B’nai Brith Canada is calling on the Canadian government to expel the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) from Canada, including a high ranking member living in the country.
Explaining that they have been calling for more than two years for the PFLP, a designated terrorist entity, to be expelled, B’nai Brith launched a petition addressed to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling for the government to act.
Last week, the National Post reported that high ranking PFLP member Khaled Barakat has been allowed to live in Canada.
“Despite multiple warnings and intelligence from B’nai Brith Canada, Ottawa has allowed Barakat, a high-ranking member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, to roam free in Canada. The PFLP is a designated terrorist entity,” B’nai Brith said in a statement. “Barakat’s wife, a U.S. national named Charlotte Kates, has made Vancouver the home of Samidoun, a PFLP front group that Ottawa has inexplicably allowed to incorporate under the Canada Not-for-Profit Corporations Act.”
On Tuesday, Senator Leo Housakos asked the government during question period to explain why they were allowing a PFLP member to thrive in Canada.
“We have provided the Government with credible and convincing information, yet we have had no response,” B’nai Brith Canada CEO Michael Mostyn said. “The recent National Post story has made the situation even more critical and more alarming.”
Mostyn urged the government to act immediately to deport Barakat.
“Samidoun also needs to be decertified as a corporation immediately, and it should never have been certified in the first place,” he said. “We’re glad that Senator Marc Gold acknowledged today that the government is aware of this national security concern, but Canadians are still waiting for a substantive response.”
Mostyn commended Housakos for bringing the issue of the security risk to the attention of the Senate..
“Our own attempts to urge the government to take action have fallen on deaf ears, sadly, despite its claims to be fighting antisemitism and terrorism,” Mostyn said.