US Bombs Venezuela & Kidnaps Maduro
A Criminal Terrorist Act In a cowardly escalation on January 3rd, US imperialism attacked Venezuela overnight, dropping bombs on Caracas that killed 40 people and carrying out an extrajudicial kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores. This criminal terrorist act is not only the culmination of months of a bombing campaign…
An open letter to the people of NYC on the occasion of Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration, from some people who have been there before
To the people of NYC, we know you like to think of yourselves as the first city. The bagels and pizza are better (for the record, the hot dogs are better in Chicago). But when it comes to electing a progressive mayor- an underdog with a social movement background who beat a truly ghoulish opponent-…
Zohran Mamdani: New York’s Next Broken Promise
Statement on the election of two-faced Zohran Mamdani for Mayor of NYC
On Tuesday, October 7th outside the Israeli Consulate, two people were arrested protesting two years of genocide in Gaza. Over 12 cops swarmed our protest and grabbed them for no reason. This “catch and release” tactic is used by police to scare and silence people standing with Palestine. They hit you with bullshit accusations and expect you to take a deal saying you’ll stay out of trouble.
Today, at court, we found out the charges against one protester were never actually filed.
“Way Past Time” A summation of the October 7th No Business as Usual protest.
What is it going to take to end the genocide? A question we’ve asked ourselves and people all over the country countless times. By the start of the summer, anywhere from 56,000-150,000 people had been murdered, Gaza had been reduced to rubble, and famine was spreading — destruction made possible by the US-Israel War Machine. Behind Enemy Lines entered the summer, taking stock, trying to understand how to throw a wrench into the gears of the war machine.
The world failed Gaza: A statement on the ceasefire
“After two years of US-Israel genocide against the Palestinian people of Gaza, a ceasefire has come into effect. Just as they did before the last ceasefire, while Palestinians celebrated a potential end to the slaughter and made plans to return to their homes, Israel’s occupation forces made sure to pummel Gaza, one more time, bombing the Ghabboun family home in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City. “
BEL Members Arrested Standing up to the ICE Gestapo
“Two members of BEL were arrested by the ICE Gestapo this morning while protesting outside the Broadview ICE processing center…”
“Unbelievable“ How Behind Enemy Lines and 10 anti-genocide protesters took the City of Chicago to court, and won.
“Behind Enemy Lines and the DNC defendants were able to draw a firm line in the sand: we made it clear that the fight against repression is part and parcel of the fight for Palestine. That the courageous resisters were not going to be left to stand alone. We hope that this experience can inspire others to draw a line in the sand as well, one that is urgently needed.”
With friends like these: A reply to the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression
“On July 9th, the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR), a longstanding reformist organization, published a statement responding to recent social media drama concerning Alderman Byron Sigcho Lopez and various leftist organizations and NGOs. Behind Enemy Lines is replying to that arrogant statement…”
“On June 21st, Donald Trump, the braying head of this decrepit empire, announced that the US had joined Israel in its war of aggression against Iran. The US-Israel belligerence comes wrapped in red white and blue hypocrisy: two nuclear armed terrorist states who are currently partnering in the modern day holocaust in Gaza, bombing Iran’s civilian energy infrastructure, murdering military leaders and scientists alike. “
Israel’s Attack on Iran
“The 77 years of ongoing Nakba and the modern-day Holocaust in Gaza expose the actual reality of Israel: a terrorist rogue state and the regional attack dog for US imperialism. That dog may now be becoming rabid and attempting to provoke a larger war…”
A Statement on the events in DC
May 22nd, 2025
A statement on the event in DC: 14,000 Palestinian babies are facing imminent starvation at the hands of the US-Israel war machine.
Unhinged McCarthyism and Liberal Cowardice: Our response to yesterday’s so-called hearings
“Brandon Johnson has made his position abundantly clear: protest is only allowed, insofar as he and his thugs in blue approve of it. If you dare to demand your day in court, they will treat you to months of administrative punishment, dragging you into date after date in court, and call cops to the stand to lie about you. Behind Enemy Lines has been able to make our position clear as well: it’s always right to resist. The City of Chicago found no legal basis to justify the dozens of arrests they made against DNC protesters, because none exists, and we exposed that.”
