Does it matter that they’re lying about Israel?

Jonathan S. Tobin

Palestinians shop at a market in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Nov. 21, 2025. Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90.

A curious thing happened last week in Israel. More than 100 military officers from 20 countries attended an international conference hosted by the Israel Defense Forces. Among them were representatives from countries that had falsely accused the Jewish state of committing war crimes, deliberate starvation or even genocide in Gaza during the war with Hamas that followed the Palestinian terrorist attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

While there, they visited the sites of the Oct. 7 massacres and attended briefings about the challenges presented by urban warfare as well as discussions of how the IDF used AI, drones, artillery and medical services for the wounded.

Some nations, like the United Kingdom, whose left-wing government continues in its vitriolic demonization of the Jewish state and has passively accepted the growing mainstreaming of antisemitism in British society, boycotted the event. But others who were just as vociferous in backing up the claims that what Israel had done in Gaza was uniquely awful, such as France and Canada, showed up alongside representatives from friendlier countries like the United States, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

They were accompanied by officers from Germany, Finland, India, Greece, Cyprus, Poland, Austria, Estonia, Japan, Morocco, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia. Many have either joined in the international community’s Israel-bashing, recognized “Palestine” as an independent, albeit still non-existent, country or chose not to stand with Israel during the past two years as it fought for its life against genocidal Islamist terrorists.

They don’t really believe the lies

That Israel has much to teach the world about the use of high-tech and intelligence in warfare, added to its expertise in avoiding civilian casualties and how to deal with emergencies, is nothing new. The Israelis have been sharing their knowledge in these and other topics with other nations for decades. So, in that sense, the military conference wasn’t all that newsworthy.

But it matters because it shows that many of those countries that tacitly or openly endorsed the blood libels against Israel during the course of the war that, at least temporarily, concluded with the ceasefire-hostage release deal brokered by the United States in October, don’t really believe the accusations. If they did, they wouldn’t have been there or subsequently, members of their delegations would have spoken about alleged links between Israeli military tactics and the claims of mass murder.

Except they didn’t. Because those claims don’t exist.

As military experts, like British Col. Richard Kemp and U.S. urban warfare researcher John Spencer have pointed out, the evidence for “genocide,” famine or indiscriminate killings of civilians doesn’t exist because none of it happened. Israel’s army is, in fact, the most moral in the world, with a record in combat with respect to civilian casualties that is superior to that of any other nation.

Israel fought a war in Gaza against a tenacious enemy that had attacked across the border between the Jewish state and the Hamas state (in all but name), committing the largest mass slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. Hamas deliberately used civilians as human shields and built its fortifications in and around as well as under schools, hospitals and dwellings where ordinary Palestinian Arabs lived. Yet the IDF still fought under rules of engagement that were not only highly restrictive and humane, but also stand in stark contrast to the orgy of murder, rape, torture, kidnapping and wanton destruction that the Palestinians engaged in when they attacked Jewish communities in southern Israel.

As happens in war, a great many Gazans died during the subsequent fighting, others were wounded, and everyone in the area suffered in one way or another. Claims of Palestinian civilian casualties were vastly exaggerated by Hamas propagandists, but despite claims to the contrary, the ratio between civilian and Hamas combatant deaths in Gaza (which Israel-bashers never mention) was roughly one to one. That’s an unprecedentedly low number in the history of urban warfare. And it’s far lower than the number of civilians killed in Iraq by U.S. and allied forces during that Mideast war earlier this century or by Allied armies during World War II.

We can point out that the claims of famine and starvation so prevalent during the past summer simply evaporated once the fighting stopped—and not because of any increase in the supply of food in Gaza. Rather, it’s because, thanks to the ceasefire, Hamas is back in firm control of much of the area, and there is no longer any propaganda value in making false claims about how people are faring under its rule.

The ‘genocide’ narrative

Nevertheless, the narrative about “genocide” and famine continues to be repeated by media outlets like The New York Times, commentators like former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who did so live on television during his meeting last week with President Donald Trump.

