American Muslims For Palestine Condemn Israel Gaza Actions; Says Israel Leaders “Using Palestinian Blood For Election Purposes”

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The American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), part of the U.S. Hamas support infrastructure, has condemned recent Israeli action in Gaza, retaliation for barrages of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip, accusing Israeli leaders of “using Palestinian blood for election purposes.” According to the statement:

Call your representative to demand an immediate halt of aggression on Gaza. (PALOS HILLS, IL 11/14/2012) – AMP condemns the recent attacks on Gaza which claims, so far, at least 7 deaths including an eleven-month-old infant a six-year-old child in addition to dozens of injuries including many children. AMP calls for an immediate halt of the attacks. AMP believes that the occupation leaders are using Palestinian blood for election purposes. Each time the political climate in Israel reaches a dead end Israeli officials attack Palestinians for political gain in hopes of swaying the Israeli voter. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was unhappy with the outcome of the election in the US as he clearly and openly supported Governor Mitt Romney in the last election. As such, this recent assault attempts to cause disturbances for the Obama administration after the recent elections. ‘All of these actions prove Israel does not want peace, and furthermore, is intent on causing instability, especially after the region underwent various uprisings that have resulted in democratically elected governments.’ Said Dr. Hatem Bazian, AMP Chairman. ‘These attacks are an attempt to corner the newly appointed governments and test their position toward the struggle in the Middle East.    Israel is not, nor has ever been interested in achieving peace with the Palestinians. Rather, the Zionist apartheid state is intent on waging war in efforts to continue its policy of the ethnic cleansing and the transfer of the Palestinian people out of their homes. AMP firmly believes withholding more than $3 billion in the U.S. foreign aid is the only way to force Israel into compliance with international humanitarian and civil laws. TAKE ACTION Be firm, but polite, call your representative and the State Dept. demand that our government: Pressure Israel to put an immediate halt on the aggression on Gaza Withhold US aid to Israel 

According to its website, the current President of the AMP is Hatem Bazian. An online biography provides the following details about Dr. Bazian:

Hatem Bazian is the current president of the American Muslims for Palestine. Dr. Bazian received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in near eastern studies and ethnic studies and a master’s degree in international relations from San Francisco State University. Currently, Dr. Bazian is a senior lecturer in the Near Eastern Studies and Ethnic Studies Departments at UC-Berkeley. In addition, Dr. Bazian is an adjunct professor at: UC-Berkeley Law School at Boalt Hall, religious studies at Saint Mary’s College of California and UC-Davis. Dr. Bazian co-hosted “Islam Today”, a weekly radio magazine show covering Islam and its diverse people around the world. Since 9/11, he has appeared on many TV and radio interviews and was also a translation consultant for the San Francisco Chronicle on a number of stories relating to Islam, Muslims and global politics.

Video from an April 2004 antiwar-rally shows Hatem Bazian calling for an “Intifada” in the US:

“Are you angry? [Yeah!] Are you angry? [Yeah!] Are you angry? [Yeah!] Well, we’ve been watching intifada in Palestine, we’ve been watching an uprising in Iraq, and the question is that what are we doing? How come we don’t have an intifada in this country? Because it seem[s]to me, that we are comfortable in where we are, watchingCNN, ABC, NBC, Fox, and all these mainstream… giving us a window to the world while the world is being managed from Washington, from New York, from every other place in here in San Francisco: Chevron, Bechtel, [Carlyle?] Group, Halliburton; every one of those lying, cheating, stealing, deceiving individuals are in our country and we’re sitting here and watching the world pass by, people being bombed, and it’s about time that we have an intifada in this country that change[s]fundamentally the political dynamics in here. And we know every— They’re gonna say some Palestinian being too radical — well, you haven’t seen radicalism yet!”

More video from the same conference show Bazian talking about the “Arabs who are coming to help” in Iraq. Dr. Bazian later claimed that his remarks on a US Intifada were misunderstood.

One of the other board members of the AMP identified by the website is Salah Sarsour, also a board member of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee as well as the registered agent for the Wisconsin chapter of the Muslim American Society (MAS), a part of the US Muslim Brotherhood closely tied to the Egyptian organization. The Sarsour family in Milwaukee is known to have many ties to the Hamas infrastructure in the US. A previous post discussed a a “Gaza Solidarity Day” jointly organized by the MAS, the far-left A.N.S.W.E.R coalition, and the AMP.

Steven Emerson, the head of the Investigative Project, has published a report on the recent American Muslims for Palestine (AMP)’s conference titled “American Muslims For Palestine’s Web of Hamas Support.” The report  begins:

Muslims convicted in America of supporting terrorist groups are heroes and the victims of injustice, a national convention of Palestinian activists was told. In addition, speakers said the fight for a Palestinian state will center on American college campuses.. American Muslims for Palestine (AMP)’s conference on Palestinian activism in America attracted more than 2,000 people Thanksgiving weekend in Chicago. Last year’s AMP’s conference revealed the organization’s goal to delegitimize the State of Israel in America. This year’s conference reinforced that message, while taking it a step further. At the opening ceremony, Jamal Said, an imam at the Mosque Foundation in Chicago (Bridgeview Mosque) hailed “the activists and freedom fighters who gave up their personal ambitions and their own lives so our cause may live.” Said was listed as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) Hamas financing trial. The U.S. Treasury froze HLF assets in 2001 after concluding its money went to Hamas. 

Read the rest here.

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