Right-wing Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson has joined other Republican leaders in a major political attack designed to criminalize dissent, and silence those who oppose the Israeli genocide in Gaza, by demanding that the Internal Revenue Service revoke the nonprofit status of The People’s Forum and other organizations.

By promoting the Republicans’ blatantly false allegations and demonizing language, reminiscent of the worst part of the McCarthy Era, Speaker Johnson is abusing his office by targeting people in the United States who are only ‘guilty’ of exercising their First Amendment right to speak out against the US government’s policy of financing and arming the Israeli military so that it can carry out the killing spree that has taken the lives of more than 41,000 Palestinians in Gaza, a great number of whom are children and their mothers.

People from all political backgrounds and positions should stand together in defense of free speech rights, which are under attack. The political assault against The People’s Forum is part of a larger effort by Republicans and other right-wing forces in Congress to criminalize and demonize Palestinian, Muslim-American, and anti-war organizations. Everyone who believes in justice should stand together and reject this assault on democracy.