The man who organized the violent protests against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, D.C., last week hosted a leader of a U.S.-designated terrorist organization on his YouTube show in January.
Brian Becker, National Park Service records show, applied for the permit on behalf of the anti-Israel activist group ANSWER Coalition. Protesters waved terrorist flags, clashed with law enforcement, and applauded terrorist groups. Those protests ultimately turned violent, with authorities arresting 23 individuals. Local prosecutors later let most of the arrested protesters go free, although federal prosecutors have brought charges against at least eight.
But perhaps more disturbing are Becker's ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Less than four months after Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on Israel, Becker hosted Haytham Abdo, a leader of the terrorist group who resides in Lebanon, on his YouTube show The Socialist Program.
The first question Becker asked Abdo in his interview was about the PFLP's terrorist designation, which the latter dismissed as "imperialism" from "Western powers."
"Who is the terrorist? The terrorist is the Zionist occupation, the terrorist now is the one who supports this occupation," Abdo said. Later in the interview, Abdo said the PFLP is also coordinating with other terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The PFLP is a Marxist-Leninist terror organization based in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Its members have also found refuge in Syria and Lebanon. Attacks by the PFLP have resulted in the deaths of both Israelis and Americans alike, including a 2014 incident at an Israeli synagogue that killed three Americans.
The State Department designated the PFLP as a foreign terrorist organization in 1997. Japan, Canada, and the European Union also make that designation.
Even with the designation, the PFLP appears to be the terrorist group of choice by Western anti-Israel activists. The Israeli government considers the nonprofit Samidoun, which is a subsidiary of the Alliance for Global Justice, a front group for the PFLP. Members of the European Parliament have reached similar conclusions as well.
Samidoun often organizes protests with ANSWER, including those that involve unlawfully blocking roads and bridges. But Samidoun is able to headquarter itself in Tucson, Ariz., where supporters can mail tax-deductible donations. The organization's two leaders were barred from entering the European Union in 2022 for their ties to the PFLP.
A transcription of Becker's interview with Abdo is available on Peoples Dispatch, a far-left outlet with ties to Neville Roy Singham. An American millionaire who lives in Shanghai and attends Chinese Communist Party meetings, Singham is a top bankroller of many anti-Israel protests as well as other far-left initiatives.
The Network Contagion Research Institute in a May report described Singham's nonprofit network as "a vehicle for CCP influence" that has "played an increasingly significant role in fueling a more radical pro-Palestinian activism." The FBI investigated Singham in the 1970s for his relationships with anti-U.S. organizations, and Indian law enforcement raided one of his company's offices in 2021 over whether the company illegally accepted money from Beijing to promote Chinese Communist Party propaganda.
Associates of Singham also fund and work at the ANSWER Coalition, which was also a primary organizer of the June protests against Israel in Washington, D.C. ANSWER is fiscally sponsored by the charity Progress Unity Fund, which also fiscally sponsors the far-left Party for Socialism and Liberation. Donations made to the Progress Unity Fund are tax-deductible.
Singham is also a large benefactor of the People's Forum, via a $12 million donation through Goldman Sachs's charitable arm, a far-left nonprofit headquartered in New York. The People's Forum also provides a headquarters for BreakThrough Media, which hosts Becker's YouTube show.
The Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund has provided $540,000 to BreakThrough Media, likely at the behest of Singham. The People's Forum on Monday held a class with PFLP member Wisam Rafeedie, according to the Jerusalem Post.
The People's Forum also helped instigate the occupation of an academic building on Columbia University's campus in May. Just hours before activists rushed the school's Hamilton Hall, the director of the People's Forum called on attendees at a meeting to "give Joe Biden a hot summer" and "make it untenable for the politics of usual to take place in this country."
The outbreak of violent anti-Israel protests has prompted some Republican lawmakers to probe the source of funding behind groups such as Samidoun and Students for Justice in Palestine. Reps. James Comer (R., Ky.) and Virginia Foxx (R., N.C.) asked the Treasury Department in May to hand over any "suspicious activity reports" related to a number of nonprofits that are organizing anti-Israel protests.
"Reports now indicate multiple leftist organizations are leading efforts to fund and encourage these hateful and unlawful encampments," Comer told the Washington Free Beacon at the time. "As part of a House-wide effort to address this issue, the House Oversight and Education and Workforce Committees are determined to follow the money trail—something that our committees are very good at doing."
Update July 30, 11:38 a.m.: This piece has been updated since publication.