Turkish University Hosts Conference Targeting “Global Jewish-Zionist Project”
An Istanbul research center is holding a conference at a state-linked Turkish university to train experts and build a database against what it calls a “global Jewish-Zionist project"
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Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakıf University, an Istanbul foundation university established through Turkey’s General Directorate of Foundations, is hosting a three-day conference organized by the Juthoor Center, an organization that says its mission is to equip actors and decision-makers to lead a struggle against what it calls the “global Jewish-Zionist project.”
The event seeks to train experts to represent “the Islamic project,” produce policy assessments and build a database and encyclopedia cataloging the organizers’ claims about Judaism, Jews, Zionism and Israel across religious, political, economic and social fields.
Juthoor’s published framework does not limit itself to Israeli policy or political Zionism. It treats Jewish theology, Jewish economic and social behavior, relations between Jews and non-Jews, Zionism and Israeli power as elements of a single worldwide project that must be studied, confronted and ultimately dismantled.
Juthoor director Daoud Khalaf was listed as a signatory to a 2017 statement explicitly supporting Hamas. The statement identified him as an adviser to the Muslim Brotherhood-linked International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS).
The Aug. 8–10 conference, titled “Jewish Beliefs Between Distortion and Revelation,” was formally advertised by FSMVU’s Islamic Sciences Faculty. The university’s notice confirms that FSMVU is hosting the event and directs readers to Juthoor’s official channels. Promotional materials for the conference depict a fist shattering the Jewish symbol of the Star of David.
Mapping Judaism as a Global Adversarial Project
Juthoor promoted the gathering as a major academic program involving 50 research papers, 11 presentation sessions, seven principal research fields, two specialized seminars and two practical workshops.
The organization’s conference page states that the program is intended to prepare a new generation of researchers capable of dismantling opposing narratives and representing “the Islamic project” in international forums.
Juthoor also describes plans to build partnerships among universities, research centers and other “active entities,” convert research into applied assessments for policymakers and create a documented database that would become the foundation of a specialized encyclopedia. The proposed database would underpin what Juthoor describes as the first line of defense in a wider “battle of knowledge.”
Juthoor Defines Its Mission as a Struggle Against “Global Zionist Jewish Project”
The website for Juthoor says its vision is to develop the intellectual and analytical frameworks necessary for actors and decision-makers to lead “the struggle against the global Zionist Jewish project.”
Its stated mission calls for “dismantling its roots,” anticipating its future development, raising awareness of its purported dangers and providing stakeholders with “mechanisms to confront it.” Juthoor describes this process as a strategic partnership intended to generate awareness, institutionalize academic projects, train specialists and contribute to fragmenting the project it studies.
The website identifies a “Board of Trustees and Advisers” as part of Juthoor’s organizational structure but does not disclose its members. It also does not provide a visible donor list, financial statements or the Turkish legal identity under which the center operates.
Links to Turkish State Institutions
In January 2026, Mardin Artuklu University, a Turkish state university, partnered with Juthoor for a youth forum. An official university report rendered its theme as “Youth’s Sacrifice and Self-Sacrifice Against the Global Jewish Project.”
University rector İbrahim Özcoşar opened the event. An official announcement states that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reappointed Özcoşar in 2023. Mardin Artuklu University faculty member Mustafa Kadad also presented the university’s Jerusalem and Palestine Studies Center during the forum.
FSMVU was established through an Aug. 25, 2009 decision of Turkey’s General Directorate of Foundations and Law No. 5981, according to its institutional records. The directorate is a Turkish government body within the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, as its official page confirms, and acted through five state-administered historical foundations.
FSMVU’s trustees are chaired by Mevlüt Uysal, a former Istanbul mayor and founding AKP district chairman. Uysal’s official biography says he participated in establishing the AKP and became its founding Küçükçekmece district chairman in 2001.
Uysal also serves on the board of Halkbank, whose official records identify the Turkey Wealth Fund as its controlling shareholder.
Uysal is additionally a member of TÜRGEV’s foundation council. Its governing deed places him in the same body as Erdoğan’s children, Necmeddin Bilal Erdoğan and Esra Albayrak. Taken together, the records connect Juthoor’s university partners to Turkish state structures, AKP figures and foundations associated with Erdoğan’s family.
Juthoor’s Wider Academic Network
Juthoor’s academic journal provides the clearest available view of the organization’s surrounding intellectual network. Its editorial team includes Anmar Ahmad al-Hashimi and Tuba Hacer Korkmaz of FSMVU, as well as Fadi Zatari of Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University. The page identifies Khalaf as the journal’s general supervisor.
Zatari’s university was founded by the İlim Yayma Foundation, according to its institutional history. The foundation’s trustees are chaired by Bilal Erdoğan.
Zatari is also affiliated with the university’s Center for Islam and Global Affairs, directed by Sami Al-Arian. Al-Arian pleaded guilty in 2006 to conspiring to provide services to Palestinian Islamic Jihad, according to the DOJ, and was sentenced to 57 months in prison.
A Framework for Digital Influence Operations
On Jan. 24, 2026, Khalaf, Juthoor executive director Khudhr Al-Mohammed and Mohamed Buheji published “Knowledge Encircling as a Strategic Resistance Weapon – Case of Palestine.”
The paper proposes a coordinated knowledge ecosystem composed of a digital Palestinian information commons, a strategic intelligence unit, a resilience framework, distributed international networks and trained “knowledge ambassadors.” It calls for collecting and deploying information across diplomatic, legal, economic, media and psychological arenas.
Although presented as nonviolent “knowledge resistance,” the paper effectively provides a strategic framework for anti-Israel digital influence operations. It calls for coordinated messaging, narrative monitoring, secure international networks, strategic intelligence collection and the systematic deployment of information to influence policymakers and public opinion. Its proposed infrastructure provides a potential operational model for Juthoor’s planned database and specialist encyclopedia.
Partnership With Muslim-Brotherhood-Linked ISNAD
Juthoor’s website identifies the ISNAD influence network among its institutional partners.
Jewish Onliner recently reported that ISNAD coordinator Ezzeldeen Dwedar is an alleged leading Muslim Brotherhood figure who praised Mohamed Soliman before the Boulder firebomber pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. Dwedar coordinates ISNAD’s aggressive Hebrew-language influence campaigns targeting Israeli public opinion and is scheduled to be hosted by the U.S.-based nonprofit Tech for Palestine on Aug. 20.
Conference Promoted by Cleric Who Defended October 7
Nawaf Takruri, president of the Palestinian Scholars Abroad Association, issued a preconference invitation promoting the gathering.
Takruri has publicly defended the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack. In a May 19, 2026, interview, he said no “reasonable Muslim” could criticize the attack because of what he called its “fantastic gains” around the world. He also described Gaza’s destruction as a natural price for liberating Al-Aqsa and said the effort could require one million martyrs, according to a MEMRI report.
MEMRI noted that other sources have variously described him as a Hamas founder, leader or former member.
Takruri also authored a treatise defending Palestinian “martyrdom operations.” A Baker Institute paper described it as “the authoritative guide” to legal questions surrounding suicide attacks.