French President Emmanuel Macron told the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday that Hamas had “never been active in the West Bank,” making the claim while criticizing Israeli actions in the territory. The statement conflicts with decades of documented Hamas attacks, recruitment, financing and organized infrastructure in the West Bank.

Speaking from the UN podium, Macron said:

“Look at what’s happening in the West Bank — where day in and day out, we are seeing violations [by Israel]. And in the name of what? Hamas was never active in the West Bank.”

Two days earlier, French-Israeli citizen Netanel Shukrun, a father of six, had been shot dead at a natural spring near Neve Tzuf in the West Bank. Israeli security officials identified the suspected gunman, Qadri Samara, as a Hamas-affiliated operative.

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Hamas’s West Bank Network Dates Back Decades

The public record reaches back well before the Second Intifada.

A 2004 U.S. Justice Department indictment alleged that in August 1992, Chicago-based Hamas financier Mohammed Salah met Hamas figures Mousa Abu Marzook and Mohammed Sawalha, in charge of Hamas terrorist operations within the West Bank, to discuss the need to “revitalize Hamas terrorist operations in the West Bank.”

The record is not confined to decades-old cases. An open-source compilation published Wednesday by Raylan Givens identified 150 Hamas attacks that either occurred in the West Bank or were launched by Hamas operatives and cells based there.

According to the compilation, the non-exhaustive database relies on official and open sources, including publicly available Shin Bet records, and includes only attacks for which Hamas responsibility could be substantiated. It counts at least 583 Israelis killed and 3,374 wounded.

Hamas Maintained a Headquarters for West Bank Attacks

In 2024, the Shin Bet revealed details about Hamas’ Gaza-based “West Bank Headquarters,” known in Hebrew as Matteh HaGada.

According to the agency, a department within that command directed and executed attacks in the West Bank during 2022 and 2023, including shootings at Eli, Kedumim, Huwara and near Hebron that killed eight Israelis.

Those victims were Harel Masoud, Elisha Antman, Ofer Feirman, Nachman Shmuel Mordoff, Shilo Amir, Shay Nigreker, Aviad Nir and Bat Sheva Nigri.

The Shin Bet said further intelligence analysis linked operatives from the same Hamas apparatus to at least 20 additional shooting attacks in the West Bank during 2023.

A Command Network in Turkey

Turkey has repeatedly appeared in Israeli and American investigations into Hamas’ West Bank infrastructure.

In 2014, the Shin Bet uncovered a large Hamas military infrastructure operating in Jerusalem and the West Bank that it said was directed by Hamas headquarters in Turkey.

The investigation resulted in the arrest of 93 Hamas operatives. Authorities seized 24 rifles, six pistols, seven rocket launchers, ammunition and more than 600,000 shekels.

The Shin Bet said the network’s West Bank leader, Riyad Nasser, had been recruited by Saleh al-Aruri, who at the time was operating from Turkey. The network allegedly intended to build armed capacity, destabilize the Palestinian Authority and carry out major attacks. More than two million shekels had been brought into the territory to acquire weapons and safe houses, according to the agency.

The same Turkey-based command structure has surfaced in more recent cases.

In March 2025, the Shin Bet announced the arrest of six Palestinians from Nablus who it said were operating under the direct guidance and financing of Hamas headquarters in Turkey. Investigators recovered an M16 rifle and tens of thousands of dollars. The cell was accused of planning shootings and bombings in the West Bank.

The Money Trail

U.S. Treasury records independently document a financial pipeline linking Hamas officials in Turkey to the West Bank.

In 2019, Treasury designated Turkey-based Zaher Jabarin, describing him as the head of Hamas’s Finance Office. According to Treasury, Jabarin developed a financial network in Turkey that enabled Hamas to “raise, invest, and launder money” before transferring it to Gaza and the West Bank.

Treasury said Jabarin had transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars into the West Bank to finance Hamas terrorist activity. It also identified him as one of Hamas’s principal contacts with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force.

In December 2023, Treasury designated another Turkey-based Hamas official, Haroun Nasser al-Din, saying he participated in a network transferring money from Turkey and Gaza to a Hamas command center in Hebron and worked with al-Aruri to finance Hamas activity in the West Bank.

Historically, the financing went well beyond individual couriers. Treasury said Hamas created the Union of Good shortly after the Second Intifada began to facilitate money transfers, with the organization moving tens of millions of dollars annually to Hamas-managed associations in the West Bank and Gaza.

Hamas cells remain active

In June 2025, the Shin Bet said it dismantled one of the largest Hamas infrastructures uncovered in the Hebron area in years. More than 60 operatives were arrested and roughly 10 cells were disrupted. Investigators said members had undergone firearms training, produced explosives, assembled bombs and collected intelligence on Israeli targets.

As recently as March 25, 2026, the Shin Bet reported breaking up a 10-member Hamas-affiliated cell from Beita near Nablus. Authorities said the cell had operated for roughly two years, carried out explosive attacks against Israeli forces and was planning additional shootings and a kidnapping. An M16 rifle, explosives and remotely operated bombs were seized.

That case extends a documented record spanning more than three decades. From the early 1990s through 2026, U.S. and Israeli records describe Hamas attacks, armed cells, recruitment, weapons, financing and command networks operating in or directed toward the West Bank.

Qatar is facing renewed scrutiny over its long-running financial relationship with the Hamas terrorist organization, prompting Doha to issue two categorical denials in recent days that it ever provided money to the group.

“Qatar has never provided money to Hamas,” the country’s media office declared on September 18. Three days later, Qatar repeated the denial while threatening legal action against The New Yorker over its reporting on Qatar’s relationship with Hamas.

Qatar’s sweeping assertion sits uneasily beside a long public record. Qatari money financed salaries and public services under Hamas rule, Hamas leaders publicly thanked Qatar for hundreds of millions of dollars in support, and a senior U.S. Treasury official stated in 2014 that Qatar had “for many years openly financed Hamas.”

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Treasury Identified a Qatar-Based Hamas Financier

In March 2014, U.S. Treasury stated that Qatar “has for many years openly financed Hamas.”

Treasury documented a separate Qatar-based Hamas financing operation in October 2023, when it sanctioned Muhammad Ahmad Abd al-Dayim Nasrallah. Treasury described Nasrallah as a “longtime Hamas operative based in Qatar with close ties to Iranian elements” and said he had participated in transferring tens of millions of dollars to Hamas, including its military wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

Qatar’s Ministry Published Hamas’ Thanks

Qatar’s own Foreign Ministry documented Hamas leaders thanking the emir for Qatari money. In February 2021, the ministry published an Arabic press release titled “Hamas in the Gaza Strip Thanks His Highness the Emir for the Generous Support.”

The report said a Hamas delegation including Yahya Sinwar, Rouhi Mushtaha and Khalil al-Hayya met Qatar’s Gaza envoy and thanked Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for a $360 million grant. It added that Hamas’ leadership praised the “generous and continuous support” provided by Qatar.

Qatari state reporting said the money would support “vital and important projects in all sectors.”

Qatari Money Supported Government Salaries and Services

The financial relationship stretches back much further.

In September 2006, months after Hamas won Palestinian elections and formed a government under Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas-affiliated Palestinian Information Center reported that $50 million in Qatari assistance had arrived following a conversation between Haniyeh and then-Qatari Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.

The same post said the government was preparing salary payments for civilian and military employees. It effectively records Qatari state money reaching the Hamas-led Palestinian government.

During the emir’s 2012 visit to Gaza, Haniyeh announced that Qatar’s reconstruction grant had risen to $400 million. Speaking under the slogan “one hand resists, one hand liberates, and one hand builds,” he described the emir’s visit as breaking Gaza’s political and economic isolation.

By January 2016, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry reported that more than $230 million of an earlier $407 million reconstruction grant had been spent.

Later that year, Qatar provided a separate $31 million grant to pay one month of salaries to more than 23,000 Hamas-appointed “civilian employees.” The payments were distributed under U.N. supervision, and members of Gaza’s security forces were expressly excluded.

Beginning in 2018, Qatar delivered recurring cash payments into Gaza with Israel’s approval. One $15 million installment paid roughly 27,000 civil servants and offered Hamas what Reuters described as a potential domestic reprieve. The broader Qatari program also funded fuel for Gaza’s power plant.

Whatever label Doha places on the payments, the record is difficult to square with its categorical claim that it “never provided money to Hamas.” Doha can argue that the money was intended for Gaza’s population rather than Hamas’s military apparatus, but that does not jibe with its own public record of Hamas leaders thanking Qatar for hundreds of millions of dollars in support, Qatari funds paying salaries under Hamas rule, and the U.S. Treasury stating that Qatar had “for many years openly financed Hamas.”

A Gaza-based journalist associated with PalPress continued a private exchange in which a well-known parody account proposed presenting children with cerebral palsy as malnutrition victims and using special-effects makeup to make wounds appear more realistic, according to screenshots published Tuesday.

Sameh Ahmed, who operates the X account @PalPress24, describes himself as a journalist and writer reporting from Gaza. In screenshots published in a September 22 thread by the satirical “Rabbi Linda Goldstein” account, Ahmed initially discussed producing documentary-style material before the fictional rabbi introduced increasingly explicit proposals involving staged victims.

The screenshots do not establish that Ahmed ever produced staged footage or altered an injury. They do, however, show him responding positively after the proposals were laid out.

From Documentary Films to “Actors”

“Rabbi Linda Goldstein” is a longstanding parody account that poses as the fictional “Chief Rabbi of Gaza.” The account has previously used private messages to bait politicians and activists into responding to deliberately absurd proposals. The Times of Israel previously documented the account’s satirical identity after it duped a New York congressional candidate. The conversation with Ahmed initially concerned producing media from Gaza.

Asked how they could create films capable of influencing Western opinion, Ahmed suggested documentary films about families, doctors and journalists, as well as short films centered on individual human stories and first-hand testimony.

The conversation then changed.

Goldstein told Ahmed that she knew children with cerebral palsy who “look very malnourished” and suggested they could participate. She added that she could obtain funding.

Ahmed replied that Goldstein could develop an idea and that he could provide pictures and videos and “create that.”

Goldstein then made the proposed deception more explicit, referring to the children as actors and asking: “So if I get the actors above you’ll film?”

Ahmed responded: “Ok.”

The reference to actors came after Goldstein had already explained that the proposed subjects were children with cerebral palsy who could be presented as malnourished.

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Proposal to Make Wounds “Look More Real”

The parody account subsequently pushed the premise further.

In another exchange, Goldstein offered to connect Ahmed with people skilled in Hollywood-style effects who could make an apparent exit wound “look more real.”

The screenshots do not show Ahmed responding directly to that particular message.

But a later exchange was more explicit. Goldstein told Ahmed that a Hollywood makeup artist would be traveling to the Palestinian territories and could meet his contacts to “teach how to make the wounds look more real” and provide special-effects supplies.

Ahmed replied: “This is good work.”

The conversation then moved toward arranging a meeting. In the final portion of the thread, Ahmed ultimately declined after Goldstein told him that the supposed makeup artist used they/them pronouns and sometimes identified as a man and sometimes as a woman.

“Then I cannot meet them,” Ahmed replied.

No evidence presented in the thread shows that such a makeup artist actually existed, that a meeting occurred, or that Ahmed subsequently staged or manipulated images.

Ahmed Has a Documented Journalism Background

Ahmed is not simply an anonymous social-media account using a journalism label. His current X profile identifies him as a “Journalist & Writer” reporting from Gaza.

There is also independent documentation connecting Ahmed to PalPress. In September 2025, Italian publication Antimafia Duemila identified him explicitly as a journalist for PalPress.net while publishing an appeal he had shared through his @PalPress24 account. The article also linked directly to both PalPress and Ahmed’s X profile.

The publication has continued to carry material under Ahmed’s name. A June 2025 article credited “Ahmed Sameh” and stated that the material was taken from x.com/PalPress24, while another first-person piece published under Sameh Ahmed’s name cites PalPress.net and links to his X profile.

Ahmed Raises Money Through U.S.-Based Fundraisers

Ahmed also solicits donations for his family through online crowdfunding campaigns.

A current Chuffed campaign titled “Help save Sameh’s family in Gaza” tells Ahmed’s story and raises money for his family. Ahmed has repeatedly shared the campaign through his @PalPress24 account.

A separate GoFundMe is organized by Melissa Tone of Arizona. The campaign says Tone is fundraising for Ahmed and his wife, Camelia, and that money collected is sent to them in installments. As of the latest available page, it had raised more than $20,000 from hundreds of donors.

The “Rabbi Linda” account subsequently highlighted Ahmed’s crowdfunding activity and alleged that using an American intermediary to send money to Gaza violated U.S. sanctions rules and Chuffed’s terms.

Ahmed Accuses Parody Account of Deception

After the screenshots circulated publicly, Ahmed responded to Goldstein on X.

