Megha Neelapu

On October 11, 2023, the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) anti-Israel group Penn Students Against the Occupation of Palestine (PAO) authored a statement in support of Hamas titled: “Statement of Solidarity with Palestine.” Four other groups co-signed the statement, which praised [slide 2] Hamas as “the Palestinian resistance.” The statement described [slide 4] Hamas’s war crimes against Israeli civilians, such as mass murder, torture, rape, beheadings and kidnappings, as “resistance efforts.”

The statement began [slide 2]: “We, the undersigned, write this statement in support of Palestinians who are fighting to liberate their lands from the Israeli Occupation.” The statement also said [slide 2] the groups “unequivocally condemn” Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Hamas, asserted [slide 5] that Palestinians had the “right to resist” Israel “by any means necessary” and claimed [slide 4]: “Israel bears sole responsibility for the violence” since Hamas invaded Israel.

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, approximately 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.

A terrorist detained by Israel admitted he raped an Israeli woman when he broke into a kibbutz house during the October 7, 2023 attack. In March 2024, a former hostage of Hamas publicly stated she was sexually abused and tortured while in captivity.

For more information on the October 7, 2023 terror attacks, 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. It is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, has promoted antisemitism on religious grounds, and has called for a global caliphate and the destruction of the State of Israel.

Founded in 1987, it has killed thousands of Israeli civilians in mass shootings and suicide bombings. Hamas has kidnapped children, families and the elderly, holding them hostage in Gaza. It has desecrated [slide 7] dead bodies and launched numerous rocket attacks against Israeli civilians.