The day after a gunman in Washinton, D.C. murdered two young Israeli embassy staffers and told investigators, “I did it for Palestine. I did it for Gaza,” leaders of the Canadian organization, Samidoun, publicly praised the killings.
Charlotte Kates, international coordinator of Samidoun, called the murders “only logical” and urged followers to “globalize the intifada.” Her husband, Khaled Barakat — a sanctioned operative of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and a founding figure of Samidoun — added his own threat: “Those who sow fire in Gaza should expect to reap a harvest of fire … in cities and capitals around the world.”
If you haven’t heard of Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, this is important. In 2024, both the United States and Canadian governments designated it as a terrorist fundraising front for the PFLP, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). Described as a “sham charity,” Samidoun, Barakat, and Kates have developed deep and ongoing ties with theArab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies (AMED) program at San Francisco State University (SFSU).
These ties are evident in AMED’s cosponsored events with Samidoun, featuring Sanaa Daqqa, widow of PFLP leader Walid Daqqa, and Wisam Rafeedie, longtime PFLP operative, and other jointly hosted programs. In November 2024, Abdulhadi and Barakat contributed to an anthology honoring PFLP spokesman Ghassan Kanafani.
Intelligent Advocacy Network lodges formal complaint with California attorney general
A recent report by the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) — Foreign Terror Pipelines in the Academy — details how AMED’s director, Rabab Abdulhadi, has used public resources to promote individuals and networks linked to FTOs, including Hamas, PFLP, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
In response, on June 13, 2025, my organization, theIntelligent Advocacy Network (IAN), filed a formal complaint with California Attorney General Rob Bonta, urging an investigation into AMED’s activities and SFSU’s apparent failure of oversight.
A pattern of platforming terror
Over the years, AMED has showcased a steady lineup of speakers tied to FTOs, including: Leila Khaled, PFLP operative and convicted hijacker; Sheikh Raed Salah, convicted Hamas financier; Salah Salah, PFLP cofounder; Sami Al-Arian, convicted PIJ asset; Wisam Rafeedie, longtime PFLP propagandist, and others. Under AMED’s banner, Dr. Abdulhadi led a student delegation to Jordan to meet withKhaled and Salah.
Now, AMED’s extremist rhetoric is spilling into San Francisco’s streets.
At the May 2024 People’s Conference for Palestine in Detroit, Abdulhadi addressed over 3,000 attendees and shared her full support for FTOs:
[I]n Palestine, there are many groups — PFLP mostly — but there are also other groups participating in the resistance, along with Islamic Jihad and Hamas .… I think we need to be fully supportive with the resistance and stand by it so we can achieve the victory we want.
Days earlier, in a SFSU AMED webinar, Abdulhadi dismissed widely verified reports of Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities, including sexual violence, as a “Zionist myth.”
From speech to violence
In Volk v. Board of Trustees, Jewish students accused SFSU of fostering a hostile campus environment. The university settled in 2019, agreeing to strengthen protections. Yet AMED events have continued to portray Zionism as a monolith, branding it “white supremacist” and “racist.” Abdulhadi called a former SFSU president’s welcome to Zionists “a declaration of war.”
On Oct. 11, 2023 — Indigenous People’s Day — AMED’s Facebook posted an image of Hamas terrorists breaching the Gaza-Israel border just hours before they massacred 1,200 people and kidnapped 250 more. The caption in Arabic read “#Gaza_Wins.”
Now, AMED’s extremist rhetoric is spilling into San Francisco’s streets.
On June 9, 2025, protesters vandalized Manny’s — a Jewish-owned cafe in the Mission District — shattering windows and scrawling threats like “Die Zio” and “The only good settler is a dead 1.” Days later, in Cow Hollow, six men shouting “F— Jews, Free Palestine” assaulted a 27-year-old man and a restaurant worker who tried to intervene.
These attacks came just weeks after the D.C. murders — and their public praise by AMED affiliates — underscoring how violent rhetoric is now turning into violent action.
Negligence and legal risk
By allowing Abdulhadi to use public resources to promote individuals tied to FTOs, SFSU exposes itself to significant legal liability — including potential violations of state law, federal antiterror statutes, and its duty to maintain a safe, nonhostile campus environment.
Conclusion
The Volk case revealed entrenched antisemitism at SFSU. But the NCRI report uncovers something deeper: a taxpayer-funded academic program operating as a radicalization engine within California’s public university system.
IAN urges Attorney General Bonta to launch a full investigation. California’s public institutions must not be used to legitimize or incite violent extremism.
Susan George is the CEO of Intelligent Advocacy Network (IAN), a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to countering extremism and advancing transparency and lawful governance in the use of public funds and political influence.