Press Release: May 7th – Victory in the courts!
“We’re here today to celebrate the fact that 10 people among the 8/20 protesters who were facing city charges all refused plea offers and demanded their day in court, and over the last 2 months, each and every one of those cases was either dropped or resulted in a verdict of not liable.”
“Brandon Johnson has made his position abundantly clear: protest is only allowed, insofar as he and his thugs in blue approve of it. If you dare to demand your day in court, they will treat you to months of administrative punishment, dragging you into date after date in court, and call cops to the stand to lie about you. Behind Enemy Lines has been able to make our position clear as well: it’s always right to resist. The City of Chicago found no legal basis to justify the dozens of arrests they made against DNC protesters, because none exists, and we exposed that.”
Stanford: Resistance is Criminal
“While the Trump administration is targeting students and other visa holders—kidnapping them and threatening deportation for standing with Palestine—the district attorney for Santa Clara County, Jeff Rosen, a Democrat and self-described “nationally recognized leader in criminal justice reform,” is standing shoulder to shoulder with Trump in the nationwide, bipartisan crackdown on protests…”
“Just hours before millions around the United States gathered to demand the Trump-Elon administration keep their “hands off” their rights and democracy, video footage was released from Radwan’s phone, capturing the moments right before he and fourteen others were murdered in cold blood by the US-Israeli war machine while on duty with the Red Crescent last month…”
The Shadow Cast on Puerto Rico
“On New Year’s Eve, Puerto Rico experienced an island-wide electricity blackout, cutting off millions of people’s access to healthcare, food, and light. Hospital patients’ lives were put in jeopardy as medical equipment lost power. Costly groceries went bad. People who had looked forward to celebrating the new year with loved ones were trapped in their homes. This wasn’t a one-time catastrophe.”
“On March 8th, ICE agents stormed the apartment of Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Columbia University graduate and Palestinian activist. These Gestapo thugs arrested Khalil in front of his pregnant wife, first claiming that Khalil’s student visas had been revoked and then that his green card had been revoked.”
“One year ago Aaron Bushnell, an active duty member of the US Air Force, made the ultimate sacrifice. His self-immolation in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington D.C. came as the Gaza Health Ministry reported nearly 30,000 deaths, with atrocities mounting—”
Smash the Deportation Machine! The Empire is the Enemy!
“The crisis is not the people fleeing the horrors of US imperialism. The crisis is US imperialism! We welcome immigrants, migrants, and refugees because we don’t respect the borders of this country which were built through conquest and theft, and because we stand with the people of the world, not the rulers of this country”
“In a meeting of two the greatest criminals on the planet, the unhinged freak Donald Trump proposed a new US-Israel final solution for the people of Gaza: the permanent expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland…”
“January 29, 2024 – Tel al-Hawa, Gaza City. A day that will be remembered with grief and outrage. One year ago today, Israeli occupation forces brutally murdered six-year-old Hind Rajab, her family, and the aid workers who tried to rescue her. Hind’s desperate plea for help, captured in a haunting phone call to the Red Crescent, echoed around the world.”
Statement on the Inauguration of Trump
“For more than a year now, the destruction of medical facilities, the extermination of entire families, and the slaughter of children has been the reality for people in Gaza, all of that death and destruction facilitated by the United States, and by the Biden-Harris administration. We have no pretense that Donald Trump will represent anything other than a different flavor of US imperialism, a new head on the same beast.”
Genocide Joe’s repulsive four years as president are finally at an end.
“His administration began with the whipping of Haitian migrants fleeing imperialist devastation by US Border Patrol agents. It ends in the blood-soaked depravity of the US-Israel genocide in Gaza…”
“Today, after more than 460 days of US-sponsored genocidal war, Israel and the Palestinian resistance reached a ceasefire agreement…”
Statement on the capture of Dr. Abu Safiyeh
“On December 29th, 2024 the last remaining hospital in Northern Gaza was forcibly shut down by the IOF. Soldiers raided the Kamal Adwan Hospital, forcing hundreds of hospital staff and patients to leave, murdering over 50 people, and holding over 240 people captive.”