“Unfortunately, you are the one deceiving people,” he wrote, before accusing the account of attempting to suppress Palestinian journalism and saying such efforts would fail.

In that public response, Ahmed did not address the specific exchanges shown in the screenshots or explain his responses to the proposals involving disabled children and special-effects wounds.

The screenshots therefore document a conversation in which Ahmed appeared receptive to proposals explicitly framed around staged victim imagery. They do not, by themselves, establish that he actually staged victims, fabricated injuries or produced manipulated reporting.

The IDF and Shin Bet identified Basir al-Bursh, the eldest son of the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry Director-General Dr. Munir al-Bursh, as a commander in Hamas’s elite Nukhba force after he was killed in an Israeli strike near Jabalia in northern Gaza.

Basir, 28, was killed on Saturday, September 19. Reuters independently confirmed that he was Munir al-Bursh’s son.

The Israeli agencies said weekend strikes also killed Yahya Hamdouna and Mohammad Rafa’i, two Hamas operatives whom Israel identified as participants in the October 7, 2023 attack. Rafa’i was additionally identified as a member of Hamas’s Daraj-Tuffah Battalion. According to the joint announcement, the three had recently been advancing attacks against Israeli troops and civilians and working to restore Hamas’s capabilities in what the agencies described as systematic violations of the ceasefire.

Open-source material published after Basir’s death also points toward a militant role in Hamas. Analyst Mark Zlochin posted what he identified as a mourning message from one of al-Bursh’s relatives referring to Basir as a “mujahid commander.” Munir al-Bursh himself was separately recorded addressing his dead son with the words, “By God, you did jihad in His path.”

Family Mourning Used Hamas-Linked Language

In a subsequent analysis, Zlochin highlighted another phrase in a family tribute, which he said declared that the al-Bursh family “continues to offer its finest young men” on “tariq dhat al-shawka.”

The expression draws on Qur’an 8:7, where “dhat al-shawka” refers to the armed party, in contrast to an unarmed caravan.

Hamas has also used the phrase in explicitly militant contexts. On October 10, 2023, three days after the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, the terror organization mourned senior officials Zakaria Abu Muammar and Jawad Abu Shamala and said the deaths of its leaders and “mujahideen” would increase its determination to continue on “tariq dhat al-shawka.”

Then-Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh used similar language at the January 2024 funeral of Hamas deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri, saying the movement would remain faithful to the blood of its dead and continue on the same “tariq al-shawka.”

Jewish Onliner Previously Documented the Al-Bursh Family

Basir’s death comes months after Jewish Onliner reported on researcher Salo Aizenberg’s examination of the wider al-Bursh family.

In an April X thread, Aizenberg said he identified at least 11 members of the extended al-Bursh family killed during the war who were described in martyr notices, social-media posts or Hamas-linked material as Hamas fighters, commanders or “mujahids.”

According to Aizenberg, the group included two minors he identified as combatants and two men publicly listed as journalists whom he identified as Hamas-linked. Assem al-Barsh worked for Hamas-affiliated Al-Rai, while Yaqoub al-Borsh worked for Namaa Radio and was reportedly a member of the military media apparatus of Hamas’s Jabalia Battalion. Aizenberg also identified one family member, Samih Adel al-Barsh, as having participated in the October 7 attack.

Al-Bursh’s Own Record

The family connections follow earlier reporting on Munir al-Bursh himself.

A January 2025 Jewish Onliner investigation documented public Facebook posts in which al-Bursh praised figures associated with Hamas’s military wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades.

In June 2023, al-Bursh commemorated Ayman Mansour, a senior Al-Qassam Brigades commander, describing him as a “great leader.”

Al-Bursh also participated by recorded address in a February 2024 Zoom event titled “The Flood of the Nation in Support of the Resistance.” The same event featured Hamas political bureau member Musa Abu Marzouk and Palestinian Islamic Jihad deputy secretary-general Muhammad al-Hindi.

A campaign to have the Green Party of England and Wales formally declare that “Zionism is Racism” has assembled an endorsement list that includes Hamas’s British legal representatives, a former U.S. professor convicted of conspiring to provide services to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and groups and figures cited by British and American authorities over alleged links to Hamas.

The 47-page campaign booklet lists Sami Al-Arian, Riverway to the Sea, Friends of Al-Aqsa, the Palestinian Forum in Britain, the Global Sumud Flotilla and Palestinian activist Mohammed El-Kurd among its supporters. At the same time, the booklet relies heavily on U.S.-sanctioned Al-Haq, describing it as an “independent Palestinian non-governmental human rights organisation” and repeatedly using its analysis to support the booklet’s characterization of Zionism as “racist” and “settler-colonial.”

The motion came first in the membership’s prioritization ballot and is expected to be debated at the Green Party’s October 2–4 conference in Brighton. Amendments have also been proposed, meaning the version ultimately voted on could differ from the current text.

The motion’s current text, if adopted without amendment, would formally declare the Greens an anti-Zionist party, support a “single Palestinian state” across what it calls “historic Palestine” and call for Palestine Action to be removed from Britain’s list of proscribed organizations.

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Booklet Relies on Israeli-Designated, U.S.-Sanctioned Al-Haq

The booklet devotes several pages to Al-Haq’s 2022 report Israeli Apartheid: Tool of Zionist Settler Colonialism. It says the report represents the understanding of a “broad coalition” of Palestinian organizations and “cannot be ignored,” then repeatedly invokes Al-Haq’s analysis while advancing its characterization of Zionism as “racial” and “settler-colonial” and of Israel as an “apartheid” state.

Al-Haq has faced actions from both Israel and the United States under different authorities. Israel’s Defense Ministry designated Al-Haq a terrorist organization on October 19, 2021, alleging that it had become an arm of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

Al-Haq director Shawan Jabarin also has a documented history involving the PFLP. Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds, citing AFP, reported that Jabarin was sentenced to nine months in prison in 1985 after being convicted of recruiting members for the PFLP. Human Rights Watch separately records that the conviction concerned providing a service to the PFLP by facilitating the travel of two members abroad for training.

Then, in September 2025, the United States separately sanctioned Al-Haq under its International Criminal Court sanctions program. OFAC added Al-Haq to its Specially Designated Nationals list, alongside Al-Mezan and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. The American action was an ICC-related sanctions designation, not a U.S. terrorism designation.

Lead Author Appeared at Event Calling for “Armed Resistance” Against Israel

The motion identifies Lubna Speitan as its lead author and formal proposer. Her previous activism includes appearing at a September 21, 2025 event in Birmingham explicitly titled A United Call for Military Intervention Against Israel.

Protect Palestine’s event announcement called for military intervention against Israel and for dismantling what it termed the entire Zionist “settler-colonial” project across historic Palestine.

Protect Palestine’s subsequent event recap, under a section devoted to Speitan, states: “There can be no liberation without force” and “The Palestinian armed resistance must be supported.”

Man Convicted of Conspiring to Provide Services to PIJ Listed as Endorser

Both Sami Al-Arian and his Turkey-based Center for Islam and Global Affairs, or CIGA, are named among the endorsers. Al-Arian pleaded guilty in 2006 to conspiring to provide services to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.

In October 2024, CIGA co-organized an international conference whose program included opening remarks by Hamas official Usama Hamdan. The U.S. Treasury designated Hamdan as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in 2003, identifying him as a senior Hamas leader.

A Foundation for Defense of Democracies report said Hamdan praised Hamas’s “unapologetic jihad” during the conference and identified Al-Arian as one of the event’s organizers.

Hamas’s British Legal Representatives

The endorsement list also includes Riverway to the Sea. Riverway describes itself as a legal training and advocacy organization dedicated to the systematic dismantlement of Zionism. Its own website states that it represents Hamas in its challenge before Britain’s Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission.

Its team includes Franck Magennis, who appeared alongside Speitan at the 2025 military-intervention event. Hamas remains a proscribed terrorist organization in Britain. The UK extended the proscription to Hamas in its entirety in November 2021.

UK Review Cites Palestinian Forum’s Alleged Hamas Links

The Palestinian Forum in Britain is another listed endorser. A UK government-commissioned review described PFB as having a “long-standing history of alleged links to or support for Hamas.”

The review cited several senior PFB figures with documented Hamas connections. PFB chairman Zaher Birawi was later sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in January 2026 for materially supporting the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad, or PCPA, which Treasury simultaneously designated for being controlled or directed by, or acting on behalf of, Hamas. Treasury described Birawi as a senior PCPA official, General Secretariat member and founding member.

PFB co-founder Mohammed Sawalha was identified by Hamas itself in 2017 as a member of its political bureau during coverage of an official delegation to Moscow. PFB deputy head Adnan Hmidan also acknowledged posting a photograph of Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin with the caption “I love this man,” according to an IPSO ruling.

Friends of Al-Aqsa Founder Praised Hamas and Appeared at Online Event With UN-Listed AQI Supporter

The booklet separately lists Friends of Al-Aqsa and its founder Ismail Patel among the endorsers.

The same UK government-commissioned review said Patel had visited former Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza and had been filmed at a 2009 demonstration saying, “we salute Hamas for standing up to Israel.” The review also said that in 2021 Patel praised the killer of Israeli tour guide Eli Kay as a “martyr.”

Patel also appeared at a May 2021 online conference organized by the Palestine Scholars Association in the Diaspora. Another participant was Muthanna Harith Al-Dari, then head of the political department of the Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq.

Al-Dari has been on the UN Security Council’s Al-Qaeda sanctions list since 2010. The UN says he provided financial support and operational guidance to Al-Qaeda in Iraq, including $1 million to an AQI member involved in recruitment and financing a cell targeting Iraqi and multinational forces.

His father, Harith Al-Dari, was separately designated by the U.S. Treasury in 2008. Treasury alleged that he ordered attacks against civilians, Iraqi forces and coalition troops and provided financial and material support to terrorist and insurgent groups.

Pro-Hamas Flotilla Among Endorsers

The Global Sumud Flotilla also appears among the motion’s endorsers.

On April 30, 2026, the U.S. State Department described the Global Sumud Flotilla as a pro-Hamas initiative and said it was organized by PCPA. Treasury had already designated PCPA under counterterrorism authorities, saying the organization was controlled by or acting on behalf of Hamas.

In May, Treasury took action against four individuals associated with what it described as the pro-Hamas flotilla organized by PCPA. The Global Sumud Flotilla itself was not designated as a terrorist organization in the U.S. actions reviewed.

El-Kurd Post Referenced Plane Hijackings and Molotovs

Mohammed El-Kurd is also named as an endorser and receives prominent treatment in the booklet. Its final page quotes him urging Green members to pass the motion and declaring that “Zionism must be isolated and rooted out.”

On March 10, 2025, El-Kurd appeared at a Philadelphia event with American academic and TV personality Marc Lamont Hill. There, El-Kurd remarked that the October 7 Hamas-led massacre of civilians, including children, was a lesson in how violence draws global attention—comparing it to plane hijackings and suicide bombings. “I think Palestinian resistance factions are acting accordingly,” he stated.

El-Kurd also tweeted about his frustration with being unable to “throw molotovs” or “hijack planes.” In his poem Rifqa, El-Kurd wrote that Israelis “harvest organs of the martyred”—a trope often associated with antisemitic blood libels.

Motion Would Make Anti-Zionism Formal Green Party Policy

The booklet says the motion would be incorporated into the Green Party’s formal record of policy statements and implemented through the party’s Anti-Racism and International Policy working groups. It also calls on Green MPs, assembly members, councillors and other elected representatives to use their positions to advance the policies contained in the motion.

On September 19 in Parma, Italy, UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese called for an end to weapons deliveries to Ukraine and alleged that NATO is helping perpetuate the war. Albanese acknowledged that “Russia invaded Ukraine,” but added that “there are a number of reasons that led to that war” before directing her criticism toward NATO and the United States.

The remarks prompted UN Watch to send a formal complaint to UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday, accusing Albanese of using her UN position to advance political views on a conflict outside her mandate.

Albanese went beyond opposing arms shipments. She said Ukraine was being “instrumentalized” to promote what she called the “horrible narrative” that Europe is already engaged in a hybrid war. She then said governments should stop sending weapons to Ukraine and move the conflict back into the political sphere.

Asked what should happen instead, Albanese acknowledged the limits of her expertise. “I don’t have the solution because I’m not an expert,” she said.

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Amplified by Russian Media

Albanese’s Ukraine comments were subsequently promoted by Russia Direct, which UN Watch described as a Russian propaganda account. The account highlighted her UN position while circulating her demand to stop sending weapons to Ukraine.

The amplification came just nine days after Albanese appeared in an exclusive interview with RT, the Russian state-controlled broadcaster, on September 10. In that interview, she discussed Gaza, accused Western governments and companies of complicity in supposed Israeli wrongdoing, and criticized what she described as the repression of pro-Palestinian activism in Europe.

