Ahmad Almallah

The term “intifada,” which translates from Arabic as “uprising” or “insurrection,” carries the connotation of violence. Palestinian intifadas waged against Israel have been marked since 1987 by hundreds of hijackings, shootings, stabbings, bombings and suicide missions.

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 December 3, 2023, anti-Israel activist groups held a rally titled: “Flood Philly For Gaza.” Participants chanted [00:00:01] in support of terrorism and called [00:00:01] for Israel’s destruction. Protesters also joined [00:33:31] speakers in denying Hamas war crimes. In the evening, the crowd gathered outside Goldie, an Israeli-owned falafel shop, chanting: “Goldie, Goldie, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide!

The language of “flood” is a reference to Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, the name Hamas used for their terror operation on October 7, 2023. It is a reference to the allegation that Jews “threaten” to destroy Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, and has been a pretext for Arab attacks on Jews long before Israel was founded in 1948.

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.

On October 18, 2023, Penn Against The Occupation (PAO) staged a “Vigil & Walkout For Gaza” at Penn to mourn Palestinian “martyrs.” The walkout featured speakers who accused Israel of committing “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing.” Protesters yelled [00:01:28] “shame!!” when the first speaker said some American leaders noted Israel “had a right to respond” to the Hamas terror attacks a week and a half earlier.

Protesters joined in pro-terror chants [00:41:43]: “There is only one solution! Intifada, revolution!” and [00:42:11] “Where people are occupied, resistance is justified!” They also chanted [00:42:36]: “Free, free Palestine!” Other speakers glorified [00:26:19] “martyrs” as models for “revolution” and “Palestinian liberation.” One speaker recited [00:31:16] a Hebrew prayer used to memorialize Jews murdered during periods of anti-Semitic violence in Europe, applying the prayer to the dead in Gaza.

“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” is a chant used [00:02:47] to call for the elimination of the State of Israel. It has also been employed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to call for the replacement of Israel with an Islamic state. In April 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the chant as antisemitic.

On October 16, 2023, Penn professors and students staged a “walkout” in support of the Hamas terror attack against Israel nine days earlier. The aim of the event was to “protest the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza and stand in solidarity with Palestine.”

The protest, which was organized by Penn Against the Occupation (PAO), was titled: “Collective Walkout for Palestine,” where participants walked out of classes to the on-campus rally.

One professor led [00:00:03] the chant: “When people are occupied, resistance is justified!” Palestinians and anti-Israel activists often use the term “resistance” as a euphemism for nationalistic terror and to glorify anti-Semitic violence.

Another professor claimed [00:00:07] Israel “desecrates the memory of the Nazi Holocaust,” and at least one speaker accused [00:00:48] Israel of “genocide.”

Kanafani was a leading member and spokesperson for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) during the terrorist organization’s early years. Kanafani announced the PFLP’s responsibility for the Lod Airport Massacre of May 1972 and was linked to the airport attackers. The attack killed 26 people and wounded 80 others.

The PFLP is dedicated to the violent destruction of Israel. It is designated as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) by the United States. The EU, Canada, the Gulf Cooperation Council, Australia and Israel also list it as a terror group due to its history of carrying out assassinations, suicide bombings, hijackings and multiple murders.