Democratic Socialists chief calls to replace Israel with Palestinian state

DSA co-chair Megan Romer also defended Hamas and justified the October 7 invasion, calling the attacks ‘inevitable.’

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

Democratic Socialists of America national co-chair Megan Romer called for dismantling of the State of Israel and its replacement with a Palestinian state, while justifying the Hamas invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023.

Romer is facing scrutiny over after stating that the DSA’s demand for a “free Palestine” with Jerusalem constituted backing for a single-state solution.

The DSA co-chair made the comments during a wide-ranging interview with New Yorker editor David Remnick that touched on socialism, US foreign policy, policing and the war in Ukraine.

Asked directly whether the organization favored a two-state arrangement or a single binational state, Romer responded: “Our position is a free Palestine with the capital in Jerusalem.”

“And so, I think that could be safely read as a one-state solution,” she added.

When Remnick attempted to probe what the DSA’s position would mean in practice by raising the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations held under President Bill Clinton in 2000, Romer acknowledged that she was unfamiliar with the details.

“Good question. I need to look at what the actual specifics there were,” she said, adding that she did not know them “off the top of my head.”

The Camp David summit brought Clinton together with then-Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser Arafat in July 2000 in an attempt to reach a final-status agreement.

Barak offered Arafat 92% of Judea and Samaria, the entirety of the Gaza Strip, and land from pre-1967 Israel in exchange for the parts of Judea and Samaria which would remain under Israeli control.

Arafat ultimately rejected the proposal, culminating in the launch of the Second Intifada.

During the same discussion, Remnick questioned her about an October 8, 2023, pro-Hamas rally in New York held one day after the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel. Romer said she “probably would have” attended had she been living in New York at the time.

Pressed by Remnick over whether she would have attended such a demonstration immediately after the killing of roughly 1,200 people and the abduction of some 250 hostages, Romer argued that the attack had been “largely inevitable.”

She said conditions imposed on Palestinians in Gaza had made violent rebellion foreseeable.

Romer also described US defense or economic support for Israel as a “solid red line” for the DSA.

The DSA has long placed opposition to Israel near the center of its foreign-policy agenda.

In remarks delivered in Brussels in April, Romer said the organization was fighting for divestment from what she called Israel’s “apartheid apparatus,” including an end to military funding and security partnerships.

The organization’s current program likewise explicitly calls for terminating both military and economic aid to Israel.

The controversy comes as the DSA’s political profile has grown significantly.

Its national leadership is headed by Romer and fellow co-chair Ashik Siddique, while its National Political Committee is responsible for implementing political goals set by delegates at the organization’s national convention.

The movement has also become increasingly relevant to Democratic politics following electoral successes by candidates identified with democratic socialism.

MSNBC host Joe Scarborough expressed outrage at Romer’s comments.

“The co-chair of the DSA supported going to a pro-Hamas rally the day after Hamas gleefully slaughtered more Jews on October 7th than any day the Jews were slaughtered since the Holocaust.”

“This would be like going to a pro-al-Qaeda rally on September 12th, which I’m sure many people in the DSA would say, ‘Well, that would be perfectly fine.'”

The interview generated criticism not only over Israel but also over Romer’s difficulty providing specifics on other DSA proposals.

She struggled when Remnick asked her to define precisely what the organization meant by heavily taxing wealthy Americans, and she defended the DSA position of ultimately eliminating police funding and redirecting the money to social programs.

Romer later pushed back against the reception to the interview. Writing on X the following day, she described Remnick as a “debate bro” and said adversarial questioning could sometimes “throw me off my game.”

AntisemitismDemocratic Socialists of AmericaDSAHamas