Outside Her UN Mandate

Albanese’s official UN mandate covers “the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.” Ukraine, Russia and NATO fall outside that geographic remit.

In its September 22 letter, UN Watch cited three provisions of the Human Rights Council’s Code of Conduct. Article 3(d) requires mandate holders to focus on implementing their mandate, Article 7 requires “strict observance” of its terms, and Article 12 requires experts to ensure personal political opinions do not prejudice their work and to exercise “restraint, moderation and discretion.”

The Iran Contrast

UN Watch also pointed to Albanese’s response when she was pressed to address Iran earlier this year.

On January 12, amid criticism over her silence on the Iranian government’s repression of protesters, Albanese said she was the UN rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory and that she devoted herself “rigorously” to the mandate assigned to her, directing attention instead to the UN rapporteur responsible for Iran.

Yet Albanese has repeatedly stepped beyond her Palestine mandate to weigh in on the Iran conflict. In June 2025, she accused Israel of launching an “unprovoked” attack on Iran and of carrying out “psychological & political terror.” In March 2026, she described Iran’s government as “illiberal and brutal,” but still declared that neither the United States nor Israel had the right to bomb Iran.

UN Watch cited that record in arguing that Albanese applies the geographic limits of her mandate inconsistently. Its September 22 complaint asks UN leadership to formally address her intervention on Ukraine and NATO.

Palestine Action, designated a terror group by the United States and previously banned in Britain, is advertising training days in Rotterdam, Berlin, Paris and Rome through its international platform. The program seeks participants for direct action against Israel’s weapons industry, including Elbit Systems.

The U.S. Treasury Department’s August 26, 2026, designation cited acts that injured British police, break-ins at defense facilities and military installations, and millions of dollars in damage to military equipment. Treasury also accused the organization of promoting violent and criminal tactics abroad, including in the United States and along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The sessions appear on Palestine Action Global’s website. The platform describes an international network that originated in England, while maintaining that it excludes U.K. groups and falls outside Britain’s proscription.

Sledgehammers and Secret Cells

In its June 15, 2026, judgment, now subject to a further appeal, Britain’s Court of Appeal concluded that Palestine Action “overtly promotes unlawful violence amounting to terrorism.” The judges described a covert organization using secret cells to avoid detection and prosecution, and found that its activities had caused injuries as well as property damage.

The judgment described serious damage inflicted with weapons, including sledgehammers, and examined the organization’s “Underground Manual.” The court found that the manual demonstrated an intention to continue promoting violence despite risks of serious property damage or serious violence against the public. It also noted that Palestine Action had praised participants rather than treated its terrorist activities as mistakes or aberrations.

Britain’s Home Office separately identifies attacks at Thales in Glasgow in 2022 and at Instro Precision in Kent and Elbit Systems UK in Bristol in 2024. Its proscription record states that these attacks crossed the threshold into terrorism, citing the extent and nature of the damage, targets affecting national security and the impact on members of the public.

Four Cities and a Strategy of Damage

The training page presents protests and lobbying as ineffective and advertises talks, training and group discussions. Rotterdam’s session covers action in the Netherlands and Belgium; Berlin’s explicitly seeks to shut down Elbit facilities in Germany. English-language presentations with Dutch or German translation are offered in those cities, while Rome and Paris specify Italian and French. Exact dates and locations are reserved for confirmed participants. The public listings do not identify instructors or provide a detailed curriculum.

The platform’s published strategy calls for disrupting businesses repeatedly and increasing their costs through damage. Elbit is the primary target, but the campaign also targets companies facilitating its operations. Its stated objective is to make those commercial relationships unprofitable, forcing firms to choose between retaining Elbit’s business and absorbing further losses.

The global platform has also publicized claimed attacks in Europe. In an April 27, 2026, statement, it claimed responsibility for smashing windows at a DSV depot in Potsdam, Germany, and threatened continued targeting until the logistics company stopped working with Elbit.

The American Connection Through Unity of Fields

Unity of Fields emerged from Palestine Action US, the organization’s former American branch, in August 2024, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s account.

The American group’s August 28 rebranding announcement described a “militant front against the US-NATO-zionist axis of imperialism” and an “anti-imperialist propaganda front.” It portrayed the October 7 attack as reopening the possibility of revolutionary struggle and called for supporters to “open a new front against the US Empire.”

ADL also documents Unity of Fields’ promotion of vandalism and property destruction, including against Jewish organizations and individuals. Its account describes the group’s celebration of the October 7 attack and support for Hezbollah, the Houthis and Hamas leaders.

U.S. Sanctions Cover Funding and Services

Palestine Action’s U.S. designation was imposed under Executive Order 13224. OFAC identifies the organization as a “Transnational Terrorist Group” and lists it under the Specially Designated Global Terrorist sanctions program.

The designation blocks its property and interests in property within the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons. Unless authorized or exempt, U.S. persons are generally prohibited from transactions involving that property, including providing funds, goods or services to the designated organization.

Prominent Gazan photojournalist Motaz Azaiza has described a media environment in the Gaza Strip in which journalists withheld criticism of Hamas, feared retaliation for confronting the organization, and belonged to a Hamas-linked WhatsApp group he said was used to manage narratives and organize attacks against critics.

In a September 3 interview with the Taqarob Podcast, Azaiza also said he grew up supporting Hamas, continues to support armed “resistance,” had friends and professional contacts inside Hamas, experienced “goosebumps” as he watched October 7 unfold, and deliberately withheld footage showing Palestinians striking Israeli captives.

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Journalists Lowered Their Cameras When Gazans Blamed Hamas

Among Azaiza’s most consequential disclosures was his description of what Gaza journalists did when civilians criticized Hamas. He recalled filming a Palestinian emerging from an ambulance who began blaming Hamas, prompting other journalists around him to lower or turn off their cameras. Azaiza said he did not follow them, but described the behavior as part of a broader pattern, saying he had never seen a Gaza journalist publish material like that and that journalists commonly stopped filming when Palestinians began attacking Hamas.

Azaiza said fear helped enforce that system. He explained that publishing criticism could lead to a confrontation with Hamas and said a journalist could face accusations, beatings or assault. Elsewhere in the interview, he described an environment in which dissenters could be beaten, shot in the leg or subjected to damaging accusations, leaving many people to conclude that remaining silent was safer.

The Washington Post separately reported in 2025 that Gaza journalists feared covering anti-Hamas demonstrations. One journalist described fears of being branded an Israeli spy or facing Hamas “revenge,” while another said Hamas internal-security personnel followed journalists as they worked.

A Hamas-Linked Group Used to “Manage the Narrative”

Azaiza also described a Hamas-linked WhatsApp group called Smart that included Gaza journalists and Hamas media personnel. He said Smart was one of several groups used to manage the “discourse” and the “narrative.”

According to Azaiza, participants could be directed to focus attention on particular issues or mobilized against people who departed from the preferred line. He described posts being circulated with instructions to attack their authors and said an individual’s phone number could be distributed so participants could contact, insult and harass the person. Azaiza emphasized that such campaigns were organized rather than spontaneous.

Separate records reinforce his account. A 2016 Palestinian report identified Wael Abu Omar as executive director of the Smart Media Center in Rafah, while Abu Omar was later identified publicly as a media official at the Rafah crossing. i24NEWS, citing Palestinian sources, subsequently identified Abu Omar as a Hamas media official and reported that Smart was used to distribute Hamas-linked messaging directives.

He Withheld Footage of Israeli Captives Being Beaten

Azaiza also disclosed that he filmed Palestinians striking Israeli captives on October 7 but never released the footage. He said he encountered an al-Qassam Brigades vehicle carrying captives as Palestinians surrounded it, with some people hitting those inside while Azaiza followed behind and filmed.

He said he deliberately withheld the footage because identifiable Palestinians appeared in it and he feared Israel could use the images to identify and target them. The disclosure provides a concrete example of significant imagery from October 7 that existed in the possession of a prominent Gaza photographer but never entered the international media record.

He Grew Up Supporting Hamas and Still Supports Armed “Resistance”

Azaiza also spoke candidly about his own political development. He described himself as having been a Hamas supporter as a child, recalled wearing Hamas headbands sold outside his school for one shekel, and said the things that appealed to him included Hamas, “resistance,” rockets and weapons.

He said his views of Hamas itself changed as he grew older, but he explicitly maintained his support for armed struggle. “I support armed resistance,” he said during the interview, repeating that he was “with” armed resistance while arguing that it should achieve results rather than waste Palestinian lives.

Azaiza also said he had friends inside Hamas whom he could contact in connection with his journalistic work, including when he wanted to fly a drone, enter an area to film or resolve a problem.

“I Got Goosebumps” as October 7 Unfolded

Describing the morning of October 7, Azaiza said he awoke as the attack began, went to the roof, watched rockets being launched, listened to Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif and began viewing footage of the assault.

“I won’t hide it,” he said, explaining that what he saw gave him “goosebumps.” He described the scale of the event as enormous before saying he then began thinking about the Israeli response and the consequences that would follow.

His precise timeline is unclear. Elsewhere in the interview, Azaiza said that at approximately 6:30 a.m. he was already outside with his camera after paying his neighbor’s son 50 shekels to drive him around, even though the Hamas attack itself began at roughly that time.

Critics Paid a Heavy Price

Azaiza also named Palestinians who he said suffered severe consequences for opposing Hamas. He cited Oday Rabey, saying Hamas killed him because of opinions he expressed on Facebook. The Washington Post reported, citing relatives, that masked men identifying themselves as members of the al-Qassam Brigades kidnapped, tortured and beat Rabey to death after he defended a relative involved in anti-Hamas demonstrations.

Azaiza also mentioned Ziad Abu Hayya, saying he was shot in the head after publicly condemning Hamas. The Post separately reported that Abu Hayya was shot dead and that his family blamed Hamas.

What Gaza’s Cameras Did Not Show

Azaiza became one of the most internationally recognizable faces of the Gaza war. TIME placed him on its 2024 TIME100 list and described him as having served for 108 days as the world’s “eyes and ears” in Gaza. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas later met him in Doha, while Rep. Rashida Tlaib formally recognized him in the Congressional Record.

His account offers a rare look inside the media system that produced much of the imagery consumed internationally during the Gaza war. It suggests that what reached foreign audiences was shaped not only by what journalists saw, but by organized narrative management, intimidation, self-censorship and decisions about what never made it in front of the public at all.

An analysis of nearly 14.7 million news articles published across 65 languages found that Israel received more international media coverage per capita than any country with at least 5 million residents in nine of the ten annual periods examined, with the disparity appearing even during periods without a major Israeli war.

Researcher and writer Jeremy Musighi highlighted the findings in a September 16 thread based on his recently published analysis, “Center of Attention”. The project examined international online news from 2017 through August 2026, television coverage and a more limited set of social-media indicators.

Musighi sampled 14,679,657 articles from the GDELT Global Knowledge Graph, using both its English-language and machine-translated international feeds. Domestic outlets were excluded when measuring coverage of their own countries. An article was classified as primarily about a country when that country received the largest number of geographic references in the story, according to the analysis’s methodology.

For its main per-capita rankings, the analysis excluded countries with populations below 5 million to prevent small states from disproportionately dominating the results. Musighi states that lowering the threshold to 1 million residents does not change Israel’s ranking.

The results place Israel well outside the normal range for a country of roughly 10 million people.

Across the period examined, Israel ranked first in international coverage per capita in every annual sample except 2022, when it ranked fourth behind Ukraine, Switzerland and Ireland following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Averaged across the decade, Israel still received 2.4 times as much coverage per capita as Sweden, the second-ranked country, according to the analysis. In absolute volume, Israel ranked sixth worldwide, behind only the United States, China, Britain, Russia and France.

The Disparity Existed Before October 7

The difference cannot be explained solely by the war that followed Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack.

In 2019, a comparatively quiet year in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, one out of every 112 international articles in Musighi’s sample was primarily about Israel. Israel ranked seventh worldwide in absolute coverage that year and first per capita, according to the dataset.

Scaled against GDELT’s total monitored output, the analysis estimates that roughly 1.5 million international articles were primarily about Israel in 2019, approximately one article for every seven Israeli residents. The comparable figure was one article per 47 Canadians, 340 Brazilians and 1,550 Indians, according to the analysis’s methodology.

Coverage expanded substantially after October 7.

During 2024, approximately one in every 50 international articles sampled was primarily about Israel, while one in 26 mentioned the country. Israel ranked second worldwide in absolute coverage, behind only the United States, and received more than three times as many stories per capita as second-place Sweden.

The sampled volume of stories primarily about Israel also exceeded, separately, the totals for all 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, all 22 members of the Arab League and the countries of South Asia, according to the analysis.

Other Wars Quickly Disappeared from Television

Musighi also analyzed GDELT closed-caption data from CNN, Fox News and MSNBC, as well as BBC News separately, to estimate the share of monitored television airtime in which different countries were mentioned.

