Executive Summary

On August 29, 2025, the Second People’s Conference for Palestine convenes in Detroit, MI. Marketed under the slogan “Gaza is the Compass,” the conference will bring together U.S.-based extremist groups, communist groups and designated terrorists to define campaign strategies “to confront Zionism and U.S. imperialism.”

The conference is organized by several groups, primarily the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM).

Among the endorsers and participants is the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). DSA formally signed onto the conference, urged its members to attend and will dispatch delegations. The event is not trivial for DSA; it is a showcase of the organization’s transformation into an explicitly anti-Zionist, pro-terror political force.

The alignment between DSA and the People’s Conference is underscored by the fact that Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, who served as the keynote speaker at the August 2025 DSA Convention, will also speak at the People’s Conference.

DSA became an anti-Zionist organization due to the influence of several Palestinian organizations, chief among them PYM. A group that supports terror organizations, PYM consistently pushed DSA on a path toward anti-Zionism, antisemitism and anti-Israel advocacy.

This report explains how PYM used its power in the anti-Israel network and influence in progressive circles to advance its own agenda through DSA, and how DSA, desperate to be on the “right side” of anti-imperialism and anti-colonialism, bent over backwards to accommodate the violent ideologies espoused and advanced by PYM.

Once a pro-Israel, labor-focused organization, DSA has been radicalized by PYM and its allies into treating Palestine as the movement’s litmus test.

Today, DSA leaders celebrate Hamas commanders as martyrs, caucuses openly defend terrorism, resolutions make anti-Zionism a core principle, and its rhetoric drips with hatred for America itself.

No figure embodies DSA’s transformation more than New York state assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a DSA member now poised to become mayor of New York City.

Mamdani has said he was drawn to DSA because of its stance on Palestinian liberation and the Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS) movement. His campaign is backed by the same network of activists driving the People’s Conference, including PYM, National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) and allied DSA caucuses.

The People’s Conference is both a barometer of DSA’s radical capture and a springboard for the next phase of coordinated anti-Israel and anti-U.S. activism in America.

Bringing the War Home: The Palestinian War on America

Read more about the 2024 People's Conference and its goal to dismantle America.

In light of these findings, DSA should not be viewed as a mere political movement advancing the rights of workers and the lower class in America, but as a dangerous threat to American society, democracy and law and order.

Key Findings

The DSA - PYM Alliance

Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is the largest socialist organization in America with close to 80,000 members and 239 chapters nationwide. Its youth wing, Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA), has close to 114 chapters in various American colleges and high schools.

DSA has evolved since its founding in 1982 from a 6,000-member, pro-Israel group with the goals of progressive, socialist reform within the Democratic party to a virulently anti-American, anti-Israel, revolutionary movement that now aims to completely dismantle the U.S. political system and replace it with socialism, Marxism and, in some cases, anarchy.

Today, with over 80,000 members, the DSA has become a powerful force inside the Democratic Party, pulling the party to the far left and increasingly taking over the voice of both the party and its activist base.

The Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), a transnational movement of young Palestinians dedicated to the “liberation of Palestine,” has been working with DSA on a local, national and international level since 2018 to advance its agenda.

As of August 2025, PYM operated 14 chapters across the United States and Canada and maintained additional branches in Europe, including the United Kingdom, Sweden and Italy.

PYM Support for Terror Organizations

PYM’s agenda involves promoting terrorism in the guise of “Palestinian liberation.” There is extensive evidence of PYM’s support for terror organizations, primarily the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

According to a July 2024 report by the Israeli government, PYM has “close ties with the Popular Front and its affiliates, as well as with the SJP organization linked to Hamas.”

Examples of PYM’s support for terrorists and terror organizations include:

• PYM has promoted PFLP terrorists Khalida Jarrar, Ghassan Kanafani, Georges Abdallah, Walid Daqqa and Wisam Rafeedie on social media accounts and at events.
• PYM glorified the Holy Land Five, five individuals associated with the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) indicted for funneling funds to Hamas in the guise of humanitarian aid. The men were all convicted and sentenced in 2009 to federal prison terms ranging from 15 to 65 years. PYM wrote, “We are inspired by the revolutionary tradition of those like the Holy Land 5…”
• PYM co-organized events with the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network (Samidoun), which the U.S. and Canada designated as a terrorist entity in October 2024 and described as a “sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization.”
• PYM endorsed armed resistance as legitimate and issued statements and social media posts commemorating “martyrs” from the Hamas, PFLP and PIJ terrorist organizations.
• PYM Media Advisor Yara Shoufani commented, “Palestinians have a right not only to resist, but to liberate our land from zionist colonization and western imperialism, to liberate our people from zionist prisons, and to return to our homes after decades of forced exile.”
• Former PFLP-affiliated prisoner Wisam Rafeedie at the People’s Conference, 2024, said, “This is not a struggle between Hamas and Israel. Hamas is part of the resistance of the Palestinian people. The core issue is between the Palestinian people and the project of settler colonialism and ethnic cleansing.”

On October 7, 2023, in the aftermath of the brutal Hamas atrocities, PYM reportedly published a statement accompanied by a photo of Palestinians celebrating on an IDF jeep in the Gaza Strip with the caption, “Palestine lives! The resistance is alive!”

