Rubio calls on DOJ to investigate pro-Hamas domestic terrorist group

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) speaks during a speech hosted by the Foreign Policy Initiative at the 3 West Club on August 14, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Bryan Thomas/Getty Images)

(The Center Square) – U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, has called on the Department of Justice to open a domestic terrorism investigation into Unity of Fields, a pro-Hamas group encouraging its followers to commit acts of targeted violence against Americans, especially those who support Israel and the police, according to its website.

In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Rubio raised concerns “about the increasing violence promoted by groups such as Unity of Fields, formerly Palestine Action U.S., which explicitly support Palestinian terrorism and other anti-Israel, anti-American, and antisemitic terrorist organizations. I request that you immediately open a domestic terrorism investigation into Unity of Fields and utilize all resources available to hold this group accountable under the law.”

Prior to August 2024, the group was called Palestine Action U.S. and acted as a chapter of the United Kingdom-based group, Palestine Action.

After the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-terrorist attack against Israel, the group “recognized immediately the need for escalatory resistance to imperialism’s escalating violence,” it says on its website. “Inspired by the success of Palestine Action UK’s campaign, we launched Palestine Action US, a direct action network targeting Elbit Systems, the largest zionist weapons company on earth.”

It's referring to a Fort Worth, Texas-based company, Elbit Systems, that provides aerospace and defense technology and weapons to the U.S. military and “Democratic, sovereign countries that have treaty alliances” with the U.S., according to its website. Elbit Systems was named one of the world’s most ethical companies in 2023 by the Ethisphere Institute.

Unity of Fields says it expanded its efforts beyond Elbit to target U.S. college campuses. “Instead of solely targeting Elbit, we have expanded our scope to meet the urgent task of building capacity for direct action and militancy in the U.S. anti-imperialist movement,” it says. “On April 17, students and other young people launched dozens of Gaza solidarity encampments across the U.S., from Columbia to Cal Poly, occupying and barricading buildings, establishing liberated zones, and defeating police invasions.”

The group is also openly anti-police. Its efforts at Cal Poly make clear, “The pro-Palestinian movement must be a movement against the police.”

Among its goals is “to outmaneuver, exhaust, demoralize, confuse, and overpower the repressive might of the state. Those who do not believe this is possible do not believe that the revolution is possible,” it says.

It has also published a plethora of resources to support its goals, including a “Do-It-Yourself Occupation Guide” and resources detailing how to make inexpensive explosive devices and where to place them for maximum impact.

The group’s social media X account describes itself as an “Anti-imperialist propaganda front bringing the war home & building the international popular cradle of resistance.”

It’s also calling for ongoing violence on college campuses, saying, “An attack on one of us is an attack on us all. Strike together.” Its call came in response to a post stating, “an escalation at one university should spark escalations at other universities. an escalation inside universities should spark escalations outside universities. We're in this together and need to act like it.”

Under federal law, 18 U.S. Code § 2331, domestic terrorism is defined as any activity that “involves acts dangerous to human life that are in violation of the criminal laws” and includes the intent “to intimidate or coerce a civilian population” or “to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion,” Rubio notes. The Federal Bureau of Investigation also considers a domestic terrorism plot “as a combination of criminal activity and planning that collectively reflect steps toward criminal action in furtherance of a domestic ideological goal,” he said in his letter to Garland.

“When comparing Unity of Fields’ own statements and actions to existing government standards for investigating these threats, I believe Unity of Fields should be investigated for any violations of the law before additional harm or actions jeopardizes the United States or its citizens,” Rubio said. “By rejecting nonviolent means and fully embracing revolutionary and insurgent related tactics as a means of pursuing its hateful beliefs, Unity of Fields runs counter to any of the beliefs and rights which underpin our country’s constitutional system and endangers citizens.”