Most student protesters have sought to distance themselves from Hamas. But an activist group has ties to old groups that funded the organization.

On Day 7 of the pro-Palestinian protests on the Columbia University campus, Osama Abuirshaid stopped by the student encampment.

The executive director of American Muslims for Palestine walked through the tent city, then made a fiery speech to the gathered crowd.

“This is not only a genocide that is being committed in Gaza,” Abuirshaid said. “This is also a war on us here in America.”

Forty-eight hours later, Abuirshaid appeared at another campus — George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where he delivered another speech.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldEnglish
    233·
    1 年前

    These sort of attempts to discredit the movement won’t work while Israel is conducting a fucking genocide.

    • Carrolade@lemmy.worldEnglish
      72·
      1 年前

      There’s unfortunately more to it than that. It is on peaceful protestors to make sure they’re not supporting violent organizations. Just because I say something, and someone else says the same thing I say, does not make that person automatically my friend and ally.

      Everyone who fights against some evil is not automatically a good person. It’s just not that simple in real life. Evil fights other evil all the time, look at gang wars and cartel violence.

      There’s more to this than a simple smear campaign, and if we just try to brush it away as one, we are only hurting our own cause.

      edit: We don’t want to be the equivalent of a “good cop” that covers for other corrupt cops, just because they’re “on the same side”. It’s hard, but we have to be better than that.

      • DolphinMath@slrpnk.netOPEnglish
        61·
        1 年前

        Agreed.

        I’m reminded of Trump’s “very fine people on both sides” quote, in response to the Charlottesville protests where Proud Boys chanted “Jews will not replace us.”

  • SwingingTheLamp@midwest.socialEnglish
    101·
    1 年前

    “Ties” and “links” are favorite weasel words of media manipulation. They’re factual and imply causality without stating it so they’re not technically wrong. Like, “Schools linked to school shootings”.

    • DolphinMath@slrpnk.netOPEnglish
      36·
      1 年前

      From the article.

      From 2002 to 2004, Abuirshaid ran the internal newspaper for a pro-Palestinian media organization called Islamic Association for Palestine. The group’s sister fundraising organization, the Holy Land Foundation was designated a terror group in 2001, investigated by the FBI and indicted by the Department of Justice. Ultimately, the foundation’s leaders went to prison for supporting terrorists, and a federal judge later found both groups responsible for funding Hamas.

      Running the newspaper for a group funding Hamas. Sounds like he’s connected to me.

      • SwingingTheLamp@midwest.socialEnglish
        81·
        1 年前

        “Connected.” Another weasel word. A genealogy web site that I use can tell me how I’m “connected” to King Charles. (At least 32 degrees of separation, including through many marriages.) What are the specific allegations here?