Claudia De la Cruz
Claudia De la Cruz’s Promoting Incitement at the Pro-Hamas Encampment at Columbia University (Columbia), Glorifying Hamas Terrorism, Support for Terrorists & Equating Israel with Nazi Germany
On January 26, 2024, De la Cruz was arrested at an anti-Israel rally held in New York, New York.
The above incidents occurred in the wake of Hamas terrorist war crimes against Israeli civilians, including mass murder, torture, rape, beheadings and kidnappings, which were executed on October 7, 2023. The terror attacks left over 1,200 Israelis dead, hundreds kidnapped and thousands wounded. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.”
Hamas is a designated terrorist organization founded in 1987 that is dedicated to destroying Israel and killing Jews. Since 2001, Hamas has launched thousands of rockets at Israel and on October 7, 2023, Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped over 200 hostages, including children and the elderly.
De la Cruz is a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.
De la Cruz participated in multiple anti-Israel rallies in late 2023 and early 2024 as the co-founder and co-executive director of The People’s Forum (TPF). She was also the 2024 U.S. presidential candidate for the Party of Socialism and Liberation (PSL).
On September 7, 2023, De la Cruz announced that she was the PSL 2024 U.S. presidential candidate, with Karina Garcia as her running mate for vice president. De la Cruz’s campaign platform included a pledge [slide 5] to end all U.S. aid to Israel.
On October 7, 2023, PSL issued a statement describing the October 7 Hamas massacre as “a morally and legally legitimate response to [Israeli] occupation.”
As of November 2024, De la Cruz’s LinkedIn profile said she graduated from Columbia with a master’s degree in social work, and graduated from Union Theological Seminary (UTS) with a master’s in divinity. UTS is affiliated with Columbia and located in New York, New York.
As of the same date, De la Cruz’s LinkedIn said she was located in New York, New York.
On Saturday, October 7, 2023, approximately 2,900 heavily armed Hamas terrorists breached Israel’s border with Gaza. They executed numerous war crimes on civilians, including mass murder, beheadings of children, rape of men and women, torture, kidnappings and mutilation.
In the same Instagram post, De la Cruz also wrote, referring to Israel: “Today, I join a world of people who understand what it means to live under colonial rule, the need to defeat colonial forces in order to live full lives, and will say: Long live self determination! Long live resistance! Free Free Palestine! Long live Palestine!”
On October 8, 2023, De la Cruz spoke [00:33:13] at a pro-Hamas rally held in New York City’s Times Square, where she said [00:33:31], referring to Israel: “Who are the terrorists for seventy years plus?”
De la Cruz continued [00:36:50]: “It is important for us to see what’s happening in the city right now. Why does NYPD [New York Police Department] want to shut down the sound? Because the people running this city support Zionism. Are we okay with that? No we’re not.”
On October 7, 2023, PSL issued a statement describing the October 7 Hamas massacre as “a morally and legally legitimate response to [Israeli] occupation.”
As of November 2024, De la Cruz’s LinkedIn profile said she graduated from Columbia with a master’s degree in social work, and graduated from Union Theological Seminary (UTS) with a master’s in divinity. UTS is affiliated with Columbia and located in New York, New York.
As of the same date, De la Cruz’s LinkedIn said she was located in New York, New York.
Glorifying Hamas Terrorism
On October 7, 2023, De la Cruz wrote on Instagram: “Today we wake up to the news that Palestinians, in their long history of resistance and struggle, are taking back what belongs to them.”On Saturday, October 7, 2023, approximately 2,900 heavily armed Hamas terrorists breached Israel’s border with Gaza. They executed numerous war crimes on civilians, including mass murder, beheadings of children, rape of men and women, torture, kidnappings and mutilation.
Hamas broadcast videos of their butchery on social media, often to victims’ accounts for families to see. Israel retaliated with a war called “Swords of Iron.” As of November 10, 2023, approximately 1,200 Israelis, the vast majority of them civilians, were murdered during the attacks. Hamas kidnapped 242 Israelis, including at least 30 children. At least 3,500 people were wounded, many severely.
A terrorist detained by Israel admitted he raped an Israeli woman when he broke into a kibbutz house during the October 7, 2023 attack. In March 2024, a former hostage of Hamas publicly stated she was sexually abused and tortured while in captivity.
For more information on the October 7, 2023 terror attacks, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.
