The Blogs: Big Bang Theory

Suha Arafat, the wife of former Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, admitted in a 2012 interview with Dubai TV that the late Palestinian leader had premeditated the Second Intifada, confirming a long-held Israeli suspicion.

“Immediately after the failure of the Camp David [negotiations], I met him in Paris upon his return… Camp David had failed, and he said to me, ‘You should remain in Paris.’ I asked him why, and he said, ‘Because I am going to start an Intifada.’ ”

One of several episodes for which Ariel Sharon continues to be blamed, despite much evidence to the contrary, was that he caused the Second Intifada in September 2000 by visiting the Temple Mount. Foremost among the propagators of this narrative was the BBC which failed to point out that Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount was co-ordinated with the Palestinian Authority (PA), happened within regular opening hours, lasted just 34 minutes, and, perhaps most importantly, took place on Judaism’s holiest site. Nor did Sharon ever enter a mosque there, as the BBC claimed.

The BBC failed to tell us that key Palestinians denied Sharon triggered the intifada. Marwan Barghouti, the de facto leader of the Second Intifada, said: “The intifada did not start because of Sharon’s visit to Al-Aqsa”. And PA Communications Minister Imad Al-Faluji said: “Whoever thinks that the intifada broke out because of the despised Sharon’s visit to Al-Aqsa is wrong. This intifada was planned in advance, ever since President Arafat’s return from the Camp David negotiations.”

Why go back 23 years? Because in the next few pages I will try to equate the tactics used to ignite the Second Intifada which lasted from 2000 to 2005, to today’s global antisemitic and anti-Israel unrest. The Second Intifada was not spontaneous. It was planned in the months preceding the Camp David meetings in 2000. The October 7, 2023 massacre was not spontaneous. It was being planned for at least a year prior to the onslaught. The demonstrations are not spontaneous. They are planned to mobilize as soon as there is any kind of situation in Israel. The demonstrations were planned at the same time as the massacres were being planned!

The student organizations behind the demonstrations are funded by organizations with direct links to Hamas.

The demonstrations are not spontaneous. They are well orchestrated and planned.

In an article written by Gretchen Ruethling on December 9, 2004 for The New York Times, she reports

“A federal magistrate judge on Wednesday ordered three Islamic charities and a man accused of raising money for the Palestinian militant group Hamas to pay $156 million to the parents of an American teenager killed by terrorists in the West Bank.

The judge, Arlander Keys, tripled the $52 million in damages that a federal jury awarded to Joyce and Stanley Boim, whose 17-year-old son, David, was shot and killed by members of Hamas while he waited at a bus stop.

Magistrate Judge Keys found that two charities, the Islamic Association for Palestine and the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, along with Mohammed Salah, who was accused of being a fund-raiser for Hamas, knowingly gave material support to Hamas and were legally responsible for David Boim’s death.

The jury found on Wednesday that the Quranic Literacy Institute was also responsible for Mr. Boim’s death and should pay damages.

The assets of the foundation, the institute and Mr. Salah have been frozen by the government, The Associated Press reported.”

It is important to remember the names ISLAMIC ASSOCIATION FOR PALESTINE and the HOLY LAND FOUNDATION.

On November 25, 2008, the FBI published the following information bulletin titled, “No Cash for Terror – Convictions Returned in Holy Land Case”.

“The FBI’s fight against terrorism funding paid a big dividend yesterday when five former leaders of a U.S.-based Muslim charity were convicted of funneling more than $12 million to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

Guilty verdicts on all 108 counts against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development were announced in federal court in Dallas, Texas, representing the largest victory against terrorist financing in the U.S. since the 9/11 attacks.

“For many years, the Holy Land Foundation used the guise of charity to raise and funnel millions of dollars to the infrastructure of the Hamas terror organization,” said Patrick Rowan, Assistant Attorney General for National Security. “This prosecution demonstrates our resolve to ensure that humanitarian relief efforts are not used as a mechanism to disguise and enable support for terrorist groups.

“The FBI first got involved in the Holy Land case nearly 15 years ago. In 1994, we began looking into the organization’s financial ties to Hamas. During the investigation, our agents traveled the globe to conduct more than 100 interviews, to sort through hundreds of boxes of documents (including many Arabic documents), to view hundreds of video and audio tapes in Arabic, and to review thousands of pages of bank records.

“Fighting terrorism by choking off its funding source is one of the many techniques we use to proactively disrupt and dismantle terrorist enterprises before they strike. The case against Holy Land was investigated by one of our Joint Terrorism Task Forces, which bring together local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies.

“In December 2001, three months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the U.S. Treasury Department designated Holy Land as a “Specially Designated Terrorist” group. We raided the organization’s Texas headquarters, seized its assets, and shut down its operation. At the time, Holy Land was ranked as the country’s largest Muslim charitable organization.

“Hamas was designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. in 1995, and that made contributions to the group illegal. The 108 counts the Holy Land defendants were convicted of yesterday, including providing material support to Hamas and money laundering, carry stiff sentences. No sentencing date has been set.

“During the trial, the government presented evidence that Holy Land Foundation and the five defendants provided approximately $12.4 million in support to Hamas and its goal of creating an Islamic Palestinian state by eliminating the State of Israel through violent jihad. Evidence was also presented that several of the defendants have family members who are Hamas leaders, including Hamas’s political chief, Mousa Abu Marzook.”

https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/stories/2008/november/hlf112508

Please continue to follow the thread………….

In order to avoid paying the $156 million settlement to the Boim family, The Holy Land Foundation and the Islamic Association for Palestine were dissolved.

