Osama Abuirshaid
Osama Abuirshaid’s Participation in the Pro-Hamas Encampment at Columbia University (Columbia)
Osama Abuirshaid [Osama Abu Irshaid] has spread anti-Semitism, promoted anti-Semitic incitement, used homophobic slurs and expressed support for Hamas.
Abuirshaid has also denied Jewish history, spread anti-Israel conspiracy theories, celebrated violent rioters, demonized Israel and praised the Muslim Brotherhood (MB).
Abuirshaid also has a history of “liking” anti-Semitic and pro-Hamas comments on his Facebook posts as early as 2014. He also participated in the pro-Hamas encampment at Columbia in April 2024.
As of September 2024, Abuirshaid was listed as the Executive Director of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) on the group’s website. On January 11, 2019, AMP announced Abuirshaid’s promotion after serving as AMP National Policy Director.
In these roles, Abuirshaid has met with government officials to promote anti-Israel bills and to train activists at AMP’s annual Palestine Advocacy Day (PAD) in Congress. AMP promotes the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and listed supporting BDS as one of the “principles” promoted during PAD.
Abuirshaid reportedly worked for two Hamas-linked organizations in America that are now defunct: the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP) and the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR).
In a March 2018 Facebook video, Abuirshaid promoted [00:08:09] AMP’s campus activism with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP). Since February 2017, he has organized with the anti-Israel organization IfNotNow (INN).
As of March 2021, Abuirshaid was a board member of the U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO). Since 2014, he has been affiliated [00:17:16] with the Muslim American Society (MAS) and the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA).
As of February 2020, Abuirshaid was reportedly President of Dar Consulting, Inc., in Virginia. In September 2015, Abuirshaid was reportedly the editor-in-chief of the Al Meezan Newspaper in northern Virginia.
Anti-Semitism
On November 26, 2020, Abuirshaid spoke [00:00:37] in an Arabic-language Facebook video where he called senior Trump administration officials “extremist Zionist Jews, who put Israel’s interests over the American interests and before the American interests.”On January 9, 2017, Abuirshaid spoke [00:00:08] at the 2016 MAS-ICNA convention about Israeli criticism of former U.S. President Barack Obama’s policies toward Israel.
During his speech, Abuirshaid claimed [00:14:30] that the American critics of certain Obama’s policies were “the Israeli Firsters in the United States... and those Zionist figures who hold an American passport and American citizenship but who suffer from a syndrome called ‘double loyalty’ where they put the Israeli agenda, the Israeli interests ahead of the American agenda.”
The term “Israel-Firster” is an anti-Semitic slur used against Jews to accuse them of dual loyalty. The term also applies to non-Jews to allege they are more loyal to Israel than to their own countries.
On December 30, 2016, Abuirshaid wrote an article claiming that opposition to certain Obama-era policies came “اليهود الصهاينة الأميركيين، من جماعة ’الولاء المزدوج‘، ممن يقدمون مصالح إسرائيل على مصالح الولايات المتحدة [from American Zionist Jews, from the ‘dual loyalty’ group, who put the interests of Israel before the interests of the United States].”
On May 17, 2016, Abuirshaid spoke [00:00:09] in a video where he denounced, in Arabic, the “Zionist movement's cultural infiltration” into American society. Abuirshaidsaid [00:00:56]: “The cultural infiltration also includes the Zionist influence in the media. They have a significant impact on the media, as well as on Hollywood. They have managed to endear Israel and the Jews upon American public opinion.”
Abuirshaid also said: “American public opinion is sensitive to the issue of discrimination, but unfortunately, our rhetoric is mostly emotional, and does not focus on the facts. They use MEMRI [Middle East Media and Research Institute], which is a channel or a website, specializing in picking out our 'flops' - when someone curses the Jews, for example - and it delivers them directly to the American media.”
On July 25, 2014, Abuirshaid wrote a Facebook post during Israel’s Operation Protective Edge (OPE) against Hamas, where he referred to Israel as the “يهود الخسة [despicable Jews].” He also implied that western powers like America who oppose Hamas are “صليبي الحقد [hating Crusaders].”