In the same Instagram post, De la Cruz also wrote, referring to Israel: “Today, I join a world of people who understand what it means to live under colonial rule, the need to defeat colonial forces in order to live full lives, and will say: Long live self determination! Long live resistance! Free Free Palestine! Long live Palestine!”
On October 8, 2023, De la Cruz spoke [00:33:13] at a pro-Hamas rally held in New York City’s Times Square, where she said [00:33:31], referring to Israel: “Who are the terrorists for seventy years plus?”
De la Cruz continued [00:36:50]: “It is important for us to see what’s happening in the city right now. Why does NYPD [New York Police Department] want to shut down the sound? Because the people running this city support Zionism. Are we okay with that? No we’re not.”
Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in their own national home, and the right to develop their national culture. Zionism is a core part of the identity of most Jews.
De la Cruz further said [00:37:19]: “We will continue to take the streets in support of Palestinian struggle because every colonized people, every occupied people, has the right to self-defense.”
On October 27, 2023, De la Cruz was featured [00:00:01] in a PSL Twitter video where she alleged [00:02:45]: “There was already a hostage crisis even before the resistance operation began,” equating [00:02:50] Israeli civilians taken hostage by Hamas with Palestinian terrorists in Israeli prisons.
Anti-Israel activists use the term “resistance” to refer to violence and terror perpetrated against Israeli civilians and their allies. It is used to glorify and encourage anti-Israel and anti-Semitic violence. Anti-Israel activists chant slogans such as: “Resistance by any means necessary!” and “Resistance is justified when people are occupied!” in response to terror attacks.
Support for Terrorists
On October 14, 2023, De la Cruz tweeted: “Long live the Palestinian struggle. Had the great pleasure of sharing space with #LeilaKhaled freedom fighter and historic leader of the Palestinian Struggle…”Leila Khaled is a leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and participated in the hijacking of TWA Flight 840 in 1969 and El Al Flight 219 in 1970. As of 2017, Khaled was a member of PFLP's Political Bureau. Khaled has said that the second intifada failed because it was not violent enough, advocated [00:36:07] for the use of children in terror activities and compared Zionists to Nazis.
On October 19, 2023, De la Cruz wrote on Instagram that Khaled was “a reference for all who struggle. Your revolutionary courage and your autobiography continues to be nourishing and sustenance for us all.”
De la Cruz retweeted a December 26, 2023 tweet that called for the release of Khalida Jarrar from Israeli prison.
Khalida Jarrar is a senior member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror organization. She has reportedly been the head of the PFLP in the West Bank since 2016. In 2015, an Israeli military court sentenced Jarrar to 15 months in prison for calling to kidnap Israeli soldiers. Israel arrested Jarrar again in 2017 “on suspicion of involvement with terrorist activities and violent public disturbances.” In 2019, she was arrested by Israel with 50 other PFLP operatives following a deadly 2018 bombing attack.
De la Cruz retweeted an April 9, 2024 tweet that said: “Today we celebrate 88 years since the birth of the ‘commander who never fired a gun,’ Ghassan Kanafani! Born April 9, 1936, Kanafani was a monumental figure in the Palestinian liberation struggle.”
Kanafani was a leading member and spokesperson for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) during the terrorist organization’s early years. Kanafani announced the PFLP’s responsibility for the Lod Airport Massacre of May 1972 and was linked to the airport attackers. The attack killed 26 people and wounded 80 others.
Equating Israel with Nazi Germany
On April 24, 2024, De la Cruz tweeted: “White supremacy, Nazism and Zionism are rooted in the same principle: exterminate human beings who have been systematically perceived as less than human- at all costs. This is what the U.S. ruling class is protecting.”The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) highlights as one possible contemporary example of anti-Semitism: “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.” The U.S. State Department adopted the IHRA’s working definition of anti-Semitism in 2016. Over 40 countries have adopted the definition as well.
On February 23, 2024, referring to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) military operation against Hamas terrorists in Gaza, De la Cruz tweeted: “Holocaust! / It’s reached that proportion. And it continues. / Think of all the thousands we didn’t see pulled out of rubble, blown to pieces or covered with white sheetsover the past 75 years. / For almost 5 months, we have witnessed in real time the most brutal atrocities…”
The modern State of Israel was founded 76 years earlier, in 1948.
Hatred of Israel and America
On June 21, 2025, De la Cruz posted on X: “‘...The U.S. empire and Israel are hellbent on destruction, all while invoking God’s name to justify their atrocities. This isn’t justice—it’s demonic!” De la Cruz shared the post during the 2025Israel-Iran war.
