Finally Placing Samidoun on the U.S./Canada Terror List

"His [Khaled Barakat, Samidoun founder] fundraising and recruitment efforts support the PFLP's terrorist activity against Israel."

"[The United States is designating Samidoun a] sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine [PFLP] terrorist organization."

"The PFLP, which was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the U.S. Department of State in October 1997 and October 2001, respectively, uses Samidoun to maintain fundraising operations in both Europe and North America."

U.S. State Department press release 

"Organizations like Samidoun masquerade as charitable actors that claim to provide humanitarian support to those in need, yet in reality divert funds for much-needed assistance to support terrorist groups."

Acting Under-Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Bradley T. Smith

Charlotte Kates, in Tehran two weeks ago, accepts the Iranian human right award  Iran International

 

The Vancouver-based anti-Israel organization has finally been listed by Canada, after much campaigning by Canadian Jewish groups, some pro-Israel-supporting Members of Parliament and editorials in a number of Canadian newspapers. What finally forced the Trudeau Liberal government to act was not the terrorist charity's organization of hundreds of rallies and protests decrying Israel's very existence while making life dangerous for Jews in Canada through its incitements of hate, but the over-reach by Samidoun revealing the scope of its program.

When the hate group encouraged and guided its followers to declare themselves fully in support of Hamas and Hezbollah, declaring fealty to the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Houthis, Hamas, Hezbollah and other non-government terrorist militias from Iraq and Syria to Lebanon and Gaza, insisting that 'imperial-colonialist' Canada must be defeated, and burning a Canadian flag to emphasize their point, prime minister Justin Trudeau no longer had any excuse to hide behind failing to recognize them for what they are.

"The listing of Samidoun as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code sends a strong message that Canada will not tolerate this type of activity, and will do everything in its power to counter the ongoing threat to Canada's national security and all people in Canada", announced Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc. It remains to be seen just how strenuously committed this government will be to 'do everything in its power' to destroy the malevolent effect this terror group has succeeded in producing in Canada, in its goal of destabilization and conquest.

Unbelievably, the group has enjoyed charitable status in Canada for years, long after it was repeatedly brought to the attention of the government that their activities created stark and dangerous divisions within Canadian society with no end in sight to their ambitious agenda of making Canada terror-central to the Palestinian networks of demonizing Israel, calling for its destruction, and hounding Jewish Canadians in public, while inciting to violence against Jewish institutions in Canada.

The US. government went a step further than Canada, in designating Barakat's wife Charlotte Kates, a director of Samidoun, a terrorist, while Khaled Barakat  himself has been identified as a ranking leadership member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. These Palestinian terrorist stalwarts last week organized a rally on the one-year anniversary of the October 7 terror attacks where attendees chanted "death to Canada", to which Samidoun later announced "we at Samidoun stand by this phrase as the call to action that it is".

Masked protesters set a Canadian flag on fire at the event, while a woman led chants of "We are Hezbollah and we are Hamas"; identifying with Lebanon and Gaza. The PFLP has been listed by Canada as a terrorist organization since 2003. Groups with a terrorist designation are prohibited from receiving financial services, donations of money, or property. 

Kates, who directly following the October 7 southern Israel atrocities perpetrated by Palestinian terrorists led by Hamas, praised the Hamas and Islamic Jihad savages at a rally: "We stand with the Palestinian resistance and their heroic brave action on October 7", she crowed. The Vancouver Police Department launched a hate-speech investigation as a follow-up to that event. It has been over  year that the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs lobbied government for Samidoun to be declared a terrorist organization, launching a petition with B'nai Brith Canada to have Kates and Barakat deported.

 

Screenshot showing the Facebook page of Samidoun Deutschland. November 03, 2023. (credit: SEAN GALLUP/GETTY IMAGES

"This process has not been tested in Canadian courts. A lot of the reason for that is because we are designating, for the most part, foreign entities. This is one of the only cases where I've seen a direct Canadian tie and a direct Canadian leader ... who will be directly affected by a terrorist listing."

"In the case of an organization like Samidoun, or really any listed terrorist entity, the question comes down to what the people are doing to support the organization."

"Just being a member of an organization is not a criminal offence in Canada. However, as soon as you cross the line into conducting any kind of support or sort of advancement activities that are fairly concrete, then  you come very close to facilitation [of a terrorist activity] and some of those activities."

Jessica Davis, counterterrorism expert, Carleton University

Publicly-Voiced Threats, Privately-enacted Violence

"We understand the fear and pain this causes, especially on Yom Kippur."

"To Toronto's Jewish community, we stand with you. Your safety is our priority."

"We are committed to finding those responsible."

Toronto Police Service

"I think it's very sad that people target schools where children are innocent and just create this extra fear and chaos for no reason."

"I think I would consider this a hate crime. I don't see any other reason why this would occur."

