During a White House roundtable discussion, Kristi Noem on Wednesday likened antifa to the notorious gang, the Gaza-based organization, Hezbollah and ISIS, calling the decentralized street activists “just as dangerous” as designated terrorist organizations.
“They operate with the same complexity as Mara Salvatrucha, as the Tren de Aragua, as the Islamic State, as Hezbollah, as Hamas, each one of these, they pose the same level of threat,” Noem stated. “Their goal is to dismantle our society, just like the other terrorists we have confronted for many, many years.”
The roundtable featured conservative online reporters including Andy Ngo, Nick Sortor, Katie Daviscourt and others who cover anti-fascist demonstrations.
Several organizations mentioned by the secretary – the Palestinian, Lebanese, and jihadist factions – are formally designated terrorist organizations that hold land, operate military wings, have hierarchical leadership and have executed large-scale assaults such as bombings, kidnappings and assassinations.
Specialists in radical movements have long described the anti-fascist movement, by contrast, as having no centralized leadership, official membership or organizational structure, and it has generally been described by national authorities as a decentralized movement of campaigners who engage in protest activity, some of which has included property destruction and street violence.
This meeting comes after a presidential directive signed last month classifying antifa as a “domestic terrorist organization”.
Days before the announcement, a Proud Boys leader who was convicted and then pardoned for his role on January 6 wrote on social media: “Who’s ready to go ANTIFA hunting? Because I know a few guys.”
