Young Americans to attend anti-Israel, anti-US ‘hatefest’ with Chinese ties

This weekend, a publicly funded venue in Detroit, Michigan, will host “The People’s Conference for Palestine,” a conference that defies so-called American imperialism. The event, featuring Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)-affiliated figures, is organized by groups with reported ties to the Chinese government.

As part of the promotion of the event, the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), one of the organizers, shared an endorsement video by Salah Salah, one of the founding members of the PFLP, which has been recognized by the US as a terrorist organization since 1997. The PFLP has referred to Salah as a “historic leader.”

“I call on the members of the Arab community and supporters of our cause to participate in the People’s Conference,” Salah said in a video recording from Lebanon. “[The Zionist forces] offer a new model of Nazism… Participation in the conference is crucial to setting a strategy for unified action.”

The conference will feature over 20 speakers affiliated with one of the main event organizers, the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), a group that frequently voices support for terrorists, including members of the PFLP, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Houthis. PYM also celebrated and supported the October 7 massacre on social media.

One organizer of the conference is National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP), a US-based group that endorsed designated terror organizations in the past and played a leading role in the violent anti-police and pro-Hamas rallies on US campuses.

Another organizer is The People’s Forum (TPF), a Manhattan-based 501(c)3 that continuously fosters activities sympathizing with America’s enemies, including China, North Korea, Iran, and Palestinian terrorist organizations such as the PFLP. TPF is largely funded by Marxist activist and capital owner Neville Roy Singham, who lives in Shanghai and has alleged links to the Chinese government, with which he reportedly works on propaganda affairs.

The organizers: Anti-American and terror-supporting groups with ties to China

TPF has also been subject to increased scrutiny due to its activities in the wake of the October 7 massacre, including by Congress, with senators including Marco Rubio calling to investigate whether it is complying with the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Likewise, House Representative Anthony D’Esposito, a House Homeland Security Committee member, called on the IRS to investigate The People’s Forum for potentially “advancing the agenda of those who advocate violence against our country.”

Wisam Rafeedie, a self-admitted member of the PFLP, is among those who will address the event. According to Amnesty International and the UN’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Rafeedie also ran a clandestine publishing house for the PFLP during the 1980s. Another key speaker is Sana’ Daqqa, the wife of Walid Daqqa, a PFLP member who was indicted for kidnapping and murdering an Israeli soldier in 1984, and who died last month in an Israeli prison.

The PFLP, it is worth noting, explicitly boasted about its active participation in the October 7 massacre, in which 1,200 people were murdered by Palestinian terrorists and an additional 240 taken hostage into Gaza, some of whom are reportedly being held by the PFLP. Hamas and the PFLP have also been coordinating their activities in Gaza and their joint stance concerning potential hostage release deals.

Seemingly referring to the recent escalation in anti-Israel and anti-American protests across the US and on campuses worldwide, the conference organizers stated on their website that “all backers of Zionism, Israel, and US imperialism have been put on notice” and claimed that this is the time “to strengthen our relationships, our strategies, our tactics, and our unity for the struggle ahead.”

The conference is scheduled for this weekend, May 24-26, at Detroit’s Huntington Place. The venue is administered by the Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority (DRFCA), which is comprised of representatives selected by the governor of Michigan, the mayor of Detroit, and county executives. Apparently, the DRFCA receives state funding from Michigan’s Convention Fund; in other words, a publicly funded venue will be hosting a conference, endorsed by the PFLP, which will host a PFLP terrorist and the wife of a deceased PFLP terrorist.

Huntington Place has yet to respond to The Jerusalem Post’s inquiries.