Huwaida Arraf is a failed Congressional candidate out of Michigan and a rabid antisemite that equates the Jewish nation with Nazi Germany, glorifies and legally defends convicted terrorists, and advocates for violence against Israel. Arraf is also a big supporter of the antisemitic Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and has been listed as an Advisory Board Member for the pro-BDS group U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) since 2010.
Arraf co-founded the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) in 2001, which has been linked to terror groups like Hamas, PIJ, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), all of which are designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO) by the U.S. State Department.
Arraf is an outspoken supporter of violence when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
In January 2002, during the second intifada, Arraf authored an article on Palestinian resistance and intifada. In the article, she expresses "the Palestinian resistance must take on a variety of characteristics — both nonviolent and violent. But most importantly it must develop a strategy involving both aspects."
In the same article, Arraf writes, "we accept that Palestinians have a right to resist with arms" and that if prospective Hamas suicide bombers would instead "offer themselves as martyrs by standing on a settler road and blocking it from traffic" that would be "no less of a jihad…no less noble than carrying out a suicide operation” and they would also "be considered shaheed [martyr] Allah."
Arraf often equates the world's sole Jewish state to that of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany, something deemed antisemitic under the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism:
In 2018, Arraf tweeted, "Shame on those who have allowed Israel to turn Gaza into a concentration camp."
In 2018, Arraf equated the Palestinian Resistance to the Holocaust: "Calling for the freedom of the Palestinian people, of all people, on the walls of the Warsaw ghetto should be applauded, not condemned!"
Arraf also believes the state of Israel has no right to exist, tweeting at then Secretary of State John Kerry, stating “Israel does not have the right to a Jewish state.” Such expressions of erasure are also deemed antisemitic by IHRA.
Arraf, an attorney, boasts convicted terrorists, such as Rasmea Odeh, as clients. In 2016, the U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) wrote a tweet that Arraf was a "new member of Rasmea Odeh’s defense team" with Arraf expressing her glee, stating it was a privilege to defend Odeh. In 1969, Odeh orchestrated a bombing that killed two Jewish college students shopping in a Jerusalem supermarket. Odeh also attempted to bomb the British consulate.
In 2020, Arraf tweeted her admiration for Leila Khaled, a Palestinian freedom fighter. Arraf included a petition that called Khaled "a powerful, inspiring figure, more than just a freedom fighter, a national icon. Khaled helped hijack two airplanes and claims the second intifada was unsuccessful because not enough Jews were murdered. Khaled compares Zionists to Nazis and advocates for the use of children in military & terror zones.
Despite Huwaida Arraf’s hateful background, earlier this month she was shockingly invited to join a diversity panel at Bloomfield Hills High School, a suburb in Michigan boasting a large Jewish population. Arraf presented four times, to grades 9-12th, and was supposed to discuss how to build empathy within the community; instead, in each presentation, she deviated from the prompts and went on a rampage against Israel and the Jewish people. Faculty members never intervened, allowing her to continue her hate campaign, leaving several Jewish students in tears. The school was forced to apologize but caused further outrage after the principal’s message failed to include Jews or Israel. The superintendent was forced to step in and issue a second apology.
StopAntisemitism needs YOUR help – please email Superintendent of School at Bloomfield Hills Patrick Watson and inquire what steps were taken to vet Arraf’s dangerous background and why no faculty stepped in to protect the school’s Jewish population from an orchestrated hate campaign.