Blame Hamas for the shift to violence in the United States.
In just two weeks, the slogan “Free Palestine” – used since October 7, 2023, to whitewash calls for terror – has served as cover for extreme acts of global violence.
The globalization of the intifada has become chic, paving the way for firebomber Mohamed Sabry Soliman, an Egyptian national, to attempt to burn Jews alive during a peaceful march in Colorado in support of hostages held in Gaza. Their only “crime” was being Jewish.
Soliman had been planning the attack for more than a year, right under the noses of federal agencies.
Public relations campaigns
The slogan “Free Palestine” has become the banner of an effective campaign to redirect public sympathy toward Palestinians in Gaza, while obscuring the actual manifestations of terror. The world should be blaming Hamas.
This is one of the most coordinated public relations campaigns in recent memory. It has turned some university campuses into unruly playgrounds, enabling encampments and leading the charge on behalf of Palestinians, especially Gazans, with the ultimate aim of delegitimizing Israel. It would be comical if it weren’t so serious.
The phrase “Free Palestine” now serves as a free pass for those behind it to promote hate speech, disrupt campuses, and even incite acts of terror. It allows Hamas to retain control over both the local population and the global narrative, while deflecting blame from the true perpetrators.
Groups like Within Our Lifetime, among the most extreme anti-Zionist organizations, openly support “resistance by any means.” They were calling for an Intifada and the destruction of the State of Israel even before October 7. Let’s not forget: 45 Americans were murdered in cold blood on that day.
At Columbia University, a protester aligned ideologically with Hamas held a sign naming “Al-Qassam’s Next Targets” – a reference to the armed wing of Hamas
The recent firebombing in Colorado injured 12 people, one critically. The attack was committed by a foreign national illegally in the US, a product of the Biden administration’s lax border policies, which reversed those of US President Donald Trump.
This terror attack bore Hamas’s signature brutality, aimed at burning victims alive, echoing the horrors of October 7.
One week earlier, the cold-blooded murder of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim in Washington, DC, raised further concerns about antisemitic terrorism. Around the same time, green paint – a color associated with the Hamas flag – was used to desecrate the Mémorial de la Shoah, France’s national Holocaust memorial, which was targeted along with three synagogues.
The Hamas ideology
Hamas is a terrorist organization, plain and simple. Founded in 1987 by Palestinian Islamic scholar Ahmed Yassin, it is rooted in Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood and defines itself as an “Islamic Resistance Movement.”
Its ideology is not subtle. The group’s founding charter refuses to recognize Israel and argues that armed resistance against an occupying power is justified under international law. In 2017, Hamas claimed it removed antisemitic language from its manifesto, stating its fight was against Zionism, not Jews. This cosmetic change is far from convincing.
Attacks, protests, vandalism, and threats against Jews have now become routine. Israeli actress Gal Gadot, a US resident, was recently targeted in London. Her film The Runner has been disrupted by demonstrators, some of whom were arrested for harassment. Such incidents are becoming disturbingly commonplace around the world.
These global eruptions of violence are not separate from what’s happening inside Gaza; they are symptoms of the same core disease: Hamas’s ruthless control and manipulation. While Hamas fuels antisemitic rage abroad, it continues to brutalize and exploit the very people it claims to defend at home.
Hamas has been stealing and hoarding goods entering Gaza, often reselling them at inflated prices to its own people. Flour in Gaza is now a small fortune, reportedly costing as much as $300 per bag. This is not new; it follows a pattern of smuggling weapons and goods used to build a multibillion-dollar underground tunnel network instead of investing in hospitals, schools, or food security.
Blame Hamas for what they did to Gush Katif – a once-thriving agricultural community of 8,600 Israeli residents – turning it into a training ground for terrorism. Abandoned synagogues and schools left behind when Israel withdrew from the Strip in 2005 became arsenals for terrorist groups, laying the groundwork for Hamas’s October 7 atrocities in Israel.
Hold Hamas accountable for failing to value the lives of its own people, including using children to dig tunnels and prepare for war against Israel.
Blame Hamas for failing to free Palestine. Blame them for closing the door to opportunities that might have saved their people from homelessness and despair.
Also blame Hamas for launching an international propaganda campaign that fuels terror around the world.
When “Free Palestine” becomes a battle cry instead of a humanitarian appeal, it is up to Palestinians first – and the global public next – to reject and defeat the malign actors working to destroy society.
It is long past time for the United States to shut down the Hamas murder machine.
The writer is the president and CEO of The Media Line news agency and founder of the Press and Policy Student Program, the Mideast Press Club, and the Women’s Empowerment Program. She can be reached at ffriedson@themedialine.org.