Meet Emgage, the pro-Israel Muslims backing Joe Biden
Ali Abunimah The Electronic Intifada 9 September 2020
Man speaks to camera
Farooq Mitha is Muslim engagement adviser for Joe Biden, a reprise of the
role he played in Hillary Clintons disastrous 2016 campaign. (YouTube)
As election day looms in the United States, one organization has jostled
aggressively to become the go-to address for Democratic politicians courting
American Muslim votes.
Emgage has enjoyed a rapid rise. But there has been little attention given
to the groups troubling ties to Israel and its lobby including trips to
Israel paid for by an organization with close ties to the Israeli army.
Emgage is not shy that it wants to be the main civic organization for
Muslim American communities.
And the group, whose political action committee endorsed Joe Biden in April,
scored a coup when the Democratic presidential nominee spoke to an online
summit it organized this summer.
In July, The Washington Post described Emgage as the largest Muslim
American PAC political action committee though it is unclear what that
is based on.
The same article quoted a certain Farooq Mitha lauding Emgage on behalf of
the Democratic nominee.
Joe Biden is proud to stand with Emgage during one of the most challenging
moments for Muslim Americans in recent history under Donald Trumps
presidency, Mitha told the newspaper.
Based at a Florida motel
The Post identified Mitha only as Bidens senior adviser on Muslim American
engagement.
There was a glaring omission: Farooq Mitha is an Emgage board member. His
father, Amin Mitha, also a board member, is Emgages registered agent in
Florida, where the organization is headquartered.
Emgages official address is a Travelodge motel in Lakeland, Florida, owned
by the Mitha family.
For Farooq to be boosting his own organization, run from his familys
business, on behalf of the Biden campaign, is a startling conflict of
interest.
In a brief phone call on Tuesday, Mitha told The Electronic Intifada that he
had stepped away from Emgage formally, but would not elaborate.
Mitha also did not respond to a question about previous attendance at
conferences of AIPAC.
According to a past Emgage employee who spoke to The Electronic Intifada,
Mitha told staffers he had attended the Israel lobby groups conference and
joined it as a member, justifying this as a way to learn about the
organization. The former employee requested anonymity for fear of reprisals
for speaking out.
Mitha said any comments to the media had to be cleared through the Biden
campaign, however he did not respond to follow-up questions sent to the
email address he provided.
The Mithas have promoted themselves as a plucky American success story,
running small hotels across central Florida.
Amin was born into the Ismaili Indian community of British-ruled Tanganyika.
He left in 1970, a few years after the countrys independence as Tanzania,
because the new socialist government made it difficult for Mitha to start
his own business, as a 2005 profile stated.
Farooq worked at the Pentagon during the Obama administration and took part
in efforts to normalize ties between Israel and Arab countries under the
banner of Track II diplomacy.
He also served as Muslim outreach director for Hillary Clintons
disastrous 2016 campaign.
Fundraiser for pro-Israel Republican
Emgage may be a convenient vehicle to parlay business success into political
influence and appointments. Yet despite its sudden elevation by association
with the Biden campaign, Emgage is not a new organization.
It was founded in 2006 as the Center for Voter Advocacy.
Under that name, it sponsored a 2010 fundraiser at the Ritz-Carlton in Key
Biscayne for Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Miami Republican who had one of the
most hardline pro-Israel records in Congress. A blast email promoting the
fundraiser sent by Farooq Mitha listed Khurrum Wahid, now Emgages board
co-chair, as contact person.
The group changed its official address to that of the Mitha-owned motel in
2011.
The Center for Voter Advocacy then changed its name to Emerge USA in 2013.
It became Emgage in 2017.
Until at least 30 August, Emgage listed its 10 board members all men on
its website. That page was removed shortly after that date without
explanation.
Cozy with Israel lobby
Now, Emgage is organizing what it calls the Million Muslim Votes campaign,
though there is little indication it has the infrastructure to pull off such
a massive national voter registration and mobilization effort.
In 2019, Emgage did receive a significant injection of funds from the Open
Society Policy Center, one of the funding arms of billionaire George Soros:
$75,000 to advocate against Trumps Muslim ban and $1 million for
organizational support.
Emgage did not respond to an inquiry about how many voters it has
registered.
The effort is nonetheless backed by well-known national Muslim organizations
such as CAIR, MPAC and MPower Change the latter led by Palestinian
American activist and lightning rod Linda Sarsour.
Whether they were aware of it or not, these groups have decided to partner
with Emgage despite its coziness with the Israel lobby.
Emgages CEO Wael Alzayat worked at the State Department for more than 10
years. He did a stint at the American embassy in US-occupied Iraq.
Alzayat was also a senior adviser to Samantha Power, President Barack
Obamas UN ambassador and a leading proponent of regime-change wars under
the banner of humanitarian intervention.
Alzayat has also been marketed as an expert by the Washington Institute
for Near East Policy, a cut out of the Israel lobby group AIPAC.
He has spoken in at least one Washington Institute event.