To his discredit, the president did not contradict Mamdani. But he’s not alone in letting lies like that go unanswered. Much like the false claims that democratic Israel is an “apartheid” state are routinely mouthed by the ignorant, so, too, the lies about genocide have simply become part of the language of contemporary discourse, despite being disconnected from the facts. The lies about Israel blend into Mamdani’s left-wing version of antisemitism. They do the same for Carlson’s right-wing narratives about Zionism being an enemy of Western civilization. That shows that he has gone beyond platforming radical antisemites like the neo-Nazi “groyper” Nick Fuentes to mimicking their hatred.

In the face of the calumnies spewed by officeholders like Mamdani and populist hate-mongers like Carlson, it often seems like the facts don’t matter.

Inconvenient information that debunks the lies about genocide doesn’t matter to ideologies like the myths about race, intersectionality and settler-colonialism in which Jews and Israelis are falsely depicted as “white” oppressors, no matter what they do, and Palestinians are always considered oppressed victims. These toxic ideas are the guiding principles of Mamdani’s public career in much the same way that Carlson’s and Fuentes’s blend of religious-based hate has led them to their obsessive hatred for Israel and the Jews.

Facts and truth are of no use in debating products of the bizarre red-green alliance of Marxism and Islamism that produced Mamdani. The same is true for his right-wing counterparts in spewing hate.

No one is going to persuade Mamdani or Carlson that their information—if indeed their beliefs are actually based on anything other than their ideological obsessions—about Israel is incorrect. Nor will we do so for those chanting for Jewish genocide (“From the river to the sea”) and terrorism against Jews everywhere (“Globalize the intifada”), all the while calling the intended victims of these atrocities “Nazis.” Citing objective facts about the war or the reality of life in democratic Israel or a Palestinian society dominated by Islamist doctrines that are little different from a death cult will simply fall on deaf ears.

Not everyone is listening to the hate-mongers

But something that many friends of Israel can sometimes forget amid the deluge of antisemitic invective hurled at them and their cause is that most Americans aren’t listening to either Mamdani or Carlson, or agreeing with those who refuse to be judgmental about their hate. The vast majority of people in the United States remain distrustful of political extremists and are, when presented with facts, persuadable.

The false charges that are hurled at Israel hurt, especially when, thanks to a biased media, they migrate from the fever swamps of the far left and right to mainstream public discourse. When magnified by the algorithms of social-media platforms like TikTok, they can metastasize into a growing chorus of hate echoed by a generation that relies on such untrustworthy sources for their information about the world. And that is another reason why those outlets, like JNS, that do tell the truth about the conflict, are more important than ever. 

Yet as we saw with last week’s conference in Israel, the vast distance between left-wing or right-wing antisemitic canards rooted in Hamas propaganda and the truth is sometimes very easy to discern.

As infuriating as it can be to have to witness the way blood libels about “genocide” have become commonplace, those falsehoods aren’t strong enough to demolish the reality of Israel. The nation is not perfect, nor are all of its people. But the Jewish state survived the horrors of Oct. 7 and then went on to defeat its Iranian, Hezbollah and Hamas foes, and did so while still preserving its standards and humanity. Those of us who care about it and the truth know who is lying and who is not. We should be equally certain that the Israel Mamdani and Carlson and their various followers wish to destroy will still be standing long after its opponents have passed from the scene.

Jonathan S. Tobin is editor-in-chief of the Jewish News Syndicate, a senior contributor for The Federalist, a columnist for Newsweek and a contributor to many other publications. He covers the American political scene, foreign policy, the U.S.-Israel relationship, Middle East diplomacy, the Jewish world and the arts. He hosts the JNS “Think Twice” podcast, both the weekly video program and the “Jonathan Tobin Daily” program, which are available on all major audio platforms and YouTube. Previously, he was executive editor, then senior online editor and chief political blogger, for Commentary magazine. Before that, he was editor-in-chief of The Jewish Exponent in Philadelphia and editor of the Connecticut Jewish Ledger. He has won more than 60 awards for commentary, art criticism and other writing. He appears regularly on television, commenting on politics and foreign policy. Born in New York City, he studied history at Columbia University.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad Said to Be Expanding Military Presence in Syria With Government’s Knowledge

Ailin Vilches Arguello

Terrorists stand during the funeral of two Palestinian Islamic Jihad gunmen who were killed in an Israeli raid, in Jenin refugee camp, in the West Bank on May 10, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) terrorist group is reportedly expanding its military presence in Syria, a move that could put the Syrian government in violation of US conditions for restoring full diplomatic ties and lifting additional economic sanctions. 

