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Three years ago today, thousands of Hamas-led terrorists poured across Israel’s border by land, sea and air, attacking kibbutzim, towns and the Nova music festival. Approximately 1,200 people were murdered and 251 were taken hostage into Gaza. Families were killed inside their homes, young people were hunted at a music festival, and entire communities along Israel’s southern border were devastated. October 7 remains a day of mourning for Israel and Jewish communities around the world.
But three years later, organizations across North America and beyond are marking October 7 and the days surrounding it with a very different vocabulary: “armed resistance,” “martyrs,” “resistance until victory” and “three years of resistance.” Below is a sample of several groups and events using the anniversary of the Hamas massacre to glorify, valorize or reframe the “resistance” that began that day.
Berkeley Law SJP Teaches the “Right to Armed Resistance”
At the University of California, Berkeley Law School, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) are advertising an October 7 “Palestine 101” teach-in focused on what its flyer called “the right to armed resistance and the self-determination of peoples under international law.”
The accompanying post describes October 7, 2023 as “the interruption of the settler colonial project” and said students would discuss “the right to resist.” The event is scheduled for the law school steps at 1 p.m. on the third anniversary of Hamas’s attack.
New York Groups Declare “Glory to the Martyrs”
At Columbia University, anti-Israel student groups are calling students to gather at the campus’s 116th Street gates on October 7 before joining a larger protest at New York City Hall.
Their flyer carries the English slogans “78+ Years of Resistance” and “3 Years of Genocide.” Across the bottom, Arabic text declares: “Glory to the martyrs, resistance until victory.”
The City Hall demonstration is promoted separately by CUNY Students for Justice in Palestine. Its now-deleted post opened with “Three years of genocide. Three years of resistance,” before declaring that October 7 marked three years since “resistance against imperialism changed the fate of our world forever.”
The rally is scheduled for 4 p.m. outside New York City Hall under the banner “Resisting Genocide Since 1948.”
University of Michigan “Commemoration of Our Martyrs”
At the University of Michigan, Students Allied for Freedom and Equality and the Muslim Students Assocation (MSA) are advertising an October 7 “Night of Remembrance” on the steps of Angell Hall.
The promotional graphic calls the gathering a “Commemoration of our Martyrs” and displayed photographs of Palestinians killed during the war.
Among them appear to be Al Jazeera journalists Anas al-Sharif and Hossam Shabat, both of whom the IDF has identified as Hamas terrorists based on documents recovered in Gaza. The IDF says al-Sharif was a company-level officer in the artillery company of Hamas’s Northern Gaza Brigade, while Shabat was an anti-tank operative in the Beit Hanoun Battalion. The IDF maintains individual files detailing its allegations and evidence.
The group’s caption says it will honor Palestinians from Gaza who were “martyred” and hold prayers in their memory.
Toronto Groups Advertise “Honour Our Martyrs” Vigil
In Canada, Toronto Students for Palestine and several other campus organizations are promoting an October 7 vigil at the University of Toronto under the headline “All Out to Honour Our Martyrs.”
Their post says the gathering will mark “three years of Palestinian resistance and steadfastness.”
The university subsequently told recognized student groups that the event will not proceed on campus because of safety and operational concerns, according to reporting citing a university spokesperson.
Washington Marks “3 Years of Resistance”
In Washington, D.C., the Palestinian Youth Movement and partner organizations are promoting an October 10 march beginning at the U.S. Capitol.
One poster advertises “3 Years of Resistance — The Living, the Martyrs, and the Land.” Another post says that for the last three years, the Washington-area community has stood “united in our resistance” and has “organized, protested, marched, and disrupted business as usual.”
The march is followed by a “community commemoration” featuring Palestinian National Initiative Secretary-General Mustafa Barghouti. Independent event listings confirm the Capitol rally and subsequent gathering.
Barghouti has previously described October 7 as an “explosion” he had expected because of conditions in Gaza. On October 7 itself, he described the massacre as a “glorious day of historical proportions.”
Chicago Promotes “3 Years of Resistance”
In Chicago, American Muslims for Palestine’s local chapter is promoting an October 10 “March for Palestine” at Water Tower alongside the Palestinian Youth Movement, U.S. Palestinian Community Network and other organizations.
The flyer declares: “3 Years of Genocide, 3 Years of Resistance.”
AMP is a major national pro-Palestinian advocacy organization and has also announced a nationwide “Month of Action” around the anniversary. Its own October 6 statement said chapters across the country would mobilize demonstrations.
A Global Mobilization With Hamas-Linked Figures
The anniversary actions stretch far beyond individual American campuses and cities.
The UK-based Global Alliance for Palestine announced a coordinated October 9–11 global mobilization, with October 10 serving as its main day of action under the slogan “End the Genocide, Defend the Land.” Campaign material reviewed for the initiative listed at least 168 organizations across more than 50 countries, while separate reporting cited in the material put participation above 200 organizations across more than 60 countries.
GAFP distributed ready-to-print campaign materials in multiple languages and listed participating organizations across the United States, United Kingdom, Europe and Latin America.
Its July launch included Zaher Birawi and Saif Abukishek. The U.S. Treasury designated the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad in January for acting for or on behalf of Hamas and designated Birawi for materially supporting the organization. OFAC later listed Abukishek as linked to the PCPA.
PalFest Puts PFLP Figure Over October 7 Imagery
The anniversary rhetoric has also entered the cultural sphere.
On October 7, the Palestine Festival of Literature promoted Ghassan Kanafani’s Palestinian Resistance Literature Under Occupation, 1948–1968 as its “book of the week.”
Its Instagram post placed the book cover over imagery of Palestinians breaching the Gaza-Israel border barrier on October 7.
Kanafani was not simply an author. He helped found the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, served on its political bureau and became its official spokesman. Palestinian biographical sources document his senior PFLP role.
Three Years On
Three years after Hamas terrorists crossed into Israel, murdered approximately 1,200 people and dragged 251 hostages into Gaza, the anniversary is again exposing how parts of the international anti-Israel movement remember October 7.
At Berkeley, it is the “right to armed resistance.” At Columbia, “glory to the martyrs.” In New York and Chicago, “three years of resistance.” In Washington, “the living, the martyrs, and the land.”
For the families and communities shattered on October 7, those three years began with a massacre. For these organizations, their own words tell a very different story.
DISGUSTING.
This will backfire.
Bullshit white bourgeois ‘progressives’ will be very sorry.
Eventually the Islamists will come
for them unless, under the sword (typical for imperialist Islam), they don the hijab and walk behind their husbands. They will need to be okay with “oppressed” POC raping their white, privileged, “oppressor” daughters and wives. After all, “Rape is Resistance.” When white middle class yoga teachers in Vermont can claim “Rape is Resistance,” they had better keep their daughters under lock and key. Or not. Their daughters could be ‘martyrs’ of the jihad.
shalom / salaam