For the second year in a row, the People’s Conference for Palestine (PCP), which took place in Detroit, Michigan, attracted some of the biggest names in the pro-Palestinian community (and pro-Hamas community, for that matter). These included antisemitic veteran activist Linda Sarsour, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)’s Hatem Bazian, and propped-up pro-Hamas activist Mahmoud Khalil, among others.

The conference was filled with panelists and keynote speakers who expressed anti-Western sentiments, spoke about “intifada” as if it were an acceptable form of protest, called for an end to Zionism, and more. The language was militarized, negative, and sought to encourage “liberation” through violence and anger.

Some of the speakers are terrorists, some terror sympathizers, and many regurgitated Hamas propaganda to thousands of people, including children, attending the conference.

This was not an event that promoted peace and equality between Israel and the Palestinians, but one that incited hatred and encouraged violence.

Here are ten moments Honestreporting has chosen to highlight as the worst of the PCP:

1. Online streamer Hasan Piker encouraged attendees to “find the anger in [their] heart” to continue the Palestinian “resistance” movement “out of spite.”

 Hasan Piker: “Do it out of spite… find that anger within your heart to continue.”

The Twitch streamer infamous for saying “America deserved 9/11” told the crowd at the People’s Conference for Palestine that the way forward isn’t hope or principle — it’s spite.

“Whenever you… pic.twitter.com/CaPasIarKY

— Stu (@thestustustudio) August 30, 2025

What better way to make the world a better place?

It is important to note that Piker also called Jewish-American comedian Amy Schumer one of “the worst people out there.” All Schumer has done is publicly stand against antisemitism, speak out for Israeli victims of October 7, and condemn Jihadist terrorism. It’s food for thought.

2. Activist Imam Omar Suleiman expressed support for the “Holy Land Five” — men who were convicted for funneling money to Hamas through their fake non-profit, the Holy Land Five Foundation, in what was the largest successful terrorism financing prosecution in US history.

 Omar Suleiman Defends the Holy Land Five — convicted of financing Hamas — as men jailed “for the crime of feeding Palestinian children.”

At the People’s Conference for Palestine, Omar Suleiman — founder of the Yaqeen Institute, imam at Valley Ranch Islamic Center, and adjunct… pic.twitter.com/zHpMZWkYDa

— Stu (@thestustustudio) August 31, 2025

Suleiman portrayed the biggest terror financiers in US history as “men stripped away from their families for the crime of feeding Palestinian children.” The imam whitewashed the truth, calling the foundation the “largest charity for Palestine.” He sought to evoke sympathy for their families, recounting the pang of sadness he felt at a wedding for one man’s child — a celebration clouded by his absence.

3. Mayor Eduardo Martinez (Richmond, CA) said he thinks of Hamas — a terror organization — as his childhood self standing up to bullies.

 BREAKING: Cheers for Hamas at the People’s Conference for Palestine.

Richmond, CA Mayor Eduardo Martinez, asked if he supports Hamas, refused to say no — instead likening Hamas to his childhood self lashing out at bullies. The crowd cheered.

Paging @FBIDirectorKash pic.twitter.com/AQ8cKJ04lR

— Stu (@thestustustudio) August 29, 2025

The audience cheered when he gave this despicable analogy. But it’s telling — this is what the “pro-Palestine” agenda is all about. They normalize, justify, and downplay heinous and unspeakable atrocities as standing up to bullies.

4. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), a Congresswoman supposedly representing Americans, refers to the US Congress as an “empire” whose halls are “decaying” and celebrates this idea…

 Rep. Rashida Tlaib: “Outside of the decaying halls of the empire in Washington DC — we are winning.”

At the People’s Conference for Palestine, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib tore into both political parties, accusing presidents of “gaslighting” and Congress of funding “one of… pic.twitter.com/X7qpQ3CmjY

— Stu (@thestustustudio) August 31, 2025

… while boasting that a “granddaughter of Falasteen” has been sent by Detroit to Congress.

 Rep. Rashida Tlaib at the People’s Conference for Palestine: “They thought they could kill us… Now we’re in Congress.”

Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib used deeply personal and militant language, tracing her family lineage back to Palestinian villages and portraying her very… pic.twitter.com/qlcLQAES0P

— Stu (@thestustustudio) August 31, 2025

 

Her presence as a government official lends an air of legitimacy to this anti-American and anti-Western conference. Tlaib, a Palestinian-American supposedly serving US citizens, did not even don an American flag pin, just Palestinian garb. She also spewed lies about rape and murder and insinuated that innocent Palestinians are regularly imprisoned and intentionally starved by Israel.

5. Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) founder Omar Assaf was a virtual panelist at the event, and he called for rescinding the Palestinian Authority’s recognition of Israel, a withdrawal or rejection from any peace agreements, and providing “protection” and “support” for “popular action,” also known as terrorism.

