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Palestinian ‘Resistance’ Groups Don’t Just Target Israelis
The bodies of people, some of them elderly, lie on a street after they were killed during a mass-infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, in Sderot, southern Israel, Oct. 7, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Hamas and its allies in the media, Congress, and especially in academia have saturated the nation with propaganda meant to sway the “hearts and minds” of Americans against Israel. They appear to be winning. The proliferation of anti-Israel protests across the nation since October 7, attests to the failure of the American educational system and the success of the “Palestine” lobby.
At the forefront of Hamas’ propaganda victories are legions of uninformed college students, aided by professional agitators and biased media figures. Shutting down roads, bridges, and airports with seeming impunity, they have made it impossible for even people with no interest in politics to avoid the war in Gaza.
Anti-Israel propaganda depends on ignorance. Students chanting “From the river to the sea” can’t identify either the river or the sea in question. Few have even heard about UN Resolution 181, and fewer still know how a piece of territory roughly the size of New Jersey came to be known as “Palestine.” They have been misled into believing “a truth” far removed from truth.
To counter the assault of anti-Israel propaganda on the streets of American cities and on American college campuses, the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT) introduces a new series aimed at debunking the ubiquitous “pro-Palestine” claims. This one is about the subject of occupation.
Hamas is the enemy of both Israel and the US. While Israel fights the military battle to destroy our common enemy, the least Americans can do is fight the propaganda battle at home.
With their chants and banners, anti-Israel protesters minimize Hamas atrocities by claiming it is a “resistance group” engaged in a “liberation struggle.”
The National Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) released a “Day of Resistance Toolkit” one day after the October 7 pogrom, praising the “historic win for the Palestinian resistance” and urging campus chapters to participate in a “national day of resistance.” It advised them to “ground our campuses and communities in a narrative which centers the legitimacy of resistance,” and to frame the massacre of civilians as a “natural and justified response to decades of oppression.”
But Hamas is not a resistance group. Legitimate resistance groups don’t butcher infants, abduct grandmothers, or brand children. They don’t send storm troopers to prey on children and elderly civilians. They don’t use rape as a tactic to desecrate their victims and satisfy their violent sexual desires. They don’t defile corpses or kill family pets. Any group that does so crosses the line from “resistance” to “terrorism.” Hamas’s feral humans did these things, bragged about doing so, to their mothers even, and made videos of themselves doing so. And they promise to do it again.
According to International law, non-state “resistance” groups must “ensure respect for the [Geneva] Convention in all circumstances.” To be considered a legitimate “resistance” group, they must always be “in compliance with the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict.” But Hamas defies all the rules of war, as do all the other Palestinian organizations that hide behind the “resistance” label.
Hamas is a terrorist group and is designated so by many countries, including the US, Canada, Australia, Paraguay, Japan, the European Union (comprising 27 nations), and of course Israel.
Jordan banned Hamas in 1999. In 2017, Saudia Arabia’s foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir rejected Hamas’ claim to the term “resistance” and called it a “terrorist organization.” Not only has the United Arab Emirates designated Hamas a terrorist organization, but, in 2021, it chastised all nations that have not done so. The UAE’s foreign minister, Abdullah bin Zayed, called it “unfortunate that some countries do not act more clearly in classifying … Hamas, Hezbollah or the Muslim Brotherhood” as terrorist organizations.
Another false claim is that the “Palestinian resistance” targets Israel only. The Americans killed on October 7 and those taken hostage back to Gaza, so goes the argument, weren’t targeted as Americans per se, but were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time and were mistaken for Israelis. Noura Erakat, an associate professor at Rutgers University who calls Hamas “a nascent sovereign of the Palestinian people,” also claims that it “has only targeted Israel.”
Does anyone believe that the 32 Americans murdered on October 7 didn’t identify themselves as Americans to their executioners? And if the Americans kidnapped by Palestinians and held hostage in Gaza were initially mistaken for Israelis, Hamas soon learned that they were American and yet continued to hold them.