According to Israeli public broadcaster Kan News, PIJ has expanded its military wing — the al-Quds Brigades — within Syria in recent weeks, notably increasing activity in Palestinian refugee camps near Damascus, apparently with the full knowledge of the Syrian government.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa is said to have appointed an envoy to oversee PIJ’s activities in the country, responsible for facilitating communications between the Palestinian terrorist group and the government, Kan reported.

However, a government security source denied such accusations, saying there is “no intention to allow military operations against Israel,” which borders Syria.

PIJ also denied reports of intensified activity in Syria, saying they are entirely fabricated and intended to provoke hostility against the Palestinian people and their refugee camps.

Following the United States’ recent statements that it does not support Israeli airstrikes in Syria, the embattled Middle Eastern country could now provide a particularly convenient base for PIJ, allowing the group to expand its operations with less risk of Israeli retaliation.

Under the Trump administration, Washington has lifted sanctions on the Syrian government to support the country’s reconstruction efforts and pushed for Damascus to normalize relations with Israel. Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump hosted Sharaa for the first-ever visit by a Syrian president to Washington, DC, vowing to help Syria as the war-ravaged country struggles to come out of decades of international isolation.

To pave the way for the full restoration of US diplomatic relations, deeper economic ties, and the lifting of additional economic sanctions, Washington has set five conditions for the Syrian government, including deporting Palestinian militants, joining the Abraham Accords with Israel, and expelling foreign terrorists.

The government must also help prevent an Islamic State (ISIS) resurgence and take responsibility for detention facilities holding ISIS fighters, supporters, and their families in the northeast.

If the Syrian government is aware of the reported PIJ activity, it risks jeopardizing its relationship with Washington by effectively endorsing the operations of a designated foreign terrorist organization — in open defiance of a key condition for improving bilateral ties.

As Damascus seeks to restore international credibility and strengthen its standing on the global stage, Israeli officials have remained highly cautious of Syria’s new leadership.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has previously described the current Syrian regime as “a jihadist Islamist terror group from Idlib that took Damascus by force.”

He has even warned senior European officials that Hamas and PIJ were operating in Syria to create an additional front against Israel

“We will not compromise the security on our border. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad are acting in Syria to create another front against Israel there,” the top Israeli diplomat said earlier this year.

According to Hebrew media reports, Defense Minister Israel Katz warned lawmakers in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, this week that armed groups operating inside Syria, including the Yemen-based Houthis, are considering launching attacks on the Golan Heights, a strategic region on Israel’s northern border previously controlled by Syria.

Hamas, PIJ, and the Houthis are all backed by Iran, which provides the internationally designated terrorist groups with arms and funding.

Israel has consistently vowed to prevent the Syrian government from deploying forces in the country’s southern region, along its northeastern border.

Sharaa, a former al Qaeda commander who until recently was sanctioned by the US as a foreign terrorist with a $10 million bounty on his head, became Syria’s transitional president earlier this year after leading a rebel campaign that ousted long-time Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, whose brutal and authoritarian Iran-backed rule had strained ties with the Arab world during the nearly 14-year Syrian war.

The collapse of Assad’s regime was the result of an offensive spearheaded by Sharaa’s Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, a former al Qaeda affiliate.

Following Assad’s fall in December, Israel moved troops into a buffer zone along the Syrian border to secure a military position to prevent terrorists from launching attacks against the Jewish state. 

The previously demilitarized zone in the Golan Heights was established under the 1974 Disengagement of Forces Agreement between Damascus and Jerusalem that ended the Yom Kippur War. However, Israel considered the agreement void after the collapse of Assad’s regime.

