American Muslims for Palestine is being investigated by the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) for its connections to Hamas-linked organizations and its relations with the Students for Justice in Palestine and unrest on American campuses.
HELP Committee chair Senator Bill Cassidy announced the investigation at a Thursday hearing on campus antisemitism, amid longstanding accusations that AMP helped create SJP and at least nine AMP and associated Americans for Justice in Palestine Educational Foundation (AJP) officers allegedly had ties to Hamas.
“AMP’s close ties with campus SJP groups raise serious questions about AMP’s involvement in planning, organizing, and funding campus demonstrations that have posed significant threats to campus safety,” Cassidy said in a statement. “While college campuses should welcome free speech and the free exchange of ideas, they should not be havens for terrorist organizations to exert influence or instigate conflict for their own political purposes.”
In a Wednesday letter to AMP chairman and AJP president Hatem Bazian, Cassidy requested that by April 9 Bazian explain the relationship between AMP, AJP, and National SJP and SJP chapters.
He also requested all records related to their campus activities, a list of current AMP and AJP personnel interacting with students, financial records, records pertaining to campus SJP bans, and records on communications with university representatives.
The HELP chairman also requested that Bazian explain the connection between his organization and his personnel to Hamas, the Holy Land Foundation, Islamic Association for Palestine, KindHearts, and a series of officers that seemed to have overlapping roles in some of the NGOs.
In 2009, five HLF leaders were sentenced for providing financial support to Hamas under the guise of humanitarian relief, and IAP was dissolved after it was found civilly liable for providing material support to Hamas through propaganda efforts in 2004.
Cassidy said that SJP founder Bazian had frequently spoken at IAP events and allegedly helped raise money for KindHearts in 2004. KindHearts, described by the US Treasury as the “progeny” of HLF, had its assets frozen in 2006 for support to Hamas before agreeing to dissolve in a settlement agreement.
Based on the 2023 House Ways and Means Committee testimony by Foundation for Defense of Democracies Senior Vice President for Research Dr. Jonathan Schanzer, Cassidy said that Mosque Foundation head Jamal Said, whose organization once allegedly raised money for HLF, sponsored AMP conferences and was a frequent speaker for its fundraisers.
AMP board member and AJP director Salah Sarsour allegedly raised funds for HLF and sent money to Hamas operative Adel Awadallah. Former IAP president Rafeeq Jaber, according to Schanzer, prepared AJP’s tax forms. Abdelbaset Hamayel, who was described in a 2014 AMP Chicago Facebook post as AMP’s executive director, was, according to Schanzer, IAP’s secretary general and a KindHearts representative.
Former AMP National Board member Sufian Nabhan was also noted by Cassidy for his previous role as IAP’s Michigan representative. According to the Antidefamation League, AMP executive director Osama Abuirshaid was the editor for the IAP’s official newspaper.
While according to USA Today Bazian’s attorney said that he had not helped establish SJP while studying at Berkeley, Cassidy said that the organizations worked closely together.
Cassidy’s announcement came just three days after a lawsuit was filed by October 7 Massacre victims against Columbia SJP and affiliated groups, which alleged that SJP had foreknowledge of the Hamas-led pogrom. One of the plaintiffs, ex-hostage Shlomi Ziv, alleged that his Hamas captors had told him that the terrorist group had operatives on American campuses and showed him images of Columbia protests. The lawsuit, like others previously filed by victims in cooperation with the National Jewish Advocacy Center, had detailed the alleged lineage of HLF through AMP and AJP.
AMP was previously investigated for links to Hamas
In July, AMP was ordered by Virginia court to provide internal and financial documents to Attorney General Jason Miyares as part of an investigation that the charity may have been funneling funds to Hamas, which had been sparked by a Boim family lawsuit against AMP which had previously secured a $156 million judgment against IAP and HLF in connection to the murder of their son by Hamas. AMP has allegedly refused to comply, and in January, Miyares filed a petition to enforce his Civil Investigative Demand against the Falls Church-based non-profit.
Cassidy’s announcement about the investigation into AMP and SJP came, as he said during his Thursday hearing address, as President Donald Trump’s crackdown on anti-Israel campus protests that had created a hostile environment to Jewish students.
“Instead of standing up for Jewish students, too many university officials failed to respond or refused to even condemn these horrific incidents,” said Cassidy. “Jewish students and their families are depending on us to defend their civil rights.”
American Friends of Lubavitch executive vice president Rabbi Levi Shemtov testified about the impact of the protest encampments on Jewish students and the disrespect of American symbols, including the “violent removal of the American flag.”
‘Many Jewish students had second thoughts about the mezuzah on their door, especially after one student had theirs ripped from her doorpost. Others have even rethought telling friends or roommates that they are Jewish! And yet others were unsure about attending Jewish events, with one student telling me they feared their unfriendly professor might see them there and downgrade their paper as a result!” said Shemotov.
“In too many instances, I discerned that within this group were many people who hate not only Israel and the Jewish people. They hate America. We need to wake up and see that they are not just exercising their First Amendment rights. They are abusing them.”
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism director emeritus Rabbi David Saperstein warned about the government’s focus only on antisemitism on the far-left and the need to be careful not to tread on free speech.
While he disagreed with the positions of Columbia University Apartheid Divest leader Mahmoud Khalil, Saperstein was concerned about his arrest and the due process that was afforded to him.
Saperstein also noted that the Education Department was being gutted by the Trump administration, but Jewish students relied on the department’s civil rights office to report discrimination. The rabbi called for improved reporting mechanisms, stronger Holocaust education, social media to curb antisemitism, and for the defining of antisemitism in institutions.
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