A prominent pro-Palestinian non-profit organization accused of officially supporting Hamas is being investigated for possible illegal fundraising to “support” terrorists.
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares said Tuesday that he ordered an investigation into Muslim Americans for Palestine because he “has reason to believe” it may be raising money illegally in violation of state law.
“The Attorney General will investigate allegations that the organization may have used funds obtained for purposes not permitted under state law, including benefiting or providing support to terrorist organizations,” his office said Tuesday.
He claimed the group, also known as AJP Educational Foundation Inc., may also be soliciting donations without first registering with the state’s Office of Charitable Programs and Regulation.
AMP is a “prominent organization” that provides “anti-Zionist” training to Muslim groups and students across the US, according to the Anti-Defamation League, which accuses the group of providing a platform of antisemitism and of extreme anti-Israel views.
Miyares said his office will look into allegations made in a federal lawsuit filed in Chicago that the Falls Church-based organization is a reorganized version of an earlier pro-Palestinian group found responsible for funding Hamas operations.
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares announced the investigation on Tuesday. The Washington Post via Getty Images
The suit was brought by the parents of David Boim, who was killed by Hamas in a 1996 attack in Israel’s West Bank.
In 2004, the Boims won a $156 million civil judgment against a predecessor group, the Islamic Society for Palestine, but it closed before they could collect most of the award.
AMP was later formed in 2006 with many of the same board members and the same executive director, a US district judge found last year.
AMP has been called a “prominent organization” that provides “anti-Zionist” training to Muslim groups and students.REUTERS Crowds gather for a rally held by Muslim Americans for Palestine calling for a cease-fire in Gaza at the Washington Monument in Washington, DC, October 21, 2023 .REUTERS
Its executive director, Osama Abuirshaid, has since expressed sympathy on social media for Hamas and participated in a 2021 conference featuring convicted Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Leila Khaled, Hamas co-founder Sami Khater and senior Hamas official Mohammad Nazzal, according to the Washington Examiner.
The AMP board also includes Saleh Sarsour, who was imprisoned for helping raise funds for Hamas in the late 1990s, according to an FBI memo.
The memo claims Sarsour then befriended Hamas leader Adel Awadella in prison.
But the group said many of the claims made in Boims’ lawsuit, which is ongoing, are “highly disputed,” according to the Washington Post.
The family of a man killed in Israel has accused the group in a federal lawsuit of being a reorganized version of an earlier pro-Palestinian organization found responsible for funding Hamas operations.REUTERS
It also slammed the Miyares investigation as “the latest attempt to smear and silence American Muslims who speak out for Palestinian human rights,” calling the investigation “not only defamatory but dangerous.”
“Instead of trying to protect Virginians from the wave of Islamophobic and anti-Palestinian hatred sweeping the country, Jason Miyares is contributing to the hatred with tired Islamophobic tropes and promises of a witch hunt straight out of the McCarthy era,” the group said in a statement.
It went on to accuse the attorney general of “trying to score political points with hateful extremists.”
AMP describes itself on its website as “a national education and grassroots organization dedicated to educating the American public about Palestine and its rich cultural, historical and religious heritage.”
It said it was trying to publicize the plight of Palestinian refugees as well as human rights abuses and the construction of Jewish settlements in the region.
The group also claims it is funded by donations made in the US, and opposes antisemitism.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations also denounced the Miyares investigation as “dangerous and defamatory political posturing.”
“Targeting American Muslim and Palestinian organizations with baseless and irresponsible slander threatens the safety of their staff and the communities they serve,” the group said. said online.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