Various members and factions of the “Palestinian resistance” have been deliberately targeting Americans for decades, long before Hamas was founded. In 1968, Palestinian nationalist Sirhan Sirhan assassinated Robert F. Kennedy because of his support for Israel. In 1973, Yasser Arafat of the PLO — the allegedly secular half of the “Palestinian resistance” — ordered the execution of US ambassador to Sudan, Cleo Noel, and Chargé d’Affaires, George Moore, after they were taken captive at a party in the Saudi Arabian embassy in Khartoum, Sudan.
In addition to killing Americans who were mistaken for Israelis, Hamas is also responsible for killing Americans because they were Americans.
On October 15, 2003, Americans in Gaza were targeted with a massive bomb buried under a road at the Beit Hanoun junction. The bomb was detonated remotely as a convoy of SUVs easily-recognized as US State Department vehicles drove over it. Palestinian police arrested three members of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) for the bombing. They were identified as residents of the Jebaliya Refugee Camp (a Hamas stronghold). According to the Israeli government, the PRC is “supported, subsidized and trained by the Hamas terrorist organization.”
What was a convoy of State Department SUVs doing in the Gaza Strip in October 2003? The answer should sicken every American. They were interviewing Palestinian students for Fulbright Scholarships. That’s right. US taxpayers paid for diplomats to travel to the heart of Hamas-land in order to dispense more tax dollars to subsidize Palestinian students, offering them a free college education.
Three Americans serving on the security detail of those diplomats were killed in that attack. As the State Department spokesman in 2003, Richard Boucher, put it, “We have employees on contract, in this case from DynCorp, who help supplement our security resources.”
John Eric Branchizio from San Antonio, Texas, was a 9-year veteran of the Navy Seals. He was the oldest of those killed by Hamas, having turned 37 years old two days before the attack.
Mark Thaddeus Parsons from Yonkers, New York, was 31 years old.
John Martin Linde Jr. from Missouri was the youngest killed, only 30 years old. He served 10 years in the US Marine Corps and retired at the rank of Sergeant.
President George W. Bush issued a press release on October 15, 2003, condemning the attack and explaining the circumstances.
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
October 15, 2003
President Condemns Terrorist Act in Gaza Wednesday
I condemn in the strongest terms the vicious act of terrorism directed against Americans in Gaza today. We are working closely with the appropriate officials to bring the terrorists to justice.
Palestinian authorities should have acted long ago to fight terror in all its forms. The failure to create effective Palestinian security forces dedicated to fighting terror continues to cost lives. There must be an empowered prime minister who controls all Palestinian security forces, reforms that continue to be blocked by Yasser Arafat. The failure to undertake these reforms and dismantle the terrorist organizations constitutes the greatest obstacle to achieving the Palestinian people’s dream of statehood.
The Americans who were attacked today were pursuing a vision for a better future for the Palestinian people. The U.S. embassy officials traveling in Gaza were there to interview young Palestinian candidates seeking Fulbright scholarships to study in the United States. This is another example of how the terrorists are enemies of progress and opportunity for the Palestinian people.
On behalf of the American people, I send my heartfelt condolences to the families of the brave Americans who were killed and injured serving our country and its ideals.
Bush’s statement left out some details, such as the fact that when American investigators arrived at the scene, rock-throwing Palestinian “youths” — perhaps some of the same youths the diplomats risked their lives to interview — forced them to retreat and wait for military back-up.
So the next time someone says that the “Palestinian resistance only targets Israelis,” explain the difference between a resistance group and a terrorist group. Then remind them who killed Robert F. Kennedy, Cleo Noel, George Moore, John Branchizio, Mark Parsons, and John Linde.
IPT Senior Fellow A.J. Caschetta is a principal lecturer at the Rochester Institute of Technology and a fellow at Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum where he is also a Ginsberg-Milstein fellow.
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Israel Strikes Houthi Targets in Yemen
Smoke rises after Israeli strikes near Sanaa airport, in Sanaa, Yemen, Dec. 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Israel struck multiple targets linked to the Iran-aligned Houthi terrorist group in Yemen on Thursday, including Sanaa International Airport, and Houthi media said three people were killed.
The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he was about to board a plane at the airport when it came under attack. A crew member on the plane was injured, he said in a statement.
The Israeli military said that in addition to striking the airport, it also hit military infrastructure at the ports of Hodeidah, Salif, and Ras Kanatib on Yemen’s west coast. It also attacked the country’s Hezyaz and Ras Kanatib power stations.
Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said two people were killed in the strikes on the airport and one person was killed in the port hits, while 11 others were wounded in the attacks.
There was no comment from the Houthis, who have repeatedly fired drones and missiles towards Israel in what they describe as acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said following the attacks that Israel will continue its mission until it is complete: “We are determined to sever this terror arm of Iran’s axis.”
The prime minister has been strengthened at home by the Israeli military’s campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon and by its destruction of most of the Syrian army’s strategic weapons.
The Israeli attacks on the airport, Hodeidah and on one power station, were also reported by Al Masirah TV.
Tedros said he had been in Yemen to negotiate the release of detained UN staff detainees and to assess the humanitarian situation in Yemen.
“As we were about to board our flight from Sanaa … the airport came under aerial bombardment. One of our plane’s crew members was injured,” he said in a statement.
“The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge — just a few meters from where we were — and the runway were damaged,” he said, adding that he and his colleagues were safe.
There was no immediate comment from Israel on the incident.
More than a year of Houthi attacks have disrupted international shipping routes, forcing firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys that have in turn stoked fears over global inflation.
The UN Security Council is due to meet on Monday over Houthi attacks against Israel, Israel‘s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said on Wednesday.
On Saturday, Israel‘s military failed to intercept a missile from Yemen that fell in the Tel Aviv-Jaffa area, injuring 14 people.
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Controversial Islamic Group CAIR Chides US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew for Denying Report of ‘Famine’ in Gaza
US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew. Photo: Alchetron.
The Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) has condemned US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew for casting doubt on a new report claiming that famine has gripped northern Gaza.
The controversial Muslim advocacy group on Wednesday slammed Lew for his “callous dismissal” of the recent Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) report accusing Israel of inflicting famine on the Gaza Strip. The organization subsequently asserted that Israel had perpetrated an ethnic cleansing campaign in northern Gaza.
“Ambassador Lew’s callous dismissal of this shocking report by a US-backed agency exposing Israel’s campaign of forced starvation in Gaza reminds one of the old joke about a man who murdered his parents and then asked for mercy because he is now an ‘orphan,’” CAIR said in a statement.
“To reject a report on starvation in northern Gaza by appearing to boast about the fact that it has been successfully ethnically cleansed of its native population is just the latest example of Biden administration officials supporting, enabling, and excusing Israel’s clear and open campaign of genocide in Gaza,” the Washington, DC-based group continued.
On Monday, FEWS Net, a US-created provider of warning and analysis on food insecurity, released a report detailing that a famine had allegedly taken hold of northern Gaza. The report argued that 65,000-75,000 individuals remain stranded in the area without sufficient access to food.
“Israel’s near-total blockade of humanitarian and commercial food supplies to besieged areas of North Gaza Governorate” has resulted in mass starvation among scores of innocent civilians in the beleaguered enclave, the report stated.
Lew subsequently issued a statement denying the veracity of the FEWS Net report, slamming the organization for peddling “inaccurate” information and “causing confusion.”
“The report issued today on Gaza by FEWS NET relies on data that is outdated and inaccurate. We have worked closely with the Government of Israel and the UN to provide greater access to the North Governorate, and it is now apparent that the civilian population in that part of Gaza is in the range of 7,000-15,000, not 65,000-75,000 which is the basis of this report,” Lew wrote.
“At a time when inaccurate information is causing confusion and accusations, it is irresponsible to issue a report like this. We work day and night with the UN and our Israeli partners to meet humanitarian needs — which are great — and relying on inaccurate data is irresponsible,” Lew continued.
Following Lew’s repudiation, FEWS NET quietly removed the report on Wednesday, sparking outrage among supporters of the pro-Palestinian cause.
“We ask FEWS NET not to submit to the bullying of genocide supporters and to again make its report available to the public,” CAIR said in its statement.
In the year following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7, Israel has been repeatedly accused of inflicting famine in Hamas-ruled Gaza. Despite the allegations, there is scant evidence of mass starvation across the war-torn enclave.