On January 19, 2025, De la Cruz posted on X: “The overdue ceasefire in Gaza goes into effect today. Millions around the world demanded this for over a year. Remember that both, democrats and republicans ignored the people, and collaborated in killing tens of thousands of innocent civilians. / Not Biden, Blinken, Trump or the apartheid state of Israel made this ceasefire happen. It was the collective force of the people standing in solidarity that won this victory. / The fight is far from over- we only prevent another genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people with the total liberation of Palestine.”
On January 15, 2025, De la Cruz posted on X referring to the January 15, 2025 Israel-Hamas ceasefire: “A ceasefire is a significant win for our Palestinian siblings and the international solidarity movement. / Let’s remember, the fight is only over when Palestine is free of apartheid and when colonialism/US imperialism do not have the power to conduct genocide ever again. We’ve got work to do! / From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”
“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” is a chant used [00:02:47] to call for the elimination of the State of Israel. It has also been employed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to call for the replacement of Israel with an Islamic state. In April 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the chant as antisemitic.
On November 15, 2024, De la Cruz posted on X: “No matter who’s in the White House, we’ll continue to build the movement for a free Palestine and demand an end to all U.S. aid to Israel and an end to the U.S.-Israeli genocide!”
On October 31, 2023, De la Cruz tweeted: “To Stand with Israel is to support the most grotesque and shameless war criminals, terrorists and murderers in our human history! Periodt! [sic]”
On November 2, 2023, De la Cruz tweeted: “Zionist Israel is a colonial creation.Zionist Israel is white supremacist. Zionist Israel is murderous. Zionism does not have a place in the emerging world. Israel as a colonizer does not have rights on colonized land. Israel you can’t hide, the people of the world charge you with genocide!”
On November 19, 2023, De la Cruz posted on Instagram a captioned video of a child leading anti-Israel chants at a pro-Hamas rally reportedly held in Toronto, Canada.
In the video, a young boy dressed in a keffiyeh chanted [00:00:01]: “Long live the resistance!”, “There is only one solution! Intifada revolution!” and “Intifada! Intifada! Long live the intifada!”
The term “intifada,” which translates from Arabic as “uprising” or “insurrection,” carries the connotation of violence. Palestinian intifadas waged against Israel have been marked since 1987 by hundreds of hijackings, shootings, stabbings, bombings and suicide missions.
On October 31, 2023, De la Cruz tweeted: “To Stand with Israel is to support the most grotesque and shameless war criminals, terrorists and murderers in our human history! Periodt! [sic]”
On November 2, 2023, De la Cruz tweeted: “Zionist Israel is a colonial creation.Zionist Israel is white supremacist. Zionist Israel is murderous. Zionism does not have a place in the emerging world. Israel as a colonizer does not have rights on colonized land. Israel you can’t hide, the people of the world charge you with genocide!”
On November 19, 2023, De la Cruz posted on Instagram a captioned video of a child leading anti-Israel chants at a pro-Hamas rally reportedly held in Toronto, Canada.
In the video, a young boy dressed in a keffiyeh chanted [00:00:01]: “Long live the resistance!”, “There is only one solution! Intifada revolution!” and “Intifada! Intifada! Long live the intifada!”
The term “intifada,” which translates from Arabic as “uprising” or “insurrection,” carries the connotation of violence. Palestinian intifadas waged against Israel have been marked since 1987 by hundreds of hijackings, shootings, stabbings, bombings and suicide missions.
In the same post, De la Cruz also wrote: “When we invest in teaching our children to struggle, when we show them commitment to our revolutionary ideals, to aspire and build a future free from systems of oppression, we have victory guaranteed!”
De la Cruz’s post further said: “For as long as we have children, young people willing and able to continue the lineage of our history of struggle and resistance - we’ve already won! Long live the intifada!”
On November 27, 2023, De la Cruz tweeted: “There is no ‘pause’ to colonization. Israel continues it’s [sic] aggression. Not only in Gaza but also in the West Bank. Don’t be fooled. To stop genocide and violence in Palestine, Israel as a colonial project must be dismantled. For that to happen, the U.S. must stop financing the Israeli colonial state.”
On December 1, 2023, De la Cruz tweeted: “The White House and Israel are mass murderers.”
De la Cruz’s post further said: “For as long as we have children, young people willing and able to continue the lineage of our history of struggle and resistance - we’ve already won! Long live the intifada!”