Alzayat did not respond to The Electronic Intifadas request for comment.
Junkets to Israel funded by Islamophobes
At least four Emgage personnel including two board members are alums of
the Muslim Leadership Initiative.
MLI is a faithwashing propaganda effort run by the Shalom Hartman Institute,
an Israeli think tank that works closely with the Israeli military.
The Shalom Hartman Institute and specifically MLI are funded by the Russell
Berrie Foundation, one of the major financiers of extreme Islamophobic
groups in the United States.
Two men appear on a video call
Emgage co-chair Khurrum Wahid introduces Democratic nominee Joe Biden at an
online summit in July. Wahid, and other Emgage personnel are alums of the
Muslim Leadership Initiative, a project of an Israeli Zionist organization.
(via YouTube)
Emgage national board co-chair Khurrum Wahid was an early MLI participant.
Wahid was present during an altercation at Jerusalems al-Aqsa mosque when a
fellow delegation member allegedly assaulted a Jerusalem resident who
challenged them over their involvement in the Israeli-organized junket.
Wahids Emgage co-chair AJ Durrani took part in a later cohort, according to
an MLI program document seen by The Electronic Intifada. Farrukh Shamsi, a
board member with Emgages Texas chapter, went on the same MLI trip as
Durrani, according to the document.
Durrani did not respond to a request for comment from The Electronic
Intifada.
And as recently as 2018, Nabila Mansoor, Emgages Texas executive director,
was promoted as a Muslim Leadership Initiative Fellow at the Shalom Hartman
Institute.
Faithwashing Israels crimes
Journalist Sana Saeed has defined faithwashing as a propaganda strategy
aimed at changing the cause of the ongoing Israeli occupation and ethnic
cleansing in Palestine from a Euro-American settler-colonialist project
that brought anti-Semitism to the Muslim world to a nonexistent centuries
long enmity between Jews and Muslims.
In the name of healing this supposed religious enmity, faithwashing
initiatives like MLI aim to co-opt and silence potential critics of Israel
under the cover of Muslim-Jewish interfaith dialogue.
This false narrative has also been used to justify the recent normalization
between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, under the banner of the
so-called Abraham Accord.
One of MLIs clear goals is to cultivate a North American Muslim
leadership that is if not openly Israel-friendly, then at least will
remain quiet about Israels crimes.
MLI is managed by Turkish-born Duke University professor Abdullah Antepli
and Brooklyn-born Israeli author Yossi Klein Halevi, a former adherent of
Meir Kahane.
Kahane was the founder of the violent racist Israeli party Kach, which is
designated by the US State Department as a foreign terrorist organization.
While Klein Halevi has softened his image in recent years, his
anti-Palestinian extremism is intact.
In 2016, Klein Halevi published A Salute to the Soul of the IDF a loving
tribute to the Israeli occupation army that killed more than 550 Palestinian
children during its 2014 attack on Gaza, an average of 11 every day.
The Hartman institutes close ties to the Israeli military include directly
employing senior officers to run a training program for soldiers with the
goal of strengthening the ethos and operations of the IDF.
Hartman says its recent activities include partnering with AIPAC and
sponsoring a Silicon Valley conference titled Zionism 3.0.
There was strong community pushback against MLI five years ago, after Sana
Saeed and The Electronic Intifada widely exposed its ties to the
Islamophobia industry and the Israeli military.
Hatem Bazian, co-founder of American Muslims for Palestine, called on Muslim
leaders to shun initiatives like MLI lest they become tools of Israels
propaganda.
Palestinians and hundreds of Muslim community organizations and individuals
urged a boycott of the Muslim Leadership Initiative.
Alliances with Zionists
The Electronic Intifada has not seen evidence that Emgage CEO Wael Alzayat
has traveled on an MLI junket.
But in December 2019, Alzayat joined MLI alum Wajahat Ali at the founding
event of the Inter Jewish Muslim Alliance, a faithwashing project backed by
the German government.
This alliance is actually run by the African Middle Eastern Leadership
Project (AMEL), a Washington shop whose mission is to mobilize, empower and
unite millennial leaders and activists from the Middle East and Africa.
AMELs supporters and partners include Bluelight Strategies, a public
relations firm founded specifically to market Israel to skeptical Democratic
and progressive constituencies.
Bluelights clients include the Israel on Campus Coalition, the Israel
Action Network and the American Jewish Committee all deeply involved in
Israels efforts to crush the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS)
movement for Palestinian rights.
Alzayat is also a member of yet another faithwashing outfit, the
Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council.
His fellow members include David Harris, CEO of the American Jewish
Committee, which is co-convener of the group.
Under Harris leadership, AJC has been one of the most hardline promoters of
Israels agenda, including pushing for war with Iran, smearing supporters of
Palestinian rights as anti-Semites and demanding that humanitarian aid after
Augusts Beirut explosion be conditioned on Lebanons resistance disarming
itself in the face of the ongoing threat from Israel.
The Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council boasts of at least two members who are
MLI alums.
