A far-left group that seeks to abolish prisons and that has ties to a Palestinian terrorist organization has endorsed Bernie Sander for president.
Sen. Sanders (I-VT) has whole heartedly embraced the endorsement from the radical Groups Dream Defenders. The group’s co-director, Phillip Agnew, is a top Sanders surrogate. ACV Reports has learned.
Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign website touted the endorsement on a new page added Monday. The group’s political arm, Dream Defenders PAC, has been holding twice-weekly phone banking events in support of Sanders. Dream Defenders aims to abolish the use of prisons, according to the group’s website and public statements.
“Police and prisons have no place in ‘justice.’ Police and prisons aren’t just racist but they work to enforce the separations of rich and poor,” Dream Defenders’ website states.
Dream Defenders, which first launched in Florida in 2012, has declared its support for the anti-Israel Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) movement, which has its own ties to organizations designated by the U.S. State Department as terrorist entities. It has repeatedly promoted the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine on its website, which has been a U.S.-designated terrorist organization since 1997.
An educational resource Dream Defenders created in 2016 for schools depicts the PFLP as victims of oppression and draws comparisons between the two groups.
“The PFLP is fighting against Israel, the Zionist movement, the Palestinian Authority governing body, global imperialism, and Arab reaction,” the documents states, noting that the group’s “tactics have included hijackings, assassinations, car bombings, suicide bombings, and paramilitary operations against civilian and military targets.”
“They want to be free from global imperialism,” it adds. “They want liberation. They want equal rights. Just like the Dream Defenders.”
Dream Defenders in 2016 organized a West Bank trip that was led by former PFLP member Mahmoud Jiddeh, according to reports by Fox News and the Washington Free Beacon. Jiddeh spent 17 years in prison for planting explosives in Israel that wounded nine civilians, the reports noted.
Dream Defenders did not return inquiries from ACV Reports about the group’s position on prison abolition, the PFLP and Sanders. The Sanders campaign also did not reply to an email seeking comment.
Democrat Andrew Gillum was criticized during his 2018 campaign for Florida governor over his ties to Dream Defenders, but the Sanders campaign has fully embraced the radical group.
Agnew appeared on behalf of the Sanders campaign Saturday in a heated MSNBC segment, where he tangled with Tom Steyer adviser Jimmy Williams.
“You know what doesn’t fly? The notion that a billionaire can earn a billion dollars,” Agnew said. “You cannot earn a billion dollars. You can make it and we can take it,” he added.
“That’s Stalin,” Williams fired back.
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