Shafik Mandhai

Overview

Shafik Mandhai has spread anti-Semitism, defended terrorists, compared Israel to ISIS and demonized Israel on social media.

On February 1, 2017, Mandhai authored a report defending the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

As of February 27, 2018, Mandhai’s Facebook said he was an Online Journalist and Freelance Online Reporter with Al Jazeera English.

Anti-Semitism

On November 20, 2012, during Operation Pillar of Defense (OPD), Mandhai tweeted: “God's chosen animals are also suffering because of Hamas rockets.”

Israel launched OPD to stop Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli civilians from Gaza. Over the course of eight days in November 2012, Palestinian terrorist groups fired more than 1,500 rockets at Israel. The majority struck Israel, damaging homes, schools and other civilian areas. Human Rights Watch noted: “Palestinian armed groups made clear in their statements that harming civilians was their aim.”

Human Rights Watch noted in a report on OPD: “Palestinian armed groups made clear in their statements that harming civilians was their aim.”

Defending Terrorists

On October 9, 2015, Mandhai tweeted: “Israel tore Fadi Alloun's family apart; then it killed him.”

Fadi Aloon was shot by Israeli security forces after he stabbed a 15-year-old Israeli boy. Several hours before the attack, Aloon posted “Either martyrdom or victory” on his Facebook page.

Mandhai attached to his tweet an article from the anti-Israel news site Electronic Intifada. The article quoted an aunt of Faloon’s, who said “If he’d tried to stab a settler, we wouldn’t hide it,” adding: “Palestinian youth have every right to resist those who occupy our land.”

Defending CAIR

On February 1, 2017, Mandhai authored a report defending CAIR.

On that same day, Mandhai tweeted: “My report on how CAIR and the ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union] fear a crackdown on Muslim activism in light of Republican moves to proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood [MB].”

In the same thread, Mandhai tweeted: “The move is deeply rooted in conspiracy theories that place the MB at the centre of a plot to infiltrate the US federal government.”

He also added: “CAIR and other groups are seen as MB proxies despite investigations that cleared them of ties under Bush and Obama.”

In his report, Mandhai dismissed the accusation that MB is attempting to infiltrate American government institutions as a “far-right” conspiracy theory.

The Muslim Brotherhood (MB) is a transnational Islamist organization founded in Egypt in 1928. It was designated as a terrorist organization by Egypt (2013), Saudi Arabia (2014), the United Arab Emirates (2014) and Bahrain (2017). Among its offshoots is Hamas, a terrorist group dedicated to Israel’s destruction.

CAIR was founded in 1994 by Muslim Brotherhood leadership in North America and listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in 2007 Hamas support trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF). CAIR was listed “among entities who are and/or were member of the US Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee.”

Comparing Israel to ISIS

On November 5, 2014, Mandhai tweeted: “The BBC is only going to tell you about Israeli injured but 40 Palestinians were wounded when armed #JSIL thugs raided Al Aqsa this morning.”

The hashtag “#JSIL” means “Jewish State in the Levant” and is used as a way of comparing Israel to the Islamic State (ISIS), also known as the Islamic State in the Levant (ISIL).

On November 5, 2014, a Palestinian terrorist killed one person and injured 14 people when he rammed his commercial van into two separate crowds of Israelis and then attacked passers-by with a metal pole.

On the same day several dozen masked Palestinians barricaded themselves inside the Al Aqsa Mosque. They set off fireworks and threw stones and iron bars stored inside at Israeli police.

On October 24, 2014, Mandhai tweeted: “American citizen killed by #JSIL fanatics in the West Bank, expecting Obama to lose the plot and order airstrikes any moment now.”

On October 24, 2014, Orwah Hammad, a Palestinian-American, threw a molotov cocktail at Israeli soldiers before he was shot.

Demonizing Israel

On February 23, 2014, Mandhai tweeted: “Really great to see UJS members come out against apartheid #rethink2014 #ApartheidWeek.”

In February 2014, pro-Israel students across the United Kingdom launched a campaign opposing the yearly iteration of Israel Apartheid Week (IAW) on campus, using the Twitter hashtag “#Rethink2014.”

IAW is presented as “an international series of events that seek to raise awareness of Israel’s settler-colonial project and apartheid system over the Palestinian people” and build support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement. IAW has been re-named Palestine Awareness Week.

On February 23, 2014, Mandhai tweeted: “wonder if anymore UJS guys will come out against apartheid.”

He also tweeted: “Another UJS member breaks ranks to come out against apartheid #rethink2014 #ApartheidWeek."