"[It was] pretty shocking [to be informed of the shooting that occurred on Shabbat, the Jewish Day of Rest, on the first occasion of the school being attacked in May]."

Rabbi Yaacov Vidal, principal, Bais Chaya Musha elementary school

"We live in a peaceful society. We've never seen anything like this. We all grew up in Toronto, we all get along, and it's just unacceptable what we're seeing."

"These people need to be caught [and] thrown in Jail."

Ontario Premier Doug Ford

Toronto police searching for suspects who shot at the Bais Chaya Mushka Girls Elementary School in North York early Saturday morning. (CBC)

 

 For the second time in a six-month period this year, Toronto police are investigating the shots that were fired at a North York elementary school for Jewish girls on Saturday morning. A "troubling" incident, according to police. For Jews it was all the more troubling that this second shooting happened during Yom Kippur,(Day of Atonement), the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

Toronto police had received a call at 4:00 a.m. reporting a smashed window. "Upon further investigation, it was determined that shots had been fired", explained Inspector Paul Krawczyk at the scene, speaking to reporters. The Hate Crime Unit is supporting the TPS's Gun and Gang Task Force, leading the investigation. Police, advised Insp. Krawczyk, were yet to determine whether the incident qualified as a hate crime.

On the first occasion in May, shots were fired at the school, damaging the front of the building; on both occasions no injuries were reported. Police advised that their investigation was partly to determine whether the two shooting incidents that took place at the Orthodox Jewish girls' school located in North York, with programs from junior kindergarten to Grade 8, were connected. 

 

"As we wait for more details, my heart goes out to the students, staff and parents who must be terrified and hurting today. Antisemitism is a disgusting and dangerous form of hate -- and we won't let it stand", declared Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who for over a year has stood by and done nothing to put a halt to the ongoing marches, protests and pure hate-fests against Canada's Jewish population by pro-Hamas supporters at events organized by Palestinians in Canada, their supporters and representatives of foreign interests.

 

Yet another hypocritical statement of empathy, care and concern emanated from Toronto's mayor of all the people, Olivia Chow, who spoke to reporters, while advising the suspects to "turn yourself in". "Understand that this is a time of the highest holiday, and think about children, think about a time of worship. For someone to do something like that is just horrific", she averred; the very person in authority in the city who has avoided scenes of support for the Jewish community against the forces of Islamist-led violent antisemitism. 

Police inspect broken windows at Bais Chaya Mushka elementary school Saturday October 12, 2024. The Jewish girls' school was shot at for the second time this year on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year for Jews. CTV

 

The Fabled Mallory-Irvine Mount Everest Climb Tragedy

"This was a monumental and emotional moment for us and our entire team on the ground, and we just hope this can finally bring peace of mind to his relatives and the climbing world at large."

"I lifted up the sock and saw a red label with ‘AC Irvine’ stitched into it."

Jimmy Chin, National Geographic explorer climb team member

"I have lived with this story since I was a seven-year-old when my father told us about the mystery of Uncle Sandy on Everest"

"When Jimmy told me that he saw the name AC Irvine on the label on the sock inside the boot, I found myself moved to tears."

Great-niece, biographer, Julie Summers

 

"Lo and behold, there was the name plate ‘A.C Irvine,’ perfectly legible, stamped on the sock." 

"And when that happened, it was just full freak-out, you know, F bombs and people were like, ‘Oh my god’."

Mark Fisher, expedition filmmaker

A sock embroidered with "A.C. Irvine" and a boot were discovered on Mount Everest by a team led by Jimmy Chin.  Jimmy Chin / National Geographic via AP

It's taken a century, but finally one of the greatest and most enduring mysteries of the failure to return from their Mount Everest ascent by George Mallory  and Andrew "Sandy" Irvine, may be on the cusp of revealing their fate as they descended the mountain. The question always hovered; had they made it to the top, the first two mountaineers ever to have mastered the climb to the top of the world's highest mountain? The descent of such a mountain is as fraught with danger as is the ascent; climbers having expended enormous energy are not at their best at the descent; weather, time of day all play into a safe return. One wrong turn at the wrong point and fate could send an alpinist hurtling to death below.

Now, according to an expedition led by National Geographic, it is highly likely that part of that mystery has been revealed and that further examination of the extraordinary find might lead to another find, one that has long been sought and to the present has evaded search; the camera that would have been used to document the successful arrival at the Everest mount, that holy grail for so many people since that time who have aspired to reach its summit, many succeeding, many failing and among them the misfortune of deaths delivered to some. 

A documentary film set to be released illustrating the search was momentarily eclipsed with the announcement that a foot encased in a sock and boot embroidered with 'AC Irvine' could be that of Andrew Irvine who at age 22 disappeared, along with co-climber George Mallory on June 8, 1924, close to the mountain's peak. Aspiring to become the first people to mount Everest, the pair was seen last at the 800 foot mark from the summit prior to their disappearance. Historians and other climbers ruminated on the mystery they represented, some among them with the belief the pair had managed to reach the top of Everest, then headed down to a base camp.