The statement read, “the resistance in Gaza stormed the illegitimate border fence, reentering 1948 Palestine for the first time in many of our lives…We continue to stand by our people in Gaza and throughout occupied Palestine in their legitimate resistance against the occupiers. In the name of our shaheeds, the struggle for freedom and return continues.”

On October 9, 2023, PYM wrote on Instagram: “In the last several days, we have witnessed the active decolonization of Palestinian land led by the Palestinian resistance. On October 7th, Gaza broke free. Palestinians in Gaza crossed the illegitimate border fence and reentered 1948 lands for the first time in many of our lifetimes. Since that time, we have witnessed resistance efforts and protests spread to all of historic Palestine, including the West Bank.”

PYM also wrote: “No show of force or savagery from this Entity in its response will break our resolve. We have a right to resist on our own land. May the memory of our martyrs continue to guide us on the steadfast path to liberation.”

In response to PYM’s dedicated activism and support for the actions of Hamas on October 7, the PFLP posted a statement on April 23, 2024 during the encampments held on U.S. college campuses in support of anti-Israel American students with specific mention of PYM:

How PYM Swayed DSA to Terror Support

Although PYM and DSA are ideologically aligned today, Palestine was not always central to DSA’s agenda. Until 2017, the organization had no formal stance on Israel and the issue was not a major organizing priority. That changed when DSA adopted BDS as official policy at the 2017 convention, marking a turning point. In the years that followed, local DSA chapters embraced increasingly hard-line anti-Israel positions, eventually pressuring the national organization to follow suit.

The issue of BDS has long exposed fault lines within DSA itself. The organization lacked internal consensus, as seen in controversies surrounding prominent DSA-backed politicians like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) and Jamaal Bowman, whose perceived willingness to compromise with pro-Israel positions sparked internal anger and distrust between DSA members.

At the same time, external pressure came from the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) and other anti-Israel organizations, which criticized DSA’s wavering commitment to BDS and demanded stronger alignment with anti-Zionist positions. The lack of conviction from DSA on the national level caused major distrust and friction between DSA and anti-Israel organizations.

The Hamas massacre on October 7, 2023, marked a decisive turning point. DSA responded by posting an unapologetic statement of solidarity with “Palestine,” placing full blame on Israel and urging mass mobilization. The moment pushed the organization away from earlier hesitations and toward a more radical stance in sync with PYM.

Since then, DSA has steadily hardened its anti-Israel position. By the 2025 DSA convention, PYM had an official presence, and DSA committed to participate in the People’s Conference for Palestine, which PYM organizes.

What began as tension over BDS has now culminated in open ideological alignment: as of August 2025, both groups are explicitly anti-Zionist, anti-imperialist and socialist, portraying Israel as the archetypal “oppressor” within their class-based, anti-capitalist and decolonial frameworks.

It All Started with BDS

At the 2019 DSA national convention the DSA approved a resolution establishing an official national working group dedicated to organizing for BDS and Palestine Solidarity.

This working group would take the lead on radicalizing the organization towards terror-support in alignment with PYM ideology.

Olivia Katbi-Smith co-authored the 2019 resolution (#35) establishing DSA's BDS Working Group (BDS WG), which formally positioned anti-Israel activism and BDS efforts as a permanent, prioritized campaign within DSA. The Working Group endeavored to “organize DSA members to engage in BDS and other Palestine Solidarity campaigns and direct actions in their respective communities. In addition, we aim to recruit Palestinian, Black, Indigenous, and other POCs into our fledgling working group — and DSA at large — as we build the infrastructure to launch BDS campaigns across the nation.

“Further, we educate DSA members and endorsed candidates through teach-ins, publications, events, the creation and dissemination of various resources, about the Palestinian struggle for liberation, Zionism’s settler-colonialist and imperialist roots, Israeli apartheid, and Palestine’s interconnections with a myriad of anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist struggles in America and elsewhere.”

The working group issued statements on behalf of the DSA which accused Israel of engaging in “premeditated ethnic cleansing” ever since the country’s establishment in 1948, declared that “Zionism is Racism and Israel is an Apartheid State,” and alleged that Israel is pursuing “Jewish supremacy” through the “dispossession and elimination” of the “indigenous” Palestinians.

In February 2022, the working group hosted a “BDS & Electoral Accountability Forum” that featured organizers from PYM speaking on “how crucial it is for DSA chapters to institutionalize red-lines on support for BDS and Palestinian liberation in our organizing.”

Pushback to Working Group for Bowman Controversy

In late 2021, Rep. Jamaal Bowman voted to fund Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system and took part in a trip to Israel sponsored by J Street.

Bowman, a DSA-endorsed congressman, crossed a line that caused the BDS Working Group to react. The group published a statement on November 17, 2021, which was signed by PYM, declaring:

The liberal tendencies of J Street were of no interest to the working group, as the statement continued:

“...right-wing and liberal Zionists have in common the perception of the indigenous Palestinian population as a demographic obstacle, and by remaining unaccountable to the racist reality of the Zionist project, liberal Zionists — and the propaganda trips their organizations sponsor — normalize and perpetuate ethnic cleansing and Israeli apartheid.”

The group called to expel Bowman if he did not agree to their terms of a complete Israel boycott, and ended:

“...it is of the utmost importance that the NPC [National Political Committee] not shirk its responsibility to its membership, Palestine Solidarity partners, and Palestinians everywhere…”

In December 2021, the DSA NPC decided they would not expel Bowman as a matter of electoral strategy “to advance the Palestinian cause through progressive struggle on the congressional terrain” and because “Bowman could play a vital role in the fight for Palestinian liberation by linking it to liberation movements closer to home.”

