ADL condemns Harris campaign chief’s meeting with journalist who praised Hamas

Julie Chavez Rodriguez met with Osama Siblani, editor of Arab American News, who called Hamas and Hezbollah ‘freedom fighters’; no response yet to criticism, on eve of convention

Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab American News is photographed in his office in Dearborn, Michigan, April 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab American News is photographed in his office in Dearborn, Michigan, April 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

The Anti-Defamation League reiterated its condemnation on Sunday of an Arab American journalist who has repeatedly expressed support for Hamas, after US Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign manager met with him as part of efforts to court the Arab American vote in Michigan.

The controversy over the meeting came on the eve of Monday’s kick-off of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, a four-day media bonanza including major speeches by Harris and her running mate Tim Walz, as well as other party leaders.

“As we stated when the Biden Administration met with [Osama] Siblani in February, we believe he is simply the wrong choice to serve as an interlocutor for the local Arab American community,” an ADL spokesperson told The Times of Israel on Sunday.

“Any person who denies that Hamas is a terrorist organization should not be meeting with appointed and elected officials to discuss foreign policy,” the spokesperson continued.

Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab American News in Dearborn, met with Julie Chavez Rodriguez, the Democratic nominee’s campaign manager, on Thursday.

On October 10 last year, three days after Hamas’s mass terror onslaught in Israel, Siblani said: “We are not going to be intimidated [when] they say Hamas is a terrorist organization. In fact, it is not a terrorist organization! And we have to say to them, the terrorist is Benjamin Netanyahu and his government.”

Siblani’s comments, delivered to a packed auditorium in Dearborn, came shortly after Hamas launched its cross-border assault into Israel, sending some 3,000 terrorists into the country from the Gaza Strip, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, amid acts of brutality and sexual assault, starting the ongoing war.

In November, Siblani again refused to condemn Hamas, during an interview he shared on X. He has also called Hamas and Hezbollah “freedom fighters” and once told a crowd that, when invited to participate in a discussion with White House leaders, he was “not going to apologize for Hamas firing rockets at Israel.”

Chavez Rodriguez traveled to Michigan on Thursday to meet one-on-one with Arab American leaders and figures in the “uncommitted” movement urging Democrats not to support Harris unless she changes her policy to be more critical of Israel. One of her meetings was with Siblani.

“They are listening and we are talking,” Siblani said. “But none of us can garner votes in the community without public statements from Harris. She doesn’t need us; she can win over votes by saying and doing the right thing.”

According to Siblani, Chavez Rodriguez agreed that “the killing has to stop.” In response, Siblani said he pressed: “How? There is no plan.”

Siblani was present at several meetings with Biden administration officials earlier this year, including one meeting with Samantha Power, head of the US Agency for International Development and former US Ambassador to the United Nations, as well as Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer and other officials.

The Republican Jewish Coalition on Friday condemned Chavez Rodriguez’s meeting with Siblani, sharing an article about him on X and commenting: “The American Jewish community cannot trust Kamala Harris.”

The campaign has not responded to the criticism, which comes just before the party’s four-day convention in Chicago this week. Tens of thousands of protesters are expected to demonstrate against the convention, calling for an end to all US aid to Israel.

A man walks inside the United Center ahead of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, Illinois on August 17, 2024. (Charly TRIBALLEAU / AFP)

Of the thousands of delegates expected to gather at the convention, just 36 will belong to the “uncommitted” movement. But that small core has outsized influence, and top Democrats have spent weeks meeting with “uncommitted” voters and their allies.

Meanwhile, Harris’s Republican rival, former president Donald Trump, has seized on the discord caused by the Gaza war issue to assail the Democratic party as institutionally antisemitic, telling supporters at a rally on Saturday that there has “never been a more dangerous time since the Holocaust” to be Jewish in the US, just days after holding a dedicated event on fighting antisemitism.

Trump has also painted Harris as attempting to hold back Israel from a decisive victory in Gaza: “From the start, Harris has worked to tie Israel’s hand behind its back, demanding an immediate ceasefire, always demanding ceasefire,” Trump said, adding it “would only give Hamas time to regroup and launch a new October 7 style attack.”

Harris has said repeatedly that she supports an immediate hostage-ceasefire deal in Gaza, to secure the release of the 115 captives still held hostage by the terror group, in exchange for a cessation of fighting and the release of hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners. Negotiations between Israel and Hamas, mediated by the US, Egypt and Qatar, are ongoing.

Earlier this month, anti-Israel activists said Harris had expressed openness to discussing an arms embargo on Israel. Following the claim, Harris’s national security adviser Phil Gordon issued a definitive statement saying that the candidate opposes that policy.

“Vice President Harris has been clear: she will always ensure Israel is able to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups. She does not support an arms embargo on Israel. She will continue to work to protect civilians in Gaza and to uphold international humanitarian law,” Gordon said at the time.

AP contributed to this report.

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