Shamsi Ali

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 took 251 people hostage, mostly civilians, from Israel during its October 7, 2023 terror attacks. Ultimately 168 hostages returned to Israel alive, in three different agreements between 2023 and 2025, and through rescue operations by the IDF. During captivity, many hostages were starved, tortured, sexually assaulted, psychologically abused and held isolated in cages and underground tunnels.

Hostages were given tranquilizers and some were overfed shortly before their release, so they would appear in better condition than they had been during captivity. Hamas forced hostages to record propaganda videos during captivity, and during hostages' releases held public ceremonies and forced hostages to smile and wave at their captors.

The hostages' ages spanned from 85 year old Holocaust survivor Shlomo Mantzur, who was killed on October 7, to a 9 month old baby, Kfir Bibas, who was killed in captivity along with his 4 year old brother Ariel, and their mother, Shiri. 75 hostages were killed on October 7 or in captivity.

Denial of the Hamas war crimes of October 7, 2023, among anti-Israel activists has been likened to Holocaust denial among neo-Nazis.

The “Israel Lobby” is a conspiracy theory alleging Israeli and Jewish control over the U.S. government. Proponents of the theory decry the negative effects on American interests, particularly in foreign policy.

The stated mission of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is to “strengthen, protect and promote the U.S.-Israel relationship in ways that enhance the security of the United States and Israel.”

The implication that AIPAC buys political support for Israel has been described as playing into “anti-Semitic tropes” that led to “centuries of stereotypes about Jews using money to control the world.”

One method that anti-Israel activists often use to spread antisemitism and deny Israel’s legitimacy is to claim that Jews are not descended from the ancient Israelites and are therefore not Jews. The most common version of this claim is the “Khazar myth.”

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.

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 United Nations approved [pp. 39–41] the Israeli-Egyptian blockade of Gaza in 2011 as a security measure to stop Hamas from acquiring sophisticated rockets. Multiple flotillas have attempted to breach the blockade, with at least one initiating a violent confrontation with Israeli forces.

Following Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, the Israeli military discovered that Hamas went around the blockade by smuggling weaponry through tunnels under the Philadelphi corridor separating Gaza from Egypt.

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.