Tag: fbi

“Ridiculous, spurious, and easily disproved” – Huwaida Arraf responds to recent right-wing attacks on the International Solidarity Movement

Once again right-wing media, politicians, and even supposed academics are attacking the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) with spurious allegations that are easily disproved. This time it comes in their ongoing effort to undermine Representative Ilhan Omar, the Congresswoman from the 5th district of Minnesota.

On June 8, Rep. Omar retweeted a post by Marwa Fatafta, a well known and highly respected policy analyst and digital rights activist, that included a video watermarked with “International Solidarity Movement.” The video showed a young Palestinian boy wearing a backpack “snatched and detained by Israeli forces.” There is no timestamp on the video so we do not know when it was recorded, but we do know that this sort of violence directed at Palestinian children by the Israeli military is commonplace.

This tweet, and Omar’s sharing of it, were in response to Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s June 7 testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee. During that hearing, Omar asked Blinken pointed questions about where Palestinians should turn in search of justice for the abuses they suffer at the hands of Israeli forces, settlers, and the government. Blinken’s response was that they should turn to the Israeli court system. This response is ridiculous on its face, and Marwa Fatafta used this video to highlight that.

Let’s clear up some of the misleading claims made by those attacking the International Solidarity Movement, such as in this article by Fox News.

  1. The video was not “produced” by ISM; rather it was one of countless egregious abuses committed by Israeli soldiers that was captured on video by an ISM volunteer. Unfortunately, volunteers witness far more Israeli abuses than they’re able to capture on video.
  2. ISM is not anti-Israel; it is, however, anti-racist, anti-occupation, anti-colonization, anti-apartheid, anti-oppression. The Anti-Defamation League and Fox News translate this to being anti-Israel.
  3. That the ISM was “investigated by the FBI” is yet another blight on the agency, which spent years and scarce resources on a fishing expedition that revealed nothing but First Amendment-protected activity campaigning for Palestinian human rights and freedom. The ISM’s statement on this “investigation” can be read here. The investigation lasted for years and targeted ISM activists in 11 U.S. cities, myself included. No evidence of wrongdoing was ever found, according to the FBI.
  4. As for being identified by the ADL as one of the top 10 anti-Israel organizations, see #2 as to why the ADL labels the ISM as “anti-Israel.”
  5. ISM is proud to be listed amongst incredible human rights defending allies like Jewish Voice for Peace, the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, Friends of Sabeel – North America, Students for Justice in Palestine and others.
  6. The ADL itself is a deeply problematic organization. It describes itself as a “leading anti-hate organization,” but has a history of supporting racist-policing, surveillance, colonialism & apartheid, as detailed in a letter signed by over 100 human rights organizations.
  7. In May 2021, five progressive civil society leaders resigned from the Civil Society Fellowship (CSF) over the group’s connection to the ADL. Read their statement here.
  8. Most recently, long time national director of the ADL (1987-2015) Abe Foxman went on a tirade against the New York Times for printing names and faces of more than 65 Palestinian children slain in Israel’s May 2021 onslaught on Gaza. According to Foxman, humanizing Palestinians is “blood libel”.
  9. The ADL, like the entire Zionist project, is built on the propagation of Jewish supremacy, the vilification and erasure of Palestinians, and the defamation of anyone advocating for Palestinian freedom.
  10. The second half of the Fox News article is devoted to quoting Prof. David Bernstein, whose relationship with facts & truth is tenuous, at best. I responded to a libelous 2015 Washington Post piece by Bernstein that can be read here.
  11. Bernstein told Fox News that he “doesn’t believe ISM has ‘been very active lately.’” This is simply wrong. ISM activists are currently on-the-ground in occupied Palestine continuing to report, document rights abuses, and support popular resistance to colonialism & apartheid.
  12. ISM activists also continue to be active around the world, organizing with allies against the forces that oppress Black, Brown, indigenous & poor peoples. We’re marching, engaging in BDS, #BlockTheBoat, #ShutElbitDown, all towards a #FreePalestine and a more just world for all our children.

The one and only thing Bernstein was correct about is that the video in question is a few years old. Sadly, however, there are many more recent videos of Palestinian children being abused, arrested and terrorized by Israeli soldiers. The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem hosts an entire video library of them here. Learn more about human rights violations against Palestinian children here.

Lastly, the Fox News article states at the end: “Neither Omar’s office nor ISM immediately responded to Fox News’ requests for comment.” For the record, ISM received no request for comment from Fox News.

ISM statement on reported FBI probe

Recently, the Intercept published a report of a surveillance investigation conducted by the FBI on the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). The highly invasive investigation targeted ISM activists, their associates, and other organizations ISM worked with, from 2004 – 2006, using informants as well as physical and telecommunications surveillance.

We, at the International Solidarity Movement, denounce this shameless abuse of power and misuse of public funds in an attempt to criminalize Palestinian solidarity and anti-occupation activism, as well as the current ongoing campaign in some American states to criminalize the BDS movement. ISM activists have been secretly spied on and targeted by various intelligence services, including British, Israeli, and U.S.,  for over 19 years, merely for standing up for the rights of Palestinians.

We call on those who believe that Palestinians are entitled to the same rights as the rest of humanity to take action and raise awareness about local, state, and national attempts to criminalize nonviolent resistance such as BDS and Palestinian advocacy, and boycott those profiting off the Occupation of Palestine.

One of the many FBI surveillance reports on ISM.

According to the Intercept report, an FBI investigation was launched after an American volunteer with ISM was shot and wounded by Israeli forces at a protest in Occupied Palestine. Instead of investigating the foreign army that injured an American citizen exercising his First Amendment-protected right to peaceful protest, the FBI’s response was to probe the survivor. While the 2 primary investigations were launched by the Los Angeles and St. Louis FBI Field Offices, agents from at least 11 cities were involved in spying on various ISM activists and related organizations. Using far right and extremist news sources, the investigation attempted to link ISM to international terrorism.

After two years of investigation, multiple rights and privacy violations, hundreds of pages of reports and tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars wasted, the investigation only proved what we have always maintained: ISM is a non-violent movement committed to ending the Occupation of Palestine through non-violent means.

Notably, the investigation began in March 2004, shortly after the murder of American Rachel Corrie and Briton Tom Hurndall (2003) by the Israeli army. The probe coincided with an Israeli government campaign to de-legitimize ISM and discredit Palestinian rights activists. It also reflects the increase in recent years of FBI investigations into non-violent activist organizations such as Black Lives Matter and Antiwar.com. Today, lobby groups, politicians, and leaders in the United States continue to violate First Amendment-protected rights to free speech through criminalizing non-violent Palestinian activism, such as the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

“The fact that ISM was under this kind of extensive investigation is ridiculous and a complete waste of taxpayer money. ISM has always been open and transparent about who we are, what we do, and what we stand for, which is purportedly what this country stands for — freedom and human rights.” — ISM co-founder Huwaida Arraf

“In Dr. King’s time, surveillance was justified in terms of alleged Communist influence; in recent years, surveillance has been justified by alleged association with terrorists. In both cases, U.S. citizens were employing nonviolent action to confront injustice and oppression.” — ISM activist spied on by the FBI, Mark Chmiel