Now, Israel and Syria are reportedly in the final stages of months-long negotiations over a security agreement that could establish a joint Israeli, Syrian, and US presence at key strategic locations.

Jerusalem and Damascus have agreed to form a joint Israeli-Syrian-American security committee to oversee developments along their shared border and uphold the terms of a proposed deal.

Al-Sharaa told The Washington Post earlier this month that his government has expelled Iranian and Hezbollah forces from Syria and is ready for a new phase of ties with the United States. However, Syria’s reported knowledge of PIJ activity may be a hurdle as talks between Washington, Damascus, and Jerusalem proceed.

Earlier this year, tensions escalated after heavy fighting broke out in Sweida between local Druze fighters and Syrian regime forces amid reports of atrocities against civilians.

At the time, Israel launched an airstrike campaign to protect the Druze, which officials described as a warning to the country’s new leadership over threats to the minority group. The Druze, an Arab minority who practice a religion originally derived from Islam, live in Israel, Syria, and Lebanon. In Israel, many serve in the military and police, including during the war in Gaza.

Jerusalem has pledged to defend the Druze community in Syria with military force if they come under threat — motivated in part by appeals from Israel’s own Druze minority.

But the Syrian government has accused Israel of fueling instability and interfering in its internal affairs, while the new leadership insists it is focused on unifying the country after 14 years of conflict, which began with Assad violently cracking down on anti-government protests in 2011.

W obliczu rosnących ambicji Turcji i Kataru, by odegrać znaczącą rolę w odbudowie Gazy, perspektywa rozbrojenia Hamasu i przekazania przez niego władzy staje się jeszcze mniej prawdopodobna. Na zdjęciu: Prezydent Turcji Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (po prawej) oddaje hołd ówczesnemu przywódcy Hamasu Ismailowi ​​Haniyehowi w parlamencie w Ankarze, w Turcji, 3 stycznia 2012 r. (Zdjęcie: Adem Altan/AFP via Getty Images)

Turcja udaremnia próby Trumpa rozbrojenia Hamasu i zaprowadzenia pokoju na Bliskim Wschodzie

Con Coughlin
Tłumaczenie: Andrzej Koraszewski

Próby prezydenta Turcji Recepa Tayyipa Erdoğana, by odegrać kluczową rolę w tworzeniu “międzynarodowych sił bezpieczeństwa” dla Gazy, stanowią poważne zagrożenie dla wysiłków prezydenta USA Donalda J. Trumpa zmierzających do rozbrojenia terrorystów z Hamasu i nie wróżą dobrze jego staraniom o pokój na Bliskim Wschodzie.

Jednym z kluczowych postulatów 20-punktowego planu Trumpa na rzecz zakończenia konfliktu w Gazie jest rozbrojenie Hamasu i zakończenie jego szkodliwej kontroli nad Strefą Gazy. Dopiero po spełnieniu tych warunków miałyby się rozpocząć negocjacje na temat trwałego zawieszenia broni i odbudową enklawy w celu osiągnięcia trwałego pokoju po dwóch latach brutalnego konfliktu.

Trump wyraźnie zadeklarował swoje zobowiązanie do usunięcia Hamasu z Gazy, nawet jeśli – jak ma to obecnie miejsce – ta islamistyczna organizacja terrorystyczna nie wykazuje żadnej woli podporządkowania się jego planowi pokojowemu.

W wypowiedziach z początku obowiązywania pierwszego etapu sponsorowanego przez USA zawieszenia broni w Gazie, Trump zagroził przymusowym rozbrojeniem Hamasu, jeśli ten nie zastosuje się do jego warunków. “Jeśli Hamas nie rozbroi się w rozsądnym terminie, my ich rozbroimy” – ostrzegł prezydent.

Tymczasem Hamas, zamiast wykazywać jakąkolwiek gotowość do rezygnacji z władzy w Gazie, wykorzystał zawieszenie broni do ponownego umocnienia swojej kontroli nad częścią terytorium, rozmieszczając tysiące funkcjonariuszy “bezpieczeństwa” i dokonując publicznych egzekucji przeciwników politycznych.

