On Saturday, December 27th, Italian counter-terror forces arrested and raided the homes of Mohammad Hannoun as well as six Palestinian organizers and community leaders in Italy for the “crime” of raising over 7 million Euros for Palestinians in Gaza.
Al-Ahrar Palestinian Prisoner Support vehemently condemns the Italian government’s vicious attacks against these seven individuals. We demand for these political prisoners’ immediate and unconditional freedom.
Seizing Life-Saving Funds is Genocide
The Italian state’s attacks against Mohammad Hannoun and six Palestinian community leaders and organizers also includes the targetting of their organizations, namely:
- Associazione Benefica di Solidarietà con il Popolo Palestinese (ABSPP)
- The Charity Association of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
- La Cupola d’Oro.
These three organizations raised millions in funds and assets for the Palestinian people, which have now been seized and frozen by the Italian state—an explicit act of genocide.
As the Zionist entity intentionally starves millions of Palestiniains in Gaza by blocking aid trucks from entering the strip, these Palestinians rely on funds from abroad to survive. Georgia Meloni and her fascist government work hand-in-hand with the Zionist entity in abetting this genocide themselves as they prevent millions in aid from reaching Gaza.
End Sanctions & Terrorist Designations!
The Italian government’s criminalization of Mohammad Hannoun comes just over a year after the United States sanctioned him and labelled him as an “Italy-based Hamas member” who runs a “sham charity” that bankrolls Al-Qassam Brigades.
These allegations bear resemblance to the United States’ 2004 attacks on the Holy Land 5 and Canada’s 2014 attacks on the International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy-Canada (IRFAN-Canada).
In 2004, Mufid Abdulqader, Ghassan Elashi, Shukri Abu Baker, Abdulrahman Odeh, and Mohammed El-Mezain (the Holy Land 5) were all arrested and their organization, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, listed as a terrorist organization for allegations of financing Hamas. Abdulqader, Elashi, and Abu Baker remain imprisoned to this day.
In 2014, the Canadian state alleged that IRFAN–Canada was financing Hamas in the millions. As a result, IRFAN-Canada was listed as a terrorist entity.
Not only do these “terrorist” financing allegations have serious consequences for the Palestinian people who rely on funds from abroad, but claims like these also have a chilling effect on the Palestine solidarity movement.
“Terrorist” sanctions and designations are meant to silence our support for the Palestinian people and their Resistance who are waging a heroic battle against Zionist colonialism. It is our duty as internationalists and those in the diaspora to continue to champion and uplift this struggle and defend our right to resist.
Criminalizing Support for Political Prisoners
The Italian government alleges that Mohammad Hannoun, the six Palestinian organizers and community leaders, and their three organizations send funds to “family members of terrorists”— imperialist verbiage for Palestinian political prisoners held captive in Zionist prisons.
This rhetoric must be sharply and widely rebuked.
Palestinian prisoners are on the frontlines of Zionist violence and witness daily the battle between the occupier and occupied. Criminalizing support for them, particularly political prisoners who are incarcerated for resisting their racist occupier, is a shameful and violent tool that must be identified and resisted.
Prisoners are the compass of this struggle!
Criminalizing Support for the Resistance
Whether or not the myriad of “terrorist” financing allegations are true is irrelevant— from Mohammad Hannoun to Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Support Network to the Holy Land Foundation.
Our focus must be condemning and defending ourselves against internationally coordinated imperialist attacks against those of us in solidarity with the Palestinian people and their Resistance factions.
The criminalization of supporting Palestinian Resistance organizations is an attack against the Palestinian people and their noble and heroic leadership. Organizations that dare to speak up to champion these anti-colonial efforts are being punished by imperialists across the Western world to scare us into silence and complacency.
We must multiply our efforts of supporting the Palestinian Resistance by any means necessary! Georgia Meloni’s fascist Italian government’s full embrace of Zionism and Western imperialism must be forced to halt.
Free Mohammed Hannoun and the 6 arrested Palestinians in Italy!
Free Palestinian political prisoner Anan Yaeesh!
Free Palestinian political prisoner and refugee Ahmed Salem!
FREE THEM ALL!