Israel commenced OPE in July 2014 to stop rocket fire targeting Israeli civilians and to destroy Hamas attack tunnels.
Abuirshaid’s post, translated into English, said: “I am very sad for Gaza and offended by the betrayal of the Arabs. What is coming is bad and difficult. The Arab apostates allied with the despicable Jews and the hateful Crusaders. But Allah is more powerful than them. They want to defeat Hamas and disarm Gaza. However, they forgot that Gaza’s men only know victory. For them it is either jihad, victory or martyrdom.”
On July 20, 2014, Abuirshaid wrote on Facebook: “أحفاد داود المسلم يمرغون التراب بأنف أحفاد جالوت اليهودي [The descendants of David the Muslim are trampling the nose of the descendants of Jewish Goliath in the dirt.]” In the post, Abuirshaid also praised Hamas leader Khaled Mashal.
The story of David and Goliath is in the Bible’s Book of Samuel. It is about the young Jewish shepherd David’s fight against the Philistine giant, Goliath. David, who later became King David, invoked his faith in God and killed Goliath with a stone fired from his sling. The stone struck Goliath’s head, which David then severed with the giant’s own sword.
In 1999, Abuirshaid published an article where he said [p.2] that Israel has carried out an “act of genocide as deplorable as the Holocaust.”
On July 20, 2014, Abuirshaid wrote on Facebook: “أحفاد داود المسلم يمرغون التراب بأنف أحفاد جالوت اليهودي [The descendants of David the Muslim are trampling the nose of the descendants of Jewish Goliath in the dirt.]” In the post, Abuirshaid also praised Hamas leader Khaled Mashal.
The story of David and Goliath is in the Bible’s Book of Samuel. It is about the young Jewish shepherd David’s fight against the Philistine giant, Goliath. David, who later became King David, invoked his faith in God and killed Goliath with a stone fired from his sling. The stone struck Goliath’s head, which David then severed with the giant’s own sword.
In 1999, Abuirshaid published an article where he said [p.2] that Israel has carried out an “act of genocide as deplorable as the Holocaust.”
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) highlights as one possible contemporary example of anti-Semitism: “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.” The U.S. State Department adopted the IHRA’s working definition of anti-Semitism in 2016. Over 40 countries have adopted the definition as well.
Promoting Anti-Semitic Religious Incitement
On August 20, 2013, Abuirshaid posted on Facebook that Israel “وتتابع تهويد القدس وتقترب يوما بعد يوم من تقسيم الأقصى … [continues the Judaization of Jerusalem and is approaching closer every day to divide Al-Aqsa].”The allegation that Jews “threaten” to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been a traditional pretext for Arab attacks on Jews long before the existence of the modern Jewish state. Such propaganda served as the excuse for an upsurge in Palestinian violence that flared in the fall of 2015 and incited Palestinians to attempt mass casualty attacks on Israeli civilians in July 2016..
On September 20, 2015, Abuirshaid posted on Facebook against the “القذارة في تهويد الأقصى هي [filth in the Judaization of Al-Aqsa]” and that “إسرائيل تهود [Israel Judaizes]” in Jerusalem.
On October 18, 2015, Abuirshaid wrote on Facebook against the “تهويد القدس [Judaization of Jerusalem].”
On January 3, 2016, Abuirshaid spoke [00:00:09] at a MAS-ICNA convention and praised [00:23:33] “Palestinian youth” who “decided to take things into their own hands” and [00:24:53] “started the new intifada, defending al Aqsa.”
In October 2015, there was an upsurge in violence across Israel incited by Palestinian political and religious leaders. The wave of stabbings, known as the “Knife Intifada,” was characterized by young Palestinians throughout the country stabbing and attempting to stab Israeli civilians. The attacks were incited by Palestinian leaders propagating the libel that Israel intended to desecrate the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
On February 27, 2018, Abuirshaid wrote on Facebook that Arabs should be outraged about Israel “ استكمال تهويد #القدس [completing the Judaization of #Jerusalem].”
