Four leading universities are under fire from a pro-Israel legal group for promoting student internship opportunities at an activist organization linked to a designated Palestinian terrorist group.
The Lawfare Project sent letters to four U.S. schools this week asking them to remove Al Haq, a Palestinian activist group with ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, from their lists of recommended job and internship opportunities on their websites. The Lawfare Project, a pro-Israel legal group, also warned that the universities could be placing students in legal jeopardy by encouraging them to work for Al Haq.
The letters were sent to Georgetown Law, NYU Law School, Lewis & Clark Law School, and the University of Chicago.
“Given Al-Haq’s close association with the PFLP, these schools would be well-advised to counsel their students against involvement with the organization rather than effectively guiding its students toward Al-Haq by listing it as a viable ‘human rights’ opportunity,” said Brooke Goldstein, executive director of the Lawfare Project. “Would they similarly promote an organization directed by a known former operative of ISIS or al-Qaeda?”
Al Haq is run by Shawan Jabarin, who was convicted in Israel in 1985 of recruiting members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a U.S.-designated terrorist group. In 2007, Israel’s Supreme Court banned him from traveling outside of the country after determining that he was still a senior operative in the PFLP.
“This petitioner is apparently active as a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In part of his activities, he is the director of a human rights organization, and in another part he is an activist in a terrorist organization which does not shy away from acts of murder and attempted murder,” said the court.
Last year, Visa, Mastercard, and American Express stopped allowing online credit card donations to Al Haq and other terrorist-linked organizations.
The Lawfare Project, a pro-Israel legal advocacy group, warned that students could also face legal consequences for working with Al Haq.
“As you may be aware, persons who assist entities such as the PFLP — including by offering themselves as ‘personnel’ — risk conviction under U.S. federal law barring the provision of ‘material support or resources’ to foreign terrorist organizations. Violators of these laws face significant fines and up to 20 years in prison,” wrote the Lawfare Project.
“If U.S. graduate students join entities like Al-Haq that are so demonstrably bound up with FTOs, such violations and the respective (and severe) penalties are not unforeseeable.”
The schools did not respond to a request for comment about whether they plan to remove the group from their websites.
Georgetown Law lists Al Haq in its directory of “human rights organizations,” which it says are “provided as a resource for those thinking about summer or post-graduate employment in this area” on its website. An NYU School of Law human rights fellowship program includes Al Haq on its list of groups where students can be placed for internships.
The University of Chicago’s Pozen Family Center for Human Rights lists Al Haq as one of its host organizations for human rights internships. Lewis & Clark Law School includes Al Haq as a global law career opportunity for students.
