Adam Soltani
Overview
Adam Soltani has spread hatred of Israel, expressed support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and for anti-Israel agitators.As of January 2020, Soltani’s LinkedIn said he was Executive Director at the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) chapter in Oklahoma (OK), since 2012.
Soltani’s LinkedIn also said that he was an Adjunct Instructor of Islamic Studies at Oklahoma State University for the Spring 2020 semester.
Soltani’s LinkedIn also said he graduated from the University of Oklahoma (OU) with a master's degree in Human Relations and “a certificate in Organizational Diversity and Development,” in 2015.
Soltani’s LinkedIn said, as well, that he received a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO), where he studied from 2001-2009.
On his LinkedIn page, Soltani listed the Muslim Student Association (MSA) under “Activities and Societies” while studying for his master’s degree at OU and his bachelor’s degree at UCO.
Spreading Hatred of Israel
On August 3, 2016, Soltani tweeted: “It has never made sense to me, why do we give money to a country that had waged war on innocent Palestinians.”Soltani retweeted an October 27, 2015 tweet, that said: “The Israeli Defense Forces have killed more people than ISIS. Don't dress your kids up as one of them: https://t.co/H8pZNx…”
Soltani also retweeted an October 27, 2015 tweet, that said: “I don't think Palestinian @Walmart customers would be happy to see their occupier portrayed in a Halloween costume https…”
On July 23, 2014, Soltani posted on Facebook: “Facts don't lie, since July 8, 76% of Palestinian deaths have been civilian while only 7% of Israeli deaths have been civilian. #GazaUnderAttack#PrayforGaza #FreePalestine.”
On July 18, 2014, during Operation Protective Edge (OPE), Soltani promoted on Facebook an event he co-hosted, titled: “Oklahomans for Peace in Palestine Rally.”
Israel commenced OPE in July 2014 to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.
The event’s Facebook description said it would be held: “today at OK State Captiol [sic] 4:30 pm#PrayforGaza.”
The event’s Facebook description also said: “Please do not bring any signage to the rally unless it is pre-approved by Adam Soltani or Abdur-Rahman Taleb. There will be pre-made signs handed out to individuals attending the rally.”
Images from a photo album posted to the event’s Facebook page showed an activist holding a sign that said:“End the Palestinian Holocaust.”
On July 20, 2014, a video posted to YouTube from the rally showed a protester holding [00:01:59] a sign that read: “Palestine belongs to us.” The text was accompanied an image that superimposed Palestinian colors over the entirety of present-day Israel.
Another protestor held [00:02:46] a sign that read: “WHAT ISRAEL IS DOING IS A WAR CRIME!”
On July 17, 2014, Soltani tweeted a graphic, featuring a series of maps, known as the “Map That Lies.” Soltani captioned the image: “#Palestinian land has shrunk since #1947 to next to nothing. What greater #injustice than this have we witnessed?”
The maps claim that lands once controlled by Britain, Egypt and Jordan as autonomous “Palestinian land” were purportedly stolen by Israel. In February 2016, publisher McGraw-Hill Education recalled copies of a college textbook containing the fraudulent maps. In October 2015, American cable news network MSNBC apologized for airing a similar series of maps and retracted them.
Supporting BDS
Soltani retweeted a July 23, 2019 tweet: “Great work by the @CAIRNational legal team, who continue to stack up wins against unconstitutional anti-BDS bills throughout the U.S. Free expression is non-negotiable.cair.com/good_news_aler…”Soltani retweeted a November 15, 2018 tweet: “As @IlhanMN does, Jewish Voice for Peace supports freedom of speech and the constitutional right to boycott. JVP supports #BDS…”
Supporting Anti-Israel Agitators
On November 15, 2018, Soltani tweeted: “#IstandWithIlhan because she respects and upholds first amendment rights, while the #ADL tramples the Constitution to defend Israel’s far-right government #IStandWithIlhan @IlhanMN.”Soltani’s tweet was in response to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)’s expressing concern at U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar stating her support for BDS, three months after she told [00:00:32] a gathering of Jewish voters she thought the BDS movement was counteractive,” because it wouldn’t be “helpful in getting a two-state solution.”
