In-person attendees at the joint funeral of Hezbollah leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine in Beirut, Lebanon, on February 23, 2025, included (left to right) Charlotte Kates, Jackson Hinkle and Haz Al-Din. (Screenshot/X)
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In a notable development for the anti-Israel movement, prominent American and international anti-Zionist activists traveled to Lebanon last month to attend the joint funeral of Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine, leaders of the Lebanon-based, U.S.-designated terror group Hezbollah. Many other such activists marked the occasion by openly expressing their admiration for these notorious terror leaders at anti-Israel demonstrations and online.
Attendees at Nasrallah and Safieddine’s funeral in Beirut on February 23, 2025, included prominent American, British and Canadian anti-Israel activists from varying ideological backgrounds. Among them were married couple Khaled Barakat and Charlotte Kates, leaders of the terror-connected group Samidoun; far-right influencer Jackson Hinkle and his fellow American Communist Party leaders Christopher Helali and Haz Al-Din; and former British academic and anti-Zionist conspiracy theorist David Miller.
The normalization of open and explicit support for terror has been one of the most prominent trends in the international anti-Israel activist space since Hamas’s October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel. The in-person attendance of multiple prominent anti-Zionist activists at the Hezbollah funeral and the additional glorification it received from abroad demonstrates the extent to which these concerning pro-terror beliefs have become entrenched in the movement.
A Who’s Who of International Anti-Israel Activists on the Ground in Lebanon
Khaled Barakat and Charlotte Kates: Spouses Khaled Barakat and Charlotte Kates are both leaders of Samidoun, an international anti-Israel organization that since October 2024 has been sanctioned by the Canadian government and the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as a “sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser for The Popular Front for The Liberation of Palestine” (PFLP), a U.S.-designated terror group. Barakat, a Canadian citizen who was born and raised in Jerusalem, is also sanctioned by the U.S. government as a Specially Designated National (SDN) as “a member of the PFLP’s leadership.” He is also a leader of Masar Badil, an extreme anti-Zionist international organization that is closely tied to Samidoun.
Samidoun's Khaled Barakat is interviewed on Press TV at the joint funeral of Hezbollah leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine in Beirut, Lebanon, on February 23, 2025. (Screenshot/X)
Barakat appeared on the antisemitic, Iranian state-controlled Press TV network sanctioned by the U.S. government, to speak about his experience at the funeral. He praised Nasrallah as “an exceptional historical leader” and said “we are very lucky that we lived in his time…He represents the project of liberation, the project of people in equality, the liberation of Palestine from the river to the sea…He represents that future, that goal, that we all are striving and struggling to see.”
Kates, who was raised in the United States and is now based in Canada with Barakat, posted photographs of herself at the funeral on X. She wrote: “It is such an honor to be here in Beirut today, one among a sea of over a million people in collective tribute, mourning, love and commitment to the road of resistance and liberation exemplified by Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Sayyed Hisham Safieddine.” Kates further venerated Nasrallah as “the great anti-imperialist leader of our day, the great Arab and international revolutionary, the beloved speaker of truth and warrior of justice.”
Samidoun leader Charlotte Kates attends the joint funeral of Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine in Beirut, Lebanon, on February 23, 2025. (Screenshot/X)
Samidoun’s main Telegram account also posted about its “members” participating in the funeral procession, writing that “the embrace of the resistance, the depth of its popular cradle, is palpable everywhere” and noting “the extremely warm welcome to international participants as people flock from across the region and the world to mourn, honor and continue on the path of the great martyrs of resistance.”
Jackson Hinkle, Christopher Helali and Haz Al-Din: Three of the founding members of the American Communist Party (ACP) — a group that was formed in 2024 as a breakaway faction of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and which platforms a fringe ideology sometimes referred to as “MAGA communism” — were also in attendance at Nasrallah and Safieddine’s funeral.
In the days leading up to and during the event, the trio shared numerous posts glorifying Hamas and praising Nasrallah. The ACP X account posted a photograph of the three together at the stadium in Beirut on February 23, noting that they were attending “the funeral of the martyred Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah as a show of solidarity to the people of the region from America.”
Jackson Hinkle, Haz Al-Din, and Christopher Helali attend the joint funeral of Hezbollah leaders Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine in Beirut, Lebanon, on February 23, 2025. (Screenshot/X)
Al-Din wrote on X that attending the funeral was a “great honor” and claimed “Hezbollah aren’t terrorists.” Al-Din also echoed classic antisemitic tropes in denouncing “Zionist scum,” stating, “If they weren’t able to parasitically leech off our own country, America, the Zionist p*ssies [sic] would be nothing.” He added, “The Zionist media wants you to believe all these people are terrorists. Nasrallah's funeral was a reflection of the soul of an entire people.”
Hinkle, Helali and Al-Din’s support for Hezbollah is unsurprising, as their attendance at the funeral was not the ACP’s first foray into making direct contact with terrorists. In the past six months, Hinkle and Helali also traveled to Doha, Qatar, to interview Hamas leaders.