Emgage has also partnered with the Anti-Defamation League, which campaigns
against Palestinian rights and views the Black Lives Matter movement as a
threat to US support for Israel.
Board co-chair Khurrum Wahid also boasts on his law firms website that he
is a member of the ADLs civil rights committee for Miami.
In August, some 100 anti-racist and civil rights groups called on allies to
end relationships with the ADL because of its history of advancing a racist
agenda while masquerading as a civil rights group.
True Muslims support Israel
While Emgage leaders have generally kept a low profile about their Israel
lobby ties, at least one person who was recruited by the group has been loud
and proud about his support for Israel: Hamza Khan, a longtime Democratic
Party activist from Maryland.
In 2006, Khan appeared at a pro-Israel rally in Washington carrying a sign
that read, True Muslims support Israel.
In 2012, he ran an online campaign to raise money to go to AIPACs
conference and let Pro-Israel American leaders know: In Hamza Khan, youve
got a reliable Muslim friend and partner.
Lately, Khan has offered limited criticism of Israel on social media, but
has not renounced his previous views and his involvement with the Israel
lobby.
Khan, who is of Pakistani ancestry, has also recently reiterated talking
points demonizing Palestinians and Arabs more generally by association with
the 11 September 2001 attacks.
In May 2019, he asserted at a Passover dinner at the University of Maryland,
organized by the campus chapter of the pro-Israel group Hillel, that the
Arab terrorists who perpetrated the hijackings claimed they had done so in
order to liberate Palestine and create an Arab caliphate.
There were never any such claims from the hijackers.
It is notable that Emgages leadership was comfortable with recruiting Khan
despite his high-profile pro-Israel advocacy.
At a 2015 event broadcast by C-SPAN and attended by Emgage co-chair AJ
Durrani, Khan identified himself as a fellow Emerge board member with
Durrani. Khan was on the board of the groups Virginia chapter.
In April 2016 Khan participated in a meeting organized by Emerge USA as
Emgage was then known with Clinton campaign staff.
Khan confirmed to The Electronic Intifada that he is no longer involved with
Emgage. He said that he had been involved for several months before
resigning due [to] schedule conflicts and time commitments.
Palestine is barely an issue
In light of these facts it is of little surprise that Emgage has almost no
record of supporting Palestinian rights.
In July, Emgage board co-chair and Joe Biden delegate Khurrum Wahid did vote
for an unsuccessful amendment to the Democratic Party platform that would
have made it marginally less anti-Palestinian.
But theres little else: The Our Issues section of Emgages website
mentions only three international concerns: Kashmir, Rohingya Muslims in
Myanmar and Uyghur Muslims in China all issues where blame can
conveniently be placed on governments other than the United States and
Israel.
Palestine and any other countries where people are suffering due to US
intervention and bombing, notably Yemen, are nowhere to be found.
Silence on Jerusalem
Similarly, a letter organized by Emgages political action committee and
signed by Muslim American elected officials to endorse Biden lists a host of
Trumps misdeeds concerning Muslims.
But there is no mention of Trumps elimination of US aid for Palestinian
refugees and hospitals, his recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital and
moving of the US embassy there, or his peace plan that would abrogate
Palestinian rights.
The letter is signed by representatives Ilhan Omar and André Carson, and
Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison all politicians with records of
speaking out for Palestinian rights.
Indeed, Emgages website does not mention Jerusalem or Palestine as issues
at all.
The silence about Jerusalem is ominous as Israel with the full backing of
the United States moves ever more aggressively towards seizing control of
occupied East Jerusalems al-Aqsa mosque compound, the worlds most revered
site for Muslims after Mecca and Medina.
Punkah walla
Farooq Mitha, in his role as a Biden surrogate, is drawing sharp criticism.
In June, Palestinian American activists staged a virtual walkout from a
Biden campaign Zoom call with Mitha.
One activist, Amer Zahr, engaged in a heated exchange with Mitha over the
campaigns dismissive treatment of Palestinian rights.
Zahr was kicked off the call by Mitha, prompting others to leave in protest:
And this month law professor and activist Nadia Ahmad accused establishment
Democrats from the Muslim community of trying to co-opt efforts to give
Muslims a meaningful voice in the Democratic Party.
Writing for Mondoweiss, she singled out Mitha, suggesting that his job with
Bidens campaign is to keep us in check. Keep us in line. Keep us from
doing anything.
Farooq Mitha is nothing more than a scrub from the Department of Defense
looking to get ahead, Ahmad says.
All this is another male power grab for a punkah walla position in a Biden
administration that may or may not happen, she adds, using a colonial-era
term for an Indian servant who operated a fan to keep British masters cool.
Hers is a merciless but sadly accurate metaphor for how so-called moderate
Muslims have long tried to make themselves respectable to power at least
for their personal advancement if not for the benefit of the wider
community.
In the United States, the first requirement to get some crumbs from the
table is to throw Palestinians under the bus.
Emgages record indicates that it has already been doing that for a long
time.
Ali Abunimah is executive director of The Electronic Intifada.
