Hamas member Majed al-Zeer said ‘the resistance’ is key to changing how the Western world views Israel
(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Khalid Turaani, co-chair of the Abandon Biden campaign in Michigan, speaks at the Islamic Center of Detroit in Detroit, Friday, Jan. 26, 2024.
Add JewishInsider on GoogleThe executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Ohio branch moderated an online event last week featuring a Hamas official designated as a terrorist by the Treasury Department, as well as other Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad members.
The Beirut-based think tank Al-Zaytouna Centre for Studies and Consultations hosted an event in Arabic last week titled “Palestinians Abroad and Regional International Strategic Transformations in Light of Operation Al-Aksa Flood,” using Hamas’ name for its Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on southern Israel.
Among the speakers at the web conference was Majed al-Zeer, who was designated by the Treasury Department in October 2024 as “the senior Hamas representative in Germany, who is also one of the senior Hamas members in Europe and has played a central role in the terrorist group’s European fundraising.”
Al-Zeer said that “the resistance” is key to maintaining the momentum of a “strategic shift” in how Europe and the world views the Palestinian issue.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad financier Sami al-Arian, a former University of South Florida computer science professor who was deported from the U.S. in 2015 due to his ties to the terrorist group, said on the same panel as Al-Zeer that “the overall Palestinian situation is much better strategically than it was before the flood [Oct. 7].”
CAIR-Ohio Director Khalid Turaani moderated one panel with commentary provided by Ziad el-Aloul, who is active in several Hamas-affiliated organizations in Europe, including the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad, which was designated a terrorist group by Israel in 2021 for its work on behalf of Hamas. More recently, PCPA was found to be involved in facilitating the Global Sumud Flotilla that attempted to sail to Gaza with climate activist Greta Thunberg on board.
Another speaker in the Turaani-led panel expressed hope that the Turkish army would deploy in Gaza and fight the IDF.
The CAIR-Ohio director’s participation in a conference with senior Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad figures came two months after Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) called for an IRS investigation into the organization and the revocation of its 501(c)(3) nonprofit status, citing alleged “ties to terrorist organizations like Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.”
CAIR did not respond to a request for comment.