Anti-Israel activists around the world marked the third anniversary of the October 7 Hamas-led terror attack on Israel with protests and social media posts that frequently praised the terrorists\u2019 actions. In addition, many called for further targeting of Zionists globally.<\/p>\n
ADL analysts tracked approximately 300 demonstrations across the United States, many of which included protesters who expressed pro-terror rhetoric and displayed terror paraphernalia, including Hamas and Hezbollah flags, as well as photographs or imagery depicting notorious terrorists. Signs displayed at protests also included references to classic antisemitic tropes<\/a> as well as antisemitic slurs and symbols, including swastika imagery, \u201cZionazi\u201d language, and claims that the U.S. government is controlled by Israel.<\/p>\n While activity in some cities failed to attract the same crowd sizes as in previous years<\/a>, student and youth groups continued to drive significant activity on and off campus.<\/p>\n In New York City, a coalition of groups including Within Our Lifetime (WOL)<\/a>, CUNY for Palestine, and chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)<\/a> and Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA)<\/a> led a largescale protest that culminated in the disruption<\/a> of an October 7 memorial vigil being held by a liberal Israeli group at Union Square.<\/p>\n Protesters openly heckled vigil participants, including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, despite the mayor\u2019s anti-Israel positions and history of associating with the very same antizionist groups who organized the protest. Protesters made their extreme position unmistakable, chanting, \u201cwe support Hamas here\u201d and \u201cwe support Hezbollah here.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n Students at more than 140 U.S. colleges<\/a> and K\u201312 schools organized activity related to the anniversary. Many of these student activists used rhetoric venerating Hamas\u2019s attack and some also targeted Jewish student organizations, calling for the exclusion of Jewish student groups or Zionists<\/a> (someone who believes in the Jewish people\u2019s right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland, a position held by the vast majority of Jews worldwide) from campus. Online statements posted by many anti-Israel groups for the anniversary reiterated similar pro-terror and antisemitic sentiments.<\/p>\n At the University of Oregon, protesters gathered outside the college\u2019s Hillel \u2014 a frequent target<\/a> of protests in recent years \u2014 and chanted, \u201cHillel off campus\u201d and \u201cglory to the martyrs of the Al-Aqsa Flood.\u201d At an SJP-led protest at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., a speaker praised the October 7 attack as \u201ca prison break that shook the American imperial world order and a struggle that has just begun.\u201d At New York University, a speaker urged the crowd to take inspiration from October 7: \u201cwe must keep the intifada<\/a> alive\u2026glory to the martyrs and victory to the resistance.\u201d<\/p>\n For the second year in a row<\/a>, widespread middle and high school walkouts also took place nationwide. Protesters at student-organized rallies in Seattle openly cheered Hamas. Graffiti left behind in a park and on buildings after one of these protests included the phrases, \u201cVictory to Hamas,\u201d \u201cLong live Oct 7,\u201d \u201cDeath to Zionism,\u201d and Hamas-inspired inverted red triangle<\/a> imagery. Multiple Seattle-area protests involved organizations such as SUPER UW, Tariq El-Tahrir (TET), and Nidal Seattle that are known to associate with the transnational group Masar Badil<\/a>, which was sanctioned by the U.S. government in August 2026 over its ties to foreign terror.<\/p>\n
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