Anti-Israel Group Increases Outreach to High School Students

American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), a Chicago-based anti-Israel organization, is planning to host a joint conference on “Palestine activism” with the High School Muslim Student Association of Southern California (HSMSA), an inter-high school network of Muslim student organizations.

The conference is scheduled to take place on June 24 at the University of California, Irvine, a center for virulently anti-Israel campus activity in recent years. It is part of AMP’s 7th annual campaign to commemorate the “Nakba,” an Arabic term that means “catastrophe” and is used by Palestinians and their supporters to describe Israel’s Declaration of Independence.

AMP organizers say the conference is designed to help “train high school, college, and non-student activists on issues pertinent to Palestine activism.” The list of speakers invited to “educate” students on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict include several anti-Israel activists known for their use of rhetoric to delegitimize Israel.

Speakers include Ali Abunimah, co-founder of the anti-Israel Electronic Intifada blog; Taher Herzallah, AMP’s National Campus Coordinator and one of the 11 students arrested for shouting down Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren during a 2010 speech at UC Irvine; and Osama Abu Irshaid, an AMP board member who has previously expressed support for Hezbollah and conspiratorially alleged that the U.S. government makes decisions based on the “influential Jewish community.”

AMP targeted high school students earlier this year when it held its first high school training session in Villa Park, Illinois. The workshop was similarly organized to the upcoming conference at UC Irvine and included workshops on subjects such as the Islamic significance of Palestine, activism, and how to utilize the media.

This year’s AMP Nakba campaign consists primarily of educational and training sessions designed to “raise awareness about the occupation” and to “help bring justice and liberty to the Holy Land.” These events will be held throughout the month of June across the Southern California region, which include the cities of Hawthorne, Corona-Narco, Anaheim, Temecula, and Lomita.

AMP has increasingly made an effort to engage in facilitating student activism on college campuses and high schools nationwide. The importance of encouraging AMP’s presence among students was the central theme of the organization’s 2011 national conference, where a number of sessions were dedicated to how students can discuss the issue of Palestine in schools and on campuses. AMP’s concerted effort to engage with students has led to increased collaboration with on campus anti-Israel groups, such as Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP).

Anti-Semite to Appear at MSU’s “Palestine Liberation Week”

Update: Amir Abdul Malik Ali used his platform at UC Irvine to rant about Zionism’s responsibility for the financial collapse, the alleged vilification of Islam and global corruption issues.

The Muslim Student Union at UC Irvine is at it again.

The group has invited Amir Abdul Malik Ali, a virulent anti-Semite, to speak at the university next week. His talk is titled “The Struggle Has No Borders.”

Malik Ali’s scheduled appearance is part of a weeklong program being sponsored by MSU next week called “Palestine Liberation Week: Getting to the Root of the Occupation.” Other anti-Israel speakers scheduled to appear include Hatem Bazian and Hedy Epstein. In addition, members of the “Irvine 11,” who were suspended for disrupting a speech by Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren in February 2010, will return to campus to take part in the event.

Malik Ali, who is affiliated with the anti-Semitic Sabiqun movement and is the imam of a mosque in Oakland, is regularly invited to speak on campuses in California. During his appearances at Irvine, Malik Ali has conspiratorially claimed that “Zionist Jews” were responsible for 9/11 and that they control the U.S. government, the economy and the media. He has referred to Jews and Zionists as “the new Nazis” and “the party of Satan.” And, during an address titled “Death to Apartheid” in May 2010, Malik Ali responded “yes” to questions about whether he supports Hamas and Hezbollah.

MSU at UC Irvine did not invite Malik Ali to its annual anti-Israel program in 2011, but he had spoken at the program every year before that going back until at least 2006.

News of Malik Ali’s appearance coincides with an article that was published yesterday in The Jewish Daily Forward that describes how Jewish students and Hillels have begun working with chapters of Muslim Student Association and other Muslim student groups on campus. A representative of the Hillel chapter responsible for UC Irvine was quoted in the article saying that Jewish students on campus are engaging with their Muslim student counterparts and described it as “a new era.” Unfortunately, MSU’s continued willingness to provide a platform to an anti-Semite suggests otherwise.