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Anne Norton
Anne Norton celebrated Hamas terrorism on October 7, 2023. Norton then denied that Hamas carried out war crimes that day against Israeli civilians.
Norton has also showed support for the Gaza Solidarity Encampment at Penn in 2024, spread anti-Semitism and denied that Jews were experiencing anti-Semitism after October 7, 2023 terror attacks, when Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 Israelis. She has also expressed support for other terrorists and spread hatred of Israel, including speaking at an anti-Israel rally.
As of April 2024, Norton was listed as the Stacey and Henry Jackson President’s Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn).
Norton’s anti-Israel posts and her speaking appearance took place in the wake of Hamas terror atrocities and war crimes against Israeli civilians. These included mass murder, torture, rape, beheadings and kidnappings, and were executed on October 7, 2023. The attacks left approximately 1,200 Israelis dead, hundreds kidnapped and thousands wounded. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.”
On December 9, 2023, Norton was the subject of a Change.org petition to Penn that demanded her dismissal from the university. The petition said: “We believe that her actions and statements contribute to a hostile environment for Jewish students, which is unacceptable in any educational institution.”
Norton is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and served as one of three panelists at the 2012 National Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Conference held at Penn, on a panel event titled: “The Academic Boycott.”
On March 12, 2024, Norton tweeted that she was a member of Faculty for Justice in Palestine (FJP) at Penn (PFJP).
As of April 2024, Norton’s Twitter profile said she was located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
On October 7, 2023, following the Hamas terror attacks on Israeli civilians that day, Norton tweeted: “Palestinians have the right to defend themselves. I ‘utterly condemn’ the occupation and structures of discrimination. ‘There is no justification.’”
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.
Norton retweeted an October 9, 2023 tweet that said: “Israel and Gaza are not two countries at war. Gaza is a territory under siege, where every aspect of life is controlled by Israel. Palestinians didn’t break through a ‘border’ to enter Israel. They destroyed a fence separating them from the homes they were forced out of.”
The term “iron wall” refers to the 40-mile, above- and below-ground security barrier constructed along the Israel–Gaza border. The barrier contains various radar systems, underground sensors and cameras to detect Hamas attack tunnels.
On October 9, 2023, Norton tweeted: “Please don’t amplify this,” in response to a tweet on the same day that said: “These rape allegations are getting wilder every hour. They make no logical sense…As far as I am aware, there have been no previous reports connecting Hamas to rape or sexual assault in any capacity in the 30-odd years they have existed - until now.”
On October 7, 2023, Hamas raped both women and men. Some were raped and murdered or mutilated. Hamas terrorists said they were given explicit orders to carry out those atrocities on both live victims and corpses.
On October 27, 2023 Norton tweeted: “Released hostages have testified that they ate the same food as their captors, slept of mattresses and had access to health care.”
On November 23, 2024, Norton tweeted: “This is absurd. We know there are tunnels under Gaza. Israel has acknowledged that it built one under Al Shifa [hospital] in the 80s. The tour is rife with mistranslations (the chart), bad evidence (the changing photos, the rusty aged guns).
Norton’s tweet was In response to a tweet that said: “Did Hamas operate under Al-Shifa? A tour of the tunnels leaves no room for doubt…” The tweet linked to an article in Haaretz by the same title.
Norton retweeted a December 4, 2023 tweet that said: “The text, not just the subtext, of this renewed full court press by everyone from Gal Gadot to Hillary Clinton to focus on alleged sexual violence on October 7 is really just ‘and that’s why a thousand more Palestinians dead a day indefinitely is fine.’”
On May 9, 2024, Norton posted on X, referring to the pro-Hamas Gaza Solidarity Encampment at Penn: “Last night the camp sang ‘we shall not be be moved’. Over and over, adding verses as people do. The camp has doubled. They speak for the steadfast people of Palestine. They call out the genocide in Gaza. They show us justice still lives in the people.”
On May 10, 2024, Norton posted on X: “Our camp has been dismantled by police in riot gear, in the rain, beginning before dawn. 33 arrests, at least 3 students sent to the hospital. Penn has revealed the hollowness of its commitments to free speech, rights of assembly, open expression, and due process.”
On November 8, 2024, Norton posted on X: “This is the kind of rubbish you get from kings.”
Norton’s post was in response to another post on X from The Telegraph that said: “The king of the Netherlands has said ‘we failed’ the Jewish community as the country did ‘during World War Two” after Israeli football fans were ambushed, kicked and beaten on the streets of Amsterdam.”
On November 8, 2024, anti-Semitic rioters coordinated a violent attack on hundreds of Israeli soccer fans in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Local police reported that at least five victims were hospitalized and more than 60 assailants were arrested.
On February 28, 2024, Norton tweeted: “For those who have wondered what they would have done in Germany in the 1930s: now you know. As for me, I know I am not doing enough in the face of genocide.”
