(JNS) The U.S. Justice Department on Monday, March 17 announced the formation of a joint task force which it said would “seek justice for the victims of the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack in Israel and address the ongoing threat posed by Hamas and its affiliates.
“The barbaric Hamas terrorists will not win,” stated U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi. “There will be consequences.”
Bondi stated that she had the “solemn honor” of meeting several families of U.S. citizens whom Hamas kidnapped on Oct. 7.
“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,” she stated.
The task force “will focus on targeting, charging and securing for prosecution in the United States the direct perpetrators of the Oct. 7 attack—the terrorists on the ground that day who murdered and kidnapped innocent civilians,” she stated.
It will also bring Hamas leaders to the U.S. to try them for their “reprehensible role in these atrocities” and probe people and entities that support and fund Hamas, and other Iranian proxies, who commit acts of terror and civil rights violations or Jew-hatred, she said.
U.S. deputy attorney general Todd Blanche said, “The victims of Hamas’ 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.”
The task force “represents our unyielding commitment to those who have suffered at the hands of these brutal terrorists,” he said. “Antisemitic acts of terrorism—whether here or abroad—will never go unpunished.” he added.
A senior counterterror prosecutor from the National Security Division and a senior FBI special agent will lead the task force, with an FBI intelligence analyst acting as a deputy, per Bondi’s office, which will lead the effort. Trial attorneys from several divisions, including money laundering and asset recovery, will be part of the panel, which will also work with forensic forensic accountants, data scientists and linguists, per the department.
“The Justice Department’s new task force makes it clear: Hamas terrorists will be prosecuted, their supporters will face consequences and their funding networks will be dismantled,” stated Rep. Pat Harrigan (R-N.C.). “The United States will not tolerate terrorism at home or abroad.”
