Key Takeaways:
- Terrorist flags, violent slogans, and genocidal rhetoric were rampant during the recent protests marking three years since the October 7 Massacre.
- Despite calling for an end to a supposed genocide, the protests did not call for peace, as an end to the conflict is not the objective.
- The October 7 anniversary protests were a call for continued violence and warfare, but that Israel lose rather than the Palestinians.
Terrorist flags flew across the world the last two weeks to mark the third anniversary of the October 7 Massacre and ensuing war. Anti-Israel activists marched to complain about a supposed genocide, but there were almost no appeals for peace. Instead, using terrorist iconography, protesters advocated for further violence and future October 7 Massacres.
Hundreds of protests began around the world ahead of October 7, with almost a third occurring on the anniversary itself, according to a Diaspora Ministry report. Global Alliance for Palestine (GAP), which organized mass demonstrations on October 10, claimed allies had held rallies at over 300 locations across more than 30 countries. Protest events continued into last week.
Ahead of the protests, organizers took on the cognitively dissonant tone of celebrating the victory of the Massacre while also bemoaning the tragedy of a supposed genocide in Gaza. Yet while rhetoric often explored outrage about the ostensible genocide that had unfolded during the October 7 War, calls for peace were exceedingly rare in footage published on social media by activists and activist groups. It would be assumed that those who would be concerned about mass atrocities, supposedly against civilians, would be occupied with expediently ending all fighting. Yet, instead the overriding theme of the protests was for violence and destruction to be inflicted against Israel and Israelis.
The most apparent manifestation of this desire for further violence, much explored in social and traditional media, was the presence of terrorist flags and symbols at the protests. One might suppose that October 7, 2023 would be mourned as a tragic mistake for the ruin that it invited upon Gaza, and that the terrorist organizations that began the war would be ostracized for their part in creating this catastrophe. Yet the flags of these terrorist groups were flown proudly where they could be legally displayed.
Terrorist Flags on Display
In New York, as seen in a Within Our Lifetime X video, one demonstrator waved a white Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades flag, while another opted to drape the green flag of the parent Hamas movement around their shoulders as a cape. The jihadist group’s now deceased spokesman, Abu Obeida, was featured as prominently during recent protests as he had been in the past. The Hamas spokesman’s face was emblazoned on a Palestinian flag in Chicago, and on a banner held at the forefront of a Montreal protest. Other Hamas symbols included the red inverted triangle used to denote the targeting of enemies. In Copenhagen, one activist shared a photograph of their peer carrying a red triangle with the words “Intifada, revolution” and an immolated Israeli tank.
Hamas was not the only group extolled during the hundreds of protests. Hezbollah flags were flown in Rome alongside a banner proclaiming “long live the Palestinian resistance,” which also featured the image of an armed terrorist. The red flag of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) was seen in photographs and videos of Amsterdam and New Zealand events. In Toronto, one activist was seen with what appeared to be a variation of the Ansar Allah (Houthi) flag, which normally carries the slogan “God is great, death to America, death to Israel, curse on the Jews, victory to Islam.”
Apologists for the terroristic displays might contend that that they merely saw Hamas and its ilk as resistance, or defenders trying to stop a supposed genocide. Yet the activists’ aspirations were beyond the borders of Gaza – they sought not the end of violence against Palestinians, but the infliction of violence on Israelis.
“Kick the Zios Out”
In Amsterdam and Montreal, protest leaders led crowds in chants pledging to “kick the Zios out.” In London, chants including calls to “smash the Zionist settler state” and “Death to the IDF.” Other chants in Arabic threatened “I’m coming for you my enemy,” from “behind your soldiers.” Classic anti-Israel slogans were also employed, calling for an intifada as the only solution to the ongoing situation, and for Israel to be replaced with a Palestinian state “from the river to the sea.” An Arabic variation of the latter chant provided more commentary about what “river to the sea” meant, with Milan activists proclaiming that “from the water to the water, Palestine is Arab.”
The predominantly violent imagery and rhetoric at the protests would seem at odds with the urgency of a supposed genocide. If there were a genocide, one might suppose that marchers would be begging for peace rather than conquest, rather than split messaging with any other objectives. Yet appeals for peace were not presented as the messages of import for the protests, with activist groups emphasizing their lust for conquest. One could argue that the calls to action were aimed at peace. Many organizations such as GAP sought arms embargoes against Israel, but while this could be argued as a means to prevent further attacks in an ostensible war atrocity, it could also be a means of diminishing an enemy’s capabilities without the need to attack. It is a war strategy, not a peace strategy.
October 7 as a Victory
Further evidence that the protests are geared toward weakening an enemy for further conflict is that the catalyst of the war that brought so much suffering to the Palestinian people is seen as a victory, and one that should be replicated. If there truly was such a great consequence as genocide, then October 7 would be mourned as a tragic mistake and overstep. Instead it is praised, and the outcome presented as a military setback.
“We will remember Tufan Al Aqsa (October 7 Massacre) as a pivotal moment of this century. The resistance in Gaza showed the world what a decolonial rupture looks like,” said a US Palestinian Community Network activist at a Minneapolis protest, amid a monologue about a supposed ongoing genocide that had begin even before the establishment of the Jewish state.
A representative of New Zealand’s Free Palestine Party stated in a protest that it wanted to acknowledge October 7 as a “victory,” and bemoaned the “resistance fighters” lost in the battle. National Students for the Justice in Palestine issued a statement on October 7 explaining that the Massacre stood as a “testament” to the enduring aspiration of establishing a Palestinian state from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean Sea.
If there truly was a genocide, they would not be lusting for violence but begging for mercy. Yet the protests have showcased, with terrorist flags, murderous chants, and genocidal objectives that peace was never an option. They never cared about the deaths of Gazans, they were upset about a failure to complete their attempted genocide in Israel.
The calls for destruction of another nation amid complaints of a supposed genocide show that it is not supposed mass murder that is the problem, but who they believe is the murderer and who the victim. The Palestinian movement wants Gazans to be carrying out a genocide of Israelis. They want to be the victors of the war, rather than the losers. There is no moral argument being made, but a demand for military victory.
The great desire of the Palestinian movement was laid bare during the last two weeks. The rejection of peace, and the pursuit of violence remains the same as it was since before Israel’s inception. From then until now, the bulk of the movement has learned nothing and still seeks October 7.
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© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025