According to Middle East Forum, “The Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP) is a now-defunct nonprofit that ostensibly created awareness of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, chiefly by publishing allegedly factual news items that were supposedly blacklisted by hostile Western media. In fact, IAP was a media-relations arm of Hamas in the U.S. It was founded in 1981 by Musa Abu Marzook, the Hamas operative who would later finance HLF, and Sami al-Arian, who would become the North American leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.” https://www.meforum.org/islamist-watch/money-politics/organization/9/

The thread continues…….

AMERICAN MUSLIMS FOR PALESTINE (AMP)

On November 15, 2023, Dr. Jonathan Schanzer of the FDD gave the following testimony to the House Ways and Means Committee. Rather than paraphrasing I would prefer to provide the original testimony.

“Starting in late 2005, activists from IAP and HLF launched what the Boims allege was an effort to continue IAP’s work without IAP’s legal liabilities. The Boim lawsuit alleges, “Activists who had been involved with IAP and HLF recognized that these organizations could not continue to pursue their missions with the same names, in the same form, and saddled with the same civil and criminal liability… They therefore deliberately concealed their connection to IAP… emphasizing internally that ‘we really need to distance ourselves from any well-known IAP figures.”

“The mission, goals, donors, and fundraising infrastructure of AMP share a striking resemblance to the charities that were dismantled more than a decade ago. All four members of AMP’s most senior leadership previously worked for these groups. Many of AMP’s donors, board members, and corporate sponsors have also been active with entities proven to support Hamas.”

“This was not lost on the family of David Boim. One year after I delivered testimony that exposed the existence of this reconstituted network, the Boim family sued AMP. The 2017 complaint alleges that AMP is the “alter ego” of IAP. It argues that AMP is the same institution as IAP, fulfilling the same functions with the same goals, merely operating under a different name to avoid IAP’s legal liabilities. The case is ongoing.”

“Facilitating campus activism is a key part of AMP’s work. Its student network is coordinated by an AMP employee named Taher Herzallah. Per the AMP website, Herzallah is the “Associate Director of Outreach and Community Organizing for American Muslims for Palestine.” He is the “liaison between campus activism groups on campuses across the country,” helping “groups procure grants, materials and speakers.” He is also “instrumental in helping students set up programs and activities.”

AMP’s founder, Hatem Bazian, also founded Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), which is unquestionably one of the most vitriolic anti-Israel voices on campus.

“AMP has also become a leading grassroots organizer of the vehemently anti-Israel and sometimes violent protests that have swept the country and erupted on college campuses nationwide. Whether or not it is sanctioned by AMP, the rhetoric is often hateful, inciteful, and antisemitic. “

“To the best of my knowledge, AMP has not denounced this hate-speech or taken steps to ensure that it won’t take place at future rallies. In short, individuals who previously worked for Hamas charities are now a driving force behind the large, pro-Hamas demonstrations taking place in major cities across America. This same network is also providing training, talking points, materials, and financial support to students intimidating and threatening Jewish and pro-Israel students on college campuses.”

“AMP is a hate group with its roots in Hamas fundraising organizations that were shuttered for a reason.” https://gop-waysandmeans.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Schanzer-Testimony.pdf

STUDENTS FOR JUSTICE IN PALESTINE (SJP)

Berkeley professor Hatem Bazian launched Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) in 1992. The group became increasingly active around 2002, during the Second Intifada, and now boasts around 200 chapters, making it the largest Palestinian activism group on American campuses. Under the guidance of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), another organization chaired by Bazian, SJP formed National SJP, an umbrella organization, in 2010 to coordinate activity across the nation. AMP staff have since helped guide SJP’s pro-Palestinian campus activism. AMP and two SJP chapters cohosted an event in May 2023 featuring Mohammad el-Mezain, one of five individuals arrested and convicted as part of the federal case against the Holy Land Foundation for funding Hamas.

THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT CAMPUS SUPPORT FOR HAMAS AND ANTISEMITISM

Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) leads most anti-Israel campaign on campus
SJP supports and glorifies Hamas’s October 7 massacre
SJP has a history of antisemitism and violence
SJP promotes genocidal chants
Pro-Palestinian campus activism features violence and intimidation
An SJP offshoot (Within Our Lifetime) also engages in and supports violence.

At a Wexner Heritage Fellowship event held a few months after the Second Intifada began, Rabbi Michael Paley told us how shocking the Intifada was, especially to the left. On a personal level he was shaken by the fact that Rabbi Brovender, his rebbe and friend, was assaulted by a terrorist on October 4, 2000. But on a political level, his world and the world of his friends was shattered. This was the world that had faith in the Oslo Accords.

He told us that just a few weeks prior to the outbreak of the Intifada he was having dinner with his friends, the leaders of the PLO. After the Second Intifada began he never saw his friends again. The Second Intifada shattered the dreams and hopes of the left in Israel and changed the dynamic to where we are today.

October 7, 2023 shattered our dreams and hopes as well. It has broken our confidence and sense of trust. We thought that Hamas was moving to a more peaceful direction and the world, especially the Arab world, was becoming our friend.

Much has been written since the worldwide demonstrations began and how they erupted spontaneously in reaction to Israel’s declaration of war against Hamas.

Hamas was fooling us while slowly and patiently waiting for the opportune time to attack. Over the last 20 years, we have seen anti-Israel and anti-Semitic activity grow on university campuses in North America. It started off small and isolated, but we were fooled. They were just testing to see how far they could push their freedom of speech. Today it is a full blown “intifada” on campus funded by Hamas and its supporters.

These demonstrations did not “happen in a vacuum”. These demonstrations did not spontaneously erupt on campuses. These demonstrations were planned and co-ordinated and timed, waiting for Hamas to ignite the explosion.