Heba Gowayed

“Free Palestine” is a chant that has been described as a "battle cry for the death of Jews.” In May 2025, two Israeli diplomats in Washington, D.C., were murdered by a gunman shouting “Free Palestine!” In June 2025, one pro-Israel activist was killed and over 25 were injured in Boulder, Colorado, when a man yelling “Free Palestine” firebombed them.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 Israelis, kidnapped hundreds and wounded thousands. War crimes included mass rape and torture. Many Palestinian civilians participated in and supported the attacks, and Gazans working in the targeted Israeli communities gave intelligence to Hamas on where to strike.

For more information, see the Canary Mission page on Hamas.

The assertion that Jews secretly control the Western governments through banking and finance is traced to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a fabricated anti-Semitic text that portrays wealthy Jews as conspiring to take over the world. This anti-Semitic conspiracy theory has often employed the imagery from Nazi cartoons that depict Jews as octopuses encircling the globe.

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.

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.

Nearly 200 anti-Israel college encampments were set up in North America in spring 2024. Activists harassed Jews with antisemitic slurs, expressed their support [00:02:45] for Hamas terrorism and called [00:04:45] for Israel's destruction. They blocked Jews from campus facilities and limited access to those with special wristbands or who said they weren't a Zionist.

The term “Nakba” is generally translated as “catastrophe” in Arabic, referring to the outcome of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. It is a term used to delegitimize the creation of the State of Israel by drawing a comparison to the Holocaust, known in Hebrew as the Shoah, meaning “catastrophe.”

NYC-DSA organizes pro-terror and anti-Israel rallies and disruptions, including an October 8, 2023, rally one day after Hamas killed 1,200 Israelis.

NYC-DSA uses social media to celebrate Hamas by using the symbol. In a speech posted to Instagram, co-chair Gustavo Gordillo said [00:01:41]: "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 squads."

NYC-DSA's social media also features activists promoting antisemitism and explicit calls for Israel's destruction. They have called to "dismantle" the entire "U.S. capitalist economy" and have promoted hatred of the police, along with demands that police be abolished and disarmed.

Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is America’s largest socialist organization. Its core ideology includes anti-American, anti-Israel, anti-Western and abolitionist elements.

Following the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks against Israel, DSA condemned Israel, expressed support for Hamas, endorsed anti-Israel rallies and called for members to engage in anti-Israel activism. It condemned Israeli retaliatory attacks against the IRGC and Hezbollah, as well as the U.S. attacks against the Houthi terror organization, whose slogan reads: "...Death to America / Death to Israel / A Curse upon the Jews...”

DSA first endorsed the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement in 2017 and it has also condemned sanctions against countries like Iran and Cuba.

The group endorses far-left politicians on the local, state and federal levels. DSA also promotes anti-Israel agitators, including DSA members Rashida Tlaib, Zohran Mamdani and Linda Sarsour.

Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA), DSA’s youth section active in high schools and colleges, has co-organized anti-Israel protests across the U.S. since October 7, 2023, particularly the April 2024 pro-terror encampments on university campuses.

The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by pro-terror activist Omar Barghouti in 2005 to turn “Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.” Barghouti has also called for Israel's destruction and the BDS movement demands would result in that same goal.

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 infiltrating university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments propose resolutions to boycott or divestment from Israel or Israeli-affiliated entities. 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 and pro-terror activism on campus.