Contrary to the false narrative, the groups behind the All Out for Palestine rallies in Nashville and across the country are not the work of mere grassroots, peace-seeking activists.
The “social justice” demonstrations are being led by well-funded, anti-Jewish organizations, many with ties to Palestinian terrorist groups that want to carry out the extinction of Israel.
Ostensibly, the Middle Tennessee Chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is the front group leading the recent rallies at the Nashville Metropolitan Courthouse. On Sunday, an estimated 300 supporters of “Free Palestine” movement turned out to show their solidarity for the Palestinian people.
Sources with intimate knowledge of the movement, however, tell The Tennessee Star that the radical socialists are just one of the faces fronting a network of hate-filled organizations that have long pushed for the obliteration of the state of Israel.
Few of them appear to have much sympathy for the 1,400-plus Israelis and Americans murdered earlier this month by Hamas, the Gaza-based terrorist organization that also runs Gaza. In fact, they defend Hamas, see them as freedom fighters in an unholy war to wipe out Israel from the map. And they readily chant, “From the River to the Sea,” a catch-all slogan symbolizing Palestinian control over the entire territory of Israel’s borders, from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.
There are many Nashville and Middle Tennessee supporters and sympathizers of the anti-Israel demonstrations — from Metro Nashville Council member Sean Parker, a founding member of the Middle Tennessee chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, to his Metro Nashville colleague Zulfat Suara, co-founder of the Nashville-based American Muslim Advisory Council (AMAC).
AMAC promoted Sunday’s All Out for Palestine rally on its Facebook page. DSA has been a huge supporter of the well-heeled Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS), an international campaign aimed at delegitimizing Israel’s right to exist.
A little over three months before Hamas’ terrorist attack on Israel, DSA Palestine wrote on X, “One could (and should) very well argue that in a settler colonial context there are no such things as ‘civilians’, but disregarding that even, it’s total folly to honestly compare settlers perpetrating pogroms to resistance groups deploying violence to liberate themselves.”
Denying Israelis the status of civilians means declaring them fair game for violence and terror.
If a naked justification of terror against Israel is not a sign of a demonic double standard against the Jewish State, I am not sure what would be. pic.twitter.com/6EXLdevoLN
— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) June 28, 2023
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), itself a far left organization, has tracked the groups behind the anti-Israel rallies that have popped up in Nashville and nationally since Israel launched a war on Hamas.
ADL notes the primary organizers of the rallies include Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), Within Our Lifetime-United for Palestine (WOL), and the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL). Also included is what Jews have described as the self-loathing Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP).
“Each of these groups has expressed inflammatory rhetoric about Israel and/or Zionism. Many have a history of promoting classic antisemitic themes on social media, at rallies, on webinars and more,” the ADL reports on its website.
Beyond the rhetoric, however, is the alarming support for terror against Israel.
As The Star News Network reported last week, Students for Justice in Palestine has some very scary friends.
In a report titled “Students for Justice in Palestine Unmasked,” the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs breaks down the SJP, describing it as a “terror-affiliated anti-Semitic network that currently operates with autonomy and impunity at colleges and universities across the United States.”
Principle backers of the student group include founders, financial patrons, and ideological supporters who have been connected to Islamist terror organizations such as Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Marxist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
“Students for Justice in Palestine is a byproduct of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), an organization whose leaders were former members of Palestinian and Islamist terror organizations. AMP was founded in 2005 by the former leaders of three organizations; Kindhearts, the Islamic Association for Palestine, and the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. All three organizations were implicated by the U.S. government between 2001 and 2011 for financing Hamas,” the report states.
The Anti Defamation League reports that the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) is an anti-Zionist activist organization with chapters across the U.S. and Canada “that has expressed support for terrorism against Israel and frequently engages in inflammatory rhetoric about Zionism, including calls to stigmatize and ban Zionists from community spaces.”
In May 2018, the group issued a statement declaring they “salute our youth in the streets who continue to throw rocks, light Molotov cocktails, burn tires.” They often partner with SJP.
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “All Out for Palestine March” by Councilwoman Zulfat Suara.
It’s the Red/Green alliance making mayhem and promoting Jew-hatred here in Music City. What does our progressive Mayor Freddie say about it?
What will Nashvillians do about it? Will anyone look up from their dinner at Nashville’s hot new restaurant and admit there’s trouble brewing?
300 people showed up.
Nashville boasts a residential population of over 800,000.
3/8000 is .00375%.
As a professional Statistical Analyst, I declare this is a “negligible” percentage of the population.
This sort of foolishness needs to stop. The media should be practicing “diminishment.” That is, removing attention from them. “Freedom of Speech” means you can state your opinion, but it does not guarantee it will be heard. This is an opinion that is, in fact, motivated by hate, and should, by leftist logic, be quashed.
The Palestinians are not underdogs. They are not “freedom fighters.” They are bullies with heavy weaponry. The only difference between them and the race hustlers in America is they have access and the inspiration to use explosives.