EXCLUSIVE — A legal think tank is urging the Justice Department to investigate groups it says act as “proxies” for a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, according to a letter obtained by the Washington Examiner.
Zachor Legal Institute, which focuses on antisemitism and discrimination, joined several organizations in 2018 to demand the Trump administration consider investigating groups linked to foreign terror groups, including Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Now, as attacks on Jewish people escalate in the United States and abroad, the DOJ should look into whether seven groups acting as arms for the PFLP are violating federal law, said Zachor in its Oct. 25 letter.
In 2021, antisemitic incidents hit a record high, according to Anti-Defamation League data. There were 2,717 incidents, which was a 34% spike compared to 2020, including assault, harassment, and vandalism.
The seven groups Zachor lists in its letter as “proxies” for the PFLP, a Marxist-Leninist group, are all designated by Israel as terrorist organizations and operate internationally. This includes the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees, Addameer, the Bisan Center for Research and Development, Al-Haq, Defense for Children International — Palestine, and the Union of Agricultural Work Committees.
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All seven have also aligned with Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions — a movement that labels Israel an “apartheid state” and has been criticized as antisemitic.
The letter sent by Zachor to the DOJ comes roughly one year after Shin Bet, Israel’s FBI equivalent, issued a report on how the seven “proxies” financially coordinate with the PFLP and engage in money laundering and wire fraud. Many of the employees working for the “proxies” double dip for the PFLP or are PFLP activists, according to the report.
In August 2022, Israel’s government raided the offices of several of the alleged terror-linked groups as part of its investigations into their activities.
“We have again asked the Department of Justice to investigate designated foreign terror organizations that are raising funds and other means of support through front groups in the United States and overseas,” Marc Greendorfer, an attorney who founded Zachor, told the Washington Examiner. “For the security of the United States and the protection of those who choose to donate to humanitarian causes, it’s critical that the DOJ investigate the seven PFLP front organizations identified in our letter.”
Specifically, Zachor says the PFLP “proxies” are operating in the U.S. “with impunity” and that they participate in college campus events, as well as organize protests that have “descended into violence.” Activists for Samidoun, which calls for the release of Palestinian prisoners who often have ties to the PFLP, attacked American Jews in May 2021 outside the Israeli Consulate in New York, said Zachor in its letter.
Samidoun’s leaders were banned by the Netherlands in October from entering the European Union. The group’s leaders, including Khaled Barakat, Mohammed Khatib, and Mustafa Awad, double dip as PFLP officials, according to Zachor.
“While some foreign governments and others have decried the designation of the Seven PFLP Proxies as terror organizations, and further objected to Israel’s raids, a review of the information presented herein demonstrates that notwithstanding the claims of being humanitarian civil society organizations, the Seven PFLP Proxies operate to advance the goals of, and are controlled by, the PFLP,” said Zachor in its letter.
Addameer, which Zachor says “functions as the legal advocacy arm of the PFLP,” provides free legal aid to Palestinian prisoners and “works to end torture and other violations of prisoners’ rights through monitoring, legal procedures and solidarity campaigns,” according to its website.
Addameer’s current and former staff, including Khalida Jarrar and Abdul-Latif Ghaith, have been alleged to be PFLP members, according to NGO Monitor.
Al-Haq, another group Zachor lists in its letter, also has leaders with ties to the PFLP. The group operates in Palestine and claims to document “violations” against “Palestinians,” as well as advocate Israel to be held “accountable.”
Shawan Jabarin, Al-Haq’s general director, was identified in 2008 by the Israeli Supreme Court as “among the senior activists of the Popular Front terrorist organization.” In 1985, he was convicted in Israel for training and recruiting PFLP members.
Jabarin used to be a board member for Defense for Children International — Palestine, which Zachor says “has extensive interlocks with the PFLP’s leadership and operational command.”
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Zachor is asking the DOJ to hold the alleged proxy groups “accountable for their promotion and support of terrorism.”
“Further investigation by the DOJ is needed to examine the activities of these terror affiliates in the United States,” the group wrote in its letter.
The DOJ did not respond to a request for comment.
