Samar Ali: Her Father’s Organization Wants to Destroy Israel :By David James
http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/david-james/samar-ali-her-fathers-organization-wants-to-destroy-israel/print/
Dr. Subhi Ali, Chairman of the Jerusalem Fund, is the father of Haslam appointee Samar Ali. Dr. Ali’s organization advocates BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) against Israel as a way to end Israel as a Jewish state; to destroy it by any means possible.
Hisham Sharabi, who founded the the Jerusalem Fund (JF) in 1990, along with its programmatic arms including the Palestine Center (previously named the Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine), endorsed the anti-Israel rhetoric and actions of pro-Palestinian groups like Hamas.
As detailed in Newsletter #39, Dr. Ali joined the JF in 2000, became Vice-Chair in 2004 alongside founder Sharabi and has served as Chairman since 2005.
The Hamas Charter is posted on the JF website, along with position papers and information briefs suggesting that there are positive aspects to Hamas. Is this JF’s effort to help legitimize Hamas regardless of its terrorist designation? Or is it because JF’s founder Sharabi supported Hamas’ strikes against Israel?
The terrorism financing prosecution referred to as “The Holy Foundation” (HLF) involved the largest pro-Palestinian Islamic charity in the U.S. It was designated as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” and shut down by the U.S. government. Its leadership was convicted for raising money for the designated terrorist group, Hamas. Just like the Jerusalem Fund, HLF’s mission was to provide humanitarian assistance to needy Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza. But HLF was proven to be a funding source for Hamas whose avowed purpose is to destroy Israel. The Hamas charter advocates violent jihad as the only solution. The charter identifies Hamas as Muslim Brotherhood.
A 1979 report “Anti-Israel Influences in American Churches” referred to “Dr. Hisham Sharabi, president of the National Association of Arab Americans, who has been publicly criticized by moderate Arab-American leaders for his defense of Palestinian terrorist tactics.” A former student also noted Sharabi’s support of “radical Palestinian terror groups.”
Sharabi described Hamas as “the true fida’i (self-sacrifice) resistance in Palestine since the outbreak of the Palestinian intifada.” In 2003 he said:
“In the face of relentless Israeli force, the only weapon the helpless and desperate have is to fling their bodies against the beast. Suicide bombings are no longer the lone act of desperate fanatics, but have become a conscious weapon of resistance and war. The culture of death and self-sacrifice is spreading in many Arab and Muslim countries.”
Of course when you consider Sharabi’s affiliation with WISE and Sami al-Arian of Palestinian Islamic Jihad notoriety, it all makes more sense.
The Jerusalem Fund and BDS
Keeping with its anti-Israel campaign,Yousef Munayyer in his position as Director of the Jerusalem Fund, openly supports and advocates for BDS against the State of Israel.
In a January 2013 “Palestine Note” video interview, JF’s Munayyer discusses his support for BDS. While he is disappointed that BDS has not yet been adopted by world governments, being blocked for now by the U.S. at the UN Security Council, Munayyer resigns himself to accepting BDS initiatives from non-state actors. As he says, “while BDS is not the most efficient way, BDS is the only option people have left.”
Sounds eerily similar to the justification given for why Palestinian suicide bombers blow themselves up in civilian settings like the Sbarro pizza restaurant and why the terrorists are subsequently glorified by their media.
Why does the leadership of the Jerusalem Fund promote BDS? Because the end goal of the BDS movement is to end Israel as a Jewish state. And destroying Israel means destroying Jews. Same objective as the “radical Palestinian terror groups” Sharabi is reported to have supported. Just a different means.
Law school professor William Jacobson explains, “BDS should being seen for the anti-Semitic movement it is, a movement that demonizes only the Jewish State, holds only the Jewish State to the highest standards no one else meets (certainly not in the Middle East), and seeks the destruction only of the sole Jewish State in a sea of Islamic States.”
Former Jerusalem Fund Palestine Fellow, and Electronic Intifada co-founder Ali Abuminah is a virulently hateful anti-Israel voice on the internet and on the speaking circuit, including college campuses. Abuminah served as Vice-President on the board of the Arab American Action Network, a controversial anti-Israel organization founded by Rashid Khalidi and his wife who coincidentally are friendly with the Obamas.
Sharabi, Ali, Munayyer, Abuminah and their fellow Israel haters well understood that the Palestinian suicide bombers of the second intifada in 2000 laid the foundation for the BDS assault on Israel’s legitimacy and right to exist.
There is also the matter of Subhi Ali’s financial support for anti-Israel politicians like U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney. Is that why he also donated to Tennessee Senator Mark Norris?
When news first broke and questions were raised about Samar Ali’s hiring, ECD Commissioner Bill Hagerty told the June session of First Tuesday that Subhi Ali called him and asked him to look at Samar’s resume, which includes work done on behalf of the Jerusalem Fund. Sounds like Haggerty knows Subhi Ali and his family pretty well. Makes you wonder whether Haggerty agrees with their politics?
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Subhi Ali has chosen to align himself with and lead an organization that has committed itself to a course of action which at its core, is intended to destroy the State of Israel.
Politics may make strange bedfellows, but you always have a choice about who you wake up to in the morning.
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