The right-wing Postmedia are once again escalating their ongoing attacks on Palestinian writer and activist, our comrade Khaled Barakat, and Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network in Canada. In the latest incarnation of the smear campaign published today in the National Post and the Ottawa Citizen, the Israeli embassy, together with Zionist pro-apartheid organizations, lines up to declare that Canadians, particularly Palestinian-Canadians, should not have the right to speak in Ottawa, Canada’s capital, about the struggle for Palestinian liberation.
Israel lobby organizations like CIJA and B’nai Brith — joined by the Israeli Embassy — attempted to shut down the International League of Peoples’ Struggle conference last weekend in the Canadian capital. However, they failed to do so, and the assembly brought together hundreds of people in marches, meetings and assemblies highlighting anti-imperialist unity and struggle. The assembly passed multiple resolutions in support of Palestinian liberation and against the use of so-called “terror” designations to repress people’s liberation movements.
These forces are outraged about their inability to keep silencing voices calling for justice in Palestine in Canada. It is their failed attempt to cancel the successful ILPS conference that is prompting this continuing smear campaign against Khaled Barakat.
Let us be clear: As we told the National Post (and they severely cut), while Khaled Barakat is not a member of Samidoun, we would be honoured to have him as a member.We look forward to continuing to host his speeches and publish his writing, as we view his voice as one of the most necessary in this movement, with a clear, inspiring, progressive vision of a liberated Palestine and the road of resistance to achieve that goal.
We urge all friends of Palestine to contact us, to invite Khaled Barakat to speak at your events, and to join us in building Samidoun’s campaigns. By standing together, these smear campaigns will once again fail miserably — and we keep our eyes on the goal: the liberation of Palestinian prisoners and the liberation of Palestine.
This is not unique; after Zionist pressure organizations failed to stop CUNY law graduate, Palestinian activist and chair of Within Our Lifetime, Nerdeen Kiswani, from delivering a powerful statement about Palestine, social justice and liberation at her law school graduation after being elected commencement speaker by her fellow students, they have launched a series of smear attacks and even city council hearings targeting Kiswani personally, the movement for Palestine at CUNY broadly and even the legal services provided to people living in poverty by the law school. We urge all supporters of Palestine to stand with Kiswani and the movement for justice at CUNY.
Because these pro-apartheid organizations are so intimidated by the clarity of these Palestinian activists’ and leaders’ expression, they want to have them silenced by force. Because Samidoun highlights the struggle, leadership and resistance of the Palestinian prisoners, they want to ban and suppress us. However, thousands of people have already made clear that they reject these smear campaigns and instead urge Canada to begin respecting Palestinian rights and cut off arms trade and preferential deals with the Israeli regime.
These campaigns are based on the idea that people should not have the right to hear these powerful words for Palestine. Therefore, we want to invite you to hear the words of Khaled Barakat in Ottawa for yourself. Watch the speech at the ILPS conference here:
Watch the “Double Standards” event, featuring Khaled Barakat, Yavar Hameed and Miko Peled, on the use of anti-terror laws to criminalize Palestinians:
Watch Khaled Barakat on the Security in Context podcast discussing smear campaigns:
And watch Khaled Barakat and Nerdeen Kiswani speaking together with Jaldia Abubakra about repression and resistance for Palestine:
The most important response that we can make is to build the movement for Palestine. One of the goals of such campaigns is to divert our compass away from our ongoing campaigns and instill fear in the community. By organizing and building the movement for Palestine, we can show our support for Khaled Barakat and the Palestinian people and cause as a whole. We stand with Khaled Barakat, we stand with the Palestinian prisoners and we stand with Palestinian liberation. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!
On Monday, 6 June, Israeli occupation forces once again ordered Palestinian-French lawyer and human rights defender Salah Hamouri to an additional three months jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention. Hamouri is a Palestinian Jerusalemite, born to a Palestinian father and a French mother, and has faced relentless persecution by the Israeli regime, locking him behind bars and attempting to strip his Jerusalem residency and force him into exile.
As the Justice for Salah campaign notes, “His unwavering resistance to regular harassment, arrest, and attempted deportation by Israeli authorities makes him one of the most prominent examples of Palestinian steadfastness, a beloved son of the city, and a symbol of anti-colonial struggle globally.”
The renewal of Hamouri’s administrative detention comes shortly after he joined the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH) and the Ligue des droits de l’Homme (LDH) to file a criminal complaint in France against the NSO Group, the infamous creator of the Israeli “Pegasus” spyware; Hamouri’s phone was found to have been infiltrated by the notorious spy program, used to target activists and journalists around the world.
Over the years, Salah has been relentlessly targeted by Israeli occupation authorities, subjected to arbitrary arrests, administrative detention without charge or trial, exorbitant fines, travel bans against him and his family, the deportation of his wife and French national Elsa Lefort, and, most recently, the illegal revocation of his permanent residency and forced deportation from Jerusalem on 18 October 2021. Moreover, on 8 November 2021, a Front Line Defenders investigation conducted in collaboration with Citizen Lab and Amnesty International’s Security Lab found that Salah Hammouri had been one of six Palestinian HRDs hacked by Israeli NSO Group’s notorious Pegasus spyware.
