isolate and boycott “Israel”. Despite the destruction and genocide imposed by Zionism and imperialism, Palestine rises, the resistance grows, and liberation draws nearer.

Solidarity with the CUNY 27: Drop the charges now — build the global intifada!

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes the CUNY 27, the detainees in New York who were seized by the New York Police Department as part of their violent assault on the campus encampment in solidarity with Gaza and the Palestinian liberation struggle on 30 April 2024, the same night of the violent raid on the Columbia University encampment.

The NYPD’s record of extreme brutality and repression targeting the Palestine liberation movement and Arab, Palestinian and Muslim communities in New York has been extensively documented. The attacks on protesters and the broader solidarity movement have come hand in hand with the NYPD’s ongoing violent repression and occupation of Black communities and have strikingly illustrated the alliance between imperialism and Zionism and the role of militarized policing in protecting genocide. It has also exposed the role of universities in research and development, study abroad programs, and joint initiatives with Zionist institutions, as well as their function in service of US imperialism.

At the same time, the growing student movement — the Student Intifada — has sparked panic in the governing halls and corridors of empire. From members of Congress to Genocide Joe Biden to New York Mayor Eric Adams to a seemingly endless parade of politicians, the student movement has been met with threats, violent police raids, beatings, and thousands of arrests across the United States, Canada and Europe. Students and community members at public universities, often working-class students and students of colour, have been hit particularly hard; for example, the CUNY 22 were hit with felony charges. Columbia students refused to take favourable agreements because the CUNY 22 were being hit with far more severe charges. Now, the CUNY 22 have learned of five more defendants arrested outside and facing even heavier allegations at the hands of the NYPD — meaning that they are now the CUNY 27.

We join the mass movement demanding the immediate withdrawal of all charges against the CUNY 27 and all arrestees, detainees and prisoners facing charges or jailed due to their involvement in the movement for the liberation of Palestine. As over 9700 Palestinian prisoners are held captive in Zionist jails, hostages for freedom, thousands detained with no charge or trial, organizing amid severe torture, abuse and forced starvation, building and leading a resistance movement from behind bars, we must take inspiration in their leadership and advance our struggle for their complete liberation and to bring down the systems of repression targeting the global intifada.

Escalating to end a genocide is not a crime — indeed, it is a duty, particularly in the heart of the imperial core, at a moment when the resistance forces of the region, from Palestine to Yemen to Lebanon to Iraq and beyond, are on the front lines sacrificing and fighting for the protection and liberation of humanity. We must all make clear that the raids and arrests will not intimidate our movement nor cause us to de-escalate our tactics and methods of struggle, but will only lead us to greater unity, resistance and confrontation, to end the genocide and for a free Palestine from the river to the sea.

As the CUNY 22 say:

We are not just fighting for a Free Palestine but for the liberation of all. The fight for liberation requires sacrifice. We fight for ourselves and our communities. Palestine is everywhere, we cannot free Palestine until we free ourselves, and we cannot free ourselves until we free Palestine. The city of New York and their pigs are going to keep brutalizing and escalating, and so will we. Remember, “we are all outside agitators”.  Whether we are fighting in Atlanta, New York City, Sudan, or Palestine, the enemy remains the same. The zionist entity escalates, so does the Palestinian Resistance. The pigs and institutions escalate, so do the agitators of the world!

**

We are republishing the original statement of the CUNY 22, issued on Thursday 25 June, below: 

As of the release of this statement, tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been martyred over the last nine months ––a continuation of 76 years of the genocidal ambitions of the zionist state, a continuation of the Nakba. These numbers do not include the hundreds of thousands missing and under the rubble in Gaza. An entire population is being starved, while over 20,000 are held hostage in the West Bank. Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq continue to respond to the Palestinian call by confronting the zionist entity, smashing all illusions of the occupation’s invincibility while they deal with entity’s outbursts. “The Axis of Resistance bears its responsibility not only in supporting Gaza but in doing more to serve the primary goal, which is stopping the aggression in all its forms.” The fight is not just in solidarity, but in resisting assimilation to the colonial project.  The CUNY 22 attempted to answer the call made by the steadfast Palestinian resistance to escalate from within the belly of the beast. We resist with Gaza.

