A radical left-wing group described as a "conduit" between the Chinese Communist Party and domestic anti-Israel groups raised money for Elias Rodriguez, the 30-year-old Chicago native who allegedly murdered two Israeli diplomats in Washington, D.C., to attend a "resistance" conference in September 2017. There, Rodriguez rubbed shoulders with "comrades" from pro-Hamas groups and other radical organizations, coming away impressed with their "commitment to actually getting things done," according to a video and an online fundraiser unearthed by the Washington Free Beacon.

Rodriguez’s attendance at the People’s Congress of Resistance provides insight into his early path towards radicalism, which culminated Wednesday night when Rodriguez allegedly assassinated Israeli diplomats Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim as they left an event at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.

Witnesses said Rodriguez, 30, shouted "Free Palestine" after the shooting and waved a keffiyeh. Rodriguez reportedly admitted to the killings and has been charged with first-degree murder.

ANSWER Chicago, a subsidiary of the left-wing ANSWER Coalition, raised money to send Rodriguez to the People’s Congress of Resistance, a two-day conference at Howard University held to "chart a path of nationwide grassroots resistance and mobilization to defeat Trump's reactionary program of unrestrained capitalism." ANSWER Coalition, the anti-war group CODEPINK, and Samidoun, a pro-Hamas organization designated last year as a terrorist group, organized the resistance conference.