On May 4, 2018, Abuirshaid posted on Facebook against the “ تهويد القدس [Judaization of Jerusalem]” in response to the American government’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and relocate the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
On February 23, 2019, Abuirshaid wrote on Facebook that Mohamed bin Zayed, the ruler of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was “متورطة في تهويد القدس وتسريب ممتلكات أهلها للمستوطنين الصهاينة [involved in Judaizing Jerusalem and giving information about the property of its people to Zionist settlers].”
In the same post, Abuirshaid also claimed that the UAE waged “ حربا شعواء على الوجود الإسلامي في أمريكا بتوجيه من اللوبي الصهيوني [a brutal war against the Islamic presence in America under the direction of the Zionist lobby].” In 2020, UAE and Israel agreed to full diplomatic relations.
On April 26, 2019, Abuirshaid wrote an article where he opposed “الدور الإماراتي في تهويد القدس وعقاراتها [the Emirati role in the Judaization of Jerusalem and its compounds].”
On June 28, 2019, Abuirshaid wrote an article where he said that Israel has been able to “ تهويد القدس والضفة الغربية [Judaize Jerusalem and the West Bank].”
On January 31, 2020, Abuirshaid wrote an article where he said that “تمكّن إسرائيل من تهويد القدس وأجزاء كبيرة من الضفة الغربية، بشرعيةٍ [Israel was able to Judaize Jerusalem and large parts of the West Bank].”
Homophobic Slurs
On July 17, 2014, Abuirshaid posted on Facebook during OPE against the “مخنثين يصفون أنفسهم فلسطينيون وعرب [faggots who call themselves Palestinians and Arabs].”In the same post, Abuirshaid wrote that opponents of Hamas are the “ قوم لوط [People of Lot, i.e. Sodomites],” a Muslim Arabic homophobic slur, as well as “المتفحشين [little sluts].”
Support for Hamas
On March 22, 2014, Abuirshaid tweeted about Israel discovering a Hamas tunnel from Gaza and Israeli soldiers who exchanged fire with Hamas terrorists in Jenin.Abuirshaid’s tweet said: “بعد ملحمة مخيم جنين اليوم واكتشاف "نفق غزة".. إذا سمعت من لا زال يهذي بأن حماس "طَلَقَتِ" المقاومة فابصق بوجهه واعتذر من بصاقك أنك نجسته [After the slaughter of Jenin today and the discovery of the ‘Gaza tunnel’.. if you heard someone who continues to ramble about Hamas ‘divorcing’ the resistance, then spit in his face and apologize to your spit for defiling it].”
Hamas is a designated terrorist organization founded in 1987 that is dedicated to destroying Israel and killing Jews. Since 2001, Hamas has launched thousands of rockets at Israel and on October 7, 2023, Hamas murdered approximately 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped over 200 hostages, including children and the elderly.
On July 8, 2014, Abuirshaid posted on Facebook: “مقاتلو القسام يقتحمون القواعد العسكرية الصهيونية في الداخل الفلسطيني المحتل.. حماس تمطر الدولة العبرية بالصواريخ وتفرض حظر تجوال على حركة قطعان المحتلين في مدننا المحتلة. [Al-Qassam fighters storm the Zionist military bases inside occupied Palestine. Hamas is raining the Hebrew state with rockets and imposing a curfew upon the movement of the occupying herds in our occupied cities.]”
The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades is the military wing of Hamas.
On December 14, 2014, Abuirshaid wrote on Facebook that “ إلىقادة حماس يقدمون أبناءهم شهداء [Hamas leaders are offering their children as martyrs].” He also praised Hamas leadership, writing: “قادة حماس يصنعون أيادي على الزناد [the leaders of Hamas are creating fingers on the trigger].”
On the same day, Abuirshaid wrote on Facebook that “تحتفل حماس اليوم بالذكرى ألـ27 لانطلاقتها وهي تتطلع إلى المستقبل وتعد بالتحرير، في حين [Hamas celebrates today the 27th anniversary of its launching, looking towards the future, and promising liberation].”
Abuirshaid wrote in the same post that Hamas “تجدد شبابها بتمسكها بمنطلقاتها المضبوطة على التحرير [renews its youthfulness by holding onto its origins which are tuned towards liberation].”
On July 18, 2015, Abuirshaid tweeted: “تحب حماس أم تكرهها، إلا أن خصومها يحترمونها.. تقف عند مبدئ وتفاوض من موقع قوة، …[Whether you love Hamas or hate her, her opponents respect her. She stands by her principles and negotiates from a position of strength …].”
On August 3, 2018, Abuirshaid posted on Facebook: “الإسلامية (حماس) منخرطة فيها، وبقوة، في قطاع غزة، عبر مسيرات العودة السلمية، وإنْ لم يعن ذلك تراجعها عن الكفاح المسلح. [Islamic Hamas is involved in, and strongly, in the Gaza strip, via peaceful Marches of Return, even if that did not mean relinquishing armed struggle].”
In May 2018, terror organization Hamas instigated the “March of Return.” Thousands of violent rioters attempted numerous breaches of Israel’s border fence with Gaza, seeking to harm Jews across the border. Media reports confirmed [00:00:20] protesters’ breaches and attempted breaches of the fence, some by armed Palestinians. On May 15, 2018, senior Hamas official Mahmoud Al-Zahhar said the Gaza protests were only a pretext of “peaceful resistance.”
Denying Jewish History
On August 2, 2017, Abuirshaid delivered [00:01:59] a presentation on Youtube titled: “Al-Aqsa Mosque: Why BDS Matters.”In his presentation, Abuirshaid alleged that Palestinian Arab and Muslim history predated Jewish Israelite history in the Land of Israel and suggested [00:15:12] that King David and King Solomon were not Jewish.
Abuirshaid also spoke [00:17:45] about the history of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, claiming: “There is not even a single evidence that a [Jewish] Temple existed there. That’s the historical argument.”
“Temple Denial” is a part of a broader political effort to deny Jewish history in Israel, in order to delegitimize restored Jewish sovereignty, attack Israel’s legitimacy and portray Jews as foreign to the Land of Israel. It is also a form of historical revisionism that has been compared to Holocaust denial.
Temple Denial reportedly began in the 1990’s with Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) leader Yasser Arafat, but its roots trace back to actions taken by the Islamic Waqf in 1948, the year the modern State of Israel was founded.
Palestinian guidebooks and politicians have erased Jewish history, denying the long-documented history of Jerusalem’s two ancient Jewish Temples, which were the center of Jewish life for nearly one thousand years.
In his presentation, Abuirshaid used [00:02:27] the term “Bayt al-Maqdis,” a term that means “House of Holiness,” to describe Jerusalem. The phrase is an Arabic variation of the Hebrew term “Beit Hamikdash,” which Jews applied to the two ancient Temples built on the Temple Mount throughout Rabbinic literature, composed hundreds of years before the advent of Islam.
On March 9, 2021, Abuirshaid participated in an AMP Facebook livestream where he said [00:38:31] that Israel is doing excavations to find proof of “the alleged Temple.”
Spreading Anti-Israel Conspiracy Theories
On February 25, 2015, Abuirshaid spoke [00:00:21] at the 2014 MAS-ICNA conference and claimed [00:17:16] that: “The whole world now understands that the real threat to stability, to security, to the world peace order is the State of Israel. It’s not the Palestinians.”On May 5, 2015, Abuirshaid tweeted that Israel, which he termed “المحتل [the occupier],” had its “أصابع عبث [tampering fingers]” behind ISIS in Gaza.
On January 3, 2016, Abuirshaid spoke [00:00:15] at the 2015 MAS-ICNA conference and blamed [00:00:35] Israel for turmoil throughout the entire Middle East, including Syria and Egypt.
Abuirshaid said [00:01:29]: “You will have no peace and no stability as long as Israel is following these misguided policies, and as long as this colonial enterprise continues its brutal suppression of the aspiration of the Arab people. Remember that Israel was not created just to take and to swallow Palestine. It was created to divide and to weaken that part of the world.”
