Senator Bill Cassidy(R-LA) on Thursday announced that the Senate will investigate American Muslims for Palestine’s activities on college campuses, alleging that nine individuals associated with the group have ties to Hamas or Hamas-linked organizations.
“I launched an investigation into American Muslims for Palestine demanding answers about their activities on college campuses,” the Louisiana Republican said at a hearing discussing rising anti-Semitism on college campuses. “This group’s leaders have ties to Hamas and helped create the group Students for Justice in Palestine.”
Cassidy launched the investigation under the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, which he chairs.
In a letter to AMP, Cassidy accused the group of having “extensive” ties to Hamas, which is a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). He added that the group has been actively involved in organizing college students and helped create and fund Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which has been banned or suspended on several campuses for creating security concerns.
In the letter, he listed the nine individuals who were identified by Jonathan Schanzer, the Executive Director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, with troubling ties.
They include AMP board member Salah Sarsour, who helped raise money for the Holy Land Foundation, which was founded by Hamas’s Deputy Director, Mousa Abu Marzook. The Holy Land Foundation was shuttered by the United States government after it sent $12.4 million out of the United States to “willfully contribute funds, goods, and services to Hamas.” Sarsour also reportedly sent funds to Adel Awadallah, who helped lead Hamas’s Al-Qassam Brigades before he was killed by Israeli forces in 1998.
Others listed who helped raise funds for the Holy Land Foundation include AMP event speakers Jamal Said and Kifah Mustafa. Mohammed El-Mezain, who helped lead the Holy Land Foundation, spoke at an AMP-sponsored event in 2023 was also listed.
AMP’s executive director, Osama Abuirshaid, is listed due to his previous work for the newspaper of Islamic Association for Palestine, which was founded with startup money from Marzook and provided “media, communications, and fundraising services” to the Holy Land Foundation. According to Cassidy’s letter, in the newspaper Al-Zaytounah, he “published interviews that highlight his communications with Hamas leader Abu Marzook and other Hamas leaders in Gaza . . . [and] in 2014 . . . was featured on the website of Hamas’s self-declared military wing, the al-Qassam Brigades.”
Rafeeq Jaber, who helped prepare tax forms for AMP’s partner organization, AJP Education Foundation, was listed. He previously served as president of the Islamic Association for Palestine along with Sufian Nabhan,who is also listed for being a former member of AMP’s national board and serving as Michigan representative for the Islamic Association for Palestine.
Abdelbaset Hamayel, who is also listed on AMP tax forms and was described in 2014 as AMP’s executive director also served as “secretary general” of the Islamic Association for Palestine and a representative for KindHearts which was also shuttered for its ties to the Holy Land Foundation. Kindhearts’ founder, Khaled Smaili, reportedly worked for Global Relief Foundation, which was sanctioned by the Treasury Department in 2002 for funding al-Qaeda.
AMP Chairman Hatem Bazian was “a frequent speaker at IAP events” and “helped raise money for Kindhearts in 2004,” and a professor at the University of Pennsylvania according to the letter.
Abuirshaid has addressed students directly at Columbia University, George Washington University. Bazian has addressed students at UC Berkeley and where he teaches at the University of Pennsylvania.
Cassidy’s letter goes on to say that AMP has helped to recently organize SJP conferences at college campuses including at Rutgers Universities and the National Students for Justice in Palestine conference at UCLA.
“These campuses have become sites for a combined total of approximately 300 arrests and detentions,” Cassidy wrote. “UCLA, where AMP helped to organize the National SJP conference, has been the site of more than 200 arrests or detentions.”
Cassidy said that AMP’s ties to 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’s letter added that more than 60 colleges and universities are under investigation for Title VI violations relating to antisemitic harassment and discrimination.
In a letter to AMP, Cassidy demanded documents about the group’s actions on college campuses including their financial ties and its associates’ ties to Hamas and Hamas-affiliates by April 9.
Cassidy sent letters to several colleges and universities, including UCLA, George Washington University, Columbia University, and Barnard College, requesting information about the activities of SJP and AMP. Additionally, Cassidy sent a letter to the Justice Department outlining the investigation and seeking further information.
