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US Announces Launch of New Task Force ‘Seeking Justice’ for Oct. 7 Attack Victims
An American flag waves outside the US Department of Justice Building in Washington, DC. Photo: Al Drago via Reuters Connect
The US Justice Department on Monday announced the leadership team and members of a newly assembled task force designed to “seek justice” for victims of Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel and to “address the ongoing threat” posed by the Palestinian terrorist group and its affiliates.
Joint Task Force October 7 (JTF 10-7) will place an emphasis on “targeting, charging, and securing for prosecution in the United States the direct perpetrators of the Oct. 7 attack,” the Justice Department said in a press release announcing the initiative.
“The barbaric Hamas terrorists will not win — and there will be consequences,” US Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. “As attorney general, I have had the solemn honor of meeting with several families of US citizens whose loved ones were kidnapped by Hamas on that dark day. This task force will strengthen the department’s resolve to achieve justice for these families and their loved ones as we continue to fight antisemitism in all its forms.”
The task force will handle pending charges against Hamas leadership in connection to the Oct. 7 attack and other terrorist attacks, as well as bring the offenders to the United States to answer for their involvement in the massacre, according to the Justice Department. Moreover, the law enforcement body will look into acts of terrorism, human rights abuses, and antisemitism committed by those who support and finance Hamas, associated proxies of Iran, and their affiliates.
Under the supervision of the deputy attorney general, JTF 10-7 will be headed by a senior FBI special agent serving as the task force commander, an FBI intelligence analyst serving as the deputy task force commander, and a senior counterterrorism prosecutor from the Justice Department’s National Security Division (NSD). The initiative will also receive assistance from several other parts of the Justice Department.
“The victims of Hamas’s decades-long violent campaign of terrorism against Israel will always have the support of the US government, and the department will no longer permit illegal support of Hamas on our campuses and elsewhere in the homeland,” Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. “Antisemitic acts of terrorism – whether here or abroad – will never go unpunished. This task force represents our unyielding commitment to those who have suffered at the hands of these brutal terrorists.”
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded southern Israel, where they killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages into Gaza. During the onslaught, 45 Americans were murdered, and 12 were abducted.
Israel responded with a counteroffensive aimed at freeing the hostages in Gaza and degrading the terrorist group’s military capabilities.
Last September, the Biden administration’s Justice Department issued charges to former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other individuals connected to the terrorist group. Israeli forces found and killed Sinwar weeks later.
Since entering the White House in January, US President Donald Trump has repeatedly emphasized the importance of defeating Hamas and holding the leaders of the terrorist group responsible for their crimes. Last week, Trump issued a “last warning” to Hamas, demanding that the terrorist group release the remaining hostages or face death.
“Release all of the hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for you,” Trump wrote on social media. “Not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don’t do as I say.”
Trump has also placed heavy importance on combatting domestic antisemitism, which has surged in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attacks. In late January, Trump signed an executive order aimed at stopping anti-Jewish discrimination on college campuses. The order in part called for “using all appropriate legal tools to prosecute, remove, or otherwise … hold to account perpetrators of unlawful antisemitic harassment and violence.”
Days later, the Justice Department announced the formation of a “multi-agency” Task Force to Combat Antisemitism to carry out Trump’s executive order.
The post US Announces Launch of New Task Force ‘Seeking Justice’ for Oct. 7 Attack Victims first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: IDF Probes Whether Houthis Used Iranian Cluster Bomb-Bearing Missile
Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi addresses followers via a video link at the al-Shaab Mosque, formerly al-Saleh Mosque, in Sanaa, Yemen, Feb. 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
i24 News – The Israeli military said Saturday it launched a probe into the failure of its defenses to fully intercept a missile launched by Yemen’s Houthi jihadists, parts of which struck not far from the Ben Gurion airport on Friday night.
According to the Ynet website, one of the hypotheses being examined is that the projectile contained cluster munitions, similar to those used by Iran to fire at Israeli cities during the 12-day war in June. Cluster munitions pose a challenge to interceptors as they disperse smaller explosives over a wide area.
In June, Iran fired several missiles carrying scattered small bombs with the aim of increasing civilian casualties.
The IDF said on Saturday that its initial review suggests the ballistic missile from Yemen likely fragmented in mid-air. Five interceptors from various systems engaged with the missile, including THAAD, Arrow, David Sling & Iron Dome.
Authorities said that shrapnel impacted a house in the central Israeli moshav of Ginaton, yet no one was hurt, with the fragment landing in the house’s backyard.
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Iran Forces Kill Six Militants, IRNA Reports, Israel Link Seen
The Iranian flag is seen flying over a street in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 3, 2023. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Iranian security forces shot dead six militants in a clash in southeastern Iran on Saturday, a day after armed rebels killed five police officers in the restive region, the official news agency IRNA reported.
IRNA said evidence showed the group was linked to Israel and may have been trained by Israel‘s Mossad spy agency. There was no immediate Israeli reaction to the allegation.
Another two members of the militant group were arrested, the report said. All but one of the militants were foreign, it added, without giving their nationality.
Iranian police said this month they had arrested as many as 21,000 suspects during the 12-day war with Israel in June.
Iran’s southeast has been the scene of sporadic clashes between security forces and armed groups, including Sunni militants and separatists who say they are fighting for greater rights and autonomy.
Tehran says some of them have ties to foreign powers and are involved in cross-border smuggling and insurgency.
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Benny Gantz Urges Time-Limited National Unity Government to Further Chances of Hostage Deal
Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz attends his party’s meeting at the Knesset, Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, June 27, 2022. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun
i24 News – Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz on Saturday called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition politicians to form a temporary national unity government to further the chances of bringing home the hostages held in Gaza.
Addressing Netanyahu, Yair Lapid and Avigdor Liberman, Gantz said that the proposed government’s two supreme priorities would be the release of Israeli hostages held by the jihadists of Hamas and instituting universal conscription in Israel by ending the exemption from military service enjoyed by the ultra-Orthodox.
Upon attainment of the goals, the government would dissolve and call an election.
“The government’s term will begin with a hostage deal that brings everyone home,” Gantz said in a video address. “Within weeks, we will formulate an enlistment outline that would see our ultra-Orthodox brethren drafted to the military and ease the burden on those already serving. Finally, we will announce an agreed-upon election date in the spring of 2026 and pass a law to dissolve the Knesset [Israeli parliament] accordingly. This is what’s right for Israel.”