On November 27, 2023, De la Cruz tweeted: “There is no ‘pause’ to colonization. Israel continues it’s [sic] aggression. Not only in Gaza but also in the West Bank. Don’t be fooled. To stop genocide and violence in Palestine, Israel as a colonial project must be dismantled. For that to happen, the U.S. must stop financing the Israeli colonial state.”
On December 1, 2023, De la Cruz tweeted: “The White House and Israel are mass murderers.”
Promoting Incitement at the Pro-Hamas Encampment at Columbia
On April 19, 2024, De la Cruz spoke and led [00:00:12] a chant at the Columbia encampment. On the same day, TPF organized a protest outside Columbia’s gates.
De la Cruz said [00:00:01]: “And what you all are doing here is training ground…How you literally occupied one space and then went to the next one…that is training ground for fighting. And that’s what we need! We need fighters. There is no better school than this occupied space.”
On April 19, 2024, De la Cruz wrote on Instagram:“The students have torn down the walls of these elite institutions…which have historically served to reproduce a capitalist structure will go down in history as what they are- a dangerous weapon in the hands of our people’s enemies.”
In the same post, De la Cruz also wrote: “May this energy of the Gaza Encampment at Columbia spread like wildfire. May these students continue to serve the purpose of transformation!
.”De la Cruz was also featured [00:0012] in a video uploaded to YouTube Shorts on April 19, 2024 where she led protesters in the chant: “We are all Palestinians!”
On April 17, 2024, Columbia students and anti-Israel activists set up a pro-Hamas “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on the university's main lawn. Many participants were arrested and the encampment featured multiple violent incidents, including taking over a campus building and taking a university worker hostage.
Activists protested Israel’s war against Hamas and demanded that Columbia “divest from companies and institutions that profit from Israeli apartheid, genocide and occupation…”
On April 17, 2024, Columbia students and anti-Israel activists set up a pro-Hamas “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on the university's main lawn. Many participants were arrested and the encampment featured multiple violent incidents, including taking over a campus building and taking a university worker hostage.
Activists protested Israel’s war against Hamas and demanded that Columbia “divest from companies and institutions that profit from Israeli apartheid, genocide and occupation…”
The action had reportedly been planned for months and was organized by the Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) coalition. The encampment was also organized by Columbia’s banned pro-Hamas activist group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the university chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). Activists reportedly received training from National SJP and other anti-Israel organizations.
BDS
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by Omar Barghouti in 2005 to challenge “international support for Israeli apartheid and settler-colonialism.” BDS is an allegedly “Palestinian-led movement,” although leading BDS activists have admitted [00:01:01] this is not true.
One of the demands of BDS includes [point 3] what is generally known as the “right of return,” a demand discredited as a way to eliminate Israel. Barghouti said the “right of return” is a means to “end Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.”
Barghouti has said that BDS “aims to turn Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.”
In his activism, Barghouti has also said [00:05:55] regarding Israel: “Definitely, most definitely, we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine. No…rational Palestinian, not a sellout Palestinian, will ever accept a Jewish state in Palestine.”
The movement has been linked to numerous terrorist organizations and received a public endorsement from Hamas in 2017.
BDS initiatives include calling on institutions and individuals to divest from Israeli-affiliated companies, promoting academic and cultural boycotts of Israel, and organizing anti-Israel rallies, protests and campaigns.
The movement’s most notable achievement has been the infiltration of university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments and student groups, backed by their own anti-Israel members and affiliates, have proposed resolutions on some form of boycott of, or divestment from, Israel and Israeli-affiliated entities.
Boycott resolutions, although non-binding, have been passed by student governments on numerous North American campuses.
BDS activity is often aggressive and disruptive. It has been noted that universities that pass BDS resolutions see a marked increase in anti-Semitic incidents on campus. On one campus, when the student government debated a BDS resolution, reports emerged of violent threats against those opposing it.
Social Media and Weblinks
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Infamous Quotes
“Zionist Israel is a colonial creation. Zionist Israel is white supremacist. Zionist Israel is murderous. Zionism does not have a place in the emerging world. Israel as a colonizer does not have rights on colonized land. Israel you can’t hide, the people of the world charge you with genocide!”
“The White House and Israel are mass murderers.”
“There is no ‘pause’ to colonization. Israel continues it’s aggression. Not only in Gaza but also in the West Bank. Don’t be fooled. To stop genocide and violence in Palestine, Israel as a colonial project must be dismantled. For that to happen, the U.S. must stop financing the Israeli colonial state.”