Following October 7, references to Israel accounted for more than 1 percent of U.S. cable-news airtime on 344 of the following 365 days. Israel averaged 5.65 percent of total cable airtime during that year, according to the analysis’s television data.

The pattern differed sharply for several other conflicts.

After Kabul fell to the Taliban in 2021, Afghanistan initially occupied nearly 27 percent of cable-news airtime, but coverage had fallen to about 2 percent of its peak within 90 days. Sudan’s civil war peaked at about 1.5 percent, primarily during the evacuation of American citizens, and exceeded 1 percent of daily airtime on only eight days during the subsequent 18 months.

The Tigray war in Ethiopia never reached 0.03 percent of monitored U.S. cable airtime on any day in the analysis.

Print coverage showed a similar persistence. Using the broader measure of articles mentioning a country, Israel ranked first per capita in 30 of the 34 rolling monthly periods after October 7 and second in the remaining four. By comparison, Ukraine ranked first during seven of the first 36 monthly periods following Russia’s 2022 invasion.

Western Coverage Became More Negative

The analysis also examined GDELT’s automated tone scores, which measure the prevalence of positive and negative language across an article rather than the accuracy, fairness or substantive position of the reporting.

Among Western outlets, Israel-related articles in 2019 recorded an average tone score of negative 2.2, with 49 percent falling below Musighi’s negative-2 threshold for negative coverage.

By 2024, the average had fallen to negative 4.42, with 78 percent of Western articles falling below that threshold. That was more negative than the same outlets’ coverage of Russia, Iran and Syria that year, although Yemen received a still lower score, according to the analysis’s tone data.

The geographical source of Israel coverage also shifted after October 7.

According to Musighi’s calculations, approximately 69 percent of stories primarily about Israel in 2019 originated from outlets in Muslim-majority countries, including roughly 58 percent from outlets in the Palestinian territories. Western outlets accounted for about 24 percent.

In 2024, Western outlets produced roughly 60 percent of the international stories primarily about Israel, while outlets in Muslim-majority countries accounted for approximately 27 percent, according to the analysis.

What the Data Shows

What the data does show is the scale and persistence of the disparity. Across nearly a decade of international news coverage, Israel repeatedly received far more attention per capita than comparable countries, including during relatively quiet periods. After October 7, that gap widened further, while attention remained elevated far longer than coverage of several other major wars and humanitarian crises.

Following Jewish Onliner’s report that CAIR-Michigan Executive Director Dawud Walid is scheduled to speak in London alongside figures with documented Hamas and al-Qaeda-related histories, a deeper examination of the chapter has uncovered a series of connections stretching back more than 25 years.

They include an early CAIR-Michigan executive director who was later imprisoned for violating U.S. sanctions involving a two-million-barrel Iraqi oil allocation, a former chapter president who is now the father-in-law of Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, and an early board member who co-founded a campaign supporting the head of a charity later designated by the U.S. Treasury over support to al-Qaeda.

The review also found that current CAIR-Michigan board member Jukaku Tayeb serves on the Founders Committee of the Islamic Society of North America, or ISNA, an organization listed first in a 1991 Muslim Brotherhood memorandum among “our organizations and the organizations of our friends.”

Jewish Onliner’s original report was subsequently shared on X by Mark Levin.

An Early Director Later Convicted in Iraqi Oil Case

One of the earliest documented leaders of CAIR-Michigan was Muthanna Al-Hanooti.

A June 2000 CAIR release announcing the opening of its Michigan regional office identified Al-Hanooti as executive director, according to records later preserved by the Investigative Project on Terrorism. Michigan corporate records from the same period also listed Al-Hanooti as CAIR-Michigan’s registered agent, according to the report.

Al-Hanooti later became the subject of a federal case involving Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi government. The Justice Department reported that Al-Hanooti pleaded guilty in 2010 to violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act after accepting rights to an allocation of two million barrels of Iraqi oil from Iraq in December 2002 without the required U.S. government license.

He was sentenced in March 2011 to one year and one day in federal prison.

Federal prosecutors had also charged Al-Hanooti with conspiracy to act as an unregistered agent of the Iraqi government and making false statements concerning his alleged work on behalf of the Iraqi Intelligence Service.

Walid’s Record Before the London Conference

Walid became CAIR-Michigan executive director in July 2005 and has remained in the position for more than two decades. CAIR itself identified Walid as executive director since July 2005 in a 2007 account of the chapter. His tenure has included several controversial statements concerning Jews, Israel and Hamas.

During a May 2012 sermon at the Islamic Organization of North America mosque in Warren, Michigan, Walid asked who had “incurred the wrath of Allah” before answering in Arabic, “They are the Jews, they are the Jews.” The remarks were later documented by the Investigative Project on Terrorism.

The same report documented a separate exchange involving the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza. After another user asserted that Muhammad had ordered Jews killed, Walid responded that Muhammad had not personally ordered the punishment, saying Sa’ad ibn Mu’adh had ordered it and adding that “it was a correct one.” Walid’s wider explanation characterized the historical episode as punishment for wartime treason rather than violence against Jews generally.

Two years earlier, Walid drew criticism over remarks at a Jerusalem Day rally concerning the exclusion of Gaza’s governing authority from Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Critics interpreted the remarks as calling for Hamas to be included in the negotiations. Walid subsequently said, “I didn’t even mention the word Hamas.”

Walid is now scheduled to appear at The Thinking Muslim Conference in London on November 8 alongside Azzam Tamimi and Moazzam Begg.

Jewish Onliner previously documented Tamimi’s statements supporting Hamas and his description by Malaysia’s Bernama news agency as a Hamas “special envoy.” U.S. military records alleged that Begg belonged to al-Qaeda

El-Sayed’s Father-in-Law and the ISNA Connection

One of CAIR-Michigan’s longest-serving figures is Dr. Jukaku Tayeb.

CAIR identified Tayeb as the chapter’s president in 2007. ISNA’s current biography lists him as a current CAIR-Michigan board member and former president, as well as a member of the ISNA Founders Committee.

The Washington Free Beacon reported that ISNA Founders Committee members must contribute at least $5,000 annually and also contribute to its Founders Legacy Fund. Tayeb is also the father-in-law of Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Michigan’s U.S. Senate seat in 2026.

PolitiFact reported that Tayeb contributed $300,000 through June to Fighting for Michigan, a super PAC created to support El-Sayed, tying him for the PAC’s largest donor at that point. The PAC is legally independent of El-Sayed’s campaign, and PolitiFact found that Tayeb was a major donor rather than the individual running the organization.

Tayeb’s role at ISNA provides another connection.

A 1991 memorandum written for Muslim Brotherhood leadership in North America included an attachment titled “A list of our organizations and the organizations of our friends.” The Islamic Society of North America appears as number one on the list. A copy of the document later entered into evidence in the Holy Land Foundation case is preserved in U.S. Defense Department records. Additionally, ISNA along with CAIR were both identified as an unindicted co-conspirators in the case, which ended up being the largest terrorism-financing trial in American history. Jewish Onliner previously examined ISNA and the 1991 memorandum as part of its Brotherhood in Your Backyard investigation.

ISNA separately came under congressional scrutiny on September 16, when Rep. Keith Self of Texas announced that he had requested an IRS review of its tax-exempt status over alleged campaign activity surrounding El-Sayed’s convention appearance. Self cited reporting that El-Sayed’s campaign operated a booth at the event, distributed campaign materials, recruited volunteers and solicited donations. Self’s letter requested that Treasury examine whether the organization improperly intervened in the Senate race.

A CAIR-Michigan Board Member and the Free Rabih Haddad Committee

In a July 2003 statement published by the ACLU, Homam Albaroudi identified himself as both a CAIR-Michigan board member and a co-founder of the Free Rabih Haddad Committee. Treasury had designated Haddad’s organization, the Global Relief Foundation, in October 2002 over its support for al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.

Treasury specifically identified Haddad as a GRF co-founder and senior official and said that he had previously worked for Maktab al-Khidamat in Pakistan, which Treasury described as a precursor organization to al-Qaeda. Albaroudi’s committee was formed to advocate for Haddad following his detention.

A Chapter With a Longer Record

The records shift the focus from one London conference to the continuity of CAIR-Michigan’s leadership and its overlapping institutional relationships. Walid’s two-decade tenure and Tayeb’s continuing roles at both the chapter and ISNA mean this history cannot be treated solely as a record of departed officials. The same individuals connect the chapter’s earlier years to its present public engagements and organizational affiliations.

The University of California, Irvine, a public research university, is set to offer a Fall 2026 course titled “Settler Colonialism & Palestinian Cinema” taught by visiting professor Ahlam Muhtaseb, a filmmaker and professor at California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB).

Muhtaseb’s public record extends well beyond academia. Her academic CV and public activity document more than two decades of involvement with the radical anti-Israel group Al-Awda, appearances at events involving Samidoun, repeated public support for members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and apparent familial connections to a PFLP commander.

Muhtaseb’s Father Appears to Match PFLP Commander Profile

Muhtaseb grew up in Hebron, known in Arabic as al-Khalil. She came to the U.S. in 1998 on a Fulbright scholarship, originally intending to only stay one year. In a Mondoweiss interview, she said, “My father was a political prisoner. He was arrested many times,” and alleged that he had been tortured while in Israeli custody.

Those details closely match a Palestine Photo Project profile of an individual named Hatem Muhtaseb from al-Khalil. The profile, written by someone identifying as Hatem’s child, described him as “a commander in the Palestinian Popular Front in the Southern Region of Palestine,” said he had been imprisoned by Israel several times, and similarly claimed that he had been tortured.

Additional records indicate that the Hatem Muhtaseb profiled by the project appears to be Ahlam Muhtaseb’s father. She has been publicly identified by her full name, Ahlam Hatem Almuhtaseb. In Arabic naming conventions, a person’s father’s given name commonly appears after their own given name. That naming match, together with Muhtaseb’s statement that she grew up in Hebron and that her father was repeatedly imprisoned and allegedly tortured, is nearly identical with the Hatem Muhtaseb described by the Palestine Photo Project. Professor Muhtaseb did not respond to request for comment about her father’s identity.

Muhtaseb has also described her own upbringing during the First Intifada. In a December 2024 episode of the Foundation for Middle East Peace’s Occupied Thoughts podcast, she said she “came out of the first Intifada” and claimed she was shot when she was 16.

History of Pro-Terror Statements

Muhtaseb has publicly supported figures associated with the PFLP. In 2023, she called for the release of Walid Daqqa, a PFLP-affiliated prisoner convicted for the 1984 kidnapping and murder of Israeli soldier Moshe Tamam. She has also called for the release of PFLP leaders Ahmad Sa’adat and Khalida Jarrar. In addition, Muhtaseb posted in support of Rasmea Odeh, a former PFLP member convicted in Israel for her role in a 1969 bombing that killed two Israeli students.

Muhtaseb’s public statements and social media activity following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack have also drawn scrutiny. On the day of the attack, as Hamas terrorists were kidnapping Israelis into Gaza, Muhtaseb shared caricatures and images depicting Hamas fighters paragliding into Israeli communities.

During the ensuing war, Muhtaseb repeatedly shared Hamas-produced battlefield footage. In February 2024, she shared a video published by the alleged Qatari-linked outlet Middle East Eye featuring Hamas footage of attacks against Israeli forces in Gaza. In January 2024, she reposted a video showing a Hamas terrorist in civilian clothing firing an RPG.

In January 2025, during the ceasefire and hostage-release negotiations between Hamas and Israel, Muhtaseb shared a post about the Hamas-organized hostage ceremonies, which featured hostages displayed before crowds of armed terrorists and signs mocking Israeli military units that suffered losses during the Gaza war.

“Settler Colonialism & Palestinian Cinema”

According to the course flyer, the UCI class will introduce students to the “contemporary history of Palestine” and the “settler colonization of the land,” while drawing on Palestinian cinema, scholarly literature, critical film theory and post-colonial thought.

UCI currently lists Muhtaseb as a visiting professor in Film and Media Studies. The class is listed as FLM&MDA 160, “National/Regional Cinemas and Media.” UCI’s catalog describes the course as examining national schools, period styles or cultural movements beyond U.S. cinema and notes that its topics can vary. The Fall 2026 flyer advertises film screenings, filmmaker guest lectures and seminar discussions.

UCI is also holding an October 6 event with Muhtaseb titled “Reimagining Our Future Through Film & Media,” where the university says attendees will see her virtual-reality work and learn about her UCI course offerings. The event is hosted by Film and Media Studies and the UCI Arabic Language & Culture Club.

More Than Two Decades Organizing With Al-Awda

Muhtaseb’s academic CV identifies her as an “Organizing member” of the San Diego chapter of Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, from 2000 through “Present,” as of the July 2023 document. The CV says she had been “very active” in the organization’s administrative, media and event planning and execution since 2000. It also records her participation in Al-Awda’s 2009 West Coast Regional Conference at UC San Diego, where she presented an analysis of media coverage of Gaza.