On February 28, 2018, CAIR-OK hosted Linda Sarsour as a guest speaker at an event co-hosted by CAIR-OK and MSA at OU’s Meacham Auditorium. Soltani has announced Sarsour would speak at CAIR-OK on other occasions, as well.
At Farrakhan’s 2015 #JusticeOrElse March, Sarsour asserted [00:00:36]: “The same people who justify the massacres of Palestinian people and call it ‘collateral damage’ are the same people who justify the murder of young black men and women.”
CAIR
CAIR describes itself as a “grassroots civil rights and advocacy group” and “America's largest Muslim civil liberties organization, with regional offices nationwide.” Its official mission is “enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.”
CAIR reportedly has “significant ties” to the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as Hamas. A number of former CAIR employees have been convicted on fraud and terrorism-related charges that resulted monetary fines, jail terms and, sometimes, deportation.
CAIR was founded in 1994 and opened its first office in Washington, DC, with the help of a $5,000 donation from the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), a charity founded by Mousa Abu Marzook.
Marzook, who was listed as a "Specially Designated Terrorist" by the U.S. Treasury Department in 1995, is reportedly a senior member of Hamas.
In May 2007, CAIR was listed as an “unindicted co-conspirator” in a U.S.-filed action against the HLF for providing funds to Hamas.
CAIR was also listed as a terrorist entity by the United Arab Emirates, in 2014.
MSA
The MSA was established by members of the Muslim Brotherhood in January 1963 at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, with the goal of "spreading Islam as students in North America." A 2004 FBI investigation uncovered an internal Muslim Brotherhood document in which a brotherhood leader identified the MSA as "one of our organizations."
The MSA reportedly has “nearly 600 chapters” located in the United States and Canada, and is “the most visible and influential Islamic student organization in North America,” boasting conferences, special events, publications, websites and other activities.
The organization includes a number of previous chapter presidents with explicit links to terrorist groups. Included are al-Qaeda cleric Anwar al-Awlaki (Colorado State University), Somali al-Shabaab militant leader Omar Shafik Hammami (University of South Alabama) and Pakistani Taliban recruiter Ramy Zamzam of the MSA's Washington, D.C. council.
BDS
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement was founded by Omar Barghouti in 2005 to challenge “international support for Israeli apartheid and settler-colonialism.” BDS is an allegedly “Palestinian-led movement,” although leading BDS activists have admitted [00:01:01] this is not true.
One of the demands of BDS includes [point 3] what is generally known as the “right of return,” a demand discredited as a way to eliminate Israel. Barghouti said the “right of return” is a means to “end Israel’s existence as a Jewish state.”
Barghouti has said that BDS “aims to turn Israel into a pariah state, as South Africa once was.”
In his activism, Barghouti has also said [00:05:55] regarding Israel: “Definitely, most definitely, we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine. No…rational Palestinian, not a sellout Palestinian, will ever accept a Jewish state in Palestine.”
The movement has been linked to numerous terrorist organizations and received a public endorsement from Hamas in 2017.
BDS initiatives include calling on institutions and individuals to divest from Israeli-affiliated companies, promoting academic and cultural boycotts of Israel, and organizing anti-Israel rallies, protests and campaigns.
The movement’s most notable achievement has been the infiltration of university campuses through lobbying for “BDS resolutions.” In these cases, student governments and student groups, backed by their own anti-Israel members and affiliates, have proposed resolutions on some form of boycott of, or divestment from, Israel and Israeli-affiliated entities.
Boycott resolutions, although non-binding, have been passed by student governments on numerous North American campuses.
BDS activity is often aggressive and disruptive. It has been noted that universities that pass BDS resolutions see a marked increase in anti-Semitic incidents on campus. On one campus, when the student government debated a BDS resolution, reports emerged of violent threats against those opposing it.
