American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) is a leading anti-Israel organization founded by UC Berkeley professor Hatem Bazian, in 2006.

The organization pursues four main goals:

• University campus activism
• Lobbying congress
• Influencing intersectional politics
• Turning American Jews against Israel

A 2019 Canary Mission investigation found AMP’s national and local leadership to be rife with anti-Semitism and terror support.

Examples include:

• “I believe in [the] holocaust. One of my fav parts of history." - Leena Yousef, AMP-Chicago
• “If you work with the yahood [jews] idc if you're Muslim or atheist you're a kalb [dog] and you deserve the worst in life."- Mohamad Habehh, AMP-NJ
• “We will resist until we get our freedom without your BS negotiations ! #كلنا_حماس [#We_Are_All_Hamas]." - Ahmad Aburas, AMP-NJ

In the course of the investigation, Canary Mission discovered that AMP had developed a close strategic partnership with the anti-Israel organization IfNotNow (INN).

This report highlights 25 AMP leaders and activists, all of whom have spread anti-Semitic hatred and 58 IfNotNow members who have actively partnered or trained with AMP.

INN’s leadership took the decision to partner with AMP beginning in 2017. Since then, INN leaders have pushed their members to collaborate with some of AMP’s most anti-Semitic professional activists, including:

• Taher Herzallah - AMP’s Associate Director of Outreach and Grassroots Organizing. He has celebrated and incited violence against Israeli Jews, spread an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory and was arrested twice for anti-Israel disruptions. INN leaders invited him to train their members and led protests together with him in 2017 and 2018.
• Neveen Ayesh - the executive director of AMP-Missouri, has advocated for violence against Jews, said being Jewish was a “#crimeworthyoftherope” and called to “burn” Israelis into “ashes.” In July 2018, three INN activists who staged a “walk off” from a Birthright Israel trip conducted an exclusive livestream conference call with Ayesh.
• Hatem Bazian - AMP founder, has spread classic anti-Semitism, denied Jewish peoplehood and compared Israel to Nazi Germany. He stated his personal approval of the partnership, declaring at an event co-hosted by the groups that “...AMP and IfNotNow are coming together,” in May 2018.

The close partnership between AMP and INN has included:

• AMP training INN activists
• Collaboration on events and protests
• Expressing support for each other at demonstrations and on social media

In June 2019, INN revealed they now share AMP’s pivotal goal to influence American politics.

While AMP’s strategy has been to lobby congressman who attend their annual Palestine Advocacy Day, INN leaders announced their attempt to directly influence 2020 United States presidential candidates. The group employed six full-time activists to follow the summer campaign trails of various Democratic candidates and lobby them to take a position against “the occupation.”

In addition, INN co-founder Max Berger, positioned himself as a Director of Progressive Partnerships for U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren’s presidential campaign. Berger, an avowed anti-Israel activist, recently came under fire for a 2013 tweet exposed by Canary Mission, in which he remarked that he would be “friends with Hamas.”

Despite AMP being anti-Semitic to its core, INN leaders are more than happy to collaborate with them. To find out more about both AMP and their partnership with INN, check out their profiles below.

Simone Zimmerman is a co-founder of INN who was suspended from her position as the Jewish outreach coordinator for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, in 2016. Zimmerman has participated in anti-Israel activist trips, expressed support for violent protesters, glorified anti-Israel agitators and led protests against the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Zimmerman has repurposed Jewish rituals, condemned the Birthright Jewish heritage tour and praised the BDS movement. Zimmerman was reportedly the founder of the J Street U chapter at UC Berkeley and was elected national president of J Street U for the 2012-13 school year. For more info click here.

Lissy Romanow is a co-founder of INN who was arrested while showing support for violent protesters, participated in an anti-Israel activist trip, attended an event that repurposed Jewish rituals and demonized Israel. As of July 2019, Romanow was the Executive Director of Momentum, which describes itself as a “training institute and movement incubator” that promotes "the mass protest tradition" where, “autonomous groups of individuals create polarizing moments that inspire thousands of unaffiliated people to take to the streets around symbolic, popular social issues." For more info click here.

Kristin Szremski has spread anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, expressed support for terrorists and defended financiers of the Hamas terror group. She has demonized Israel and Zionists and opposed Jewish- Muslim interfaith dialogue. Szremski is the former National Director of Media and Communications for AMP. For more info click here.

Celine Qussiny has spread incitement on campus, glorified leaders of the PFLP terror group and expressed support for other terrorists. She has also promoted hatred of Israel and opposed Jewish-Muslim dialogue. Qussiny has also received training from AMP, is a supporter of BDS, and in 2015, was the co-chair of SJP at the University of California, Irvine. For more info click here.

Jill Raney has spread anti-Semitism and was arrested while leading an INN protest against Senator Ben Cardin’s anti-BDS legislation. Raney has also expressed support for violent protesters, protested against AIPAC and attempted to ban Jewish symbols at the 2019 D.C. Dyke March as a leader with INN. For more info click here.

Lila Weintraub was arrested after disrupting the U.S. Ambassador to Israel’s Senate confirmation hearing, alongside AMP leaders. Weintraub helped lead an event supporting violent protesters, attended an INN event that repurposed Jewish rituals and promoted an INN protest against AIPAC. She is also an organizer with INN and was named a press contact for an INN DC event in 2018. For more click here.

Abigail Harris-Ridker had participated in an anti-Israel activist trip in 2016, has expressed support for violent protesters and is an activist with INN. She is also affiliated with JVP. For more info click here.

Elaina Marshalek had participated in an anti-Israel activist trip in 2018 and helped lead an INN event supporting violent protesters, along with AMP and MPower Change. For more info click here.

Ilana Newman is an activist with INN who has expressed support for violent protesters, participated in events repurposing Jewish rituals, protested AIPAC and supported an anti-Israel agitator. For more info click here.