We are an autonomous group of students, faculty, community members and outside agitators who chose to disrupt the encampment’s status quo in order to dismantle CUNY’s active role in this genocide and ongoing apartheid. CUNY refuses to sever ties with these criminal entities. Instead, it welcomes IOF soldiers onto campuses, promoting these war criminals as “heroes.” CUNY employs former IOF “counter-terrorism” officials, such as maria haberfeld, a professor of police science. CUNY’s partners, like Hillel, organize student trips to IOF bases, providing food and material aid to zionist forces. CUNY funds weapons manufacturers like Boeing, General Electric, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon, whose bombs and jets are used by the IOF to indiscriminately massacre Palestinians. Furthermore, CUNY facilitates US military recruitment through Reserve Officer Training Corp (ROTC) and campus recruitment. Since October 7, 2023, numerous CUNY administrations have issued disingenuous statements about anti-Semitism on campus, yet they remain silent on the ongoing genocide. Instead, CUNY actively represses and condemns any support of the Palestinian right to self determination and liberation, contributing to the widespread racist dehumanization of Palestinians.

The occupation of buildings by students and outside agitators symbolizes reclaiming space and disrupting normal operations to draw attention to injustices and force institutions to address the demands of protestors.  Assata Shakur, prominent member of the Black Panther Party and later the Black Liberation Army, was first arrested in 1967 during a student-led occupation of a CUNY building. The occupation of the CUNY building was part of a broader wave of student activism during the 1960s and 1970s, which sought to address issues such as educational inequity, racial discrimination and social justice. The reinstatement of the Guillermo Morales/Assata Shakur community center, which existed because of a campus occupation, is one of the demands of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment.

As the zionist entity continues its destruction of the Gaza Strip—and the United States maintains its genocidal hegemony from Palestine to Harlem—the working class people of the world escalate. The encampments were an escalatory response, but they often failed to envision an end goal beyond a meeting, a committee or an email. An encampment should not normalize the institution, it should disrupt it, dismantle it and abolish it. A principled encampment should not collaborate with the pigs. This includes campus “public safety.” Anyone that chooses to play the role of a pig is the enemy. CUNY public safety proved to be an enemy to the working class when they attempted to grab a protester on the first day of the encampment. This protester was later arrested and charged with a felony, tracked down by the surveillance equipment plaguing campus. A few days later “public safety” sicced the pigs on a Harlem community member riding through campus, leading to an unwarranted violent arrest, and assaulting a protester in the process.

On April 30th, the night of the CUNY raid, “public safety” brutalized protesters at the encampment and inside the building: pepper-spraying, smashing batons in faces, breaking glass, bones and teeth, harassing and choking us. CUNY “public safety” are the pigs! The pigs are the IOF! The investment and collaboration with the zionist entity by CUNY actively gentrifies and destroys Harlem, a Black neighborhood with a rich history of anti imperialism and Black radical thought. The fight for a liberated Palestine is also a fight for a liberated Harlem, and the destruction of U.S Empire. On the same night of the 30th, a few hours later, Columbia rebels who took Hinds Hall were brutalized by the pigs and arrested en masse for their continued agitation. CUNY agitators spent a longer time in custody, are facing higher charges and continued backlash. The narrative of “good” vs. “bad” protester is a narrative pushed by the state to divide our efforts along class and racial contentions, but in reality–the fight against the same enemy unites us .

Since the violent escalation by CUNY and the pigs, New York revised its penal code of felony burglary after all 22 agitators were charged with 3rd degree felony burglary in a clear representation of state repression against those of us who choose to act against genocide. At the same time, the CUNY Board of Trustees introduced a resolution to spend 4 million dollars on a private security firm that advertises its services to pigs and zionist trained “experts” to spy on pro-Palestine protesters. CUNY’s systemic embrace of violent displacement was exposed on social media when a “public safety” officer working the College of Staten Island’s graduation ceremony was filmed saying “Yes I do, I support genocide, I support killing all you guys, how about that?” to pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

In June, the CUNY 22 had our court dates. Nine of us with CUNY affiliations received full dismissals, nine were offered adjournment in contemplation of dismissal, three were offered plea deals, and one remains with no offer on the table at all. An additional five protesters are being tried separately, facing down heavy charges after being arrested outside of the building. The division of our group has nothing to do with our actions but is a deliberate attempt to isolate us and intimidate us to not continue our fight. We will not be intimidated into silence by the state. The material impact we will have on each other across schools, boroughs, cities and countries may not be immediately clear, but with every step we take we set a precedent for how the state expects us to move.