W obliczu rosnących ambicji Turcji i Kataru, by odegrać znaczącą rolę w odbudowie Gazy, perspektywa rozbrojenia Hamasu i przekazania przez niego władzy staje się jeszcze mniej prawdopodobna.

W ramach prób zakończenia walk w Gazie, Trump planuje stworzenie wielonarodowych sił złożonych z krajów muzułmańskich, których zadaniem byłoby utrzymanie porządku na tym obszarze w trakcie negocjacji dotyczących jego przyszłości.

Choć szczegóły działania tych sił w Gazie pozostają niejasne, powszechnie zakłada się, że jednym z ich celów będzie rozbrojenie grup terrorystycznych, takich jak Hamas.

Wiceprezydent USA JD Vance, przemawiając w ubiegłym miesiącu w Izraelu, stwierdził, że to właśnie te siły “przejmą prowadzenie w rozbrajaniu Hamasu”, choć przyznał, że będzie to “proces długotrwały i w dużym stopniu zależny od składu tych sił”.

Król Abdullah II z Jordanii próbował ostrzec Trumpa pod koniec października:

“Mamy nadzieję, że będzie to misja pokojowa, bo jeśli będzie to narzucanie pokoju siłą, nikt nie będzie chciał się w to mieszać… Jeśli będziemy chodzić po Gazie z bronią, to nie jest sytuacja, w którą jakiekolwiek państwo chciałoby się angażować”.

Zakończenie dwudziestoletnich rządów Hamasu nad Gazą uznawane jest za kluczowe dla zapewnienia trwałej stabilizacji regionu. Oprócz znacznego wzmocnienia bezpieczeństwa Izraela na jego południowej granicy, wyzwoliłoby to również palestyńskich cywilów spod opresyjnej władzy islamistycznej organizacji terrorystycznej.

Plan Trumpa może jednak zostać storpedowany przez państwa popierające Hamas, takie jak Turcja i Katar. Erdoğan już zapowiedział, że chce odegrać kluczową rolę w przyszłości Gazy, oferując wysłanie 2000 tureckich żołnierzy do proponowanych sił stabilizacyjnych Trumpa – propozycja ta została jednoznacznie odrzucona przez Izrael. Rzecznik premiera Benjamina Netanjahu oświadczył jasno: “Nie będzie tureckich żołnierzy w Gazie”.

Izrael stanowczo sprzeciwia się obecności tureckich wojsk w Gazie, co jest skutkiem dramatycznego pogorszenia relacji między Jerozolimą a Ankarą po ataku Hamasu na Izrael 7 października 2023 roku. Erdoğan odpowiedział na te wydarzenia, wychwalając Hamas, zawieszając handel z Izraelem i zamykając turecką przestrzeń powietrzną dla izraelskich samolotów.

Erdoğan, który próbuje zastąpić Katar jako głównego pośrednika Hamasu w negocjacjach z USA, oskarżył Izrael o zbrodnie przeciwko ludzkości i niedawno wydał nakazy aresztowania 37 izraelskich urzędników – w tym Netanjahu – pod zarzutem “ludobójstwa” w Gazie.

Od dawna deklaruje również, że “Jerozolima to nasze miasto”. Jeszcze w ubiegłym miesiącu Erdoğan rozmawiał ze swoimi doradcami o konieczności zaatakowania Izraela:

“Nikt już nie może go [Izraela] uratować…” – mówił 6 października.

“Trzeba go zdyscyplinować wojną… Wojna i siła powinny zmusić Izrael do klęknięcia… Choć brzmi to ‘ekstremalnie’, wojna turecko-izraelska jest nieunikniona… Czas Izraela dobiega końca… Jerozolima zostanie wyzwolona! Izrael nie będzie miał wyboru – będzie musiał uklęknąć przed Turcją. To jedyny sposób, by mógł przetrwać… W umyśle człowieka, który po 86 latach ponownie otworzył Hagia Sophię, jest jasno określony plan wyzwolenia Jerozolimy i rozliczenia roku 1917.”