Al-Awda has drawn scrutiny over its rhetoric and documented personnel overlap with Samidoun. NGO Monitor reports that Al-Awda published a May 2024 joint statement calling for the “complete liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea” and endorsing the “right to resist by any means necessary.” NGO Monitor also cites an April 2022 speech by Al-Awda New York representative Lamis Deek in which she called Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the PFLP and Iran’s Quds Force “freedom fighters.” The same remarks were separately documented by ADL.

An archived version of Al-Awda’s National Board and Coordinating Committee page from December 2023 listed Charlotte Kates as the organization’s Communications/Secretary. Samidoun itself identified Kates that year as its international coordinator. The former Al-Awda board page is no longer available at its previous location.

Al-Awda itself issued an official statement on October 7, 2023, the day of the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel. The organization declared its “unwavering support” for the “Palestinian resistance”, described their actions as “brave” and called on supporters to stand “shoulder to shoulder” with it.

Muhtaseb’s Record Includes Events Linked to Samidoun

Muhtaseb’s academic record includes multiple links to Samidoun before the organization was sanctioned by the United States. Her academic vitae lists a September 21, 2022 screening of her documentary 1948: Creation & Catastrophe in Ottawa under the entry “Ontario Public Interest Research Group Carleton, Palestinian Youth Movement & Samidoun.”

Two years earlier, Samidoun promoted an Al-Awda virtual rally featuring Muhtaseb alongside Rabab Abdulhadi, Hatem Bazian and Mohammed Khatib. Samidoun’s listing identified Khatib as “Samidoun’s Mohammed Khatib” and said the event was organized by Al-Awda. Treasury later sanctioned Khatib as Samidoun’s Belgium-based European coordinator.

Muhtaseb has also publicly promoted Samidoun itself. In 2021, she called on her followers to donate to the organization. On October 15, 2024, Treasury designated Samidoun, describing it as a front organization established by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a long-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).

BDS, Anti-Normalization, CAIR Affiliations and Iranian State Media

Muhtaseb’s CV documents sustained involvement in anti-Israel activism. In 2022, Muhtaseb appeared at an American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) conference in Irvine titled “Palestine: Action Towards Liberation.” The speaker list identified her alongside AMP Executive Director Osama Abu Irshaid, CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush and CAIR-San Francisco Bay Area Executive Director Zahra Billoo. The conference program placed those four, along with Taha Hassane, on a session titled “Paving the Road for Palestine Advocacy in America.” A Palestinian Youth Movement workshop at the conference focused on “Confronting Zionism Locally” and described campaigns against Zionism on university campuses.

Muhtaseb has also repeatedly appeared on Iranian state-controlled Press TV. CSUSB faculty-news records document Press TV interviews with her in April 2020, May 2020, October 2021 and November 2021. An additional April 2022 segment featured Muhtaseb criticizing differences in Western media coverage of events in Ukraine and Palestine, including coverage of armed resistance.

The U.S. Treasury subsequently designated Press TV in September 2023 under Executive Order 13846, identifying it as the English-language channel of Iranian state broadcaster Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. Treasury said Press TV had broadcast scores of forced confessions and had been used by Iranian intelligence services to recruit sensitive assets, including U.S. persons.

The California Faculty Association has separately identified Muhtaseb as a co-founder of its Palestine, Arab and Muslim Caucus. Her July 2023 CV also lists her on the advisory council of CAIR’s Los Angeles chapter and on the Jerusalem Fund’s board of directors beginning in 2021.

The Global Alliance for Palestine (GAFP) is preparing a major international mobilization for October 9 to 11, culminating in a coordinated Global Day of Action on Saturday, October 10, days after the third anniversary of Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.

GAFP’s campaign calls on grassroots movements, student groups, trade unions and civil society organizations worldwide to participate in rallies, workplace walkouts, banner drops and what it calls “direct public interventions.” The campaign operates under the banner “End the Genocide, Defend the Land”, promoting the fabricated narrative that Israel is committing a genocide in Gaza.

The group’s Interim Executive Committee is headed by Anas Altikriti, former president of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) who met Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in 2012 and has been described in several Arabic-language media reports as the head of the Muslim Brotherhood’s alleged “intelligence service” or European “intelligence arm.”

GAFP also has a separate Steering Committee chaired by British MP Jeremy Corbyn and including Palestinian National Initiative co-founder Mustafa Barghouti, former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, and Italian MP Angelo Bonelli, alongside Yanis Varoufakis, Ronnie Kasrils and Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla.

The alliance says it is providing participating groups with common “narrative framing,” campaign assets, written material and multilingual designs. Its information kit is available in seven languages, including Arabic and Turkish material explaining “Why We Are Mobilising.”

In an Instagram post promoting the campaign, GAFP said it would provide organizations worldwide with “campaign materials, coordination and strategic support,” while allowing participating groups to adapt actions to their local political contexts.

Interim Executive Committee Headed by Alleged Muslim Brotherhood ‘Intelligence Chief’

Altikriti, who heads GAFP’s Interim Executive Commitee, was turned back by Canadian border authorities in May while traveling to speak at the Muslim Association of Canada’s annual convention. He was questioned for approximately 11 hours before returning to Britain. The incident followed a Jewish Onliner investigation into the conference lineup and Altikriti’s background.

An Arabic-language profile published by Islamist Movements states that some Arab and foreign media outlets have described Altikriti as the “head of Muslim Brotherhood intelligence” and leader of the Brotherhood’s alleged “intelligence arm” in Europe. The article separately cites Iraqi political figure Saad al-Mutalabi describing Altikriti as the Brotherhood’s “intelligence arm” in Europe.

Altikriti also has documented contact with Hamas leadership. In June 2012, he posted a photograph with then-Gaza prime minister Ismail Haniyeh, writing: “Having lunch with the Palestine Prime Minister Ismail Haneyya.” Haniyeh later became chairman of Hamas’s political bureau and held that position during the October 7, 2023 attack.

Altikriti’s connections to the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) are considerably more direct. UK Companies House currently lists him as an active MAB director, appointed March 4, 2026. Companies House also lists Altikriti as a person with significant control over MAB, stating that he has “significant influence or control.” Records show that status dates to 2018.

The British government’s 2015 Muslim Brotherhood review found that during the 1990s the Brotherhood “dominated the Muslim Association of Britain” as Brotherhood-associated organizations established public-facing institutions in Britain.

Joarder Identified as Member of Brotherhood-Linked MAB

GAFP identifies Shamiul Joarder as Head of Public Affairs at Friends of Al-Aqsa and a member of its Interim Executive Committee. GAFP

A 2008 academic study in Race & Class, based largely on interviews with MAB activists conducted in 2006 and 2007, identifies “Shamiul Joarder, member of MAB” and records an April 2007 interview with him under that affiliation.

The MAB connection is significant because of the organization’s documented history within Britain’s Muslim Brotherhood milieu. Beyond the 2015 government finding that the Brotherhood had dominated MAB, a later independent review published by the UK government described MAB as an Islamist activist group established by Kemal El-Helbawy, a leading Muslim Brotherhood figure.

That review described MAB as an “intrinsic part of the Muslim Brotherhood’s activist network in the UK.” A 2017 profile of Joarder also reported that he appeared to have worked with the British Muslim Initiative, another organization that emerged from the same British Islamist activist milieu.

GAFP Executive Member Linked to Hamas-Tied Parliamentary Network

Another member of GAFP’s executive committee, Mohammed Al-Kadri, is identified by the alliance as president of the Latin America Palestinian Forum.

An Arabic-language report on a March 2025 delegation by the forum to Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies said Al-Kadri’s organization had mobilized more than 52 Latin American parliamentarians to attend the 2024 Parliamentarians for Jerusalem conference in Istanbul.

The Istanbul gathering was the fifth conference of the League of Parliamentarians for Al-Quds and Palestine (LP4Q), held in April 2024. The league is headed by Yemeni businessman Hamid bin Abdullah Al-Ahmar, who remains identified as its president on LP4Q’s own website.

In October 2024, the U.S. Treasury Department designated Al-Ahmar under Executive Order 13224, calling him “one of the most prominent international supporters of Hamas.”

Treasury said Al-Ahmar was a key member of Hamas’s formerly secret investment portfolio, which at its peak managed more than $500 million in assets. It also said he had chaired the Al-Quds International Foundation since at least 2013, an organization previously designated by Treasury for being controlled by Hamas.

Hamas-Linked Figures Attended GAFP Launch

Jewish Onliner previously reported that GAFP’s inaugural London conference on July 26, 2025, featured several figures tied to Hamas-linked networks. Among them was Zaher Birawi, who was photographed at the event and was subsequently sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in January 2026 for materially supporting the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad, which Treasury simultaneously designated for being owned, controlled or directed by, or acting on behalf of, Hamas. Other attendees included alleged Hamas-linked operatives Ziad El-Aloul and Adnan Hmidan.

Coordinating Messaging and Action

GAFP describes its mission as bringing disparate Palestine solidarity organizations into a “coherent, coordinated international front.” Its stated objectives include coordinating international campaigns, aligning movements on “narrative, messaging, and action,” and developing shared media content.

Occidental College’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) has begun the academic year by promoting campus meetings with a graphic that appears adapted from historical photographs of Fatah guerrilla recruits studying Chinese communist ruler Mao Zedong’s writings.

The posts come as the chapter’s current recognition status remains unclear. Occidental’s public organization directory does not list Oxy SJP among recognized student groups, although the chapter continues advertising events under the university’s name. The chapter signed the accompanying post, “Until liberation.”

The armed image appears to be adapted from a well-known series of photographs of Palestinian guerrillas studying Maoist literature in Jordan around 1970. Photographs show Fatah guerrilla recruits reading Arabic translations of Mao Zedong’s Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung, commonly known as the “Little Red Book,” while undergoing commando training near the Israeli border in Jordan.

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SJP Missing From Occidental’s Current Club List

Oxy SJP’s new activity comes with an unresolved institutional question. The current Occidental clubs and organizations roster, published alongside the Fall 2026 involvement fair, lists more than 100 organizations, but does not list the Oxy SJP chapter.

The college’s student-organization policy, last reviewed July 1, requires recognized organizations to register with Student Leadership, Involvement, and Community Engagement, provide updated officers each semester and maintain at least two student executive-board members and a faculty, staff or administrative adviser. It also states that it does not oversee or condone the activities of groups that are not recognized by the college.

Occidental was still dealing formally with Oxy SJP mid 2024, when the chapter and Oxy JVP submitted a joint divestment proposal targeting Boeing, Elbit Systems, Caterpillar and Lockheed Martin.

Oxy SJP’s publicly available pages do not identify its current officers or executive board.

A 3 A.M. Protest at a Trustee’s Home

The uncertainty follows a series of increasingly confrontational actions by the chapter.

On March 30, Oxy SJP, Midnight Books LA, and LA SJP protesters traveled to the private San Marino residence of former Occidental Board of Trustees chair Lisa Link at approximately 3 a.m. for what organizers described as a “wake-up call” in relation to the join divestment proposal. Protesters banged pots, blew whistles and chanted outside Link’s residence.

One participant told the newspaper that the demonstration represented an effort to “extend pressure beyond Occidental campus” and warned that punitive measures would lead protesters to develop more “creative means of resistance.”

Several Oxy SJP figures have emerged as public representatives of the chapter. The Los Angeles Times identified Evan Zeltzer as a participant in the chapter’s 2025 hunger strike, while Tobias Lodish was identified as an SJP organizer and later as a spokesperson for both Oxy SJP and Oxy JVP

Longtime Oxy SJP Adviser Invokes Israel as an Example of Terrorism

For more than a decade, Oxy SJP’s faculty adviser was English professor Warren Montag, who retired in spring 2025 after 38 years at Occidental. Montag has described himself as Jewish, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace and SJP’s faculty adviser for approximately 12 years.

Montag signed a 2024 faculty letter accusing Israel of waging a genocidal war in Gaza, writing:

In a 2025 interview about the Kurdish movement and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Montag discussed the PKK’s designation as a terrorist organization by the United States and European Union. During the interview, he connected his views on the PKK to his previous involvement in pro-Palestinian activism, saying he had been “very active in the movement supporting Palestine” and that during the 1982 Lebanon War he allegedly worked closely with figures from Palestinian organizations, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

“If I were associating with them today, I could probably be arrested or something similar would happen,” Montag said, referring to those groups. He called the PKK’s terrorist designation “absurd” and said the group had waged a “legitimate armed struggle.” He also criticized the broader system of terrorist designations, stating: “If you want to talk about terrorists, you could talk about Israel to start.”

