How NGOs Exploited the October 7 Anniversary to Again Demonize Israel

The third anniversary of Hamas’ and other Palestinian terror groups’ October 7 atrocities is being exploited by NGOs as another platform to advance campaigns to delegitimize Israel. The NGOs are seeking to justify Palestinian violence and pressure governments to isolate the country. Rather than centering the approximately 1,200 people who had been brutally murdered, and the over 250 hostages taken during the attacks, numerous organizations again are portraying Israel’s military response as the central source of violence. Their statements and event descriptions repeatedly describe Israel’s actions as “genocide,” “ethnic cleansing,” and “extermination,” while framing October 7 as part of a broader narrative of “occupation,” “apartheid,” “colonization,” and Palestinian “resistance.”

Some NGOs are going further, openly celebrating or praising the October 7 attacks and the Hamas-led assault. Others seek to erase or minimize the context of the attacks by arguing that October 7 “did not emerge from nowhere” or that the supposed “genocide” had begun long before October 7. This rhetoric inverts the chronology and context of the conflict, blames the victims, and portrays the military response to those attacks as the only crime.

The third anniversary is also being used to renew demands for international pressure against Israel, including arms embargoes, sanctions, diplomatic measures, military restrictions, and international criminal proceedings. These demands reflect the continuing attempt to impose punitive measures, while largely subordinating, reframing, or justifying the atrocities committed on October 7.

Amnesty International

On October 7, 2026, Amnesty tweeted , “Three years after the deadly Hamas-led attacks of 7 October and the start of Israel’s brutal military assault on Gaza Palestinian civilians continue to endure catastrophic suffering amid Israel’s ongoing genocide. Justice for victims of all crimes in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory remains out of reach. The world must stop turning its back on humanity. States must act now to end the genocide, halt arms transfers, dismantle Israel’s system of apartheid and unlawful occupation, and support justice for all victims.”

On October 7, HRW tweeted , “In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the years following October 7 have been defined by atrocities against civilians, causing suffering on a large scale…In Gaza, Israeli forces have committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and acts of genocide, and ethnic cleansing. Israeli forces killed, maimed, starved and forcibly displaced Palestinians, destroying their homes, schools, and infrastructure at an unprecedented scale.”

On October 10, Al-Awda will lead a protest “ Three Years of Genocide: Los Angeles March for Palestine .” According to Al-Awda, “On October 10, we take the streets to mark three years since Israel’s genocide on Gaza began. Our demand is clear: a full two-way arms embargo and sanctions on Israel. The masses of the world stand with Gaza, and we are not going anywhere.”

American Friends Service Committee (Funded by Tides Foundation and Ford Foundation )

On October 7, AFSC posted , “Today marks the anniversary of the October 7 attacks on Israel and three years of Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Despite a ‘ceasefire,’ Israel continues to kill Palestinians on a near daily basis and has invaded more than 70% of Gaza’s territory…Bearing witness is not enough. For three years, the international community has watched a genocide unfold in Gaza and failed to stop it. The U.S. government has enabled this genocide with billions of dollars. We continue to call for a real and permanent ceasefire, full humanitarian access, an arms embargo on Israel, and an end to Israeli occupation and apartheid.”

CODEPINK (Funded by Tides Foundation )

On October 7, CODEPINK tweeted , “The genocide in Palestine did not begin on October 7th. For nearly a century, the Palestinian people have been resisting the colonization of their homeland. At every attempt to erase them, the Palestinian people stand firmer. Today we honor the millions of Palestinian martyrs and the millions who persist every day in the face of genocide. We stand by their side in the struggle against US-Israeli ethnic cleansing.”

IfNotNow (Funded by Tides Foundation , Ford Foundation , Foundation for Middle East Peace )

On October 7, IfNotNow tweeted , “We grieve, with bitter pain and anger, that the memory of those lives has been weaponized to justify the Israeli military’s genocidal campaign against Palestinians, along with the endless flow of U.S. weapons facilitating it. We have witnessed U.S. bombs kill, starve, maim, disfigure, and displace. They have destroyed homes, hospitals, schools, shelters, ambulances, water facilities, and entire communities. They have wiped out entire Palestinian family lines. The astonishing Gaza death toll has now surpassed 74,000 people, and we know so many more lie beneath the rubble, yet to be counted. This is a grave desecration of the very lives lost on October 7th. It is a betrayal of their memory and of our shared humanity.”

Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM)

On October 10, PYM will hold a “ March for Palestine ” to demand “a full two-way arms embargo and sanctions on Israel. The masses of the world stand with Gaza, and we are not going anywhere.” According to PYM, “Our people in Gaza have endured over 1,000 days of bombing, starvation, and occupation. We owe them our presence. As imperialist powers attempt to steer the political future of Gaza, we must confront and oppose their efforts to liquidate the Palestinian struggle. We must hold the governments of the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Arab states fully accountable for continuing to enable and fund the genocide. This is a day to reenergize our movement and renew our undying commitment to Palestine and its people. The genocide must end. Until Gaza’s soil and sky are no longer occupied, until the blockade is lifted, and until every criminal with our people’s blood on their hands is brought to justice, we will not rest.”

US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) (Funded by Rockefeller Brothers Fund )

On October 7, USCPR tweeted , “Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people has raged on for 3 years because it’s funded, manufactured, and backed by one of the world’s greatest powers: the U.S.A. #StopArmingIsrael.”

