Special Report
When Charities Betray America: Appendix B: Individuals
Washington DC USA - July 24, 2024 - Gaza Protesters gather near the US Capitol as Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu speaks at the Congress. Editorial credit: Andrew Leyden / Shutterstock.com
Washington DC USA - July 24, 2024 - Gaza Protesters gather near the US Capitol as Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu speaks at the Congress. Editorial credit: Andrew Leyden / Shutterstock.com
When Charities Betray America:
How “Pro-Palestinian” Protest Groups Promote Anti-Americanism
(full report)
Executive Summary | Methodology
Examples of Anti-American and Anti-Police Hate Speech
Chronological Analysis | Analysis of Engagement Levels
Three Organizational Examples
Prevalence of Charities Among These Radical Groups
Conclusion | Endnotes
Appendix A: Organizations | Appendix B: Individuals
Appendix B: Individuals
The analysis reviewed 496 entities and individuals across 720 social media accounts. Of these, 78 entities and 30 individuals—totaling 108—were found to have used the specified keywords.
Note: This does not imply that anti-American rhetoric is limited to these 108 accounts, but rather that they were the ones identified within this specific sample.
| Individual | Mini-bio | In Leadership (Founder/Board/Board Chair or Executive/VP-level) at Public Charity or employed by a University |
|---|---|---|
| Ahlam Jbara | Activist, Deputy Director of Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights 2014-2015. On board of directors of Illinois Immigrant Action Inc from 2013-2017. Was Director of Arab American Action Network (2013-2017) and its Secretary (2018-2019). Was board member of Illinois Partners for Human Service 2013-2015 | x |
| Ahlam Muhtaseb | Board member on Jerusalem Fund and Professor of Media Studies at California State University San Bernardino. | |
| Ahmad Abuznaid | Executive Director of US Campaign for Palestinian Rights and co-founder of Dream Defenders | x |
| Ali Abunimah | Co-founder of the Electronic Intafada; President of Middle East Cultural and Charitable Society | x |
| Amani Al-Hindi Barakat | Chair of the Al-Awda National Board and active in the Moorpark/Los Angeles, California Chapter | x |
| Asad Rehman | Executive Director of War on Want, where he organizes to put an end to poverty and injustice. Prior, he was the head of international climate at Friends of the Earth. (Neither of these have a pro-Palestinian mission.) | x |
| Calla Walsh | Activist involved with multiple aggressive groups, including BDS Boston; serves on the Board of the Massachusetts Peace Action, an anti-war social welfare organization. Co-founder of Palestine Action US, now known as Unity of Fields | x |
| Hammam Farah | Controversial psychotherapist and political activist; banned from York University for disruptive protests; outspoken supporter of intifada, BDS, and armed resistance against Israel. Executive Director of the Elham Fund. | x |
| Hatem Bazian | Founder of SJP & AMP; Assistant Professor at Zaytuna College and UC Berkeley lecturer; influential BDS leader and controversial anti‑Israel activist. Chairman of the Muslim Legal Fund of America. | x |
| Helyeh Doutaghi (Halya Doutaqi) | International law scholar and political activist; Associate Research Scholar at Yale Law School, ties to Samidoun (PFLP front). Also official with the Committee of Anti-Imperialists in Solidarity with Iran, per Jerusalem Post | |
| Huwaida Arraf | Founded/Co-founded Free Gaza Movement and International Solidarity Movement; former Member at Large, Interfaith Peace Builders | x |
| Jim Fergie Chambers | A major financial backer of extremist activism (Middle East Children's Alliance, Samidoun, Palestine Action US (now Unity of Fields), including disruptive demonstrations against law enforcement, the United States government, and the state of Israel. Openly identifies as a Communist. | |
| Joe Catron | Activist. U.S. coordinator at Samidoun. The US & Canada have designated Samidoun as a terrorist group. | x |
| Katie Huerter | Activist and organizer; founded the UNO Students for Justice in Palestine chapter; a board member of Interfaith Peace Builders (2016) and Member at Large (2019-2019). Promoter of pro‑Palestinian trips with American Friends Service Committee and Interfaith Peace-Builders. | |
| Laila Al-Arian | Broadcast journalist for the Al Jazeera Media Network. She is the executive producer for the Al Jazeera English documentary series Fault Lines. Former trustee for Center for Constitutional Rights and daughter of Sami al-Arian. | |
