‘A previous version of this article referred to Samidoun as an activist network that supports Palestinian prisoners’
The Washington Post quietly amended a piece on “Palestinian prisoners” to note that the original version cited the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network without mentioning that the group is sanctioned in the United States for funding the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization.
“A previous version of this article referred to Samidoun as an activist network that supports Palestinian prisoners,” the Post wrote in a “clarification” note. “However, it failed to note that the United States says the group is an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which Washington has placed under sanctions.”
The piece still refers to Samidoun as “a group supporting Palestinian prisoners” but now includes its status as “a fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which is under U.S. sanctions.” The Post also removed a link to a Samidoun blog titled, “90 Palestinian prisoners liberated by the Resistance on the first day of the Flood of the Free,” which included photos featuring Hamas flags and the late terrorist leader Yahya Sinwar.
The Post made the changes Monday night, shortly after the Washington Free Beacon reported on the piece. The “clarification” note does not include a timestamp, and the piece says it was last updated on Sunday. A Post spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment on the update.
In addition to the Samidoun citation, the Post piece referred to the PFLP as a “small leftist armed group” and Palestinian Islamic Jihad as a “militant group.” Both are designated terror organizations.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury unveiled its Samidoun sanctions in October, calling the group a “sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization.” The punitive measures bar U.S. citizens from doing business with Samidoun.
The group has close ties to student radicals at Columbia University. Last spring, the student organization Columbia University Apartheid Divest invited Samidoun leader Charlotte Kates and her husband, PFLP member Khaled Barakat, to deliver a lecture on “Palestinian resistance” and the “fight for liberation.” Both Kates and Barakat explicitly endorsed terrorism against Jews, and the United States went on to slap sanctions on Barakat for engaging in “fundraising and recruitment” efforts for the PFLP’s “terrorist activity against Israel.”
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