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.worldMEnglish
    233·
    6 months ago

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

    • Carrolade@lemmy.worldEnglish
      62·
      6 months ago

      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·
        6 months ago

        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·
    6 months ago

    “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
      26·
      6 months ago

      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·
        6 months ago

        “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?

          • SwingingTheLamp@midwest.socialEnglish
            51·
            6 months ago

            And Charles was the Prince of Wales before he took the throne. Is that just an interesting factoid, or are we supposed to infer something from it?