| Leena Al-Arian | Executive director of the Coalition for Civil Freedoms and daughter of Sami al-Arian | x |
| Linda Sarsour | Controversial Palestinian-American activist who co-founded and served as Executive Director of MPower Change; former Executive Director of Arab American Association of New York; co-chair of the 2017 national Women’s March protest against the inauguration of President Donald Trump. | x |
| Mariam El-Khatib | Product Manager at LaunchGood, a crowdfunding platform aimed at supporting Muslims and their projects. She was President of SJP at University of Minnesota, Twin Cities in 2014-2015. Also was a “Chapter Lead” for AMP-Minnesota in 2018. | |
| Nada Elia | An Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies at Western Washington University and a member of the Palestinian Feminist Collective. | x |
| Nerdeen Kiswani | Co-founder of Within Our Lifetime (WOL) and former chair of Students for Justice in Palestine, NYC | x |
| Nora Barrows-Friedman | Electronic Intifada staff writer and associate editor; reporter at the Middle East Cultural and Charitable Society (where she is the highest compensated employee) | x |
| Noura Erakat | Activist, university professor, legal scholar, and human rights attorney. Currently a Professor of Africana Studies and Criminal Justice at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. The Marguerite Casey Foundation's 2022 990 Tax Form shows that she was a recipient of "2022 FREEDOM SCHOLAR AWARD" with a grant of $30,000. currently on board of Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor (I’d like to definitely include that), founding board member of DC Palestinian Film and Arts Festival, helped initiate and organize US Palestinian Community Network. Her multimedia productions include the Black Palestinian Solidarity video and website. | x |
| Olivia Katbi Smith | Co-chair of the Portland Democratic Socialists of America (not a public charity). Activist involved in BDS movement and Palestine solidarity. Has moderated panels on Palestine solidarity and the BDS Movement. She wrote for Mondoweiss up until April 2021. Mondoweiss says it is part of the Center for Economic Research and Social Change (501c3) | |
| Rabab Ibrahim Abdulhadi | Professor at San Francisco University and co-ordinator of the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diaspora Initiative. | x |
| Ramah Kudaimi | Board Member at Social Movement Technologies Foundation, a nonprofit that coaches smaller groups on how to better organize; pro-Palestinian activist involved in BDS, CODEPINK, Arab American Action Network, and others. Was on the Board of Directors of the Washington Peace Center (revoked). She was a Director for War Resisters League in 2016-2019. | |
| Riham Barghouti | Activist, active in the early days of BDS. She's a founding member of a Palestinian-based organization, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, which is part of the Palestinian BDS National Committee in Palestine. She's also a founding member of Adalah-NY. | x |
| Ryan Dawson | Writer/publisher of the Anti-NeoCon Report (ANC Report), frequent guest of alt-right network, early suppoter of the BDS Movement | |
| Yara Shoufani (Choufani) | Canadian activist, and former Executive Director of Canadian Friends of Sabeel. Listed as an organizer and spokesperson with the Palestinian Youth Movement and Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (an alternative name for Students for Justice in Palestine in Canada). | |
| Yousef Munayyer | Former Executive director at United States Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation until it rebranded as the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights; former Director of Raam Raj Foundation (2015-2021) and formerly Executive Director of the Jerusalem Fund. | |
| Zahra Billoo | Executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations San Francisco Bay Area chapter. Currently a fellow with Levi Strauss Foundation Pioneers in Justice and a senior fellow with the American Leadership Forum’s Silicon Valley chapter. Former board member of the Coalition for Civil Freedoms Foundation (2021-2022), Director of National Lawyer Guild’s SFBA chapter (2013-2015), Civil Rights Committee Chair of South Asian Bar Association of Northern California (2015), and BOT Member of Muslim Students Association West (2016). | x |
| ** NOTE: The short bio presented above is not exhaustive of each individual's activism or employment history. |
