Public protest movements often present themselves as spontaneous eruptions of conscience. Yet history shows that moral indignation can be deliberately cultivated and directed toward political ends. The anti-ICE mobilizations of the late 2010s and the surge of pro-Palestinian demonstrations following October 7, 2023, reveal strikingly similar operational patterns. Both rely on humanitarian symbolism, emotional narratives centered on children, sophisticated propaganda ecosystems, and ambiguous relationships with extremist rhetoric. Together, these elements transform empathy into a tool of political destabilization rather than reform (Tufekci 2017; Chenoweth and Pressman 2024).
This essay examines these parallels by analyzing three recurring dynamics: funding and organizational infrastructure, emotional narrative construction, and the normalization of radical rhetoric under humanitarian cover.
1. Humanitarian Infrastructure as Political Machinery
Both movements depend heavily on nonprofit and charitable networks that blur the line between relief work and ideological mobilization. In the case of anti-ICE activism, organizations such as United We Dream and the National Immigration Law Center raised substantial sums for bail funds, legal defense, and “rapid response” operations. These initiatives were frequently framed as emergency humanitarian relief but were often linked directly to abolitionist political goals that challenged the legitimacy of U.S. immigration enforcement (Feere 2021; NCRP 2017).
Similarly, pro-Palestinian activism has relied on organizations such as American Muslims for Palestine and Students for Justice in Palestine, which collect donations for Gaza relief while simultaneously promoting boycott campaigns and revolutionary rhetoric. Humanitarian appeals coexist with political messaging aimed at delegitimizing Israeli statehood and Western foreign policy (Green 2024).
The funding streams sustaining these movements are not purely local or grassroots. Major U.S. philanthropic institutions — including Ford, Open Society Foundations, and Tides — have provided financial backing through donor-advised funds that obscure the identities of contributors (NCRP 2017; JB McClatchy 2025). In parallel, foreign state actors have amplified these efforts through indirect channels. Congressional investigations and intelligence reporting link Qatari and Iranian funding to Hamas-adjacent organizations and campus activism, illustrating how global geopolitics can be laundered through domestic civil society (House Oversight Committee 2024; Patel 2025).
Claim: These movements are entirely volunteer-driven expressions of conscience.
Finding: Professional organizers and transnational funding networks play a decisive role in sustaining and scaling protest activity.
2. Children as the Core Emotional Narrative
Both movements place suffering children at the center of their moral argument. During the 2018 border crisis, anti-ICE protests adopted the slogan “kids in cages,” presenting family separations as uniquely the result of Trump-era cruelty. Yet data shows that most separations stemmed from earlier enforcement policies and legal constraints, while the scale of unaccompanied minors reflected cartel smuggling and human trafficking rather than simple asylum claims (CBP 2025; Feere 2021).
In the pro-Palestinian protests following October 7, images of wounded or dead Gazan children became the dominant symbol. These narratives frequently omit Hamas’s October 7 massacre — which included the killing of Israeli children — and its strategy of embedding military assets within civilian infrastructure (IDF 2024; Goda 2025).
This emotional framing echoes a much older pattern: accusations that Jews deliberately target children have historically served as a catalyst for violence and delegitimization. Modern claims of intentional Israeli infanticide reproduce this logic in secular political language. While international bodies have debated legal responsibility, the International Court of Justice declined to affirm claims of genocidal policy, citing insufficient evidence of exterminatory intent (ICJ 2024).
Claim: Western governments and Israel systematically target innocent children.
Finding: Visual narratives selectively isolate civilian suffering from the strategic behavior of armed groups that embed themselves among civilians.
3. Narrative Production and Ideological Conditioning
These movements are not sustained by protest alone but by educational and media pipelines that cultivate interpretive frameworks. In U.S. schools, ethnic studies and post-colonial curricula increasingly frame borders and Israel through the lens of settler colonialism, transmitting moral binaries to millions of students (California Department of Education 2023).
On university campuses, Students for Justice in Palestine and similar organizations coordinate protest calendars, training sessions, and messaging toolkits. According to Crowd Counting Consortium data, over 3,700 protest days occurred across more than 500 institutions during the 2023–2024 academic year (Chenoweth and Pressman 2024).
