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During an event Tlaib attended, a speaker praised Hamas, the terrorist group that runs Gaza and murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages on Oct. 7, 2023, as a “resistance” against Israel.
By Jack Elbaum, The Algemeiner
US Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) wrote a letter on Sunday to Attorney General Pam Bondi requesting a federal investigation into the New Jersey-based Palestinian American Community Center (PACC) for potentially violating US anti-terrorism laws, citing the group’s sources of financial support and decision to recently host a member of an internationally designated terrorist organization.
PACC last week held its annual conference, titled “Grounded in Action: Exploring the Power of the Palestinian Diaspora,” which featured Wisam Rafeedie as a scheduled guest. Rafeedie, a self-admitted member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), reportedly addressed the conference virtually on the 4th day of the event.
In his letter, Gottheimer lambasted PACC for hosting Rafeedie, citing his “long history of supporting terrorism and engaging in antisemitic rhetoric.” The lawmaker also repudiated Rafeedie for defending the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, alleging that he “downplayed several documented atrocities” by dismissing the Israeli narrative as a “lie.”
Gottheimer slammed PACC for its attempt to “obfuscate Rafeedie’s participation in the conference” by scrubbing its website of “promotional images” featuring the PFLP member. The lawmaker also accused PACC of receiving financial assistance from American Muslims for Palestine, an organization currently embroiled in a federal investigation for potentially participating in illegal activity such as “benefiting or providing support to terrorist organizations.”
“I respectfully request that the US Department of Justice’s District of New Jersey investigate PACC for possible violations of United States law, including but not limited to violations or conspiracy to violate, Section 2339B of the Anti-Terrorism Act,” wrote Gottheimer, a member of the US House Intelligence Committee. “Section 2339B of the Anti-Terrorism Act criminalizes not only the provision of material support to terrorist organizations but also attempts or conspiracies to do so.”
Earlier this month, The Algemeiner reported that US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) agreed to headline the event’s “Youth Day,” in which she hosted a reading and signing for her new children’s book, Mama in Congress, alongside her son Adam Tlaib.
Tlaib, one of the most vocal critics of Israel in Congress, came under criticism last May for attending “The People’s Conference for Palestine,” an event which also hosted Rafeedie among other individuals connected to terrorist groups.
During that event, Rafeedie praised Hamas, the terrorist group that runs Gaza and murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages on Oct. 7, 2023, as a “resistance” against Israel. He defended and downplayed Hamas’s atrocities, saying that “Zionists lie like they breathe.”
“This is not a struggle between Hamas and Israel. Hamas is part of the resistance of the Palestinian people. The core issue is between the Palestinian people and the project of settler colonialism and ethnic cleansing,” Rafeedie said.
Rafeedie also called for the complete destruction of Israel and the replacement of the Jewish state with a “democratic” Palestine.
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