“Raise your hand if you’re a pro-terror radical!” That was how Representative Ro Khanna opened his appearance at ArabCon, an Arab American convention held September 25–28 in Dearborn, Michigan. He was mocking Melissa O’Rourke’s article, “2028 Dem Hopeful To Share Stage With Pro-Terror Radicals At ‘ArabCon.’” But O’Rourke’s warning proved prescient. Panelists joked about the October 7 attacks, called the American legal field “Zionist-controlled,” and peddled pro-terror apologetics.
Asked for comment, Khanna told me that “I don’t agree with everyone who spoke at the conference, but I do believe in free speech. You can’t just be for free speech when it’s convenient. I’ve unequivocally condemned the October 7th attacks and called for the release of the hostages.”
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Despite his distancing, Khanna’s appearance—and position as a rising star in his party—raises questions about the Democrats’ appetite for reining in their extremist wing.
ArabCon was hosted by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), and streamed to YouTube by BreakThrough News, a platform closely tied to the Party for Socialism and Liberation. It featured a range of speakers, including academics, politicians, commentators, creatives, activists, a whistleblower, and more. While organizers billed the event as “a platform for community engagement, dialogue, and political debate to build solidarity and advance the interests of Arab—and all—Americans,” it often showcased anti-American and other radical ideologies.
Many panelists focused on Palestine and October 7. Amer Zahr, reportedly a professor at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, joked about reporters’ repeatedly asking whether “you condemn October 7th.” When he posed the question in jest to San Francisco State University professor Rabab Abdulhadi, she responded, “I condemn Israel and the United States and all oppressions and imperial wars around the world. And I never ever condemn Palestinian resistance.”
In another conversation, California State University professor Sawssan Ahmed used Hamas’ operational name for the October 7th attack, saying that, “Since the Al-Aqsa Flood and before . . . a lot of unlearning has been occurring about Palestine.” Ahmed later said this might be a cause “of hope or optimism” for Palestine. CAIR–San Francisco Bay director Zahra Billoo floated the possibility of a “one state solution.”
The radicalism didn’t end there. Billoo described the Holy Land Foundation leaders who were convicted of materially supporting terrorism as “incredible, generous, kind, beautiful men.” Rania Khalek, host of Dispatches on BreakThrough News, boasted to the ArabCon audience about having refused to condemn armed resistance on Piers Morgan’s show.
Panelists’ discussions of Zionism frequently devolved into conspiracy theories. Abed Ayoub, national executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, claimed that law, medicine, and engineering are “Zionist-controlled,” despite how these fields are governed by public-licensing organizations and state boards. Colleges and universities are participating in “a Zionist project,” according to Rabab Abdulhadi, “to criminalize Palestine [and] to delete it from the curriculum.”
The event even featured a panel titled “The Psychological Warfare of Zionism.” One of the panelists, Lara Sheehi of the Doha Institute, explained how convicted criminals like Walid Daqqa and Georges Abdallah “taught us that the psychological terrain is a primary terrain for targeting” by Zionism.
The conference and its speakers offered provocative perspectives on America’s future. Cenk Uygur, for example, claimed on X that the attendees at ArabCon were “natural allies for America First.” That made for an odd juxtaposition with statements like Code Pink’s Medea Benjamin’s, who railed against the “devils” in American government before emphasizing the importance of “getting people behind new wave of politicians like [Zohran] Mamdani.” Labor activist Chris Smalls believed we are in a moment of “revolution” and urged people to “escape this two-party plantation.”
Khanna’s appearance at ArabCon and his conversation with panel moderator Cenk Uygur focused on recognizing a Palestinian state and building an anti-status quo movement modeled after that led by Bernie Sanders. Khanna has often been touted as a 2028 presidential hopeful; his presence at ArabCon may be a calculated move to avoid the kind of backlash Joe Biden and Kamala Harris faced from the Muslim community in 2024.
Khanna’s attendance put him in the same room as many obvious radicals. Indeed, the first person listed on ArabCon’s speaker page is Rabab Abdulhadi, a professor who organized a roundtable with Leila Khaled, a member of the terrorist group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Abdulhadi was one of many controversial figures named among the planned speakers in O’Rourke’s original article.
The congressman’s joke—“raise your hand if you’re a pro-terror radical”—may not look so good in a future ad. Only time will tell whether, and to what extent, Khanna’s decision to stand on that stage will haunt his political future.
Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images