While Jewish communities around the world marked the third anniversary of the October 7 Hamas massacre, an international coalition of more than 200 organizations was coordinating anti-Israel demonstrations, distributing prepared slogans, protest materials and instructions designed to disrupt public activity and pressure governments into taking action against Israel.
The Global Alliance for Palestine (GAFP), a London-based organization chaired by former British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, organized what it called a Global Day of Action for October 10, with demonstrations scheduled from October 9 through October 11. According to an investigation by Fox News Digital and The Jerusalem Post, the campaign involved organizations across more than 60 countries, with organizers supplied with ready-made signs, communications material and instructions for conducting protests.
The campaign had been in preparation since August, when GAFP issued an international call for student groups, labour unions and pro-Palestinian organizations to participate. Its stated objectives included imposing arms embargoes on Israel, introducing economic sanctions, suspending trade agreements and pressuring elected officials to adopt measures against the Jewish state. The alliance supplied participating organizations with model letters to legislators and communications materials in multiple languages to ensure that the same demands were heard in different countries.
The instructions went beyond holding demonstrations. According to The Jerusalem Post, campaign materials encouraged participants to shut down public squares, surround government buildings and blockade corporate centres. Other suggested activities included workplace walkouts, sit-ins and civil disobedience. Organizers were encouraged to use carefully prepared messaging to attract media coverage and maintain a consistent political narrative.
Among the organizations identified in the coalition were CodePink, the Freedom Flotilla movement and regional branches of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. GAFP openly promoted the international nature of its activities, publishing campaign materials and inviting organizations to register their participation through its website. The alliance also stated that participating groups operated independently and remained responsible for their own local activities.
The timing of the campaign was hardly accidental. October 7 marked three years since Hamas terrorists crossed into southern Israel and murdered approximately 1,200 people, including families in their homes and young people attending the Nova music festival. Another 251 people were taken hostage into Gaza. Rather than allowing the anniversary to pass as a day of remembrance, the coalition chose the same week to launch a worldwide campaign against Israel.
In Montreal, the anniversary was also accompanied by anti-Israel demonstrations. As Montreal Jewish News previously reported, Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights at McGill promoted an October 7 rally at the university’s Roddick Gates, despite having previously described the Hamas attacks as heroic. Separately, the Palestinian Youth Movement in Montreal organized an October 10 demonstration demanding an arms embargo and sanctions against Israel, demands that closely resembled those circulated by the international coalition. There is, however, no established evidence that either Montreal organization received instructions from GAFP or coordinated its activities directly with the alliance.
The international campaign follows years of increasingly organized anti-Israel activism, including university occupations, economic boycotts and efforts to isolate Israeli academic institutions. Montreal has experienced its own share of these activities, with McGill students recently voting in favour of a motion seeking to end the university’s exchange agreement with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry condemned the coordinated demonstrations, accusing organizers of using prepared allegations, synchronized slogans and deliberate disruption to dominate international news coverage and vilify Israel.
Leave a Reply