Key Takeaways:
- Anti-Israel groups are organizing hundreds of protests under the dual narrative banner of “Three years of genocide, three years of resistance.”
- The ideas are inherently contradictory, as they seek to both celebrate the day for the victory of the October 7 Massacre, and also mourn the supposed genocide that followed.
- The usurpation of October 7 for “genocide” commemoration is a cynical ploy to prevent Israelis from having a day in which they can be afforded sympathy.
Anti-Israel activists are holding hundreds of events worldwide around the anniversary of the October 7 Massacre, but many of these rallies embrace a narrative dissonance as they both attempt to celebrate the Hamas atrocity as an act of “resistance,” and also attempt to hijack commemoration of October 7, 2023 as the beginning of “genocide.”
According to a Monday Diaspora Ministry report, 262 events were expected across 37 countries between October 1 and October 14, including 75 events on the October 7 Massacre anniversary date itself.
October 7, 2023 as the Start Date of “Genocide”
Almost all of the events reviewed by HonestReporting contained the central claim that the date on which Hamas led an invasion into southern Israel marked “three years of ongoing genocide,” as exemplified by a Wednesday New York University Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) walkout. SJP San Diego rallied supporters to march on Wednesday for their “martyrs” after three years of supposed genocide. Many of the Palestinian Youth Movement’s chapters called for October 10 marches to “end the genocide,” noting that they would not rest until all those with “blood on their hands” would be “brought to justice.”
The American branch of Gaza flotilla organizers Global Sumud called for a Wednesday Colorado event, noting that there had been three years of genocide “paid by your tax dollars.”
Commemorating Tragedy and Celebrating Victory
Yet many more activist groups used a dual tagline to mark the importance of the event, carrying two distinct narratives that upon further inspection clashed with one another: “Three years of genocide, three years of resistance.”
The exact phrase was repeated among dozens of organizations, such as PYM, SJP, and American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). National SJP added to the tagline that the “struggle continues, for the martyrs, for liberation.”
Chicago PYM called for its Saturday march with the slogan “three years of genocide and resistance continues.”
The Ann Arbor-based Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE) and two dozen organizations rallied under the banner of “three years of genocide, we resist.”
Palestine Action Group Sydney and other Australian groups organized 27 events across the continent, proclaiming a “global day for Gaza” in response to “three years of genocide.”
A Washington DC PYM Saturday event with Palestinian politician Mustafa Barghouti and Gaza Genocide Center founder Jehad Abusalim led with “three years of resistance” as the headline.
Within Our Lifetime expanded the duality beyond the tagline in an X post promoting its Wednesday protest in front of New York City Hall.
“October 7th marks three years of the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people, one of the deadliest ongoing and globally broadcasted massacres in modern history,” wrote WOL. “October 7th marks three years since resistance against imperialism changed the fate of our world forever.”
As demonstrated by WOL, anti-Israel activists want October 7 to be a day of mourning for a Palestinian tragedy, despite being the date of a crime inflicted by Palestinians against Israelis, and being the impetus for the war that the activists revile. At the same time, the day is supposedly a great victory for Palestinians, because of the great violence and damage that Gazans were able to inflict upon their enemy.
Hijacking October 7
Anti-Israel activists see October 7, 2023 as a day of violence against Palestinians, not Israelis, hijacking the moral and emotional weight of the day. SJP Chapman said on Instagram that its Tuesday remembrance would be for “lives lost since October 7, 2023,” and SJP Butler similarly said that its Wednesday vigil was to remember “the lives lost and all those displaced since October 7, 2023.” AMP Minnesota framed its Saturday protest as the “anniversary of the Gaza genocide,” but there is no reconciliation with why October 7 is the inflection point. Israeli deaths are expunged from the historical event, with the Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) Florida International University casting the victims of the inciting incident as Palestinian.
“Gaza Memorial. Join us in memoriam for the victims of October 7, 2023,” read a YDSA promotional Instagram post, festooned with Palestinian imagery.
Australian organization Jews Against the Occupation 48 explicitly acknowledged that it sought to prevent Israelis from turning the date into one of commemoration for their fallen because the IDF’s “genocidal airstrikes began” on October 7. The imagery even included red flowers, similar to the crown anemones that had become symbolic of Israeli recovery following the Massacre.
“Don’t let Israel steal the date,” JAO proclaimed at the top of its Wednesday vigil advertisement.
“Resistance” Against Israel, Not “Genocide”
While some organizations promoted resistance in an unambiguous manner that cast it as being resistance against an ostensible genocide, many organizations clarified that these were separate ideas.
NYC PYM said on Instagram of its Friday event that in addition to reflecting on the destruction of Gaza, they would also explore their “continued duty and responsibility toward the struggle for Palestinian liberation.”
Masar Badil organized an Argentinian rally calling for a “free Palestine from the river to the sea” and “solidarity with the Palestinian people and their resistance,” while also demanding an “end to the genocide.” Al Awda Vancouver also called for “An end to the genocide in Gaza” alongside “Total liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.”
