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US Lawmakers Prod Treasury Department for Reports on Anti-Zionist Groups Behind Campus Protests
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testifies before the House Financial Services Committee regarding the department’s annual report on the international financial system, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, July 9, 2024. Photo: Ken Cedeno via Reuters Connect
Two US congressional committees investigating extremist anti-Zionist groups organizing rampant anti-Israel protests on college campuses implored Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday to assist their efforts to collect information on the organizations which fund them.
The request continued an effort begun in May, when Congress launched an inquiry into 20 nonprofits that funded dozens of pro-Hamas encampments during the final weeks of the last academic year. As part of the probe, US Reps. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) and James Comer (R-KY) wrote to Yellen, asking her to share any “suspicious activity reports” prompted by the deeds of Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace, American Muslims for Palestine, Tides Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and other groups.
In their latest letter, Comer and Foxx — chairs of the House Oversight and Accountability and Education and Workforce committees, respectively — charged that Yellen has been of no help, noting that one of the groups — Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) — “recently took credit for releasing maggots” and setting off “fire alarms” at a Washington, DC area hotel where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a guest. Stressing that Yellen could advance the committees’ investigation by releasing information about PYM’s benefactor, the Western Political Action Committee Foundation (WESPAC), they chided her for not doing so.
“Treasury has yet to produce a single document,” Comers and Foxx wrote. “The committees made a considerable accommodation to Treasury on June 6, 2024, by prioritizing for an initial production, a more narrowly scoped range of documents, and Treasury has indicated that this initial prioritized request would encompass fewer than 50 responsive documents. The committees made the accommodation to ensure that Treasury could deliver an initial batch of responsive documents as soon as possible.”
They added, “Considering the serious nature of recent illegal antisemitic events related to entities named in this investigation, it is imperative that Treasury immediately cooperate and provide the requested documents.”
Congress’s inquiry came amid widespread suspicion that an eruption of anti-Zionist protests on college campuses, in which students illegally occupied sections of section and refused to leave unless their schools agreed to condemn and boycott Israel, was fueled by immense financial and logistical support from outside groups. Foxx and Comer said in May that any findings will inform recommendations for new federal laws requiring increased transparency and reporting of foreign contributions to American colleges and universities.
Foreign links to the anti-Zionist student movement have been the subject of numerous comprehensive studies.
In May, the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) published a report showing a connection between the anti-Zionist group Shut It Down for Palestine (SID4P) — a group formed immediately after Hamas’ massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7 — and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). NCRI explained that SID4P, which organized numerous traffic-obstructing demonstrations after Oct. 7, is an umbrella group for several other organizations which compose the “Singham Network,” a consortium of far-left groups funded by Neville Roy Singham and Jodie Evans. The report described Singham and Evans as a “power couple within the global far-left movement” whose affiliation with the CCP has been copiously documented.
“The Singham Network exploits regulatory loopholes in the US nonprofit system to facilitate the flow of an enormous sum of US dollars to organizations and movements that actively stoke social unrest at the grassroots level,” the report said. “Alternative media outlets associated with the Singham Network have played a central role in online mobilization and cross-platform social amplification for SID4P.”
In 2022, the National Association of Scholars (NAS) revealed that one of the founders of Students for Justice in Palestine, Hatem Bazian, was also a co-founder of American Muslims for Palestine, an advocacy group which, NAS said, “retains ties to terrorist groups operating in the Palestinian territories.”
NAS added that the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic Cultural Boycott of Israel — which has been influential in steering the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel in academia — is “structurally linked” to Palestinian terrorist organizations through the Council of National and Islamic Forces in Palestine — a member of the Palestinian BDS National Committee which comprises Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Popular Front-General Command, Palestinian Liberation Front, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
“On the one hand, BDS is designed to secure political legitimacy vis-á-vis Israel, with boycotts and divestment offering Palestinian activists and terrorists new domains to assert their cause,” NAS senior fellow Ian Oxnevad wrote. “On the other hand, BDS, along with the formation of multiple NGOs and nonprofit organizations, offers the Palestinians new avenues by which to access funding in a post-9/11 international financial system designed to curtail funding for terrorism.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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‘Globalize the Intifada’ Becomes Reality as Amsterdam Erupts in Fresh Wave of Antisemitic Riots
Pro-Palestinian protesters face Dutch police while taking part in a non-authorized protest in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Nov. 10, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Anthony Deutsch
“Globalize the Intifada.”
