(ConservativeSense.com) – Antisemitism campaigners are warning about President Biden’s US Court of Appeals nominee, Judge Adeel Mangi, whom they say is connected with pro-Palestinian groups. StopAntisemitism Executive Director Liora Rez said Mangi should be “removed from consideration immediately” and pointed to his connection to the Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR) at Rutgers University.
On the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the CSRR hosted an event entitled “Whose Narrative? 20 Years since September 11, 2001,” while Mr. Mangi sat on its board of advisors. The event featured speakers including Hatem Bazian, co-founder of Students for Justice in Palestine at the University of California. He has called for an “intifada” against Israel. It also featured Dr. Sami Al-Arian, who pleaded guilty in 2016 to aiding the terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad – an organization implicated in the October 7 terrorist attack on Israeli civilians.
Mr. Mangi’s nomination to the Court advanced through the Senate Judiciary Committee by just one vote, as Republicans refused to support his appointment. Senators Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, and John Kennedy questioned Mangi on his connections with terrorist groups or sympathizers, and he denied any knowledge of the 9/11 anniversary event. Mangi said he condemned all terrorists.
The committee hearing quickly descended into allegations of “Islamophobia,” which Senator Josh Hawley dismissed as “absolutely outrageous.” When Democrat Senator Dick Durbin hinted that the questioning of Mangi was motivated by anti-Muslim prejudice, Mr. Hawley insisted he was unconcerned about the Judge’s religion, adding, “But I do care that he was the director of a center that was basically a mouthpiece for Hamas.”
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said that fears about the appointment of Judge Mangi were based on “vile, unconscionable smears.” The Anti-Defamation League, which campaigns against antisemitism, said it also believes there is no substance to Stop Antisemitism’s concerns. It described the Senate Judiciary hearing as “inappropriate and prejudicial.”
Mr. Mangi will be the first Muslim to serve on an appellate court in US history.
Copyright 2024, ConservativeSense.com
