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Samidoun agent, designated terrorist, banned from entering the Netherlands

Umito October 28, 2024

Mohammed Khatib, Brussels-based Palestinian activist and European coordinator of the designated terrorist group Samidounwho was due to give a speech at Radboud University in Nijmegen in the Netherlands this week, was barred from entering the country by Dutch authorities.

In a joint statement issued by Justice and Security Minister David van Weel and Asylum Minister Marjolein Faber, Khatib’s presence in the Netherlands was declared “highly undesirable”, with both officials adding that Khatib “legitimates, tolerates and glorifies violence…including organizational violence.” on the European Union’s terrorist list… (and) also actively expresses support for terrorist organizations,” warning of the radicalizing effects of its rhetoric.

The ban comes just weeks after the United States and Canada designated his organization Samidoun a terrorist group, and follows a motion passed by the Dutch Parliament to also ban the group, which must be passed by the government to come into force.

In their designation, the United States and Canada described Samidoun as fundraising on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a designated terrorist organization that participated in killings and hostage-taking during of the October 7 massacre and who supported the assassinations of Rina Shnerb in 2019 and Israeli Minister Rehavam Ze’evi in 2001, among others.

Khatib is the European coordinator of Samidoun, a group designated by the United States, Canada and Israel as a fake charity group that raised money for the PFLP and was banned in Germany for its support of violence and its in danger of public safety. He himself has also been mentioned as a member of the PFLP in several Palestinian and Arabic-speaking media outlets.

This is not the first time Khatib has been refused entry to a country. In 2017, he was reportedly denied a visa to the United States for similar reasons. In this context, it was reported last year that Khatib was at risk of having his asylum status in Belgium revoked due to his activities.

Khatib is also known for his ties to terrorist leaders: in 2024, he led and moderated two webinars with Hamas leaders Basem Naim and Husam Badran in his capacity as the leading figure of “Masar Badil”, another PFLP proxy. , and Samidoun, who endorses violence and terror and is active throughout Europe and beyond, demonstrating a close connection to these figures.

Denouncing violent rhetoric

Khatib’s violent rhetoric has been on display several times, including at a 2022 rally where he stood alongside agents disguised as militants from the terrorist organization Lions’ Den outside the European Parliament in his city of asylum from Brussels, calling to overthrow the European Union and defeat “this colonial entity” alongside Israel, Canada and the United States.

In 2023, also in Brussels, he led a demonstration calling “Long live the rifle!” Long live the lions’ den! ” and hailing the “resistance in Gaza” as the “sole representative of the Palestinian people,” and rejecting what he saw as a “bullshit and racist two-state solution.”

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Samidoun denounced the decision to ban Khatib from entering the Netherlands on his website:

“This crackdown is another form of support for the genocide and an attempt to silence any voices of opposition to Dutch complicity in the occupation. Furthermore, the ban is a racist and colonial tool used to limit the freedom of movement of a Palestinian refugee who already cannot enter their home country. It is also an attack on the Palestinian liberation movement as a whole and specifically on the thousands of Palestinian prisoners who are struggling and organizing under the torture and severe abuses of the Zionist regime in its colonial prisons. »

According to a report released this month by the European Leadership Network (ELNET), the Netherlands is a hotbed of fundraising activities linked to Hamas, carried out by one of its main operators on the continent, Dutch Lebanese-born Amin Abu Rashed, who was arrested in June last year on suspicion of transferring millions of dollars to Hamas through fake charity groups.