The City of New York and their pigs continue to escalate their repression of the city. Since the mass arrests and felony charges at the encampments, the pigs have been sending protesters partaking in various demonstrations to central bookings on a weekly basis, pushing higher criminal charges, and heavily brutalizing communities. This was especially glaring on the weekend of Nakba day at a Within Our Lifetime (WOL) action and on May 11th, when the pigs arrested two ‘We The People’ (an ongoing food distribution site) members in Harlem and arrested nine community members doing jail support, sending them all to central bookings. Since resident pig eric adams took office, he has cut the city budget massively to further fund the pigs, sent the National Guard onto public transit, is destroying Chinatown with a massive prison, and is expanding Queens Cop City to militarize city government workers.

We are not just fighting for a Free Palestine but for the liberation of all. The fight for liberation requires sacrifice. We fight for ourselves and our communities. Palestine is everywhere, we cannot free Palestine until we free ourselves, and we cannot free ourselves until we free Palestine. The city of New York and their pigs are going to keep brutalizing and escalating, and so will we. Remember, “we are all outside agitators”.  Whether we are fighting in Atlanta, New York City, Sudan, or Palestine, the enemy remains the same. The zionist entity escalates, so does the Palestinian Resistance. The pigs and institutions escalate, so do the agitators of the world!
https://prismreports.org/2024/05/21/aftermath-cuny-pro-palestine-crackdown/

https://wolpalestine.com/encampments/

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/5/15/alumni-divest-from-cunys-complicity-invest-in-palestinian-liberationhttps://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/5/15/alumni-divest-from-cunys-complicity-invest-in-palestinian-liberation

https://hellgatenyc.com/mutual-aid-harlem-arrests

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/nyc-college-suspends-officer-who-told-pro-palestinian-protester-i-support-killing-all-you-guys/5445484/

References:

  1. Prism Reports
  2. WOL Palestine
  3. Al Jazeera
  4. Hell Gate NYC
  5. NBC New York
  6. revisal of penal code

 

26 July, NYC: Flood Hunter for Gaza – NYC Week of Rage for Palestine

🚨FLOOD HUNTER FOR GAZA 🚨
🗓 FRIDAY July 26th
🕒 3:00 PM
📍Outside Hunter West
Hunter College, New York City

To culminate the Week of Rage called for by Within Our Lifetime, Cuny for Palestine, and National Students for Justice in Palestine, we, the students, protest against police repression and the recent filming of an FBI: Most Wanted episode at CUNY Queens College, along with their mockery of the Gaza Solidarity Encampment.

This is clearly an attempt to demonize the Student Movement against the genocide in Gaza. We demand accountability from CUNY administrators and will continue to enforce our demands at our universities until they are met.

Join us at 3 PM in front of the West Building at Hunter College to remind Hunter/CUNY administration that we will not stop and we will not rest. Long live the Student Intifada.

26 July, Brussels: Rally against police violence targeting the Palestine movement

Friday, July 26
6 pm/18h
Bourse
Brussels, Belgium

We call for a big and strong mobilisation against police; the enemy of the people and the protectors of racist and fascist power!

Police violence is nothing new in Belgium and especially not against marginalised communities. The Belgian police has a history of killing people of colour in their cells, prisons and in our streets.

On the 25th of July we did not only see an increase of that violence but we also saw once again that this violence is targeting Palestinians and the people who dare to speak up against the complicity of the Belgian state in the genocide of the Palestinian people.

We saw innocent people being cornered in the streets, beaten and arrested by the police for wearing kuffiyes or a bracelet with Palestine written on it.

At the same time people waving the Zionist flag are left at peace. Enough! Now more than ever it is clear how far the Belgian state is willing to go to protect the interest of the Zionist state!

We condemn police violence and we condemn the Belgian states complicity in the genocide!

It is our duty to fight the oppressive systems here where we live, only this way we can help our comrades in Palestine who are fighting the oppressive systems they’re fighting.

Join us this Friday 6pm at Bourse against police violence and for a free Palestine from the river to the sea!

Vancouver demonstration slams war criminal Netanyahu’s speech to the US Congress

On Wednesday evening, 24 June, crowds of demonstrators marched through downtown Vancouver and to the US Consulate to express their outrage at the appearance of war criminal, Zionist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in the US Congress in Washington, DC.

The demonstration, which came alongside dozens of protests across North America and internationally as well as a major manifestation of thousands in Washington, DC, brought people together to demand accountability for genocide and an end to US imperialism in Palestine and throughout the region.

The demonstration was organized by Samidoun Vancouver, Masar Badil Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, Free Palestine BC, Canada Palestine Association and BDS Vancouver – Coast Salish.