The decision triggered significant criticism by many DSA members and resulted in public pushback from over 50 local DSA chapters and allied anti-Israel organizations.

On February 18, 2022, the NPC requested the BDS WG to take down a Twitter thread that the DSA alleged contained misinformation regarding an “off-the-record” meeting between Bowman’s office and DSA in violation of DSA’s Code of Conduct, and asked for credentials for the group's social media accounts.

According to the New Majority, the BDS WG “voted 33-9 to refuse to comply with the NPC's request, characterizing the request as censorship of viewpoints the NPC disagreed with and citing the lack of an appeals process for the NPC's decision.”

On March 18, 2022, the NPC dissolved the BDS WG and barred its leadership from national roles for one year, citing a “pattern of misconduct and misuse of an official DSA body by the working group’s leadership.”

Members of the BDS Working Group included:

PYM Reacts to the Working Group Disbandment

Immediately following NPC’s reaction, the disbanded group held an “Emergency Forum For an Internationalist DSA Forum (March 2022)” which featured anti-Israel activist Susan Abulhawa and members of PYM and NSJP. PYM also signed a petition organized by the group condemning Bowman and the DSA’s decision not to expel him. Numerous other anti-Israel organizations, including Samidoun, signed the petition.

On March 23, 2022, PYM publicly condemned DSA’s decision to dismantle the group and announced a boycott of DSA. PYM wrote, “The PYM will not formally work with the DSA in any capacity should the DSA fail to rescind these decisions.” USPCR, NSJP and Samidoun also declared a boycott on DSA for de-chartering the group.

DSA subsequently caved to the external pressure it faced from these anti-Israel organizations. The next day, the NPC reversed its decision and reinstated the BDS Working Group, but the leadership of the group remained barred from holding national leadership positions for one year following the reversal.

However, the reversal did not end the PYM boycott of DSA. It signaled to PYM that DSA was willing to accommodate their demands, and therefore, PYM maintained and capitalized on the boycott. The boycott remained intact as PYM was holding out for the DSA to take more radical anti-Israel measures.

This dynamic of external pressure reinforced the divisions already splitting DSA internally.

As explained by Vincent Lima of Socialist Majority in June 2025, the organization is torn between two tendencies. The older, “mass-politics tendency,” rooted in caucuses like Socialist Majority and Groundwork, “envisions an organization with millions of members … demonstrating in practice and through collective struggle … that the working class can win governing power and can enact transformational reforms.”

By contrast, the newer radical caucuses embody a “sectarian tendency,” which “longs for a purer and necessarily smaller organization … with elected officials who owe allegiance to the party’s elected leaders.”

Lima lamented that the sectarian bloc devoted more energy to disciplining its own elected officials than to confronting the right, targeting Jamaal Bowman for his past votes on Israel, issuing only a “conditional” endorsement of AOC, and even proposing to withhold support from Kamala Harris unless she agreed to an arms embargo against Israel.

In his opinion, this sectarian pressure warped DSA’s priorities, making internal policing on the Palestine issue the organization’s defining focus.

Continued Activities of the BDS Working Group

In May 2022, the working group launched “DSA’s first national boycott campaign” organized by steering committee member Francesca Maviglia. The campaign, called “No Appetite for Apartheid,” was promoted by local chapters of PYM, and seeks to pressure local communities to become “Apartheid-Free Zones” by removing Israeli products from stores, specifically targeting food items that fund or benefit "the Israeli occupation forces."

Also in May 2022, the working group posted an action plan on “How to Rise Up With Palestine” that was titled, “Resisting Until Liberation: From Masafer Yatta to Jerusalem to Gaza.” The post urged DSA members to join anti-Israel protests organized by PYM with the comment: “Rise up for Palestine. The struggle continues until liberation, until return…All glory to the martyrs. All glory to the resistance.” Among Palestinians and anti-Israel activists, the term “resistance” is often a euphemism for nationalistic terror.

In June 2022, both the BDW WG and PYM endorsed the “Mapping Project,” an anonymous initiative released by BDS Boston, which created an online, interactive map that displays the names and addresses of most of the pro-Israel and Jewish institutions in Massachusetts. The project’s stated goal is to “dismantle” both the local entities and the supposed “networks” colluding with them. The project was strongly denounced by public officials as antisemitic and condemned for its explicit targeting of Jewish organizations.

At the 2023 DSA National Convention held August 4-6 in Chicago, the DSA NPC formally dissolved the autonomous BDS Working Group (NPC Recommendation #8) and integrated it into a new BDS subcommittee under the DSA International Committee (IC). The new “Palestine Subcommittee of the IC” was co-chaired by Olivia Katbi-Smith and Kareem Elrefai.

Despite PYM’s official boycott of DSA, the group continued to exert influence over DSA members and attempted to pressure the organization to take a harder and more vocal stance against Israel.

In late July 2023, prior to the 2023 DSA convention, PYM mobilized “urging the DSA to adopt a firm position of anti-Zionism” and issued a “Statement of Support for DSA Working Group Anti-Zionist Resolution.”

The statement said that the group had “closely followed the growth” of DSA “over the last few years” and “the DSA, as a mass-organization committed to building a fighting working class, must soberly understand that the interests of Zionism are completely antithetical to the interests of the international working class.”

