Masar Badil: Samidoun's New Mask in Europe
German Authorities Warn of Masar Badil as a Front for the Banned Samidoun Network
The emergence of Masar Badil (“Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement”), presenting itself as a fresh pro-Palestinian activist group, has raised significant concerns among German authorities. Yesterday, November 11th, the representative of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Claudia Vanoni, warned that it has ties to the US and EU-designated Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization. For his part, State Secretary for the Interior Christian Hochgrebe said that the group has particularly strong connections to the organization Samidoun, which is banned in Germany and the US for operating as a PFLP front group.
In fact, the Samidoun and Masar Badil don’t merely have “particularly strong connections”—they are one and the same.
Prior to Samidoun's prohibition in Germany due to its affiliations with terrorism and anti-Israel activities, its operatives sought alternative avenues to continue their agenda should the group end up being banned. Enter Masar Badil. Established in 2020, Masar Badil shares leadership, coordinates events, and mirrors the rhetoric of Samidoun.
For example, Masar Badil and Samidoun share overlapping personnel, such as Khaled Barakat and Mohammed Khatib. Barakat, a PFLP leader, is the founder of both Samidoun and Masar Badil. He was expelled from Germany in 2020 for his terror connections. Khatib, Samidoun’s Europe coordinator, also holds a central role in Masar Badil as a member of its executive committee. Other overlapping members and details include:
Most of Masar Badil’s member organizations are chapters and partners of Samidoun, including Samidoun branches in France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Sweden, the US, and Canada.
Jaldia Abubakra is a co-founder and member of Masar Badil’s Executive Committee, as well as the Samidoun coordinator in Spain.
Zaid Abdulnasser is both an Executive Committee member of Masar Badil and the coordinator of Samidoun Germany.
German intelligence agencies, such as the Berlin Office for the Protection of the Constitution, have issued warnings about Masar Badil’s objectives. They compiled a detailed dossier highlighting how Masar Badil mobilizes anti-Israel groups, targets student communities in Berlin, and spreads radical, violent rhetoric. The group’s effort to infiltrate academic spaces has intensified as they work to indoctrinate youth and celebrate terrorism as a form of resistance.
Adding to these concerns, since the brutal Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th, Samidoun and Masar Badil have co-hosted multiple events featuring Hamas representatives. For instance, Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri participated in a Masar Badil webinar, where he shockingly claimed that American citizens killed and kidnapped on October 7th were “murderers.” During the same event, Samidoun's International Coordinator Charlotte Kates referred to the October 7th attack as a "heroic operation." Kates also mentioned attending a conference in South Africa that featured representatives from PFLP, Hezbollah, and Islamic Jihad—an event organized by the Hezbollah-linked Global Campaign for Return to Palestine (GCRP).
This explicit alignment with terror groups has raised alarms worldwide. The conference in South Africa included known terrorists and was described as a platform to strengthen anti-Israel alliances. Meanwhile, Masar Badil continues to present itself as an activist network while deepening its ties to groups openly committed to violence and radicalism.
Samidoun, designated as a terrorist entity by both the United States and Canada, has a history of promoting violent agendas. It has organized pro-Hamas riots and continues to act as a mouthpiece for extremist narratives. As pressure mounts, questions are being raised about the international community’s response—or lack thereof—to the spread of this dangerous ideology.
Will the global community act before it's too late?