Until a few days ago I had never heard of the organization Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. And then suddenly it had become an issue in the House of Commons. Such an issue, in fact, the Conservatives were demanding it be put on the country’s terrorist list.

And what did these folk do to deserve this Conservative ire? According to its website, Samidoun is “an international network of organizers and activists working to build solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in their struggle for freedom.”

Apparently at a rally in Vancouver organized by the group, chants of “death to Canada, death to the United States and death to Israel,” were heard; a speaker told the crowd “we are Hezbollah and we are Hamas”; and Canadian flags were burned. Needless to say, this upset many Canadians including a variety of political leaders. The Vancouver Police Department said they are looking into whether actions at the protest were criminal offences.

As for the terrorist list, it is not intended as a means of muzzling groups who say or do things we find offensive. Nor is it for muzzling groups who advocate Palestinian militancy or oppose Israeli oppression.

The Israelis have killed over 41,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including an estimated 14,000 children—14,000 children!—and the killing continues. If the Conservatives can understand the anger at the slaughter of 1,200 innocent Israelis, surely they can understand the anger at the slaughter of 14,000 Palestinian children.

And perhaps they can stretch their imaginations to understand the anger at this outrage being inflicted on a people who have been oppressed and humiliated and had their land stolen from them for three generations.

If they can’t manage all this, there are those who can. There are those who empathize with the Palestinian’s heartbreaking history, and who are angry at a Canadian government that mouths support for a two-state solution and then routinely votes against Palestinian self-determination at the UN (while providing Israel with weapons). We should not be surprised that participants at the Samidoun rally vented anger at this country while expressing solidarity with those who fight for Palestinian liberation.

I’m not aware that Samidoun engages in terrorist attacks, but if the Conservatives can offer evidence that defines them as terrorists under Part II.1 83.01 (1) of the Criminal Code then let them provide it and Samidoun can be added to the other six dozen groups on the list.

In 2016 the House of Commons embarrassed itself by passing a Conservative motion to reject the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and call upon the government to condemn Canadians who supported it. BDS is an attempt to promote Palestinian liberation by means similar to those used against South African apartheid. Supported by unions, academic associations, churches and grassroots movements across the world it asks little more from Israel than that it comply with International law.

Instead of attempting to muzzle critics of Israel’s colonialist behaviour, the Conservatives might try listening to its victims.

Note: Today (October 15th) the federal government announced it was putting Samidoun on the terrorist list, apparently because the group is too close to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.