"United States of Terror": Pro-Palestine Groups Rally Behind Venezuelan Dictator
Major pro-Palestinian organizations condemned Washington's capture of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, a response that has highlighted these groups' alignment with authoritarian regimes
Major pro-Palestine groups across the United States swiftly mobilized in defense of detained Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro following the U.S. military operation on January 3. The coordinated response highlights these groups’ willingness to align with authoritarian regimes, as critics note Maduro’s government has faced widespread allegations of human rights abuses, electoral fraud, and economic mismanagement that have driven millions of Venezuelans into exile. Nevertheless, Palestinian organizations have framed the U.S. intervention as part of a broader pattern of American imperialism.
Response from Palestinian Terrorist Organizations
Palestinian terrorist organizations including Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and Palestinian Islamic Jihad released formal statements condemning what they characterized as an illegal act of aggression against a sovereign nation. The coordinated response reflects longstanding ties between Palestinian movements and the Maduro government, which has consistently supported Palestinians on the international stage.
Hamas issued a statement declaring: “We condemn in the strongest terms the American aggression against the Republic of Venezuela, and the kidnapping of President Maduro and his wife. We affirm that it represents a serious violation of international law, by attacking the sovereignty of an independent state.”
The PFLP drew explicit parallels between Venezuela and Palestine, stating that “This American attack on Venezuela is fundamentally similar in its nature and objectives to the brutal Zionist aggression against our Palestinian people; the criminal is the same, and the colonialist mentality that seeks to break the will of resistance is the same.”
Palestinian Islamic Jihad specifically acknowledged Venezuela’s role in supporting Palestinians, stating: “Today’s targeting of Venezuela is a punishment for its steadfast international positions, particularly its historic and unwavering support for the Palestinian cause and resistance forces in our region, and its standing with our people against war crimes and genocide.”
U.S.-Based Pro-Palestine Groups Support for Maduro
In the United States, pro-Palestine groups quickly organized demonstrations in multiple cities. American Muslims for Palestine released a statement condemning “the Trump administration’s illegal military operation against Venezuela, including the forcible capture of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, carried out without congressional authorization and in blatant violation of both U.S. and international law.” AMP described the operation as “a dangerous and lawless escalation of U.S. aggression” conducted “in open defiance of the U.S. Constitution.”
The ANSWER Coalition and The People’s Forum coordinated emergency protests across the country. The People’s Forum, which has been under Congressional investigation since September 2025 over alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party and receiving over $20 million from CCP-aligned financier Neville Roy Singham, mobilized hundreds of demonstrators to Times Square for a “No War on Venezuela” rally. The Palestinian Assembly for Liberation-Awda NY/NJ participated prominently, marching with banners calling for “liberation” and “return.” Similar demonstrations were reported in Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Rochester, and Portland, with activists from Portland for Palestine and the Freedom Road Socialist Organization organizing local rallies.
The Samidoun terror group, which is highly active on the ground in the United States despite being outlawed in October 2024, declared “full and complete solidarity with the people and government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” emphasizing that “the aggression against Venezuela is cut from the same cloth as the ongoing U.S.-Zionist assault on Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen, and throughout the region.” The organization noted that U.S. forces had attacked “the mausoleum of Venezuelan leader of the Bolivarian Revolution, Hugo Chavez, who famously declared in 2009 that the Zionist entity was guilty of genocide in Gaza.”
The Iran Factor and Anti-Imperialist Turn
The intensity of pro-Palestine groups’ response to Maduro’s capture reflects two interconnected motivations that have become central to their activism since October 7, 2023.
1. Allegiance with the Iranian Axis
First, the intervention represents a significant setback to Iran, a key ally of both Venezuela and Palestinian resistance movements. Jason Brodsky, policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran, told Fox News that “Maduro’s capture will be a blow to Iran’s interests in the Western Hemisphere as he was a longtime ally of Tehran under the banner of anti-imperialism.” As Jewish Onliner previously documented, Venezuela has served as an operational hub for Iranian activities in Latin America, including Hezbollah operations, and Iran had maintained military partnerships with Caracas, particularly regarding drone technology. The loss of Maduro threatens this strategic foothold, weakening Iran’s global network at a time when its “axis of resistance” in the Middle East has already suffered significant setbacks.
This is also why other terror groups within Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” expressed solidarity with Maduro. Lebanon’s Hezbollah condemned “the terrorist aggression and American thuggery against the Republic of Venezuela,” describing it as “an unprecedented and blatant violation of the national sovereignty of an independent state, international law, and United Nations charters.” Yemen’s Houthis declared: “What the US is doing to Venezuela confirms once again that America is the head of evil and the mother of terrorism.”
2. Broader “Anti-Imperialist” Framework
Second, pro-Palestine organizations have increasingly embraced a broader anti-imperialist framework following October 7, 2023, positioning Palestinian liberation as inseparable from global struggles against U.S. hegemony. This ideological shift has led these groups to forge alliances with any government or movement positioned against American foreign policy, regardless of that regime’s domestic human rights record.
Protest organizers have announced plans for sustained mobilization, with a Global Day of Action scheduled for January 17. Pro-Palestine groups continue calling for escalated resistance against what they characterize as interconnected struggles spanning from Gaza to Caracas, united in opposition to American imperialism and the defense of what they term the “global camp of resistance.”
Of course they are.