In Webinar Of Muslim Legal Fund Of America – Whose Chairman Is American Muslims For Palestine (AMP) Head Hatem Bazian – Attorneys Recommend 'Donating Internationally' To Bypass 'Smear Campaigns', 'Cri

Memri

05-06-2025

During a February 20, 2025, Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA) webinar on HR 9495 and its impact on Muslim American nonprofit organizations, Diala Shamas, senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), said there have been "smear campaigns" accusing student organizations on U.S. campuses of being part of the "international propaganda arm" of Hamas. As a result, these student groups and their supporters risk being accused of providing material support for terrorism. Shamas called this theory "bananas." She expressed concern that under a Trump Department of Justice, there could be expanded criminal charges against pro-Palestinian groups, especially Muslim organizations, such as the Holy Land Foundation. She also discussed the designation of Samidoun as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) organization, and spoke about the legal risks nonprofits face depending on their focus. One example she gave was UNRWA USA, a CCR client that fundraises in the U.S. for UNRWA.
Antonio Glenn, a Muslim attorney based in Texas, stated that many of the nonprofit organizations he works with are facing a "major concern" over accusations that they are providing material support to foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs). He differentiated between groups that focus on local American causes and those that fund overseas operations, noting that there is no FTO counterpart for those accused of supporting domestic terrorism. He said that there is a concerted effort to try and find "remedies and pathways through other nonprofit organizations that have encountered this situation, especially for foreign terrorist… or donating internationally, I should say," to continue supporting Muslim communities internationally.
The Muslim Legal Fund of America (MFLA) is headed by Hatem Bazian, who is also Chair of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), co-founder of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), and a professor at UC Berkeley (see MEMRI TV clips nos. 12040, 12014, 11822, 11947). MFLA represented the Holy Land Foundation, which has been investigated for funneling funds to Hamas, and five of its members served prison sentences for their terror-linked activity. It also represented Al-Qaeda operative Aafia Siddiqui. MFLA has been praised by Rep. Ilhan Omar, Imam Yasir Qadhi, chairman of the Fiqh Council of North America, anti-Israel activist Linda Sarsour.
Diala Shamas: "There has [been] some smear campaigns that all put out this narrative that campus organizing is part of Hamas's propaganda arm, so student organizations, student activists, are actually part of this Hamas international propaganda arm, and therefore, these student groups and those who support them in the U.S. are liable for material support for terrorism. So it's again, a bananas – to use non-legal terminology – theory, it's meritless, to use more legal terminology.
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"We've seen it being used in the past, particularly against Muslim organizations, criminal cases have been brought against the Holy Land [Foundation] Five, and other people who are still serving sentences. What I am worried [about] is that under a Trump DOJ we'll see an expansion of that. It hasn't yet happened. The Biden administration has designated Specially Designated Global Terrorist, under the provisions that we heard about earlier, a Palestinian advocacy organization called Samidoun, has been designated this, so that might be an indicator of a place where we might see efforts expand. What happens is that you first designate groups, and then there are 501C3 implications, but there are also possible criminal implications.
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"The risk profile looks really different from organization to organization. Your risk profile if you are sending money to Gaza looks very different from your risk profile if you are organizing on campuses it is very different from if you are a think-tank doing policy briefings, doing policy.
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"UNRWA USA, our client, is a donor to UNRWA. They're basically fundraising in the U.S., they have donors to UNRWA USA, then [the money] goes... Resources then go to UNRWA. So they certainly are trying to go after what they talk about as the money flow."
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Antonio Glenn: "In some of our nonprofits that we are speaking of now there is a major concern [over accusations] of material support for foreign terrorist organizations [FTO]. Black Lives Matter didn't get so implicated in that because there were no foreign overseas operations going on. So that was a huge distinction here. For the most part, what we learn in those cases, if your sources and advocacy are somewhat focused more locally, nationally, you may not be implicated as much or caught up, so to speak, in these situations.
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"There is no really counterpart for domestic terrorism support as it is for this FTO, and bringing them material support.
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"I think [we need] a little more research on how to do that. I think that is what we are doing now, trying to find the remedies and pathways through other nonprofit organizations that have encountered this situation, especially for foreign terrorist... or donating internationally, I should say, on that part. That we can continue moving forward in donating overseas and helping overseas brothers and sisters with funding without [suffering] these repercussions."