“The Palestinian people’s resistance has full legitimacy to express itself in ways that bring it closer to liberation, and the end of genocide and occupation will only come with the end of Zionism and the colonial entity that created it,” said Italian organization Giovani Palestine in a promotion of its Wednesday protests, indicating that it had larger aspirations than just survival against a supposed genocide.
Celebrating the Massacre
Many organizations explicitly celebrated the October 7 Massacre as a day of victory, with some like SJP State University of New York at Oswego praising Hamas’ “great leader” Yahya Sinwar as a “hero of the movement.”
“On October 7, 2023, the Palestinian people broke free from slavery, demonstrating to the great people what anti-imperialism looks like in the highest form,” wrote SJP State University of New York at Oswego in a Tuesday Instagram post. “Eliminating over 1,100 settlers, the Palestinian resistance broke free from the yoke of Zionist imperialism.”
Referring to the Hamas operational name for the October 7 Massacre, Boulder SJP on October 3 described the day as “the third anniversary of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, one of the first days in the long downfall of global imperialism. It is not only a day to mourn, but a time to pick one another up, and to build toward action.”
Two events at the University of California, Berkeley and the Claremont Colleges, on October 6 and October 7, respectively, sought to teach lessons from the Massacre that could be applied in the United States. The events, including one entitled “Re-igniting Student Organizing against Settler-Colonial America on the 3rd Anniversary of Al Aqsa Flood,” sought to impart “vital organizing lessons from decolonial resistance movements including Gaza’s warrior mujahideen.”
Fight Racism, Fight Imperialism Brighton said on Instagram that it was marching not only to mark “three years of resistance to genocide,” but also “3 years since Al Aqsa Flood, where the risen people of Gaza broke down the prison doors.”
“Resistance is justified,” the group declared. “The existence of Israel and the continued genocide of Palestinians is contingent on its usefulness to the imperialist core as an outpost in the Middle East and West Asia.”
Other events, even if the supposed genocide was mentioned, used October 7 scenes and imagery of violence and victory in their promotion. SJP UCLA’s Wednesday protest flier featured Gazans standing atop a tank. In Berlin, Global United South called for a demonstration for “total liberation” featuring a bulldozer breaking through the Gaza border. A Shut It Down For Palestine coalition meeting on Monday in Seattle featured speakers addressing their audiences with a banner depicting an upturned tank. The Columbia University SJP featured the red inverted triangle used to denote a targeted enemy in Hamas propaganda, with an assurance that “Palestine resists, Palestine will win!”
Some organizations expanded the day’s commemoration beyond the immediate war, and to the broader Arab-Israeli conflict or the involvement of other states. WOL stated in its advertisement that its protests were geared toward resisting “genocide” since 1948. King’s College London SJP said that their march was against 78 years of “genocide,” while the Columbia Intifada and Stanford SJP sought to honor 78 years of supposed resistance. Freedom Road Socialist Organization Detroit decried Israel and the U.S. waging war against Iran and Lebanon, ignoring the belligerence of the Islamic Regime and Hezbollah.
An Obvious Facade
Authorities appear to have recognized the facade of “genocide” commemoration, as the date of October 7 is clearly associated with the violence conducted by Hamas operatives.
Giovani Palestine’s protest are reportedly focused at police stations after officers denied demonstration on October 7 after they mobilized under the slogan “The end of genocide is the end of Zionism.”
At the request of French Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, an order was issued against a demonstration in Paris on Wednesday, according to Police Prefect Patrice Faure on X.
“This date marks the third anniversary of the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel and will give rise to numerous commemorations,” said Faure. “In a context of heightened terrorist threat and while antisemitic acts remain at a historically high level in our country, such a demonstration on that day poses significant risks of disturbances to public order.”
The Metropolitan Police imposed conditions against a Wednesday demonstration in London, requiring participants to stick to a specific route and time. On October 2, the police had urged organizers to reconsider the march date, as it would cause distress.
“This event is being held on the third anniversary of the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel and the start of the ensuing conflict in Gaza,” Deputy Assistant Commissioner James Harman said in a Tuesday statement. “This will be a day of mourning and reflection for many in London and we know the serious concerns that this event has caused Jewish communities in particular.”
University of Toronto told the National Post on October 3 that an anti-Israel rally to “honor our martyrs” would not be held on campus.
“Join our vigil this Wednesday as we mark three years of genocide in Gaza, as well as three years of Palestinian resistance and steadfastness,” wrote Toronto Students for Palestine.
The inherent contradictions of anti-Israel protests on October 7 highlight a reality of the movement. Materials they published demonstrate a desire to be a victim in the short term, but their long-term objectives appear to be the death and destruction of others. The same organizations were celebrating the pogrom as it occurred, when they were drunk on victory, letting the mask slip. While they have sobered, their material makes it clear that more October 7 Massacres are the aspiration.
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© Divuach Ne’eman R”A, 2025
