by Robert Schmad
An activist group with alleged ties to Palestinian terrorists and an organization backed by major left-wing nonprofits blocked a Washington state highway for hours over the weekend to demand a ceasefire amid the ongoing conflict in Israel.
The Seattle chapter of Samidoun, a group accused of being tied to the U.S.-designated terrorist organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and Jewish Voice for Peace Seattle rallied their members to block the I-5 highway in Seattle on Saturday. The groups helped block the highway for over four hours and caused a six-mile-long pile-up of cars; Seattle police made no arrests.
The protestors’ demands included an immediate ceasefire, an “end to the siege on Gaza,” the suspension of American aid to Israel and the freedom of all Palestinian prisoners, according to a social media post.
Social media posts show that Samidoun Seattle and Jewish Voice for Peace Seattle participated in the highway blockade and encouraged others to join them. A joint social media post made by the two groups bragged about “disrupting business as usual in the city and surrounding area for more than 4 hours.”
The Seattle Times identified Jewish Voice for Peace as one of the organizers of the blockade. A post from Samidoun Seattle encouraging its followers to join them at the highway blockade concluded by saying that there will be “no business as usual until Palestine is free!”
Watchdog groups and the Israeli government have accused Samidoun of being linked to the PFLP, which is a U.S.-designated terror organization. The PFLP has launched rockets at civilians, hijacked planes and ordered suicide bombings, according to the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Samidoun, in contrast to these claims, presents itself as a human rights group working to provide resources to “Palestinian political prisoners.”
NGO Monitor, an Israeli watchdog group, released a report outlining the alleged ties between Samidoun and the PFLP.
Samidoun coordinator Khaled Barakat was identified as a “member in the central committee of the PFLP,” according to the report. The PFLP itself called Barakat a “comrade” and a leader in the PFLP on multiple occasions, according to NGO Monitor’s translation of the PFLP’s Arab-language website.
Samidoun activist Mustafa Awad was part of a delegation led by the PFLP in 2016, according to NGO Monitor. He has also been accused by the Israeli government of joining the PFLP and being trained by Hezbollah, The Times of Israel reported. Samidoun’s coordinator in Europe, Mohammed Khatib, was also identified as a PFLP member in NGO Monitor’s report.
The PFLP put out a statement thanking Samidoun for its efforts to free its imprisoned members in 2016, according to the report.
The Zachor Legal Institute sent a letter to the Department of Justice in 2018 calling for an investigation into Samidoun over its PFLP ties.
“Samidoun shares and promotes content directly from the PFLP’s official web platforms, which includes interviews and events with Khaled Barakat … the PFLP and Samidoun not only share the others’ content, but the two groups promote and attend each other’s events showing that the overlap between the two groups is likely not accidental,” the letter reads.
The German government banned Samidoun in 2023 after officials claimed its members celebrated the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel.
Jewish Voice for Peace, whose Seattle chapter joined Samidoun’s chapter in blocking the I-5 highway on Saturday, is backed by major left-wing philanthropies.
Nonprofit grant makers like the Soros family’s Foundation to Promote Open Society, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Tides Foundation and the Amalgamated Charitable Foundation, among others, have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to Jewish Voice for Peace over the past few years.
This is not the first time Samidoun Seattle and Jewish Voice for Peace have engaged in disruptive protests to aid the Palestinian cause.
Samidoun Seattle helped organize a blockade of a port in Tacoma, Washington, in November 2023. Samidoun Seattle’s stated goal was to stop a ship it believed to be carrying aid for Israel from disembarking.
Jewish Voice for Peace, meanwhile, occupied buildings on the Capitol Hill campus to agitate for a ceasefire in October 2023. U.S. Capitol Police arrested roughly 300 demonstrators involved in the protest.
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Robert Schmad is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Seattle Traffic Shut-Down” by Samidoun Seattle.
