Key Takeaways:
- Major media outlets sanitized New York-based Pal-Awda as merely “pro-Palestinian,” despite the group’s documented ties to extremist rhetoric, terrorism glorification, and antisemitic activism.
- Pal-Awda’s parent organization, Al-Awda, has a long history of disseminating terrorist propaganda, promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories, and supporting groups including Hamas and the PFLP.
- From chants praising Hamas and “intifada” slogans to social media posts honoring October 7 imagery and Hamas propagandists, Pal-Awda’s activism goes far beyond political protest into open extremism.
The New York Times refers to them as a “pro-Palestinian group.”
NBC News calls them “pro-Palestinian protesters.”
But who exactly is Pal-Awda, the New York-based organization that has recently drawn media attention over its aggressive — and at times violent — protests outside synagogues hosting Israeli real estate expos?
Contrary to the media’s sanitized characterization, Pal-Awda is far more than a generic “pro-Palestinian” activist group.
It is part of an extremist movement that glorifies Palestinian terrorism, targets the mainstream Jewish community, and openly advocates for the elimination of the State of Israel.
🔴🧵 Protesters wave Hezbollah flag and chant “long live the intifada” outside a queens synagogue, though an Israeli real estate event was reportedly no longer being held at the site. pic.twitter.com/tjHOVMkHpz
— Michael Starr (@StarrJpost) July 15, 2024
Al-Awda: The Extremist Roots Behind Pal-Awda
Pal-Awda — officially known as the Palestinian Assembly for Liberation-Awda — is the New York and New Jersey branch of Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition.
Founded in the early 2000s, Al-Awda promoted the so-called Palestinian “right of return” into Israel. But behind the humanitarian branding lies a long record of support for terrorism and antisemitic conspiracy theories.
As early as 2007, the Al-Awda listserv was disseminating communiques from terrorist organizations including Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades.
The group also spread antisemitic propaganda, including claims that Israel orchestrates suicide bombings, that “Zionist Jews” control the media, that the Holocaust narrative should be questioned, and that Israel harvests organs.
2/ It’s no surprise that this hateful action was organized by Al-Awda, an extremist organization focused on demonizing the Jewish state and amplifying antisemitism rather than pursuing peace or achieving justice for anyone.
More on Al-Adwa here: https://t.co/fwM3ukFB1Q
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) February 19, 2025
Over the past two decades, Al-Awda’s support for terrorism and antisemitic incitement has remained consistent.
Following the October 7 Hamas massacre, the organization praised the attacks and endorsed the “right to resist by any means necessary,” while reiterating its call for the “complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea.”
At a 2020 anti-AIPAC rally organized by Al-Awda, one protester was filmed screaming at pro-Israel demonstrators: “The Holocaust will come back to you.”
The organization has also played an active role in the BDS movement, advocating for a total boycott of Israeli institutions and a military embargo against Israel.
Among figures associated with Al-Awda are:
- Charlotte Kates of the PFLP-linked Samidoun organization, who received an award from Iran in 2024 alongside the leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
- Abbas Hamideh, who publicly praised terrorists including Yahya Sinwar and Hassan Nasrallah while condemning Muslim-Jewish coexistence initiatives in the United States.
- Mazin Qumsiyeh, who claimed Zionists control the media and referred to accepted World War II history as the “Zionist version” of events.
Pal-Awda Brings the Extremism to New York City
Like its parent organization, Pal-Awda has embraced extremist rhetoric both online and on the streets of New York.
In May 2025, the group organized a protest where demonstrators chanted, “With our souls and our blood, we will redeem you, oh Palestine!” One participant was reportedly overheard declaring: “We are Hamas.”
Months earlier, Pal-Awda led a protest in the heavily Jewish neighborhood of Boro Park, urging supporters to “flood Boro Park” — language widely interpreted as invoking Hamas’ October 7 terror assault, dubbed “Al-Aqsa Flood.”
Online, the group’s support for terrorism is even more explicit.
On October 7, 2023 — while Hamas terrorists were still massacring Israeli civilians — Pal-Awda released a statement sending its “highest salutations to the Palestinian Resistance.”
Since then, its social media accounts have repeatedly glorified terrorism and extremist symbolism, including:
- An Instagram post commemorating October 7 with imagery of a paraglider — one of Hamas’ most infamous attack methods — alongside the slogan: “Honoring the resistance and our martyrs.”
- A video advertising a Nakba Day event in Brooklyn that included an image of a keffiyeh-draped head along with a key in the shape of an assault rifle.
- A memorial tribute to Hamas propagandist Saleh Al-Jafarawi, who became known online as “Mr. FAFO” due to his appearance in numerous propaganda videos, describing him as “a journalist who carried Gaza’s pain in his voice and its strength in his smile.”
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Pal-Awda has also targeted mainstream Jewish institutions and communal protections.
Its social media accounts have opposed legislation creating buffer zones around synagogues (which would directly impact Pal-Awda’s own protests), campaigned against the IHRA definition of antisemitism, and attacked Nefesh B’Nefesh for helping North American Jews immigrate to Israel — denouncing aliyah as the “recruitment of American settlers.”
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The pattern is unmistakable.
Whatever euphemisms the media chooses to employ, Pal-Awda is not merely a “pro-Palestinian” activist group. It is an extremist organization that intimidates Jewish communities, glorifies terrorism, and spreads openly hateful rhetoric both online and in the streets of New York.
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