American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) has emerged as one of the most radical and controversial anti-Israel groups, with a far reach into campuses and anti-Zionist organizations. We have covered the role of AMP in numerous posts dating back several years.
AMP was involved in organizing protests and disruption of the Christians United for Israel Annual Summit in July 2019, which we covered in Investigation: Anti-Israel groups plan disruption of Christians United for Israel Annual Summit. That post has a section devoted to AMP’s origins and leadership, including its role in Students for Justice in Palestine. AMP also co-organized the U.S. Tour for Janna Jihad, Rewarding Palestinian child exploitation: Janna Jihad goes to Congress.
AMP also has been the subject of congressional testimony by Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, and reports by the ADL, NGO-Monitor, and Canary Mission.
The Washington Free Beacon is one of our favorite websites, with a long history of investigative journalism. So the Legal Insurrection Foundation was pleased to join with the Free Beacon in an investigation of the role AMP plays as a connector among various anti-Israel groups.
Here’s an excerpt from the Free Beacon story by Joe Schoffstall, to which LIF’s Samantha Mandeles contributed. Click over to read the whole thing.
American Muslims for Palestine has been active in recent anti-Israel demonstrations and campaigns in the United States alongside other far-left, pro-Palestinian groups.In 2017, AMP began organizing with IfNotNow (INN), a group that regularly accuses Israel of crimes in the Palestinian territories. Max Berger, a cofounder of IfNotNow who is now the director for progressive partnerships for Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 presidential campaign, previously tweeted that he would “totally be friends with Hamas.”AMP and INN together disrupted the Senate confirmation hearing for David Friedman, the United States ambassador to Israel, in early 2017. Thomas Corcoran, an INN activist, recalled the disruption one year later and referenced Taher Herzallah, the associate director of outreach and grassroots organizing for AMP. “Thank you IfNotNow, American Muslims for Palestine, CODEPINK: Women for Peace, and all of the other powerful movements and leaders that are in this fight,” Corcoran wrote.Shortly after, INN held protests outside of the Trump Hotel in Washington, D.C., against “the occupation of Palestine and Donald Trump,” according to a timelineof the partnership from Canary Mission. While INN was protesting outside the Trump Hotel, AMP was protesting outside the White House. INN then went to the White House and joined AMP.AMP and INN, along with other pro-Palestinian organizations, also came to the defense of freshman representatives Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) as they came under fire for anti-Semitic remarks.Members of AMP and INN co-signed a letter with a long list of other far-left leaders in April standing “in solidarity” with Omar and “firmly against the rise of Islamophobic attacks and attempts to divide us as a people.” The letter blamed “white supremacy, discrimination, bigotry, and hateful expressions against immigrants, refugees, people of color, and communities of faith” for the attacks against Omar.Tlaib met with members of AMP in April and was photographed with Joe Catron, who has openly shown support for terrorist organizations. “A tip of my hat to Rashida Tlaib, who really goes above and beyond the call of duty in welcoming every supporter of Palestine to her office, listening to what we have to say, answering our questions, and posing for endless pictures,” Catron wrote following the meeting.* * *AMP did not respond to numerous requests for comment. IfNotNow also did not respond to inquiries.Samantha Mandeles of Legal Insurrection Foundation contributed to this report.
Samantha will have follow up posts on the investigation in the coming days and weeks.
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