The Extremists Behind the Anti-Israel Lawsuit Against Biden

Media coverage of a lawsuit in California against President Joe Biden over his administration’s aid to Israel is leaving out a critical element: The coalition bringing the suit is led by pro-Hamas extremists.

During a hearing before the U.S. District for the Northern District of California, the coalition accused the Biden Administration of violating national and international law with its support for Israel. The individual plaintiffs are arguing that they have standing because they are either living in Gaza or have family members in Gaza who are being negatively impacted by Israel’s military campaign against the Hamas terrorist organization.

Center for Constitutional Rights

The plaintiffs in Defense for Children International-Palestine v. Biden are represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), a far-left organization. On October 7, the day Hamas massacred 1,200 Israelis, CCR rushed to Hamas’s defend by publishing a statement justifying “Palestinian armed resistance from Gaza” against Israeli “military targets,” apparently adopting Hamas’s view that Israeli civilians qualify as such.

Notably, the statement carefully avoided any hint of criticism of Hamas or its actions—actions that clearly violated international law.

Defense for Children International-Palestine

Defense for Children International Palestine (DCIP) was one of six organizations designated as a terrorist entity by Israel in October 2021 over its involvement with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization, an ally of Hamas.

Although The Guardian reported that the CIA couldn’t substantiate Israel’s allegations against the six organizations, there is a ton of publicly available evidence against each of them. DCIP’s links to PFLP are especially well-documented. Even if DCIP’s material support for PFLP is contested, its pro-terrorist extremism cannot be.

Al-Haq

One of the plaintiffs represented by CCR is Al-Haq, a Palestinian “human rights” organization based in the city of Ramallah in the West Bank.

Al-Haq’s coverage of the fighting in Gaza refers to Hamas’s October 7 atrocities as a “military attack carried out by Palestinian factions” in self-defense. Its statement on the day after the massacre legitimizes Hamas’s actions and does not express any opposition to Hamas’s violations of Israeli human rights.

In 2021, Israel designated Al-Haq, DCIP, and four other organizations as terrorist entities for their ties to PFLP. Shawan Jabarin, Al-Haq’s general director, is accused of being a PFLP member. The Muslim-majority and Palestinian-majority country of Jordan likewise has imposed a travel ban on Jabarin.

The European Commission reversed its decision to cut off funding to Al-Haq, but the evidence tying it to PFLP is very strong. The evidence was compelling enough for Visa, Mastercard, and American Express to refuse to be credit card processors for Al-Haq in 2018.

Council on American-Islamic Relations

Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), publicly lauded Hamas’s massacre of 1,200 Israelis on October 7, resulting in a denunciation from the Biden White House. CAIR then posted a completely illogical denial that blamed anti-Muslim bigots. CAIR originated from the Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas’s parent organization, and was established as part of the Brotherhood’s secret pro-Hamas initiative in the U.S. in the early 1990s.

Against this backdrop, one plaintiff in DCIP v. Biden is Basim Elkarra, who leads the Sacramento Valley and Central California wing of CAIR’s California branch, which has its own record of extremism. Elkarra himself has advocated for dropping the charges against Rasmea Odeh, who has admitted to orchestrating with PFLP a bombing in Jerusalem that killed two Israeli civilians.

During the hearing, Elkarra expressed the “pain” that he and his community is feeling by being betrayed by Biden after they “mobilized” to get him elected in 2020.

Media Malpractice

While it is probably impossible for media outlets to cover the conflict in a way that pleases both sides of the conflict, a genuine attempt at fairness would include the fact that the lawsuit against Biden is led by organizations with a record of supporting Hamas and PFLP. This would make readers aware of the biases and agendas of those behind the lawsuit’s accusations.

This is part of the same pattern that I documented with the March for Gaza where its organizers were Hamas supporters. The simplistic messages of “Free Gaza” and “peace” enabled them to rally demonstrators and gain steam on social media without the protesters realizing the true purpose of those messages and that, maybe—just maybe—they should actually research both sides’ points of view before enlisting in the cause.

Whether you’re in favor of Israel’s operation in Gaza or against it, you deserve to be told when an accusation of “genocide” is coming from a source that supports Hamas or PFLP. Failure to include that salient fact borders on media malpractice.