Democratic Senate candidate Abdul el Sayed of Michigan is endorsed by a pro-Palestinian group with members tied to terrorist fundraising networks.

Americans for Justice in Palestine Action endorsed the self-described Muslim candidate ahead of his Aug. 4 primary win and features him on its website saying he is “deeply grateful” for the support. AJP Action is the lobbying arm of American Muslims for Palestine, a group facing a lawsuit over leaders’ past work supporting the Hamas-linked Holy Land Foundation, Islamic Association of Palestine, and KindHearts. Those U.S. charities shut down in the 2000s in light of evidence that they funded terrorism — but familiar faces from their network continue popping up in U.S. politics.

Jordanian-born activist Osama Abuirshaid got involved with the Islamic Association of Palestine in the 1990s and later joined its board, while California academic Hatem Bazian fundraised for KindHearts in 2004 alongside a leader for the group who was later convicted of financing Hamas through the Holy Land Foundation, records show. Legally untouched by the Bush-era crackdown, Abuirshaid and Bazian went on to create American Muslims for Palestine in 2006 and have been AJP Action senior executives since its 2021 founding.

AJP Action’s connection to el Sayed illustrates how a jihadi group’s support system quietly survived prosecutions, sanctions, and court orders to continue influencing American thought, said Lara Burns, a retired FBI agent who helped convict the Holy Land Foundation’s leadership.

“Research of open source materials increasingly supports the connection between the AMP and its action arm, AJP Action, to the original US-based Hamas infrastructure whose goal was to disseminate radical pro-Hamas rhetoric into American society and infiltrate American politics,” she told the Washington Examiner in an email. “The fact that the AMP holds 501(c)3 tax exempt status and has developed a seemingly successful 501(c)4 action arm is very concerning.”

“Given the information available linking key actors within the organization to elements of the original US-based Hamas infrastructure, I would encourage anyone taking their endorsement to educate themselves on the truth,” Burns added.

El Sayed’s campaign and AJP Action did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the Washington Examiner. American Muslims for Palestine formed AJP Action to “engage in unlimited amounts of lobbying and endorse candidates who support Palestinian rights,” according to the offshoot group’s website.

“I have always believed in equal rights to peace, dignity, freedom, and self-determination for all people; yet, for too long our country has aided, armed, and abetted those who have consistently denied those rights to Palestinians,” el Sayed said when accepting AJP Action’s endorsement. “In the Senate, I will fight to end unconditional military aid and deny arms sales to any country that violates humanitarian law, no matter who they are. I am deeply grateful to receive the endorsement of Americans for Justice in Palestine Action.”

El Sayed’s father-in-law also holds senior roles in the Islamic Society of North America and the Council on American-Islamic Relations despite the DOJ naming them as possible unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land Foundation case, the Washington Examiner previously reported.

Terrorism on trial

The 2008 Holy Land Foundation trial revealed evidence, including recorded conversations, of activists colluding with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood to use the foundation and numerous other U.S. groups as fronts for their ideological agenda. One of the starkest connections between Hamas’s old network and American Muslims for Palestine is Abuirshaid, its executive director.

The Obama administration denied Abuirshaid’s application for naturalized citizenship in 2015 for failing to disclose his prior affinity with the Islamic Association of Palestine and the United Association for Studies and Research, another unindicted group prosecutors linked to Hamas’s plans. Hamas’s official Al Qassam Brigades website also features a 2014 article by Abuirshaid praising the group. American Muslims for Palestine has still repeatedly denied supporting terrorism.

KindHearts listed the Islamic Association of Palestine as its “fundraiser organizer” in a 2003 tax filing. A Hamas leader had previously called KindHearts via phone to thank the group for its support, among other connections, the Treasury Department said in 2006. KindHearts reached a settlement with the government in 2012 that found it violated its constitutional rights by freezing the charity’s assets in 2006, though the ruling did not evaluate whether KindHearts broke federal law.

A federal court found the Islamic Association of Palestine liable in 2004 for Hamas’s killing of 17-year-old American David Boim. In another lawsuit in Illinois, Boim’s family claimed American Muslims for Palestine personnel are equally responsible for his death by materially supporting Hamas.

“AMP/AJP is nothing more than a disguised continuance of [Islamic Association of Palestine] — stripped of the burden of the Boim Judgment and the ignominy of having been found liable for aiding and abetting the murder of an American teenager,” the family alleged in a 2019 filing.

Bazian, an AJP Action senior member, spoke at “numerous” KindHearts and Islamic Association of Palestine events, attorneys claimed. They also alleged a “close personal relationship” between Bazian and Rafeeq Jaber, the association’s former president.

Jaber has donated to American Muslims for Palestine and helped an affiliated foundation prepare its taxes, according to a judge’s 2017 opinion that initially blocked the lawsuit. The case now has a jury trial date in February.

Lawyers for American Muslims for Palestine have called the Boim case “baseless,” and they won dismissals this year of lawsuits targeting the group’s advocacy in other states. Attorneys at the Muslim Legal Fund of America will “make sure the Boims need to prove each and every allegation they make against this Muslim nonprofit,” the legal group previously said.

‘These organizations operate with apparent legitimacy’

Legal scrutiny toward American Muslims for Palestine’s leaders does not stop with the Boim family.

In September, a Virginia court held the group in contempt for refusing to disclose internal records in an investigation by former Republican Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, who alleged possible Hamas ties. Miyares’s Democratic successor, Jay Jones, said in May that the activists had complied after efforts to narrow the requests.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement also arrested American Muslims for Palestine board member Salah Sarsour for potential deportation in March over allegations he concealed overseas criminal convictions before applying for a green card, according to news reports and the group’s statements. Sarsour’s brother told Israeli interrogators in 1998 that Sarsour supported Hamas through his work for the Holy Land Foundation, an FBI memo says. Sarsour’s legal team claims Israel coerced confessions in the case and that the U.S. should not take the convictions seriously.

DSA CANDIDATE INTERNED AT HAMAS ‘GREENHOUSE’ SCHOOL INFAMOUS FOR TERRORIST RECRUITMENT

The Trump administration should investigate groups such as the American Muslims for Palestine and AJP Action before allowing them to support political candidates, Burns told the Washington Examiner.

“Awareness really needs to begin with government action as these organizations operate with apparent legitimacy as 501(c)3 and 501(c)4s,” the retired agent said in an email. “Investigations into whether they are in violation of the rules and regulations governing their tax-exempt status are appropriate based on the volume of evidence available, and those investigations should be aggressively pursued. If warranted their status should be revoked.

“Political parties can and should disagree, have different platforms, different goals and different ideals, but when groups with pro-terror agendas covertly enter politics under the auspice of legitimacy, it opens the door for the normalization of terrorism, extremism and violence in our society,” Burns continued. “Ultimately, this is detrimental to the democratic process as a whole.”