On July 14, 2017, Abuirshaid posted on Facebook about a terror attack near Jerusalem’s Temple Mount when two Israeli police officers were killed. He wrote: “أخشى ما أخشاه أن تتحول عملية المسجد الأقصى إلى ذريعة إسرائيلية لفرض تقسيم الأقصى المبارك واقعيا... [I fear that the Al-Aqsa Mosque operation will turn into an Israeli pretext to impose a de facto division of the blessed Al-Aqsa …]”
On July 14, 2017, Arab terrorists murdered two Israeli police officers outside the entrance to the Al Aqsa mosque on Temple mount in Jerusalem. The perpetrators were Israeli Arab citizens from Umm el-Fahm, who reportedly feared that “Al Aqsa in danger” — the slogan of the banned northern branch of the Islamic Movement that ran the UMM el-Fahm municipality.
The allegation that Jews “threaten” to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque has been a traditional pretext for Arab attacks on Jews long before the existence of the modern Jewish state.
Israel responded by placing metal detectors and security checks before allowing worshippers to the holy site, similar to other holy sites in Jerusalem.
Palestinian factions reacted by spreading incitement that resulted in further violence. Fatah threatened “Rage for the Al-Aqsa Mosque!” On July 21, 2017, Omar al-Abed, 19, broke into a Jewish family's home in Halamish and stabbed three family members to death while they were having a Sabbath meal. Before embarking, al-Abed wrote on Facebook: “Take up your weapon and resist, declare war for Allah...I have only a knife, and it will respond to Al-Aqsa's cry...The sons of monkeys and pigs do not open the gates of Al-Aqsa. I hope that men will come after me to strike me with an iron hand...We are all one, we have one blood, one enemy and one Al-Aqsa.”
The Israeli government removed the detectors on July 25, 2017.
The Israeli government removed the detectors on July 25, 2017.
On March 25, 2018, Abuirshaid featured [00:00:01] in a Facebook video speaking at an AMP event. He said [00:02:40]: “It is not enough to denounce our politicians starting from the Vice President down who will pander to the Israeli lobby, who put Israel first even ahead of America itself.”
Celebrating Violent Rioters
On March 30, 2018, Abuirshaid posted on Facebook: سيبقى الكيان الصهيوني المدجج بالسلاح يعيش على أعصابه، يستفزه متظاهرون سلميون، ويرعبه اطفال سلاحهم حجر يواجهون به دبابة.. هذا قدر اللصوص، ان يبقوا خائفين يتلفتون من حولهم حتى وهم اقوياء. لن تضيع فلسطين لأن شعبها لم ينس.. ولن يهزم الفلسطينيون لأنهم على حق. مقلاع داود في ايدينا #يوم_الأرض_الفلسطيني”Abuirshaid’s post, translated into English, said: “The heavily armed Zionist entity will continue to live on its nerves, provoked by peaceful demonstrators. It is terrified by the children whose only weapon is a stone when they face a tank. This is the fate of the thieves, to remain scared and look around, even when they are strong. Palestine will not be lost because its people have not forgotten. The Palestinians will not be defeated because they are right. David's slingshot in our hands.”
On March 30, 2018, about 30,000 Gazans approached Israel’s border fence to join in “Land Day Protests,” which were also called the “March of Return.” The march was organized and funded by Hamas as a campaign of violent protests to spotlight the “right of return,” a policy discredited as a means to eliminate Israel.
Demonizing Israel
On March 6, 2019, Abuirshaid accused [00:30:44] Israel of committing “atrocities” and condemned [00:29:34] the “influence of the Israel lobby in the United States.”Abuirshaid made his comments at a press conference he organized, where he and other anti-Israel activists, including INN activist Natalie Bamdad, defended U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar.
Ilhan Omar was elected to the U.S. Congress in 2018. In February 2019, top Congressional leaders denounced Omar for tweeting anti-Semitic remarks.
