American Muslims for Palestine (AMP)
Two leading pro-Palestinian groups in the United States - American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) and National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) - are a propaganda front working to recruit “uninformed, misguided, and impressionable college students to serve as foot soldiers for Hamas” according to federal lawsuit filed 01 May 2024. Nine survivors of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on southern Israel brought a federal lawsuit by major U.S. and global law firm Greenberg Traurig. “They are not innocent advocacy groups, but rather the propaganda arm of a terrorist organization operating in plain sight,” according to the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, VA. The lawsuit alleged that AMP and NSJP are in continuous active dialogue with Hamas to amplify propaganda on social media or help craft it from America. The lawsuit alleges that NSJP’s messaging and communications tailored to student groups constitute material support for a foreign terrorist organization.
The suit also notes that AMP and NSJP are merely the current version of several prior entities that were already determined by the U.S. government to be supporters of Hamas. “AMP’s message to college campuses through NSJP is unambiguous: violent attacks are a justified response to Zionism as an idea, to Israel as an entity, and to Zionists as people,” the lawsuit says. “The purpose of this messaging is not only to justify the terrorism of Hamas and its affiliates in Gaza within Western academia and society at large but also to establish an environment where violence against Jews and anyone else associated with Israel could be construed as acceptable, justified, or even heroic.”
Richard A. Edlin, Vice Chair of Greenberg Traurig, notes: “It is deeply ironic that the same people carrying signs saying ‘Death to America’ and ‘Death to Jews’ claim they are protected by free speech. They are not. Free speech has never included the active support of terrorism, and it has never protected the destruction of private property or the brutalization of innocent men, women, and children of many faiths, not just Jews. In the defendants, we confront an American problem, as well as a Jewish problem. We cannot—and through this lawsuit, we are saying we will not—allow the infiltration of Hamas-directed hatred, violence, and intimidation anywhere we can prevent it.
AMP’s chairman, Hatem Bazian, rejected the lawsuit as an assault on students’ rights to free speech and protest. “We will defend ourselves,” Bazian said. “The lawsuit is an Islamophobic text reeking in anti-Palestinian racism and resorts to defamation to deflect from the live-streamed genocide in Gaza.”
American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) is a national grassroots organization based in the United States. It focuses on advocating for the rights of Palestinians and raising awareness about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. AMP engages in various activities such as education, lobbying, and community organizing to promote its goals. The organization supports the Palestinian cause for self-determination, human rights, and justice. It opposes Israeli occupation policies, settlements, and the blockade of Gaza, among other issues. AMP also advocates for the rights of Palestinian refugees and works to challenge misconceptions about Palestine and its people. AMP's activities include organizing conferences, seminars, and educational events to raise awareness about Palestinian issues. It also engages in political advocacy efforts, such as lobbying elected officials and participating in campaigns to promote Palestinian rights.
Historically, Hamas supporters abused the US financial system to send millions of dollars overseas. From 1989-2001, one such network raised millions of dollars for Hamas through a Texas-based charity known as the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. In December 2001, U.S. authorities raided HLF and froze its assets. Ultimately, five individuals were convicted and sent to prison for providing material support to Hamas. The Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), which provided media, communications, and fundraising services to HLF, still operated.
American Muslims for Palestine is merely a new name for the same terrorism funding enterprise that previously operated under the guise of the Islamic Association, its alternative name American Muslim Society, and Holy Land Foundation. The Islamic Association’s leaders, including Rafeeq Jaber, closed the Islamic Association in name only to avoid paying the $156 million owed, plotted a transition to a purportedly new entity, continued the old Islamic Association’s activities under the new name American Muslims for Palestine, and attempted to disguise any connection between the defunct and new organizations. The new American Muslims for Palestine is one and the same organization as the purportedly defunct Islamic Association and Holy Land Foundation, just with a different name—in other words, it is an alter ego of the original defendant organizations.