This is not the first time that FEWS Net has attempted to accuse Israel of inflicting famine in Gaza. In June, the United Nations Famine Review Committee (FRC), a panel of experts in international food security and nutrition, rejected claims by FEWS Net that a famine had taken hold of northern Gaza. In rejecting the allegations, the FRC cited an “uncertainty and lack of convergence of the supporting evidence employed in the analysis.”
Meanwhile, CAIR has been embroiled in controversy since the onset of the Gaza war last October.
CAIR has been embroiled in controversy since the Oct. 7 atrocities. The head of CAIR, for example, said he was “happy” to witness Hamas’s rampage across southern Israel.
“The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege — the walls of the concentration camp — on Oct. 7,” CAIR co-founder and executive director Nihad Awad said in a speech during the American Muslims for Palestine convention in Chicago in November. “And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land, and walk free into their land, which they were not allowed to walk in.”
CAIR has long been a controversial organization. In the 2000s, it was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing case. Politico noted in 2010 that “US District Court Judge Jorge Solis found that the government presented ‘ample evidence to establish the association’” of CAIR with Hamas.
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), “some of CAIR’s current leadership had early connections with organizations that are or were affiliated with Hamas.” CAIR has disputed the accuracy of the ADL’s claim and asserted that it “unequivocally condemn[s] all acts of terrorism, whether carried out by al-Qa’ida, the Real IRA, FARC, Hamas, ETA, or any other group designated by the US Department of State as a ‘Foreign Terrorist Organization.’”
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Jewish Civil Rights Group Representing Amsterdam Pogrom Victims Slams Dutch Court for ‘Light Sentences’
Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters are guarded by police after violence targeting Israeli football fans broke out in Amsterdam overnight, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, November 8, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ami Shooman/Israel Hayom
The international Jewish civil rights organization legally representing more than 50 victims of the attack on Israeli soccer fans that took place in Amsterdam last month has joined many voices in lambasting a Dutch court for what they described as a mild punishment for the attackers.
“These sentences are an insult to the victims and a stain on the Dutch legal system,” The Lawfare Project’s founder and executive director Brooke Goldstein said in a statement on Wednesday. “Allowing individuals who coordinated and celebrated acts of violence to walk away with minimal consequences diminishes the rule of law and undermines trust in the judicial process. If this is the response to such blatant antisemitism, what hope is there for deterring future offenders or safeguarding the Jewish community.”
On Tuesday, a district court in Amsterdam sentenced five men for their participation in the violent attacks in the Dutch city against fans of the Israeli soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv. The premeditated and coordinated violence took place on the night of Nov. 7 and into the early hours of Nov 8, before and after Maccabi Tel Aviv competed against the Dutch soccer team Ajax in a UEFA Europa League match. The five suspects were sentenced to up to 100 hours of community service and up to six months in prison.
The attackers were found guilty of public violence, which included kicking an individual lying on the ground, and inciting the violence by calling on members of a WhatsApp group chat to gather and attack Maccabi Tel Aviv fans. One man sentenced on Tuesday who had a “leading role” in the violence, according to prosecutors, was given the longest sentence — six months in prison.
“As someone who witnessed these trials firsthand, I am deeply disheartened by the leniency of these sentences,” added Ziporah Reich, director of litigation at The Lawfare Project. “The violent, coordinated attacks against Jews in Amsterdam are among the worst antisemitic incidents in Europe. These light sentences fail to reflect the gravity of these crimes and do little to deliver justice to the victims who are left traumatized and unheard. Even more troubling, they set a dangerous precedent, signaling to future offenders that such horrific acts of violence will not be met with serious consequences.”
The Lawfare Project said on Wednesday that it is representing over 50 victims of the Amsterdam attacks. It has also secured for their clients a local counsel — Peter Plasman, who is a partner at the Amsterdam-based law firm Kötter L’Homme Plasman — to represent them in the Netherlands. The Lawfare Project aims to protect the civil and human rights of Jewish people around the world through legal action.
Others who have criticized the Dutch court for its sentencing of the five men on Tuesday included Arsen Ostrovsky, a leading human rights attorney and CEO of The International Legal Forum; Tal-Or Cohen, the founder and CEO of CyberWell; and The Center for Information and Documentation on Israel.
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