Reporting On Samidoun Ignores Plight Of Palestinian Detainees

 

Palestinians detained by Israel have faced inhumane conditions, including rape and torture, with many dying in prison.

Yesterday, both Canada and the United States designated Samidoun as a terrorist entity.  

Samidoun, also known as the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, had been under fire from the Israel lobby and its allies among elected officials for years, but pressure ramped up after Oct. 7, 2023, as the group organized protests against Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.

Both governments allege that Samidoun has “close links” with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which has been listed as a designated terrorist entity in Canada and the U.S. since 2003 and 2001, respectively.

Earlier today, Samidoun released a statement denying that they have any “material or organizational ties to entities listed on the terrorist lists of the United States, Canada or the European Union,” and arguing that they are being “targeted because of our political and vocal support for the Palestinian prisoners movement and the Palestinian people’s right to resistance.”

Samidoun’s designation as a terrorist entity received a great deal of media coverage, most of it simply repackaging the press releases issued by the two governments. These news articles missed quite a bit, but something in particular stuck out to me.

I reviewed original reporting from the Canadian Press, CBC News, Global News, The Globe and Mail, the National Post, Reuters, the Toronto Sun, and the Vancouver Sun, and found that none of them offered any background into the issue Samidoun was founded in 2011 to address: the plight of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

This is an egregious omission that is especially indefensible given the detailed reports released in the past few months on the inhumane conditions Palestinians face in Israeli jails from B'Tselem, the United Nations Human Rights Office and the United Nations’ International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel.

Given that the mainstream media unanimously ignored these credible investigations in their articles on Samidoun — which says it aids Palestinian prisoners by raising awareness and organizing campaigns for political change — I want to offer a brief overview of what the reports found. I encourage you to then read them in full.  (more...)

Reporting On Samidoun Ignores Plight Of Palestinian Detainees