Speakers discussed the student movement in Bangladesh and Bangladeshi-Palestinian solidarity; represented Samidoun Toronto; spoke on behalf of the Palestinian Youth Movement; and hailed the heroic Palestinian, Yemeni, Lebanese and regional resistance, particularly the armed resistance, confronting the genocide.

Demonstrators sat down in front of the US Consulate, and marched through the Law Courts demanding an end to repression of protesters for justice in Palestine. Khaled Barakat, Palestinian writer and member of the Executive Committee of the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, laid out the clear connections between Zionism and imperialism, speaking in front of the consulate.

Marchers also stopped at boycott targets such as McDonalds and Starbucks to highlight and denounce the complicity of these global corporations in Zionist genocide and colonialism. One participant dressed in fatigues in honour of Aaron Bushnell, the US Air Force serviceman who burned himself alive in front of the Zionist embassy in Washington, DC, shouting “Free Palestine!” after he said, “I am an active duty member of the United States Air Force. And I will no longer be complicit in genocide. I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest. But compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers—it’s not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.”

The next protest for Palestine in Vancouver will take place on Saturday, June 27 at 6 pm at the Olympic Cauldron, in a mass Silent March for Palestine.

Photos by Michael YC Tseng

Glory to the martyrs: Sheikh Mustafa Abu Ora, Palestinian leader martyred in Zionist prison

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network joins Palestinian political parties, resistance movements and prisoners’ organizations in saluting the martyr Sheikh Mustafa Mohammed Abu Ora, 63, a leader in Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, from Aqaba, Tubas, occupied Palestine, who was martyred in Zionist prisons on Thursday, 25 July 2024. This makes Sheikh Abu Ora the 19th documented martyr inside the Zionist prisons since the beginning of Al-Aqsa Flood and the Zionist genocide in Gaza, and the 255th documented martyr of the prisoners’ movement. However, there are dozens (at least 36) of Palestinian detainees who have been martyred under severe torture and abuse after being abducted from Gaza by the genocidal occupation army in the past ten months, whose identities have been hidden from the Palestinian, Arab and international public.

The martyrdom of Sheikh Mustafa Abu Ora comes as part and parcel of a policy of assassination and “slow killing” used by the occupation, targeting imprisoned Palestinians for death through medical neglect, torture, inhuman treatment and abuse. It underlines the urgency of the Palestinian resistance’s commitment to the liberation of Palestinian prisoners, as the occupation is waging its genocide not only in Gaza but inside the prisons of the Zionist regime. 

Tonight, the people of Tubas are marching to honor his memory and demand the liberation of all prisoners and all of Palestine.

The martyrdom of Sheikh Abu Ora was announced after he was transferred from Ramon prison, where he was jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention alongside over 3,000 fellow Palestinian prisoners, to Soroka Hospital. Abu Ora has been seized by the Zionist regime on multiple occasions since 1990 and suffered from severe health problems. He spent a total of over 12 years inside Zionist prisons and has been held in detention currently since 30 October 2023.

One of his sons, Zain al-Din Abu Ora, is currently also detained inside the Zionist prisons. His brother, Allam Abu Ora, was assassinated by Zionist forces during the great popular Intifada of 1987-1993.

Married and the father of seven children, he was systematically denied access to meaningful medical aid, at the same time as the over 9,700 Palestinian prisoners as a whole, hostages of the Zionist regime, have been subjected to severe mass torture of all forms, systematic starvation and denial of food and basic needs, and ongoing medical neglect and mistreatment.

It should be noted that the Zionist prisons are presided over by the notorious fascist Itamar Ben-Gvir, who said on 1 July that Palestinian prisoners “should be killed with a shot to the head, and the bill to execute Palestinian prisoners must be passed in the third reading in the Knesset…Until then, we will give them minimal food to survive.”

Just last year, on 20 July 2023, Sheikh Abu Ora was abducted by the Palestinian Authority after raising his voice to protest the PA’s ongoing policy of political detention and persecution of Palestinian resistance fighters, part of its so-called “security coordination” with the Zionist regime. “He said that these arrests are a betrayal of the blood of the martyrs, the groans of the prisoners, and the pain of the wounded, and called on PA Forces members to rebel against this anti-liberation campaign.” Sheikh Abu Ora was released after mass popular pressure and his hospitalization due to his sensitive health condition. However, his detention is yet another illustration of the role of the Palestinian Authority as an ally of and collaborator with the Zionist regime and U.S./European imperialism, as well as the “revolving door” of imprisonment that includes both PA jails and Zionist prisons.