The statement continued: “We urge the DSA to truly demonstrate its commitments to revolutionary internationalism by upholding anti-Zionism and by holding its leaders and members accountable for any political or material support for Zionism” and called on the DSA to adopt the BDS working group’s resolution.

At the convention, an anti-Israel resolution drafted by former members of the BDS working group titled, Member-Submitted Resolution #12 Make DSA an Anti-Zionist Organization in Principle and Praxis, called for the expulsion of members for public support of Zionism.

“DSA members – regardless of endorsement status – who are credibly shown to 1) have consistently and publicly opposed BDS, even after receiving fair and ample opportunity for education about the Palestinian struggle for liberation, 2) be currently affiliated with the Israeli government or any Zionist lobby group(s), or 3) have provided material aid to Israel will be considered in substantial disagreement with DSA’s principles and policies, and thus, expelled in line with Article 1, Section 3 of the DSA Bylaws;”

The resolution also called on the DSA to “Refrain from any and all affiliation with the Israeli government or Zionist lobby groups, such as, but not limited to, AIPAC…” and rejected legislation which would redefine antisemitism to include opposition to Israel’s policies or legal system, or support for BDS (e.g., IHRA definition of antisemitism).

The resolution aimed to set a clear red line inside DSA to meet expectations of their “Palestinian‑led” partners and specifically mentioned PYM:

“Be it resolved, the DSA’s BDS Working Group, in collaboration with trusted Palestine Solidarity movement partners in the grassroots (e.g., Palestinian Youth Movement), will provide all endorsed candidates with anti-Zionist educational materials, 1-to-1 training opportunities and ongoing, open-door counsel as needed.”

Co-authors of the resolution included: Catherine Curran-Groome, Francesca Maviglia, James Ray, Alex Morash, Chris Wang, Abel Amene and others.

The resolution never advanced to full debate in the 2023 convention. Delegates tabled it to the NPC for decision after the convention, but its strategic framing significantly shaped subsequent national and chapter-level policy discussions around anti-Zionism and BDS.

On July 27, 2024, PYM stated that it would agree to a revocation of the boycott on the condition that DSA commit to being “an anti-Zionist organization – in both principle and praxis,” with the “expectation that all of DSAʼs endorsed candidates:

1. Fully and publicly supporting the BDS movement
2. Refraining from affiliation with Zionist lobby groups
3. Opposing anti-Palestinian legislation and support pro-Palestinian legislation.”

Days later, DSA NPC passed an amended version of MSR #12 which mirrored PYM’s demands to make anti-Zionism a core principle of DSA’s national policy and set standards for political candidates seeking National DSA endorsement.

The resolution claimed Zionism to be “a racist, imperialist, settler-colonial project” and accused “the so-called ‘state of Israel’” of apartheid and ethnic cleansing. Among other provisions included in the modified version of MSR#12:

• A pledge for DSA to support legislation that furthers the cause of Palestinian liberation and a pledge to oppose legislation that would harm Palestinians
• Require questions to be added to DSA’s national candidate endorsement questionnaire about BDS
• Clarified expectations for candidates and electeds around trips to Israel and affiliations with the Israeli government and Zionist lobby groups

Co-authors of the resolution included: Ahmed Husain, Luisa Martinez, Rashad (Brendin Duckett), Sam Heft-Luthy.

Also on July 27, 2024, PYM announced that while the group’s “boycott” of DSA was still in effect, the group would “work with local DSA chapters who have passed resolutions that commit to preventing endorsed candidates from supporting Zionism, including a ban on taking Zionist lobby money or voting to send funds to the Zionist occupation.”

Since then, multiple DSA chapters passed local resolutions “to defend Palestinian liberation and reject Zionism within their organization.” These chapter resolutions included the initial reference to PYM as “Palestine Solidarity partners in the grassroots” or some version thereof, and stated their commitments to:

• Support the BDS movement and pro-Palestinian policy
• Reject legislation and politicians that (aim to) provide material support for the “zionist entity”
• Expel members who provide material support for the Zionist entity
• Denounce Zionism as a racist, fascist and colonial ideology
• Denounce the Zionist past of the DSA

According to DSA, “since March 25th 2025, 54 DSA chapters representing over 30,000 DSA members have passed their own versions of the ‘Make DSA an Anti-Zionist Organization in Principle and Praxis’ resolution.”

DSA Members are Aligned with the Pro-Terror Agenda

The embrace of anti-Zionism within DSA is not abstract policy but lived out by its leadership and most radical members in rhetoric and activism that glorifies terror groups, erases Israel, legitimizes violence and openly denounces the United States. Their own words demonstrate the extent to which DSA has institutionalized a pro-terror and anti-American worldview.

• Ahmed Husain, a sitting NPC member and founder of the Springs of Revolution "cross-tendency" network, has repeatedly voiced support for terrorism and extreme anti-American, anti-Israel positions. Husain, an American immigrant and former organizer for the Arab Spring in Bahrain, declared: “We will root out Zionism from this country. We'll root it out of every campus and every city until it has nowhere left to run. We'll resist every morally bankrupt institution that upholds the genocidal settler-colonial project. We will not stop and we will not rest.”
  
  Husain openly glorified Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar: “Congratulations on your martyrdom, O Abu Ibrahim.”
  
