Ann Wright

Israel and Egypt implemented a UN-approved [pp. 39–41] joint blockade of the Gaza Strip in 2011 to stop Hamas terrorists from acquiring more sophisticated rockets. During Israel's 2023-2025 war against Hamas, Hamas went around the blockade by smuggling weaponry through tunnels under the Philadelphi corridor separating Gaza from Egypt.

The “Free Gaza Movement” [Gaza Freedom Movement] has organized boats to Gaza meant to “break the siege,” including a May 2010 “Freedom Flotilla.” In 2011, the United Nations found that the flotilla agitators initiated an organized, violent confrontation with Israeli forces. The lead ship, the Mavi Marmara, was carrying no humanitarian aid, only weapons.

In April 2024, another “Freedom Flotilla” attempted to challenge the naval blockade of Gaza during Israel’s war against Hamas, called “Swords of Iron.” However, the mission failed, as the ships of the 2024 flotilla were blocked from leaving the port in Turkey.

Between August and September 2025, the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) set sail from various European ports. On October 1-2, 2025, the GSF attempted to breach the blockade but was intercepted by Israeli ships. The flotilla vessels were found to contain no aid, and the activists aboard the ships were deported. Documents were found linking the flotilla to Hamas.

For years before the 2023-2025 war, pro-terror activists routinely accused Israel of "genocide." On October 8, 2023, they continued using this "blood libel" to try to normalize it. They redefined the term, inflated death tolls, dismissed Israeli aid efforts and used Hamas data counting dead combatants among civilian and natural deaths. They also ignored Hamas war crimes meant to increase deaths which fed more online propaganda.

Francesca Albanese is a UN "Special Rapporteur" with a long history of antisemitic, anti-Israel, and pro-Hamas statements. In February 2026, European ministers called for Albanese's removal after she insinuated that Israel was the "common enemy of humanity." In July 2025, the U.S. imposed sanctions on Albanese for “biased and malicious activities,” asserting she “spewed unabashed antisemitism” and “expressed support for terrorism.”

“Free Palestine!” is a chant used to call for Israel's destruction, acting as a shorter version of "From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free!" It was shouted during multiple deadly attacks on pro-Israel activists in 2025 in America. It has been used to vandalize synagogues and other Jewish buildings, and has been described as a "battle cry for the death of Jews.”

The May 2024 and August 2025 People's Conference for Palestine (PCP) brought together several convicted terrorists or their spouses, dozens of anti-American and anti-Israel organizations and agitators, and thousands of activists in Detroit, Michigan.

They gathered under the backdrop of Israel's war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza, which Israel launched after 1,200 Israelis were murdered during the Hamas terror attacks of October 7, 2023.

They also gathered under the banner: "Gaza is the compass!...Zionism and imperialism [the U.S.] are waging a continuous genocide on Gaza, and we, the people of the world, will fight at every turn to reject it."

The Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) was the driver behind both conferences. PYM declared regarding the 2024 conference that "Palestinian prisoners are the compass of our struggle," a show of support for terrorists in Israeli jail. PYM's 2025 conference theme: “Gaza is the Compass.”

Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) sent a contingent to the 2024 conference, and they formally endorsed the 2025 conference.

The 2024 The People's Conference openly declared its goal to dismantle American and Israeli power structures, using the event as "an opportunity for us as a movement to develop...our people's right to resist the relationship between U.S. imperialism and Zionism...allow[ing] us to chart a path forward of resistance and struggle within the belly of the beast...to consolidate and concretize what our resistance will look like." Speeches and workshops also focused on tactics for mass mobilization to dismantle of the pro-Israel network.

The terms "empire" and "belly of the beast" are both euphemisms that anti-American activists use to describe the U.S. The term “resistance” is used as a euphemism for nationalistic terror.

The keynote speaker at the 2024 conference was the wife of Walid Daqqah, a terrorist with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). He was convicted of kidnapping and killing an Israeli soldier four decades earlier and the PFLP is a communist terror group designated by the U.S. State Department as a foreign terror organization.

Other speakers at the 2024 conference included U.S. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) executive Taher Herzallah, and Mohammed Nabulsi, 2024 conference co-organizer and PYM activist.

The 2025 People’s Conference for Palestine also united participants with U.S.-based extremist organizations, designated terrorist affiliates and communist groups, all with the goal of coordinating strategies for confronting Zionism and U.S. “imperialism.” The event was co-organized by several anti-American and anti-Israel organizations in addition to PYM.

Speakers for the 2025 conference included two terrorists released from Israeli prisons, as well as anti-Israel political figures Linda Sarsour and pro-Hamas activist Mahmoud Khalil, and Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib.

Both conferences were held in support of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 Israelis, kidnapped 251 and wounded thousands. War crimes included various systematic sexual crimes like gang rape and genital mutilation. Men and women were violated, even after being murdered. Victims who survived that day, including hostages, endured forms of humiliation and torture.

Gazans working in the targeted Israeli villages provided intelligence to Hamas on which families to kill and torture, including long-time employers. Many Palestinian civilians joined in and celebrated the attacks. Hamas livestreamed their crimes on social media, including to victims’ accounts for families to see. To learn more, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.

CODEPINK is a U.S.-based activist group founded in 2002 by Jodie Evans, Medea Benjamin and other activists to oppose the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.

The group actively opposes “U.S. support for the Israeli occupation of Palestine” and has been criticized for maintaining close ties to Hamas. CODEPINK also promotes the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

CODEPINK has led a number of solidarity delegations to Gaza under Hamas protection. In March 2014, CODEPINK also helped organize an “International Women's Day” delegation to Gaza. However, upon arriving at the Cairo airport on March 3, 2014, Benjamin was detained by Egyptian authorities and refused entry into Gaza. She was then forcibly deported to Turkey.

CODEPINK BDS campaigns have targeted RE/MAX, Ahava, SodaStream, Hewlett Packard and Airbnb. On November 20, 2016, CODEPINK leader Ariel Gold disrupted a speech given by the actor Ashton Kutcher, an Airbnb investor who defended the company. Gold was escorted off the stage by security.

In September 2008, a number of CODEPINK leaders met with former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a notorious anti-Semite and Holocaust denier. CODEPINK reportedly initiated its anti-Israel campaign followeding meeting. In November 2008, Jodie Evans and a CODEPINK contingent visited Iran at the personal invitation of Ahmadinejad.

The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by pro-terror activist Omar Barghouti in 2005 to turn “Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.” Barghouti has also called for Israel's destruction and the BDS movement demands would result in that same goal.

BDS initiatives include calling on institutions and individuals to divest from Israeli-affiliated companies, promoting academic and cultural boycotts of Israel, and organizing anti-Israel rallies, protests and campaigns.

The movement’s most notable achievement has been infiltrating university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments propose resolutions to boycott or divestment from Israel or Israeli-affiliated entities. BDS activity is often aggressive and disruptive. It has been noted that universities that pass BDS resolutions see a marked increase in anti-Semitic incidents and pro-terror activism on campus.