A nonprofit focused on serving Middle Eastern migrants that has received millions in taxpayer funds plans to host multiple speakers who in the past have spoken positively of terrorist groups or activities at an upcoming “Arab health summit.”
The Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS) has received over $20 million in grant funding from the Biden-Harris administration, federal records show. Leaders of the nonprofit have invited Mads Gilbert and Ghassan Abu-Sittah, two doctors from Europe who have previously praised terrorists, as well as the director of health for the Hamas-linked United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and multiple anti-Israel activists, to speak at its upcoming health event.
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Gilbert, who will be delivering a keynote address, justified the 9/11 terrorist attacks by saying that the “oppressed also have a moral right to attack the USA with any weapon they can come up with,” according to the Washington Free Beacon’s translation of a Norwegian interview. The Free Beacon was the first to report on the health summit held by ACCESS. The Norwegian doctor also praised Hamas terrorists as “brave” following the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks that left roughly 1,200 dead.
Akihiro Seita, UNRWA’s health director, is set to appear on a panel discussing “rebuilding public health infrastructure in Gaza,” according to the ACCESS’ website. The United Nations in August determined that nine UNRWA staffers “likely” participated in the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks. Israel, meanwhile, maintains that more than 230 UNRWA workers are active in Palestinian militant terrorist cells.
The Biden-Harris administration provided ACCESS with financial support for a variety of health initiatives, records show. The administration also gave ACCESS $172,000 to improve an Islamic museum it runs to provide elementary schoolers and kindergarteners with “a more balanced perspective on cultural and racial diversity within their communities.”
Abu-Sittah, who is also delivering a keynote speech at the Arab health event, called Hamas leader Ahmad Jarrar a “hero” after the Israeli Defense Forces killed him in 2018, according to the Free Beacon. He also attended the funeral of a Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) leader, The Daily Mail reported.
The PFLP, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, has hijacked planes, ordered suicide bombings and shot rockets at civilians, according to the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who was censured by the House in November 2023 over her use of anti-Israel rhetoric like the phrase “from the river to the sea,” is also scheduled to appear at the conference.
ACCESS has also received millions from the Soros family’s Open Society Foundations since 2016, with one $2 million grant supporting its effort to elevate “the voice of Arab Americans from the grassroots to the national level,” according to grant records.
Sabah Jabr, a psychiatrist ACCESS invited to sit on a panel concerning Arab-American mental health, has previously said that “resistance to the occupation … is very important” for the psychological health of Palestinians,” according to the Free Beacon.
ACCESS and the White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.