There are a few things Michigan voters may want to know about their newest congressional candidate.
Huwaida Arraf is a lawyer and self-described Palestinian activist who co-founded the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), which, among other things, was probed by the FBI as part of a terrorism investigation between 2004 and 2006.
While ISM claims to be a “Palestinian-led movement committed to resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land using nonviolent, direct-action methods and principles,” part of its mission statement, which has since been excised from its website, expressed support for the “Palestinian right to resist… via legitimate armed struggle.”
Similar to the Gaza Strip’s terrorist rulers Hamas, ISM and Arraf seem to have no problem with using volunteers as human shields – a fact ISM has even bragged about on its website.
In 2002, amid the height of the Second Intifada in which waves of Palestinian suicide bombings were launched against Israeli civilians, the ISM sent a number of ‘activists’ to protect terrorists who were holed up inside the Church of the Nativity, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem.
During the 39-day standoff, Arraf personally organized a mission to bring food and water to the terrorists inside the church.
In 2003, Tel Aviv’s popular seafront bar Mike’s Place was targeted by two British-born Muslims in a terror attack that killed three Israeli civilians and injured dozens more. The suicide bombers, who were operating under the guidance of Hamas and Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, had arrived in Israel from Jordan via the Allenby Bridge and, just days before the attack, visited the ISM at its office in Gaza.
Shortly afterward, they joined the organization’s volunteers at a nearby memorial for ISM activist Rachel Corrie, who was accidentally crushed to death after she kneeled in front of an IDF bulldozer that was leveling the ground to expose terror tunnels used to store explosives.
An official Israeli report stated the terrorists were “careful to establish their presence in Judea and Samaria [West Bank] by forging links with foreign left wing activists and members of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).”
Thom Saffold, who co-founded the group with Arraf, later glibly summarized the deaths of volunteers working for ISM thus:
It’s possible they [the protesters] were not as disciplined as we would have liked. But we’re like a peace army. Generals send young men and women off to operations, and some die.”
In 2010, Arraf was an organizer and spokesperson for the Free Gaza Flotilla, which deliberately provoked a violent confrontation with the Israeli Navy when it attempted to breach the blockade of Gaza. The headline-garnering stunt was also arranged with the help of the Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Aid (IHH), a Turkish group that has ties to Hamas and donated funds to the terrorist organization.
Speaking about the incident, Arraf, who was on the ship Challenger 1, admitted that she had once again used activists as human shields:
We tried to put our bodies in the way. We repeated that we’re on an American flag vessel.”
To be clear, then, Arraf and the group she founded have certainly not kept a low profile over the years with the numerous controversies she has been linked to having been reported on (see here, here and here).
Therefore, it was surprising to see the relatively muted response from international media outlets to Arraf’s announcement that she is running as a Democrat in Michigan’s 10th Congressional District in the hopes she will unseat incumbent Republican Rep. Lisa McClain.
It’s official, I’m running for Congress!! Please follow my campaign page for updates! @huwaida4mi
Website: https://t.co/99zhQZdStd https://t.co/9SWGxRW2ve— Huwaida Arraf (@huwaidaarraf) November 10, 2021
Indeed, according to an analysis of data collated by HonestReporting, Arraf’s candidacy was mentioned in just 11 news stories at the time of this piece’s publication.
Arraf, who is a vocal supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, even drew attention to her combative past while announcing her political campaign on Twitter:
I have been beaten, shot at, imprisoned and hijacked at sea standing up to injustice on the global stage. I’m not afraid of a fight. Today, I’m announcing my campaign for Congress in Michigan’s 10th District.”
Why don’t most media publications think it was newsworthy that a person who holds such disturbing views and has such a checkered past could potentially become a US lawmaker?
One of the key pillars of a free press is its duty to inform and criticize.
It appears Michigan voters are not being told of these troublesome facts about the person who hopes to represent them in Washington’s corridors of power.
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