The U.S. State Department has designated the PKK as a Foreign Terrorist Organization since 1997. Montag’s retirement leaves an unresolved question as Oxy SJP begins a new academic year over who, if anyone, now serves as the faculty or staff adviser required under Occidental’s recognition rules.

On September 8, a federal court held Iran and North Korea jointly and severally liable to American plaintiffs over seven terrorist attacks, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s October 7, 2023 assault on Israel, in a ruling that details a largely overlooked North Korean role involving training, weapons and underground-warfare assistance.

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In a memorandum opinion, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema granted default judgment on liability in a case brought by 47 U.S. nationals, including people killed or injured in seven terrorist attacks between 2019 and 2023 and immediate family members of the victims. The court concluded that the plaintiffs had established Iran and North Korea’s liability under the terrorism exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

The October 7 portion of the ruling is particularly striking. Brinkema wrote that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad jointly carried out the attack that severely wounded American plaintiffs Bernadette and Nir Brauner. According to the court, Iran provided funds, weapons, recruitment assistance and incentive payments to operatives involved in the attack. North Korea, the opinion states, provided training to Hezbollah, Hamas and PIJ operatives involved in the attack, as well as weapons or weapon components and “tunnel-building assistance.”

The underlying complaint is even more explicit. It alleges that North Korea aided the October 7 attack by providing training to operatives from Hezbollah, Hamas and PIJ, supplying weapons including rocket-propelled grenade launchers, and providing assistance related to tunnel construction. Because Iran and North Korea did not answer the lawsuit, those allegations were uncontested. The court nevertheless found that the plaintiffs had presented an adequate legal and factual basis to establish liability and held the two governments jointly and severally liable for the plaintiffs’ injuries and deaths.

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A Decades-Old North Korean Pipeline

North Korea’s ties to Middle Eastern militant movements predate Hamas itself, while its military relationship with Iran stretches back to the early 1980s.

The complaint, summarized by Brinkema, describes Pyongyang as Iran’s “most powerful nation-state partner” and traces decades of cooperation involving missile development, weapons, military training and assistance to Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah.

The opinion recounts allegations that North Korean military personnel were dispatched to southern Lebanon in the early 2000s, where they used Pyongyang’s expertise to help develop underground military installations and an extensive network of tunnels. It also describes North Korean training provided to the IRGC and Hezbollah that allegedly flowed through Iran’s broader network of proxies.

That history has previously reached American courts. In a 2014 federal decision involving Hezbollah’s 2006 war against Israel, a U.S. district court found by “clear and convincing evidence” that North Korea had materially supported Hezbollah. The court identified weapons, military training and assistance constructing underground military infrastructure among the support supplied by Pyongyang.

A Congressional Research Service report similarly documented reports that North Korean trainers were sent to southern Lebanon to instruct Hezbollah personnel in constructing underground military facilities. The report also detailed longstanding North Korean weapons relationships with Iran and Syria and reported on the movement of North Korean arms believed to be destined for Hezbollah and Hamas.

North Korea’s role has also been partly transactional. Analysis by 38 North identified financial gain as an important motivation behind Pyongyang’s arms trade while noting that its relationships with militant organizations have often developed through allied states. Heavily sanctioned and motivated in part by revenue, North Korea has used weapons exports and military expertise for both financial and geopolitical purposes.

Iran has served as a crucial link. Decades of military cooperation between Tehran and Pyongyang created channels through which missile technology, weapons and military knowledge could move into an Iranian network that includes Hezbollah and Palestinian terrorist organizations.

North Korean Weapons in Hamas’ Arsenal

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service confirmed in January 2024 that Hamas had used a North Korean-made F-7 rocket-propelled grenade launcher and released an image showing Korean markings inside the weapon’s fuse. A subsequent CSIS analysis cited the intelligence finding and noted Israeli reports of North Korean weapons recovered following the October 7 attack.

The September ruling places October 7 at the end of a much older military network connecting Pyongyang, Tehran, Hezbollah and Palestinian terrorist organizations, and holds North Korea legally responsible for material support that the court determined contributed to attacks against the American plaintiffs.

Iran and North Korea did not appear to defend the lawsuit, resulting in a default proceeding. But under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, the court could not grant judgment merely because the governments failed to respond. Brinkema wrote that the plaintiffs still had to establish their claims with evidence satisfactory to the court and that the court was required to determine whether an adequate legal and factual basis existed.

The court ultimately granted the plaintiffs’ motion for default judgment on liability and granted their damages motion in part. Brinkema ordered punitive damages equal to compensatory damages and imposed statutory post-judgment interest.

The Thinking Muslim is set to hold a conference in West London on November 8 featuring Azzam Tamimi, who has been described as a Hamas “special envoy” and as a “leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Britain,” alongside CAGE Senior Director Moazzam Begg, whom a 2004 U.S. Department of Defense tribunal summary described as “a member of al Qaida and other affiliated terrorist organizations” and alleged had received “extensive training at al Qaida run terrorist training camps since 1993.”

Other scheduled speakers include CAIR-Michigan Executive Director Dawud Walid, former Syrian opposition leader Ghassan Hitto and Neturei Karta member Rabbi Elhanan Beck.

Walid’s appearance places fresh scrutiny on CAIR-Michigan itself: while its executive director prepares to share a stage with figures tied to Hamas and al-Qaeda, current board member of CAIR-Michigan, Jukaku Tayeb, is the father-in-law of Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed.

The appearance of a CAIR chapter executive director comes after Jewish Onliner previously reported that CAIR-Ohio Director Khalid Turaani chaired a panel at an Arabic-language online conference that also featured Majed al-Zeer, a senior Hamas official in Europe sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury.

The upcoming conference page identifies the location only as West London and does not name the venue. The event is billed as a gathering to discuss the future of the Muslim “Ummah,” bringing several figures previously featured by The Thinking Muslim’s podcast together for an in-person event.

U.S. Military Alleged Begg Trained at Al-Qaeda Camps

Scheduled conference speaker Moazzam Begg, a senior director at CAGE, was previously the subject of U.S. military assessments alleging that he trained at al-Qaeda-run camps. Britain’s Independent Review of Prevent also specifically identified CAGE while examining Islamist opposition to the government’s counter-radicalization program, stating that some campaigners, “such as CAGE, have excused and legitimised violence by Islamist terrorists.”

A September 2004 Department of Defense summary prepared for Begg’s Guantánamo Combatant Status Review Tribunal said U.S. information indicated that he had received “extensive training at al Qaida run terrorist training camps since 1993.” The document alleged that Begg received training with AK-47s, rocket-propelled grenades and handguns, as well as in ambush tactics, land-mine detection and the manufacture of improvised grenades. It also alleged that he recruited individuals to attend al-Qaeda training camps and provided money and material support to them.

A separate 2003 Joint Task Force Guantánamo assessment, later disclosed among the Guantánamo files, went further. The assessment described Begg as a “confirmed member of al-Qaida” and alleged that he had been an instructor at the Derunta training camp, characterized in the file as “another al-Qaida supported terrorist camp.” It also said Begg had admitted attending the al-Badr training camp near Khost in 1993 and a Harakat al-Ansar training camp.

Begg later publicly met a senior Taliban figure. On July 19, 2023, he posted a photograph on X with Khairullah Khairkhwa, a senior Taliban figure who was then serving as the Taliban government’s acting Minister of Information and Culture. According to the Institute for the Study of War, U.S. military assessments characterized Khairkhwa as a “high-risk” detainee and a “direct” associate of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Taliban founder Mullah Omar.

Begg also previously posted a tribute on Facebook following the 2017 death of Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, the Egyptian cleric known as the “Blind Sheikh.” Abdel-Rahman was serving a life sentence after being convicted in the United States over a conspiracy to carry out a campaign of terrorism in New York, including plots targeting the United Nations headquarters, the FBI’s New York office and the Lincoln and Holland tunnels.

In his post, Begg called Abdel-Rahman “a scholar of Islam and an opponent of the Egyptian regime” and wrote that his “only crime was speaking the truth against powerful leaders and seeking divine justice.” Begg also praised Abdel-Rahman for promoting Sunni-Shia cooperation and quoted remarks attributed to him upon receiving his life sentence. The Community Security Trust reproduced the Facebook post in a 2017 research briefing.

Tamimi’s Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood Record

The descriptions attached to Azzam Tamimi are notable for where they originated. A review of Tamimi’s book Hamas: A History from Within noted that Malaysia’s national news agency Bernama identified him as a Hamas “special envoy” in 2006.

The Brotherhood connection was even more explicit. In September 2014, the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood’s English-language website, Ikhwanweb, published an article headlined “Muslim Brotherhood Leader Tamimi.” The article described him as a “leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Britain,” placing the characterization inside the Brotherhood’s own media infrastructure rather than attributing it to an outside critic.

Tamimi also founded London-based Al-Hiwar TV, an Arabic satellite channel associated by researchers with both the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center has described Al-Hiwar as a media platform and mouthpiece for the two movements and documented its role in providing airtime to figures and organizations associated with Hamas.

Tamimi’s relationship with Hamas leadership predates the television channel. The Guardian reported in 2002 that Tamimi was a friend of senior Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal and had advised Hamas on its public-relations strategy. Tamimi described himself as a Hamas “sympathiser and supporter” and said senior Hamas figures sometimes sought his advice on how the organization presented itself internationally.

Tamimi’s public advocacy has included defenses of Hamas suicide bombings. A review of his book quoted him describing Hamas suicide bombing missions as being “resorted to out of utter desperation” while praising the “heroism and altruism” of those who carried them out.

His statements have also extended to his own willingness to die in the conflict. Written evidence submitted to a British parliamentary committee reproduced comments from Tamimi’s 2004 BBC Hardtalk appearance in which he said that if he could travel to the Palestinian territories and sacrifice himself, he would do so, describing it as a noble cause.

In a 2012 Arabic-language Al Jazeera debate, Tamimi defended Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood and referred to Hamas members as “our brothers in Hamas.” Tamimi also said in a 2026 post that he had conducted a televised interview with Mohamed Morsi shortly before the second round of Egypt’s 2012 presidential election, when Morsi was running as the Muslim Brotherhood’s candidate.

Tamimi has continued promoting Hamas narratives since October 7. In one interview, he claimed Hamas had neither captured nor harmed Israeli civilians during the attack and said Palestinians had been ecstatic at Hamas fighters’ return.

He also supported an effort seeking to reverse Britain’s 2021 proscription of Hamas. Tamimi was among the experts whose material was assembled in support of the challenge, with his submission appearing in the campaign’s archived materials.

The record is also current. In July 2026, The Thinking Muslim released an episode with Tamimi titled “1,000 Days Later: Why the Resistance Still Exists.” The discussion centered on Hamas, Gaza, Israel, Iran and the continued Palestinian “resistance.”

CAIR-Michigan Director Said Those Who ‘Incurred the Wrath of Allah’ Were Jews

The conference will also host Dawud Walid, executive director of CAIR-Michigan. CAIR’s national directory identifies Walid as the executive director of its Michigan chapter.

During a May 2012 sermon at the Islamic Organization of North America mosque in Warren, Michigan, Walid discussed Quranic interpretation and asked, “Who are those who incurred the wrath of Allah?” before answering in Arabic, “They are the Jews, they are the Jews.” The exchange was documented in an IPT report examining Walid’s comments about Jews and Quranic interpretation.

Syrian Opposition Leader Described as Close to Brotherhood

Another speaker, Ghassan Hitto, was elected in March 2013 to head the Syrian opposition’s planned interim government. Hitto resigned that July after failing to establish the government, telling the Irish Times that members of the Syrian Coalition had prevented him from doing so.

A Carnegie analysis characterized Hitto as an Islamist “close to the Muslim Brotherhood” and described the Brotherhood as having pushed his candidacy within the opposition coalition.

Before entering Syrian opposition politics, Hitto had longstanding ties to the United States and lived in Texas for decades. The Middle East Forum reported that he had served on the board of CAIR’s Dallas-Fort Worth chapter.

Neturei Karta Representatives Met Hamas Leader

Rabbi Elhanan Beck, a member of the anti-Zionist Neturei Karta movement, is also scheduled to speak. During an earlier Thinking Muslim interview, Beck recounted Neturei Karta representatives attending a conference in Turkey where they met then-Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh.

Growing Scrutiny of Brotherhood-Linked Conference Speakers

The West London conference comes months after another event featuring a UK-based figure linked to Muslim Brotherhood networks drew scrutiny in North America. In May, Anas Altikriti was denied entry to Canada ahead of the Muslim Association of Canada’s annual convention, days after Jewish Onliner published an investigation into the conference lineup and his record. Altikriti has been described in Arab and foreign media reports as the head of the Muslim Brotherhood’s “intelligence service” and as the leader of its alleged “intelligence arm” in Europe.

