Monday, September 1, 2025

Rashida Tlaib, Hassan Piker attend conference with anti-US, pro-terrorist rhetoric - Michael Starr

 

by Michael Starr

Protests, anti-American rhetoric, and support for Gaza’s “liberation” dominated speeches at the People’s Conference, attended by political figures like Tlaib and Stein.

 

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (MI-12) addresses attendees as she takes part in a protest calling for a ceasefire in Gaza outside the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, U.S., October 18, 2023.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (MI-12) addresses attendees as she takes part in a protest calling for a ceasefire in Gaza outside the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, U.S., October 18, 2023.
(photo credit: REUTERS/LEAH MILLIS)

 

The 2nd annual People's Conference in Palestine in Detroit saw toned-down rhetoric compared to last year's conference in terms of support for violence and terrorist organizations, but the August 29-31 event attended by Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, streamer Hassan Piker, Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein, and leaders of the anti-Israel activist community still saw elements of pro-terrorist and anti-American sentiment during panels and speeches.

The event centered mostly around concerns about a supposed genocide being conducted in Gaza by Israeli forces, with discussions on destruction to infrastructure, deaths of journalists during the war, and providing medical aid. Several speakers, including the masters of the ceremony, expressed a sense of urgency with the event occurring as the Israel Defense Forces girded themselves to push into the Hamas strongholds in Gaza City.

"We are facing another critical moment. Last night, Israel began its occupation of Gaza City and its plan to level the last inch of life in the strip," MC Taher Dahleh said, according to livestreams by BreakThrough News, proclaiming demands and objectives laid out by many of the three-day event's speakers.

"We cannot allow the normalization of another line of genocide to be crossed. The demands of the people are clear, and we must do everything in our ability, every single thing in our power to advance them. We demand a two-way arms embargo. We demand complete economic and political sanctions on Israel, on its military, and on its leadership. We demand the free flow of lifesaving humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. And we demand, most importantly, that this genocide ends now."

Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) organizer Lameess Mehann said that their movement had been able to weaken the "basis of support for Israel" by casting Zionism as genocidal, and Pikeer explained that Israeli institutions and corporations had to be removed completely from campuses, and all ties with Israel had to be severed entirely.

A DEMONSTRATOR wears a mask with the colors of the Palestinian flag, during a protest against federal immigration sweeps, in Los Angeles on Sunday. (credit: MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS)
A DEMONSTRATOR wears a mask with the colors of the Palestinian flag, during a protest against federal immigration sweeps, in Los Angeles on Sunday. (credit: MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS)
Another PYM representative said that every sector had to become a front for confronting Zionism, explaining that the strategy was to achieve "liberation" by making the "cost of occupation" higher "than the cost of liberation."

Speakers often deviated into praise for terrorists, and calls for violence

While the activists usually discussed the achievement of these demands through protests and non-violent activity, panelists and speakers often deviated into praise for terrorists, terrorist groups, or engaged in calls for violence.

Richmond Mayor Eduardo Martinez explained in his speech that "If Palestine were a schoolyard playground, I would be a Palestinian. And that part of me, that part of me that couldn't endure the abuse anymore, would be Hamas."

Martinez also recalled a 1968 conversation he had with African-American activist Stokely Carmichael, about how the "white man's word" of "peace" alone wasn't the answer, because peace could only be achieved after the "liberation" of making everyone equal unless there is substantial movement toward liberation for the oppressed, peace means capitulation," said Martinez. "We should always be ready to stand up and do what's right and fight for liberation."

Ex-Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine official Omar Assaf was more explicit remote speech, not merely denigrating the idea of peace but slamming the Palestinian Authority as a barrier preventing confrontation of the "occupation."

Assaf, who is part of an organization that is on the US Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control list of specially designated nationals and blocked persons, cast the PA as an enemy that needed to be reformed to facilitate such confrontation.

Before other panelists criticized the PA, Thiqa founder Fadi Quran stated he was "going to be calling for a Palestinian revolt, insurrection."

It is unclear if Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade officer Hussam Shaheen, released in February 2024 as part of a ransom for the October 7 Massacre hostages held by Hamas, spoke at a panel on prisoners. The conference had made the announcement in early August, setting off a firestorm of scrutiny after a Jerusalem Post report..

The State Department had told The Post that it was on alert for visa requests from all international speakers for the conference due to a pattern of support for terrorism.

American politician Stein also joined one of the more radical segments on medicine in Gaza, which saw Palestinian Feminist Collective Dr. Maisa Morrar explain that Palestinian physicians had always led the Palestinian movement, using the examples of terrorist leaders.

"Many of our movement leaders have been healers. Pediatricians, physicians, and surgeons. From [Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine founder] George Habash to [Hamas co-founder] Abdul Aziz Rantisi, it is no coincidence that those who sustain life also sustain resistance."

