The Gazan journalist Abubaker Abed, who has posted pro-Hamas statements on social media, is on a “look out” list should he apply for a visa to speak at the People’s Conference for Palestine conference in Detroit on Aug. 29-31, a senior U.S. State Department official told JNS.
Abed is listed as a speaker on the event website, which describes him as an “accidental war correspondent.”
The State Department “is not tracking a visa request” for Abed “as of today,” the senior official, who spoke on background, told JNS on Friday.
“His name has been put on a ‘look out’ status, so if an application is submitted, it will be flagged for appropriate processing,” the official told JNS.
Hossam Shaheen, a convicted terrorist who was freed in February in exchange for Israeli hostages, is also on the speaker list. The State Department is also on the lookout for a visa application from Shaheen, the official said.
Shaheen was imprisoned for attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder, related to a pair of failed terror attacks. He spent 27 years in prison and is slated to speak at the event on the “struggle” of prisoners in Zionist jails.
On Thursday, Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.) led the Michigan Republican congressional delegation in urging Marco Rubio, the U.S. secretary of state, to prevent Shaheen from his Detroit appearance.
“While organizers claim it is ‘designed to address the current political moment and to bring together critical voices,’ this event and those like it are platforms for inciting violence and antisemitism,” the lawmakers wrote to Rubio. “Antisemitic attacks are at a record high and have increased dramatically since Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack in Israel.”
“Our nation is under no obligation to allow those connected with terror groups to enter the U.S. and endanger our communities,” they stated. “In light of these concerns, we urge your department to deny any travel visas to any such person traveling into the U.S. for this event.”
Other speakers with ties to terror are also listed on the conference docket, including a leader of Students for Justice in Palestine, and Mahmoud Khalil, who led pro-Hamas, anti-Israel protests on the Columbia University campus and whom the Trump administration is trying to deport.
