Betsey Piette
Overview
Betsey Piette participated in multiple events in support of Hamas terrorists in October 2023, including speaking against a Philadelphia City Council resolution condemning Hamas terrorism against Israeli civilians earlier that month. Piette has also expressed support for Hamas online.The incidents occurred after Hamas terror atrocities and war crimes against Israeli civilians, including mass murder, torture, rape, beheadings and kidnappings, which were executed on October 7, 2023. The terror attacks left over 1,200 Israelis dead, hundreds kidnapped and thousands wounded. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.”
Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S., Canada, European Union, Israel and other countries. Founded in 1987, it has killed thousands of Israeli civilians through mass shootings and suicide bombings. Hamas has also kidnapped children, families and the elderly and held them hostage in Gaza. It has desecrated [slide 2] dead bodies and launched numerous rocket attacks against Israeli civilians.
October 8, 2023 - Marching at a Pro-Hamas Rally
On October 8, 2023, one day after the massacre of over 1,200 Israeli citizens by Hamas, Piette participated in an anti-Israel rally and march held in support of Hamas. The event took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was reportedly organized by the Philly Palestine Coalition.Piette appeared in a photo at the rally holding a sign that read: “Free Gaza / FREE PALESTINE” and “US - Stop Funding Zionist Terror” followed by “Workers World Party.”
On October 8, 2023, the Philly Palestine Coalition and other local anti-Israel groups held an “Emergency Solidarity Rally” in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The rally was in support of the previous day’s Hamas terrorist war crimes.
Michael C. Wilson of the Workers’ World Party saluted [00:10:19] Hamas for what he called [00:15:23] “a job well done.” He called for [00:14:17] the murder of more Israeli civilians, yelling: “F**k ‘em! Kill 250 more today!”
Other speakers praised [00:15:58] Hamas for being a “resistance front” and claimed [01:25:56] Hamas war crimes were part of them fighting “for their freedom.” Protesters joined [00:28:08] in chants calling for “intifada,” a term showing support for terrorism, and other chants alleging [00:27:41] that Israel is a “terrorist state.”
On Saturday, October 7, 2023, approximately 2,900 heavily armed Hamas terrorists breached Israel’s border with Gaza. They executed numerous war crimes on civilians, including mass murder, beheadings of children, rape of men and women, torture, kidnappings and mutilation. Hamas broadcast videos of their butchery on social media, often to victims’ accounts for families to see. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.”
As of November 10, 2023, over 1,200 Israelis, the vast majority of them civilians, were murdered during the attacks. Hamas kidnapped 242 Israelis, including at least 30 children. At least 3,500 people were wounded, many severely.
As of December 25, 2023, Hamas had fired over 10,600 missiles from Gaza at Israeli communities, with Hamas claiming 5,000 the day it launched the attack. While Hamas was the main group involved, members of other terror groups also joined in the atrocities.
Many Palestinian civilians, including women and children, also participated in the attack. In several instances, Gazans who worked in the targeted Israeli communities gave intelligence to Hamas on where to strike.
In a December 2023 poll, 57% of Gazans and 82% of Palestinians in the West Bank supported the terror attacks. 42% of Gazans were supportive of Hamas rule, up from 38% before the attacks, and 44% in the West Bank supported Hamas, up from 12%.
Hamas began by launching thousands of rockets at Israel and using motorized paragliders “to infiltrate Israeli territory and secure terrain.” Terrorist ground forces destroyed parts of the border fence with Gaza, murdering and kidnapping soldiers.
Terrorists then turned their attention to 22 communities around Gaza, where they went house to house to savagely murder, mutilate and kidnap anyone they found. They executed children in front of their parents and parents in front of their children.
Terrorists beheaded children and babies, and massacred entire families, burning some alive who hid in their homes. Hamas terrorists kicked around the heads of beheaded victims like soccer balls. Israelis between the ages of three and 85 were kidnapped and taken forcibly to Gaza. Hamas has not allowed the Red Cross access to the hostages.
Over 360 unarmed young men and women were surrounded and slaughtered at one music festival alone. Bodies were publicly desecrated, with some dragged through the streets of Gaza, then beheaded.
Women were raped next to the bodies of dead friends. Some were raped and then shot in the head. Others, including young girls, were raped and murdered or mutilated in other ways. Israeli officials opened an unprecedented investigation into the widespread sexual assault. Forensic analysis of corpses showed evidence of torture and rape.
Hamas terrorists said they were given explicit orders to carry out the atrocities, including chopping off legs and raping the corpses of murdered victims.
Hamas intentionally targeted youth centers and elementary schools to execute and kidnap children. They also took stimulant drugs to give added energy to murder and maim. Nazis also took drugs during World War II to fuel their anti-Semitic massacres.
The atrocities were acknowledged as the worst single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, including by U.S. President Joe Biden, who also compared Hamas to ISIS. Hamas attacked on the annual holiday of Simchat Torah, which that year was on Shabbat, the weekly Jewish Sabbath.
