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10 Appalling Moments at the People’s Conference for Palestine 2025

US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) addresses attendees as she takes part in a protest calling for a ceasefire in Gaza outside the US Capitol, in Washington, DC, US, Oct. 18, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Leah Millis

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.”

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.

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.

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…

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

 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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‘Make Zionists Afraid’: Pro-Hamas Agitators in Germany Vandalize Gov’t Buildings, Intimidate Local Business

Anti-Israel protesters march in Germany, March 26, 2025. Photo: Sebastian Willnow/dpa via Reuters Connect

Pro-Hamas agitators in Germany carried out a series of antisemitic attacks this week, vandalizing government offices and targeting a Berlin bar with death threats and intimidation.

On Tuesday, an antisemitic flyer began circulating in Berlin, targeting the owners of Bajszel, a local bar in the city’s southeastern Neukölln neighborhood, with threats of violence and death, German media reported.

Since the start of the war in Gaza, the local bar — which hosts cultural programs and political events dedicated to fighting antisemitism — has been repeatedly targeted, with customers and staff threatened as “Jewish child killers” and the establishment repeatedly vandalized.

In this latest targeted incident, unknown individuals plastered flyers on the bar’s facade bearing the headline “Make Zionists Afraid.” Designed like a wanted poster, the handout showed photos of the three owners, each stamped with an inverted red triangle, which Hamas has used in its propaganda videos to indicate Israeli targets about to be attacked. The symbol has become a demonstration of support for the Palestinian terrorist group amid the war in Gaza.

The flyer accused the owners of “openly expressing their support for the colonial state of Israel” through the events they host at their bar.

“Anyone who sides with the perpetrators of genocide should feel unsafe everywhere. We want these three to be silenced forever and serve as a warning to all Zionists in Berlin and Neukölln,” the flyer read, referring to the bar’s owners.

The handout also included the antisemitic phrase “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” — a popular slogan among anti-Israel activists that has been widely interpreted as a genocidal call for the destruction of the Jewish state, which is located between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

Local authorities have launched a criminal investigation into the incident, but no arrests have been made so far.

Volker Beck, president of the German-Israeli Society, strongly condemned the attack, calling on law enforcement to act swiftly and urging immediate protection for the bar’s owners.

“Supporting Israel … should never put anyone’s life in danger. The antisemitic death threats against Bajszel in Berlin-Neukölln are completely unacceptable,” Beck said in a statement.

“Threatening people … with death for openly expressing their loyalty to Israel is a form of everyday terrorism that cannot be tolerated,” he continued.

In a separate incident on Thursday, the office of Germany’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in Württemberg-Hohenzollern, a southwestern region of the country, was vandalized with antisemitic slogans. This marks one of the latest in a string of attacks by anti-Israel protesters targeting CDU offices nationwide.

Unknown perpetrators covered the office facade in red paint, scrawling messages such as “Accomplice,” “Stop the Genocide,” and “Flotilla Sumud.”

On Wednesday, the CDU building in Göttingen, a central German city, was vandalized, with several windows smashed and antisemitic slogans scrawled across the facade.

The perpetrators spray-painted slogans on the walls, including “Free Palestine,” “From the River to the Sea,” “Kill Zionists,” and “FCK CDU.”

Anti-Israel demonstrators even vandalized the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin-Mitte, covering the facade with red paint and scrawling antisemitic slogans.

Shortly after this incident, a pro-Palestinian demonstration was held outside the Foreign Ministry, where protesters chanted slogans such as “Free Palestine,” “Genocide,” and “All of Berlin hates the police.”

According to local authorities, an investigation has been launched into these latest incidents, and four activists have been arrested in connection with them.

Carina Hermann, chair of CDU’s municipal association, strongly condemned the recent wave of violence and vandalism, calling for immediate measures to ensure public safety.

“With broken windows, political slogans, and destroyed locks, the goal is to silence opposing voices and intimidate them with all the force possible,” Hermann said in a statement. “This is no longer a simple protest; it is a direct attack by extremists who have no regard for democracy or free discourse.”

In recent weeks, CDU offices in Hanover, Oldenburg, and other cities have also been vandalized. In Göttingen, additional buildings — including those of the Social Democratic Party of Germany — have been defaced.