Pomimo gwałtownego sprzeciwu Izraela, Erdoğan liczy na to, że jego dobre relacje z Trumpem skłonią prezydenta USA do zignorowania izraelskich obaw i dopuszczenia Turcji do kluczowej roli w rozmowach o przyszłości Gazy.

Jeśli Trump na to pozwoli, jego próby rozbrojenia Hamasu i osiągnięcia pokoju mogą zostać podważone. Zamiast kończyć udział organizacji terrorystycznej w polityce Gazy, Ankara wzywa Hamas do współpracy z Autonomią Palestyńską w celu utworzenia nowej administracji dla tego terytorium.

Erdoğan stara się również o zakup myśliwców F-35 od USA. Do jakich celów mógłby je wykorzystać? Kongres słusznie zablokował tę transakcję, dopóki Turcja nie pozbędzie się rosyjskiego systemu obrony powietrznej S-400.

Determinacja Erdoğana, by odgrywać czołową rolę w rozmowach o przyszłości Gazy – w tym w planie Trumpa dotyczącym powołania międzynarodowych sił stabilizacyjnych – była wyraźnie widoczna na szczycie liderów muzułmańskich, który odbył się w tym miesiącu w Stambule. W spotkaniu uczestniczyli przedstawiciele Arabii Saudyjskiej, Kataru, Zjednoczonych Emiratów Arabskich, Jordanii, Pakistanu i Indonezji – krajów, które zadeklarowały gotowość wsparcia sił dla Gazy.

Po konferencji minister spraw zagranicznych Turcji Hakan Fidan powiedział dziennikarzom, że Turcja chce jak najszybszego “wewnętrznego palestyńskiego pojednania” między Hamasem a Autonomią Palestyńską (PA), kierowaną przez Mahmuda Abbasa. Fidan przekonywał, że takie pojednanie “wzmocniłoby reprezentację Palestyny w społeczności międzynarodowej”.

Turecka propozycja pogodzenia Hamasu z PA stoi w jawnej sprzeczności z podstawowym założeniem planu pokojowego Trumpa, który wymaga, by organizacja terrorystyczna nie tylko się rozbroiła, ale i całkowicie wycofała z politycznego życia Gazy. Realizacja tureckich postulatów oznaczałaby dla Hamasu ocalenie i umożliwiła mu dalsze realizowanie swojej terrorystycznej agendy.

Administracja Trumpa może uznać tureckie zaangażowanie za niezbędne dla osiągnięcia porozumienia w Gazie. Musi jednak zrozumieć, że jeśli Bliski Wschód ma kiedykolwiek zaznać trwałego pokoju, udział Turcji całkowicie podważy cel Trumpa, jakim jest zmuszenie Hamasu do rozbrojenia.

Con Coughlin jest redaktorem ds. obrony i spraw zagranicznych w “The Telegraph” oraz członkiem zespołu Instytutu Gatestone.

End of Impunity: Antifa, Public Enemy No. 1

Drieu Godefridi

• The terrorist designation by the US federal government, which is not a slogan, derives from Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. § 1189) and from Executive Order 13224 (2001, Bush). Any foreign organization that threatens the security of US nationals or US national security must be placed on the FTO list and have its assets seized.
• The criteria are explicit: systematic use of violence, transnational scope, political intent. Antifa meets all three. It is a transnational terrorist organization whose existence much of the mainstream media stubbornly refuse to acknowledge.
• The State Department leaves no room for ambiguity: “Left-wing terrorism does not enjoy ideological immunity.” Why is there not the same moral clarity in Western Europe?
• The American decision — neither an ideological crusade nor a publicity stunt — is a proportionate response to proven crimes. The four designated groups are not “radical activists”: they are terrorists who kill, maim and destroy in the name of an outdated totalitarian utopia — or even a not-outdated one — that aligns itself with Islamic jihadists declaring that they would like to take over the planet. Liberal democracies have a duty to defend themselves — without complacency, without naïveté, and with the full rigor of the law.
• Can we in Europe expect Antifa members to be intercepted in the same manner as drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean?