Sheikh Abu Ora was also one of the deportees of Marj al-Zuhour. On 17 December 1992, the Zionist regime attempted to exile 415 Hamas and Islamic Jihad officials and members to Marj al-Zuhour in southern Lebanon following a resistance operation by the Al-Qassam Brigades in which it abducted and killed a Zionist occupation soldier. They later all returned to occupied Palestine, and the attempted deportation held severe repercussions for the occupation regime as they returned stronger and more prominent leaders of the liberation struggle.

Among the deportees of Marj al-Zuhour were Dr. Abdelaziz Al-Rantisi, Sheikh Youssef Sarkji, Sheikh Saleh Al-Arouri, Dr. Mahmoud Al-Zahhar, Ismail Haniyeh, and a number of other prominent leaders. The deportation to Marj al-Zuhour created a strong basis for alliance between Hezbollah, the Lebanese Resistance movement, and Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement. Leaders of the resistance movement became personally acquainted, sharing experiences, tactics and strategies in the liberation movement. In short, the deportation eventually advanced the collective resistance strategy of unity of all fronts, forming a strong alliance that today is stronger than ever.

The importance of this strategy is apparent today in the resistance to the genocide being carried out by the Israeli regime in Gaza; the resistance confronting this genocide is not only Palestinian, but Lebanese, where the Resistance continues to strike powerful blows on the northern border, emptying it of occupation soldiers and settlers; Yemeni, where the people, armed forces and AnsarAllah movement have shut down shipping to the Zionist Eilat port, causing its bankruptcy; Iraqi, where resistance forces are cooperating through joint operations with Yemen; and throughout the region, stretching through Syria and Iran and beyond.

Resistance News Network reported:

Earlier this year, when Sheikh Mustafa Abu Ora heard about the martyrdom of Omar Daraghmeh, a fellow leader in Hamas from Tubas, he posted the following words on social media:

The eye sheds tears, and the heart grieves, and we are saddened by your departure, dear one.

Whenever I called him on the phone, after exchanging greetings, he would say, “Hello, dear. Farewell to you today, dear one.” We will not hear this from you again except in the eternal gardens alongside the beloved Mohammed, peace be upon him.

Today, you have risen as a martyr in the prisons of the oppressive occupation under deliberate medical neglect and a criminal assassination. The martyr prisoner Omar Daraghmeh Abu Al-Nimr. May Allah have mercy on him and accept him in the highest ranks with the prophets, the truthful, the martyrs, and the righteous. How excellent are those as companions. Allah is sufficient for us, and He is the best disposer of affairs against all the oppressors and conspirators. O Allah, take the severest revenge on them and save Your believing servants.

Yesterday, Sheikh Mustafa Abu Ora mourned the martyrdom of his companion and friend, Omar Daraghmeh, and today he reunites with him in the same way Omar was martyred.

The assassination by slow killing of Sheikh Mustafa Abu Ora, of course, comes one day after war criminal Zionist prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s infamous speech to the US Congress, in which he was met with dozens of standing ovations as he demanded more weapons to continue the genocide, attacked the popular movements in the United States demanding an end to the genocide, and demanded war on Iran. This underlines that the torture, abuse and assassination of Palestinian prisoners, like the entire Zionist genocidal project for the past 10 months and the past 76 years, is equally a crime of US imperialism and their fellow imperialist powers, including Germany, Britain, France, Canada, Italy and others.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network mourns Sheikh Mustafa Abu Ora and extends its condolences to his family, his fellow strugglers, and the Palestinian people, including his imprisoned son Zein al-Din.

We reiterate our words upon the assassination of the martyr Saleh al-Arouri:  From Saleh al-Arouri to Fathi Shiqaqi, Abu Ali Mustafa, Abdel-Aziz Rantisi, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Abu Jihad, Kamal ‘Udwan, Mohammed al-Najjar, Basil al-Kubaisi, Kamal Nasser, Wadie Haddad, Ghassan Kanafani, Mohammed Boudia, Basil al-Araj, Tariq Izzedine to Samir Kuntar; the Zionist regime relies on the assassination weapon against the liberation movement. In occupied Palestine, in Lebanon, in France, in Belgium, in Greece; this policy reflects the presence of the Palestinian people and movement everywhere in exile and diaspora. It marks a failed attempt to suppress the Palestinian and Arab people’s unquenchable will by targeting leaders, scholars, resisters and strategists.