Salah Hamouri is a French-Palestinian lawyer and a former Palestinian political prisoner whose case was widely known throughout France as a symbol of injustice and false allegations until his release in 2011 in the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange, only a few months before his sentence was to end. He has spoken throughout France and internationally at events like the World Social Forum on Palestinian prisoners and the struggle for freedom.
The Israeli occupation uses the forced revocation of residency for Palestinians from East Jerusalem as a means to displace Palestinians and forcibly create a “Jewish majority” in the occupied city as well as a means to silence Palestinian activists and organizers. As noted by Al-Haq, “Revocation of permanent residency status is the most direct tool used to forcibly transfer Palestinians from East Jerusalem. This policy which has been used by Israel more than 14,500 times between 1967 and 2015, and is illegal under international law.”
Everything Israel’s apartheid regime has done is aimed at silencing me and encouraging me to give up and leave the country, as they do with any Palestinian who refuses to bow their head and submit to ethnic cleansing. Israeli authorities are creating a bespoke plan of harassment for each politically active person, arresting and harassing them, and where this doesn’t work, stripping them of their IDs or health insurance and targeting their family and businesses. They target those that speak out in order to weaken our collective resistance and to more easily expel us.
My own story demonstrates that the Israeli regime is absolutely ruthless, operating with a calculated cruelty that knows no limits. Our family’s enforced separation is intended to inflict suffering, to deny my children a father and the experiences and joys of growing up in their homeland with the love of my extended family. Interactions with my children are limited to stolen moments over video call, attempts to forge and maintain a connection despite the distance.
This isn’t what I want for my children. But it is better they know that I fought for justice rather than passively accepting ethnic cleansing, better that I do all I can to remain steadfast in our land than acquiesce to Israel’s harassment. I am continuing with my struggle because I want all Palestinians to live with freedom and dignity, and I know this will not come without a fight, without sacrifice on the part of those willing to take a stand.
Last year, Palestinians rose in the thousands to defend Jerusalem, sparking an uprising that spread throughout all Palestinians communities in rejection of Israeli colonization. A new generation repeated its commitment to carry forward the struggle for justice, for liberation and for the rights of Palestinian refugees living for decades in exile. As our people have not given up, neither can I, and neither can the millions around the world who support Palestine, and whose commitment to our cause is more important now than ever before.
During his previous imprisonment, Hamouri’s case won wide support among French popular movements and even elected officials, with over 1,000 signing a call for his release. Nevertheless, French official diplomacy continued to drag its feet rather than defend its citizen, attempting to ban the Collectif Palestine Vaincra and other pro-Palestine associations while a French citizen is jailed without charge or trial in occupied Palestine. French Senator Fabien Gay was denied permission only days ago to visit Hamouri for a parliamentary visit; he noted the lack of official reaction to this further affront to the rights of a French citizen.
Hamouri is currently among nearly 600 Palestinians jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention, all of whom are currently engaged in a collective boycott of the occupation military courts in a protest against this arbitrary imprisonment without charge or trial. Two Palestinian administrative detainees, Khalil Awawdeh and Raed Rayan, are facing critical health conditions after 97 and 62 days on hunger strike, respectively. They are among nearly 4,500 Palestinian political prisoners in total imprisoned by the Israeli occupation.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network denounces the ongoing imprisonment of Salah Hamouri, the use of administrative detention to target Palestinian leaders and human rights defenders, and the ongoing Israeli ethnic cleansing project in Jerusalem targeting the Palestinian people and identity of the city, the capital of Palestine. We urge all supporters of Palestine to take action to demand the liberation of Salah Hamouri and every Palestinian prisoner jailed in the occupation prisons.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network participated in the 5th Assembly of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle in Canada, held in Ottawa between 1 June through 4 June, alongside a broad alliance of anti-imperialist, national democratic and mass organizations working to achieve liberation from Turtle Island to Palestine to the Philippines.
Samidoun is an ILPS member organization; the ILPS brings together over 400 participating organizations from around the world. The ILPS Canada Assembly brought together participants from organizations across Canada an the United States for actions, panels, discussions and planning to confront U.S.-led imperialism and activate revolutionary struggle. The conference began on 1 June with a strong, militant protest against the CANSEC 2022 arms fair, where participants blocked the highway leading up to the arms fair and delayed the speech of the Canadian Minister of Defense.
Activities continued on 2 June with a packed meeting on confronting anti-Palestinian racism and repression, where participants shared stories and experiences and strategized for future joint struggle and organizing. Khaled Barakat of the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, and Charlotte Kates, international coordinator of Samidoun, led a conversation about these attacks and how we can resist them through collective struggle and resistance. They discussed the recent Zionist smear campaign targeting Barakat and Samidoun as part of an overall approach that targets organizations and individuals with a principled stand for Palestinian liberation.
