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Anti-Israel Group to Host Webinar With Hamas Official Who Vowed to Carry Out Oct. 7 Massacre ‘Again and Again’
Hamas official Ghazi Hamad speaking on LBC TV, Oct. 24, 2023. Photo: Screenshot
A prominent anti-Israel group is hosting a webinar next month for a Hamas official who pledged that the Palestinian terrorist organization will repeat its Oct. 7 massacre of Israelis “again and again” to bring about the Jewish state’s “annihilation.”
Samidoun, which identifies itself as a “Palestinian prisoner solidarity network,” announced on social media this week that it will hold a “live interview and discussion” with Ghazi Hamad on July 29. Hamad is a member of Hamas’ political bureau and a spokesman for the Iran-backed terrorist organization.
Join the @MasarBadil on Saturday, July 29, 2024 for Palestine Media Series #6, a live interview and discussion with Dr. Ghazi Hamad. Register here: https://t.co/8lyE5nnsiP pic.twitter.com/EncKs72tXT
— Samidoun Network (@SamidounPP) June 25, 2024
The event is part of a “series of Palestine Media discussions that highlight often-silenced voices of the Palestinian, Arab, and regional resistance,” according to Masar Badil, a movement closely affiliated with Samidoun.
Samidoun is a radical anti-Israel advocacy organization that has taken part in pro-Hamas protests across the West, including in the United States, Canada, and countries in Europe, according to its Instagram pages.
Germany banned Samidoun, whose demonstrations in Berlin have featured cries of “Death to the Jews,” in the days following the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7.
Samidoun is also widely viewed as a front group for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a widely designated terrorist organization. One of Samidoun’s leaders, Khaled Barakat, has also had leadership roles in the PFLP.
Despite such associations, Barakat also took part in the campus group Columbia University Apartheid Divest’s “Palestinian Resistance 101” forum in March, sparking backlash and worry among both Jewish and Israeli professors and students.
Hamad, who Samidoun is set to host next month, recently gained notoriety for saying Hamas will continue to commit terrorist attacks similar to the one carried out on Oct. 7 many times over. He told Lebanon’s LBC TV in an Arabic language interview on Oct. 24 that Israel “must be finished.”
“We must teach Israel a lesson, and we will do this again and again,” Hamad said. “[The Oct. 7 massacre] is just the first time and there will be a second, a third, a fourth … the occupation must come to an end.”
Asked if by ending “the occupation” he meant the “annihilation” of Israel, Hamad replied, “Yes, of course.”
“The existence of Israel is what causes all that pain, blood, and tears,” he said. “It is Israel, not us. We are the victims of the occupation. Period. Therefore, nobody should blame us for the things we do. On Oct. 7 … everything we do is justified.”
Hamad added, in English to emphasize the point, “It is justified.”
Hamad’s comments were first translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
On Oct. 7, Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists from Gaza invades southern Israel, where they murdered 1,200 people and abducted about 250 others as hostages. Investigations from international agencies and news outlets found the terrorists weaponized sexual violence against women during the attack as well.
Samidoun previously described Oct. 7 as an act of “heroic Palestinian resistance.”
During his interview, Hamad explained that it was not problematic that many Palestinians would inevitably die in subsequent conflicts if Hamas continued to carry out such attacks.
“Will we have to pay a price?” he asked. “Yes, and we are ready to pay it. We are called a nation of martyrs, and we are proud to sacrifice martyrs.”
Hamas Official Ghazi Hamad: We Will Repeat the October 7 Attack Time and Again Until Israel Is Annihilated; We Are Victims – Everything We Do Is Justified #Hamas #Gaza #Palestinians pic.twitter.com/kXu3U0BtAP
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) November 1, 2023
White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby called the comments “chilling.”
“Believe terrorists when they tell you who they are,” former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said of Hamad’s statements. “This is why there should be no ceasefire until Hamas is destroyed.”
The post Anti-Israel Group to Host Webinar With Hamas Official Who Vowed to Carry Out Oct. 7 Massacre ‘Again and Again’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.