 Omar Assaf: The PA Is “an Enemy of the Resistance” — Strategy Is Strikes, Civil Disobedience, and Ending Oslo

Speaking virtually at the People’s Conference for Palestine, Omar Assaf — long linked to the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), a designated… pic.twitter.com/s7XchdlXds

— Stu (@thestustustudio) August 31, 2025

The degree of whitewashing terrorist activities and agendas, while appalling, also speaks volumes about the organizers of the conference and what their “movement” stands for. Assaf wants to “prohibit” arrests of terrorists. He does not believe in peace with Israel and has said so in previous interviews. It doesn’t seem like anyone batted an eye; in fact, the audience cheered and clapped at the end of his monologue.

6. A Columbia University career development counselor called for the downfall of the world order.

 Spoiler alert: Communism is the answer.

At the People’s Conference for Palestine, Lameess Mehanna — Associate Director of Undergraduate Career Development at Columbia University and organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement — spelled it out.

She began with a litany of… pic.twitter.com/UfHD6XFlEJ

— Stu (@thestustustudio) August 30, 2025

It’s one thing to stress that change is needed, but a whole other thing to suggest that the current world we live in, a world that values diplomacy and Western values, should be dumped for the “liberation” of Gaza.

7. Well-known Hamas propagandist and London-based plastic surgeon, Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah, encouraged the crowd to destabilize the West and promoted an antisemitic conspiracy that suggests Israel controls all Western institutions.

Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah called for the conference’s attendees to destabilise the West. pic.twitter.com/0HOAkb6hKE

— Michael Starr (@StarrJpost) September 1, 2025

This is being said out loud at a major conference in the United States — a Western country. This kind of rhetoric may also incite violence, which would go beyond the bounds of freedom of speech. At the very least, it speaks volumes about the agenda of the pro-Palestinian movement.

8. Abu Baker Abed is a Palestinian “journalist” and a terror sympathizer. He was given a platform at the PCP, where he talked about how UK outlet The Guardian asked him to remove a post online in which he “praised the resistance” if he wanted to continue working with them, and he declined to do so.

“Every single one in Gaza is a resistance fighter.” Says Abu Baker Abed at the “People’s Conference for Palestine”

So by his definition, every single one in Gaza is…a combatant?

Maybe think for once and stop diving in headfirst to the Hamas suicidal death cult that endangers… pic.twitter.com/zC9DybwTOG

— Emily Schrader – אמילי שריידר امیلی شریدر (@emilykschrader) August 31, 2025

Abed won an Iranian state media PressTV’s “journalist of the year” award, and encouraged the audience not to be deterred by threats to their reputation or career if they publicly support terrorism. The fact that the PCP invited him to speak is appalling.

9. The PCP offered a two-day children’s program, which included a curriculum on Palestinian “resistance” for ages six through twelve.

Children were invited out on the stage as the next generation of “resistance” activists, wearing keffiyehs and leading the chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

At the People’s Conference for Palestine, Taher Dahleh handed the mic to kids for a “youth-led” chant. It flopped until the oldest child barely managed it.

Then he declared…

“These children who tomorrow you will see on the front lines of protest…These children who will never… pic.twitter.com/7OV3w0Je81

— Stu (@thestustustudio) August 30, 2025

A Palestinian Youth Movement organizer suggested that these children will one day be on the “front lines” of protests and “won’t be deterred” by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). It’s alarming that children that young are being militarized and used for a movement’s political agenda. It absolutely appears to be indoctrination, as Stu Smith, investigative analyst for the Manhattan Institute, put it above.

10. The Detroit News newspaper was the only outlet that covered this event extensively and did not address any of the previous hateful and violent rhetoric that was promoted at the conference. 

Instead, they portrayed terror sympathizer and PressTV “journalist of the year” winner Mosab Abu Toha as an English teacher who wants to provide education for Palestinian children.

At the conference, Mosab Abu Toha, an English teacher, said one of Gaza’s greatest needs is education.

During a panel, he asked the audience to financially support efforts that ranged from teacher supplies to building new schools. Palestinians who fled to Egypt also need help with education because the country doesn’t allow them to enroll in its schools.

They also photographed violent embroidery for their online gallery. Yes, you read that right.

Photograph is a screenshot. Image credit: Katy Kildee/The Detroit News

“Armed resistance” means terrorism — violence like rape, decapitation, mutilation, murder, and brutally kidnapping and starving Israelis. This piece of embroidery, which was available for purchase at the event, justifies and encourages atrocities like October 7.

The Manhattan Institute’s Stu Smith did expose the conference for what it was, however, and presumably watched and cut all the livestreams to provide a thorough analysis.

How can a journalist and a journo-photographer attend a conference that platforms terrorists, terror sympathizers, and is filled with anti-Western rhetoric without addressing it? Quotes from Michigan Jewish leaders are welcome, but these journalists who attended the event should have blown the movement wide open. They should have reported what they witnessed.

Instead, they covered it without asking any questions — and asking questions is half the job.

The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.