YouTube has shut down Addameer’s video channel, after UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) wrote reminding them that Addameer has recently been designated by the US Treasury as a terrorist organization.

UKLFI wrote to YouTube pointing out that Addameer has been designated and that US companies and organisations with a US office are now prohibited from offering services to Addameer.  US entities are subject to fines from the US authorities for breaching the sanctions on a strict liability basis. The YouTube Channel was removed within a few hours.

UKLFI had previously written to GoFundMe, which had removed a fundraiser which would have benefited Addameer.

GoFundMe assured UKLFI that “the fundraiser in question has been suspended from accepting further donations. No funds raised through our platform have been transferred to ADDAMEER nor have we received any donations to this fundraiser since the designation was announced. We are continuing to review the matter in accordance with our internal compliance procedures.”

Addameer was one of six “charities” along with five individuals, all located outside the USA,  sanctioned on 10 June by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury Department.

Addameer was targeted by the US Treasury Department for being (in its words) “a separate fraudulent charity linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).”  The other “charities” were said by OFAC to be “prominent financial supporters of Hamas’s Military Wing and its terrorist activities under the pretence of conducting humanitarian work, both internationally and in Gaza.”

In its press release about the designation, the US Treasury said of Addameer:  “Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association (Addameer), based in the West Bank, purports to represent the interests of Palestinian prisoners.  However, like the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network (Samidoun) that OFAC designated on October 15, 2024 along with one of its leaders, Khaled Barakat (Barakat), Addameer has long supported and is affiliated with the PFLP.”

Caroline Turner, director of UKLFI commented: “We are pleased that US entitities from whom Addameer receives various services, are complying with the law.”