In 2025, the European Union is going through a significant transformation of a counterterrorism strategy. The essence of this change is a growing propensity of marking activist networks, especially those promoting the rights of Palestinians as a national and continental security menace. The liberalization of EU terror listing has also put groups like Samidoun and Masar Badil under the spotlight sparking uneasiness in the human rights community and the legal experts of Europe.
In July 2025 Belgian authorities placed Samidoun on its national list of extremism, replicating such moves elsewhere in Germany, the United States, and Canada. This emerging European pressure, although still not officially mentioned by the EU itself, is likely to end in broader sanctions. The impact is massive, not only of the targeted organisations, but also of the Palestinian advocacy and protest movements in the continent in the future.
Foundations of the EU Terrorism Designation Process
Legal Mechanisms and Sanction Protocols
The terrorist list that is operated by the EU was introduced in December 2001 in response to the current global security situation, post 9/11. Based on the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373, through the list, there are grounds to freeze assets, restrictions to travel and criminalization of supplying individuals or groups of designated organizations with resources or other assistance.
This list is reviewed at least once a year by the Council of the European Union although the process is quite obscure. As of January 2025, 14 individuals and 22 groups are listed, as well as specific designations of ISIL/Da esh, Al-Qaeda, and most recently, supporters of Hamas and Islamic Jihad Palestine. Interestingly, the ever growing regime that is currently in place within the EU has now extended to include individuals suspected to instigate violence or those who offer indirect support to terrorism in terms of material support.
Both the Samidoun and Masar Badil groups, which both deny any participation in violent activities, are now entangled in regional restrictions and labeling that has forced the roles of political expression and national security to be tested.
The Targeting of Samidoun and Its Global Echo
A Network Under Fire
Samidoun is a Palestine prisoner solidarity organization long active in Europe and North America as an advocacy group. It arranges demonstrations, issues updates on the prisoners, and petitions the liberation of Palestinians who are imprisoned in Israel. But its suspected alliance with Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) which the EU categorizes as a terrorist group has led to a series of government raids.
Polarizing rhetoric and an indirect connection with the PFLP were stated by the Coordination Unit for Threat Analysis in Belgium (OCAD) to justify the PJB inclusion on a July watchlist. In 2023, Germany declared Samidoun banned on grounds of it being a threat to the order of people. In 2024, Canada included the group on their list of terrorist groups, and the U.S Treasury labeled it a so-called “sham charity” in funding proscribed operations.
Its actions to designate seem to be getting more coordinated and the prospects reign concern about its domino effect over the whole of the EU with other states such as the Netherlands and France considering following suit.
Political Speech, Activism, and the Shrinking Civic Space
The Erosion of Advocacy Freedoms
Human rights organisations fear that growth in EU listings on terrorism may be a silencing tactic on civil society. Outspoken Palestinians and pro-Palestinian activists claim that Samidoun and other such groups play an instrumental role in raising awareness about the human rights conditions of the occupied Palestinian territories as increasing tensions since attacks in October 2023 and military Israeli raids in Gaza.
Criminalizing these groups can be dangerous because it will create a grey area of peaceful activism and extremist violence. That humanitarian exceptions to sanction regimes can be found in European law is not paradoxical, and extensions will take place until February of 2027 to ensure that humanitarian aid flows are not affected. However, the existence of these exemptions does little in defending political legitimacy of grassroots advocacy.
Critics stress that legal ambiguity around terms such as “indirect support” or “glorification” of violence makes it easier to target organizations based on political content rather than actions. This ambiguity poses a direct challenge to European democratic values.
National Security or Political Pressure?
The Rationale for Listings
The growing risks of radicalization and the symbolic and operational aspect of activism networks in creating unrest are mentioned by governments because of the need to expand terror designation. The 2024 EU sanctions package against Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad contained measures against persons and groups that gave materials, financial, and propaganda aid to the organizations.
Proponents of this idea suggest that the change towards prioritizing the safety of the people should be applied since even the capitals of Europe have gone through incidents linked to terrorism. According to them, networks such as Samidoun are doing more than creating awareness, they are offering doctrinaire sanctuary and operational assistance to violent organizations.
The evidence base of such assertions is however debatable. Although EU satellite-states claim that the groups employ “soft tactics” in the radicalization of young people, some point fingers at the inability to prosecute violence-linked crimes. The interests of preventing policy versus civil liberties are becoming increasingly difficult to close an ear.
Parliamentary and Judicial Responses
Diverging Perspectives within the EU
In European institutions reactions have been mixed. Others in the European Parliament believe in more cooperation on security issues and the widening of blacklists because there should be a quick response time to changeable extremist networks. Concerns have been raised by others that these actions will turn the actors of civil society into the objects of blame in the greater geopolitical conflict.
This discussion grew louder following the July 2025 ruling of the UK, retaining its ban on the Palestine Action, describing it as a terror group after it engaged in vandalism on numerous occasions. The decision by the High Court in the UK has given confidence to other EU officials to take legal action against such a group of people as Samidoun.
But there is opposition. Lawyers and civil liberties groups add that these actions might undermine the European Union human rights regime. Unless strict controls are allowed, they warn, then the process of listings may in turn become a mechanism of disabling any criticism of those political issues, such as the Middle East conflict between Israel and Palestine.
A Call for Accountability and Transparency
This person has spoken on the topic in an interview with CBC News, highlighting the dangers of conflating advocacy with terrorism and calling for transparent, evidence-based criteria for listings.
It’s clear.
— Michael Chong 🇨🇦 (@MichaelChongMP) October 8, 2024
Samidoun is knowingly acting on behalf of, at the direction of or in association with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a terrorist group under the Criminal Code.
This qualifies Samidoun for a terrorism listing.
Why hasn’t this happened?#cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/Qv71XWE7Pn
Their remarks echo widespread calls for greater clarity in EU terror designation policies. Critics argue that vague thresholds and opaque reviews allow for disproportionate targeting and political misuse, ultimately undermining public trust.
What Lies Ahead for Palestinian Solidarity in Europe?
A growing prosecution of terrorism laws against Palestinian activism is a red flag to wider European democratic standards. Concerns surrounding the trend bring a set of serious questions on how far the EU is ready to expand its security model and whether the right to political discourse and campaign will exist in the new environment.
It is not yet clear as to whether Samidoun and other like organizations will be formally included in the EU list of terrorists. The one thing that is clear is the outcome of political and legal battles around them will set the future of Palestinian advocacy and the bigger struggle concerning civil liberties, right to protest and foreign policy in Europe.
With every passing global event, which inflames sensitivities whether in 2025 in Gaza, or over the issue of asylum and integration, there is an increasing pressure on the space of dissent in Europe. History will teach us whether Europe will take its place in the further polarized world as the continent which protects democratic values or the world, where security issues are more important than the expression and the right to associate.