How Antifa and the Pro-Palestine Movements are Intertwined
Exploring the ideological alignment, shared tactics, and coordinated actions that connects antifa and pro-Palestinian radicalism in America
In the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination and mounting evidence that shooter Tyler Robinson's radical left-wing antifa ideologies were the motives for his attack, President Trump and Vice President Vance have vowed to crack down on the far-left networks they argue enabled this act of political violence. A Jewish Onliner investigation into these radical left networks highlights how antifa organizations, pro-Palestinian groups, and revolutionary activists operate through a shared ecosystem of funding, ideological alignment, rhetorical support, and joint actions across American campuses and cities.
Ideological Alignment of Antifa and Pro-Palestine Movements
The ideological alignment between antifa and pro-Palestinian movements extends far beyond surface-level solidarity, manifesting in shared revolutionary terminology and anti-American rhetoric that reveals their common goals. Both movements routinely refer to the United States as the "imperial core" and use the deliberately provocative spelling "AmeriKKKa" to emphasize their view of America as fundamentally white supremacist. This linguistic choice reflects their shared belief that the United States represents the center of global imperialism that must be dismantled.
Both movements self-identify as anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist, viewing their struggles as part of a broader global resistance to Western hegemony. They align themselves with traditional enemy nations including Iran, China, North Korea, and Venezuela, while expressing solidarity with designated terrorist organizations such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. This intersectionality is exemplified by events like the "Palestine: The Struggle Against International Fascist Counterrevolution" discussion, which explicitly connects anti-fascist organizing with Palestinian liberation struggles. An Instagram post by Utah ‘resistance’ movement, Utah Liberation Front, bears a picture of a gun similar to the one Tyler Robinson used in the attack, “For Nazis who are too far:"
Shared Tactical Approaches
The tactical similarities between anti-fascist organizing and campus pro-Palestinian protests reflect shared training, coordination, and ideological frameworks that extend beyond specific issues to broader revolutionary goals. According to Tal Fortgang writing in City Journal, these groups — whose "beliefs are overwhelmingly left-wing: radically environmentalist ('Just Stop Oil'), anarcho-socialist (Antifa), and, most often, anti-Israel" — employ what he describes as "civil terrorism," a systematic pattern of lawbreaking designed to disrupt civilian life and pressure government policy changes. She writes:
“Though the direct actions can seem like organic protests led by disparate radical organizations, they are best understood as part of a single movement, dedicated to the intentional deployment of mass criminality to achieve ideological goals. Relying on decent Americans’ aversion to escalation, the proliferation of progressive prosecutors, and activists’ strength in numbers, the civil terrorists hope to impose their will on society.”
— Tal Fortang
Moreover, professional agitators like Lisa Fithian have provided continuity between different protest movements, offering tactical training at the Columbia University encampments just hours before the violent takeover of Hamilton Hall. In a 2021 article, Fithian describes antifa as “anti-racist, anti-fascist militants who use a range of tactics, including physical engagement if needed, to confront white supremacists and racists [emphasis added].”
Additionally, one day after Charlier Kirk was assassinated, the U.S.-designated terror group Samidoun posted a message on X entwining the pro-Palestinian movement with the “International Fascist Counterrevolution.”
The ideological synchronization dates back to at least 2018, when Stanford University professor David Palumbo-Liu, co-founder of the Campus Antifascist Network (CAN), acknowledged the coordination between the antifascist and pro-Palestinian movements. In the piece, professor Palumbo-Liu revealed that he helped established CAN specifically because they were "engaged in Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) tactics against the Israeli state."
Coordinated Action on Campus and Public Settings
The operational convergence between antifa and pro-Palestinian movements includes documented instances of coordinated action, joint training, and mutual support that demonstrate their integration into a unified revolutionary network.
A prime example of this collaboration occurred in Portland, where a group calling itself "Rachel Corrie's Ghost Brigade" — in reference to U.S. citizen Rachel Corrie, who was tragically killed in 2003 while obstructing IDF activity in the West Bank along with the terror-tied International Solidarity Movement — claimed responsibility for the arson of 15 Portland Police Bureau training vehicles in May 2024. The group issued a statement on the antifa-affiliated Rose City Counter-Info blog, explicitly connecting anti-fascist action with Palestinian liberation while calling for "escalated violence in support of Palestinians."
The antifa-pro-Palestinian collaboration has been formalized through academic networks like the Campus Antifascist Network (CAN), established by university professors who explicitly connect anti-fascist organizing with Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) tactics against Israel. Furthermore, The Anti-Fascist Handbook, which discusses “resistance by any means necessary,” was found in the "People's Library" at Rice University's Gaza Solidarity Encampment.
Direct Violence & International Coordination
At the University of Washington's Gaza encampment, female journalist Gabrielle Cuccia was assaulted by Antifa militants, who grabbed her toward barricades protecting anti-Israel protesters.
The antifa-pro-Palestinian collaboration extends internationally. A self-proclaimed joint Antifa and anti-Israel rally was held in Montreal on November 1, 2023, less than a month after the Hamas October 7 massacre. German antifascist groups have made this connection explicit, declaring that, “ANTIFA MEANS FREE PALESTINE” and that "true anti-fascism is anti-colonial," directly linking antifascist identity with Palestinian liberation while advocating for Palestine to be free "from the river to the sea."
How NGOs Fund Far-Left, Pro-Palestine, and Antifa Networks
The "revolutionary" ecosystem sustaining both antifa and pro-Palestinian movements operates through nonprofit fiscal sponsorship arrangements that allow wealthy donors to fund controversial causes while maintaining legal distance from recipient organizations. Since sponsored groups don't need to independently disclose donors or file detailed tax returns, these arrangements serve as "a convenient way to mask links between donors and controversial causes."
The Alliance for Global Justice (AFGJ) serves as a prime example of this funding mechanism, acting as fiscal sponsor for both Black Lives Matter chapters and Samidoun, which intelligence agencies identify as a front for the designated terrorist organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. AFGJ originated under Nicaragua's Sandinista regime before relocating to Washington, DC, following Marxist leaders' advice to "change your own government." Today, it sponsors over 100 left-wing projects while receiving funding from George Soros's Open Society Foundations, the Tides Foundation, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
The Westchester Peace Action Committee (WESPAC) operates similarly as a pass-through entity, fiscally sponsoring Students for Justice in Palestine, Within Our Lifetime, and the Palestinian Youth Movement while receiving funding from various progressive donors. These arrangements allow the sponsored organizations to avoid independent donor disclosure or detailed tax filings, as the Capital Research Center notes, serving as "a convenient way to mask links between donors and controversial causes."
The Tides Foundation represents the most significant node in this network, controlling upward of a billion dollars while funding both anti-Israel protests and anti-fascist organizations. Tides has supported the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, Palestine Legal, and the Community Justice Exchange, which ran legal defense funds for protesters engaging in illegal activities.