Fringe-Left Groups Express Support for Hamas’s Invasion and Brutal Attacks in Israel

·  PSL chapters across the country have amplified the official PSL statement on social media, and shared numerous additional posts denouncing Israel and backing Hamas’s violent terror attacks.  

·  The PSL Seattle (WA) chapter posted, “Tacoma is proud to stand in firm solidarity with Palestinian resistance and their just counter-offensive…The corporate media and politicians want the public to believe that Israel is simply defending itself from ‘terrorism.’ That’s a lie. The actions of the resistance over the course of the last day is [sic] a morally and legally legitimate response to occupation.” 

·  PSL is one of the primary organizers of dozens of anti-Israel protests across the country in the days since the invasion, working alongside notorious anti-Zionist groups like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), the ANSWER Coalition, the Palestinian Youth Movement, Al-Awda NY, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), and others to organize many of these events. Rhetoric shared at these PSL co-sponsored protests, including in some cases by PSL-affiliated speakers, has included explicit antisemitism and support for the Hamas terror attack.  

·  At a PSL co-sponsored protest in New York on October 8, speakers declared that “resistance is not terrorism” and endorsed resistance against “the Zionist entity…by any means necessary.”  

·  At an October 8 protest in Anaheim, CA, co-sponsored by PSL, a speaker celebrated this “moment where Hamas is taking control, they’re resisting,” and at a rally in San Francisco a speaker declared, “The resistance is liberating land from ‘48 that has been occupied for 75 years. The intifada lives and Palestine lives!”  

·  A PSL student organizer at an October 8 protest in Georgia rationalized Hamas’s terror attack against Israeli civilians, saying, “It only makes sense that eventually they would fight back.”  

·  At a PSL co-sponsored protest in Cambridge, MA on October 9 — advertised with the tagline “victory is ours” — attendees celebrated the terror attacks against Israel; one protester waved a flag bearing the symbol of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a recognized terrorist organization, and a speaker declared, “Settlers are not civilians and that they have no right to security.”  

World Workers Party (WWP) 

·  The WWP published an official statement in “solidarity with Palestine” on October 8, lauding the attack as “a heroic example for people longing for liberation from imperialism around the world.” The statement failed to denounce Hamas or the mass violence that it had committed against civilians, instead blaming the “white supremacist Zionist state for the Hamas attack.” “The Israeli regime’s murders, seizures of territories, illegal settlements and occupation made a response from the Palestinian people and their liberation organizations as inevitable as it was justifiable,” the WWP statement read. It went on, “The Palestinian movement and people have every right to strike back in whatever way they choose,” adding, “the Palestinian organizations know that they face a ruthless enemy and have decided to launch a direct strike on that enemy.” 

·  The WWP has been directly involved in on-the-ground protests, co-sponsoring events and distributing posters for protesters to use. WWP-branded posters seen at large rallies in New York City, for example, read, “Zionism is genocide!” and “Long live the intifada!” 

·  The WWP and its local chapters across the country shared similar messages on social media. One post read, “We need unwavering, unconditional solidarity for Palestinian liberation. By any means necessary, PALESTINE WILL BE FREE.” Others shared hashtags like “#victory2palestine,” “#itisrighttorebel,” and “#SmashTheZionistState.” 

Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) Chapters 

·  DSA Salt Lake City (UT) published a “Statement on Palestinian Liberation” on October 7, expressing their “unwavering solidarity with the people of Palestine in their decades long fight for national liberation” and urging Americans “to stand up against settler-colonial, Zionist apartheid.” The statement proclaimed the group’s full support for the attack on Israeli civilians, writing that “it is not terrorism or anti-semitism to fight against this injustice.” 

·  The DSA San Francisco (CA) chapter put out a statement on October 9 condemning “Israel’s ongoing occupation and the apartheid regime” and “the U.S.’s continued funding and support of Israel’s decades-long colonization of Palestine,” but did not condemn the violence committed by Hamas. The statement read: “Violent oppression inevitably produces resistance. Socialists support the Palestinian people’s, and all people’s, right to resist and fight for their own liberation. This weekend’s events are no different. Decolonization is the only path towards peace. A better world is possible. We call on all those who share our vision of global working-class emancipation to join the fight to end the occupation and decolonize Palestine – from the river to the sea.”

·  DSA Long Beach (CA) wrote on October 10 that their chapter “fully supports and stands in solidarity with the people of Palestine in their struggle for liberation from military occupation, colonialist oppression, and the brutal apartheid system imposed by the state of Israel.” The group alleged that, “for far too long, Israel, a settler colonial regime, has dispossessed, incarcerated, tortured, and murdered Palestinians by the thousands” and added that, “there is no symmetry between the Palestinian people’s struggle and the genocide being carried out by the Zionist terror state.”

