Project Summary

Current Event

The Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network group, an anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian rights group, has recently been declared as an illegal organization by the U.S. Treasury Department. This is the fault of the group's consistent support and funding of an established terrorist group: The Popular Front for Palestinian Liberation (PLFP). The PLFP has committed multiple massacres in the interest of defending the Palestinian people. Samidoun has repeatedly fundraised money for the PLFP to buy supplies and artillery, with which the terrorist group accomplishes violent and illegal acts. This project explores the U.S. laws relative to this case, and whether Samidoun's rights to free speech and assembly should still be protected by the Constitution.

Weichselbaum, Simone, and Chloe Atkins. “When Does Free Speech Cross the Line into Breaking U.S. Anti-Terrorism Laws?” NBCNews.Com, NBCUniversal News Group, 1 Nov. 2024, www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/free-speech-cross-line-breaking-us-anti-terrorism-laws-rcna177542.

First Amendment+Other Relevant Laws

Our group has researched past and current legislation, including the First Constitutional Amendment. The First Amendment guarantees to all U.S. citizens the right to free speech, and the right to peaceable assembly. It is certainly arguable that the pseudo-charity group Samidoun are not a peaceable assembly of Palestine supporters if they continue to fund terrorist acts. The First Amendment has also been updated overtime to specify that there are exceptions to its blanket protection, including true threats. Even so, there are also laws which could potentially protect Samidoun, such as the non-governmental organization law, defending organizations from government restriction as long as they do not associate themselves with a government. Our research ultimately serves to educate so that we may form our own opinions on this case.

Concluding Thoughts

This project has incited our group members to individually research the topic of our current event, encompassing old and present laws which we found were applicable to the case of Samidoun's legality. This research gives us not only a deeper understanding of this particular controversy, but also serves as a tool for us to learn more about the many laws that can not only preserve our own rights as U.S. citizens, but even sometimes shelter operations which the government itself believes to be unconstitutional. The U.S. justice system is a complex process of reviewing past and current laws, and proposing new laws when the need arises, in order to always prioritize the best interest of the country. There are intricacies in this case which call the U.S.'s current definitions of true threats and criminality into question, and as you will see in another section, our group has deliberated the government sanction of Samidoun based on our level of knowledge after completing this project.




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