DOJ launches October 7 joint task force to bring Hamas terrorists to justice

The Department of Justice on Tuesday announced the launch of the Joint Task Force October 7, which will work to bring Hamas terrorists involved in the October 7 attack on Israel to justice in the United States.

The task force will focus on the targeting, charging, and securing prosections of direct perpetrators of the October 7 attack against Israel, which resulted in the deaths of over 1,200 people, including 47 US citizens, and hundreds more being taken hostage, undertaken by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

The task force will assume responsibility for pending charges against Hamas leadership over October 7 and other terrorist acts, and to bring them to the US to face " justice for their reprehensible role in these atrocities," a press release stated.

Additionally, the task force will also be investigating civil rights violations and terrorist acts undertaken by those "providing support and financing to Hamas, related Iran proxies, and their affiliates, as well as acts of antisemitism by these groups."

"The barbaric Hamas terrorists will not win—and there will be consequences," said Attorney General Pam Bondi, who established the task force on her first day in office. "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." 

Under the supervision of the Office of the Deputy Attorney General, the task force will be led by a senior counterterrorism prosecutor from the Justice Department’s National Security Division (NSD), a senior FBI Special Agent as the Task Force Commander, and an FBI Intelligence Analyst as Deputy Task Force Commander. 

The task force will also include "trial attorneys from NSD, the Civil Rights Division, the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, Assistant U.S. Attorneys from the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, and other detailees, with additional dedicated support from the Department’s Office of International Affairs." 

"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 supported by FBI agents, analysts, forensic accountants, data scientists, and linguists who will contribute to the trask force’s "expertise in investigating and prosecuting domestic and extraterritorial terrorism cases, including terrorism-financing matters, and serve as points of contact with the FBI’s Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell and Victim Services Division."

"The FBI is committed to establishing the Joint Task Force October 7 to continue the FBI’s investigative and victim assistance efforts related to the horrific acts of terror committed by Hamas," said FBI Director Kash Patel. "Working with our federal and international partners, this task force is a collaborative initiative between agencies, and together we will work to accomplish our vital counterterrorism mission."

The FBI will be coordinating with other law enforcement and intelligence agencies as well as their foreign counterparts through the FBI’s Legal Attaché office in Israel on task force activities, and agents with the FBI will be embedded with Israel’s National Bureau of Counter Terror Finance.