Doctors Against Genocide founder Nidal Jboor called for action to be taken against the supposed perpetrators of the "genocide" in Gaza.

"It's time for us to pay back and stop the criminals, the perpetrators, the child murderers. And we all know who they are," said Jboor. "Whether they are in Israel, in Tel Aviv, in Washington, in Germany, in Europe, we all know them. We all know them. They need to be locked up. They need to be taken out. They need to be neutralized to save children."

In the same way that Morrar explained the death of medical practitioners in the war zone as being part of a supposed Israeli policy to kill Palestinian leadership, Palestinian writer Mosab Abu Toha explained the death of Palestinian journalists as part of an alleged long-standing Israeli policy of killing cultural figures.

Abu Toha cited the examples of PFLP spokesman Ghassan Kanafani and PFLP cell commander Walid Daqqah.

The death of Ansar Allah terrorist leaders was also decried at the beginning of the Sunday plenum, with Dahleh decrying Israel for an airstrike that "Israel assassinated nearly the whole Yemeni [Houthi] political level."

Dahlan said that the strike was proof that Israel was a danger not just to the Arab region, but to the entire world.

"Alongside the United States, Israel has undermined every single aspect of this forum that was meant to be a democratic expression of the wills of the nations and the peoples of the world," said the master of the ceremony.

With the theme of freeing Palestinian security prisoners weaving throughout speeches, Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research president Imam Omar Suleiman slammed the continued incarceration of some of the Holy Land Foundation Five members.

While Suleiman said the men were imprisoned for attempting to feed the poor among Palestinians, the men were convicted in 2008 of funneling funds to Hamas. Another prisoner, convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal, addressed the audience through a recording.

The convict called for the release of Palestinian prisoners and slammed the Israeli justice system as having no due process for Palestinians.

The other MC, Rama Kased, issued a statement of support for Palestine Action activist Teuta Hoxha, who is engaged in a hunger strike over the conditions of her remand for vandalizing a Filton Elbit Systems site.

Kased called imprisoned Palestine Action activists, who are members of a UK proscribed organization, "political prisoners" and urged for their release. Progressive International research coordinator Sachin Peddada also praised Palestine Action's work during a speech in which he described the United States as an "evil country."

Peddada repeatedly paraphrased terrorist Basil al-Araj and described how the movement had to "destroy the idea of America."

"I'm reminded of this Basel al-Araj quote, where he basically says that the average American will never understand the plight of the Palestinian person because the state of Israel is a carbon copy of the United States," Peddada explained.

"And therefore the thing to do is to destroy the idea of America in Americans’ heads so that they can see the humanity of everybody outside of the warping of American exceptionalism and imperialism and all these evil things. We have to dismantle this idea of American exceptionalism of supremacy of being beyond reproach."

Panelists frequently charged that the United States of America was responsible for the supposed genocide in Gaza, with many engaging in anti-American rhetoric. Palestinian Center for Policy Research and Strategic Studies director general Hani al-Masri described the US as "the head of the snake."

Journalist Abubaker Abed called the US a "fascist and sadistic country" that had "obliterated every human right in the world" after it had denied him a visa and forced him to participate remotely

Gaza Soup Kitchen founder Hani Almadhoun took a more sympathetic tone towards the US and urged his compatriots to take a more strategic approach.

"We do not hate this country. We love this country. We hate the genocidal cult, whether it's the guys who were in the last administration who owned this mess or their current administration. I really want you to think about this," said Almadhoun.

"Yesterday I came, there was some guy with an Israeli flag and an American flag. Rarely do we see it in our rallies. I hope you understand where I'm coming from because this is something that we have to connect with the rest of America on. The ones who are making the most sense right now are Tucker Carlson and the congresswoman from Georgia. And we have to appeal to a broader coalition tomorrow in Gaza, where this is important."

However, many more panelists explained that Israel was a tool of an American imperial project, with one PYM representative describing the Jewish State as a "foot soldier of imperialism in the Middle East" that functioned "as the garrison state for empire, and it secures the West's entrance to dominance through perpetual wars and violence."

Party for Socialism and Liberation founder Eurene Puryear agreed that Israel was not an aberration but a link to a "broader imperial project" so that a "handful of people" could "dominate the vast majority of the world."

According to a conference Instagram post, Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah called for the destabilization of the West because "Israel is plugged into every facet of every institution that represents Western power." 

"Therefore, our job, those of us who live in the global north, is through destabilization, to ensure that the cost of that colonial project increases -- through destabilization, through mobilization -- because the ruling classes of the west fear nothing like they fear instability and a politicized and politically aware population," said Abu-Sittah.  

 

Michael Starr 

Source: https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-866008

Follow Middle East and Terrorism on Twitter
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment