Anti-Israel Group to Host Webinar With Hamas Official Who Vowed to Carry Out Oct. 7 Massacre ‘Again and Again’

A prominent anti-Israel group is hosting a webinar next month for a Hamas official who pledged that the Palestinian terrorist organization will repeat its Oct. 7 massacre of Israelis “again and again” to bring about the Jewish state’s “annihilation.”

Samidoun, which identifies itself as a “Palestinian prisoner solidarity network,” announced on social media this week that it will hold a “live interview and discussion” with Ghazi Hamad on July 29. Hamad is a member of Hamas’ political bureau and a spokesman for the Iran-backed terrorist organization.

Join the @MasarBadil on Saturday, July 29, 2024 for Palestine Media Series #6, a live interview and discussion with Dr. Ghazi Hamad. Register here: https://t.co/8lyE5nnsiP pic.twitter.com/EncKs72tXT

— Samidoun Network (@SamidounPP) June 25, 2024

The event is part of a “series of Palestine Media discussions that highlight often-silenced voices of the Palestinian, Arab, and regional resistance,” according to Masar Badil, a movement closely affiliated with Samidoun.

Samidoun is a radical anti-Israel advocacy organization that has taken part in pro-Hamas protests across the West, including in the United States, Canada, and countries in Europe, according to its Instagram pages. 

Germany banned Samidoun, whose demonstrations in Berlin have featured cries of “Death to the Jews,” in the days following the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7.

Samidoun is also widely viewed as a front group for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a widely designated terrorist organization. One of Samidoun’s leaders, Khaled Barakat, has also had leadership roles in the PFLP.

Despite such associations, Barakat also took part in the campus group Columbia University Apartheid Divest’s “Palestinian Resistance 101” forum in March, sparking backlash and worry among both Jewish and Israeli professors and students.

Hamad, who Samidoun is set to host next month, recently gained notoriety for saying Hamas will continue to commit terrorist attacks similar to the one carried out on Oct. 7 many times over. He told Lebanon’s LBC TV in an Arabic language interview on Oct. 24 that Israel “must be finished.”

“We must teach Israel a lesson, and we will do this again and again,” Hamad said. “[The Oct. 7 massacre] is just the first time and there will be a second, a third, a fourth … the occupation must come to an end.”

Asked if by ending “the occupation” he meant the “annihilation” of Israel, Hamad replied, “Yes, of course.”

“The existence of Israel is what causes all that pain, blood, and tears,” he said. “It is Israel, not us. We are the victims of the occupation. Period. Therefore, nobody should blame us for the things we do. On Oct. 7 … everything we do is justified.”

Hamad added, in English to emphasize the point, “It is justified.”

Hamad’s comments were first translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

On Oct. 7, Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists from Gaza invades southern Israel, where they murdered 1,200 people and abducted about 250 others as hostages. Investigations from international agencies and news outlets found the terrorists weaponized sexual violence against women during the attack as well.

Samidoun previously described Oct. 7 as an act of “heroic Palestinian resistance.”

During his interview, Hamad explained that it was not problematic that many Palestinians would inevitably die in subsequent conflicts if Hamas continued to carry out such attacks.

“Will we have to pay a price?” he asked. “Yes, and we are ready to pay it. We are called a nation of martyrs, and we are proud to sacrifice martyrs.”

Hamas Official Ghazi Hamad: We Will Repeat the October 7 Attack Time and Again Until Israel Is Annihilated; We Are Victims – Everything We Do Is Justified #Hamas #Gaza #Palestinians pic.twitter.com/kXu3U0BtAP

— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) November 1, 2023

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby called the comments “chilling.”

“Believe terrorists when they tell you who they are,” former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said of Hamad’s statements. “This is why there should be no ceasefire until Hamas is destroyed.”