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Steven Emerson,
Executive Director
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May 3, 2017
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American
Muslims for Palestine Leader Visits Rep. Connolly, State Department
by John Rossomando • May 3, 2017
at 12:39 pm
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Facebook and Twitter posts disclose
that Osama Abu Irshaid, an openly pro-Hamas leader
of the rabidly anti-Israel group American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), met with Rep. Gerry Connolly,
D-Va., and State
Department representatives on Monday. The meetings took place as part of AMP's 2017 Palestine Advocacy
Day.
Abu Irshaid and AMP representatives met with "dozens for
representatives and senators," an AMP statement claimed.
They also attended a State Department briefing.
They asked officials to reaffirm the U.S. position that Israeli
settlements are illegal; and urged an IRS investigation into the tax exempt
status of the Hebron Fund and Jewish
National Fund, two groups that help Jewish settlers. They also lobbied against moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv
to Jerusalem.
Abu Irshaid's participation in the meetings should raise eyebrows
considering his history of pro-Hamas advocacy. He previously served as editor of Al-Zaitounah, a pro-Hamas
Arabic periodical published by the now-defunct Islamic Association for
Palestine (IAP). IAP was the propaganda arm of a U.S.-based Hamas support
network organized by the Muslim Brotherhood.
Al-Zaitounah included advertisements by terrorist-tied charities, including
the Holy Land Foundation (HLF), the Global Relief Foundation (GRF), and the Benevolence
International Foundation (BIF).
Abu Irshaid also was listed as a research fellow with the United Association
for Studies and Research (UASR), another Palestine Committee branch that
was founded by Hamas political leader Moussa Abu Marzook.
Like the Palestine Committee, Abu Irshaid opposed the
U.S.-brokered Oslo Accords, which granted Palestinians unprecedented
autonomy and raised hopes for a lasting peace. "The most unfortunate
aspect of these agreements is that they put an end to the zero-sum game of
'occupied Palestine or independent Israel,' in favor of the latter, an
independent Israel," Abu Irshaid wrote in The Middle East Affairs Journal.
During a 2011 program, Abu Irshaid defended Hamas rocket fire as "a legitimate
resistance." At the time, those rockets terrorized hundreds of
thousands of Israeli civilians within their range.
In a December 2014 Facebook post, Abu Irshaid described Hamas as
"an army for liberation" whose battalions rise up for the blood
of the martyrs instead of capitulating to Israel like Palestinian Authority
President Mahmoud Abbas.
A few months later, Abu Irshaid condemned
Egypt for classifying Hamas as a terrorist organization: "Cairo
Aviv" designates Hamas as a terrorist organization. Realy! (sic) Look
who's talking!? A terrorist murder regime."
Connolly's office and the State Department could not be reached for
comment.
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