Following the discussion, the conference continued with an anti-imperialist march and rally throughout downtown Ottawa, organized by the Anti-Imperialist Alliance, the local host committee and ILPS organization for the conference (also an affiliate member of the Samidoun Network). Proceeding through the streets, the march blocked traffic in front of Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries (CADSI), the organizer of the CANSEC war fair. After arriving at McNabb park, participants gathered for a teach-in on anti-fascist and anti-imperialist resistance, with speakers from Anakbayan Canada, Anti-Imperialist Alliance, NY Boricua Resistance and other organizations, including Samidoun, as well as musical performances. Charlotte Kates of Samidoun spoke at the event on Palestine, anti-imperialist and anti-fascist resistance:
The conference formally opened on 3 June at Foster Farm Community Centre in Ottawa. In the days leading up to the conference, ILPS itself as well as the conference were subjected to a Zionist smear campaign in an unsuccessful attempt to demand the conference be cancelled. In response, the organizers affirmed their strong commitment to Palestinian liberation that will not be silenced by repressive efforts by right-wing forces. In addition to representatives from Filipino mass organizations like Bayan, Anakbayan, Gabriela, Migrante and Sulong, participants included the Canada Philippines Solidarity Organization, Canada Philippines Solidarity for Human Rights, International Women’s Alliance, NY Boricua Resistance, International Migrants Alliance, 32 County Sovereignty Movement and participants in a number of Palestinian and Palestine solidarity organizations, including Samidoun, the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Youth Movement, Students for Justice in Palestine, SPHR, SUPER, and many more organizations and activists.
Aiyanas Ormond, chair of ILPS Canada, opened the conference and introduced the themes and a series of panels to come. Panelists spoke about a range of liberation movements and the struggle against U.S.-led imperialism, including Nina Macapinlac of BAYAN USA, Chris ‘Perry’ Sorio, former political prisoner and BAYAN Canada representative, and author and activist Yves Engler. The second panel of the day began with a strong presentation by Hanna Kawas, chair of the Canada Palestine Association, on Canada’s role in supporting and sustaining the colonization of Palestine. Billie Pierre, Nlaka’pamux organizer and land defender, Marco Luciano, International Migrants Alliance and Steve da Silva, a writer and class struggle organizer, further explored Canadian imperialism and settler-colonialism as a key threat to the peoples of the world.
The following panel featured Khaled Barakat of the Masar Badil alongside Natalie Knight, an urban Indigenous organizer and chair of the Friends of the Filipino People in Struggle – Coast Salish Territories. Their powerful discussion was accompanied by a video on behalf of the Indigenous Peoples’ Movement for Self-determination and Liberation. Barakat’s speech was a strong call to action that brought participants to their feet, calling for the liberation of Palestine.
The next day, 4 June, the conference continued with workshops on confronting imperialism, building the anti-war and anti-fascist movements. Samidoun coordinator Charlotte Kates and ILPS chair Aiyanas Ormond spoke about the vision and practice for continued organizing toward victory and liberation, including the struggles of Palestinian political prisoners and the Palestinian resistance on the front lines.
The conference then proceeded to the business meeting of the ILPS, which elected the new coordinating committee of ILPS in Canada. The conference passed a number of resolutions, including in support of Indigenous land defense, against targeting of poor and Indigenous families by state agents and officials, against deportations targeting migrant workers, for active building of the anti-war movement and in solidarity with the Filipino people’s struggle confronting the new Marcos-Duterte regime. The conference also adopted a number of resolutions highly relevant to the Palestinian liberation movement, many introduced or co-sponsored by Samidoun, including a resolution against the use of so-called “terror lists” or red-tagging to criminalize liberation movements, a resolution in support of upcoming marches for the right to return to Palestine and a resolution in support of the Peoples’ Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism.
