On August 19-22, the Democratic Party is scheduled to host its convention in Chicago. “March on the DNC” – a loose network of nearly 100 NGOs – intends to protest in Chicago, demanding that Democrats adopt anti-Israel policies.

The central demand of the NGO coalition is “End U.S. Aid to Israel…. We must stop our government from arming and supporting this genocide.”1

Many of the March on the DNC members have led and participated in antisemitic and pro-terror events since the Hamas-orchestrated October 7th massacre – including on US campuses. This includes CODEPINK, Palestinian Feminist Collective, Students for Justice in Palestine Chicago, American Muslims for Palestine Chicago, National Lawyers Guild -Task Force on the Americas/San Francisco Bay Area chapter, ANSWER Coalition – Chicago, Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, Jewish Voice for Peace Chicago, U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), and National Students for Justice in Palestine.2

Funding for the March on the DNC is non-transparent. They are attempting to raise $20,000 to “stand against the war machine and for the rights of working and oppressed people, using the “Action Network” platform. (As of August 6, $13,350 had been raised.) In addition, participating groups, many of which have significant funding as detailed below, will be charged to table at the protest. 

March on the DNC anti-Israel rhetoric 

  • On July 22, March on the DNC posted a statement following Biden’s withdrawal, writing, “Genocide Joe Biden…His decision doesn’t change the policies of Democratic Party leadership, specifically their support of the genocide in Palestine… On August 19th we will march on the DNC for Gaza regardless of who gets nominated for the presidency. Democratic Party leadership switching out their presidential nominee does not wash the blood of over 50,000 Palestinians off their hands.” 
  • March on the DNC tweeted, “Genocide Joe boasts to be Israel’s biggest supporter, saying Israel was saved by The United States. It’s unbelievable to think what he is actually proud of, the genocide of a people and destruction of their homes, schools, and hospitals #Debates2024 #MarchonDNC#MarchonRNC”
  • March on the DNC tweeted, “March on the DNC with us this August because the Democratic Party is part of the system that upholds the Zionist occupation of Palestine and drives the imperialist system that oppresses all the people of the world. #marchondnc2024 #freepalestine #endisraeloccupation #freegaza.”

March on the DNC Coalition Members

Samidoun

  • In February 2021, the Israeli Ministry of Defense designated Samidoun as a terrorist organization and “a subsidiary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).” In November 2023, Germany banned Samidoun for violating the its Basic Law (Article 9(2)) and its Associations Act; namely, it “impairs and endangers the peaceful coexistence of Germans and foreigners,” “advocates and calls for the use of violence as a means of enforcing political interests,” and “supports associations that initiate, advocate and threaten attacks against people or property.”
  • Samidoun regularly advocates for “armed resistance” and celebrates terrorist organizations.  For instance, at an April 30, 2023 event, Samidoun founder and leader, Khaled Barakat, called on participants to “salute” the military wings of Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the PFLP, as well as Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed terror groups.
  • On October 7, 2023, Samidoun, wrote, “As the morning dawns on 7 October 2023, the resistance (euphemism for Palestinian terrorists) is rising throughout occupied Palestine, smashing the siege on Gaza with a comprehensive offensive confronting the occupier by land and air, taking control of Palestinian land, seizing occupation settlers and soldiers and launching thousands of missiles as Palestinian resistance forces fight to advance return and the liberation of Palestine.”  Samidoun then called on its allies to “express their support for the heroic Palestinian resistance, raise the flag of Palestine and the banners of resistance, and organize popular, political and media demonstrations and events to expose the Zionist crimes against our people in occupied Palestine…The heroic Palestinian resistance has opened a chapter of battles of dignity and pride at the dawn of October 7, 2023” (emphases added).

(For details on Samidoun’s links to the PFLP and support for terrorism, see NGO Monitor’s “The Global Samidoun Network: Mapping Branches in Europe and North America,” and “PFLP and Samidoun on American College Campuses”)

Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)

  • On October 12, 2023, in the aftermath of the Hamas-orchestrated October 7th massacre, SJP published a statement referring to the violence as a “historic win for the Palestinian resistance.” SJP additionally claimed, “This is what it means to Free Palestine: not just slogans and rallies, but armed confrontation with the oppressors.”
  • In November 2023, three universities (Brandeis, Columbia, and George Washington)  suspended their chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) due to violations of campus policies, “chants and social media posts calling for violence against Jews,” and “openly support[ing] Hamas.” In December 2023, SJP at Rutgers was suspended. In May, San José State University suspended a professor who was the faculty adviser for the campus chapter, following an “intense” February SJP protest. 

Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP)

  • JVP refers to itself as the “Jewish wing” of the Palestinian solidarity movement and as “Jews against Zionism,” notwithstanding the fact that many of its activists are not Jewish.
  • JVP’s declared agenda is to create “a wedge” within the American Jewish community, while working toward the goal of eliminating U.S. economic, military, and political aid to Israel. 
  • A major component of JVP’s strategy is exploiting the “Jewish” label to deflect evidence of blatant antisemitism within anti-Israel campaigns.
  • JVP’s anti-Israel and antisemitic activities and rhetoric include the “apartheid” and “genocide” libels, justifying Palestinian “resistance” (euphemism for the mass slaughter of October 7), embracing terrorists, and promoting antisemitic tropes such as a cartoon that depicted Israeli soldiers joyously drinking the blood of dead Palestinians. 
  • On October 18, JVP tweeted, “Just as we demand an end to genocide in Gaza, we must put the same effort into dismantling the systems of Zionism, apartheid, and colonialism that brought us to this moment.”

CODEPINK

  • CODEPINK has an ongoing campaign titled the “The Gaza Genocide Gang: EXPOSED!” The campaign encourages individuals to post pre-written tweets. Examples include: “Genocide Joe: As Genocide Architect in Chief, Biden has openly enabled Israel to commit genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity by funding the bombs dropping on innocent people in Palestine.” Pre-written tweet, “From repeating lies to sending $100 billion for bombs to kill, Biden is not only supporting genocide, but he is funding it. He has blood on his hands. #GenocideGang @CODEPINK.”
  • On January 9, 2024, CODEPINK was a signatory on a letter “urging international support for South Africa’s genocide case against the State of Israel.”
  • In October 2023, CODEPINK launched a petition calling on President Biden and the US Secretary of Defense to “Stop Supporting Israeli Apartheid.” According to the petition, “Israel has colonized, occupied and oppressed the people of Palestine for 70 years. This has inevitably led to the resistance of Palestinians” (emphasis added).
  • From January 14-24, 2023, CODEPINK partnered with Samidoun for a “week of action” calling for the release of Ahmad Sa’adat, the PFLP’s Secretary-General, sentenced to 30 years in prison for heading an “illegal terrorist organization,” and planning attacks including the assassination of Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze’evi.

US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR)

  • According to its “Common Principles,” “We oppose U.S. military, diplomatic, financial, corporate, and all other forms of support for Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies toward Palestinians.”
  • In February 2024, USCPR launched a campaign titled “Quit Genocide,” calling on President Biden officials to “Resign from Bad Bosses like Butcher Biden Before You’re Part of a Legacy You Can’t Erase.”
  • On October 10, 2023, USCPR tweeted, “There are no ‘both sides’ when Israel has always been the colonizer & aggressor, with one of the world’s most advanced militaries, trapping 2+ million Palestinians (mostly refugees) in an open-air cage in Gaza in unlivable conditions. This is genocide. Pick a side. Free Palestine.”

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)

  • Actively promotes (BDS) boycotts, divestments and sanctions campaigns against Israel; accuses Israel of “apartheid against Palestinians”; and advocates for a Palestinian “right of return,” meaning the end of Israel as the nation state of the Jewish people. AFSC has also accused Israel of “obvious violence in Gaza…slow and systematic ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and East Jerusalem through continuing displacement from sprawling illegal settlements, land grabs, the separation barrier…crushing restrictions of Palestinian movement, and a network of racist laws.”
  • On October 9, 2023, AFSC published a fact sheet of “5 things you need to know about what’s happening in Israel and Gaza.” According to the fact sheet, “Violence did not begin with the attacks from Gaza…This lack of accountability and a sense by Palestinians that they have been abandoned by the international community is important to understanding recent violence. For violence to end, U.S. policy must change. Israel must be held accountable for its rights violations, and the system of apartheid must end.”
  • On October 9, AFSC launched a petition calling on Congress to “call for an immediate end to all violence—and to address the apartheid system and persistent inequality that are the root cause of this violence.”

