The statue of George Washington at the university that bears his name wears Palestinian flags, a keffiyeh and stickers in a Gaza solidarity encampment in Washington, D.C., May 6, 2024. (Allison Bailey/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
Peddada continued, saying, "We have to dismantle this idea of American exceptionalism, of supremacy, of being beyond reproach.
"I think it’s very important that we normalize criticism as a healthy process and learn from our experiments in the world to push the boundaries of what is possible, to continue to fight for more and more and to see how the empire responds to us, to continue to push farther and harder."
At another point during the panel, Peddada declared, "We live in an evil country."
He said that, since Oct. 7, 2023, "We can say with certainty that the U.S. has been the most complicit country — complicit is not even the right word to use — but the most responsible country for what is happening not only in Gaza but also the West Bank and also all over the global south."
Peddada claimed that the U.S. is a country that has "functionally for decades been the sole superpower of the world" and has "an agenda that is driven primarily by the accumulation of profit at the expense of human lives.
COLUMBIA PROFESSOR WHO CALLED OCT. 7 HAMAS ATTACKS 'AWESOME' TO TEACH COURSE ON ZIONISM
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters gather at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City Dec. 19, 2023. (Stephen Yang for Fox News Digital)
The People’s Conference for Palestine, organized by a dozen pro-Palestinian groups, began Friday and will run through Sunday. Even before it started, the gathering drew scrutiny for featuring speakers with extremist views, including two former prisoners of Israel released in a Hamas deal, alongside Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., a prominent anti-Israel congresswoman.
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The conference opened Friday afternoon with an elaborate opening ceremony, in which a speaker, after leading the crowd in chants, invited attendees to rise for "our national anthem" as a band began playing a song in a foreign language. People wearing keffiyehs proceeded in, holding Palestinian flags.
Fox News Digital reached out to Progressive International and the People's Conference for Palestine for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Fox News Digital's Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.
Peter Pinedo is a politics writer for Fox News Digital.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/pro-palestinian-conference-panelist-calls-us-evil-urges-destroying-idea-america