In August 2024, Helali — a local elected official in Orange County, VT, and a high school social studies teacher in nearby Hanover, NH — interviewed senior Hamas officials Basem Naim and Osama Hamdan, both sanctioned by the U.S. government for activities conducted on behalf of the terrorist group. Hinkle, a far-right influencer and commentator, then interviewed Naim again in Doha in mid-February 2025, days before the Beirut funeral. Hinkle lavished Naim and Hamas with praise, ending the interview by saying, “You have my full support and the support of many Americans, the tide is shifting, and we just love you guys.”
Christopher Helali interviews Hamas officials Basem Naim and Osama Hamdan in Qatar in August 2024 (above) and Jackson Hinkle interviews Basem Naim in February 2025 (below). (Screenshot/X)
Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, Hinkle in particular has gained prominence on social media — accumulating more than two million new followers on X in the six months after the October 7 Hamas attack — by sharing extensive anti-Israel and anti-Zionist rhetoric, including explicit pro-terror content and false, antisemitic narratives. Hinkle previously interviewed a leader of the antisemitic U.S.-designated terror group the Houthis (AKA Ansar Allah) remotely in October 2024.
Traveling to Qatar and Lebanon to meet with Hamas and Hezbollah representatives was a notable escalation in the brazenness of Hinkle and his associates’ activities. It is unclear at this time how these trips were funded.
David Miller: British anti-Zionist and discredited academic David Miller, who in 2021 was fired from his position as a political sociology professor at the UK’s University of Bristol over antisemitism allegations, was also on the ground in Beirut the week of the funeral. On February 22, 2025, Miller participated in a roundtable discussion with other international anti-Zionists recorded in Lebanon for the Free Palestine TV program “Wartime Cafe.”
Moderated by Canadian anti-Zionist and Free Palestine TV founder Laith Marouf, Miller — alongside Canadian lawyer and activist Dimitri Lascaris; Iranian-American professor at the University of Tehran, Mohammad Marandi; and Lebanon-based journalist Leila Hatoum — discussed the upcoming funeral and their plans to attend. Marouf and Lascaris were among those who also assembled at the site of the funeral the day before it took place, as well.
Left to right: Dimitri Lascaris, Mohammad Marandi, host Laith Marouf, David Miller and Leila Hatoum appear on an episode of “Wartime Café” recorded in Lebanon on February 22, 2025. (Screenshot/Rumble)
On the day of the funeral, Miller posted his account of the funeral on X, describing the masses of people waving Hezbollah flags and related paraphernalia as, “A tide of humanity. Yellow flags fluttering in the sun.” After returning to the UK, Miller shared further details about his trip to Lebanon on an episode of “Palestine Declassified,” an antisemitic video series produced by Press TV for which Miller serves as a producer and lead presenter. Marouf also appeared remotely on the same “Palestine Declassified” episode.
Additional Praise for Nasrallah from Activists Abroad
Anti-Zionist activists outside of Lebanon also made their support for Hezbollah, Nasrallah and Safieddine known in response to the funeral. A few dozen anti-Israel activists in New York, led by the anti-Israel groups Bronx Anti-War Coalition and Misandry Committee, held a “vigil” in Washington Square Park on February 23, 2025, to memorialize the two terror group leaders.
Protesters displayed Hezbollah flags and photographs of Nasrallah and Safieddine and chanted antisemitic and pro-terror slogans, including “We don't want no Zionists here,” “Strike, strike Tel Aviv” (in Arabic) and “Khaybar, Khaybar, oh Jews, the army of Mohammed will return” (also in Arabic; an antisemitic chant which references a battle fought in 628 CE in which Jews were massacred).
At a “vigil” for Hassan Nasrallah and Hashem Safieddine in New York, NY, on February 23, 2025, anti-Israel protesters display Hezbollah flags and logos alongside photographs, illustrations and projections depicting the fallen terror group leaders. (Photo: ADL)
The veneration of Nasrallah and Safieddine by American anti-Israel activists follows a similar pattern of responses over the past year and a half. Activists engaged in similar activities following the initial news of Nasrallah’s death in the fall of 2024, as well as after the deaths of Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar.
Calla Walsh — an anti-Israel activist who recently served jail time after being convicted of vandalizing a New Hampshire facility belonging to the Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems — participated in the New York vigil for Nasrallah and expressed her admiration for him on social media.
Numerous other anti-Israel activists also praised Nasrallah and Safieddine online. Lamis Deek, a New York-based leader of the anti-Zionist group Al-Awda, shared a video of the funeral on X and described it as “the most epic farewell.”
Anti-Zionist activist and author Susan Abulhawa also shared footage of the funeral in a post on X in which she placed Nasrallah in a category of praiseworthy “leaders…who dedicate their lives in service of others” and “who inspire and give us hope.” She contrasted this statement with a denunciation of various other world leaders whom she condemned as “mass murder[ers],” including Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu (referring to him by the antisemitic moniker “Benjamin Meilekowski (Satanyahu),” a reference to his family’s original Polish surname that was changed before Netanyahu’s birth).
The most recent outpouring of support for Nasrallah and Safieddine underscores how self-described “anti-Israel” or “anti-Zionist” activism can frequently veer into outright support for terror and antisemitism.