The episode highlights growing scrutiny surrounding Western conferences that feature figures tied to Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood networks, as well as speakers such as Moazzam Begg, whom the U.S. Department of Defense previously accused of membership in al-Qaeda and affiliated terrorist organizations.

A Muslim technology summit set to take place in New York City this month is bringing together figures from Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s political network, Islamic religious institutions with alleged Muslim Brotherhood connections, and organizations tied to foreign governments or facing congressional scrutiny.

The HabibiTech Summit, scheduled for September 26 at Civic Hall in Manhattan, currently advertises 60 speakers working at what organizers describe as the intersection of AI, Islam and global impact. Its agenda extends beyond startups and technology, with sessions on Islamic jurisprudence governing artificial intelligence, the use of AI to issue religious rulings, political governance and Muslim investment.

A Jewish Onliner review found that participants include Yasir Qadhi, chairman of the Fiqh Council of North America and a member of the Qatar-based International Union of Muslim Scholars; Mamdani-linked figures Ali Najmi and Yasser Salem; an Egyptian parliamentarian; and a former CAIR-New York official who attended the 2014 New Horizon Conference in Tehran. Five years later, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned the Iran-based New Horizon Organization for supporting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force.

According to HabibiTech’s website, the summit is an initiative of the AI Sustainable Development Group, a New York-based nonprofit registered as a 501(c)(3). AISDG separately lists Islamic Relief USA, Wahed Invest, Ethar Relief and Qahwah House among its “Partners & Collaborators.” The group says the list covers relationships across HabibiTech and its other programming, meaning the designation does not necessarily establish that each organization is financing or formally sponsoring the September summit.

HabibiTech’s own promotional material also frames the technology race in explicitly transnational Muslim terms. In one post, the summit says that “the models are American and Chinese” while the technology used by “two billion Muslims” was “built for someone else,” before advertising a discussion about “where the ummah’s capital sits, where it should go.” Another declares that the summit will establish “seven stands that define Muslim leadership on AI,” telling followers, “We are not subjects of this technology. We are its authors.”

The rhetoric presents the global Muslim ummah as a distinct constituency seeking its own technological influence, investment strategy and representation, even as the summit itself is being held in New York City during UN Week.

Alleged Brotherhood-Linked Institutions Appear in the AI Program

One of HabibiTech’s most prominent religious speakers is Yasir Qadhi, who will deliver a keynote titled “What We Owe the World We Build.” The conference is also programming discussions on the role of Islamic jurisprudence in emerging technology, including a session explicitly titled “Future of Fiqh: Using AI to Issue Fatwas.”

Qadhi currently serves as chairman of the Fiqh Council of North America, or FCNA. The council’s own history says it began with the Muslim Students Association’s Religious Affairs Committee, which evolved into the Fiqh Committee of the Islamic Society of North America, or ISNA, before becoming FCNA in 1986. FCNA says it remains an affiliate of ISNA.

That organizational history intersects with the 1991 Muslim Brotherhood “Explanatory Memorandum” previously examined by Jewish Onliner. An attachment to the memorandum listed what it called “our organizations and the organizations of our friends,” including ISNA, the Muslim Students Association, the Islamic Circle of North America, Muslim Youth of North America and “IFC,” the ISNA Fiqh Committee, the institutional predecessor identified by FCNA itself.

Qadhi also has a second connection to a major transnational Islamic organization. As Jewish Onliner reported earlier this month, Qadhi publicly identified himself as a member of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, or IUMS, in a June 2025 social media post.

IUMS says it was established in 2004 with the “pivotal contribution” of Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who became its founding president. The organization later moved its headquarters to Doha, Qatar. Qaradawi was widely described as a spiritual guide to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Qadhi therefore occupies roles in two institutions with distinct historical connections to Brotherhood networks: he chairs FCNA, whose institutional predecessor appears in the 1991 Brotherhood memorandum, while also identifying himself as a member of the organization founded with Qaradawi’s pivotal involvement.

He is not the only HabibiTech participant whose background overlaps with organizations named in the 1991 document.

Ozair Hasan, who will join Qalam Institute founder AbdulNasir Jangda for the AI-fatwa session, currently serves as Qalam’s head of IT and previously worked as an AI software engineer at Yaqeen Institute. HabibiTech says Hasan was raised in Dayton, Ohio.

ISNA records from 2016 identify an Ozair Hasan of Dayton as a Midwest regional program chair for MYNA. ISNA’s 2018 national convention program subsequently identifies “MYNA President Ozair Hasan.” That program also lists Qadhi and Jangda in MYNA programming.

MYNA, the Muslim Youth of North America, is another organization specifically named in the 1991 Brotherhood memorandum’s organizational attachment.

The institutional overlap extends further. Qalam founder AbdulNasir Jangda and Yaqeen scholar Mohamed AbuTaleb both appear on the current ICNA-MAS Annual Convention speaker roster. HabibiTech’s religious programming therefore brings together figures with leadership roles, employment histories or speaking appearances across FCNA, IUMS, ISNA, MYNA, ICNA-MAS, Qalam and Yaqeen while discussing how Islamic law should interact with emerging artificial intelligence.

Mamdani-Linked Figures Take the Stage

The summit also features figures with direct ties to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Attorney Ali Najmi is scheduled to appear on HabibiTech’s “Reimagining NYC & Urban Innovation” panel. In January, Mamdani appointed Najmi chairman of the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on the Judiciary, which recruits and evaluates candidates for judicial appointments. Mamdani said at the announcement that he had known and admired Najmi for more than a decade. Najmi is also a co-founder of the Muslim Democratic Club of New York, a Muslim political organization operating in the city.

Appearing on the same HabibiTech panel is Yasser Salem, founder of OneNYC. HabibiTech itself describes Salem as someone who brought more than 70 CEOs together with New York’s new mayor before joining Mamdani’s transition team.

A 2026 OneNYC coalition report lists Salem, Najmi and HabibiTech Executive Director Ramy Noaman alongside Afaf Nasher, executive director of the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations; Sherif Ahmed, executive director of the Muslim American Society of New York; Arman Chowdhury, national executive director of the Muslim Ummah of North America; Oussama Jammal, secretary general of the U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations; and Tariqur Rahman, president of the New York chapter of the Islamic Circle of North America, among the coalition’s signatories.

Foreign Connections Extend Beyond the Speakers

AISDG’s partner list also includes organizations with significant foreign state-backed financial ties.

The nonprofit lists Wahed Invest among its partners and collaborators. Wahed itself describes the company as backed by Saudi Aramco’s Wa’ed Ventures and Qatar Development Bank.

Saudi Aramco describes Wa’ed Ventures as Aramco’s venture-capital fund. In 2023, Aramco increased the fund’s size to $500 million as part of its strategy to develop Saudi Arabia’s technology ecosystem.

Qatar Development Bank separately invested in Wahed, with a QDB report saying the investment helped the U.S.-based Islamic wealth-management company establish a regional office in Qatar.

Another AISDG-listed partner, Islamic Relief USA, has faced congressional scrutiny over its financial relationship with Islamic Relief Worldwide. The House Ways and Means Committee said IRUSA gave IRW £67 million in 2022, equal to 29 percent of IRW’s income that year, and made multiple IRS referrals concerning IRUSA’s tax-exempt status. IRUSA later severed ties with IRW, citing “transparency and compliance concerns,” and filed a federal lawsuit against the organization. On September 12, IRW expelled IRUSA from its federation with immediate effect.

Foreign political connections also appear directly on HabibiTech’s speaker roster.

Sahar Albazar is deputy chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Egypt’s parliament and serves as secretary for foreign relations of Egypt’s Mostaqbal Watan party. HabibiTech has placed her on a session about governing and building artificial intelligence “from Queens to Cairo.”

Another speaker, Cyrus McGoldrick, is a former CAIR-New York official now based in Istanbul. An academic CV published by Ibn Haldun University lists McGoldrick as a presenter at the New Horizon Conference in Tehran in September 2014.

Five years later, the U.S. Treasury designated the Iran-based New Horizon Organization under Executive Order 13224, saying its conferences supported IRGC-Quds Force efforts to recruit and collect intelligence from foreign attendees, including Americans.

From Tech Summit to Influence Network

HabibiTech is billed as a technology summit, but its agenda points to something much broader. The September 26 event brings together political figures, Islamic institutions, foreign-linked organizations and speakers focused on shaping how Muslims engage with AI, capital and governance.

The result is not simply another industry conference. It is a platform for building political, religious and financial influence around technologies that are rapidly becoming central to public life.

A series of recent U.S. sanctions actions has placed Turkish companies across banking, aviation and logistics at the center of Washington’s campaign against the Iranian regime’s efforts to bypass international restrictions.

In separate actions over the past several weeks, the Treasury Department has targeted a Turkish investment bank accused of facilitating transactions connected to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF), aviation companies accused of helping Iran’s Mahan Air obtain U.S.-origin aircraft, and logistics firms accused of supporting shipments for the sanctioned airline.

Taken together, the sanctions reveal how Turkish-based companies have appeared across multiple sectors that U.S. authorities identify as critical to the Islamic Republic of Iran’s ability to maintain access to international finance, aircraft and commercial supply chains.

A Turkish Bank Accused of Financing the Iranian Regime

On September 4, the Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Golden Global Bank and two subsidiaries, Golden Global Portföy Yönetimi and Golden Global Varlık Kiralama, accusing the institutions of providing financial infrastructure for the Iranian regime’s sanctions-evasion efforts.

The Treasury Department alleged that Golden Global facilitated tens of millions of dollars in transactions connected to the IRGC-QF and provided the Iranian regime with correspondent banking access that allowed funds to move internationally. Treasury further alleged that the bank was established to help transfer Iranian oil revenues from China into Türkiye, where proceeds could then be converted into cash and gold through money exchangers.

Treasury’s action targeted a licensed Turkish financial institution rather than only offshore entities or informal intermediaries. According to Reuters, Golden Global was a small Turkish investment bank based in Istanbul.

Golden Global was also a relatively new entrant into Türkiye’s financial sector. Turkish regulatory records show that the bank was established in 2019 and received authorization to begin operations in 2020. The bank describes itself as Türkiye’s first investment bank operating under interest-free banking principles and says it was established to provide “banking services and alternative financing methods” to foreign trade companies. The timeline is notable because a financial institution created only several years earlier became the target of a major U.S. sanctions action over alleged activity benefiting the Iranian regime.

A Wider Golden Global Corporate Structure

Beyond the sanctioned bank itself, corporate records reveal a broader Golden Global business structure. Golden Global Emtia, a commodity-trading company operating under the same brand, was not separately designated by OFAC. However, Turkish corporate records show overlap between Golden Global entities and their senior leadership.

Recep Kaba, chairman of Golden Global Bank’s board, also serves as chairman of Golden Global Emtia, while Yavuz Yeter serves as Golden Global Bank’s general manager and board member, as well as vice chairman of Golden Global Emtia and chairman of Golden Global Portföy Yönetimi.

The overlap is notable because the Treasury Department alleged that Golden Global provided financial services connected to Iranian oil revenue flows through Türkiye, including mechanisms that allowed proceeds to be converted into cash and gold.

The shared leadership structure highlights the broader corporate network surrounding Golden Global and raises questions about the relationship between the sanctioned bank and its affiliated entities. The issue is also significant because OFAC’s 50 Percent Rule can apply sanctions restrictions to entities owned 50 percent or more by blocked persons, even when those entities are not individually listed.

From Banking to Aircraft Procurement

Days after targeting Golden Global, Treasury expanded its Iran sanctions campaign into aviation, targeting Turkish companies accused of supporting Mahan Air.

On September 8, the Treasury Department sanctioned Sky Phoenix, a Türkiye-based aviation company accused of serving as an intermediary in the transfer of U.S.-origin Boeing 777 aircraft to Mahan Air.

According to Treasury, Mahan Air received at least three Boeing 777 aircraft after the planes moved through third-country intermediaries before reaching the Iranian airline. Treasury said the transfers resembled previous sanctions-evasion methods used to support Mahan Air.

Mahan Air has been sanctioned by Washington since 2011 for providing material support to the IRGC-QF. Treasury has repeatedly accused the airline of supporting the Iranian regime’s military and regional operations.

The recent sanctions also come amid broader concerns over the use of Turkish aviation routes by Iranian-linked networks. A 2025 assessment by the Alma Research and Education Center examined Mahan Air flights between Iran and Lebanon that transited Turkish airspace, warning that Tehran may have been seeking alternative aviation routes for moving funds and supplies to Hezbollah following disruptions to previous land corridors through Syria.

Turkish Logistics Firms and Iran’s Aviation Supply Chain

The same September 8 action targeted two Turkish logistics companies, S Sistem and MES Cargo.

Treasury alleged that S Sistem coordinated shipments on behalf of Mahan Air, including unmanned aerial vehicle components and industrial equipment destined for Iran, while MES Cargo served as a general sales agent for Mahan Air and coordinated shipments for the airline.