The conference passed a strong resolution on Palestinian prisoners, particularly highlighting the cases of long-term hunger strikers Khalil Awawdeh and Raed Rayan. Following the adoption of the resolution, all present joined in a group photo in front of images of Awawdeh and Rayan, demanding their immediate liberation:
Whereas, Khalil Awawdeh, a Palestinian political prisoner jailed without charge or trial, has been on hunger strike against his illegitimate detention by the Israeli regime for the past 94 days, and
Whereas, Raed Rayan, a Palestinian political prisoner jailed without charge or trial, has been on hunger strike against his illegitimate detention for the past 59 days, and
Whereas, the lives of Khalil and Raed are severely endangered as both have already suffered serious health deterioration during their strikes,
Whereas, there are nearly 600 Palestinians jailed without charge or trial under indefinitely renewable administrative detention orders, among approximately 4500 Palestinian prisoners, and
Whereas, all 600 administrative detainees are currently boycotting the occupation military courts in a collective demand to end administrative detention, including 80-year-old Palestinian leader and lawyer Bashir Al Khairy and Jerusalemite lawyer Salah Hamouri, threatened with deportation, and
Whereas, there are nearly 200 Palestinian child prisoners and many more Palestinian youth initially imprisoned as children, including Ahmad Manasra, who are denied education and appropriate physical and mental healthcare, and
Whereas, the colonization of Palestine is funded and backed by imperialist powers including Canada, The US, Britain and European states, and
Whereas, the Palestinian prisoners are leaders of the Palestinian people and their resistance, and their liberation is central to the liberation of Palestine,
Therefore be it resolved that the ILPS
1. calls for the immediate liberation of Khalil Awawdeh and Raed Rayan and calls on ILPS organizations to engage in public campaigns for their freedom;
2. Calls for the end of administrative detention and the liberation of all Palestinians jailed without charge or trial, and urges organizations to publicize and support the administrative detainees’ collective boycott by building boycott campaigns against the Israeli regime;
3. Urges the immediate release of Salah Hamouri and Bashir Al Khairy and will work to stand with Palestinians in Jerusalem fighting further displacement, ethnic cleansing and and forced expulsion and to stand with Palestinian lawyers and people’s rights defenders targeted for their work;
4. Calls for the immediate release of Ahmad Manasra and all child prisoners and pledges to organize, publicize and support campaigns for their release;
5. Urges the immediate release of Palestinian prisoners in imperialist jails such as Georges Ibrahim Abdallah in France and the Holy Land Foundation Five in the US; and
6. Reiterates its commitment to organize for the liberation of all Palestinian prisoners and all political and revolutionary prisoners around the world, as part and parcel of the struggle to defeat Zionism, imperialism and reaction and achieve justice and liberation in Palestine.
The conference also passed a resolution to fight the siege on Gaza:
Whereas, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been subjected to a brutal siege by the Israeli occupation regime for the past 15 years, and
Whereas, this siege is fully backed and implemented by imperialist powers, including Canada, the US, Britain, Australia and European states, and
Whereas, the siege is also carried out with the participation of Arab reactionary regimes such as Egypt that act at the behest of imperialist powers while normalizing with Israel, and
Whereas, the siege has been deadly, cutting access to healthcare, travel, education and economic development for Palestinians in Gaza, and
Whereas, the siege is an expression of settler colonialism, apartheid and occupation, attempting to divide Palestinians from one another and their land, and
Whereas, the siege on Gaza has specifically targeted productive sectors of the economy, such as small farmers and fishers, who are central to Palestinian food sovereignty, and
Whereas, the Gaza Strip is a center of Palestinian resistance that has resisted 4 Israeli wars of destruction in the past 13 years..
Therefore be it resolved that the ILPS in Canada will organize to support efforts to break the siege on Gaza and work together with organizations to highlight and oppose Canadian complicity and responsibility for the siege, and
Be it further resolved that the ILPS reiterates its commitment to ending the siege as part and parcel of the road to the liberation of all of Palestine from the river to the sea, the implementation of the right to return for Palestinian refugees, and our support for the Palestinian people inside and outside Palestine and their organizing and resistance by all means to achieve that liberation.
The conference passed a resolution on Zionist attacks targeting the Palestine movement, including the attempts to shut down the ILPS Assembly:
Whereas, the ILPS strongly supports the Palestinian people’s liberation struggle for justice and freedom throughout occupied Palestine from the river to the sea, the right to return of all exiled and displaced Palestinians, and the right to resist by all means necessary, and
Whereas, the ILPS stands with our Palestinian comrades organizing in Palestine and in exile and diaspora to achieve those goals, and
Whereas, the ILPS strongly supports the efforts in trade unions, universities, churches and other institutions to end complicity with Zionist colonialism in Palestine, including through boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns, and
Whereas, pro-apartheid, right-wing and Zionist organizations such as CIJA, Bnai Brith, Canary Mission, the ADL and others are engaged in smear campaigns against Palestinian activists and Palestine solidarity activists in an attempt to criminalize and repress these activities, and
Whereas, the right-wing National Post published a front page article targeting Palestinian writer Khaled Barakat as part of this campaign of attacks against student organizers, labour organizers, Palestinian community organizers and others working for justice in Palestine, and
Whereas, organizations across Canada including Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, the Palestinian Youth Movement and student organizations such as SPHR and SJP chapters, have been targeted by such attacks, and
Whereas, these attacks have been brought to the floor of the Canadian Senate and emboldened by Canadian official support for Zionism and rejection of all efforts to address and confront apartheid and settler colonialism, and
Whereas, similar attacks are rampant in the United States as well as in Britain and Europe, where the French government has attempted to ban the Collectif Palestine Vaincra and othe Palestine solidarity organizations and where the Berlin police in Germany banned all demonstrations commemorating the 74th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, and
Whereas, the ILPS 5th Assembly was subject to such a campaign in an attempt to bar the ILPS from organizing the assembly in public space,
Be it resolved that the ILPS supports the campaign by the Canada Palestine Association against Zionist smear campaigns and will work to publicize and organize with our Palestinian comrades to confront anti-Palestinian repression and right-wing attacks, and that we support Khaled Barakat, Samidoun, the PYM and the many activists and organizations subjected to these attacks. The ILPS understands Zionism as a form of racism and an expression of colonialism and imperialism and firmly opposes Zionism and the attacks generated by Zionist and imperialist forces
Further, we pledge to escalate our activity for Palestinian liberation and support for the Palestinian people and their resistance as the most important way to challenge these repressive campaigns.