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) highlights as one possible contemporary example of anti-Semitism: “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.” The U.S. State Department adopted the IHRA’s working definition of anti-Semitism in 2016. Over 40 countries have adopted the definition as well.
On January 9, 2024, Norton tweeted: “What would they have said in the 1940s? The same evasions and denials? It’s genocide, senators, their own officials have said so.” Norton tweeted in response to a tweet that said: “NEW: We asked 22 Senators if Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. This is what they had to say —.”
On November 19, 2023, Norton tweeted: “And I have neither seen nor heard any antisemitism while rallying for a free Palestine. I have seen many Jews with us.”
Norton’s tweet was in response to a November 18, 2023 tweet that said: “Serious question, because it bothers me. Is anybody else sick of these racist antisemitic leftists vandalizing buildings, assaulting people, blocking traffic, shutting down train stations ‘for Palestinians’. / Is anybody else sick of this hate fueled performative BS?"
On October 25, 2023, Norton tweeted: “True.” Her tweet was in response to an October 25, 2023 tweet that said: “I have commented lightly on the absurd propaganda about Jewish Zionist students feeling unsafe on US college campuses but want to make clear: pro-Palestine students and faculty are being punished regularly for their speech. Nobody else.”
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.
Norton retweeted an October 17, 2023 tweet that said: “Just a reminder of what might have been. If we had listened to Mandela & treated Arafat w/ respect & supported Palestinians right to a fully independent sovereign state - we wouldn’t be dealing w/ the likes of Hamas or Netanyahu & co. We blew it then & are doing it again.”
Yasser Arafat was the former leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and is known by some as the “father of modern terrorism.” Under Arafat, the goal of the PLO was the violent destruction of Israel.
On February 15, 2024, Norton tweeted: “Perhaps the most important casualty of Israel’s insistence on stripping Palestine of its political leaders. In this context it is indecent for Israel to complain about Hamas. That is the enemy they made for themselves.”
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.
Norton’s February 15, 2024 tweet included an article titled: “Will Israel release Marwan Barghouti, the ‘Palestinian Mandela’?”
Marwan Barghouti is currently serving five consecutive life sentences for his role in suicide bombings and shooting attacks that killed five Israelis during the second intifada. Barghouti led the Palestinian Authority (PA) terrorist Tanzim force and founded the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. He also financed the guitar-case bomb used in the Sbarro Cafe massacre, where 15 civilians were killed and 130 injured.
On June 18, 2025, Norton posted on X: “This. Israeli is a danger to us all and to its own people. They are conducting a brutal genocide. No more arms no more funding.” Norton shared the post during the 2025 Israel-Iran war.
On October 14, 2023, Norton tweeted: “Ethnic cleansing. Another Nakba.”
The term “Nakba” is generally translated as “catastrophe” in Arabic, referring to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel by drawing a comparison to the Holocaust, known in Hebrew as the Shoah, meaning “catastrophe.”
On October 19, 2023, Norton tweeted: “Calling Gaza a ‘humanitarian disaster’ likens it to a natural disaster with no one responsible. It’s a war crime, people. Many war crimes.”
On October 22, 2023, Norton tweeted: “Israel is acting -has long acted- as terrorist and dictator in Palestine.”
On November 29, 2023, Norton tweeted: “No, they hate living in an open air prison. It is Israel that time after time: in the first Nakba, through the settlements, by restricting movement of Palestinians, and in this second Nakba, refuses to live with Palestinians.”
Referring to Gaza as an “open-air prison” is a way to delegitimize the UN-approved [pp. 39–41] joint Israeli-Egyptian blockade of the Gaza Strip imposed in 2011 to prevent Hamas from acquiring more sophisticated rockets. 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.
On December 3, 2023, Norton tweeted: “There is nothing in ‘intifada, revolution’ that entails genocide. It is a call for uprising and radical political change. Genocide is what Israel is pursuing against Palestinians.”
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.
On October 16, 2023, Norton spoke [00:10:41] at a rally in support of Hamas and spread [00:12:41] hatred of Israel. The rally was held at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) and titled: “Collective Walkout for Palestine.”
At the rally, Norton said [00:12:40]: “All people have the right to live freely under a government that they consent to, not one that is imposed upon them and certainly not in a place that is no more than an open-air prison.”
Norton also referred to then Penn president Liz Magill’s statement condemning Hamas, saying [00:11:30] “McGill is capable of writing a letter about grief without mentioning the word Palestine. She can call for grief without mentioning Gaza, without mentioning the armies assembled at the borders of Gaza. This is not decent.”
On October 15, 2023, Penn president Liz Magill issued a statement that said: “I, and this University, are horrified by and condemn Hamas’s terrorist assault on Israel and their violent atrocities against civilians. There is no justification…for these heinous attacks…I stand, and Penn stands, emphatically against antisemitism.”
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.”
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.
