The Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition

Key Points

• The Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition, established in 2001, is an anti-imperialist organization that often calls for anti-Israel and anti-war protests across the United States.
• The ANSWER Coalition frequently organizes mass actions nationwide, including over 150 protests opposing the 2026 military operation against the Iranian regime, as well as hundreds of protests following Hamas’s October 7, 2023 terror attack on Israel and during the subsequent Israel-Hamas war.
• The ANSWER Coalition regularly engages in extreme anti-Israel activities that often incorporate antisemitic and pro-terror beliefs, including expressing support for U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs).
• The ANSWER Coalition has considerable organizational and leadership overlap with anti-Zionist groups such as the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) and The People’s Forum.

Recent Activity

ANSWER organized multiple national “day[s] of action” beginning on February 28, 2026, to protest the military operation against the Iranian regime. Some of these protests featured open support for FTOs, such as attendees who displayed Hamas and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) paraphernalia, and signs featuring conspiratorial antisemitic rhetoric, such as the allegation that "the U.S. gov. is occupied by Israel" and the condemnation of so-called "Zionist puppets."

ANSWER led multiple other similar days of action following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel and at other moments through the subsequent Israel-Hamas war; protesters frequently shared antisemitic and pro-terror rhetoric at many of the protests sponsored or promoted by ANSWER.

Background

The ANSWER Coalition was founded in 2001 by the International Action Center (IAC) — an anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist organization founded in 1992 by Ramsey Clark and affiliated with the Marxist-Leninist group Workers World Party (WWP) — to organize against the U.S. war in Afghanistan.

The ANSWER Coalition has organized numerous anti-war demonstrations across the country in the decades since its founding, often incorporating strong anti-Israel messaging as a key feature of these activities.

ANSWER’s National Coordinator Brian Becker, who is also a founder of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), said in a 2007 interview that ANSWER’s approach to organizing “is about radicalizing people. You hook into a movement that exists — in this case, the antiwar movement — and channel people who care about that movement and bring them into political life, the life of political activism.”

ANSWER has over a dozen chapters nationwide. It is closely tied to PSL, a socialist political party in the U.S. that incorporates extreme anti-Zionism as part of its organizing platform and has long been involved in anti-Israel organizing. ANSWER also regularly works with other prominent left-wing and anti-Israel organizations at both the national and local levels, such as the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM), The People’s Forum, and others.

Key Activities

Protesters at a Quds Day protest co-sponsored by the ANSWER Coalition in New York City on April 5, 2024. (Screenshot/YouTube)

Anti-Israel organizing and messaging has always been a key element of ANSWER’s activities. ANSWER’s protests against the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq often included signs that condemned Israel and praised anti-Israel terror groups, such as Hezbollah, and ANSWER has convened rallies whose main theme is opposition to Israel, particularly during moments of heightened hostilities between the Israeli military and terror groups in the region.

ANSWER and its leadership have expressed support for U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis. The organization has also been associated with Hezbollah and the PFLP.

During a July 31, 2006, interview with FOX News, Becker said: “Do I consider Hezbollah a terrorist organization? The answer is no.” Becker went on a delegation to Syria in 2015 that included representatives from the PFLP and Hezbollah. Mazda Majidi, a prominent ANSWER organizer, in 2024 told the anti-Israel media outlet BreakThrough News that, “Whether it’s Hezbollah in Lebanon, or the Ansar Allah or the Houthis in Yemen, or Hamas, these are genuine resistance movements.”

Since the Hamas-led terror attack on October 7, 2023, ANSWER has helped organize hundreds of protests against Israel. Many of these protests have featured extreme antisemitic sentiments and support for terror groups.

For example, ANSWER co-organized a large rally in New York City’s Times Square on October 8, 2023, that openly celebrated Hamas’s attack. Protesters chanted and held signs with slogans like, “Smash the settler Zionist state”; “Zionism has got to go”; and “By any means necessary.” A speaker declared to the crowd: “Our role here in the belly of the beast is to rise in this moment of courage and to join our voices with people around the world to celebrate the victory against Zionist oppression.”

ANSWER was one of the main organizers of the large-scale “National March on Washington: Free Palestine!” protest on November 4, 2023. Speakers and protest participants made statements or displayed messages that played into classic antisemitic tropes about alleged Jewish power and control and openly venerated designated terror group leaders and violent actions.

ANSWER representatives have continued to express support for terror groups at subsequent protests. During a protest in front of the White House in January 2024, Becker expressed support for the Houthis in response to their missile strikes against Israel, stating, “we have a justified right to say ‘no, the Yemenis are not engaged in terrorism, they are trying to stop a genocide.’” At a Quds Day anti-Israel protest in April 2024, an ANSWER representative praised the “unfathomable bravery” and “fortitude” of the so-called “resistance,” stating: “when we see Palestine fighting — six months of unfathomable struggle, unfathomable fortitude — we are here hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, not out of sympathy, out of solidarity and we will be there every step of the way.

Elias Rodriguez, the suspect in the May 2025 shooting at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., that killed two people, was affiliated with ANSWER and PSL for a time and participated in protests organized by the groups in Chicago from late 2017 through early 2018. He spoke at a protest organized by ANSWER in October 2017 and was identified in a local news media interview as a member of ANSWER’s Chicago chapter in January 2018. He no longer appeared to be affiliated with the group at the time of the museum shooting in 2025.

Leadership and Notable Group Affiliations

There is significant overlap between the leadership and membership of the ANSWER Coalition, the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), The People’s Forum, and BreakThrough News (BTN). There is also overlap in funding sources.  

Becker and Eugene Puryear, a fellow ANSWER member and PSL co-founder, are both hosts on BreakThrough News and frequently serve as featured speakers at protests organized by ANSWER, PSL, and The People’s Forum. They are both former hosts on Radio Sputnik, the radio and digital wing of Russia Today, a well-known English-language channel widely considered to be overt Russian propaganda and directly funded by the Russian government.

Several other ANSWER-affiliated individuals have additional ties to PSL, The People’s Forum, and BreakThrough News.

ANSWER is not a tax-exempt organization but receives much of its funding through a fiscal sponsor, the Progress Unity Fund (PUF). PUF is a San Francisco-based 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2001 whose self-described mission is “to provide educational programs, seminars, and public forums on the causes and effects of conflicts around the world and exploration of peaceful alternatives to war and militarism.”  Progress Unity Fund’s current and former leadership has included Susan Muysenberg, Elizabeth Lowengard, and Claire Cook, who are also closely tied to PSL.

The Progress Unity Fund (PUF), spent $232,244 on the “National March on Washington: Free Palestine!” protest, according to financial filings. The WESPAC (Westchester People’s Action Coalition) Foundation, a progressive nonprofit organization and frequent funder of anti-Israel activities, contributed $62,000 and The People’s Forum contributed $26,356 to the march via PUF. ANSWER worked with notable groups such as PYM, National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP), Al-Awda, the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), and the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) to organize the protest.

PUF also supported BreakThrough Media with a grant of $45,000 in 2023.