EXCLUSIVE: Israel consul general asks WA attorney general to investigate non-profit media outlet with ties to terror

A copy of the letter from the Consul General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest, which was also sent to Governor Jay Inslee, was obtained exclusively by The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI. The letter read, “I am writing to you following recent publications according to which Abdallah Aljamal, who was involved in terrorist activity in Gaza, also had ties with the ‘Palestine Chronicle,’ a Washington-based 501C3.”

The letter continued, “As you recall, on October 7, 2023, the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas launched an unprovoked brutal attack against Israel committing countless atrocities including the rape, mutilation, decapitation, and burning of hundreds of innocent Israeli civilians.”

“Hamas also abducted 251 Israelis including babies, children, young girls, and the elderly. 120 of them, including eight Americans, are still being held in Gaza experiencing unimaginable horrors at the hands of their terrorist captors. I call on your office to look into this matter in order to ensure that American public funds do not end up in the hands of individuals involved in terrorist activity and in the hands of those who employ them.”

Neither Ferguson’s office nor Inslee’s office, has yet to respond to the correspondence. The communication was revealed the day that it was announced that one of the Israeli hostages held by Aljamal had filed a lawsuit against the People Media Project, a non-profit that operates the Palestine Chronicle.

Almog Meir Jan, 22, was held captive by Palestinian terrorists for nearly 250 days following the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks. He and two others, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41, were found in Aljamal’s family home in Nuseirat, Gaza, during a daring Israeli Defense Forces rescue mission. Aljamal was a contributor to the Chronicle and also worked as a spokesman for the Hamas-run labor ministry in Gaza. He was killed during the rescue mission.

The suit filed in Washington’s western district court stated, "Under the leadership of Defendants [editor-in-chief] Ramzy Baroud and [People Media Project governor] John Harvey, Defendant Palestine Chronicle employed Hamas Operative Aljamal and offered him its U.S. platform to write and disseminate Hamas propaganda, ultimately subsidized, through its status as a tax-exempt charitable organization, by U.S. taxpayers."

Baroud co-authored an opinion piece in 2019 with Aljamal for Al Jazeera. Baroud’s daughter has also been linked to groups that have organized anti-Israel protests that have swept across US college campuses.

The suit continued, "Following the Hamas terror attacks of October 7, while Hamas Operative Aljamal imprisoned Plaintiff, Defendants permitted Hamas Operative Aljamal to use their platform to whitewash Hamas’s crimes and attract international support for its terrorist cause."

"By providing this platform to Hamas Operative Aljamal and compensating Hamas Operative Aljamal for his propaganda, Defendants aided, abetted, and materially supported both Hamas Operative Aljamal and Hamas itself in their acts of terrorism, including kidnapping and holding Plaintiff hostage for 246 days, in violation of international law."

According to the suit, the defendants "knowingly and willfully procured and disseminated Hamas propaganda to the Palestine Chronicle’s readers in the United States," citing reports alleging "at least six Palestine Chronicle writers and contributors have been affiliated with Iranian propaganda outlets."

The National Jewish Advocacy Center (NJAC) urged Attorney General Merrick Garland, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, and FBI Director Christopher Wray to open an investigation into the US-based Palestine Chronicle for "providing material support to terrorists."

Yet, Ferguson has not responded to the consul general and has remained silent on the dozens of antisemitic incidents that have targeted Washington’s Jewish community since Oct. 7.

The gubernatorial candidate has deep ties to the Washington branch of the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR), an antisemitic and anti-American organization that last year was scrubbed from the Biden administration's antisemitism task force after their director said that the Oct 7 massacre made him "happy."

Ferguson worked with CAIR on his 2022 "Domestic Terrorism Study" even though the group has ties to terrorist organizations, including Hamas. Steve Emerson, founder and director of the Investigative Project on Terrorism, told the Jewish News Syndicate that “CAIR was created as a Hamas front group and still functions as a propaganda arm of Hamas to this day.”

He added, "Antisemitism is in the DNA of CAIR. It is part of CAIR’s intrinsic fiber.” According to the Anti-Defamation League, "CAIR leaders often traffic in antisemitic and anti-Zionist rhetoric...some of its leaders have cultivated suspicion among the public toward a wide array of American Jewish institutions."

CAIR was also linked to the Holy Land Foundation, a charity that was convicted in 2009 for providing material support to Hamas and was the fundraising arm of The Palestine Committee in the US. CAIR was listed in court documents as an "unindicted co-conspirator." Local CAIR members have helped organize pro-Hamas student walkouts from public schools.

Ferguson also refused to condemn attacks on Jewish students at the University of Washington while a Gaza camp occupied the campus. He has consistently dodged questions about the hostile takeover and discrimination at his alma mater.

Ferguson worked with the group to push back against former President Donald Trump’s travel ban for refugees coming to the US from terrorist-friendly countries including Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. The group at an event with antisemite Linda Sarsour.