Socialist Party Founding Member Renounces Membership Over Group’s Hamas Support

A founding member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is leaving following the rise of pro-Hamas sentiment amongst the organization, he announced in a Monday article.

High-profile members of the DSA publicly denounced the New York City Democratic Socialist’s (NYC DSA) rally in Times Square Oct. 8, which followed Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel. Now, one longtime DSA member and one founding member are renouncing their memberships because of the pro-Hamas stance of many younger members.

“An organization that can’t take a stand condemning a right-wing terrorist group that set out to murder as many Jewish civilians, including children and infants, as it can lay its hands on, has forfeited the right to call itself democratic socialist,” Maurice Isserman, a professor of history at Hamilton College and founding member of the DSA, wrote in The Nation.

“The Democratic Socialists of America’s initial reaction to Hamas’s murders of more than 1,200 Israelis, the vast majority of them civilians, has brought a torrent of entirely merited criticism down upon the group,” said Harold Meyerson, a 48-year member of the DSA, in The American Prospect.

The NYC DSA’s rally drew criticism from state and federal level New York Democratic officials, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and New York City Mayor Eric Adams. Following criticism, the NYC DSA backtracked on its rally in a statement.

“It should not be hard to shut down hatred and antisemitism where we see it. That is a core tenet of solidarity,” Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said following the NYC DSA rally.

“It’s not that Israel’s refusal to permit the establishment of a viable Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, and its treatment of Palestinians there, isn’t horrific, but not condemning Hamas? C’mon,” Meyerson continued.

Democratic Michigan Rep. Shri Thanedar renounced his DSA membership in a statement Oct. 11 and said he “can no longer associate with an organization unwilling to call out terrorism.”

The DSA and NYC DSA did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.