“The vast majority of those arrests took place on August 20th, when the CPD staged a police riot in defense of genocide during a protest called by Behind Enemy Lines. That police riot, personally supervised by chief pig Larry Snelling ended in 59 arrests, including 4 journalists.”
A Statement on Events in Syria
“For decades, US imperialism and its allies have targeted the government of Syria, subjecting its people to proxy wars, bombings, and starvation and economic destruction through sanctions….”
Behind Enemy Lines is a protest marshal abolitionist organization
“In the last year of protests against the US-Israel genocidal war on Gaza, one of the main things holding
back militancy is the presence of protest marshals…”
Behind Enemy Lines BANNED from the Campus of DePaul University
“Nearly six months after deploying the killer cops in the Chicago PD to evict the campus Gaza encampment, in the same school year that it has been repressing protests for Palestine, keeping its quad closed, and allowing a returned IDF killer to brazenly parade around campus, DePaul University has decided to ban Behind Enemy Lines from it’s campuses.”
Different Head, Same Beast! A statement on the election of Donald Trump
“The naked reality of this election is that there was no electoral means to oppose the genocide or to stand against US imperialism. What binds all of the standard bearers of both parties together is a shared commitment to keeping US imperialism as the top-dog empire in the world, no matter what the cost in human lives, no matter how many genocides they commit, or countries they destroy. “
“The DNC is that way!”: A summation of our fight to shut down the DNC for Gaza
“After 8 months of effort, of speakouts and protests, thousands of posters, tens of thousands of leaflets, and hundreds of hours on the street, we failed in the audacious goal that we set for ourselves: to shut down the Democratic National Convention/Death and Nakba Coronation (DNC). This summation will take an unflinching look at our own shortcomings and mistakes alongside the objective difficulties that we faced.”
Stand With Samidoun! It’s Right to Rebel Against Genocide!
“On October 15 the US imperialists collaborated with Canada to sanction Samidoun, designating the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network a “terrorist entity” under Canadian criminal code and the US Treasury department. This outrageous attack is a clear attempt by Biden and Harris to repress all organizing against the Israeli occupation of Palestine that steps out of the boundaries acceptable to the rulers.”
October 10th statement from Behind Enemy lines and a group of DNC arestees
“On August 20th, we rallied in front of the Israeli consulate to demonstrate our support for the people of Palestine, and tried to march to confront the war-makers in the citadel of the United Center. Instead, Snelling and Johnson made clear that they stand with genocide over the people of Chicago and staged a police riot.”
On the US-Israel terrorist attack against Lebanon
“Every week, the US-Israel war machine invents new levels of depravity. They have carried out a regime of assassinations and implemented the systematic kidnapping, torture, and sexual assault of Palestinians. They have dropped bombs on schools, homes, hospitals, and houses of worship for nearly a year in Gaza, while carrying out pogroms in the West Bank. …”
Report Back from the Make it Great Like ’68 Protest at the DNC
“On March 7th, 2024—5 months into the genocide of Gaza—Behind Enemy Lines called on students and youth to join us in Chicago to shut down the DNC for Gaza. On August 20th at 7pm, over 200 brave protestors gathered outside of the Israeli consulate to do just that.”
Behind Enemy Lines resignation from the US chapter of ILPS
“Given that ILPS-US has an open tolerance for revisionism and opportunism, allows attacks on its own membership from other members, and uncritically participated in the march, and given its lack of human compassion and basic decency, Behind Enemy Lines is officially resigning its membership in the US chapter of ILPS. “
“For the five days of the Death and Nakba Coronation (DNC) Chicago Police Department Superintendent Larry Snelling supervised the intimidation, mass arrest, and beating of protesters against the genocide convention happening in Chicago.”
Rumors and Reality about Behind Enemy Lines and the DNC protests
“During this week of protests against the DNC, various rumors and lies have been circulating on Leftist social media about Behind Enemy Lines – Anti-Imperialist Resistance (BEL). We’ve been busy the last few days, getting brutalized and arrested by hundreds of Brandon Johnson’s riot police on Tuesday night, spending the next 24 hours making sure everyone arrested is safely out of jail, and then beginning to organize a campaign to demand all charges be dropped against all DNC protesters. But we’ll take some precious time out of our organizing efforts to refute some Leftist bullshit.”