On November 9, 2018, Abuirshaid wrote on Facebook against Arab countries normalizing relations with Israel, which he referred to as the “الكيان الصهيوني [Zionist entity]” and the “المعتدين المحتلين المجرمين [occupying criminal aggressors].”
Abuirshaid wrote: “ماذا كنا نتوقع غير ذلك، ونحن نعلم أصلاً ان كل ما جرى هو أن بعض من كان يرتكب الفاحشة سراً أصبح يجاهر بها كغيره من المُتَفَحِّشينَ الذين سبقوه! [What else would we expect, and we already know that all that happened is that some of those who were fornicating with a prostitute in secret became public about it like other fornicators who preceded them!]”
On September 11, 2017, Abuirshaid wrote on Facebook that Israel has “apartheid colonial policies in occupied Palestine.”
On January 9, 2017, Abuirshaid spoke [00:00:08] at the MAS-ICNA conference and said [00:04:19] that Palestinians are kept in “cantons” and “concentrated in a form like what existed in South Africa and the apartheid system.”
Abuirshaid also said [00:06:36] that “Israel was founded by way of war crimes against the humanity,” including “rape and massacres.”
On May 30, 2016, Abuirshaid suggested on Facebook that there is a “Zionist media machinery of lies and deceptions in the U.S.” and claimed that “Zionism is a fascist ideology.”
On May 17, 2016, Abuirshaid reportedly said that Israel committed “ethnic cleansing.”
Praising the Muslim Brotherhood
On April 14, 2016, Abuirshaid praised the MB on Facebook, writing “ وفي رأيي الشخصي، تبقون أحسن تجمع، في العموم لا في الخصوص، ضمن الظاهرة الإسلامية اليوم [in my personal opinion, you’ll remain the best gathering, in general and not in particular, within the Islamic phenomenon today].”On May 7, 2014, Abuirshaid posted on Facebook that the MB is “بكل تأكيد وبدون مواربة وبدون لغة مموهة.. هم أطهر وأنقى أهل هذه الأرض في المجمل. [without equivocation or ambiguous language, they are the most pure and most clear people on this earth in general].”
On March 6, 2013, Abuirshaid posted on Facebook: “الإخوان، كمجموعة، لا كأفراد بالضرورة، هم خيرة الناس تربية وأخلاقا وتضحية وفداء وانتماء لقضايا شعوبهم وأمتهم. [The Brotherhood, as a group, not necessarily as individuals, are the best of people by the way they were brought up, morals, sacrifice, belonging to the causes of their people and nation].”
Endorsing Anti-Semitism and Pro-Hamas Content
Abuirshaid liked a January 13, 2021, Facebook comment that said: “الله ينتقم منك يا ترامب ومن بني صهيون ومن كل حكام وزعماء العرب والمسلمين معك الله [Allah will take revenge on you,Trump and on the Children of Zion (Jews) and all the Muslim and Arab rulers and leaders. Allah will humiliate you, Trump].”Abuirshaid liked an April 2, 2015, Facebook comment that said: “وقد قتلوا احدى قاده حماس في المخيم ....اكاد اجزم انه المحرك لهم يهود [They (ISIS) killed one of the HAMAS commanders in the refugee camp. I can almost affirm that Jews are in charge].”
Abuirshaid liked a July 25, 2014, Facebook comment that said: “يارب انت على الظالم يارب انصر أهل غزه في هذا الشهر الفضيل وامحي دولة اليهود من الوجود وانتقم ممن ساند بنوا صهيون آمين [O Lord! You help the oppressed. Protect Gaza’s people in this honorable month and remove the Jewish state from existence and avenge those who have helped the Children of Zion. Amen.]”
Abuirshaid liked another comment to the post that said: “اخي اسامة الكثير مما يجب ان نقوم به كعرب مسلمين أمريكيين فأولها ان نجد طريقة قانونية لشطب حماس من لاءحة الإرهاب ، سيعطي هذا العمل مجال واسع للحركة للعمل الدبلوماسي داخليا و خارجيا [My brother Osama, there is a lot we must do as American Arabs and Muslims, the first of which is to find a legal way to remove Hamas from the terrorism list. This work will give a wide scope for the movement to conduct diplomatic work internally and externally].”