It’s the chant that has become a staple at anti-Israel protests sweeping across the West after the Hamas-led October 7 attacks ,and throughout Israel’s subsequent war against the terrorist group in Gaza. The phrase is a call for Israel’s destruction, and a thinly veiled invitation to target Jews worldwide.
Unfortunately,“Globalize the Intifada” is fast becoming a reality. On Monday night in Amsterdam, violence erupted again. Rioters, reportedly “youth claiming solidarity with Palestinians,” attacked police with fireworks and projectiles, destroyed property, and set a tram ablaze.
This time, there were no Israeli sports fans in sight and no alleged provocation. Just a city under siege, with attackers chanting “Cancer Jews” into the night.
What’s more, the violence appears to be escalating, with Belgian police announcing on Monday the arrest of five people in Antwerp as calls spread on social media for a “Jew hunt” in the city, which was already grappling with a surge in antisemitic assaults.
The scenes in Amsterdam last week hinted at what was to come: Israeli soccer fans were ambushed in what we now know was a coordinated attack planned in advance and unleashed after the Maccabi Tel Aviv versus Ajax match.
And yet, many media outlets were predictably reluctant to call it what it was: antisemitic violence.
The following video has been circulating on social media showcasing riots breaking out in Amsterdam, again.
Rioters are damaging property and shouting “Kankerjoden,” which means “Cancer Jews.” pic.twitter.com/dWqqE9GVSz
— Jewish News Syndicate (@JNS_org) November 12, 2024
Meanwhile, media pundits like Mehdi Hasan and Owen Jones rushed to rationalize the attacks, implying Israelis “brought it on themselves” by singing offensive songs before the game — as if that justified being hunted down by a baying mob (and ignoring that he attack was planned.)
This, despite the Mayor of Amsterdam condemning the attacks as perpetrated by “antisemitic hit-and-run squads,” and Dutch police confirming evidence of premeditation.
In other words, Israeli fans were targeted not for their chants, but simply for being Israeli.
When antisemitic mobs in Amsterdam launched a coordinated assault on Jewish fans, some media pundits glossed over the premeditated nature of the attack.
This wasn’t a random clash—it was a planned assault, but that context was lost in the media’s dangerous spin. pic.twitter.com/KRiiuOLjU8
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) November 11, 2024
So, how are the media covering Monday’s fresh wave of violence? Mostly, they’re not.
The Associated Press and BBC are among the few major outlets to report on it in any capacity, and even they avoid linking it to the recent antisemitic surge — ignoring footage of rioters screaming “Cancer Jews.”
The conclusion? “No Jews, no news.”
If there’s no angle to subtly blame Jewish victims, the mainstream media doesn’t seem interested.
Footage from the scene caught at least one of the participants shouting, “Cancer Jews.”
But @AP leaves that bit out to avoid linking this arson attack on a tram to the same people who attacked Israelis and Jews in Amsterdam only a few days ago. pic.twitter.com/KjERhNNYM7
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) November 12, 2024
The attacks in Amsterdam last Thursday night, reminiscent of Nazi-era pogroms, are the direct result of the “Globalize the Intifada” movement that anti-Israel protesters have been championing for over a year. This slogan isn’t just a catchy chant; it’s a blatant call for violence against Jews, mirroring the atrocities of the First and Second Palestinian Intifadas.
Just days before Israelis were hunted down in the streets of Amsterdam, reports emerged from the Netherlands revealing that some Dutch police officers were refusing to guard Jewish sites, citing “moral dilemmas.” Such inaction and moral equivocation effectively serve as a green light for the violence we’ve witnessed, both last week and this week.
Welcome to the “globalized intifada” — it didn’t begin in Amsterdam, and it certainly won’t end there.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
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Mahmoud Abbas’ Advisor: Terror Is Legal, But Only PLO Can Decide on ‘The Armed Option’
The bodies of people, some of them elderly, lie on a street after they were killed during a mass-infiltration by Hamas gunmen from the Gaza Strip, in Sderot, southern Israel, Oct. 7, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
The Palestinian Authority (PA) is trying to have its cake and eat it too.
