By The Epoch Times | Created at 2025-03-17 22:32:54 | Updated at 2025-03-18 05:16:59
6 hours ago
‘The barbaric Hamas terrorists will not win—and there will be consequences,’ says Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The U.S. Department of Justice on March 17 announced the creation of Joint Task Force October 7 to combat anti-Semitism and terrorism.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the task force will “seek justice for the victims of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack in Israel and combat the ongoing threat posed by Hamas and its affiliates.”
“The barbaric Hamas terrorists will not win—and there will be consequences,” said Bondi. “As Attorney General, I have had the solemn honor of meeting with several families of U.S. citizens whose loved ones were kidnapped by Hamas on that dark day. This task force will strengthen the Department’s resolve to achieve justice for these families and their loved ones as we continue to fight antisemitism in all its forms.”
The announcement comes as the United States increased its pressure on Iran-backed proxy groups like the Hamas terrorist group such as the Houthis. After the U.S. military struck Houthi positions in Yemen over the weekend, President Donald Trump warned Tehran that future attacks by its allies would be considered its direct aggression and met with serious consequences.
It also follows heightened scrutiny of alleged anti-Semitism on college campuses, particularly at Columbia University, where the Trump administration has announced funding cuts and initiated investigations into potential violations of federal law. At least 60 other institutions are also being investigated for similar protests on campuses related to the Israel–Hamas war.
The Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel resulted in approximately 1,200 deaths, mostly civilians, and the abduction of 251 more by Hamas.
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In response, Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza, leading to widespread destruction, displacement of most of the region’s population, and more than 48,000 Palestinian deaths, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths.
The Biden administration had previously unsealed charges against Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other senior terrorists in connection with the attack, though Sinwar and several others have since been killed. The new task force will take over those pending cases.
The new task force will focus on prosecuting those directly responsible for the attack, which claimed 47 U.S. citizens’ lives and resulted in the abduction of eight Americans. The task force will work to charge and extradite those involved, targeting both the direct perpetrators and Hamas leadership responsible for orchestrating the attack.
The initiative will also investigate individuals and entities that have allegedly provided financial and logistical support to Hamas and its affiliated groups.
These efforts will include tracking terrorism financing and prosecuting violations of U.S. laws concerning material support to terrorist organizations, the Justice Department said. The task force will additionally address alleged acts of anti-Semitism linked to Hamas and related Iran-backed proxies.
“The victims of Hamas’s decades-long violent campaign of terrorism against Israel will always have the support of the U.S. government, and the Department will no longer permit illegal support of Hamas on our campuses and elsewhere in the homeland,” said Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. “Antisemitic acts of terrorism – whether here or abroad – will never go unpunished. This task force represents our unyielding commitment to those who have suffered at the hands of these brutal terrorists.”
The task force will be led by a senior counterterrorism prosecutor from the Justice Department’s National Security Division, alongside an FBI special agent as task force commander and an FBI intelligence analyst as deputy task force commander, the announcement said.
The task force will coordinate with foreign counterparts through the FBI’s Legal Attaché office in Israel, embedding agents with Israel’s National Bureau of Counter Terror Finance to enhance ongoing investigations, according to the department.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
