Pro-Palestinian activist groups are up in arms following the recent U.S. military intervention in Venezuela and the subsequent capture of its socialist leader, Nicolás Maduro. Describing the move as “imperialist aggression,” these organizations have been vocal in their denunciation of what they call a “genocidal US-Israel axis.” They are urging widespread resistance, protests, and direct action both within the United States and internationally.
The situation escalated on Saturday when U.S. officials confirmed targeted strikes on key locations around Caracas. This was swiftly followed by the detention of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, as a federal grand jury revealed indictments accusing them of narco-terrorism conspiracy, cocaine trafficking, and weapons offenses, all linked to Maduro’s authoritarian regime.
In the U.S., pro-Palestinian activist groups quickly rallied in support of Venezuela’s socialist government, opposing Washington’s actions. Campus organizations were among the first to react, largely overlooking Maduro’s track record of repression, economic collapse, and the resulting mass emigration from Venezuela.
Within Our Lifetime, a group noted for its radical anti-Israel demonstrations across major U.S. cities, criticized the Venezuela operation as part of a broader system of “imperial” domination. They emphasized Venezuela’s longstanding solidarity with Palestine, suggesting that U.S. interventions abroad destabilize nations striving for self-governance, drawing parallels between the struggles of Caracas and Gaza.
The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), a major coalition leading the global BDS movement, also condemned the U.S. military action. They linked their criticism of Washington with attacks on Israel, portraying both as components of what they describe as a “genocidal US-Israel axis.”
The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), the largest coalition of Palestinian civil society leading the global BDS movement, condemned the U.S. strike while pairing criticism of Washington with attacks on Israel, describing both as part of a “genocidal US-Israel axis.”
Slamming “US imperialist aggression,” the group condemned the “criminal and colonial military aggression of the United States against Venezuela, a violation of its sovereignty, the right to self-determination of the Venezuelan people, and international law”
“To free Palestine, then, is to free all of the peoples of the world,” their statement concluded.
National Students for Justice in Palestine described the U.S. operation as an act of “terror” and an “abduction” of Maduro, accusing Washington of pursuing regime change and portraying the action as part of a broader push toward global conflict, while condemning what it called U.S. “acts of terror” abroad.
“We condemn… all acts of terror committed by the United States and its proxies,” the group added. “As Hugo Chavez said: ‘Go to hell, Yankee shits, here stands a dignified people. Go to hell a hundred times, we are the sons of Bolivar!’”
The Palestinian Assembly for Liberation-Awda (NY/NJ) condemned the U.S. action as “imperial violence,” described Venezuela, Palestine, and Iran as part of “one war against the people of the world,” and called for “international unity and action” while declaring “Hands off Venezuela.”
“We stand in solidarity with resistance against the violence of empire, from Venezuela to Palestine,” the group wrote.
Opposing the “murderous crimes of U.S. imperialism,” the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network accused Washington of “kidnapping the legitimate president” of Venezuela while openly casting the United States as a shared enemy and insisting “this is a moment for resistance and for action.”
In a statement titled “Defend Venezuela, Defend Palestine,” the group said the U.S. action against Venezuela was “cut from the same cloth” as what it called a “U.S.-Zionist assault” across the Middle East. It also urged “full solidarity with Venezuela’s right to… resist U.S. imperialist assault,” labeled President Donald Trump a “war criminal,” and called on activists in the United States to “escalate, protest, [and] take direct action,” declaring that “the front to defend Venezuela is a front to defend Palestine… and to confront our collective imperialist enemy.”
Depicting Venezuela and Gaza as part of the same struggle against Washington, activists continued to call for street protests in the United States.
Demonstrations were reported in cities including New York and Philadelphia, where protesters carried Palestinian flags as well as signs reading “Free Pres. Nicolás Maduro” and “No War on Venezuela.”
Statements praising or defending Maduro were also issued by Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah, which framed Venezuela as part of a broader “axis of resistance” opposed to the United States and Israel, and endorsed Venezuela’s right to “respond through armed struggle,” while urging coordinated protests.
Masar Badil, the Palestinian Alternative Revolutionary Path Movement, described the U.S. action as “brutal U.S. imperialist behavior” and a “flagrant violation of international law.” Endorsing Caracas’ “right… to respond through armed struggle,” the group called for protests at “every embassy of U.S. imperialism” and declaring, “As in Palestine… in Venezuela, they shall not prevail!”
We recognize that American imperialism is the primary enemy of peoples struggling for national and social liberation. Therefore, we call upon all social, political, and freedom-loving forces worldwide—just as we took to the streets in support of the Palestinian people’s struggle—to mobilize and act in support of the Venezuelan people in the face of US aggression.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad condemned what it called “vicious American aggression” and urged “all liberation forces and free peoples of the world” to stand with Venezuela against the United States. Hamas said the operation was an extension of “unjust American policies and interventions” driven by “imperialist ambitions” that threaten global security.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine labeled the strike “organized American terrorism against sovereign states,” arguing it was “fundamentally similar” to what it called “Zionist aggression” against Palestinians and affirming Venezuela’s right to “resist in all forms.” Hezbollah likewise denounced what it termed “terrorist aggression and American thuggery,” accusing Washington — “especially under its current president” — of pursuing domination, plunder, and war in partnership with Israel.
Maduro has ruled Venezuela for more than a decade amid open acts of election fraud, narco-trafficking, and systematic human-rights abuses, presiding over economic collapse and the flight of millions of Venezuelans.
U.S. officials described the operation as a move against an entrenched authoritarian system tied to criminal networks.
