Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI-13) headlined an event Saturday put on by the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), a group whose national policy director has expressed support for Hamas.
Tlaib was the “guest of honor” at the group’s gala in St. Louis, Missouri and spoke alongside AMP National Policy Director Osama Abuirshaid. According to Canary Mission, Abuirshaid has expressed support for the designated terrorist organization Hamas and has praised the Muslim Brotherhood.
Tlaib was pictured with Abuirshaid in January of last year after being sworn into Congress.
The freshman congresswoman was the keynote speaker for AMP’s annual national conference in November, according to the Jewish News Syndicate. During that event, she compared the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border to that of Gaza and Israel.
The Jewish News Syndicate describes AMP as an “anti-Israel group that supports the BDS movement and was founded by Hatem Bazian,” who co-founded Students for Justice in Palestine. According to Fox News, Jewish students at the University of California-Berkeley, where Bazian is a lecturer, have claimed the he promotes “hatred and intolerance” and called for his removal.
Tlaib and her allies in Congress have become frequent targets of President Donald Trump, who called Tlaib and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN-05) anti-Semites during a speech in January.
“Unfortunately, there is a growing left-wing movement that seeks to target and punish the state of Israel and its Jewish citizens,” Trump said. “This includes the anti-Semitic BDS movement, or boycott, divestment, and sanctions. It’s a disaster and we have people in Congress—I don’t know where they come from. Five years ago, seven years ago, eight years ago, this was unthinkable what’s happening in Congress. But these people hate Israel, they hate Jewish people. I won’t name them. I won’t bring up the name of Omar, Tlaib, AOC—I won’t bring that name up. But where do these people come from?”
President Trump said his administration “strongly and forcefully condemns this dangerous campaign to inflict pain and turmoil on the state of Israel.”
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu barred Omar and Tlaib from entering the country in August because of their “suspected provocations and promotion of BDS.” A few hours before the announcement, President Trump wrote on Twitter that it would “show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep. Tlaib to visit.”
Omar, Tlaib, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14) all voted against a July bill that condemned the “global boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement targeting Israel.”
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of The Minnesota Sun and The Ohio Star. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