  He has insisted that “Israel never had the right to exist, we’re not giving up an inch” and declared Hezbollah and Hamas as legitimate: “all Lebanon has is its resistance. all Gaza has is its resistance. you don’t get to qualify resistance.”
  
  In his words, “...western imagination ... still can’t conceive the notion of its israeli colony falling apart. but israel will end.” His caucus platform commits DSA to “binding electoral standards” that make anti-Zionism compulsory inside DSA and warns members and endorsed politicians: “you cannot cross the BDS picket line.”
  
  
• Ethan Eblaghie, a member of the Springs of Revolution network and co-author of DSA’s anti-Zionist resolutions, has expressed solidarity with the chief state sponsor of terrorism.
  
  On X, he reposted a message that read: “full solidarity with my fellow Iranians tonight, may God keep you safe from the evil Zionists,” adding his own caption: “🇮🇷❤️ ایران زیبا” (“🇮🇷❤️ Beautiful Iran”). The post referred to Israeli strikes carried out in response to Iran’s missile attack. In June 2025, he posted, “solidarity with iran.”
  
  
• Alex Pellitteri, a former NPC member from the Bread & Roses caucus, openly celebrated his involvement in pro-Hamas encampments: “As an NPC member, I also participated in the Palestine Solidarity Encampments and was arrested protesting the genocide in Gaza.”
  
  
• Sidney Carlson White, a sitting NPC member and leader of the Marxist Unity Group and Emerge caucuses, admitted that DSA pressured Zohran Mamdani to abandon any recognition of Israel’s legitimacy: “MUG and Emerge members had some disagreements with statements Zohran made regarding ‘Israel’s right to exist.’ We used our power as organizers to cash in our goodwill and ask that he stop saying that. We succeeded—even as some in the organization said we were out of line.”
  
  
• Cliff Connolly, a sitting NPC member from the Orlando DSA chapter, praised those who support and fight with the terror groups Hamas and Hezbollah: "The truest Christians on earth are those fighting alongside Hamas and Hezbollah against genocide. Armed resistance to oppression is a Christian tradition only forgotten ‘in the West.’"
  
  On October 7th, 2023, he posted on X: “Hamas is fighting for the liberation of Palestine.”
  
  
• Mirah Wood, a member of the DSA International Committee, attacked fellow DSA members who called Hamas terrorists, writing: “What is deeply disturbing to me is that this faction of DSA [Socialist Majority Caucus] thinks of the resistance as terrorists not as legitimate anti colonial resistance and what this means for the horizon of their solidarity and their willingness to collaborate with this murderous empire.”
  
  She further raised the bar for anti-Zionism, stating: “if you don't support the resistance to zionism you are still a zionist.”
  
  
• Gustavo Gordillo, the co-chair of NYC DSA, stated at a rally, "They make figures like Hamas and, quote unquote, terrorists into effective enemies...The terror comes from the capitalists and their pawns...the terror comes from the fascist governments and their ICE [U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement] squads."
  
  
• Frances Gill, a sitting NPC member and leader in the Groundwork Caucus, declared that DSA has “a unique responsibility to act from the heart of empire, the belly of the beast,” adding that “the most important thing that we can do is take that empire down from within.” Her remarks were a direct call to dismantle the United States from within.
  
  
• Jorge Rocha, a member of the DSA International Committee, posted on X about America: "to decry the Axis of Resistance as it stands up to the imperial hegemon, this great Satan, and its colonial settlement 'Israel' is to repeat the same tired arguments used to defend the existing orders of past monarchs, empires, and colonies. / you must choose a side." The Axis of Resistance refers to an informal coalition of Iran-backed paramilitary actors in the Middle East created in the 1980s, while “this great Satan” refers to America.
  
  
• DSA’s Red Star Caucus released an article titled “We Do Not Condemn Hamas, and Neither Should You.” The authors argued that “until this point, DSA has been hesitant to declare solidarity with the Palestinian resistance. It's past time for that to change.”
  
  They went further in their support for Palestinian terror groups. In the same article, DSA members rejected the idea that “Palestinian resistance” is only Hamas, describing it instead as “a popular front involving several militant organizations that coordinate through a Joint Operations Room.” They praised not only Hamas but also “Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP),” emphasizing that these groups fight together under what they call the principle of “unity of the fields.”
  
  The authors especially praised the communist factions inside the Palestinian “resistance,” writing: “Palestinian communists’ choice to participate in this alliance is a good thing, and we’re grateful for the good judgment our socialist siblings in the PFLP and DFLP have shown by participating in it.”
  
  
• DSA’s Liberation Caucus openly defended Hamas and Iran in its 2025 resolution guide: “CR2-A02: Democratic Socialist Anti-Imperialism – OPPOSE: Continues to place the International Committee and its autonomy under the auspices of the NPC, which as we have seen has been used to strangle and defang statements, such as that issued after the murder of martyr Ismail Haniyah and, most egregiously, insulted values of proletarian internationalism by removing language stipulating Iran’s right to defend itself after the United States bombed it.”

This is not rhetoric confined to the margins of the organization. It is the language of DSA leaders, convention delegates and caucus organizers who are shaping the party’s platform and discipline. Their alignment with terror groups reflects not a deviation but the logical outcome of DSA’s embrace of PYM’s agenda.

Even insiders within DSA have acknowledged how this transformation occurred. A Socialist Majority member wrote after the 2023 convention: “A small coalition of communist caucuses now hold the majority on the National Political Committee, DSA’s national political leadership body and legal board of directors.” That bloc includes Red Star, Marxist Unity Group and Husain’s Springs of Revolution caucus, who “act as a single bloc."