The Hamas atrocities against Israeli civilians are crimes against humanity according to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
The mass murder generated great sympathy for Israel from many countries but led to countless celebrations among Palestinians and anti-Israel organizations in America that back the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
Hamas called the October 7, 2023 terror attacks “Al-Aqsa Flood,” a reference to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. The allegation that Jews “threaten” to destroy the mosque has been a pretext for Arab attacks on Jews long before Israel was founded in 1948. Such propaganda has led to multiple periods of violence against Israeli civilians.
October 19, 2023 - Opposing an Anti-Hamas Resolution
On October 19, 2023, Piette spoke [01:21:35] during public comment against Philadelphia City Council Resolution 230706 titled: “Condemning the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel and calling for a peaceful resolution to the Israel-Palestine conflict.”Piette said [01:22:11]: “I have to ask. What would this council have done about apartheid in South Africa? Would you have passed a resolution supporting the right of those carrying out apartheid…against the attacks from those fighting apartheid? If you vote for this resolution, it’s the same thing.”
Piette continued [01:22:56]: “What about the inalienable right of oppressed people to resist?”
Among Palestinians and anti-Israel activists, the term “resistance” can be a euphemism for nationalistic terror. It is often used to excuse or even glorify anti-Israel and anti-Semitic violence.
Several protesters were forced out of the City Council meeting reportedly for disrupting other speakers who supported the resolution during public comment.
On October 19, 2023, the City Council reportedly unanimously approved the resolution to condemn the Hamas attacks.
The rally was organized by several anti-Israel organizations, including Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). They called on Fetterman to back an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
On October 18, 2023, Fetterman tweeted: “Now is not the time to talk about a ceasefire. We must support Israel in efforts to eliminate the Hamas terrorists who slaughtered innocent men, women, and children. Hamas does not want peace, they want to destroy Israel. We can talk about a ceasefire after Hamas is neutralized.”
At the rally, protesters blocked [slide 3] the entrance to Fetterman’s office during rush hour traffic. Nour Qutyan, a Philly Palestine Coalition leader, led protesters in chanting: “Ceasefire now!”
Piette also argued that to “call Israelis ‘hostages’ and Palestinians ‘prisoners’ is in itself a distortion. Since Israeli settler colonialism stole Palestinian land over the last 75 years, any imprisoned Palestinians can be considered hostages of an illegal occupation.”
The modern State of Israel was founded 75 years earlier, in 1948.
On October 19, 2023, the City Council reportedly unanimously approved the resolution to condemn the Hamas attacks.
October 26, 2023 - Participating in a Pro-Hamas Rally
On October 26, 2023, Piette participated in an anti-Israel rally outside U.S. Senator John Fetterman’s office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.The rally was organized by several anti-Israel organizations, including Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). They called on Fetterman to back an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
On October 18, 2023, Fetterman tweeted: “Now is not the time to talk about a ceasefire. We must support Israel in efforts to eliminate the Hamas terrorists who slaughtered innocent men, women, and children. Hamas does not want peace, they want to destroy Israel. We can talk about a ceasefire after Hamas is neutralized.”
At the rally, protesters blocked [slide 3] the entrance to Fetterman’s office during rush hour traffic. Nour Qutyan, a Philly Palestine Coalition leader, led protesters in chanting: “Ceasefire now!”
Support for Hamas Terrorists
On November 28, 2023, Piette wrote an article for the International Action Center (IAC) where she claimed that Israeli hostages who Hamas kidnapped on October 7, 2023, and then released later that year “showed no fear of their captors.”Piette also argued that to “call Israelis ‘hostages’ and Palestinians ‘prisoners’ is in itself a distortion. Since Israeli settler colonialism stole Palestinian land over the last 75 years, any imprisoned Palestinians can be considered hostages of an illegal occupation.”
The modern State of Israel was founded 75 years earlier, in 1948.
On October 13, 2023, Piette wrote an article for WW in which she referred to the Hamas massacre of Israeli civilians on October 7 as a “historic uprising of Palestinians.”
Biographical Information
As of January 2024, Piette was listed as a founding board member of Playgrounds for Palestine (PfP), founded by pro-terror anti-Israel activist Susan Abulhawa. Piette’s PfP bio said she was a retired accountant and former business manager for a childcare center and “most recently” an organizer of many anti-Israel demonstrations.As of May 2023, Piette was listed under “Staff and Volunteers” for the Palestine Writes Literature Festival, an event that reportedly “featured several activists who promoted conspiracies about Jewish power and called for violence against Israel.”
As of the same date, Piette’s Palestine Writes bio said she retired in 2012 and “currently manages the finances” for Palestine Writes. Her bio also said she was the managing editor of the Workers World Newspaper (Workers World), the newspaper of the Workers World Party (WWP), and an organizer with the International Action Center (IAC).
As of December 2023, Piette was an author for anti-Israel websites Popular Resistance, Workers World and IAC.
As of the same date, Piette’s Facebook page said she lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Social Media and Weblinks
Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/betsey.piette/Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/betseypiette/
Workers World:https://www.workers.org/author/betsey/
Muck Rack:https://muckrack.com/betsey-piette
Pinterest:https://www.pinterest.com/betseypiette/
- Status:
- Professional
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- Organizations:
- IAC,
- WWP
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- Last Modified:
- 06/23/2025
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