8/21 Release: The Chicago police riot in defense of genocide
“While the criminals orchestrating that genocide were gathered less than two miles away, the CPD waged a ferocious assault on free speech. People protesting a genocide were forcefully thrown to the ground, dragged forward, kettled by the police, beaten with batons, and prevented from leaving the protest.”
Response to ABC-7 story on Behind Enemy Lines
“ABC news in Chicago reported tonight, August 7th, that Behind Enemy Lines had been included in a DNC “threat assessment”. While we resent being called leftists, we’re grateful to ABC for putting together a pretty good hype video, but need to clear up the sloppy reporting and breathlessly repeated lies from law enforcement:…”
Sight and sound, or shut it down?
“The demand that the protest be in “sight and sound”, rather than actively confronting the convention isn’t just wrong tactically, it also smuggles in a political understanding that we profoundly disagree with – treating the protests as a pressure tactic, attempting to “push” the Democratic Party to take better positions”
A statement on Genocide Joe withdrawing from the election.
“Genocide Joe Biden has dropped out the presidential election, cementing his bloodthirsty legacy as the butcher of Gaza, the armorer of the modern day US-Israel holocaust against the people of Palestine with a body count well over a hundred thousand. The tragedy of today’s announcement is that Biden remains peacefully in the White House at the head of the US empire, and not where he belongs, handed over to the people of Palestine or Yemen for a richly-deserved trial for his crimes against humanity.”
Report from the Columbia student occupation
“The most important thing for anyone to take away from this occupation and its continuing impact, and the students it seems to have inspired around the globe, is the necessity of stepping out of the bounds of “acceptable” protest. “Acceptable” always translates to “ignorable”, to “not a threat to the current way of things”. If the genocide in Gaza is going to be ended, protests for Palestine are going to need to become more militant, more fearless, more prepared to stand up to repressive forces.”
A call to students and youth: Come to Chicago this summer and shut down the DNC!
“If you’ve spoken out and protested against Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, you may have been doxxed, fired from your job, slandered in the bourgeois media, or arrested. Your student organization may have been disbanded by your college administration. You should wear all those acts of repression as a badge of honor, as to be attacked by the enemy is a good thing. But have you thrown down against the Chicago police yet? Come to Chicago this summer to oppose the Death and Nakba Coronation, a.k.a. the Democratic National Convention!”
High School Protests & Repression in Jamaica, Queens
“Since Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza began in October, tens of thousands of people in New York City have taken the streets in near-daily demonstrations against the US-Israel war machine, confronting the reactionary media and sometimes the batons of the NYPD. While some of the protests have become routinized marches to nowhere, groups of youth and students have been a consistent presence, attempting to push them in a more confrontational direction.”
Statement in Memory of Aaron Bushnell
“Aaron’s message is clear: Give your life to this cause. Unless you make personal sacrifice and dedicate yourself to the struggle, you will come out of this genocide and go back to your regular life, and the enemy will have won from that. The energy from the mass protest will vanish, like it always does, cyclicly, with every wave of mass protests. To really fight this, you can’t just be a protester. You have to be a revolutionary. You can’t just be a dissident voice at a dinner party. You gotta flip the fucking table.”
Where does the outrage go from here?
“We envision a resistance that is willing to break through the police barricades, both metaphorically and physically. We envision a resistance that holds open discussions and debates, brings anti-imperialism to the people and unites all who can be united against the war machine by disrupting business as usual. “
Why Chicago’s progressive mayor is building tent cities for migrants
“And far too few people have been willing to state and act on that obvious fact, especially the people and organizations who were involved in supporting the campaign of Brandon Johnson. The ugly reality is that Brandon Johnson is running cover for US imperialism, and much of Chicago’s institutional left is running cover for Brandon Johnson.”
Against US Intervention in Haiti
“The Haitian people have to determine their own destiny. As an anti-imperialist organization, Behind Enemy Lines is committed to opposing this latest US intervention and standing with the people of Haiti. People in the US have an obligation not to fall for the lies of “humanitarian intervention”, but rather to oppose our own government and stand with the people of Haiti through protest and resistance to US imperialism.”
Behind Enemy Lines 