The Case Against Masar Badil, Khaled Barakat and Charlotte Kates
This past week, the United States Department of the Treasury designated Masar Badil, also known as the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. It also designated several individuals associated with Masar Badil. Masar Badil is described as a transnational organization that is a front for the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network (Samidoun). In October 2024, Samidoun was jointly sanctioned by Canada and the United States for being a front organization that is owned, controlled, or directed by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), also recognized as a terrorist organization by both countries and others.
Masar Badil is inextricably linked with Samidoun and is described by one of its senior leaders as part of the same political project. The organizations have shared fundraising mechanisms as well as senior leaders and members of their respective Executive Committees, including already sanctioned individuals, Khaled Barakat, as well as Mohammed Khatib, Jalia Abubakra, Germany-based Zaid Abdulnassar and Brazil-based Rawa Alsagheer. Barakat and his partner Charlotte Kates are based in British Columbia and are well known for their terror-supporting activities, including those activities associated with Samidoun.
Masar Badil’s own statements provide further grounds for government intervention. Its May 2023 Ottawa Declaration affirmed what it described as the Palestinian people’s right to “all forms of struggle,” “first and foremost of which is the revolutionary armed struggle.”
The U.S. action was taken as part of its government’s effort to protect Americans from the risks posed by far-left terrorism. The 2026 U.S. Counterterrorism Strategy identifies violent far-left terrorist groups as one of three major terrorist threats facing the United States. There is every reason to believe that the threats are no less immediate in Canada.
Several Jewish organizations, including a number of ALCCA’s member organizations, have renewed their calls for Masar Badil, as well as U.K.-based Palestine Action (also designated by the U.S. this past week) to be named as a terror entity under Canadian law. Under Canadian and U.S. law, terror designations trigger certain sanctions, as well as criminal prohibitions on activities on behalf of, or in support of such entities.
ALCCA of course supports the designation by Canada of Masar Badil as a terror entity. However, this tells only part of the story.
Masar Badil is planning a conference in Toronto this November entitled “3 Years of Al-Aqsa Flood: Resistance & Return From the Belly of the Beast.” Its promotional material describes October 7, 2023 as “one of the most courageous acts of resistance in our lifetimes,” advertises the conference to “militants, organizations, diasporas, and internationalists across North America,” and calls it a “revolutionary gathering.”
The rhetoric goes farther. Masar Badil states that “armed resistance is the means by which this threat shall be neutralized.” Its conference material asks how people in North America can “fight against imperialism and be in solidarity with the resistance forces of West Asia,” and says the gathering will help develop the “next phase of struggle” and a collective political path in North America.
Even more significantly, the organizers identify Samidoun, already listed as a terror entity, as a member of Masar Badil.
The undisguised connections between Masar Badil and Samidoun are extensive. Khaled Barakat is identified as a co-founder of Masar Badil and a member of its Executive Committee. At an Ottawa march in April 2023, Barakat reportedly called on participants to salute the Al-Qassam Brigades, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, and other Palestinian terror factions.
The two organizations have regularly hosted events together, promoted each other’s activities and shared senior figures. Masar Badil has described Samidoun as a founding member and a “fundamental pillar” in organizing the conference that officially launched the movement.
Charlotte Kates, Samidoun’s international coordinator, appears to be closely connected with Masar Badil as well. She has been reported to be the owner and registered contact associated with Masar Badil’s website. It has also been reported that Samidoun previously accepted donations on Masar Badil’s behalf.
In 2024, Vancouver police arrested Kates following a speech and recommended hate-related charges. Contemporary accounts stated that she praised the October 7 Hamas attack as “heroic and brave,” and led a chant of “Long live Oct. 7.” Despite seemingly overwhelming evidence of her involvement in hate crimes, the British Columbia government failed to prosecute her.
In 2024, when Samidoun was designated a terror entity, I co-authored an editorial making the point that listing Samidoun as a prohibited terror entity was not an endpoint, but only the beginning. The fact that Samidoun and Masar Badil advertise their collaboration and presence in Canada demonstrates a confidence that they can promote terrorism in Canada with impunity. They make no secret of their material support for violence and their choice of Canada as a haven for their activities.
The government of Canada must follow the lead of the U.S. in designating Masar Badil as a prohibited terror entity. But much more must be done.
1. Under Canadian law, individuals may also be designated as terror entities. The United States has designated a number of individuals under comparable legislation, including Barakat and other Masar Badil leaders. It is critically important that the individuals who lead Masar Badil and Samidoun, including Khaled Barakat and Charlotte Kates, be listed as terror entities as well as Masar Badil. The listing of Samidoun did not stem their unlawful activities. Indeed, they continue to operate as Samidoun, despite Samidoun’s listing or they simply operate as a different organization – in this case, Masar Badil. This is precisely the situation in which individuals should be listed, not merely organizations.
2. Law enforcement and national security agencies, in partnership, should investigate whether these individuals have participated in the activities of a designated terrorist group or acted on behalf of such a group, and lay appropriate charges, where applicable. The fact that Samidoun is already a designated terror group which is self-evidently still active in Canada should figure prominently in that assessment.
3. Barakat and Kates, ordinarily resident in Canada, have reportedly travelled to Lebanon and elsewhere (Kates was lauded for her work when she went to Iran; both attended the funerals of terrorist leaders, and participated in PFLP activities). Our Criminal Code contains several offences involving travel from Canada to participate in or facilitate terrorist activities. These offences should be investigated as well.
4. Finally, the November conference does not even pretend to be anything other than a mobilization of militants and others to promote armed resistance. Any criminal investigation should closely examine the unlawful objectives and involvement of foreign and domestic terror promoters and take appropriate preventative action.
The authorities should determine who is financing the conference; identify its venue, sponsors, speakers and foreign participants; determine whether fundraising or recruitment is taking place; and examine which listed terror entities or their representatives will participate. They should also ensure that Canadian venues and institutions understand the legal consequences of providing services to listed entities and assess whether proposed foreign participants may be inadmissible to Canada because of membership in or association with terrorist organizations.
Any failure by our government and the authorities to act in such an obvious case will give licence to terrorism in Canada. And signal that Canada is open for business – the business of terrorism.
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About the Author
Mark Sandler, LL.B., LL.D. (honoris causa), ALCCA’s Chair, is widely recognized as one of Canada’s leading criminal lawyers and pro bono advocates. He has been involved in combatting antisemitism for over 40 years. He has lectured extensively on legal remedies to combat hate and has promoted respectful Muslim-Jewish, Sikh-Jewish and Black-Jewish dialogues. He has appeared before Parliamentary committees and in the Supreme Court of Canada on multiple occasions on issues relating to antisemitism and hate activities. He is a former member of the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal, a three-time elected Bencher of the Law Society of Ontario, and recipient of the criminal profession’s highest honour, the G. Arthur Martin Medal, for his contributions to the administration of criminal justice.