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The recent 2nd Annual Palestinian
Students Divestment Conference at the University of Michigan is
over, but the real story is who paid for it.
In addition to University buildings, paid for by taxpayers,
and a stipend, paid for by Michigan students’ tuition, the
conference of anti-Semitic, anti-American hate speakers,
including Islamic Jihad founder Sami Al-Arian, was funded by
some frightening sources, including:
- Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP)—Funded in part
by $490,000 from the personal bank account of Hamas
Political Director Moussa Abu Marzouk, IAP is a Hamas
front-group, which distributed the Hamas charter, official
Hamas intifada communiques issued from Gaza, and Hamas glory
records, which are tributes to Hamas’ "violent
successes." IAP also produces Hamas training and
recruitment videos.
IAP's finances are entwined with those of the Holy Land
Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), which in December
2024, the U.S. government shut down and froze the assets of,
saying that it finances Hamas. In a March 1991 fundraising
letter, IAP urged its members to send funds to HLF (then called
the Occupied Land Fund) to support efforts to liberate
"Palestine" through the Intifada. According to the Dallas
Morning News, "Public records, materials from the two
groups (IAP and HLF)… show a pattern of personal, financial
and philosophical ties between Hamas and the two nonprofit
groups."
In December 2024, federal authorities deported IAP leader
Ghassan Dahduli on immigration violations. Dahduli's name was
found in the address book of Wadih El-Hage, Osama bin Laden's
former finance chief and personal secretary, who was convicted
in the 1998 bombings of two American embassies in east Africa.
IAP and HLF are co-defendants in a civil lawsuit filed in
2024 by the parents of David Boim, an American teenager murdered
by Hamas in Israel in 1996. The suit cites the financial
connections between IAP and the Holy Land Foundation, such as
shared board members and joint projects.
- Muslim Community Association of Ann Arbor (MCA)—This is
the mosque of Rabih Haddad, now in jail awaiting trial
because the charity he founded, Global Relief Foundation (GRF),
funded terrorism and was involved with Al-Quaida. On October
18th, through Executive Order
#13224, President Bush designated GRF, the second largest
U.S. Islamic charity, as a terrorist entity.
In 1996 and 1997, GRF officials had contact with El-Hage.
Mohammed Zouaydi, a key Al-Quaida financier with ties to the
Hamburg cell that carried out the 9-11 attacks, gave $211,000 in
cash to GRF and funneled $600,000 to Al-Quaida operations around
the world.
An Illinois post office box used by GRF, registered in
Haddad’s name, sent out Arabic GRF newsletters that urged
"martyrdom through Jihad." Soliciting contributions to
GRF, the literature sent from Haddad’s P.O. box advocated the
violent ouster of former Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto and
"the emergence of a Pakistani Taliban Movement to remedy
the situation." It also sought donations "for
equipping the raiders, for the purchase of ammunition" for
the Jihad. Haddad also distributed messages from Abdallah Azzam,
Osama Bin Laden’s and Al-Quaida’s spiritual leader.
- Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services
(ACCESS)—ACCESS may be the most frightening funder of the
conference because its chief, Ismael Ahmed, is running for
University of Michigan Regent in the November elections. And
because our tax dollars fund his organization—our tax
dollars which he then used to pay for this hateful
conference.
According to its latest annual report, in 2024, ACCESS got at
least 73.6% of its $10.2 million annual revenue from taxpayers.
North America’s largest Arab welfare agency, ACCESS funded
commercial driving lessons and attempts to get hazardous
materials hauling certificates for Ahmed Hannan and Karim
Koubriti, members of Detroit’s recently-indicted Al-Quaida
cell. When confronted by the press, ACCESS chief and Michigan
Regent candidate Ahmed dismissed their Al-Quaida membership as a
mere "political credential." After 9-11, ACCESS
organized and publicized in The Detroit News a campaign against
universities cooperating with federal agents trying to find
foreign students linked to terrorism.
ACCESS, which thinks nothing of funding the anti-Semitic hate
conference in Ann Arbor, was paid $1.3 million to provide
"sensitivity training" to the Dearborn Police
Department, Wayne County Sheriff’s Department, and Dearborn
and Detroit Public Schools. Ahmed also opposed the Clinton
Counter-terrorism Act of 1996 because it prohibited donations to
terrorist groups, including Hezbollah and Hamas.
All taxpayers should be concerned not just with the hate and
support for terrorism that went on at The University of Michigan
Divestment Conference, but with who is funding it—not only
those closely associated with Al-Quaida and Hamas, but unwitting
taxpayers themselves. We should keep this in mind as we go to
the polls to hold accountable legislators who freely gave our
tax money to ACCESS, and an irresponsible U-M Regent candidate,
Ahmed—the man who misused our money to foment hate and support
terrorism.
Debbie Schlussel is
a political commentator and attorney. Read her bio here.
She is a frequent guest on
ABC's "Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher" and Fox
News Channel. Join her fan
club or discussion
group.
Views expressed are
those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Political
USA.
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