A radical left-wing group described as a "conduit" between the Chinese Communist Party and domestic anti-Israel groups raised money for Elias Rodriguez, the 30-year-old Chicago native who allegedly murdered two Israeli diplomats in Washington, D.C., to attend a "resistance" conference in September 2017. There, Rodriguez rubbed shoulders with "comrades" from pro-Hamas groups and other radical organizations, coming away impressed with their "commitment to actually getting things done," according to a video and an online fundraiser unearthed by the
Washington Free Beacon.
Rodriguez’s attendance at the People’s Congress of Resistance provides insight into his early path towards radicalism, which culminated Wednesday night when Rodriguez allegedly assassinated Israeli diplomats Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.
Witnesses said Rodriguez, 30, shouted "Free Palestine" after the shooting and waved a keffiyeh. Rodriguez reportedly admitted to the killings and has been charged with first-degree murder.
ANSWER Chicago, a subsidiary of the left-wing ANSWER Coalition,
raised money to send Rodriguez to the People’s Congress of Resistance, a two-day conference at Howard University held to "chart a path of nationwide grassroots resistance and mobilization to defeat Trump's reactionary program of unrestrained capitalism." ANSWER Coalition, the anti-war group CODEPINK, and Samidoun, a pro-Hamas organization designated last year as a terrorist group, organized the resistance conference.
"Help us send Elias Rodriguez, a young resister and son of an Iraq war veteran, to the People's Congress of Resistance," ANSWER Chicago wrote in a social media post soliciting donations for Rodriguez.
Rodriguez, who wrote a note explaining why he wanted to attend the event, suggested he was drawn to the anti-war cause after his father, an Army National Guardsman, returned from a tour of duty in Iraq.
According to Rodriguez, his father, who deployed when Rodriguez was 11-years-old, returned home with "souvenirs" from the war, including a patch he had ripped from an Iraqi soldier’s uniform. "I don’t want to see another generation of Americans coming home from genocidal imperialist wars with trophies," Rodriguez wrote on the fundraising page, which was deleted on Thursday.
"I’m attending the People’s Congress of Resistance for many reasons, but a personal one for me is to put a final end to imperialist war, which the U.S. Congress of billionaires has a vested interest in expanding indefinitely," said Rodriguez.
Rodriguez was impressed with what he saw at the conference.
After returning to Chicago, Rodriguez provided a summary of his trip during a meeting for the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a radical group that works closely with ANSWER Chicago.
"The People’s Congress was all about organizing the most oppressed to win real victories. I’ve never in my life been around so many people who share the same determinism [sic] to go beyond activism for the sake of activism," Rodriguez said in a video reviewed by the
Free Beacon.
He said he left conversations with "comrades" with a "genuine blueprint and commitment to actually getting things done."
"I basically have never been around so many people so serious about daring to actually really win in my life. And as we work here in Chicago to build the People’s Congress I’ve never been more sure that we will win," Rodriguez said.
Prominent lawmakers have already called for the Trump Department of Justice to investigate the finances of ANSWER Coalition, the People’s Congress of Resistance, and the Party of Socialism and Liberation over their ties to Rodriguez. "Every single one of these groups and their funding should be investigated immediately,"
said Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas).
Congressional Republicans opened an investigation last year into ANSWER Coalition, which the Network Research Contagion Institute
has described as a conduit for Chinese Communist Party-affiliated groups to use "pro-Palestinian activism in the U.S., advancing a broader anti-American, anti-democratic, and anti-capitalist agenda."
ANSWER Coalition has been tied to Neville Roy Singham, an Indian-American entrepreneur who funds a network of nonprofits and websites that have been linked to the Chinese Communist Party. Vijay Prashad, a Marxist journalist and longtime Singham associate, is listed as a convenor of the People’s Congress of Resistance that Rodriguez attended.
ANSWER Coalition’s funding sources have been difficult to track, thanks to its use of a third-party charity called the Progress Unity Fund to raise most of its money.
According to
tax documents, the Progress Unity Fund gave $232,000 for ANSWER Coalition activities in 2023 to fund demonstrations and "a mass action in Washington, D.C., that promoted a permanent ceasefire to end the war that took thousands of civilian lives in Gaza."
Like many other activists in the radical Chicago network, Rodriguez was a member of both ANSWER Chicago and the Party for Socialism and Liberation, which describes itself as a "revolutionary Marxist organization."
In October 2017, he helped organize a protest outside the home of then-Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel against a plan to subsidize construction of an Amazon headquarters. Rodriguez
was identified as an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
He took part in another anti-Amazon protest in January 2018, this time identified as a member of ANSWER Chicago. "We feel like if we can keep Amazon out, that is a huge victory and demonstrates sort of the power of people coming together, being able to say no to things like gentrification and corporate subsidies," Rodriguez
said.
ANSWER Chicago, the Progress Unity Fund, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation share many of the same organizers and personnel. Beth Massey, an anti-war activist who took part in the 1968 Columbia University campus protests, was the longtime secretary of the Progress Unity Fund. She is also involved in rallies for the Party for Socialism and Liberation and ANSWER Chicago.
Massey is also an official with Liberation Illinois Inc., led by activists Patrick McWilliams and Candice Choo-Kang, according to documents filed with the state of Illinois. McWilliams and Choo-Kang have been identified as members of ANSWER Chicago and the Party for Socialism and Liberation. McWilliams took part in the anti-Amazon protest alongside Rodriguez in January 2018. Choo-Kang contributed $25 to Rodriguez’s GoFundMe campaign to attend to People’s Congress of Resistance.
Liberation Illinois Inc. shares an address with the Party for Socialism and Liberation at an organization called the Chicago Liberation Center, which serves as a hub for radical groups in the Windy City.
ANSWER Chicago did not respond to a request for comment. The Party for Socialism and Liberation has sought to distance itself from Rodriguez, saying in a statement Thursday that he had only a brief affiliation with the organization. The group removed a video of Rodriguez discussing his 2017 trip after the
Free Beacon reached out for comment.
