Jess Notwell

Justifying the Hamas Terrorism of October 7, 2023

As of October 19, 2023, less than two weeks after Hamas murdered 1,200 Israelis, Notwell was listed [no. 794] as a signatory to a pro-BDS statement justifying Hamas terrorism, titled: “Artists & Academics in Canada: Statement of Support for Palestine.”

The statement began: “We, the undersigned artists, academics, and cultural workers, pledge our support for the Palestinian people in the face of over 75 years of Israeli apartheid, settler colonialism, military occupation, and ethnic cleansing.”

The modern State of Israel was founded 76 years earlier, in 1948.

The statement said: “We understand that the events of this week did not occur in a vacuum. For two decades, Israel has held Palestinians in Gaza under siege, in an open-air prison, subjecting them to brutal massacres and weapons testing…”

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.

The statement further read: “The whole world understood in the case of Ukraine that resistance to military occupation is justified. It is in fact a right guaranteed by international law. The militant reaction from Palestinians in Gaza on October 7, 2023, is a result of decades of cruel and oppressive treatment.”

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.

The statement also accused Israel of “war crimes” in Gaza and said: “As artists, cultural workers, and academics, we stand strong in support of the Palestinian struggle for freedom and against all forms of racism and settler-colonial violence.”

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. 

Denying Hamas War Crimes

Notwell signed a December 6, 2023 statement claiming that there was “No credible evidence” that Hamas terrorists had sexually assaulted Israelis. The statement said that these “unfounded allegations” were used as a “deliberate distortion of the struggle of the Palestinian people for liberation and their legitimate resistance against an occupying colonial entity.”

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

On October 7, 2023, Hamas raped women next to the bodies of dead friends. Some were raped and then shot in the head. Others, including young girls, were raped and murdered or mutilated in other ways.
The statement that Notwell signed alleged that U.S. president Joe Biden had a “policy of perpetually creating/fabricating pretexts for enabling the genocidal war against Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.”

The statement also claimed: “all previous fallacious allegations, such as the killing of children and burning of civilians/ SETTLERS, were later retracted/negated/denied by the very entities that espoused them.” The statement said that allegations of these atrocities were “being weaponized to justify genocide against the Palestinian people.”

Hamas terrorists murdered Israeli Jewish babies during its October 7, 2023, terror attacks. Some of the babies were beheaded and some were murdered in front of their parents.

Calling for the Destruction of Israel and Canada

On June 2, 2020, Notwell tweeted: “Settler Colonialism must end the Canadian and Israeli colonial states. Implement the Right of Return. Stop mass incarceration and genocide. #FreePalestine #DecolonizeNow #LandBack.”

The “right of return” is a Palestinian demand discredited as a means to eliminate Israel. International law mandates no absolute right of return and UN Resolution 194, which defined principles for “refugees wishing to return to their homes,” was unanimously rejected by Arab nations following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Support for Terrorists

On October 30, 2020, Notwell tweeted: “freemaheralakhras.com Sign with your full name, country and email to demand freedom for Palestinian Maher Al-Akhras, illegally imprisoned without charge or trail. He has been on hunger strike for 96 days in protest and is gravely ill.”


On October 26, 2020, Notwell tweeted: “#FreePalestine and all Palestinian people. Free MK Khalida Jarrar.”

Khalida Jarrar is a senior member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror organization. She has reportedly been the head of the PFLP in the West Bank since 2016. In 2015, an Israeli military court sentenced Jarrar to 15 months in prison for calling to kidnap Israeli soldiers. Israel arrested Jarrar again in 2017 “on suspicion of involvement with terrorist activities and violent public disturbances.” In 2019, she was arrested by Israel with 50 other PFLP operatives following a deadly 2018 bombing attack.

Spreading Hatred of Israel and Canada

On November 9, 2020, Notwell tweeted: “‘Incremental genocide’ is the goal of Israeli settler colonial violence in Palestine.”

On May 19, 2021, Notwell wrote in a Facebook comment: “Israeli settler colonialism is predicated on genocide against Palestinians in order to steal/colonize all of Palestine. This is the ‘root of’ Israeli settler colonial violence…Palestinian resistance against settler colonialism is a struggle for life, liberation and the future. It is not a ‘side.’ #LandBack, ending the genocide against Palestinians and Israeli settler colonialism, the Right of Return to every corner of Palestine, reparations and unity are essential to the Palestinian struggle for liberation. #FreePalestine #PalestineIsRising.”

Notwell wrote the tweet during an Israeli operation against terrorists in Gaza.

In May 2021, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorists fired over 4,300 rockets from Gaza at major population centers in Israel. Israel responded by launching “Operation Guardian of the Walls (OGW),” carrying out targeted military strikes in Gaza.

Also on May 19, 2021, Notwell tweeted quoting a Fatah activist: “‘Unity of Palestinians paves the way for a new...strategy based on the unity of the people and land in Palestine...defeat of the Zionist program and...the need for a single democratic state to be established on the ruins of the Zionist apartheid.’”

Anti-Israel Activism

On November 16, 2023, in an interview with CTV News from an anti-Israel protest in London, Ontario, Notwell said [00:01:06] “We continue to teach people that settler colonialism equals genocide.”

On November 4, 2023, Notwell spoke at the “Power Up Climate Rally” in London, Ontario. Notwell said [00:01:38]: “And I wanted to make the connection...between ending genocide, between rising up as indigenous peoples from Turtle Island to Palestine, and ending the climate crisis.” 

At the same rally, Notwell endorsed [00:06:20] the “right of return.”

On March 16, 2023, as part of Notwell’s course, Decolonization II: From Turtle Island to Palestine, Notwell organized an event held at King’s at Western for its Israeli Apartheid Week. The event featured Yves Engler giving a lecture about his book: “Building Apartheid: Canada and Israel.”

Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) is presented as “an international series of events that seek to raise awareness of…Israel’s settler-colonial project and apartheid system over the Palestinian people” and build support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

BDS

The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by Omar Barghouti in 2005 to challenge “international support for Israeli apartheid and settler-colonialism.” BDS is an allegedly “Palestinian-led movement,” although leading BDS activists have admitted [00:01:01] this is not true. 

One of the demands of BDS includes [point 3] what is generally known as the “right of return,” a demand discredited as a way to eliminate Israel. Barghouti said the “right of return” is a means to “end Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.”  

Barghouti has said that BDS “aims to turn Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.”

In his activism, Barghouti has also said [00:05:55] regarding Israel: “Definitely, most definitely, we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine. No…rational Palestinian, not a sellout Palestinian, will ever accept a Jewish state in Palestine.”

The movement has been linked to numerous terrorist organizations and received a public endorsement from Hamas in 2017.

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 the infiltration of university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments and student groups, backed by their own anti-Israel members and affiliates, have proposed resolutions on some form of boycott of, or divestment from, Israel and Israeli-affiliated entities.

Boycott resolutions, although non-binding, have been passed by student governments on numerous North American campuses.

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 on campus. On one campus, when the student government debated a BDS resolution, reports emerged of violent threats against those opposing it.

Social Media and Weblinks

University Website:https://www.kings.uwo.ca/academics/faculty-info/member-profile/?doaction=getProfile&id=jnotwell

Facebook :https://www.facebook.com/jess.otehiw 

Facebook 2:https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100012502244235 

Twitter:https://twitter.com/decolonize__now 

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/jessotehiw/ [Private]

LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessnotwell/

Researchgate:https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jess-Notwell

Prezi:https://prezi.com/user/qhtf_vzywrbb/