The designations highlight that the Iranian regime’s aviation sanctions-evasion efforts rely not only on airlines themselves, but also on outside companies involved in aircraft transfers, cargo handling and commercial services.

The Remaining Questions

The recent sanctions actions provide a detailed picture of the types of intermediaries Washington says the Iranian regime relies upon: financial institutions that provide access to global banking, aviation firms that facilitate aircraft transfers and logistics providers that move goods through international supply chains.

Important questions remain unanswered, including the specific transactions underlying Treasury’s allegations against Golden Global, whether Turkish regulators identified concerns before the U.S. designation, and whether additional companies connected to the sanctioned entities could face scrutiny.

As Washington continues targeting the Islamic Republic of Iran’s international networks, Turkish companies operating in sensitive sectors are likely to face increased attention from U.S. sanctions authorities and global compliance officials.

A new exhibition produced by Visualizing Palestine and the American Friends Service Committee opened this week at Winona State University, a public university in Minnesota, bringing radical pro-Palestine-focused visual materials into a U.S. higher education setting while connecting educators with additional classroom resources from advocacy-oriented education organizations.

The exhibition, “Why We Record: Defying Fragmentation and Erasure in Palestine,” is being displayed at Paul Watkins Art Gallery before moving to the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, where it will remain on display through December 31. The exhibit’s stated framing centers on claims involving “occupation,” “apartheid,” “settler colonialism,” and “genocide,” while the Arab American National Museum describes the exhibition in similar terms.

While Winona State University’s exhibit listing identifies AFSC and Visualizing Palestine as the producers, related promotional materials connected to the university-hosted exhibition also encourage educators and students to engage with additional classroom resources from Rethinking Schools’ Teaching Palestine curriculum and the Zinn Education Project.

Previous Jewish Onliner investigations have examined Visualizing Palestine’s international connections, including its links to Lebanon and broader Middle Eastern networks, as well as partnerships with organizations that have faced scrutiny over alleged ties to entities designated as terrorist organizations.

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Built for Reproduction and Wider Distribution

Visualizing Palestine’s downloadable exhibit page makes clear that “Why We Record” was designed not simply as a one-off installation, but as a reproducible exhibit built for wider circulation.

According to the project page, the exhibit is curated in three formats to accommodate different host locations, budgets, and capacities. A “Full Archive” package includes 38 visuals, photos, and stories and carries an estimated printing cost of approximately $1,500. A “Selected Works” package includes 25 visuals, photos, and stories at an estimated cost of about $1,000. An “Essentials” package includes 15 visuals, photos, and stories at an estimated cost of about $600.

The materials are offered as free downloads, and prospective hosts are directed to complete a “Host the Exhibit” form in order to obtain access to the files and exhibit toolkit. Once approved, hosts receive access to a Google Drive containing high-resolution exhibit files, a display plan, a sample flyer, an exhibit guide, and a sample press release. The site also explicitly states that organizers may host the exhibit as a stand-alone installation or incorporate it into related programming such as conferences, lectures, workshops, panels, or film screenings.

Visualizing Palestine and AFSC also provide usage guidelines stating that hosts must use the title “Why We Record: Defying Fragmentation and Erasure in Palestine,” represent all three themes, and use the provided gallery materials and project descriptions.

The same page includes an “Interactive Map” showing where the exhibit has already been hosted, underscoring that this is a traveling and replicable advocacy product intended for distribution across multiple communities and institutions. The site states that prospective organizers can contact AFSC and Visualizing Palestine to be connected with previous hosts who may be able to lend exhibit materials locally.

Meet Visualizing Palestine

A previous Jewish Onliner investigation examined VP’s organizational structure, including its U.S. nonprofit status through fiscal sponsorship and its connections to Lebanon-based personnel and networks. The full report is available here.

The investigation examined how Visualizing Palestine operates while holding tax-deductible nonprofit status through the fiscal sponsorship of Empowerment Works and analyzed the organization’s international relationships and operations.

The organization has previously drawn scrutiny over its collaborations with organizations including Al-Haq and the Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, both of which have been sanctioned by the U.S. and have alleged ties to Hamas and the PFLP. Visualizing Palestine has also partnered with groups such as the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies and other regional organizations as part of its broader international network.

VP has also publicly outlined efforts to expand the reach of its materials among Western audiences. Its 2023–2026 strategic plan describes efforts to increase the impact of its narratives among Western publics.

Visualizing Palestine’s Growing Reach Into U.S. Educational Institutions

The expansion of “Why We Record: Defying Fragmentation and Erasure in Palestine” into Winona State University and the Arab American National Museum demonstrates how pro-Palestine advocacy organizations are increasingly bringing their materials into public universities, museums, and other educational institutions.

The exhibit’s presence at a public university, together with its intentionally reproducible format, host toolkit, interactive location map, and connection to external classroom resources, raises questions about how advocacy-driven narratives are introduced into educational environments and how far these materials are designed to travel through formal and informal educational channels.

Visualizing Palestine presents itself as a visual storytelling organization, but its partnerships, strategic framing, and exhibit infrastructure point to a broader effort to disseminate a highly politicized narrative through cultural and educational spaces. As public institutions continue hosting such material, transparency about the organizations behind it, the frameworks embedded in it, and the networks facilitating its spread becomes increasingly important.

A Maryland-incorporated organization is among six groups convening the First National Conference, an Egyptian opposition event expected to take place in the Netherlands this month. The conference’s official website lists the Center for Egyptian American Relations, or CEAR, alongside Maydan, the Egyptian Revolutionary Council, Egypt Technocrats, Amal Egypt Party and Justice Matter as organizers of the event.

CEAR describes itself as a nonprofit incorporated under Maryland law in accordance with Section 501(c)(3), but IRS nonprofit records list the organization under EIN 46-5259820 and indicate that its federal tax-exempt status was automatically revoked in 2024.

Maydan, another conference organizer, is on Egypt’s terrorism list, and currently lists Yahya Moussa among its leadership. Moussa, described in reporting as a senior Muslim Brotherhood figure, was designated by the United States for his role as a leader of HASM, which Washington designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

The conference is intended to develop proposals for Egypt in the event of a future political transition, covering the country’s political system, economy, foreign policy, armed forces, security services, judiciary, media and Sinai. Maydan separately announced the project’s launch in April.

Maydan’s Muslim Brotherhood and HASM Connections

Maydan’s leadership includes several figures with documented connections to Muslim Brotherhood networks. Egyptian court records reported separately by Al-Masry Al-Youm identify the Maydan Foundation as the entity established by a group including Yahya Moussa, Reda Fahmy, Mohamed Montasser and Mohamed Elhami. Those are the same four figures Maydan’s current leadership page lists among its chairman and board members.

Additional reporting has examined Maydan’s relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood. A 2026 report by iM Arabic described the organization as founded by Reda Fahmy, whom it identified as a Muslim Brotherhood member, and characterized Maydan as a Brotherhood-linked organization. The report also described the organization as part of efforts by Brotherhood-linked figures to rebuild political influence outside Egypt following the group’s removal from power.

In a 2022 announcement establishing Maydan, Fahmy presented the organization as a youth-focused political movement under the slogan “Youth for Change.” According to iM Arabic, Fahmy’s remarks at the launch included calls for renewed revolutionary mobilization.

Maydan also lists Mohamed Montasser on its board. Montasser previously served as an official media spokesman for the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood.

Maydan chairman Reda Fahmy also has a documented Brotherhood history. Earlier reporting identified Fahmy as a Muslim Brotherhood leader who oversaw the group’s Palestinian relations. In a 2013 interview, Fahmy described Hamas’ relationship with the Brotherhood as natural and said Hamas had emerged from Brotherhood thinking.

Another Organizer Has Brotherhood Ties

The Egyptian Revolutionary Council, another of the six groups listed as conference organizers, has a separate history of Muslim Brotherhood involvement. A 2015 Washington Institute analysis reported that senior Muslim Brotherhood leaders had taken official positions within the Egyptian Revolutionary Council. Another report described the council as “Brotherhood-backed,” while noting that its then-chair Maha Azzam was not herself a Muslim Brother.

The conference brings together CEAR alongside organizations and figures with documented links to the Muslim Brotherhood and affiliated groups. While CEAR’s tax-status revocation does not by itself determine the organization’s current activities, it raises questions about its present organizational standing and continued role in convening events alongside groups and figures that have faced terrorism-related scrutiny. The event highlights how organizations and individuals linked in reporting to the Muslim Brotherhood continue to participate in international political and advocacy activities.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has given Concerned Jewish Parents and Teachers of Los Angeles another opportunity to amend their lawsuit challenging the use of the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum in Los Angeles schools.

The case names the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Consortium (LESMCC), United Teachers Los Angeles, several individuals involved with the curriculum effort, and the Los Angeles Unified School District as defendants. Plaintiffs allege that LESMCC materials promoted anti-Zionist and antisemitic ideas and that their use contributed to incidents involving Jewish students.

In a September 4 decision, the Ninth Circuit affirmed dismissal of the complaint for lack of standing but ruled that plaintiffs should have another opportunity to amend their claims after alleging that LESMCC materials had expanded within LAUSD and that their children experienced related incidents at school, including bullying.

While LAUSD has not formally adopted the LESMCC curriculum, plaintiffs alleged that at least two teachers within the district were using the materials and that the consortium and affiliated individuals exerted informal influence over curriculum discussions.

A 2023 report from the Institute for Liberal Values examined LESMCC’s leadership, organizational connections, curriculum framework, and role in California’s ethnic studies movement.

Overlapping Networks Behind LESMCC

One of the report’s central findings was personnel overlap between LESMCC, Unión del Barrio (UDB), and the Association of Raza Educators (ARE), organizations involved in California ethnic studies advocacy.

The report identified Guadalupe Carrasco Cardona, one of the defendants in the lawsuit, as a LESMCC leader and documented her connections to ARE and UDB. LESMCC materials identify Cardona as a co-founder of the consortium, while UDB has described her as a “leading member” of the organization in a statement addressing the lawsuit.

The report also identified Theresa Montaño as a LESMCC leader and documented her involvement with ARE. LESMCC materials list Montaño among figures involved in the consortium’s curriculum work.

The political character of these organizations is reflected in their own materials. UDB describes itself in its political program as a “revolutionary organization” focused on the liberation of “México and Nuestra América.” Its political materials refer to “Aztlán/México Ocupado” and describe a vision centered around a “revolutionary, reunified, and socialist México.”

ARE describes education as a tool for liberation from “Western capitalist oppression” and identifies ethnic studies as a vehicle for advancing that framework.

The documented relationships place LESMCC within a broader activist network whose organizations have used revolutionary, socialist, and anti-capitalist language.

LESMCC’s Ideological Framework

Beyond organizational connections, the Institute for Liberal Values report examined LESMCC’s ideological framework.

LESMCC materials describe ethnic studies as an “explicit counter narrative to traditional western disciplines” and state that the framework diverges from the Western educational approach. The curriculum incorporates Critical Race Theory as one of its theoretical foundations and emphasizes concepts related to power, oppression, race, and social systems.

The report also highlighted references in LESMCC materials to figures and concepts associated with Marxist and revolutionary movements, including Italian Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci, Puerto Rican nationalist figure Oscar López Rivera, Maoist activist Yuri Kochiyama, and Black Panther figures George Jackson and Eldridge Cleaver.

Public Funding and Expansion Across California

The expansion of ethnic studies programs has occurred alongside significant public investment.

California allocated $50 million in the 2021-2022 budget to support ethnic studies programs across the state and provided an additional $5 million for statewide professional development and online resources.

The Institute for Liberal Values report examined how LESMCC and related organizations sought to expand through California school districts, including through curriculum-related services.

A later review by Defending Education documented $292,320 in contracts directly involving LESMCC, including agreements with Berkeley Unified, Hayward Unified, and Lynwood Unified school districts.

Curriculum Materials Draw Scrutiny

LESMCC’s own principles state that students should examine systems including “empire”, “capitalism”, and “other forms of power and oppression.”

Among LESMCC’s publicly available materials is a lesson titled “My Name is Palestine: What is Freedom?” designed for kindergarten through fourth-grade students. The lesson uses a key as a symbol connected to Palestinian homes, asks students what they hope for “Palestine,” and instructs teachers to explain that Palestinian families’ homes were “stolen.”

Another LESMCC lesson focused on Edward Said, which introduces students to concepts including “Orientalism” and “colonialism.”

The Legal Battle Continues

The Ninth Circuit’s decision gives Concerned Jewish Parents and Teachers of Los Angeles another opportunity to present their allegations that LESMCC materials were used in LAUSD classrooms and contributed to antisemitic incidents affecting Jewish students. The amended complaint will allow plaintiffs to further detail their claims regarding the curriculum’s expansion, the materials they say were introduced into classrooms, and the experiences they say their children faced.