Formation | 2006 |
---|---|
Founder | Hatem Bazian [1] |
Type | Nonprofit organization |
Headquarters | Palos Hills, Illinois [2] |
National policy director | Osama Abu Irshaid [3] |
Key people | Taher Herzallah and Kareem El-Hosseiny [3] |
Website | www.ampalestine.org |
The American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) is an American nonprofit organization founded in 2006.
AMP holds conferences and training sessions for coalition building and legislative advocacy, [4] such as hosting annual Palestine Advocacy Days, that provide workshop panels and encourage attendees to meet with American Congress members. [5] [6] AMP works with Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow to bolster Palestine solidarity campaigns. [7] [6]
AMP was founded in 2006 by Palestinian-American UC Berkeley professor Hatem Bazian, [8] who is also the co-founder of Students for Justice in Palestine. [9] The organization opened its first office in 2009 in Palos Heights, Illinois. [10]
AMP supports the BDS movement's call for a boycott of Israel in order to put pressure on the country to comply with international law and human rights. The group hopes that a boycott will put an end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, grant full equality to Arab Israelis and promote the right of return for the Palestinian refugees. [11] AMP does not take a position on one-state solution or two-state solution as a resolution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. [12]
AMP co-signed a letter with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) in 2012 calling on the University of California system to protect student civil liberties from efforts to censor Palestine-related activism. [13]
AMP has organized several billboard and bus advertisement campaigns in New York City and Washington, D.C., to end U.S. foreign aid to Israel. [14] During the 2014 Gaza war, in which over 2,000 Palestinians were killed, it organized protests against Israel's conduct. In 2015, it ran a bus advertisement campaign in advance of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to a joint session of Congress calling on members of Congress to boycott the speech.[ citation needed ]
In December 2016, AMP hosted an event endorsed by 15 other Syrian advocacy and relief organizations in support of the Syrian resistance at Aleppo in the Battle of Aleppo by encouraging attendees to lobby Congress. [15] Later that month, AMP hosted a protest with Council on American–Islamic Relations and JVP calling on Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner to reverse the moratorium on resettling Syrian refugees. [16]
In 2017, JVP, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, the social justice movement Code Pink, and AMP organized a letter campaign signed by 32 Democratic congressman urging United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to assist Palestinian protester Issa Amro, who was facing criminal chargers in Israel. [17]
During the 2017 Temple Mount crisis, AMP organized a protest called "Aqsa Under Attack" in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. [18] During the 2018 Gaza border protests, AMP's local chapter in New Jersey protested outside the offices of Senators Cory Booker and Bob Menendez, calling them to instigate an investigation on Israel using the Leahy Law. [19]
During the 2021 Israel-Palestine conflict, AMP, along with other Muslim advocacy groups, called for a boycott of President Biden's Eid celebration at the White House due to his support of Israel during the conflict. [20]
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has criticized the AMP for allegedly promoting extreme anti-Israel views and allegedly providing a platform for antisemitism under the guise of educating Americans. [21] In 2013, ADL released a report in which it described AMP as one of the most "influential and active anti-Israel groups" [22] The AMP has said that pro-Israel groups like the ADL deliberately use "false anti-Semitism charges" as a way to limit free speech, silence political activism, and intimidate vocal pro-Palestinian activists. [23]
Middle East historian Asaf Romirowsky says that it "grew out of the network of Muslim Brotherhood organizations in America" and has an Islamist view of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. [24]
According to AMP director Kristin Szremski, the organization "typically ignores these smear campaigns because they're aimed, in part, to detract us from our work". [12]
A national board member of AMP was prevented from entering Israel as part of an interfaith delegation in 2017. [25] In 2018, Israel officially barred members of AMP from entering Israel due to its support of the BDS movement, which calls for a global boycott of Israel. [26] [27]
According to Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, several of AMP's key personnel have previously worked for the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, KindHearts for Charitable Humanitarian Development, or the Islamic Association of Palestine, all of which have had legal difficulties resulting from convictions of providing material support for terrorism to Hamas. [28]
Jewish Voice for Peace is an American anti-Zionist left-wing Jewish advocacy organization that is critical of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories, and supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.