This assassination policy includes the attacks on the Palestinian prisoners’ movement, from Ibrahim al-Rai, killed under torture, to the systematic denial of medical care to Sheikh Khader Adnan, martyred after 86 days of hunger strike, to the killing of dozens of imprisoned Palestinians behind bars since 7 October 2023.

As has been the case for so many such criminal assassinations, they will not achieve the goal of killing the resistance, nor the Palestinian and Arab revolution against Zionism and imperialism. They will only inspire greater resistance and struggle toward the defeat of the Zionist regime, the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea, and the liberation of the Arab people and the region from imperialism and its agents and collaborators. 

 

30 July, Vancouver: Internationalism – Palestine, Vietnam, Bangladesh and the Anti-Imperialist Cause

INTERNATIONALISM: PALESTINE, VIETNAM, BANGLADESH AND THE ANTI-IMPERIALIST CAUSE

Tuesday, July 30
7:00 pm
1803 E 1st Ave, Vancouver

“Imperialism has laid its body over the world, the head in Eastern Asia, the heart in the Middle East, its arteries reaching Africa and Latin America. Wherever you strike it, you damage it, and you serve the World Revolution…The Palestinian cause is not a cause for Palestinians only, but a cause for every revolutionary, wherever he is, as a cause of the exploited and oppressed masses in our era.” – Ghassan Kanafani

Join us on Tuesday, July 30 for a discussion, forum and teach-in on internationalism, anti-imperialism and the Palestinian cause, with a special focus on the historic and current connections between the liberation of Vietnam and the liberation of Palestine, and the people of Bangladesh and the people of Palestine. We will discuss the history of liberation and resistance movements, the alliances forged between these movements internationally, and their repercussions in the present day in confronting genocide in Gaza and throughout occupied Palestine and amid a growing protest movement in Bangladesh. Join us to deepen our understanding and our international alliances for liberation!

25 July, Philadelphia: We Keep Us Safe: Building A Culture of Solidarity In the Face of Repression

  Making Worlds Bookstore & Social Center
210 South 45th Street
Philadelphia, PA, 19104
United States (map)

REGISTER HERE (RECOMMENDED)

As our movement gains strength, it will inevitably encounter state repression. How do we respond collectively to this repression? This workshop will discuss some of the tactics most commonly used by police and federal agents to target our movements, and offer suggestions on how to respond. Topics covered will include: what to expect when being arrested in Philadelphia; the role of the FBI in movement repression and how to deal with federal agents; social media “best practices”; and how to support arrestees and political prisoners.

In the past year, the movement for Palestinian liberation has attained unprecedented levels of mobilization. But strategic reflection and study is necessary to keep the movement moving. Writers Against the War on Gaza offers a series of workshops this summer to deepen the knowledge of five elements of the struggle for Palestine: “PACBI,” “Anti-repression,” “Black and Palestinian Solidarity” and “History of Palestinian Resistance.” All are free to attend.

Laura Martin is a labor historian and a member of the Bay Area Anti-Repression Committee, a bail fund and political education collective.

Tory is a legal worker at Up Against the Law Legal Collective, a Philadelphia-based group that supports local activists.

A Samidoun comrade will also be speaking as part of this event!

24 July, Vancouver: All Out for Palestine — Protest Netanyahu in Congress!

ALL OUT FOR PALESTINE: PROTEST NETANYAHU’S ADDRESS TO THE US CONGRESS

VANCOUVER RALLY AND MARCH

Wednesday, July 24
5:30 pm
Olympic Cauldron – March to US Consulate

The people charge Benjamin Netanyhu with genocide: the brutal murder of what is estimated to be nearly two hundred thousand Palestinians, and the decimation of schools, hospitals, and refugee camps across Gaza.

We charge Benjamin Netanyahu with genocide, along with the every member of Congress that has welcomed him into our midst. We will ensure those who bear complicity are held to account and made to answer for their crimes.

Thousands will gather in DC for a “people’s arrest” of Netanyahu. Join us in Vancouver to act in solidarity and common struggle!

Join us to rally on Wednesday, July 24 — the day Netanyahu is scheduled to speak to the US Congress — to denounce US and Canadian complicity in the Zionist genocide, demand real accountability and call for the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea!

***NOTE: WHETHER OR NOT NETANYAHU SPEAKS IN CONGRESS (due to the anti-genocide resistance of the Yemeni, Palestinian and Lebanese people and movements) WE WILL BE RALLYING AND MARCHING!!

Netanyahu, you can’t hide — we charge you with genocide!

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