Contemporary use of the symbol originates from combat footage published by
Al-Qassam Brigades (the military wing of
Hamas) during the
Gaza war, which began on 7 October 2023, that uses inverted red triangles as arrows to indicate targets, such as
tanks operated by the
Israel Defense Forces (IDF), shortly before they are attacked or destroyed. Palestinian journalist
Ramzy Baroud wrote that its connotation as a symbol of resistance (including its resemblance to the triangle on the Palestinian flag) may have been intentional when it was first created or that the design may have simply been a functional choice by "a young Palestinian tech-savvy fighter". Bahrain, Canada, The
Cyber Isnaad Front, an anti-Israel hacker group identified as possibly Iranian-backed by the
Foundation for Defense of Democracies, uses a modified version of the triangle when posting about its alleged victims. The symbol has sometimes been used to target private individuals or establishments. In the summer of 2024, in New York, United States, it was spray-painted on the residences of board members of the
Brooklyn Museum, as well as that of its director
Anne Pasternak; and that of
Columbia University's chief operating officer, Cas Holloway. Messages left by the vandals at the residences of Pasternak and Holloway specifically targeted them for allegedly being a "white supremacist
Zionist" and contributing to the suppression of
protests at Columbia University, respectively. Pasternak is
Jewish, and several New York political figures described the incidents as
antisemitic. Also that summer, the triangle was spray-painted on the Pittsburgh
synagogue Chabad of Squirrel Hill, near the
Tree of Life – Or L'Simcha Congregation where a
white supremacist attack took place in 2018. In October of that year, on
Yom Kippur, a Jewish-owned bakery in
Surry Hills, Sydney, Australia, was spray-painted with a red triangle and the word "Beware". A note reading "Be careful" was slid under the door. In January 2026,
Andreas Büttner, a commissioner against antisemitism in the state of
Brandenburg, Germany, was the target of an
arson attack, whose perpetrators also spray-painted the symbol. This represented the second attack against Büttner in 16 months — his car had previously been vandalized with
swastikas. In 2024, some social media users accused French politician
Manuel Bompard of supporting Hamas after he appeared in a televised debate wearing an inverted red triangle pin. An investigation by
France 24 instead connected the symbol to the Nazi concentration camp badge for political dissidents, the significance of which is explained by Bompard's party,
La France Insoumise, on their website. Furthermore, an image was found of Bompard wearing a similar pin before the start of the Gaza war. Ravan Jaafar al-Taie, a candidate in the 2025 election for the
Wikimedia Foundation Board of Trustees, faced backlash from Israeli scholar of knowledge Shlomit Aharoni Lir for her perceived
anti-Israel activity.
The Jerusalem Post investigated al-Taie's social media history, which included multiple posts featuring the red triangle.
Use by Israel Avichay Adraee, then-head of the Arab media division of the
IDF Spokesperson's Unit, uploaded a video during the first month of Israel's invasion of the
Gaza Strip that used the red triangle to indicate Palestinian targets before their destruction. The video ends with the message in Arabic "Our triangle is stronger than yours, Abu Obeida". This prompted criticism from pro-Palestine social media users.
Bans In July 2024, the
Senate of Berlin voted to ban the red triangle following an urgent
motion filed by the
Christian Democratic Union and the
Social Democratic Party (SPD).
Niklas Schrader, a member of
Die Linke, cautioned that banning the symbol could unintentionally lead to the outlawing of other organizations. The
Association of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime displays the triangle on their flag accompanied by prisoner stripes, a design that has been seen at pro-Israel demonstrations. ==Symbolism==