Whereas, Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh was assassinated by Israeli occupation forces in Jenin refugee camp on May 11, 2022, and
Whereas, Palestinian journalist Ghufran Warasneh was assassinated by Israeli occupation forces as she traveled to work on June 1, 2022, and
Whereas, Ghufran Warasneh was a former political prisoner, and
Whereas, there is a long history of Israeli assassinations of Palestinian journalists, writers and spokespeople, including the assassination on July 8, 1972 of Palestinian writer and revolutionary political leader Ghassan Kanafani, and
Whereas, over 50 Palestinian journalists have been killed by the Israeli occupation in the past 22 years and dozens more imprisoned, and
Whereas, imperialist powers like Canada, the US, Britain and European states continue to support this assassination policy in practice even while expressing words of ‘concern’ unaccompanied by sanctions or any meaningful action,
Be it resolved that the ILPS will act to support campaigns to defend and protect Palestinian journalists and all peoples’ journalists targeted for their exposure of the crimes of the Israeli regime, imperialist powers and other reactionary forces, and will participate in and organize activities remembering Shireen Abu Aqleh and all targeted journalists.
Be it further resolved that the ILPS will support the call by Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network and the Palestinian Youth Movement to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Ghassan Kanafani on July 8, 2022.
Following the official close of the conference, Samidoun convened a cross-country organizing meeting in Ottawa on Sunday, 5 June, where participants planned actions to build the network and the Palestine movement across the country, with intense political discussions and strong commitment to escalating our work to free Palestinian prisoners.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes the ILPS in Canada and all of the participants and organizations who contributed to the success of the 5th Assembly in Ottawa. With multiple strong, explicitly anti-imperialist street actions confronting the war profiteers, meaningful and powerful political discussions and a comprehensive plan of action for the future, the ILPS is well placed for its next steps of struggle. We look forward to organizing together on the road to liberation!
Join Samidoun Vancouver for a public screening of the new and acclaimed film, “Fedayin,” which chronicles the course of a Lebanese communist, imprisoned in 1984 for his involvement in the struggle for the liberation of Palestine — and Lebanon — from Zionist occupation.
From the Palestinian refugee camps that forged his conscience, to the international mobilization for his release, we will discover the man who has become one of the longest-held political prisoners in Europe
Dr. Issam Hijjawi Bassalat, the Palestinian Scottish doctor who had been imprisoned for over 15 months in Britain on political charges — and who is still awaiting trial — was finally released on bail on 13 December 2021. However, he continues to face unjust sanctions and repression in addition to the pending political charges.
During his detention, Issam’s licence to practise medicine was suspended by the General Medical Council (GMC) on 26 October 2020 after the charges filed against him, despite the fact that he has been convicted of nothing and that the charges in no way relate to his fitness to practise medicine or his treatment of his patients.
On Friday, 10 June at 10 am British time (11 am central Europe, 12 noon Palestine, 2 am Pacific time, 5 am Eastern time), the Supreme Court of Scotland in Edinburgh will hold a one-day hearing on the suspension of Issam’s license to practice medicine. This is a public session that is open to public virtual attendance. We urge all supporters of Issam and of Palestine to attend this hearing to show that Issam has support in Scotland, Britain and around the world!
Issam will be representing himself in court and challenging the action of the General Medical Council. While the subject at hand is the medical license suspension, the political nature of the charges against him, the MI6 operation and the targeting of the Palestinian and Irish movements — the reasons for his arrest — are part and parcel of the matter that will be addressed.
Please write to us at samidoun@samidoun.net to receive the link to attend the virtual court hearing on Friday, 10 June. Note that during the court hearing, please keep your sound off and display your name, and do not make an audio or video recording of the hearing. Please make sure to abide by the rules of the court in order to make your support for Issam most effective. Let’s show up in court in solidarity with Dr. Issam Hijjawi Bassalat!
One day before the court hearing, join a Twitterstorm to publicize Issam’s case! Join us to tweet #SupportIssam on Thursday, 9 June at 5 pm British time, 6 pm central Europe, 7 pm Palestine time, 9 am Pacific, 12 noon Eastern! Get sample tweets at http://tinyurl.com/supportissam
TAKE ACTION:
Join a Twitterstorm to publicize Issam’s case! Join us to tweet #SupportIssam on Thursday, 9 June at 5 pm British time, 6 pm central Europe, 7 pm Palestine time, 9 am Pacific, 12 noon Eastern! Get sample tweets at http://tinyurl.com/supportissam
On Friday, 10 June at 10 am British time (11 am central Europe, 12 noon Palestine, 2 am Pacific time, 5 am Eastern time), the Supreme Court of Scotland in Edinburgh will hold a one-day hearing on the suspension of Issam’s license to practice medicine. Please write to us at samidoun@samidoun.net to receive the link to attend the virtual court hearing on Friday, 10 June. Note that during the court hearing, please keep your sound off and display your name, and do not make an audio or video recording of the hearing. Please make sure to abide by the rules of the court in order to make your support for Issam most effective.