On the one hand, the PA is still angry that Hamas launched its terror war against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, without consulting it first, and that Hamas has been able to take all the credit for successfully massacring over 1,100 Israelis. As a result, Hamas has overwhelming support among Palestinians in the West Bank.
Accordingly, despite the animosity, the PA needs Hamas on board with the PLO, due to the vast support among Palestinians for Hamas. Despite the destruction Hamas has brought on the Gaza Strip, the terror movement is still 2.5-3 times more popular than its rival Fatah, the ruling party in the PA/PLO.
To balance those competing interests, PA leader Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor on Religious Affairs and Islamic Relations, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, made the following statement, sending two messages that stand somewhat at odds with each other:
- The PA/PLO endorses terror as “legal” and does not oppose “the armed option”
- Hamas or other terror organizations are not allowed to single-handedly decide and launch terror attacks. Such decisions must be made “together” and only “in the framework of the PA/PLO” — in other words: Hamas must subordinate to the PA/PLO
Mahmoud Al-Habbash: “It is unacceptable to say that the resistance [i.e., terror] is legal or illegal — it is legal. No one can cancel this fact or evade this fact. But the resistance needs to be a comprehensive national project. Not a project of one movement that drags all the Palestinians after its decision
. No, if we want to choose the armed option, we must all go together in a national decision. The national decision needs to be made in the framework of the PLO, the sole legal representative of the Palestinian people. No faction that feels like carrying out armed resistance can take the Palestinian people together with it without taking into account the considerations, results, and consequences.” [emphasis added]
[Mahmoud Al-Habbash, Facebook page, Nov. 1, 2024]
Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the PA, and Al-Habbash specifically, have criticized Hamas for not consulting with the PLO before it attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, launching the 2023 Gaza war
. However, they have never criticized Hamas for the massacre itself, but rather applauded and celebrated it.
The author is a senior analyst at Palestinian Media Watch, where a version of this article was originally published.
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Paramount+ Announces New Docuseries About World’s First Israeli-Palestinian Boy Band As1one
A promotional photo for the new Paramount+ docuseries “”AS1One: The Israeli-Palestinian Pop Music Journey.” Photo: Paramount+
Parmount+ announced on Wednesday that it will premiere a four-part docuseries in December focusing on the world’s first mixed Israeli-Palestinian pop music group, As1one.
“As1one: The Israeli-Palestinian Pop Music Journey” will premiere Dec. 3. The coming-of-age docuseries, which will detail how six young men joined forced to form the global hit pop group, was produced by The As1One Production Company in association with Best Production Company for MTV Entertainment Studios. It was co-produced by the band’s founders, American music entrepreneurs Ken Levitan and James Diener, who developed bands such as Kings of Leon and Maroon 5.
The group is comprised of four Jewish Israelis and two Palestinians — Ohad Attia and Neat Rozenblat from Tel Aviv; Sadik Dogosh, a Palestinian Bedouin Muslim from Rahat; Aseel Farah, a Palestinian Christian from Haifa; Niv Lin from the southern Israeli town of Sapir; and Nadav Philips from Holon.
The docuseries will follow the band members over a five-year period and show how they founded the band, navigate the music industry, face challenges among themselves, and even cope with the deadly Hamas-led terrorist attacks that took place in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
“The band members share their ups and downs including the challenging audition process in 2020; their language barriers, intense rehearsals, emotional highs and lows as they found their footing; navigating the very unexpected world events that happened on October 7th, 2023 — the morning after they flew to LA to record their first album; and the monumental challenges they have faced each day since,” Paramount+ said in a press release. “With so much more at stake because of the war, the band finds greater purpose in their music now representing something much greater than the six of them.”
The docuseries “spotlights the work of platinum-selling artists and producers, stylists, choreographers, and industry leaders, all collaborating to create a group that embodies unity, with members agreeing to disagree on the war in their homeland as they focus on making music together,” Paramound+ added.
The docuseries will also feature original music from the group, including their debut single “All Eyes On Us” featuring Nile Rodgers, as well as their upcoming single “Stranger,” which the band will debut on Friday.
Watch the trailer for “AS1One: The Israeli-Palestinian Pop Music Journey” below.
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