Hamas officials starring in online sessions, summer camps for youth promoting radicalizing ideologies, and protests calling to ‘defeat the European Union’ – all of these are led on European soil by Masar Badil, an emerging organization with ties to officials from terrorist organizations, which united German lawmakers from across the political spectrum in the call to scrutinize and ban them.
Now, German NGOs are joining the call on EU authorities to designate Masar Badil, or the ‘Alternative Palestinian Revolutionary Path,’ as a terrorist organization, and ban the pro-terror group in the continent as a whole.
Two reports revolving around Masar Badil were published by NGOs in Germany in the past few weeks, by Democ and Honestly Concerned respectively. The Jerusalem Post reached out to the two to learn more about the organization, its goals, and the dangers it poses.
The reports highlighted Masar Badil’s early beginnings as a conference held in Madrid in 2021, to commemorate and denounce the Oslo peace accords, which were jump-started at the Madrid conference in 1991.
The group has positioned itself as a staunch opposer to any diplomatic solution between Israel and the Palestinians, embracing militant armed struggle, and frequently aligning with groups designated as terrorist organizations, such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and Hezbollah.
Likewise, the reports stressed Masar Badil’s organizational and ideological similarities and ties with Samidoun, a more veteran organization designated as a terror group by the US, Canada and Israel, and which was banned in Germany and the Netherlands for its direct ties with the PFLP.
According to the reports, officials at Samidoun such as Khaled Barakat, Charlotte Kates and Mohammed Khatib are also officials at Masar Badil and reportedly also at the PFLP itself, while other members of Samidoun branches in Germany, France and Spain also play a high ranking role in Masar Badil.
This led German activists and lawmakers to refer to Masar Badil as a proxy or continuation of Samidoun after its ban, further linking it to the PFLP.
According to the reports, Masar Badil claims to operate across the globe, but its main active scene is Europe. In terms of ideology, Masar Badil has shown staunch support for the October 7th Massacre as well as other terror attacks that deliberately targeted Israeli civilians.
Masar Badil official Mohammed Khatib, who has banned entry into the Netherlands and had his refugee status in Belgium under scrutiny over his activities and remarks, also called to bring down the European Union and defeat Canada and the US, allegedly speaking on behalf of “indigenous people” and “people of color” who seek to challenge “Western imperialism.”
As shown in the reports, Masar Badil’s ties to terrorist organizations are evident from the endorsement they received from Hamas and PIJ leaders upon the group’s launch, and even more so following the October 7th Massacre, as the group organized webinars hosting leaders in Hamas, including Basem Naim, Osama Hamdan, and Ghazi Hamed, as well as officials in the PIJ and even the Houthi Ansar Allah movement.
The Democ report focused on especially violent incidents, including demonstrations that featured calls in support of Hamas leaders such as Mohammad Deif, as well as antisemitic slogans including “death to Jews” and the Islamist slogan “Khaybar Khaybar Ya Yahood,” in addition to calls to “lay siege” on Israeli and US embassies across the globe.
As for the Honestly Concerned report, it stressed the reactions of German lawmakers from across the political spectrum, including the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and members of both right-wing and left-wing parties, which called to scrutinize, screen, and ban Masar Badil and its members over what they deemed radicalizing and antisemitic activity.
Both reports focused on how Germany has emerged as a significant hub for Masar Badil’s leadership and activities, including rallies, seminars, and even a summer camp – all despite Germany’s staunch action against anti-semitic and pro-terror activity.
German NGOs fight back
A spokesperson from Democ told The Jerusalem Post, “Masar Badil is a transnational organization building a broad militant alliance against Israel, closely linked to terrorist groups like Hamas, the Houthis, and PIJ. It seeks to radicalize the Palestinian diaspora and Western leftists while normalizing antisemitic violence—evident in university occupations and the glorification of the October 7 attacks. Our investigation reveals how Masar Badil functions as a gateway to the terrorist scene, facilitating recruitment and direct connections to extremist actors.”
Likewise, Sacha Stawski, chairman of Honestly Concerned, added, “Samidoun has received too much negative attention, leading to it being outlawed in Germany, and thus they needed to create a new proxy under which to continue the same activities with the same key actors. This is something which is common for many terrorist organizations. However, the PFLP is Samidoun, which is Masar Badil.”
“Vigilance is of utmost importance. We know the key players; we know how they operate. It is up to the authorities to follow through on existing bans and to act swiftly upon new activities. All of the information in our report is from openly available sources, and law enforcement agencies should be able to act upon publicly available information in a speedy manner.
“Despite putting out anti-Israel rhetoric in the forefront, the truth is that their hate-infested education and aggressive attacks on Western societies are a definitive threat. The hateful on the streets of Germany and the rest of the world have been a direct threat to all the countries where they have been taking place. They have rounded up groups filled not only with hate, but dangerous levels of aggression, many times with violent attacks on the democratic institutions, including law enforcement bodies.”
Dr. Ehud Rosen from the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) highlighted the leadership connections between Masar Badil and Samidoun, and their affiliation with the Marxist-Leninist PFLP terrorist organization.
Rosen reminded that, despite its deceptive perception as an organization active in the 1970s, the PFLP is still operating and was actively involved in the 7 October incursions to Israel, apparently holding some of the hostages and taking active part in firing rockets at Israeli civilians.
“Other PFLP affiliates, acting as ‘human rights activists’, are heavily involved in the ongoing international tribunals and cases against Israel. At the same time, PFLP agents of influence in the West have been playing a central role alongside Islamists and Western far-left activists in mobilizing the mass anti-Israel demonstrations, student encampments and more. Their activism was central in Western far-left romanticization of the calls to ‘globalize the intifada’ against the liberal democratic order.”
Stressing the participation of Hamas leaders in Masar Badil’s events, Rosen added that activists from the younger generation tend to combine between extremist ideologies and form what could be called ‘hybrid’ groups, consisting of both Islamist and Marxist ideologies at the same time.
This article was originally published at www.jpost.com
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