Read below for more background on the case:
Who is Dr. Issam Hijjawi Bassalat?
Dr. Issam Hijjawi Bassalat is a Palestinian Scottish doctor facing persecution by the British state. He has been targeted for his commitment to international solidarity and as a political means of repressing both the Palestinian and Irish movements. He was held in British prisons for nearly 16 months and was released on bail, under heavy conditions, on 13 December 2021 after suffering a heart attack behind bars.
Alongside his fellow detainees, the Saoradh 9, he was detained in “Operation Arbacia,” a series of political arrests carried out by British authorities.
He was targeted by an MI5 infiltrator, Dennis McFadden, to attend a bugged meeting with members of Saoradh, an Irish republican socialist political party that advocates for an end to British colonialism and a united Ireland. He was detained on 22 August at Heathrow Airport on the same day that nine members of Saoradh were also arrested by British forces. His bail applications were repeatedly denied before his December 2021 release, despite serious health issues and the damaging effects of incarceration on his and his fellow detainees’ well-being.
Dr. Hijjawi Bassalat, 64, came to the UK in 1995 to work as a doctor, and he is a well-known, respected member of the Palestinian community in Scotland and the father of four. He previously served as chair of the Association of Palestinian Communities in Scotland (today, the Scottish Palestinian Society) and has been active throughout Europe in advocating for Palestinian rights to return, freedom and justice, speaking frequently at meetings, conferences and events.
Infiltration and MI5 Attacks
“Operation Arbacia” sprang from the decades-long infiltration of Irish republican movements by MI5 agent Dennis McFadden, detailed in a Channel 4 News report. Issam was entrapped into a meeting with McFadden on false pretenses after he was told by British officials that he had to pick up his daughter’s passport renewal in Belfast instead of Glasgow. There, he was invited to what was presented to him as a Saoradh meeting to discuss international solidarity and the Palestinian cause; he had previously spoken to a Saoradh Ard Fheis (annual meeting) about Palestine, an open, public event.
Under the emergency laws still in effect in the north of Ireland, his case will be heard by a judge without a jury.
He is charged with “preparatory acts of terrorism” under the 2006 Terrorism Act, based on his attendance at this meeting engineered by MI5. Issam’s solicitor, Gavin Booth, has seen the transcript of the meeting Issam was compelled to attend, noting that “Everything that’s contained within the transcripts and the recordings is about Palestine, is about peaceful and democratic change. There’s nothing in the transcripts from Dr Bassalat that would support violence in any way.” Despite these facts and the presumption of innocence that is supposed to apply, he was held on remand for nearly 16 months as his health deteriorated and his medical license was suspened.
Dr. Issam’s Health Crisis
Dr. Issam Hijjawi Bassalat, Palestinian political prisoner in British jails and a medical doctor, suffered a heart attack inside Maghaberry prison on 9 October. The first judge to hear his renewed bail application after the heart attack said it was not an indication of “changed circumstances,” despite the risk to his life and well-being. It was not until months later that he finally won release.
These delays have added yet more time behind bars to a process in which Dr. Bassalat’s lawyer already declared that the evidence will take him at least 63 weeks to review before a trial could be possible. He already experienced surgery while imprisoned after a hunger strike and repeated protests to spur medical treatment for his injured spine. He did not receive adequate space and time for exercise and physical therapy after his surgery, due to his continued imprisonment.
As he appealed for human rights groups to address his case, Dr. Bassalat said in a statement that “all the might of the British Government” has been used against him, “a single individual [who] dared to challenge the British historic role in creating the Palestinian plight through the Balfour Declaration and the 30 years of the British Mandate in Palestine ending in al Nakba – the catastrophe of the Palestinians in 1948.”
Targeting Issam’s Bank Account and Medical License
In addition to his unjust imprisonment, Dr. Hijjawi Bassalat has suffered further injustice. During his detention, his medical care was initially delayed, and then after he finally received necessary surgery, he was denied pain relief and proper therapy. Despite his condition, he continued to be denied bail.
His bank account was frozen, denying him access to funds and creating even more inconvenience and trauma for his family — again, all while he ostensibly retains the presumption of innocence. Issam’s licence to practise medicine was suspended by the General Medical Council (GMC) on 26 October 2020 after the charges filed against him, despite the fact that he has been convicted of nothing and that the charges in no way relate to his fitness to practise medicine or his treatment of his patients.
