Donald Parkinson

Anti-Israel activists use the term “resistance” to refer to violence and terror perpetrated against Israeli civilians and their allies. It is used to glorify and encourage anti-Israel and anti-Semitic violence. Anti-Israel activists chant slogans such as: “Resistance by any means necessary!” and “Resistance is justified when people are occupied!” in response to terror attacks.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 Israelis, kidnapped hundreds and wounded thousands. War crimes included mass rape and torture. Many Palestinian civilians participated in and supported the attacks, and Gazans working in the targeted Israeli communities gave intelligence to Hamas on where to strike.

For more information, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.

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 7] dead bodies and launched numerous rocket attacks against Israeli civilians.

Following the outbreak of Israel’s 2023 war against Hamas, Houthi terrorists attacked commercial ships off Yemen’s Red Sea coast and launched missiles into southern Israel. Like Hamas, the Houthi movement is backed by Iran, and is designated as a terror group by the United States, Saudi Arabia and other countries.

The Houthi slogan reads: “God is the Greatest / Death to America / Death to Israel / A Curse Upon the Jews / Victory to Islam.”

Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in their own national home, and the right to develop their national culture. Zionism is a core part of the identity of most Jews.

The assertion that Jews secretly control the Western governments through banking and finance is traced to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a fabricated anti-Semitic text that portrays wealthy Jews as conspiring to take over the world. This anti-Semitic conspiracy theory has often employed the imagery from Nazi cartoons that depict Jews as octopuses encircling the globe.

The terms "empire" and "belly of the beast" are both euphemisms that anti-American activists use to describe the U.S. To learn more, see Canary Mission's campaign Bringing the War Home.

The term “Amerikkka” uses the initials of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) as a way to demonize America as fundamentally and irredeemably “fascist or racist.”

“ACAB” is an acronym that stands for “All cops are bastards.” It is sometimes rendered as “1312,” representing the position of the letters in the English alphabet.

Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is America’s largest socialist organization. Its core ideology includes anti-American, anti-Israel, anti-Western and abolitionist elements.

Following the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks against Israel, DSA condemned Israel, expressed support for Hamas, endorsed anti-Israel rallies and called for members to engage in anti-Israel activism. It condemned Israeli retaliatory attacks against the IRGC and Hezbollah, as well as the U.S. attacks against the Houthi terror organization, whose slogan reads: "...Death to America / Death to Israel / A Curse upon the Jews...”

DSA first endorsed the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement in 2017 and it has also condemned sanctions against countries like Iran and Cuba.

The group endorses far-left politicians on the local, state and federal levels. DSA also promotes anti-Israel agitators, including DSA members Rashida Tlaib, Zohran Mamdani and Linda Sarsour.

Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA), DSA’s youth section active in high schools and colleges, has co-organized anti-Israel protests across the U.S. since October 7, 2023, particularly the April 2024 pro-terror encampments on university campuses.

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.