The criteria for designation as a terrorist organization are explicit: systematic use of violence, transnational scope and political intent. Antifa meets all three. It is a transnational terrorist organization whose existence much of the mainstream media stubbornly refuse to acknowledge. Pictured: President Donald Trump at a roundtable discussion about the Antifa organization, in the White House on October 8, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

On November 13, 2025, the US State Department added four European terrorist organizations to its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs): Antifa Ost (Germany), the International Revolutionary Front (Italy), Armed Proletarian Justice (Greece) and Revolutionary Class Self-Defense (Greece).

This decision by the US administration was based on overwhelming evidence: knife and hammer attacks, shootings, bombings and the use of improvised explosive devices that targeted civilians, public infrastructure and private businesses.

The move forms part of a wider transatlantic dynamic launched by Hungary. In September 2025, the Hungarian government — after a series of attacks in Budapest in which Antifa Ost torched police vehicles, destroyed shops, and carried out targeted assaults on right-wing activists — designated the group as a terrorist organization. Earlier in September, the US classified Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization.

The attacks in Hungary occurred in February 2023, during the commemoration of “Honor Day,” marking the end of the Second World War. Five coordinated assaults targeted nine individuals perceived as “right-wing activists.” The attackers — fifteen militants, including Germans and Italians — used hammers, telescopic batons, tear gas and brass knuckles. Four of the victims sustained serious injuries: multiple fractures, head trauma and irreversible damage. These actions, which led to arrests in Hungary, Germany and Italy, sparked a diplomatic scandal. The election of Italian citizen Ilaria Salis — allegedly one of the perpetrators of the violent attacks — to the European Parliament in 2024 granted her parliamentary immunity. As a co-author of these despicable acts, she is now funded by the European taxpayer. Salis spent several months in detention in Hungary over her alleged role in the assaults, but after she was elected as an MEP, the parliamentary immunity she gained resulted in her release.

Washington has begun applying the same method it uses against Islamist organizations and drug cartels: shutting these networks out of the American and international financial system, freezing their assets and prosecuting all those who provide logistical or ideological support. The consequences are immediate: any person or entity residing in the United States who materially assists these groups faces penalties of up to 20 years in prison.

Documented Violence, Not Rhetoric

Antifa Ost, based in Leipzig and Berlin, has claimed responsibility for dozens of assaults. These include a hammer attack on a conservative gathering in Saxony and arson at a Bavarian police training center. The International Revolutionary Front, active in Milan and Turin, has circulated manuals on making homemade explosives and has staged ambushes against marches of trade-unions it deems “reformist.” In Greece, two of the organizations designated as FTOs by the State Department operate in tandem: Armed Proletarian Justice claimed responsibility for planting a bomb near the riot police headquarters in Goudi, Greece on December 18, 2023; Revolutionary Class Self-Defense claimed responsibility for two IED attacks targeting the Greece Ministry of Labor (February 3, 2024) and the Hellenic Train offices (April 11, 2025).

These acts were not spontaneous riots but the expression of an explicit doctrine: “strike the class enemy wherever he is found,” a mantra repeated in communiqués posted on encrypted platforms, sometimes relayed by a press that romanticizes violence — provided it is “left-wing.” The phrase “strike the class enemy wherever he is found” appears to echo Marxist-Leninist rhetoric, often used in revolutionary contexts to justify direct action against perceived capitalist or fascist oppressors. While direct, verbatim uses by self-identified Antifa groups are rare in public records (due to their decentralized and sometimes encrypted nature), it has been documented in analyses of their internal doctrines. Below are key examples in the US:

“The border is everywhere. We can attack it anywhere.” (2019). This quote comes from Willem van Spronsen, a self-described Antifa activist who firebombed an ICE detention center in Tacoma, Washington, on July 13, 2019, in an attack that wounded four officers. The full document, titled “I Am Antifa,” calls for armed resistance against “fascist” institutions such as ICE, and frames borders as a capitalist tool of oppression. It was widely circulated in Portland Antifa circles as inspirational propaganda and aligns with calls to strike “enemies” (such as the capital or the state) at any area of vulnerability.

