Rationale:

After October 7th, Israel's brutal invasion of the Gaza Strip, which has already killed over 20,000 people and kills more every day, has hurt the credibility and support of Israel dramatically. With the demand for a permanent ceasefire now supported by over 50 members of Congress and four Senators, we are in a position to continue to drive down support for Israel's barbaric invasion, its system of apartheid, and even US military aid to Israel. The December Quinnipiac poll indicates that over the last two months, support for funding to Israel has dropped from 64% to 45%, for the first time reaching negative net support.

Socialists have a responsibility to stand against imperialism in all its forms. Our analysis is also able to connect the disgust people feel at the invasion of Gaza to opposition to the capitalist system which funds the Israeli government. The No Money for Massacres phonebanks have been an effective way of uniting DSA members across the country in action.

The emergence of a vibrant Palestinian solidarity movement here in the US has been a huge step forward. It also has significantly changed the political terrain for DSA, presenting the biggest opportunity since Biden took office for DSA to grow and reactivate inactive members. While DSA has grown, we need to, and can have a far more intentional, systematic, and political focus to our work to have the biggest possible impact.

This resolution is drafted to help DSA chapters and members coordinate our response. We propose this to expand on the work being done by National and the NPC to take advantage of our resources and bring more chapters and people into struggle.

Proposal:

The NPC organizes a mass public online townhall with our most prominent public representatives to promote our call to end US military support for Israel, for a ceasefire, to promote Palestinian liberation and the need to fight capitalism to finally put an end to imperialism. People calling in into this town hall could be plugged into local mobilizations and efforts to win support in labor. A mass online town hall with for example Rashida Tlaib and/or Cori Bush and more representatives, with labor leaders supporting the call for a ceasefire and so on, can help to promote and build the movement, build support for the controversial stances Bush and Tlaib and others have taken in congress, and make DSA visible as a force against the war on Gaza and help recruit new people to DSA.
The NPC asks staff and the Palestine Subcommittee of the IC to expand on and update the already existing Palestine Solidarity National Toolkit with fliers, banners, resources, vector image files, to be distributed to all DSA chapters after review by the NPC.

Staff will ask chapter leaders to provide relevant materials, as many are already made, via email.
This toolkit should be designed to make it easy and simple for chapters to quickly produce their own graphics and pamphlets using template materials.
The timeline for the development of the initial draft of this toolkit is two weeks
These resources will be updated regularly to be able to rapidly respond to changing events.

The NPC agrees on the following immediate demands that national DSA communications will systematically promote and that we recommend chapters and elected representatives to also highlight. Systematic agitation for these points can help to unify DSA’s message and activities and help to push the broad movement for a ceasefire forward.

Ceasefire Now!
No US Military Aid to Israel
End the Siege on Gaza
End the Occupation of the West Bank
No to Islamophobia & anti semitism!

The NPC asks staff to, in the same way chapter leaders were contacted for No Money for Massacres Phonebanks, contact chapter leaders via email, text, and phone call to investigate what chapters are doing on the issue of Palestine, to encourage them to take on actions if they aren't doing so, and to produce a report for the NPC on the state of DSA chapter activities around this issue.

Sample actions to take may include:

Helping union members in their chapters organize to have their union call for a permanent ceasefire, to divest from Israeli bonds, to end all military aid for Israel, and to turn their members out for events,
Promoting and mobilizing for local and national Palestinian solidarity demonstrations with a visible DSA contingent.
Organizing banner drops,
Postering and flyering in neighborhoods,
Participating in or initiating mass civil disobedience to disrupt business as usual,
Setting up a No Money for Massacres phonebank in their chapter,
Finding a boycott or divestment target with ties to the US or Israeli defense industry or a consumer boycott company like HP, Chevron, Siemens, or Puma (named in the official BDS list)
Hold local public forums and rallies to make a socialist case for Palestinian liberation.

While any of the above actions are good and helpful, two tactics should be considered strategic priorities, especially important to organize for if possible:

Labor: Over the last few months, many union locals, along with UAW internationally, have called for a ceasefire. This sector is vitally important to root the movement in the working class, and to exert serious pressure on the ruling class. DSA members in their unions should put forward resolutions to call for a ceasefire, end military aid to Israel, and involve their unions in the local Palestinian solidarity movement. This may even potentially escalate to strike action.
Civil Disobedience: In many big cities mass non-violent civil disobedience has developed. Actions like occupations of Congressmembers’ offices or interstate highways have often been led by Jewish Voice for Peace, Samidoun, and various pro-Palestinian orgs. DSA chapters should be looking to join these actions or initiate their own where possible to build more attention and support for the movement and turn out more people to general protests.

Staff will also inform chapter leaders of the public-facing and internal organizing calls around Palestine, as explained in sections 1 and 5.
The timeline for contacting these chapters and producing a simple report for the NPC is three weeks.

The NPC asks staff to rapidly convene an organizing call and political discussion amongst DSA chapter-leaders and members to discuss the political situation, demands, successes, and setbacks in fighting for Palestinian liberation, with ample space for open discussion amongst chapter leaders to present their experiences and discuss effective tactics.

Staff will, in their calls to chapter leaders (see Section 2), inform them of this organizing call, and try to get an RSVP.
The timeline for the creation of this event should be within mid-February, taking into account the DSA TRABACC launch call in early February.

The NPC assigns a liaison to work with staff to make sure the timelines are being kept and to report to the NPC if any issues arise.