LOS ANGELES (Press Release) — StandWithUs strongly condemns the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) for its ties to recognized terrorist groups. As reported in Tablet Magazine, USCPR is providing fiscal sponsorship to a coalition that includes Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). This is yet another example of how USCPR and the larger Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) Movement harm both Israelis and Palestinians.“USCPR has always deceptively marketed itself as a human rights group, while relentlessly promoting campaigns of hate across the United States,” said Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWithUs. “Lawmakers, community leaders, and the general public need to be aware of how toxic this organization truly is.”
USCPR helps facilitate tax-exempt donations from the United States to the Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC), which coordinates the BDS Movement globally. One of the leading groups in the BNC is the Council of National and Islamic Forces in Palestine (PNIF) – a coalition that features the aforementioned terrorist organizations. In fact, the coordinator of the PNIF is Khaled al-Batsh, a senior official in Islamic Jihad. Mahmoud Nawajaa, the General Coordinator of the BNC, has also expressed public support for the armed wing of Hamas.
“USCPR’s members and partners in the United States also have a disturbing history of promoting hate and supporting racist terrorist groups,” said Max Samarov, Executive Director of Research & Campus Strategy at StandWithUs. “This includes not only anti-Semitism, but also homophobia, genocide denial, and 9/11 conspiracy theories.”
One of USCPR’s most prominent members is American Muslims for Palestine (AMP). AMP, a group with its own ties to Hamas, has denied the Armenian Genocide, hosted speakers who deny the Darfur Genocide, and spread homophobia. Another member group, Al-Awda, traffics in racism and has celebrated the murder of innocent civilians. USCPR itself, along with key partners like AMP, Students for Justice in Palestine, and Jewish Voice for Peace, ran a campaign glorifying Rasmea Odeh, a convicted terrorist who helped murder two American civilians in Israel.
As USCPR continues to promote its anti-peace agenda at the local, state, and federal levels, StandWithUs will do everything possible to ensure that elected officials and others know what this coalition of hate groups really stands for.
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Preceding provided by StandWithUs