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Democrats More Likely to Vote for Lawmakers Who Oppose US Military Aid to Israel, Poll Finds

US Representative Pramila Jayapal (D-WA). Photo: Bryan Olin Dozier/NurPhoto via Reuters Connect

Voters who support the Democratic Party in the US are increasingly open to candidates who oppose American military assistance to Israel, according to a new poll from the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) Policy Project, an organization critical of the Jewish state and supportive of the Palestinian cause

The survey, conducted in partnership with YouGov, found that 57 percent of Democrats indicated they would be more likely to vote in the 2026 midterm elections for a member of Congress who opposed sending billions of dollars in weapons to Israel, while 9 percent stated they would be less likely and 34 percent said it would make no difference. The poll also showed that 55 percent of Democratic voters would look favorably on a lawmaker sponsoring the Block the Bombs Act, legislation aimed at restricting certain arms sales to Israel.

The Block the Bombs Act, sponsored by progressive Democratic Reps. Delia Ramirez (IL), Marc Pocan (WI), Sara Jacobs (CA), and Pramila Jayapal (WA), would restrict the transfer of offensive weapons to Israel. The legislation, if enacted, would only allow the transfer of offensive weapons to Israel if Congress passed a law outlining the scenarios in which they could be deployed. Jerusalem would also be mandated to provide written assurances that the weapons would be used in accordance with international law.

According to the new poll, a striking 71 percent of Democrats said they would prefer to support a presidential candidate in the 2028 election who “voted to withhold weapons to Israel. In comparison, 10 percent responded they would rather back someone who “voted against withholding weapons to Israel,” and 19 percent were not sure.

The poll, which was released on Friday, surveyed 1,221 registered voters who said they typically participate in Democratic primaries from Sept. 11–24, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

While the results pointed to growing opposition to Israel within the Democratic activist base, critics noted on social media that IMEU’s framing of the questions, such as invoking the South African apartheid analogy in related surveys, may misrepresent responses in ways that do not mirror broader public sentiment.

In Washington, support for Israel remains one of the few issues that consistently draws bipartisan consensus. Congress has continued to approve annual military aid packages to the Jewish state by wide margins, and US President Donald Trump has repeatedly affirmed his administration’s commitment to Israel’s security, describing the partnership as vital for both American interests and regional stability.

Polling from Gallup and Pew has also found that while Democratic voters are more divided over Israel than Republicans, the US public overall maintains a broadly favorable view of Israel and the US-Israel relationship.

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Hamas Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan, Seeks Negotiations Over Other Terms

Palestinian Hamas terrorists stand guard on the day of the handover of hostages held in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack, as part of a ceasefire and a hostages-prisoners swap deal between Hamas and Israel, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, Feb. 22, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled

The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.

Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades, started the current war in the enclave with its Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel. The Islamist group said it would agree to some aspects of Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war, including releasing hostages and handing over administration of the enclave, but that it would seek negotiations over many of its other terms.

In a copy of the statement seen by Reuters, Hamas issued its response to Trump’s 20-point plan after the US president gave the Palestinian terrorist group until Sunday to accept or reject the proposal. Trump has not said whether the terms would be subject to negotiation, as Hamas is seeking.

Notably, Hamas did not say whether it would agree to a stipulation that it disarm, a demand by Israel and the US that it has previously rejected.

In its statement, Hamas said it “appreciates the Arab, Islamic, and international efforts, as well as the efforts of US President Donald Trump, calling for an end to the war on the Gaza Strip, the exchange of prisoners, [and] the immediate entry of aid,” among other terms.

It said it was announcing its “approval of releasing all occupation prisoners — both living and remains — according to the exchange formula contained in President Trump’s proposal, with the necessary field conditions for implementing the exchange.”

But Hamas added: “In this context, the movement affirms its readiness to immediately enter, through the mediators, into negotiations to discuss the details.”

The group said it was ready “to hand over the administration of the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian body of independents [technocrats] based on Palestinian national consensus and supported by Arab and Islamic backing.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Hamas’s response to the proposal, which is backed by Israel as well as Arab and European powers.

Trump’s plan specifies an immediate ceasefire, an exchange of all hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, a staged Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the disarmament of Hamas, and the introduction of a transitional government led by an international body.

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