Josh Ruebner is an adjunct Lecturer at Georgetown University and the managing director of 'American Muslims in Palestine' (AMP) – an arm of the antisemitic BDS movement with alleged ties to the terror group Hamas. Ruebner often spreads vile antisemitic conspiracy theories, supports terrorism, and promotes hatred towards the Jewish nation.
Ruebner has made several statements deemed antisemitic under the International Holocaust Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. During the "Conference for Palestine in the US: Gaza teaches life" Ruebner claimed that the Jews of the late nineteenth century had no DNA connections to the Jews living in the land of Israel because most of them were "descend from the land of Khazars in modern-day Russia". This so-called "Khazar myth" is championed by many antisemites, including Louis Farrakhan, to deny Jewish ancestry and Jewish connection to the land of Israel.
Ruebner also frequently uses the term "Israel firster” when speaking of American Jews as more loyal to the Jewish state than to the countries they reside in, a claim repeated by Ilhan Omar. He has attacked Congressmen Howard Berman and Ted Deutch as well as Senator Chuck Schumer with this denigration.
Ruebner also published an opinion article in The Hill where he described participants of the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) conference as "thousands of ‘Israel-first’ citizen lobbyists" attempting to paint hundreds of Jews as disloyal American citizens.
Ruebner has a history of defending the Palestinian terror group Hamas. In May 2021 during Israel’s Guardian of the Wall Operation, Ruebner atrociously blamed the escalation of the war on the Jewish nation, stating "Hamas gave Israel warning that you better stop what you’re doing or else we’re going to fire rockets. And Israel decided, "Well, we don’t care. We want an escalation."
During a different interview he defended Hamas' terror regime saying "How can we say to a people who are under a settler-colonial apartheid regime under military occupation, living under a blockade in the Gaza Strip for the last 15 years, that they don’t have a right for self-defense? Who is the aggressor and who is the victim here?".
Adding to the list of his many antisemitic traits, Ruebner has also been a staunch promoter of convicted terrorists such as Rasmea Odeh, a key military operative for the terror group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). 1969 Odeh masterminded a PFLP bombing that killed two college students in a Jerusalem market; she also attempted to bomb the British consulate in Jerusalem. Shockingly Ruebner tweeted in support of Rasmea Odeh - "Join the #Justice4Rasmea social media campaign Wednesday, January 27!"
As someone who frequently vilifies the state of Israel with false claims of apartheid and ethnic cleansing, in February 2021 Ruebner suggested in a YouTube video during an AMP education seminar that Israel had engaged in seven decades of "ethnic cleansing" and committed multiple massacres to "eliminate" Palestinians since Israel was founded in 1948. He also claimed, "the idea of establishing a Jewish state ... could only be predicated upon ethnic cleansing of Palestinians." In 2018 he referred to Israel as "ethno-nationalist supremacy," a term often espoused by white supremacists.
This past week Ruebner endorsed Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib’s submission of a House resolution recognizing the Nakba, the arabic word for catastrophe that Palestinians refer to when speaking of Israel's founding. Research showed that Ruebner played a crucial role in writing the resolution; a draft uploaded on Tlaib’s website includes several side notes written by Ruebner, which contain comments and suggestions for further readings and additional sources which would make the resolution more effective.
This week a federal judge in Chicago allowed a lawsuit to proceed that alleges AMP is entrenched in Hamas' terror network. It's unfathomable to allow Josh Ruebner and AMP to influence American legislation.
We need YOUR help! Tlaib's 'Nakba' House Bill 1123 is now heading the the House Freign Affairs Committee; email Chair Gregory Meeks stating your concerns.