Adam Shapiro is the co-founder of, and the most visible American figure in, the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). The ISM is a pro-Hamas group that recognizes the Palestinians’ right to what it calls “armed struggle” in the form of suicide bombings targeting Israeli civilians. The ISM invites Americans and Europeans to come to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank to disrupt the anti-terrorist efforts of the Israeli Defense Force. Shapiro, a Brooklyn-born Jew, is infamous for having visited and acted as a human shield for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat while Arafat’s Ramallah compound was surrounded by the Israeli Defense Force in April 2002. This occurred in the aftermath of a Palestinian massacre of 30 Israelis – some of them Holocaust survivors – at a Passover seder shortly after the Intifada was launched.

In November of 2003, Shapiro took part in the Third Annual National Student Conference On Palestine Solidarity, where terrorist acts were publicly defended; the event was held at Ohio State University.  Shapiro is credited with saying, “Palestinian resistance must take on a variety of characteristics, both violent and nonviolent.”

Shapiro, who wishes to see Israel destroyed, candidly states that he does not consider himself a Jew. He and his wife, Palestinian-American activist Huwaida Arraf, have become the spokespeople for the ISM in the United States. In articles on the ISM website where they discuss their goals of dismantling Israel by supporting Palestinian terrorists, they use euphemisms such as “legitimate resistance” and “legitimate armed struggle” while claiming that they are nonviolent. The ISM uses as its motto “by any means necessary.”

Shapiro is a board of directors member with the Free Gaza Movement.