PYM at the 2025 DSA Convention

DSA’s 2025 National Convention was held on August 8 -10, 2025, in Chicago. In the lead-up to the convention, internal tensions ran high as DSA’s old guard, the Socialist Majority Caucus and Groundwork Caucus, clashed with the rising power of radical new factions.

A report from the convention revealed PYM members participated in a “‘First Ever Cross-Organizational Political Exchange’ (two minutes per speaker) involving guests from a variety of movements and struggles interspersed with contributions of DSA members active in struggles.”

At the 2025 DSA convention in Chicago, antisemitic figures Hasan Piker and Rep. Rashida Tlaib were honored as special guests. In a joint conversation, Piker declared, “When people say ‘I’m a liberal Zionist, I want there to be a Jewish ethno-state,’ it’s like saying you’re a liberal Nazi. You want an Aryan majority ethno-state,” a comparison that Tlaib applauded and rhetoric that fuels the demonization of Jews, directly contributing to rising antisemitic attacks in America and worldwide.

On August 10, 2025, DSA NPC member Laura Wadlin posted on X, “…our relationship with PYM and NSJP is stronger than ever. 2 years ago PYM was ‘boycotting’ DSA. now they spoke at our convention! & organize closely with our chapters!”

Another DSA member, reportedly the co-chair of Philly DSA’s International Solidarity Working Group, admitted that the organization “absolutely [has] struggled to build relationships with principled Palestinian organisations,” but celebrated that those ties are now “very positive.” They pointed to the ability to “openly support Samidoun” as a sign of progress, crediting “principled line struggle” and consistent activism for the turnaround.

At the convention, the DSA National Labor Commission (NLC) introduced “R42: Labor for an Arms Embargo,” aligning DSA with PYM’s Mask off Maersk campaign. The resolution passed.

The resolution was explicitly described in an article by DSA’s Bread & Roses publication as a partnership with PYM and said: “In cohering pro-Palestine activism in unions around electoral activity, Labor for an Arms Embargo also creates opportunities for confrontation with the Democratic Party by building a more militant and oppositional political arm of the labor movement.”

The DSA National Labor Commission (NLC) launched the national labor campaign in May 2025 aimed at stopping weapons shipments to Israel by pressuring ports and transit hubs. DSA commented that the campaign was built on the research of PYM’s “Mask Off Maersk” BDS campaign.

PYM organizers Lea Kayali and Kaleem Hawa co‑authored an article in DSA’s Democratic Left with Abdullah Farooq, a DSA-LA member and a founding organizer of Labor for an Arms Embargo, titled, “Mask off Maersk Shows How to Win an Arms Embargo.” The article said the PYM campaign argues for a “people’s arms embargo” strategy, the same theory DSA’s R42 resolution operationalizes within unions.

Ahead of the convention, The Liberation Caucus advised DSA members to support R01-A01: DSA For Palestinian Self Determination, stating: “Passing this will demonstrate where we stand once and for all, and begin to repair the damage that rightism and centrism have done to our standing in the Palestinian solidarity movement.”

Springs of Revolution Caucus Dominates the 2025 Convention

In April 2025, a group of anti-Israel DSA members launched “Springs of Revolution (SoR),” a platform and organizing collective of anti-Israel DSA members “Growing out of the 2023 Anti-Zionist Slate” which had attempted to pass a resolution calling for the expulsion of Zionists from the DSA.

The group was made up of DSA insiders, including Ahmed Husain and Francesca Maviglia from the BDS Working Group, NYC DSA member Ethan Eblaghie, Denver DSA treasurer Andrew Thompson, Luisa Martinez and Nell Geiser, who both serve on the Steering Committee of the International Committee.

In June 2025, Vincent Lima of Socialist Majority described how DSA had fallen under the control of what he called a “sectarian bloc.”

Writing in The Agitator, Lima explained that “Acting as a single bloc, Red Star (3 NPC members), Bread and Roses (3 members), Marxist Unity Group (2 members), Ahmed H., and Luisa M. have implemented a joint agenda. (Ahmed recently started a group, Springs of Revolution, and Luisa has launched a caucus, 21st Century Socialism.) This is the sectarian bloc.”

At the 2025 National DSA convention in Chicago, Ahmed Husain introduced SoR’s R22: For a Fighting Anti-Zionist DSA which the NPC passed with a narrow 675–524 majority (56.3 percent to 43.7 percent). The resolution declared that DSA members who oppose BDS, are affiliated with Zionist lobbies or vote to provide weapons to Israel would be committing “an expellable offense.” The resolution also tightened DSA’s endorsement rules around candidates' anti‑Zionist positions, both on a national and local level. The resolution re‑introduced explicit enforcement/expulsion language for electeds and members who “publicly espouse zionism.”

Notably, the resolution called on the DSA to “prioritize BDS” and “follow Al Thawābet,” a set of principles formulated by the Palestinian National Council of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) in 1977. This resolution, which passed at the convention, endorsed terror and armed resistance. The resolution stated:

“Therefore, be it resolved, that DSA shall make organizing in solidarity with the Palestinian cause a priority until Palestine is free, unequivocally affirming our commitment to ‘al-Thawabit’, the principles originally set by the Palestinian National Council in 1977 and repeatedly reaffirmed since, which are the Palestinian people’s right to resistance, the Palestinian right to self-determination, the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, and the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland from the river to the sea.”