StandWithUs (SWU) is a nonprofit pro-Israel education and advocacy organization founded in Los Angeles in 2001 by Roz Rothstein, Jerry Rothstein, and Esther Renzer.
Shurat HaDin, also Israel Law Center (ILC), is an Israeli non-governmental organization (NGO) founded in Tel Aviv in 2003. Shurat HaDin has been described as a civil rights organization. However, it has also been accused of pro-Israel lawfare.
Disinvestment from Israel is a campaign that aims to use disinvestment to pressure the government of Israel to put "an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories captured during the 1967 military campaign." The disinvestment campaign is related to other economic and political boycotts of Israel.
The Palestine lobby in the United States is organized by a number of pro-Palestinian advocacy groups seeking to influence the United States government, institutions, and citizens to actively oppose Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories, many of them members or cooperating with the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights. These organizations include peace and anti-war, human rights, anti-Zionist, and Arab- and Muslim-American groups. Groups against occupation also include Jewish Voices for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine, among others. Their tactics include education, protest, civil disobedience and lobbying.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is a New York–based international Jewish non-governmental organization and advocacy group.
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is a nonviolent Palestinian-led movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel. Its objective is to pressure Israel to meet what the BDS movement describes as Israel's obligations under international law, defined as withdrawal from the occupied territories, removal of the separation barrier in the West Bank, full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel, and "respecting, protecting, and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties". The movement is organized and coordinated by the Palestinian BDS National Committee.
The AMCHA Initiative is a pro-Israel American campus group that seeks to undermine BDS activities on campuses. AMCHA was founded in 2012 by University of California Santa Cruz lecturer Tammi Rossman-Benjamin and University of California Los Angeles Professor Emeritus Leila Beckwith. The term Amcha is Hebrew for "your people" or "your nation."
Boycotts of Israel are the refusal and calls to refusal of having commercial or social dealings with Israel in order to influence Israel's practices and policies by means of using economic pressure. The specific objective of Israel boycotts varies; the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement calls for boycotts of Israel "until it meets its obligations under international law", and the purpose of the Arab League's boycott of Israel was to prevent Arab states and others to contribute to Israel's economy. Israel believes that boycotts against it are antisemitic.
Students for Justice in Palestine is a pro-Palestinian college student activism organization in the United States, Canada and New Zealand. It has campaigned for boycott and divestment against corporations that deal with Israel and organized events about Israel's human rights violations. In 2011, The New York Times reported that "S.J.P., founded in 2001 at the University of California, Berkeley, has become the leading pro-Palestinian voice on campus."
Linda Sarsour is an American political activist. She was co-chair of the 2017 Women's March, the 2017 Day Without a Woman, and the 2019 Women's March. She is also a former executive director of the Arab American Association of New York. She and her Women's March co-chairs were profiled in Time magazine's "100 Most Influential People" in 2017.
Reactions to Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) refer to the views of international actors on the BDS movement.
IfNotNow is an American Jewish group which opposes the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Its membership demonstrates against politicians, United States policies, and institutions it perceives as supporting occupation, usually seeking to apply pressure through direct action and media appearances. It has been characterized variously as progressive or far-left.
The Amendment No. 28 to the Entry Into Israel Law prohibits the entry into Israel of any foreigner who makes a "public call for boycotting Israel" or "any area under its control" – a reference to the Israeli settlements. It denies entry, visa and residency permits to these affected foreigners.
Canary Mission is a website established in 2014 that compiles dossiers on student activists, professors, and organizations, focusing primarily on those at North American universities, which it considers be anti-Israel or antisemitic, and has said that it will send the names of listed students to prospective employers. Canary Mission listings have been used by the Israeli government and border security officials to interrogate and deny entry to pro-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) American citizens, and by potential employers.
Relationship between the Kingdom of Morocco and the State of Palestine has been historically deep, yet complicated. Morocco has a consulate in Gaza while Palestine has an embassy in Rabat.
The US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR), formerly known as the US Campaign to End Israeli Occupation, is a pro-Palestinian advocacy group advocating for the rights of Palestinians. The organization was founded in 2001 after the second Intifada and is now made up of more than 300 member groups in the US working for Palestinian advocacy. USCPR was created with the goal to focus on "denied human rights" instead of focusing explicitly on Palestinian statehood.