Abuirshaid liked another two pro-Hamas comments on the same post, as well as a comment that said: “الصهاينة كما هو معروف ناكرين للجميل ولا أمان لهم وسيدرك الأمريكان هذا الامر بعد فوات الاوان. [The Zionists, as it is known, are ingrate. One cannot believe them and the Americans will end up realizing that but too late].”
Affiliation With Hamas-Linked Groups
As of March 29, 2009, Abuirshaid reportedly served as the editor of Al-Zaitounah, a bi-weekly newspaper published by the IAP. IAP was reportedly founded by Hamas leader Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzoook.According [p.30] to U.S. government prosecutors, “IAP was to be the media arm of Hamas in America” and Al-Zaitounah “focused on Palestinian issues with an emphasis on support for Hamas.” Al-Zaitounah allegedly solicited [p.30] funds for the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), which had five leaders sentenced to prison in 2009, for reportedly using HLF to send funds to Hamas in the guise of humanitarian aid.
In 1999, Abuirshaid was described as a “research fellow” at UASR in an article he wrote for the organization.
U.S. government prosecutors in the HLF trial said [p.7] that UASR was “involved in passing Hamas communiques to the United States-based Muslim Brotherhood community and relaying messages from that community back to Hamas.”
AMP Activism
On November 28, 2020, Abuirshaid spoke [00:43:20] at a panel discussion at the AMP national conference titled: “VIRTUAL GALA - Against All Odds: Palestine Prevails.”During his presentation, Abuirshaid said [00:48:09]: “Yes, Israel is an apartheid state. Israel is a state that is an occupying state.” He also implied [00:49:23] that Jewish supporters of Israel do not “stand on principle” and do not “have a moral compass.”
On July 24, 2019, Abuirshaid spoke [00:02:48] at an AMP event in Washington, D.C. titled: “Congressional Briefing on Israeli Treatment of US Citizens.”
The Facebook event description said that AMP held a “policy briefing on Israel’s abuse of US citizens” who were “entering Israel or the Occupied Palestinian Territories.” AMP released a corresponding report which began by highlighting [p. 5-10] the deaths of Rachel Corrie, Furkan Dogan and Mahmoud Shaalan.
Furkan Dogan was one of nine Americans on the May 2010 Gaza“Freedom Flotilla.” Agitators on the Mavi Marmara, the lead ship, heard speeches advocating [00:06:00] confrontation and encouraging [00:00:24] the killing of Jews. Dogan wrote in his diary: “These are the last hours before I join the sweet experience of being a shahid [martyr]. Is there anything more beautiful…?”
Mahmoud Shalan was reportedly killed while carrying out a stabbing attack against Israeli soldiers manning a checkpoint near Beit-El, on February 26, 2016. Shalan was 17-years-old at the time of his attack.
On December 16, 2017, Abuirshaid led an AMP rally in Washington, D.C. against the Trump administration’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Abuirshaid called [00:10:02] Jerusalem an “occupied city” at the rally.
On April 20, 2017, Abuirshaid appeared in a Facebook photo from a joint INN and AMP rally that day. He was also listed on Facebook as a speaker at the rally.
The rally was in support of AMP leaders Taher Herzallah and Kareem El-Hosseiny who were arrested and charged with unlawful conduct and disrupting the U.S. Congress. In February 2017, they joined with three INN activists and one CODEPINK activist in disrupting a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on David Friedman's nomination to be U.S. Ambassador to Israel.
Participation in the Pro-Hamas Encampment at Columbia
On April 24, 2024, Osama Abuirshaid was featured [slide 10] in an Instagram photo participating in the pro-Hamas encampment at Columbia. The encampment was also in support of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.On April 17, 2024, Columbia students and anti-Israel activists set up a pro-Hamas “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” on the university's main lawn. Many participants were arrested and the encampment featured multiple violent incidents, including taking over a campus building and taking a university worker hostage.
