Fight Back News Service is circulating the following January 12 statement from the Dallas-Fort Worth Anti-War Committee.

Pete Hegseth is not welcome in Dallas-Fort Worth!

Today, Pete Hegseth, the so-called Secretary of War, came to Fort Worth because DFW produces the weapons of war and genocide. From the Lockheed Martin F-35 factory in Fort Worth that Hegseth visited today to the Repkon bomb factory in Garland, our metroplex’s taxes, resources, and labor are being used for imperialist bloodshed.

DFW is home to every major weapons manufacturer in the world, including:

• Lockheed Martin F-35 factory in Fort Worth

• Lockheed Martin Missile & Fire Control International Headquarters in Grand Prairie

• RTX (Raytheon) surveillance system factory in Richardson

• Elbit Systems National Headquarters in Fort Worth

• Repkon MK-80 and BLU-109 bomb factory in Garland

• And more…

We are working on a “Stop the Bombs Garland” campaign to fight back against these genocidal companies and Hegseth’s Department of War, starting with Repkon’s bomb factory in Garland. This factory produces the bombs used by the U.S. and Israel in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Iran and that the Trump regime is now threatening to use in Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico, and Colombia.

Join the DFW Anti-War Committee this Saturday, January 17th from 3-5pm for a No War On Venezuela banner drop at Mockingbird and Highway 75 in Dallas. Later this month, we will be hosting a presentation in Garland, Texas about the Stop the Bombs Garland campaign and how you can get involved!

#DallasTX #TX #FtWorthTX #AntiWarMovement #Venezuela #Palestine #DAWC #WeaponsIndustry #PeteHegseth

Ft. Worth, TX – At Nikki Haley’s final rally before Super Tuesday, March 4, in Fort Worth, her presentation was interrupted ten separate times by protesters condemning her support for genocide in Gaza.

After the seventh disruption, Haley said, “'If there's any more of you, it would be a lot better if you just did it together.” She was subsequently interrupted three more times.

As Nikki Haley implored the audience to think about the future of younger generations, a demonstrator shouted, “Children in Palestine are being murdered!” Other interruptions included “Stop arming Israel!” and “Pro-life my ass!”

Immediately after each interruption began, the crowd broke out into booing and chanting, further delaying the resumption of Haley’s presentation. Demonstrators were roughly dragged out of the venue by campaign staff and police, and attendees to the event shoved and yanked on the demonstrators as well.

“I was very aggressively pushed down to the ground twice. I have bruises on my knees from it. My hijab was ripped off and when I tried to grab it, he threw it in the crowd and told me, ‘Get the fuck out bitch’ and kept pushing me as I tried looking for it,” said Suzi Mendoza. “The cops just grabbed my arm and twisted it until I was out of the crowd. Multiple people had my partner by the neck.”

Nikki Haley’s views on Palestine have resulted in similar disruptions by pro-Palestinian activists across the country. Haley has suggested Palestinians should leave Gaza and move to “pro-Hamas” countries. She has also characterized sending food aid to Palestine as a failure to stand with Israel.

There are currently 577,000 Palestinians, or one in four Palestinian households, in Gaza facing catastrophic hunger, and the entire population of Gaza is currently at risk of famine. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, or IPC scale, reports that this is the largest proportion ever recorded globally of households affected by high levels of food insecurity.

The disruptions were put on by Free Palestine Tarrant with support from Palestinian Youth Movement and Dallas Anti-War Committee.

#FtWorthTX #AntiWarMovement #International #MiddleEast #Palestine #NikkiHaley #DAWC #PYM

The crowd attending the presentation skewed older and white. Before to the disruption, as a protest organizer took her seat, she said she had a bizarre encounter with an older white woman. “The lady said, ‘I guess they just let anyone in here,’ while looking directly at me,” said the organizer, who understood it to be a reference to fact that she’s Black.

During his presentation, Greenblatt defined ant-Zionism as antisemitism, a view that news outlet Jewish Currents reports is controversial even among ADL staff.

Organizers, including from Free Palestine Tarrant, Palestinian Youth Movement, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, the Progressive Student Union at University of Texas at Arlington, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation began their disruption a half hour into Greenblatt’s presentation. As the group pulled out keffiyehs and signs in support of Palestine, one organizer read a statement condemning the ADL’s policies of stalking organizations like Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voices for Peace, sending police to train in Israel, smearing anti Zionists as antisemitic, and illegally obtaining private information from police in service of spying on activists. Others held up signs demanding Texas Christian University drop the ADL.

The crowd reacted violently by shoving and slapping the demonstrators, and a plainclothes police officer yanked Jo Hargis of Freedom Road Socialist Organization onto the ground as they read the statement condemning the ADL. “He gave no warning to disperse and failed to identify himself as an officer before he just started trying to yank my phone out of my hand, and then he jerked me onto the ground,” said Hargis after the fact. “While the police were holding my arms marching me out, an audience member reared his fist back, threatening to punch me in the face.”

As the protesters were marched out of the building by police, they chanted “Every time Greenblatt lies, another kid in Gaza dies!” and “ADL you can’t hide! We charge you with genocide!”

Despite the intense police response, there were o arrests or citations.

#FtWorthTx #International #Palestine #ADL #SJP #JVP