Anti-Israel charity investigated in Virginia for possibly violating state law

A pro-Palestinian charity that has shared ties with the terrorist group Hamas is facing an investigation in Virginia into whether it skirted state law.

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares announced Tuesday his office “has reason to believe” American Muslims for Palestine is unlawfully soliciting contributions in the state, despite the nonprofit group not being registered with the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The attorney general’s office is also investigating allegations from a lawsuit that American Muslims for Palestine “may have used funds raised for impermissible purposes,” including “benefiting or providing support to terrorist organizations,” according to a press release.

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“My office has launched an investigation into the nonprofit American Muslims for Palestine for fundraising without proper registration and for potentially violating Virginia’s charitable solicitation laws, including benefitting or providing support to terrorist organizations,” Miyares posted on social media Tuesday.

American Muslims for Palestine, also known as AJP Educational Foundation Inc., is headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, according to tax forms. On Oct. 7, the day Hamas launched its deadly attack against Israel, the organization put out a statement blaming the Jewish state for being “the root cause of violence and unrest” in the Middle East. The statement did not specifically say “Hamas” or “terrorism.”

Over 1,400 people in Israel have been killed since the conflict broke out.

In 2004, the family of 17-year-old David Boim, who was killed in a 1996 West Bank attack, was awarded $52 million from the Islamic Association for Palestine and Holy Land Foundation, two organizations that have since gone defunct, over the groups allegedly “providing material support to Hamas,” court records show. The Boim family, however, says the dissolved groups effectively moved leadership and operations to American Muslims for Palestine — formed in 2006.

Now, the Boims are alleging in a lawsuit against American Muslims for Palestine that it is an alter ego for the Islamic Association for Palestine and Holy Land Foundation, according to court records.

American Muslims for Palestine Executive Director Osama Abuirshaid has notably expressed sympathy on social media for Hamas, stating in 2015, “Today, Hamas celebrates the 27th anniversary of its founding, looking to the future and promising liberation,” according to an Arabic translation.

Abuirshaid participated in a conference in 2021 that featured convicted Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine airplane hijacker Leila Khaled, Hamas co-founder Sami Khater, and Hamas senior official Mohammad Nazzal, according to the Israeli watchdog NGO Monitor.

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Its board has also long included Salah Sarsour, who did jail time for helping to fundraise for Hamas in the late 1990s, according to an FBI memo. In prison, Sarsour became friends with Hamas leader Adel Awadallah, the memo said.

The Washington Examiner contacted American Muslims for Palestine for comment.