·  The DSA Pittsburgh (PA) chapter published a statement on October 10 expressing “continued full and unequivocal support for the Palestinian struggle for freedom.” The statement implicated Israel and the U.S. in the terror attacks committed by Hamas, justifying the attacks by saying, “Violent opposition is the inevitable response to the conditions imposed by Israeli occupation. The conflict can only end if the apartheid regime is lifted from the river to the sea.” 

·  The Young Democratic Socialists of America chapter at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill characterized the terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians as “decolonial action in real-time,” writing on social media that the group “stands in solidarity with the palestinian [sic] people in the pursuit of their liberation from colonization and apartheid.” 

·  Some lawmakers affiliated with DSA have denounced DSA chapters’ statements and promotion of anti-Israel protests in the wake of the Hamas attack on Israel. 

Independent Black Lives Matter (BLM) Chapters 

It is important to note that Black Lives Matter chapters are run independently from the national Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, and many are completely unaffiliated. The Black Lives Matter national organization has not yet commented on the current Israel-Hamas war. 

·  BLM Grassroots, a splinter group not affiliated with the Black Lives Matter national organization, published a statement on October 9 “in solidarity with the Palestinian people.” The statement appeared to attempt to justify Hamas’s actions as legitimate “resistance”: “When a people have been subject to decades of apartheid and unimaginable violence, their resistance must not be condemned, but understood as a desperate act of self-defense.” 

·  A BLM Chicago (IL) account has shared several social media posts strongly implying support for Hamas. In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on October 10, the group posted an image of a paraglider — referencing Hamas’s use of paragliders to infiltrate Israel and attack civilians — with the message “I stand with Palestine.” In a post on October 11, the group wrote: “When we say Free Palestine, y’all say antisemitic & Hamas. Israel’s terrorism created Hamas & Zionism is a betrayal of the peace of Judaism not those shouting against its genocidal effect on Palestine.” 

·  A BLM Phoenix (AZ) account endorsed and shared on its own social media accounts a statement originally published by Arizona State University’s chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which declared that “Palestinian freedom fighters are not terrorists!” In response to a comment from a social media user criticizing the group’s decision to refer to Hamas as “freedom fighters,” BLM Phoenix responded, “we are also freedom fighters who have been grossly mislabeled and violently targeted for standing up against injustice to our people…so…you can call them whatever you want…but we will call them freedom fighters and we will stand in full support of the resistance happening in Palestine.” The group added, “The Palestinian attack was a revolution and attempt to reclaim their freedom.” 

·  A BLM Detroit (MI) account shared multiple posts criticizing Israel, including a deeply biased infographic created by the Instagram account @Key48Return which included support for Hamas and false claims dismissing the violence committed against Israeli civilians. For example, the infographic claimed that “the few Israeli ‘hostages’ are in fact Israeli soldiers and Israeli army generals who are responsible for keeping Palestinians hostage in the world’s largest open air prison.” This denies the truth: that dozens of children and other civilians were among those captured by Hamas. The infographic also defended Hamas, alleging that criticism of Hamas is based on “disinformation.” 

Numerous Other Organizations Have Expressed Similar Sentiments. Additional Examples Include: 

·  In an October 7 statement, the New York-based progressive legal non-profit, the Center for Constitutional Rights, unequivocally expressed support for the attack against Israel by reframing Hamas’s attacks against civilians as a lawful attack on so-called military targets. The statement read, in part: “Under international law, armed groups, such as Palestinian resistance fighters, can lawfully carry out attacks on military targets.” It blamed Israel for “the profound erosion of international norms and the necessary protections for occupied people and civilians.” 

·  On October 11, the Black Alliance for Peace, a human rights-focused group led by former Green Party vice presidential candidate Ajamu Baraka, released a statement condemning “the murderous assault on occupied Palestine” committed by “the illegal zionist settler-colonial, apartheid state” and declaring “that a colonized people have a right to resist occupation and fight for self-determination by any means necessary!” 

·  The Red Nation, a left-leaning Native American advocacy group, shared several posts supporting Hamas, some of which included misinformation about Hamas’s attacks against Israel. In a post on October 11, the group wrote, “Zionists are nazis [sic] without god or mercy.” The group also invited Electronic Intifada founder Ali Abunimah to speak on an “emergency episode” of The Red Nation Podcast on October 9, during which he blamed Israel for the violence committed by Hamas. 

The article is published courtesy of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).