Activists protested Israel’s war against Hamas and demanded that Columbia “divest from companies and institutions that profit from Israeli apartheid, genocide and occupation…”
The action had reportedly been planned for months and was organized by the Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) coalition. The encampment was also organized by Columbia’s banned pro-Hamas activist group Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and the university chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP). Activists reportedly received training from National SJP and other anti-Israel organizations.
AMP
American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) was founded by UC Berkeley Professor Hatem Bazian as a vehicle to generate mainstream support in the United States for the Palestinian national cause.
On its website, the organization lists Bazian as the chairman of its national board and describes itself as “a national education and grassroots-based organization, dedicated to educating the American public about Palestine and its rich cultural, historical and religious heritage.”
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has accused AMP of promoting “extreme anti-Israel views and has at times provided a platform for anti-Semitism under the guise of educating Americans” about Palestinians. The ADL further stated that AMP is directly involved in campus-based anti-Israel activity through Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).
Prior to founding the AMP in 2006, Dr. Bazian created SJP together with fellow UC Berkeley Professor Snehal Shingavi in 2001. The close working relationship between AMP and SJP has been documented several times over the years by several organizations, including NGO Monitor and StandWithUs.
In addition to providing financial, public relations and legal assistance to SJP, AMP has also been accused of having connections to Hamas. The AMP national board includes former members of both the Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP) and Holy Land Foundation (HLF), both of which were found liable for aiding and abetting Hamas. The IAP was founded by Mousa Mohammed Abu Marzook, a senior member of Hamas.
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.
SJP
SJP is a student organization engaged in anti-Israel activity on North American college and university campuses.
The first chapter of SJP was founded in 2001 at the University of California at Berkeley by Professor Hatem Bazian. Bazian has spread classic anti-Semitism, reportedly promoted religious anti-Semitism and defended the Hamas terror group. In 2004, Bazian called for “intifada” in America.
SJP organizes anti-Israel campaigns, including running annual Israel Apartheid Weeks, often in collaboration with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and Muslim Student Association (MSA) campus chapters.
SJP has been a major force in pushing the anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement on campuses. Chapters have initiated dozens of BDS resolutions in student governments, which have been proposed on or around Jewish holidays, a time when many Jewish students are off-campus.
SJP activists have reportedly physically assaulted, intimidated and harassed Jewish students, disrupted pro-Israel campus events and demonized pro-Israel campus organizations.
Chapters have often endorsed and campaigned for numerous terrorists and whitewashed terrorism.
Social Media and Weblinks
Facebook:www.facebook.com/100002003391517/X: https://x.com/OsamaAbuirshaid
Al-Araby:https://www.alaraby.co.uk/author/2014/4/10/أسامة-أبو-ارشيد/
Wikipedia:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osama_Abu_Irshaid
Videos
8 videos
Photos & Screenshots
105 images
Infamous Quotes
“The cultural infiltration also includes the Zionist influence in the media. They have a significant impact on the media, as well as on Hollywood. They have managed to endear Israel and the Jews upon American public opinion.”
“The descendants of David the Muslim are trampling the nose of the descendants of Jewish Goliath in the dirt.”
“Without equivocation or ambiguous language, they [the Muslim Brotherhood] are the most pure and most clear people on this earth in general.”
“if you heard who continues to ramble about Hamas ‘divorcing’ the resistance, then spit in his face and apologize to your spit for defiling it.”
“Remember that Israel was not created just to take and to swallow Palestine. It was created to divide and to weaken that part of the world.”
“The whole world now understands that the real threat to stability, to security, to the world peace order is the State of Israel. It’s not the Palestinians.”
“I am very sad for Gaza and offended by the betrayal of the Arabs. What is coming is bad and difficult. The Arab apostates allied with the despicable Jews and the hating Crusaders. But Allah is more powerful than them. They want to defeat Hamas and disarm Gaza. However, they forgot that Gaza’s men only know victory. For them it is either jihad, victory or martyrdom.”
