Back in November 2020, I registered for and attended American Muslims for Palestine‘s (AMP) annual Palestine Convention, presented via Zoom. American Muslims for Palestine randomly selected me as one of their raffle winners. But now, they won’t send me my prize! I wonder why…
You can read my coverage of the event in ‘American Muslims for Palestine’ 2020 Annual Conf Exploited Racial Tensions to Use Against Israel.
This was the second AMP annual conference I’ve attended; you can read all about how AMP staffers kicked me out of their 2019 conference in Chicago and then assigned several of their large, male ‘security guards’ to follow me around the hotel for the remainder of the weekend—all because they were afraid of negative coverage—in Fearing Negative Coverage, ‘American Muslims for Palestine’ Conference Ejects Legal Insurrection Reporter. You can also read about the historical revisionism and blatant bigotry AMP fostered at the convention in Rep. Rashida Tlaib Keynotes ‘American Muslims for Palestine’ Conference Devoted to Destroying Israel.
This year, AMP was forced to try lots of new things to boost attendance and participation at their conference, given the continuing pandemic.
One of those was to guarantee that anyone who registered would be automatically entered into AMP’s raffle for a wide variety of wonderful “Palestine”-related prizes donated by the conference’s commercial co-sponsors, such as the company Halal Socks.
Interestingly, though I registered (as I usually do) with my LIF email address and real name, AMP did not seem to be vetting the registrants. I received lots of reminder emails and donation solicitations throughout the conference; on December 10th, AMP Development Coordinator Mohamad Habehh sent me an automated note letting me know that I had been randomly selected as an AMP Palestine Convention prize winner!
The note asked that I respond to the message so AMP could get my prize—some beautiful “Kuffiya socks” sponsored by halalsocks.com—”shipped out ASAP!” Here is a screenshot of halalsocks.com’s “Kuffiya socks” listing, which usually cost $13.49.
Notice the lovely and “iconic” pattern, made famous by the notorious Jew-hating PLO leader, Yasser Arafat.
You may also notice that the “Palestine” print includes a unified map of Gaza, the West Bank, and all of Israel proper (save for the Golan Heights). Finally, eagle-eyed readers may note that halalsocks.com pledges to donate 5% of the proceeds of its “special edition solidarity design” to the customer’s choice of charities, which include an Islamist “humanitarian” organization that has been accused of maintaining links to Hamas.
With such an enticing prize, I eagerly responded within 24 hours with my mailing address, but I didn’t receive a reply—nor did I get a package.
I followed up 13 days later, but alas, my email elicited no response.
I sent a third email today, and I even sent out a tweet.
So far, I’ve heard nothing back from anyone at AMP, and I have a sneaking suspicion Mr. Habehh has resolved to send my prize to someone he deems a more deserving recipient.
I fear I am destined to spend 2021 bereft of my promised Kufiyya socks. How will I ever show my solidarity now?!?
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Samantha Mandeles is Senior Researcher and Outreach Director at the Legal Insurrection Foundation.
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