Addameer (Funded by the Spain, Ireland, Switzerland)

On October 6, on the “global day of action against Israel’s atrocities,” Addameer published a report, “ Three Years of Genocide: Dangerous and Ongoing Transformations in the Prisoners’ Issue Amid Occupation’s Ongoing Crime of Genocide .” Addameer called to “Mobilize international pressure on governments to adopt concrete political, economic, and diplomatic measures, including targeted sanctions, aimed at ending serious violations of international law” and to “Call for effective international criminal accountability for crimes committed against Palestinian prisoners, including through the ongoing jurisdiction and investigative mechanisms of the International Criminal Court, with a view to investigating war crimes and crimes against humanity and, where the applicable legal threshold is met, other international crimes.”

Al-Haq (Funded by Sweden, Germany, France, Denmark, UN agencies)

On October 7, Al-Haq tweeted , “Today marks 3 years since the escalation of #Israel’s ongoing genocide against the #Palestinian people.”

Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) (Funded by Canada, Netherlands, European Union, Ireland, Norway)

On October 7, PCHR posted a statement, “ Three Years of Genocide in Gaza: End Genocide, Occupation and Impunity .” According to PCHR, “The aim behind this genocide was, and still is, the destruction of Palestinian lives in the Gaza Strip with the aim of forcibly expelling Palestinians from their cities, villages, and towns, in continuation of the Nakba of 1948. This is not merely an analysis, but rather a reality that can be clearly concluded from both Israel’s actions on the ground and the continued genocidal public statements made by Israel’s most senior officials.”

On October 7, Samidoun posted a statement titled, “ Three Years of Al-Aqsa Flood: Resistance, Revolution and the Struggle for Liberation .” According to Samidoun, “On 7 October 2026, the third anniversary of Al-Aqsa Flood, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network salutes and congratulates the Palestinian people, their heroic Resistance, led by the Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and all forces of resistance and liberation in the region and the world on this date, marked in history as a crystallized moment of clarity in which it became clear to all that Zionism and imperialism can and will be defeated. 7 October is a day of celebration, of hope and of faith in victory; it is a day of rage against injustice, oppression, and genocide; and it is a day that mandates the free people of the world to take up our responsibility to struggle, organize, and escalate our ability to play our role in this front of Resistance in which Palestine is on the front lines and the central cause of humanity and the world.” Samidoun also referred to Hamas as “heroes of the Palestinian people.”

On October 7, Amos Trust posted , “Three years on from 7th October, the ceasefire hasn’t ended the genocide. Since then, 1,400 more Palestinians have been killed. Israel now occupies 70% of Gaza, and most of its 2.2 million people are living in tents or ruins…Our pressure is having an impact, but the UK must stop arming Israel and suspend its trade deal. Now is not the time to slow down.”

International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP)

On October 6, ICJP posted a statement titled, “ Three Years of Genocide, with the UK watching .” According to ICJP, “For three years, we have been asking how much longer Palestinians in Gaza will be forced to endure Israel’s livestreamed genocide…ICJP has been clear on the needed policy changes. This should include an absolute two-way halt in arms transfers between the UK and Israel, including the indirect transfer of F-35 components; an absolute halt in military cooperation with Israel; investigating British citizens and UK residents suspected of involvement in war crimes; and taking immediate comprehensive action against the illegal occupation and genocide economy rather than limiting measures to a ban on settlement trade to be implemented in up to 8 months’ time.”

Palestine Solidarity Campaign

On October 10, PSC will hold a demonstration titled “ International Day for Palestine – Three Years of Genocide .”

Breaking the Silence (Funded by Canada, European Union, Tides Foundation, UN agencies)

On October 7, Breaking the Silence tweeted , “Three years have passed since October 7th, 2023. Three years of death and destruction. For those living between the river and the sea, much has changed in these three painful years. What hasn’t changed is the system that brought this catastrophe into our lives…More than 74,000 Palestinians have been killed since. The system of military control over millions of Palestinians has always been violent, and it has also bred violence. These three years have been tragic proof of this…The occupation is the system that produces this violence and perpetuates it. The only way to break the cycle is to dismantle the system.”

Independent Jewish Voices Canada

On October 7, IJV-Canada published a statement titled, “ Three years of genocide, and Canada is still complicit .” According to IJV-Canada, “October 7 did not emerge from nowhere, and it cannot be treated as the beginning of this history. It, and the genocide in Gaza that ensued, cannot be separated from the Nakba, decades of dispossession and military occupation, the siege of Gaza, apartheid, and a Zionist project built on the dispossession of Palestinians from their land.”

On October 7, Masar Badil posted a statement titled, “ Toward a Palestinian-Arab-Internationalist Front on the Path of Liberation and Return .” According to Masar Badil, “On the third anniversary of the glorious Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood, amid the ongoing U.S.-funded Zionist war of genocide against our Palestinian people, the Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, affirms that 7 October 2023 marked a pivotal moment in the history of the Palestinian people’s struggle…Today, our movement renews its salute of loyalty, pride and honor to the valiant Palestinian Resistance, foremost among it the Martyr Izz el-Din al-Qassam Brigades, which initiated an unprecedented historic revolutionary operation. With iron determination, its fighters crushed the occupation army and the elite Zionist forces. Through both words and deeds, the Qassam Brigades affirmed the ability of our people to deliver painful and powerful blows that shook the foundations and pillars of the Zionist entity, causing it to lose its composure and balance, and moved the possibility of liberating Palestine from the realm of historical possibility into the realm of concrete possibility…The achievements of the “Flood” must be protected so that they are not squandered in calculations of narrow factional interests. Faithfulness to these sacrifices requires adherence to the rights of the Palestinian people and their national principles, including their natural right to resist the occupation through arms, the word and popular uprising, and to continue their steadfastness, perseverance and struggle to achieve their project of liberation and return.”