The Trump Administration is moving to block visas for Palestinian terrorists and radical activists slated to attend the upcoming People’s Conference for Palestine in Detroit. A senior State Department official told the Washington Free Beacon, “Given the public invite lists seem to include a number of terrorist sympathizers, we are going through and ensuring all international speakers slated to attend the conference are being placed on a ‘look out’ status for visa applications.”
The event, scheduled for Aug. 29–31, will feature nearly 40 speakers, including several convicted terrorists. Hussam Shaheen, who served 27 years in prison for attempted murder, is among them. So is Omar Assaf, a former member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who spent eight years in jail, and Lama Ghosheh, a journalist sentenced in 2023 for inciting violence and praising terrorism.
Gaza-based writer Mosab Abu Toha—who won a Pulitzer Prize before his extremist posts came to light—will also speak. In one Facebook post, he sneered at the plight of Israeli hostages, writing, “How on earth is this girl called a hostage?” referring to 28-year-old Emily Damari, kidnapped by Hamas and held for 471 days.
The conference’s U.S.-based speakers include notorious anti-Israel activists such as Berkeley professor Hatem Bazian, anti-Semite Linda Sarsour, and Columbia protest leader Mahmoud Khalil. With over 3,000 expected attendees, panels will promote a global arms embargo against Israel and demonize Zionism as “imperialism.”
By refusing entry to those who openly glorify terror, the Trump Administration is sending a clear message. As the State Department official affirmed, America must ensure such individuals “are appropriately processed.”
