State Dept. Officials Meet With Brotherhood-Linked Activist

American Muslims for Palestine boasts that a member of its national board, Osama Abu Irshaid, was part of a delegation organized by the U.S. Campaign for the End of the Israeli Occupation that met with State Department officials on June 26. Irshaid says that Hamas rocket fire (which target civilian population centerss) are a form of “legitimate resistance” and he used to be the editor of a Muslim Brotherhood front’s newspaper.

Irshaid used to be the editor of the Islamic Association for Palestine’s Arabic newspaper, Al-Zaytounah. Internal Muslim Brotherhood documents unequivocally confirm that this organization was one of its fronts set up to promote the Hamas agenda. IAP events and publications consistently featured Hamas propaganda.

The Investigative Project on Terrorism documents that he refers to Hamas as “the resistance” and justified its firing of rockets into Israel.

“So instead of blaming the victim [Hamas], we should look at the criminal and the murderer. And instead of blaming the victim that even though if they’re firing rockets, regardless, now this is according to the international law should be a legitimate resistance, because they are under occupation,” he said.

The group Irshaid is currently a board member of, American Muslims for Palestine, calls for the destruction of Israel and features Brotherhood-linked speakers. Its event in Illinois on November 22-25 has many Brotherhood-linked speakers that have stated their support for Hamas and suicide bombings. Click here to read more about AMP and its upcoming conference.

Despite this background, Irshaid was part of a group that met with the State Department’s Office of Near Eastern Affairs on June 26 to discuss the case of Sandra Tamari, a Palestinian-American who identifies herself as a Quaker peace activist. She admits to being involved with a movement for boycotts, divestments and sanctions against Israel and is a member of the St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee.

In March, she flew to Israel and was detained for questioning. (After letting in international “peace activists” who were in fact violent agitators – e.g., the international “activists” involved in the Turkish flotilla that tried to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza – Israel is extremely reluctant to allow “activists” into the country without security checks on their true intentions while in the country). Tamari claims that Israeli security asked her to log into her Gmail account so they could review her e-mail. When she refused, she was denied entry. She was subsequently flown back to the U.S.

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