Issam is being targeted as a Palestinian in an attempt to justify the MI5 infiltration of public political parties and to smear both the Palestinian and Irish struggles through entrapment and misrepresentation. The presumption of innocence is being cast aside for political gamesmanship. We urge the immediate release of all political prisoners, including the Saoradh 9, detained in British jails, and the dropping of all charges against Dr. Issam Hijjawi Bassalat.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is republishing and distributing the statement below from Palestine Action on the campaign to #FreeTheElbit2, two Palestine Action political prisoners jailed for taking direct action against the headquarters of Elbit Systems, the Israeli arms manufacturer, on 15 May 2022, the commemoration of the Palestinian Nakba. These activists have been denied bail, and their next hearing is upcoming on 15 June. We join Palestine Action in affirming that these two Palestine Action activists, Ronnie Barkan and Stavit Sinai, are jailed as political prisoners for resisting the Zionist war machine, and in calling for action to support the campaign to #FreeTheElbit2.
It is no surprise that the British state is imprisoning strugglers for justice in Palestine; after all, it is Britain that continues to provide ongoing support on all levels to Zionist colonization after its responsibility for creating the Nakba, issuing the Balfour declaration and colonizing Palestine through its imperial Mandate. We urge all supporters of Palestine to take the actions below and to protest at British embassies in your area to #FreeTheElbit2!
Two Palestine Action activists remain imprisoned, after being arrested by police for taking action on May 15th, Nakba Day, the commemoration of the 1948 Nakba which saw 800,000 Palestinians ethnically cleansed from Palestine, at Elbit Systems Bristol HQ Offices. Elbit Systems is Israel’s largest private arms company and markets its weapons as “combat proven” on Palestinians. Alongside seven other activists, they made their way onto the premises of the site, covering the outside of the building in red paint before breaking through an office window and making their way inside while other activists blocked road access to the site.
Once the activists gained access to one of the office rooms inside, they damaged equipment belonging to Elbit. The Bristol location, which is leased from Sedgemoor District Council, is Elbit’s main operational facility in Britain. These activists took direct action against Elbit Systems to demand an end to British complicity with Israeli Apartheid.
The two activists, Ronnie Barkan and Stavit Sinai, are both foreign nationals. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) argued that they were both a flight risk and at risk of “reoffending”, due to having been charged with actions taken against Elbit, during the bombing of Gaza in May 2021. The next opportunity to appeal for their release is at their plea hearing at Bristol Crown Court on 15th June 2021. If they are refused bail at this hearing, they will remain imprisoned until their trial (no date set).
This represents a concerted and intensified attempt by the British State to repress Palestine Action amidst increased actions against Elbit Systems operations throughout the country. Palestine Action’s success to date has been used by the CPS as a means in which to target activists in order to protect Israel’s arms trade in Britain. We refuse to backdown to the crackdown and are calling on our supporters to show their solidarity with the two political prisoners.
PalestineAction declares that these activists are being held as Political Prisoners in the ongoing attempt to repress our growing movement and to defend Israel’s largest arms company from being challenged.
This crackdown of PalestineAction and our activists is a testament to the real threat that PalestineAction pose to Israel’s Arms industry in Britain. But as long as Britain continues to maintain complicity with Israel’s apartheid regime, there will continue to be people of conscience who stand in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle to end it.
74 years of British-backed colonization – it’s time to end the complicity. PalestineAction won’t backdown to the crackdown.
The following call to action comes from Palestinian and Jewish Unity (PAJU) in Montréal, campaigning to stop the participation of the “Israel Premier Tech” team (previously known as “Israel Start-Up Nation“) in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal, in Québec on 9 September 2022 and in Montréal on 11 September 2022. Read the call below and click here to sign on at PAJU’s website.
PALESTINIAN AND JEWISH UNITY (PAJU)
AGAINST THE PARTICIPATION OF ISRAEL PREMIER TECH IN THE GRAND PRIX CYCLISTE DE MONTRÉAL ET QUÉBEC
NO TO THE PROMOTION OF ISRAELI APARTHEID AT THE GRAND PRIX CYCLISTE DE MONTRÉAL
Palestinian and Jewish Unity (PAJU) invites you to join the Quebec and Canadian campaign to exclude Israel Premier Tech, self-proclaimed ambassador of Israel, from the Grand Prix Cycliste Montréal and Québec
Québec : September 9 2022
Montréal : September 11 2022
According to Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, B’Tslem and the former President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, Israel is an Apartheid state. Apartheid is an international crime against humanity.
Facing such serious crimes, silence means approval. The argument that we should not mix politics and sports is false. Government financing of sports is clearly political when a participant has the aim of promoting Israeli Apartheid.
The Union Cycliste International (UCI) has banned Russian and Belarus teams from its international calendar including the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal and Québec. Most Russian and Belarus athletes have not taken a position on the war in Ukraine.
The Israel Premier Tech (Israel Start-up Nation) has proclaimed itself an ambassador of Israel to the world and requires that all its racers also be ambassadors for Israel. The Grand Prix must not be used to promote Israeli Apartheid.