The PLO’s Thawabit principles include the right to resistance, a euphemism for nationalistic terror and “armed struggle,” and the right of Palestinian refugees to return, a de facto call for the dismantlement of the State of Israel.

Co-authors of the resolution include: Ahmed Husain, Francesca Maviglia, Andrew Thompson, Ethan Eblaghie, Sammi Al-Iryani, Abdul Osmanu, Zev Cook and others.

Following the convention, PYM wrote:

“We welcome the DSA membership body’s ratification and formal adoption of a national anti-Zionist resolution, which further strengthens DSA’s commitment to the Palestinian liberation struggle and to holding accountable elected officials who provide material support to Zionism or who launch affirmative attacks on the Palestine solidarity movement.

“Today, our people in Palestine need the left and progressive forces in the United States to lead principled struggle against US complicity in Zionist colonialism, occupation, and genocide. We look forward to organizing alongside the DSA in the struggle for Palestinian liberation, and more broadly towards a shared struggle, one that is guided by a commitment to the liberation of all oppressed peoples and nations, in the United States and across the world.”

DSA members embraced PYM’s recognition of their efforts to enforce a harder line against Zionism.

Philly DSA member James Ray celebrated the collaboration in an X post:

Springs of Revolution also celebrated the win, writing: “After two years of fighting at the local level for an anti-Zionist DSA, we now have a national mandate binding us to Palestine as our compass and forging an organizing path to squash imperialism.”

The Decisive Shift to the 'DSA Left'

The 2025 convention marked a decisive realignment inside DSA, as the anti-Zionist left not only consolidated power but also reshaped the organization’s internal coalitions. What had once been marginal or fragmented caucuses emerged as the new center of gravity, driving the party further toward an uncompromising “DSA Left.”

DSA member Mike Saridakis noted in his post-convention analysis, even the Libertarian Socialist Caucus managed to win a seat on the NPC. He observed that this outcome reflected “how strong the anti-imperialist wave was at this convention and how honest and serious its coalition was about anti-Zionism, even willing to work across historically irreconcilable differences.” The elevation of this caucus signaled the depth of the anti-Zionist consensus, uniting factions that had rarely cooperated before.

Saridakis further observed that the key to Reform & Revolution’s resurgence was their response to the backlash they had faced in 2023. After “the intense criticism they received for their statements on the Palestinian Resistance,” the caucus went through a period of soul-searching and recalibration. By 2025, they had repositioned themselves not only on the anti-Zionist line but also as the faction best able to bridge the DSA left and center-left. In Saridakis’s account, this about-face on Palestine was central to Sarah Milner’s success and to R&R’s renewed credibility, underscoring how positioning on Palestine determined who could build coalitions and win power at the convention.

The “DSA Left” now holds a dominant bloc on the National Political Committee, with Springs of Revolution winning four seats, Red Star winning three and Marxist Unity winning three, alongside other hardline caucuses. In total, they control 14 seats, compared to four for the “Center” and nine for the “Right,” which includes Groundwork and Socialist Majority.

This outcome places control of the organization in the hands of openly anti-Israel factions aligned with PYM and ensures that DSA’s official direction will be set by leaders who glorify terror and define Palestine as the movement’s compass.

The Palestinian Youth Movement does not simply celebrate DSA’s victories, it polices them. In its statement on Mamdani’s primary win, PYM declared that it will be up to “our mass movement” to hold him and other elected officials accountable, ensuring they do not “capitulate to right-wing, reactionary and Zionist forces.”

In practice, the limit does not exist: Whenever DSA or one of its politicians reaches the red line set by PYM and other anti-Israel organizations, the line is shifted further left, forcing the organization to constantly prove its fidelity by embracing ever more extreme positions.

PYM made clear that Mamdani’s victory showed that being “progressive on Palestine” is no longer a barrier to entry in U.S. politics, but that this new terrain requires constant vigilance and discipline. In practice, PYM leads DSA in enforcing accountability by pressuring the organization to adopt anti-Zionist redlines, dictating what are acceptable positions for endorsed candidates and warning that any wavering, as in Mamdani’s own hesitations during the campaign, will be punished.

The results of the 2025 DSA convention show that DSA is no longer merely supporting PYM but is following its lead, seeking to impose strict internal accountability in order to meet PYM’s expectations and prove its loyalty to the Palestinian cause.

PYM and DSA Joint Activism

The anti-Zionist resolutions adopted at the 2025 DSA convention were not sudden developments. They represented the culmination of nearly two years of joint activism between PYM, DSA and allied anti-Israel groups, beginning in the immediate aftermath of Hamas’s October 7 attacks. Since then, PYM and DSA have coordinated events, campaigns and messaging that fused PYM’s militant agenda with DSA’s organizational infrastructure.

DSA plays a role in U.S. activism around foreign conflicts and has a consistent track record of opposing U.S. foreign policy and supporting adversarial regimes, including Cuba, Venezuela and Iran. PYM connects its anti-Israel activism to broader critiques of U.S. foreign policy by situating the “Palestinian liberation struggle” within a global, anti-imperialist and anti-colonial framework that explicitly opposes U.S. interventionism and neo-imperial practices.

