A sign depicting Leila Khaled and the slogan “A WOMEN’S [sic] PLACE IS IN THE INTIFADAH” at a protest for International Women’s Day in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on March 8, 2024.
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Friday, March 8, 2024, marked the annual commemoration of International Women’s Day. Over the weekend of March 8–10, anti-Israel activists nationwide used the occasion to celebrate female Palestinian terrorists, including glorifying individuals affiliated with recognized terrorist organizations and whose acts of anti-Israel violence have included bombings, plane hijackings and more.
As previously noted by ADL, in the months since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, anti-Israel protests in the United States have often featured speakers or attendees who endorse groups that the US recognizes as Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) or Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs) — including Hamas, Hezbollah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Houthis (Ansar Allah). Protesters have also glorified notorious leaders of these groups, including Leila Khaled.
Khaled again featured prominently at anti-Israel demonstrations celebrating International Women’s Day. In New York City on March 8, a banner dropped over a highway in the Bronx featured an image of Khaled and the slogan “From the Bronx to Gaza: women demand liberation.” In Albuquerque, NM, also on March 8, multiple protesters held signs with the slogan “A women’s [sic] place is in the intifadah,” alongside a photo of Khaled holding a gun. Intifadah (or intifada) is a reference to two periods — in the late 1980s and early 2000s — during which Palestinian terrorists committed indiscriminate acts of violence against Israelis, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,000 people.
An International Women’s Day rally in New Orleans, LA, on March 9 included multiple speakers who glorified acts of violent, women-led terrorism against Israel as admirable so-called “resistance.” Standing in front of a banner with the slogan “Victory to the Palestinian resistance” and images of Khaled and PFLP Secretary General Ahmad Sa’adat, a speaker affiliated with the local Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) chapter said, “To this day, one cannot celebrate the heroic feats of Palestinians’ armed struggle without recognizing the role of Palestinian women in that struggle.”
Another speaker at the New Orleans protest praised Palestinian women who are “joining the resistance and taking up arms.” Drawing cheers from the crowd, the speaker went on to specifically celebrate “the women’s unit of the National Resistance Brigades, standing strong, who are part of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine [DFLP] as the military wing.” The National Resistance Brigades are one of the groups that reportedly participated in the October 7 attack against Israel alongside Hamas.
Protesters carry a banner glorifying Fatima Bernawi at an International Women’s Day protest in Los Angeles, CA on March 8, 2024.
Protesters in Los Angeles, CA, praised Fatima Bernawi, who in 1967 was arrested and convicted after attempting to bomb a movie theater in Israel. On March 8, protesters carried a banner depicting Bernawi with a reference to the “Fatima Bernawi brigade.” That same day, in Columbus, OH, a speaker praised “women leaders” of Palestine, referencing both Bernawi and Khaled by name. On March 10, at an International Women’s Day march in Chicago, IL, a protester carried a sign that read “Celebrate revolutionary women!” and listed names including Bernawi and Khaled.
In Grand Rapids, MI on March 10, a speaker affiliated with the local FRSO chapter praised Rasmea Odeh, a PFLP terrorist convicted for her role in a 1969 supermarket bombing in Jerusalem that killed two Israeli students and injured nine others. “We should celebrate her resistance,” the speaker stated, adding that “Odeh is familiar to millions of Palestinians who have not given up organizing for their rights to resistance, equality and return.” The Grand Rapids protest also featured a sign depicting Leila Khaled.
Protesters hold a sign depicting Leila Khaled at the “Rally for International Women’s Day: Stand with the Women of Palestine” event in Grand Rapids, MI on March 10, 2024.
Another PFLP member, Khalida Jarrar, was referenced on signs and in speakers’ comments at an International Women’s Day event in San Francisco, CA on March 8. A speaker praised “the work of…leaders like Khalida Jarrar, who remain steadfast despite being unlawfully detained and tortured.”
In Washington, DC on March 8, a speaker affiliated with the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) read part of a prepared statement from the group: “We unite not just in commemoration, but in powerful resistance. Our struggle echoes the enduring spirit of Palestinian women who have resisted and continue to resist colonialism, imperialism and Zionism for generations.” The speaker added, “we honor our women who have been on the frontlines of the struggle for our people’s liberation,” naming Israa Jaabis — who injured an Israeli police officer in 2015 when she detonated a car bomb — as an example of one of these praiseworthy women.
A protester carries a sign that celebrates Palestinian women, including convicted terrorists Leila Khaled and Fatima Bernawi, at an International Women’s Day march in Chicago, IL, on March 10, 2024.
In addition to the rhetoric used at on-the-ground protests, anti-Israel activists also expressed their support for female Palestinian terrorists in social media statements about International Women’s Day. The Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) released a “Women in Resistance” statement on March 8 that said, in part, “Palestinian women have been essential to active resistance against the British Mandate and Zionism, dedicating their lives to the Palestinian struggle across decades.” On Instagram, PYM captioned the post with an additional comment that explicitly named the First and Second Intifada as examples of periods in which Palestinian women have “[upheld] our struggle against our oppressor.”
A graphic distributed by the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) celebrating International Women’s Day.
The Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) released a similar statement for International Women’s Day, saying that the group “would like to emphasize showing solidarity with the brave and courageous women of Palestine as they fight not only for their own lives, but for the lives of their families and all the people of Palestine struggling against Zionist oppression...[FRSO] rejects proposed half-measures like the ‘two state solution’ and proudly declares: ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!’” A poster accompanying the FRSO statement featured images of Khaled and Bernawi.