WE NEED YOUR HELP
We ask you to :
Join the campaign to encourage the organizers of the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal and the city of Montreal to reject the participation of Israel Premier Tech in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal and Québec,
To encourage your members and friends to participate in the campaign.
If the organizing committee and the city of Montreal allow Israel Premier Tech to take part in the race, we ask you to join our non-violent activities to stop the normal functioning of the race.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is preparing for its participation in the 5th Assembly of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle in Canada. In addition to joining other organizers for Palestine and global justice movements on a series of panels and workshops, it is organizing a meeting for chapters and supporters throughout Canada to strategize about Samidoun’s work to struggle internationally to support the liberation of Palestinian political prisoners.
The meeting will also discuss the boycott movement as well as the campaign of solidarity with the Lebanese Communist struggler imprisoned in France, Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, and Palestinian and Arab prisoners in imperialist and reactionary regime prisons.
Samidoun has been a part of the ILPS since Samidoun’s founding around 10 years ago. As a member of the ILPS, Samidoun works to confront U.S. imperialism and expose the ongoing crimes of the colonial occupier against Palestinian prisoners in Zionist jails. Through the ILPS, Samidoun builds its relationships with organizations and movements challenging U.S. and Canadian imperialism, especially building ties to strengthen the movement to liberate political prisoners in occupied Palestine, the Philippines and everywhere around the world.
In 2015, Mohammed Khatib, coordinator of Samidoun in Europe, participated in the international assembly of the ILPS in Manila, the Philippines, joining in the establishment of the Palestine-Philippines Friendship Association and many global campaigns for solidarity with political prisoners around the world, especially in the Philippines, occupied Palestine and India.
The ILPS includes about 350 parties, organizations and international associations that works to confront imperialism and militarism around the world, challenging hegemony, economic and political domination internationally while confronting racism, colonialism and repression in each country, especially attacks on the rights of the popular and working classes, migrants and refugees .
The conference discusses the reality of Canadian imperialism as a primary strategic partner of the American empire, and highlights the role of Canadian companies in exploiting and plundering the wealth of Indigenous peoples, as well as in Asia, Africa and Latin America, while giving exceptional importance to the liberation struggle and comprehensive resistance in the Philippines and occupied Palestine.
Samidoun in Berlin participated in a demonstration on Friday, 27 May against police repression. The demonstration, organized together with leftist German, Turkish and Kurdish groups, challenged a series of repressive acts by Berlin police throughout May, including multiple bans on Palestinian demonstrations, attacks on Kurdish protests and the Revolutionary May 1 march and bans on Soviet flags at the commemoration of the victory over fascism on May 8.
A Samidoun comrade delivered the following speech to the rally:
Dear comrades, warm greetings to all of you.
First of all, on behalf of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, I would like to greet all political prisoners in Germany, prisoner Georges Ibrahim Abdallah in France and the political prisoners imprisoned in Turkey, Greece, the Philippines and in the prisons of the Arab regimes.
We all stand here, Arabs, Kurds, Turks and Germans, students and workers, believing in our international struggle and the justice of the struggles of our peoples. We are fighting together against oppression, united in an international coalition that opposes the brutality and violence of the German police and the apparatus of oppression and systematic state terror against our struggle. We stand united in the face of these attempts to prevent us from exercising our most basic rights, namely to express our opinions in a country that claims to be democratic!
This terror, repression and violence carried out by the police and the government are nothing but a blatant expression of these institutions’ fear of the voices of justice, freedom and resistance.
I would like to express some positions on behalf of Samidoun Network and the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement:
*Despite the policy of isolation, repression and terror, we at Samidoun Network promise the political prisoners and our Palestinian people that we will continue the struggle and mobilization because of our absolute belief in justice and freedom. We say to Israel and Germany: today, after all these attacks, we are stronger and more robust and we are building our revolutionary experiences, which enables us to continue the struggle and not to capitulate and succumb to the policies of European occupation and colonialism.
* The classification of the Samidoun network as a “terrorist organization” by the Zionist occupation will not change our positions in the slightest. Rather, we say that the real terrorist is the terrorism of the state, the police, colonialism and its instruments, and that it must be countered with revolutionary actions. As for resistance in all its forms, it is continuous and in constant development, and it is the right of the Palestinian people and all oppressed peoples.
“Palestine will be free, from the river to the sea!” is for us not only a slogan of justice and liberation and confrontation with Zionism and imperialism. The liberation of Palestine, all of Palestine, from the river to the sea, is a project that we work on every day and it is not just mere words. We believe that our Palestinian people will continue to struggle until victory, return and liberation.
* We invite all of you and all progressive and revolutionary forces in Germany and Europe to participate as broadly as possible in the alliance against repression, to oppose this repression and violence and to provide an opportunity for the unity and collective work of all revolutionary forces.
We repeat what the prisoner Georges Ibrahim Abdallah said: Together we are victorious, and we are victorious only together.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Read below for more background on the case:
