these canadians went to the funeral for hezbollah leader hassan nasrallah in lebanon
among thousands of mourners packed into lebanon’s largest sports arena was charlotte kates, the vancouver-based co-founder of samidoun
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at least three canadians were present at the recent funeral of the assassinated leader of hezbollah — including the vancouver-based founder of the designated terrorist group samidoun.
on sunday, thousands of mourners packed into lebanon’s largest sports arena for the public funeral of hassan nasrallah and hashem safieddine, both of whom led the islamist terror group before being killed by israel in separate air strikes last year.
the proceedings included mass chants of “death to israel, death to america” — as well as an address by current hezbollah head naim qassem, who made his speech remotely due to security fears.
in the crowd was charlotte kates, the vancouver-based co-founder of samidoun, which canada designated as a terrorist entity in october.
kates still refers to herself as an “international coordinator” for samidoun, and on sunday she uploaded photos of her holding a samidoun flag at the beirut funeral.
“it is such an honor to be here in beirut today, one among a sea of over a million people in collective tribute, mourning, love and commitment to the road of resistance and liberation exemplified by sayyed hassan nasrallah and sayyed hisham safieddine,” kates wrote in an x post.
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the funeral was also attended by dimitri lascaris, a lawyer and self-described “activist journalist” who ran for the leadership of the green party of canada in 2020. he is also a former chair of the board of directors for canadians for justice and peace in the middle east.
lascaris uploaded video of the moment when israeli warplanes buzzed the funeral
“today, i attended the funeral of hassan nasrallah in beirut,” lascaris wrote on x. “during the ceremony, israeli warplanes flew low over the stadium on two occasions, provoking a defiant response from tens of thousands of mourners.”
israeli defense minister israel katz would confirm that the fly-by — which included the same types of aircraft that killed both nasrallah and safieddine — was intended to send a “message” to the hezbollah faithful.
“you will specialize in funerals, and we will in victories,” katz said in a statement.
kates was born in the united states, but has said in public statements that she is a canadian citizen.
she has lived in vancouver since at least 2009, where she founded samidoun with husband khaled barakat, a high-ranking member of the popular front for the liberation of palestine, a gazan terrorist group that canada has recognized as a terror entity since 2003.
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the trudeau government declared samidoun a terror entity on oct. 15, shortly after video emerged of samidoun organizers burning a canadian flag on the steps of the vancouver art gallery and leading chants of “death to canada.”
the united states assigned terror status to samidoun on the same day as canada, and in a statement said that the canadian-headquartered group had functioned as an “international fundraiser” for the pflp.
the u.s. treasury department statement added that the pflp has been one of several terrorist groups to participate in the october 7 terrorist attacks against israel — and noted that barakat had been quite open about samidoun’s links to the group.
“barakat has previously publicly acknowledged samidoun’s affiliation with the pflp, despite direction from pflp leadership to maintain the confidential nature of the relationship,” they wrote.
at the time of the terror designation, barakat was in lebanon, where he was writing openly about coordinating “resistance” activities with hezbollah. “this country, lebanon, will fight, and will emerge stronger and unified, trampling the criminal zionists and imperialists,” said barakat in a statement which also praised al-aqsa flood, hamas’s official name for the october 7 attacks on israel.
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barakat was present at sunday’s funeral for nasrallah, where he made an on-camera appearance for press tv, the english-language propaganda outlet of the islamic republic of iran. “sayyed hassan nasrallah was an exceptional historical leader and we are very lucky that we lived in his time,” he said of the hezbollah leader.
like kates, barakat reportedly also has canadian citizenship — although it’s not clear under which terms it was obtained.
in the wake of samidoun’s oct. 15 terror designation, the group’s website and social media channels have all continued to operate without interruption. the group even continues to solicit donations, which it claims are tax-deductible in the united states.
although kates’ east vancouver home was subject to a police raid in november, no charges have come from it.
in april of that year, kates had been arrested in connection with a hate crime investigation following her repeated public statements praising both the october 7 terrorist attacks and hamas. in that case, too, the b.c. prosecution service did not end up pursuing charges.
although kates was briefly subject to court-ordered conditions barring her from attending public protests, they were not a barrier to her travelling to iran over the summer to publicly accept an islamic human rights award for her “anti-zionist activities.”
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