DNC in Coalitions with Pro-Terror Palestinian Parties: NDI/CAP

DNC and Affiliates in Coalitions with Pro-Terror Palestinian Parties (full series)
NDI/CAP | Fatah | Palestinian Popular Struggle Front
SI Adopts Terror Advocates’ Views and Issues
PA Accepts Terror Advocates’ Framing

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) of the Democratic Party and two DNC-affiliated think tanks are official co-members and partners of three pro-terrorism Palestinian political parties in two international left-wing coalitions. No evidence indicates that the DNC and DNC-affiliated think tanks have ever muttered a word of protest to the coalitions’ leaders about their inclusion of anti-Semites and terror advocates.

The two implicated DNC-affiliated think tanks are the National Democratic Institute (NDI), which describes itself as “nonpartisan” with “a loose affiliation with the Democratic Party” and the Center for American Progress (CAP), which also claims to be “nonpartisan” while “researching and developing progressive policies.”

The two coalitions are the Progressive Alliance (PA) and the Socialist International (SI). The three Palestinian political parties are Fatah, Palestinian National Initiative (PNI), and Palestinian Popular Struggle Front (PPSF).

National Democratic Institute

The leadership of NDI—which receives taxpayer funding through the State Department, U.S. Agency for International Development, and the National Endowment for Democracy—is heavily (perhaps entirely) Democratic, casting doubt on its notion that it only has a “loose affiliation” with the DNC. Some noticeable names among the NDI leadership include:

• The chairman of the board of directors is former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD).
• Current board members include high-profile former Georgia gubernatorial nominee and admitted presidential aspirant Stacey Abrams and former interim DNC chair and Democratic political strategist Donna Brazile.
• Former board chairmen include Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale, former Clinton administration Secretary of State Madeline Albright; and Charles Manatt, former DNC chairman and co-chair of the 1992 Clinton-Gore presidential campaign.

A quick review of CAP’s leadership shows it is fair to describe it as DNC-affiliated:

• President and CEO Patrick Gaspard was previously the president of the Soros-led Open Society Foundations from 2017 to 2021. From 2009 to 2011, he was an official assistant to President Barack Obama and director of the White House Office of Political Affairs. He was also the national political director for the Obama presidential campaign in 2008.
• The board of directors includes former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and former Obama administration Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro.
• Executive Vice President for Communications and Strategy Daniella Gibbs Leger was in the Obama administration as the director of message events and a special assistant to the president. She was also the DNC deputy director of communications.
• Navin Nayak, president of CAP Action Fund, served in Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign as the Director of Opinion Research.
• Alan Yu, senior vice president for national security and international policy, was an Obama administration State Department official serving as an advisor to special presidential envoy for climate (and previous Democratic presidential nominee) John Kerry.

The DNC is an official member of the Progressive Alliance, which says it is a global coalition of socialist, social democratic, and progressive parties (its declaration of principles rejects communists). Former DNC chair and presidential candidate Howard Dean was a PA board member in 2013. Interestingly, PA does not include Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) as a member or “associated partner.”

Two other official members of PA are pro-terrorism Palestinian political parties: Fatah and the Palestinian National Initiative.

PA’s board includes former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister and Fatah official Mohammad Shtayyeh and PNI official Bahia Amra. The coalition also lists PNI Secretary-General Mustafa Barghouti under “People,” with no publicly identified role. A 2020 op-ed written by Barghouti on the PA website states he was a board member when it was written.

These officials are examined in this article’s sections about Fatah and PNI below.

Center for American Progress

CAP is an official “associated partner” of PA.

NDI is an official “associated partner” of PA and an “associated organization” of Socialist International, which says it is a coalition of 132 socialist, social democratic, and labor parties and organizations around the world. Like PA, SI surprisingly does not include DSA as any kind of member or associated organization.

SI has three pro-terrorism Palestinian political parties as members: Fatah as a full member and PNI and the PPSF as consultative party members. Full members have a right to speak and vote but consultative party members only have the right to speak. Associated organizations likewise have the right to speak but not to vote.

SI’s Presidium lists Fatah official Rawhi Fattouh as one of its 34 vice presidents. Fatah official Nabeel Shaath previously served as an SI vice president. Both are discussed in the section about Fatah below.

In the next installment, the Palestinian political party Fatah is a member of both PA and SI and a long history of perpetrating terrorist attacks.