Progressive is tackling that two people who worked at the Israeli Embassy in Washington were killed by gunmen who reflected a slogan that has been a rallying cry for many American Liberal parties since the start of the war in Gaza.
After his arrest, the man suspected of murdering a couple outside the Jewish museum in Washington on Wednesday night shouted the phrase “Free, free Palestine,” which has been ubiquitous on peaceful demonstrations and social media for the past 18 months.
The attack brought a new focus on the tensions of violent radicalism on the left, despite noting that they shared nothing with the gunmen, except for his apparent support for Palestinian rights. They said that what the attacks did hurt their cause.
Michigan organizer Leila Elabdo, who protested against US support for Israel’s response to the Hamas attacks launched on October 7, 2023, said he “betray our values and hands to those who are already pushing for authoritarian crackdowns.”
They also apply pressure to respond progressively.
“Where is Martin Luther King today? I don’t know where that individual is. Who is that individual?” The progressive strategist said he had admitted anonymity to speak freely. “Our society doesn’t have a great moral leader, let alone politically.”
Since the start of the war in Gaza, the pro-Palestinian movement’s fringes, more fundamental wings, have attracted the attention of the people and the attention of the people. Thousands of protesters have been arrested, including dozens who forcedly occupy the university building. And last year, Politico reported that an online network of US pro-Palestinian activists contained resources on how to “escalate” political action across legal boundaries and what it is about.
Asked if the left member was doing a soul search, Kevin Lachlin, Washington Director of the Nexus Project, a left-wing Jewish advocacy group, said: “I think so.”
“This is more and more evidence that there is a need to deal with left or right coping (IT) and anti-Semitism to deal with,” Laklin said.
Historic and in recent years, anti-Semitism has been more closely linked to Alt-right’s fringe groups, including the 2017 “Unite the Right” neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, Virginia. President Donald Trump himself dined with white nationalists and Holocaust Denier Nick Fuentes at the Mar-a-Lago resort in 2022.
Pro-Palestinian movement supporters, including liberal lawmakers, have found themselves defensively protected, just as conservatives have had to deal with far-right violence in recent years, following the shooting outside the capital Jewish Museum.
While some Palestinian activists now worry about the shootings that federal authorities call anti-Semitic targets, they have been able to retreat from achieving their policy goals amidst Gaza’s increasingly dire humanitarian crisis, their progress in policy goals and the growing territorial military operations.
“We hope that this vigilante violence will be used to undermine the movement to end genocide, and we are calling for a ceasefire and an embargo on arms,” said Sandra Tamari, executive director of the Palestinian Pro-Adala Judicial Project.
“We cannot allow this violence to be armed by people who may exploit it to further degrade our democratic rights and freedoms,” said Alex Pascal, a former Biden administration official who helped create a strategy to combat anti-Semitism.
For years, Trump and Republicans have threw the pro-Palestinian movement as a group of radical terrorist sympathizers. As the Trump administration took increasingly serious measures to restrain the movement and punish its leaders, Democrats and supporters pushed back that trait and framing Republican actions as an attack on free speech.
Palestinian pro-police lawmakers rushed to condemn the murders on Thursday, calling them anti-Semitic acts. Sen. Bernie Sanders (i-vt.) said he was “appeared” by “heinous conduct.” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DN.Y.) emphasized that “there is absolutely nothing to justify an innocent murder.”
Republicans quickly portrayed the attack as part of the broader extremism in the movement.
“The Palestinian cause is an evil cause,” Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) said Thursday on “Fox & Friends.” “The only end of the conflict is the complete surrender by those who support Muslim fear.”
Details of the attack appeared late Wednesday night, and the Trump administration jumped into the attack. Attorney General Pam Bondy and DC’s newly tapped interim US lawyer, Janine Piro, visited the scene. And in the midnight truth social, Trump writes:
The left had to walk this line before. Earlier this year, when federal immigration agents moved to Columbia University in detention and detention Palestinian green cardholder and leader Mahmoud Khalil of last year’s pro-Palestinian protests, the Trump administration justified the arrest by claiming that Khalil was a supporter of Hamas, a US-designated terrorist organization.
Democrats have primarily integrated pro-Palestinian activists detained as victims of the Trump administration, where constitutionally protected political speeches are under attack, but have hedged the statement by highlighting that they do not support Khalil’s views on the subject.
“I hate many of the opinions and policies that Mahmoud Khalil holds and supports,” said Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer. x. However, he added: “If the administration can’t prove it, it’s wrong because he violates the criminal law to justify taking this harsh action and does it for the opinions he has expressed.”
Holly Otterbein contributed to this report.
