Assessing Terrorgram’s Support for the October 7th Hamas Terror Attack
In the wake of Hamas’s terror attack in Israel on October 7th, violent extremists and far-right individuals motivated by antisemitism have begun glorifying Hamas’ tactical successes against Israel in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. Several Telegram channels associated with the Terrorgram Collective, a network of Telegram channels that promote and adhere to militant accelerationism, have been particularly vocal in its support of Hamas and the use of terroristic violence. This network has also expressed support for other organizations involved in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, including Hezbollah, the al-Quds Brigades, and the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades. The Terrorgram Collective network has been assessed to be a part of or adjacent to the Order of Nine Angles (O9A).
The Terrorgram Collective network has recently engaged in a variety of behaviors online, including linking to or sharing accounts and content originally posted by Hamas, discussing the receipt of symbolic items (e.g., head scarves) from the Taliban and Palestine, and explicitly endorsing the use of terrorism as a method of targeting Jews and Israel. Some Telegram channels indicate that the preferred method of attack on Israeli soil is the targeting of critical infrastructure, particularly two oil refineries and substation infrastructure. The intentional targeting of infrastructure, particularly electrical substations, is a known tactic promoted, plotted, and carried out by militant accelerationists, designed to inflict maximum damage to “The System.” Other tactical discussions and advice shared within the network, range from alleged methods of outsmarting Israel’s Iron Dome to alleged instructions for the recreation of Hamas’ Qassam rockets.
Additionally, this network posts direct translations of content originally uploaded by Hamas and affiliated organizations, sometimes alongside explicit support for the content and the organizations themselves. Less frequently, uploads to other media platforms by non-affiliated individuals are reposted to these channels, often containing rhetoric similar or applicable to that used by militant accelerationists. Such content appears to be reposted in an effort to connect the narratives utilized to justify the attack against Israel to neofascist accelerationist ideology, thus strengthening arguments for real-world violence. Overall, the content posted by these actors consistently and explicitly targets Jews through direct calls for violence that could lead to their deaths.
Image 1. Terrorgram post sharing a Hamas Telegram channel
The promotion and support of jihadist actors such as Hamas is an established dynamic within far-right and militant accelerationist threat actors. In late 2016, former police officer Nicholas Young attempted to provide material support to the Islamic State (ISIS) via gift card codes intended to enable ISIS recruiters to set up mobile messaging accounts to recruit in the United States. Young was known to have held neo-Nazi ideological views. In June of 2020, Boogaloo adherents Michael Solomon and Benjamin Ryan Teeter attempted to provide material support and resources to Hamas in an effort to counter the presence of Israeli and American military personnel overseas while also furthering Boogaloo-affiliated goals. And American soldier Ethan Melzer, arrested in May 2020, joined the United States Army as part of an O9A insight role, where he intentionally plotted the murder of his army unit. Melzer provided other O9A adherents online with US military secrets obtained through his Army service, in the hopes that they would pass the sensitive information to Al Qaeda and thus instigate an attack on his unit.
Adherents of O9A are particularly drawn to jihadist content and activity in part due to David Myatt’s temporary conversion to Islam in the 1990s, his adoption of the pseudonym Abdul-Aziz ibn Myatt, and his support of Islamist terrorism. Some O9A adherents believe that a post on a known Hamas website, which provided justification for the use of suicide attacks, was written by Myatt under his pseudonym. Perhaps the best example of Myatt’s legacy is encapsulated in the visual propaganda piece below created by Patrick Gordon Macdonald, known online under the alias Dark Foreigner. Emerging from the Iron March forum, Dark Foreigner became a core neo-Nazi propagandist and curator of the visual aesthetic adopted by several prominent militant accelerationist groups. The artwork depicted below features Osama bin Laden and the two World Trade Center towers in the stylized red, black and white that Dark Foreigner applied to much of the neofascist accelerationism content he created.
Image 2: Dark Foreigner propaganda featuring Osama bin Laden
The glorification of Hamas and affiliated groups by militant accelerationism associated individuals and networks on Telegram demonstrates the full breadth of the October 7th Hamas terrorist attack. It also demonstrates the non-monolithic nature of ideological motivation for accelerationist violence and terrorism. Due to their shared antisemitic frameworks for both ideology and terrorism targeting, salafi jihadists and militant accelerationists comprise two threat vectors in a very expansive landscape of threat actors motivated by opportunities to engage in violence against Jewish people and Israelis. Terrorgram specifically has long engaged in promotion of terrorism that blurs these two ideological spaces. And attacks on synagogues, as seen in the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting and the 2019 Poway synagogue shooting, have been a prominent feature of militant accelerationist attacks and Saintdom culture.
Such rhetoric could encourage United States-based domestic sympathizers to engage in violence against Jewish individuals and facilities in particular, including places of worship. Overall, the current discourse promoting Hamas’ brutality against Israelis and the encouragement of violence against Jews beyond the conflict zone in Gaza presents a heightened risk for non-aligned mobilization to violence among adherents of militant accelerationism.
*All references to Telegram channels have been removed due to sensitivities related to sharing detailed information on active Terrorgram network nodes. Further information is available upon request.
