Belgium’s General Commission for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRA) has revoked the refugee status of Mohammed Khatib, the coordinator of the Samidoun network for Europe, according to Belgian media.
The Immigration Office requested the revocation of Mohammed Khatib’s status last year, Belgian news agency Belga reported. Khatib has been in Belgium since 2015.
According to daily Le Soir, Khatib, who is of Palestinian origin, is listed by the Coordination and Analysis of Threats Unit (OCAM) as a “preacher of hate” and intends to appeal the CGRA’s decision.
The government has repeatedly cited Samidoun as one of the organizations that could be banned under new measures targeting radical and extremist organizations proposed by Interior Minister Bernard Quintin.
The government approved the draft bill before the parliamentary recess, adding Samidoun to its official registry for tracking terrorism, extremism and radicalization last month.
Belgian Member of Parliament Michael Freilich, also serving as Special Envoy for Intercultural Dialogue and Holocaust Remembrance at the European Jewish Association (EJA), welcomed the decision.
“The time for excuses is over. When you glorify the murder of young festival-goers and call it resistance, you have no place in a civilized democracy,” said Freilich in a press release. “This man openly justifies terrorism and calls the slaughter of civilians legitimate. I applaud the Belgian authorities for sending a clear signal: no more tolerance for hate preachers.”
Khatib has described the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas massacre in southern Israel as “a normal reaction of a population living under colonialism.”
Just one day after Hamas terrorists descended by paraglider on the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im on Oct. 7, killing, mutilating and abducting hundreds of young people, Samidoun published a celebratory image showing a paraglider with the slogan “From the river to the sea.” The image was interpreted worldwide as praising the massacre.
Speaking in Brussels in 2022, Khatib said that not only Israel, but also the United States, Canada and Europe must be conquered because these nations “exist on the back of the indigenous people and the black people.”
“This wasn’t a mistake or a nuance. This was calculated glorification of terror, posted the very next day,” said Freilich. “While the bodies were still being counted, Samidoun was celebrating the murderers as heroes.”
Samidoun has already been banned in Germany for glorifying terrorism and spreading antisemitism. The United States and Canada sanctioned it in 2024 as a front for fundraising and propaganda on behalf of the PFLP terrorist group. In the Netherlands, parliament passed a resolution urging the government to officially designate Samidoun a terrorist organization.
The Netherlands banned Khatib from entering the country in October over his membership in Samidoun. The move led to the cancellation of his planned in-person speech at a Dutch university.
“If our allies are banning or sanctioning Samidoun for terrorist support, Belgium must not remain a blind spot in Europe,” said Freilich.
As mentioned, Khatib has announced that he will appeal the decision to revoke his refugee status. He also retains United Nations Relief and Works Agency refugee recognition under international law, which could complicate any efforts to deport him quickly.
Originally published by the European Jewish Press.
