A Democratic member of the House of Representatives left his affiliation with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) following a pro-Palestine rally over the weekend. Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI) condemned the rally and called it “hate-filled” following the attacks in Israel that left more than 1,100 civilians dead over the weekend.
The New York chapter of the DSA stated that the terrorist attacks by Hamas “are a direct result of Israel’s apartheid regime.”
During the rally in New York City, demonstrators burned an Israeli flag. One member displayed a phone with a picture of a swastika.
Thanedar wrote on social media that he was “officially renouncing my membership in the Democratic Socialists of America.”
The representative condemned the “brutal terrorist attacks on Israel” and said that he could “no longer associate with an organization unwilling to call out terrorism in all its form.” He called the weekend rally “hate-filled and antisemitic.”
“I stand with Israel and its right to defend itself,” he wrote. “There is no place for moral equivocation in the face of unadulterated evil as we have seen from Hamas.”
I renounce my membership in the DSA pic.twitter.com/rtpxStKW2Q
— Congressman Shri Thanedar (@RepShriThanedar) October 11, 2023
Thanedar was not the only DSA-affiliated member of Congress to condemn the weekend rally. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, (D-NY) perhaps the most well-known House member of the group, criticized the event as “unacceptable and harmful.”
“It should not be hard to shut down hatred and antisemitism where we see it. That is a core tenet of solidarity,” she said.
The New York representative also described the “bigotry and callousness” of the Times Square rally. She added that the demonstrators “did not speak for the thousands of New Yorkers who are capable of rejecting both Hamas’ horrifying attacks against innocent civilians as well as the grave injustices and violence Palestinians face under occupation.”
Her statement also came as she posted a less committal statement on social media.
Following Thanedar’s exit from the DSA, there are now five members of the House of Representatives who are still part of the group.
