PFLP-affiliated NGO leader 'extremist hate preacher' may be kicked out of Belgium

A leader in an NGO affiliated with a Palestinian terrorist group may have his refuge status in Belgium revoked over his extremist activism, the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network said in a statement on Tuesday.

Samidoun Europe coordinator Mohammed Khatib was called to a hearing before a Belgian asylum office for his connection to the Samidoun, the Masar Badil Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, and radical statements made at pro-Palestinian rallies.

“We note that this is not only an attempt to target Mohammed as an individual and Samidoun as an organization,” Samidoun said. “It aims specifically to silence the movement to liberate Palestinian prisoners and to uphold the legitimacy and justice of the Palestinian resistance, especially the armed resistance, as part of the international, Arab, and Palestinian global intifada.”

Khatib has in the past been described by Palestinian outlets Quds News Network, the Palestinian Information Center (PIC), and Quds Press as a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) operative and spokesperson. The European Union lists PFLP as a designated terrorist organization.

The Samidoun decried that part of Belgian Immigration Minister Nicole de Moor’s intention to strip Khatib of his refugee status was based on Israel’s 2021 designation of the Samidoun as a PFLP subsidiary. Indeed, the Samidoun said that Israel’s designation should not have legal status in Belgium. The Palestinian NGO regularly advocates on behalf of PFLP terrorists and shares messages from the terrorist group.

Extremist views

Khatib is also an executive member of Masar Badil, which is headed by Khaled Barakat – who has been described by both the PFLP and Palestinian news outlets as a PFLP commander. Israeli intelligence reportedly told the Canadian newspaper the National Post that the Vancouver resident was a PFLP leader in 2022.

The Samidoun on Tuesday rejected the Belgian government’s characterization of Masar Badil as an “extremist organization,” saying that de Moor had only designated it as such “because of its clear position on the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea and the legitimacy of the Palestinian armed resistance forces.”

Barakat is married to Charlotte Kates, the international coordinator for the Samidoun, who has courted controversy and criminal charges for a speech supporting PFLP, Hamas, and Hezbollah and leading a crowd in chants of “long live October 7.”

Khatib had also embraced the October 7 massacre as “a glorious day for the Palestinian people” during an online seminar with Hamas official Basem Naim, as Israeli ambassador to Belgium Idit Rosenzweig-Abu noted on social media in March.

De Moor had first announced in April that she sought the revocation of Khatib’s asylum status, describing him as “an extremist hate preacher.”

“The asylum procedure is for those fleeing war or unjust persecution. There is no place for people who pose a danger to society,” de Moor stressed. “Even if someone has already been recognized as a refugee but that person turns out to be an extremist, the recognition can be withdrawn.”

Multiple far-left organizations, such as the Union of Progressive Jews of Belgium and the Brussels Panthers, issued statements in April defending Khatib.