George Mallory and Andrew Irvine in the last known photo of them on their fatal Everest climb in June 1924 (Alamy)

 George Mallory's body was found in 1999 with no clues that might have interpreted whether the two climbing companions might have reached the summit of the world's highest mountain, at 29,032 feet. With this latest discovery of the hundred-year-old evidence represented by a boot, a sock, and a preserved foot which will render proof of identity when a family member's DNA is used for genetic recognition, part of the mystery with respect to whether the pair summited still will not be clarified.

That would change should the Kodak Vest Pocket camera  that accompanied the climbers be discovered, to render proof through a photographic memento of their summit. Predating the celebrated summit of 1953 when Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepal's Sherpa Tenzing Norgay became the first documented summiteers of Mount Everest. The find of the sock and boot was discovered at an altitude lower than was Mallory's remains -- below the North Face of Mount Everest on the Central Rongbuk glacier.

The Royal Geographical Society based in London received report of the find. That old respected institution had organized Mallory's and Irvine's expedition jointly with the Alpine Club.

Mark Fisher, one of the filmmakers who found the shoe, said the nameplate stamped on the sock was "perfectly legible."   Jimmy Chin / National Geographic via AP

"And then we started surmising like, ‘Oh, could it be?’ Because there’s so many theories about what happened to Irvine, right?"

"And we did start joking with each other, saying, ‘Oh, we’re gonna find Irvine, and we’re gonna find his camera’."

 "There was a lot of excitement about what we just found, because it was undeniable. We haven’t done DNA tests yet, so we can’t 100% say with certainty that this is indeed Irvine’s boot, but like I said, the nameplate is perfectly stitched on there. It’s perfectly legible. It’s the exact match of Mallory’s boot."

Mark Fisher

Photographer and filmmaker Jimmy Chin was leading a National Geographic team below the north face of Mount Everest in September when they discovered a boot and sock embroidered with “A.C. Irvine,” believed to belong to the lost mountaineer Andrew Comyn Irvine.  Photograph by National Geographic/Erich Roepke

Nuclear Winter : Nihon Hidankyo, Nobel Peace Prize

"[The award was made as the] taboo against the use of nuclear weapons is under pressure."

"[The Nobel Committee] wishes to honour all survivors who despite physical suffering and painful memories have chosen to use their costly experience to cultivate hope and engagement for peace."

Jorgen Watne Frydnes, chair, Norwegian Nobel committee

"We are partners in this fight."

"[The survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki] know nuclear weapons the best."

"They know how it feels like, how it looks like,  how it smells when your city is burning from nuclear weapons use."

Beatrice Fihn, past executive director, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

 

Nihon Hidankyo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday. This is a Japanese organization comprised of survivors of the wartime U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Nihon Hidankyo won the award in recognition of their tireless activism against nuclear weaponry. The organization's branch chairperson, Yoshiyuki Mimaki had been standing by awaiting the announcement, and when it was given, he cheered: "Is it really true? Unbelievable!", he exulted.

A month ago, yet again, Russian President Vladimir Putin put the world on notice that he had decided to shift his country's nuclear doctrine. This had a defined purpose; to deliver a message to the Democratic West supporting Ukraine's courageous counteroffensive against its neighbour's unilateral move to destroy its independence and reduce the country once again to an appendage of Greater Russia -- Vladimir Putin's yearning for a return of the power of the USSR. 

Russia, he implied, would not hesitate to make use of its vast stockpile of nuclear weapons should those NATO nations supplying Ukraine with defensive weaponry allow it to strike inside Russian borders with longer-range weapons; effectively reducing its measure of the threshold for the potential use of Russian nuclear weapons as a blackmail-deterrent. Simply put, the Kremlin would not tolerate nations sympathetic to Ukraine's courageous response to a full-scale invasion enabling Ukraine to return to Russia the scope of its assault in self-defence.

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons had won the prize in 2017 for its like-minded campaign. As did Joseph Rotblat and the Pugwash Conference on Science and World Affairs in 1995 for "their efforts to diminish the part played by nuclear arms in international politics and in the longer run to eliminate such arms."

"The two atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 killed and maimed hundreds of thousands of people, and their effects are still being felt today."

"By the end of 1945, the bombing had killed an estimated 140,000 people in Hiroshima, and a further 74,000 in Nagasaki. In the years that followed, many of the survivors would face leukemia, cancer, or other terrible side effects from the radiation."

International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

Devastation in Nagasaki, 1945. Courtesy Imperial War Museums.

"It is very clear that threats of using nuclear weapons are putting pressure on the important international norm, the taboo of using nuclear weapons."

"And therefore it is alarming to see how threats of use is also damaging this norm."

Jorgen Watne Frydnes, Nobel Committee