AMP’s annual fundraising conferences often feature family members of senior Hamas leadership as speakers. Although AMP’s official party line is that it does not discuss Hamas explicitly, it has also published fundraising appeals for the imprisoned leaders of the Holy Land Foundation.
In 1996 David Boim was shot and killed by Hamas terrorists while studying abroad in Israel. David, a 17-year-old American citizen, was studying in Israel when two Hamas terrorists shot him in the head at a bus stop near Jerusalem. His parents later sued several American nonprofit organizations for their role in funding Hamas and secured a $156 million judgment under the federal Anti-Terrorism Act. Those organizations then shuttered, leaving Stanley and Joyce Boim mostly empty handed. So in 2017 they filed a new lawsuit against two different American entities and three individuals, alleging that these new defendants are alter egos of the nowdefunct nonprofit organizations and therefore liable for the remainder of the $156 million judgment.
In the new lawsuit, the district court allowed limited jurisdictional discovery, decided the new entities and individuals were not alter egos of the defunct nonprofits, and then dismissed the action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. This should not have happened, for the district court’s finding on the alter ego question constituted a merits determination that went beyond a proper jurisdictional inquiry. Because the Boims’ new lawsuit arises under the Anti-Terrorism Act, the district court possessed federal jurisdiction and should have allowed the case to proceed on the merits, consistent with the ordinary course of civil litigation.
The Boims had little success collecting their $156 million judgment. Shortly after the district court entered the judgment in 2004, the Islamic Association and Holy Land Foundation claimed they no longer had any assets and announced they were closing. Less than a year later, a new organization named American Muslims for Palestine emerged and then incorporated in 2006. Some of the Islamic Association’s former leaders migrated to positions at the new American Muslims for Palestine organization, and the new organization held its first convention in November 2006 at the same location and during the same time of year as the Islamic Association had done in the past. A few years later, American Muslims for Palestine’s leaders formed a separate organization called Americans for Justice in Palestine Educational Foundation — but the two legal entities now operate as one. The necessary consequence is that American Muslims for Palestine is the same organization that provided material support to Hamas in connection with David Boim’s death—meaning it is directly liable under the Anti-Terrorism Act.
A broad coalition of Wisconsin organizations that work for peace and justice formed on October 8th to respond to the "false and one-sided narratives regarding Israel’s war on Gaza and the continued oppression of the indigenous Palestinian population". The coalition’s member organizations include Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition, Jewish Voice for Peace–Milwaukee, Wisconsin Muslim Civic Alliance, Islamic Society of Milwaukee, Racine Coalition for Peace and Justice, Milwaukee Anti-war Committee, American Muslims for Palestine, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Students for Democratic Society, Adalah Justice Group, Syrian American Medical Society-Milwaukee, Peace Action Wisconsin, Students for Justice in Palestine at UWM, Marquette University and UW-Madison, Arab and Muslim Women’s Research and Resource Institute, Muslim American Society, Party for Socialism and Liberation, Friends of Palestine WI, Milwaukee Islamic Dawa Center, Al-Quran Foundation, Catholics for Peace and Justice, Freedom Road Socialist Organization, Black Youth Project 100, We Are Many - United Against Hate, MKE4Palestine, United States Palestinian Community Network (USPCN), Sunseekers Milwaukee, Madison-Rafah City Project and Palestine Partners.
On 14 December 2023 US Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, regarding disturbing reports that Meta is suppressing or mistranslating Palestinian and Palestine-related content following Hamas’s deadly October 7 attacks. The following organizations have endorsed the letter: 7amleh, Access Now, Adalah Justice Project, American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), Americans for Justice in Palestine Action (AJP Action), Fight for the Future, MPower Change, Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity (MASGD), and Washington People's Privacy.
“Reports of Meta’s suppression of Palestinian voices raise serious questions about Meta’s content moderation practices and anti-discrimination protections,” Senator Warren continued. “Social media users deserve to know when and why their accounts and posts are restricted, particularly on the largest platforms where vital information-sharing occurs. Users also deserve protection against discrimination based on their national origin, religion, and other protected characteristics.”
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