Entertainment and celebrity culture reinforce these narratives. High-visibility endorsements compress complex conflicts into emotionally potent slogans. Meanwhile, social media algorithms reward outrage, accelerating message repetition and suppressing nuance (Tufekci 2017; Street 2012).
Phrases such as “abolish ICE” and “from the river to the sea” distill layered historical disputes into totalizing moral claims. Their popularity reflects not organic consensus but the power of coordinated messaging ecosystems.
Claim: These slogans reflect universal humanitarian agreement.
Finding: They emerge from structured networks of repetition, funding, and algorithmic amplification.
4. The Proximity of Extremism
Neither movement formally endorses terrorism. Yet both tolerate rhetoric that excuses or aestheticizes violence. Anti-ICE demonstrations in Portland and other cities were infiltrated by anarchist groups that engaged in arson and property destruction. Pro-Palestinian rallies have included chants celebrating “intifada” amid a sharp rise in antisemitic incidents (FBI 2024).
Such ambiguity mirrors earlier revolutionary movements that justified violence as resistance. Emotional language shields moral contradictions: harm becomes acceptable if framed as defense of the oppressed (McCauley 2001).
Claim: These are purely peaceful social movements.
Finding: Radical factions exploit humanitarian narratives to normalize coercion and intimidation.
5. The Larger Pattern: Empathy as a Political Weapon
Taken together, these cases reveal a recurring structure:
- Emotional narratives built around children.
- Charitable organizations acting as political infrastructure.
- Educational and media systems reinforcing ideological frames.
- Strategic ambiguity toward extremist rhetoric.
Rather than pursuing incremental reform, these movements often seek to delegitimize Western institutions entirely. Protest becomes less about policy change and more about moral condemnation of state authority itself (Chenoweth and Pressman 2024).
The danger is not protest per se but the conversion of compassion into a mechanism for political destabilization. When empathy is weaponized, it loses its capacity for moral clarity.
Conclusion
The anti-ICE and pro-Palestinian protest waves demonstrate how moral outrage can be shaped into a disciplined political instrument. Charity becomes infrastructure, children become symbols, and slogans replace analysis. Foreign funding and ideological networks further complicate claims of purely grassroots origins.
Recognizing these dynamics does not deny real suffering. Instead, it protects humanitarian concern from manipulation. True empathy demands accuracy, context, and resistance to narratives that turn moral emotion into ideological absolutism.
References
ADL. 2024. Audit of Antisemitic Incidents 2023. New York: Anti-Defamation League.
California Department of Education. 2023. Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum. Sacramento.
CBP. 2025. Unaccompanied Children Statistics FY2014–2024. Washington, DC.
Chenoweth, Erica, and Jeremy Pressman. 2024. “Protests in the United States on Palestine and Israel, 2023–2024.” Harvard Kennedy School, Crowd Counting Consortium.
Feere, Joseph. 2021. The Costs of Non-Enforcement. Center for Immigration Studies.
FBI. 2024. Hate Crime Statistics 2023. Washington, DC.
Goda, Norman J. W. 2025. “The Genocide Libel.” Indiana University Research Paper Series.
Green, Anne. 2024. Follow the Money: Qatar and U.S. Campuses. ISGAP.
House Oversight Committee. 2024. Foreign Influence on U.S. Protests. U.S. House of Representatives.
International Court of Justice. 2024. South Africa v. Israel, Provisional Measures.
JB McClatchy Foundation. 2025. “Four Funders Supporting the Right to Protest.”
McCauley, Robert. 2001. Terrorism and Revolution. Routledge.
National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy. 2017. State of Foundation Funding for Immigrants.
Patel, Kash. 2025. FBI Statement on Anti-ICE Funding.
Street, John. 2012. Politics and Popular Culture. Polity.
Tufekci, Zeynep. 2017. Twitter and Tear Gas. Yale University Press.
Written with the help of AI.
Writing by Dr. Dannielle Blumenthal 