South Building at the University of North Carolina. Photo Credit: Wikimedia.

On October 7, Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, killing more than 1,000 civilians and soldiers, kidnapping many others, and injuring thousands. Among the dead are at least 14 Americans. Daniel Gordis wrote this “may well have been the worst day in Israel’s history,” with some Israelis calling it their 9/11 and Pearl Harbor.

The atrocities are staggering. Israeli soldiers are now finding bodies of beheaded babies.

On October 10, the North Carolina House of Representatives passed House Resolution 897 in support of Israel, and the North Carolina Senate offered overwhelming support for a statement in support of Israel.

However, in the hours and days following this terrorist assault on Israel, some North Carolina “leaders” responded in troubling ways.

On October 9, Nazim Uddin, Director of Internal Communications of the Progressive Caucus of the NC Democratic Party, shared a post on social media which declared, “DON’T FIGHT ANTISEMITISM, PARDON IT!” and also said Zionism was a negative thing for the Jewish people.

On October 8, the University of North Carolina chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine wrote on social media, “It is our moral obligation to be in solidarity with the dispossessed, no matter the pathway to liberation they choose to take. This includes violence.”

Reverend Paul McAllister — chair of the Interfaith Caucus of the North Carolina Democratic Party — took to social media, characterizing Hamas’ assault as “retaliation from Gaza linked to the presence of a growing number of Jewish visitors at al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.” McAllister ended his post by asking his followers to “Pray for the innocent, and especially millions of Palestinians who are confined in Gaza.”

A few days earlier, McAllister took to social media to publicly support Stephen Sizer, a retired vicar and someone criticized for his hateful positions.

In 2022, a Church of England public tribunal found that Sizer posted “virulently antisemitic” material. For example, The Guardian reported that Sizer “shared an article suggesting Israel was responsible for the 9/11 terror attacks.” As punishment, Sizer is now “barred from the ministry for 12 years for antisemitism.”

Yet McAllister continues to publicly support Sizer.

McAllister and Uddin are directors of Voices for Justice in Palestine (VJP) based in North Carolina. VJP’s website features a picture of a woman holding a sign of the Star of David, which is crossed out. Some, if not many, will read this to mean that Israel and the Jewish people should be crossed out and should not exist.

VJP’s website also features a picture of a child holding a sign of the Palestinian flag that replaces a map of Israel. The message is clear — all of Israel is Palestinian. On the same sign being held by a child is a message which likens “Zionists” to “Nazis.” As the US Department of State explains, one example of antisemitism is “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.”

Even worse than this antisemitism is using a child to promote it.

A North Carolina Democratic Party insider, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told me their concerns about McAllister: “I have to call into question how serious you are about having an interfaith dialogue when you are on the board of an organization such as Voices for Justice in Palestine.”