Several Instagram and YouTube accounts associated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-affiliated NGO Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network have been removed in recent weeks.
The latest Samidoun accounts, belonging to the Vancouver and Toronto chapters, were deleted around July 10 and last Tuesday, respectively.
Samidoun Toronto had been involved in the encampment that had been dismantled at University of Toronto on July 4, handing out booklets with Hamas logos discussing the terrorist group’s narrative of “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.” A social media post of these pamphlets led to removal of the content on June 5, according to Samidoun. The account had other posts removed on April 10 and June 10, with Meta citing community guidelines on “dangerous individuals and organizations.”
Samidoun Vancouver had held an event on Monday about PFLP spokesman Ghassan Kanafani and the “art, writing and politics of Palestinian resistance and revolution.”
“We will discuss the significance of Kanafani’s work and struggle in light of today’s Palestinian resistance and revolution with Gaza at the heart, to inspire and guide us as we struggle to end the genocide and for a liberated Palestine, from the river to the sea,” the group had written on social media.
The Vancouver chapter’s account was removed soon after the event.
Instagram removes Samidoun's main Instagram account
Samidoun’s main Instagram account was removed on June 24, after it posted a statement on behalf of Palestinian terrorist groups’ student movements.
The main account’s removal was preceded by the suspension of several other accounts. Samidoun Manchester was removed on June 21, Samidoun Albuquerque on June 15, British affiliate Victory to the Intifada on June 5, Samidoun Netherland on June 3, Samidoun New York and New Jersey on April 29, and Samidoun Goteborg and Samidoun Paris Banlieue on April 10.
Samidoun Paris also had posts removed about PFLP general secretary Ahmad Sa’adat, PFLP member Khalida Jarrar, and former Palestinian Islamic Jihad spokesman Khader Adnan.
“Beginning in April, shadow-banning, post and story removal, account restrictions, and suspensions on Instagram became commonplace for Samidoun chapters globally.” the group said on June 24. “Meta’s targeting of Samidoun Network does not operate in isolation. It is the culmination of their continued censorship of anything that challenges the Zionist occupation it protects.”
Samidoun said that it would continue to “resist” Meta censorship and would operate from Telegram.
On June 24 Samidoun’s YouTube channel was deleted simultaneously with that of its international coordinator Charlotte Kates.
“The Zionist regime is actively seeking to ban and silence the content of people confronting its genocide against the Palestinian people, to prevent people around the world from communicating, and of course, at the heart of this effort, to block the communication lines of the Palestinian people, and especially the prisoners and the resistance movement that is daily confronting its genocidal assault,” Samidoun said in response.
Kates was arrested in May after giving a late April speech in which she led Samidoun Vancouver and other activists in chants of “Long live October 7.” She had praised the PFLP, Hamas and Hezbollah, and called for their removal from Canada’s list of terrorist entities. Kates had previously called for support of Hamas and other groups at an online March 24 lecture at Columbia University. The Samidoun coordinator is married to alleged PFLP operative and former Samidoun leader Khaled Barakat.
Samidoun has been designated by Israel as a branch of the PFLP terrorist group since 2021.