Canada has officially designated the Samidoun organization as a terrorist organization, while the US has added a Canadian citizen connected to the group to its counter-terrorism list, The Canadian Press reported on Tuesday.
Canada’s Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc announced that Samidoun will now be subject to Criminal Code provisions that prohibit individuals from donating or providing resources to the organization.
Samidoun, which claims its objective is to fight for "the Prisoners of Palestine", is said by the Canadian government to have "close links with and advances the interests of" the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a group already classified as a terrorist entity in Canada.
Samidoun was recognized as a terror organization by Israel several years ago.
In parallel, the US Treasury Department designated Canadian citizen Khaled Barakat as an affiliate of a terrorist group, identifying him as part of the leadership and fundraising apparatus of the PFLP.
US officials also describe Samidoun as being headquartered in Vancouver, accusing the group of posing as a humanitarian support charity while actually supporting terrorism against Israel.
Tuesday’s move comes a week after the opposition Conservative Party urged the government to list Samidoun as a terrorist entity, alleging that the group had organized rallies in Canada where participants openly called for the destruction of Israel.
Last November, Germany announced a complete ban on activities of both Hamas and Samidoun.
The German move came several months after Israel’s Ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, called on the European Union to blacklist Samidoun as a terrorist organization after signs of the organization calling for donations for Palestinian Arab terrorists who murdered Jews were hung in the heart of Berlin.