The national Black Lives Matter (BLM) organization appears to be distancing itself from other groups using the BLM brand that justified Hamas’ terrorist attack against Israel, according to a statement it provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
BLM Chicago and BLM Grassroots each took to the internet to tacitly support or justify the Hamas attacks, in which armed jihadists murdered at least 1,200 people, raped women, beheaded babies and took hostages back to the Gaza Strip. BLM’s main organization has not issued any statement addressing the attacks, and a representative for the organization told the DCNF that it is “not affiliated” with BLM Chicago or BLM Grassroots.
“Black Lives Matter Grassroots stands in solidarity with our Palestinian family who are currently resisting 57 years of settler colonialism and apartheid,” BLM Grassroots said in its Monday statement on X, formerly Twitter. “As Black people continue to fight to end militarism and mass incarceration in our own communities, let us understand the resistance in Palestine as an attempt to tear down the gates of the world’s largest open air prison.” (RELATED: Harvard President Responds To Student Groups Blaming Israel For Hamas Attacks)
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Image depicts death.) A dead civilian lies amongst rubble after being shot at by Hamas militants days earlier in an attack on this kibbutz near the border with Gaza, on October 10, 2023 in Kfar Aza, Israel. (Photo by Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
BLM Grassroots is run by Dr. Melina Abdullah, a radical academic who teaches students at the taxpayer-funded California State University Los Angeles and once defended the prolific anti-semitic activist Louis Farrakhan.
BLM Chicago posted an image to Twitter on Tuesday that stated “I Stand With Palestine” and featured a depiction of a paraglider with a Palestinian flag attached to it, referencing the equipment used by the terrorists to reach a music festival in Israel and murder at least 260 people. Women were reportedly raped next to the dead bodies of other attendees on the festival grounds before being murdered or taken hostage by the terrorists, according to Tablet Magazine.
BLM Chicago deleted the post, and then said in a separate statement that while they “aren’t proud” of Tuesday’s messages, they “stand with Palestine and the people who will do what they must to live free.”
The national BLM organization declined to comment when asked by the DCNF if it unequivocally condemns the Hamas attacks, whether it believes Israel bears any responsibility for the attacks unleashed against them and whether it believes Israel is morally justified to strike back against Hamas. It did not respond to follow-up questions after emphasizing that it is distinct from the other factions.
BLM Grassroots and BLM Chicago did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
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