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‘Honor His Last Demand’: Anti-Israel Groups Across US Mobilize in Support of Assassinated Terrorist Leaders
Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh speaks during a press conference in Tehran, Iran, March 26, 2024. Photo: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS
Anti-Israel groups across the US have planned major protests in response to the assassinations of top Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, social media posts reveal.
This week, Israel killed Fuad Shukr, the No. 2 leader in the Hezbollah terrorist organization, in a targeted strike on a building in Lebanon. The assassination came as a response to a Hezbollah rocket attack on the Druze village of Majdal Shams, located in the Golan Heights, which hit a soccer field and killed 12 children.
Then, on Wednesday, the leader of Hamas’ political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed when a bomb exploded in his hotel room while staying in Tehran, the capital city of Iran, for the inauguration of the country’s new president. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement in the attack.
In response to these high-profile assassinations of top terrorist leaders, anti-Israel groups in the West mobilized in support of the terrorists.
In New York City, the group Within Our Lifetime hailed the men as martyrs, chanting that the “martyr is loved by Allah” and that “Zionists are the enemy of Allah.” They also chanted, “From New York to Gaza, globalize the intifada.”
Among the rallygoers, there were a number of Hamas and Hezbollah flags, signaling explicit support for the US-designated terrorist organizations.
Protesters in Times Square Rally Following Assassination of Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh, Hizbullah Military Leader Fuad Shukr, Wave Hamas, Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam, Hizbullah Flags, Chant: The Martyr Is Beloved by Allah! Israel Is the Enemy of Allah! pic.twitter.com/ZnyOxCbstR
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) August 1, 2024
A number of other groups are also planning protests on Saurday.
An organization called Montreal 4 Palestine is hosting a protest in order to “Honor his [Ismail Haniyeh’s] last demand,” which they claim was to mobilize across Israel, the Palestinian territories, and around the world to “support our people in the Gaza Strip and to free our prisoners in the occupation’s prisons.”
“You can’t kill a movement,” they wrote on X/Twitter.
Directly after the assassinations, the Boston chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement announced an “emergency rally” for their “martyrs.” The announcement was coupled with the claim that Israel is attempting to “create a bloody regional war.”
The Algemeiner reported on Wednesday that the American writer and activist Shaun King lionized Haniyeh in a post about his death. King admired that “he was working hard, day and night, on the ceasefire even though these genocidal monsters had murdered his own kids and grandchildren. I never understood how he had such strength to push forward. But he knew and said that he was no different than the average Palestinian who has lost so much.”
Additionally, Zahra Billoo, the executive director of the San Francisco Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), wrote on X/Twitter that “tonight, we mourn Ismail himself but know his martyrdom is not in vain. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Haniyeh was placed on the US State Department’s Specially Designated Global Terrorists list in 2018.
“Haniyeh has close links with Hamas’ military wing and has been a proponent of armed struggle, including against civilians,” the department said at the time while announcing his terror designation. “He has reportedly been involved in terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens. Hamas has been responsible for an estimated 17 American lives killed in terrorist attacks.”
Hamas and Hezbollah are both backed by Iran, which provides the Islamist terrorist groups with arms, funding, and training.
Many of the most prominent anti-Israel organizations in the West explicitly endorsed Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, in which Palestinian terrorists killed 1,200 people and kidnapped 250 hostages. These groups have regularly called for an “intifada” and other types of violence and terrorism at their rallies, along with flags of US-designated terrorist organizations.
Last week, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the United States to give a speech to a joint session of Congress, pro-Hamas rioters vandalized statues — including with the phrase “Hamas is coming” — and assaulted police officers.
The post ‘Honor His Last Demand’: Anti-Israel Groups Across US Mobilize in Support of Assassinated Terrorist Leaders 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.