Video from a 2018 Antifa rally, shared on X, where Antifa militants chanted “Anytime, Anyplace, Punch a NAZI In The Face”while carrying signs such as “It Takes Bullet to Bash Fash.” This promotes on-sight violence against perceived class/racial enemies, disavowed by some Democrats but unchallenged broadly.

“On Sight” Retaliation Calls (2020 Portland Homicide Response). After the killing of Patriot Prayer member Aaron Danielson, Antifa Telegram channels, evidently assuming the victim was an ally of the enemy, called for immediate murderous payback against “fash” (fascists). This recommendation, in practice, reflects “strike wherever found“.

“Do Crime” and Economic Disruption Mottos. Antifa’s self-admitted slogan “Do crime” (see Andy Ngo’s 2021 book, Unmasked: Inside Antifa’s Radical Plan to Destroy Democracy) aims to foster chaos for revolution, including strikes at the “heart” of our cities by general disruptions.

The iconography is always the same: black hoods, hammers, Molotov cocktails, anarcho-communist symbols. The image attached to the State Department communiqué — a masked individual holding an iron bar beating a passer-by lying on the ground — is not staged. It corresponds to footage authenticated by Europol and Germany’s Bundeskriminalamt.

A Legal Response, Not an Ideological One

The terrorist designation by the US federal government, which is not a slogan, derives from Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. § 1189) and from Executive Order 13224 (2001, Bush). Any foreign organization that threatens the security of US nationals or US national security must be placed on the FTO list and have its assets seized.

The criteria are explicit: systematic use of violence, transnational scope and political intent. Antifa meets all three. It is a transnational terrorist organization whose existence much of the mainstream media stubbornly refuse to acknowledge.

Some argue that these groups are “anti-fascist,” as though that alone constituted a legal justification for an onslaught. If you want to beat your dog, you might claim it has rabies. Ironically, these groups behave just like the fascists. Historical anti-fascism — the armed resistance to Nazism — bears no resemblance to today’s left, which in 2025 targets moderate democratic politicians, liberal journalists and business owners accused of “capitalist complicity,” while extending sympathy to Islamist terrorism in the name of “convergence of struggle” (see Douglas Murray, The Strange Death of Europe, 2017.) The State Department leaves no room for ambiguity: “Left-wing terrorism does not enjoy ideological immunity.” Why is there not the same moral clarity in Western Europe?

Transatlantic Implications

The shockwave extends far beyond the United States. Antifa is now a legitimate target for every instrument of the rule of law.

The European Union, under pressure from Hungary and Poland, is considering harmonizing its own terrorist list. Financial flows. such as donations via cryptocurrencies, are being tracked by the US Treasury and Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service. German universities where certain Antifa Ost factions openly recruited students have received federal orders to cooperate.

Freedom to Kill, Provided You Are on the Left?

Criticism of capitalism, peaceful protest and the revival of communist fantasies of equal inequality are not what is at issue here. In the United States, the First Amendment stops where material incitement to violence begins — the 1969 Brandenburg v. Ohio precedent. What the State Department’s decision underscores is that murder and hammer attacks are not acceptable free speech, even when committed by “left-wing” militants.

End of Impunity: Antifa, Public Enemy No. 1

The American decision — neither an ideological crusade nor a publicity stunt — is a proportionate response to proven crimes. The four designated groups are not “radical activists”: they are terrorists who kill, maim and destroy in the name of an outdated totalitarian utopia — or even a not-outdated one — that aligns itself with Islamic jihadists declaring that they would like to take over the planet (such as here and here). Liberal democracies have a duty to defend themselves — without complacency, without naïveté, and with the full rigor of the law.

Can we in Europe expect Antifa members to be intercepted in the same manner as drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean?

Drieu Godefridi is a jurist (University Saint-Louis, University of Louvain), philosopher (University Saint-Louis, University of Louvain) and PhD in legal theory (Paris IV-Sorbonne). He is an entrepreneur, CEO of a European private education group and director of PAN Medias Group. He is the author of The Green Reich (2020).