American Muslims for Palestine (AMP)

  • AMP rhetoric includes accusations of “apartheid,” “ethnic cleansing,” “genocide,” “collective punishment,” “judaization,” and “colonization,” as well as supporting a Palestinian “right of return.”
  • AMP provides “advocacy training,” including instruction on how to lobby politicians. Produces media and activism guidebooks, such as campus activism resources,  fact-sheets, and anti-normalization
  • AMP has stated, “By working together on focused consumer boycotts and campaigns against the companies and institutions that help Israel to commit its crimes, the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement is a powerful and strategic tool for isolating Israel.”
  • On October 31, 2023, the Attorney General’s Office of Virginia announced an investigation into AMP, stating that there is “reason to believe that the organization may be soliciting contributions … without first having registered…. In addition, the Attorney General will investigate allegations that the organization may have used funds raised for impermissible purposes under state law, including benefitting or providing support to terrorist organizations.”
  • On October 8, AMP published a statement titled “Reality vs. Propaganda: Changing the Discourse on Gaza.” According to the statement, “First of all, this was not an attack, it was a response. Expecting a besieged, occupied, brutalized, and colonized people to remain docile in the face of nearly a century of brutal oppression and colonial subjugation is inhumane and unjust. It was inevitable that Gaza, after more than 16 years under an air, sea, and land blockade with little food or potable water, medicine, or electricity, completely cut off from the world–with Arab regimes normalizing their oppression by cutting deals with the Israelis–is now rising up to end this violent system once and for all.”

National Lawyers Guild (NLG)

  • NLG’s “Palestine Subcommittee” “provides legal support to Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movements, [and] works to support Palestinian political prisoners.” 
  • On April 26, 2024, following disruptions and arrests at Emerson College, “volunteers with the Massachusetts chapter of the National Lawyers Guild spent much of the day locating students who were arrested and organizing legal representation for them.”
  • On October 7, NLG published a statement “stand[ing] in solidarity with the people of Palestine in their struggle against the Settler Colonial State of Israel.”

Funders for March on the DNC Coalition Members’ Known Donors

Although many of the organizations are not financially transparent, some information is available on the private foundations that provide fiscal sponsorship and other services to a number of prominent members of the March on the DNC coalition: 

Tides Network3

  • In 2022, Tides granted $61,000 to Jewish Voices for Peace. 
  • In 2022, Tides granted $43,000 to American Friends Service Committee.
  • In 2022, Tides granted $20,000 to the National Lawyers Guild; and in 2021, they granted $280,000.
  • In 2022, the Tides Foundation granted $104,500 to CODEPINK.

Rockefeller Brothers Fund

  • US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR)
    • In 2023-2026, USCPR is receiving $225,000
    • In 2018-2023, USCPR received $355,000 (under the name of Education for Just Peace in the Middle East) 
    • USCPR has received $640,000 since 2017
  • Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP) 
    • In 2023-2026, JVP is receiving $150,000 
    • In 2021-2022, JVP received $165,000
    • JVP has received $630,000 since 2017
  • American Friends Service Committee received $35,000 in 2019 

Open Society Foundation

  • Jewish Voices for Peace received $225,000 for 2022-2023 and $150,000 for 2021-2022.
  • US Campaign for Palestinian Rights is receiving $250,000 for 2022-2024 and received $150,000 in 2021.

Alliance For Global Justice

Alliance for Global Justice (AFGJ) is the fiscal sponsor for both United National Antiwar Coalition, and  Samidoun, the latter an NGO linked to the US-designated organization, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terror-designated organization.

As a result of its relationships with Samidoun and its affiliates, several financial transactions companies, including Salsa Labs, Stripe, and PayPal – have severed ties with AFGJ. 

WESPAC

WESPAC is the fiscal sponsor for March on the DNC members, U.S. Palestinian Community Network, Palestinian Feminist Collective, and National Students for Justice in Palestine.