Washington – Zaytoun News
The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) strongly condemns the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designation of Samidoun as “a sham charity
that serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization,” and the listing of long-time Palestinian-
Canadian activist Khaled Barakat “as associated with terrorism.”
Done in coordination with the government of Canada, this designation will have a broad
chilling effect on Palestine solidarity work in North America. Above all, it is designed to
disrupt the unprecedented global tidal wave of support for the liberation of Palestine.
The crack down on our constitutionally protected speech is a worrisome development at
any moment in time but in particular right now as social movements confront the US-
backed Israeli genocide in Gaza, the Israeli war on Lebanon, and the general global
trend toward fascism.
The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) has a proud legacy of defending first amendment
rights, standing against the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and Cold
War repression during the McCarthy era. From representing the Hollywood Ten and the
Rosenbergs to supporting the Black Liberation Movement and Landback struggles
waged by Indigenous peoples, the NLG has fought tirelessly against government
repression—an effort we continue today as we confront the latest iteration of
McCarthyism with claims of terrorism being the new anti-communism. Established in
1937, the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) is the nation’s oldest and largest progressive
bar association and was the first one in the US to be racially integrated. Our mission is
to use law for the people, uniting lawyers, law students, legal workers, and jailhouse
lawyers to function as an effective force in the service of the people by valuing human
rights and the rights of ecosystems over property interests.
As the beating heart of the international anti-colonial and anti-imperial struggle, the Palestine solidarity movement has faced violent repression in North America since its inception. A recent report by the Center for Constitutional Rights demonstrates how U.S. antiterrorism legislation evolved to oppose Palestinian liberation struggles, as early as the 1960s. The first U.S. federal mention of “terrorism” in 1969 specifically targeted humanitarian aid to Palestinians, establishing a pattern of associating Palestinian life and Palestinian existence with terrorism. Subsequent laws and policies, including the first terrorism blacklist and the unique congressional designation of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) as a terrorist group in 1987 reinforced this connection.
Financial sanctions against Palestinian factions were instituted in response to Israeli demands, and Palestinians were a major focus of post-1995 anti-terrorism provisions.
This historical context highlights pre-existing bias against Palestine solidarity organizations within U.S. anti-terrorism legislation. It also reflects ongoing anti- Palestinian racism on the part of the U.S. government and its allies, which is used to
drum up support for the genocide of Palestinians; we reject this racist genocidal project and stand in solidarity with the Palestinian liberation movement.
The unjust targeting of Samidoun mirrors the Los Angeles 8 case, litigated by NLG and other organizations. In 1987, eight Palestinian and Palestine solidarity activists were brutally arrested by the FBI in Los Angeles and held in jail for three weeks before being
released. They too were wrongly accused of association with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and their so-called crimes were distributing Palestinian magazines and fundraising for humanitarian relief. Mainstream media relentlessly called them terrorists, causing a chilling effect across left social movements throughout North America. Shortly thereafter, the National Lawyers Guild and other organizations filed a lawsuit against the US government for its unconstitutional arrests and bogus charges. Twenty years later, Judge Bruce Einhorn dismissed the lawsuit, calling the government’s actions in the prolonged case “an embarrassment to the rule of law.”
The use of the law to criminalize and delegitimize freedom fighters from Indigenous, Black, Puerto Rican and other liberation struggles has a long history in this country. In the years following 9/11, US anti-terrorism and related laws have increasingly targeted not just Palestinian solidarity organizing, but all social movements in the US. The US government is now using anti-terrorism legislation to target the Indigenous landback movement and environmental justice movements, and following the George Floyd and Breonna Taylor uprisings, anti-police brutality activists challenging Cop City in Atlanta face RICO charges. In 2021, Jessica Reznicek, an environmental activist, was imprisoned for “sabotaging” construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline. She received an eight-year sentence, which included a terrorism enhancement.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network is an international coalition of activists dedicated to supporting Palestinian prisoners in their fight for freedom, stemming from the 2011 hunger strike of prisoners in Israeli jails, and has no ties to any so-called designated terrorists. The organization aims to raise awareness of the
conditions, rights and demands of Palestinian political prisoners. Palestinian prisoners are at the heart of the broader struggle for Palestinian national liberation, confronting
Israeli oppression daily and leading the movement for justice. The number of Palestinian held captive in colonial jails has expanded exponentially during the ongoing
genocide, with close to 11,000 Palestinian imprisoned since October 7th, highlighting the importance of Samidoun’s work.
The National Lawyers Guild is outraged by the expanded use of anti-terrorism laws to attack social movements. Like the L.A. 8, this targeting of Samidoun, Khaled Barakat and the Palestinian liberation movement is also an embarrassment to the rule of law, and we call on all peoples of conscience to stand with us as we defend human rights
advocates and social movements that practice their constitutional right to freedom of speech, against the genocide of the Palestinian people. We must fight back before it is too late. An attack on one is an attack on all!
17 Total Count