While PYM mainly critiques U.S. support for Israel, the organization has expressed solidarity with global "anti-imperialist struggles" and advocated against U.S. actions in Cuba, Venezuela and Iran.

Following the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack, DSA’s NYC chapter promoted the pro-terror “All Out of Palestine” rally in Times Square held the next day. The rally was co-organized by PYM.

On June 28, 2025, PYM and DSA were among the organizers of the "National March on Washington" to “Stop the War On Iran!” PYM accused U.S. President Trump of “lying when he says Iran was about to get a nuclear weapon” and called on him to “cease all aggression against Iran, and end all aid to Israel.”

PYM and DSA are connected through membership in Progressive International (PI), a global coalition that declared “capitalism is the virus” that must be eradicated everywhere, called the U.S. “the lynchpin of imperial violence” and the U.S. military “one of the world’s worst polluters.”

PI supports “revolution” to “transform society and reclaim the state” and warns that “winning elections is not enough to fulfill our mission.”

On its website, PI includes the PFLP manifesto titled “The Strategy for Liberation of Palestine,” which calls [p.62] for violent “armed struggle” against Israel to achieve the “liberation of Palestine.” The manifesto also lists Israel and the U.S. among its “enemies." [pages 4 and 6]

PYM activists have been at the forefront of recent Gaza war protests in the U.S. as central organizers of the "Shut It Down for Palestine" coalition, which planned and mobilized protests, walkouts and direct actions across the U.S. and internationally in late 2023–2024. DSA members joined PYM-led rallies and direct actions in cities like New York and anti-Israel rallies in Washington, D.C.

DSA chapters worked with PYM to produce anti-Zionist educational materials and candidate training. The DSA International Committee’s Palestine Solidarity Toolkit includes content from PYM, such as recommended materials and references to PYM-authored articles and ideological grounding.

DSA is working with PYM on a campaign against Danish shipping company Maersk called “Mask off Maersk.” The campaign accuses Maersk being “one of the world’s largest shipping and logistics companies that directly ships military cargo that facilitate Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people.”

At the recent 2025 DSA convention, resolution R22 “For a Fighting Anti‑Zionist DSA,” which passed, included the language: “DSA endorses the Palestinian Youth Movement’s Mask Off Maersk campaign and reaffirms its commitment to leveraging its members’ presence in the labor movement to build labor support for arms embargo campaigns.”

The People’s Conference for Palestine

The second annual People’s Conference for Palestine was held in Detroit on August 29-31, 2025. At the first conference in May 2024, PYM was one of the key conveners and DSA promoted the conference and urged members nationwide to attend.

As part of the promotion of the event, PYM shared an endorsement video by Salah Salah, one of the founding members of the PFLP.

At the event, Mohammed Nabulsi, a leading organizer in PYM, gave the opening remarks, calling to “liberate every inch of Palestine, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea” and to “craft a path forward that truly brings the Zionist state and its military and its imperialist backers to their knees.” Nabulsi also led “participants in chants calling for intifada and praising Hezbollah and Houthi maritime terrorism.”

DSA sent a contingent to the People’s Conference in 2024, and this year, the organization as a whole is an official “endorser” of the Second Annual People’s Conference for Palestine. The “guiding principle” of the conference is “Gaza is the Compass,” with the program designed to “define objectives…and campaign strategies to confront Zionism…”

Confirmed speakers at the conference include anti-Israel activists Linda Sarsour, Huwaida Arraf, Hatem Bazian and Layan Fuleihan, as well as two confirmed terrorists, Hussam Shaheen and Omar Assaf.

Shaheen is a former leader and international coordinator for Fatah’s youth movement and recruited terrorists for Fatah's military wing the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the U.S. Department of State since March 2002.

Assaf was an official in the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), a terrorist organization.

The roster of speakers itself illustrates the radical character of the People’s Conference, featuring a mix of high-profile anti-Israel activists, movement organizers and individuals with direct ties to designated terrorist organizations. Among the confirmed speakers were DSA member and prominent anti-Israel activist Linda Sarsour, whose role highlights the overlap between DSA’s leadership figures and the broader network of organizers driving the conference.

Other speakers included:

Conclusion

The evidence is clear: the Democratic Socialists of America have been captured by extremist forces that place Palestine, not American workers, at the center of their agenda.

Under sustained pressure from the Palestinian Youth Movement, an organization with direct ties to designated terror groups, DSA abandoned its original mission and embraced anti-Zionism, antisemitism and open support for terrorism as its defining principles. This alliance has turned DSA into a political vehicle for advancing PYM’s agenda, giving PYM electoral reach and legitimacy it could never build on its own.

Far from a marginal faction, DSA is now a powerful and organized force inside the Democratic Party. Its candidates, most notably Zohran Mamdani, are propelled to power by the same pro-terror networks driving the People’s Conference for Palestine. Mamdani has openly said he joined DSA because of its commitment to BDS, and his campaign is funded and supported by the same activists who glorify Hamas and the PFLP. His rise demonstrates how the DSA–PYM alliance seeks to move from fringe agitation into mainstream political power.

This is not just a debate about foreign policy. It is about whether extremist and pro-terror movements will be allowed to hijack American politics. DSA, through its partnership with PYM, represents a direct threat to democracy, law and order, and the stability of the United States. Exposing this alliance and stopping candidates like Mamdani from using the Democratic Party as a Trojan horse is essential.

The choice is whether to confront this danger now or allow it to grow until it can no longer be contained.