A panel discussion on the “Holy Land Five” scheduled for Jan. 17 in Grand Rapids, Mich., will feature the daughter of one of the five Palestinian-Americans convicted in 2008 for providing material support to Hamas.
Nida Abu Baker, daughter of Shukri Abu Baker, “will share her story and recount the decades of struggle to free her father and his colleagues in the Holy Land Foundation—the largest Muslim nonprofit in the U.S. that was targeted with trumped-up material support for terrorism charges,” event organizers stated.
Five officials of the foundation, nicknamed the “Holy Land Five,” were convicted in Dallas in November 2008 on “108 charges of funneling $12.4 million to Hamas, a designated foreign terrorist organization,” according to Canary Mission.
“These convicted terror financiers are celebrated as heroes by a growing network of anti-Israel activists who portray them as humanitarian workers wrongfully imprisoned,” the watchdog group stated.
The event, hosted by Palestine Solidarity Grand Rapids, will also feature Tom Burke, a socialist leader whose home was raided by the FBI in 2010 on suspicion of offering material support to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and Zena Ozeir, an activist with the U.S. Palestinian Community Network who lists on her LinkedIn that she is an assistant attorney general for the state of Michigan.
Organizers of the event stated that Ozeir “will talk on the legal aspects of the case,” which they described as “of utmost importance for activists facing legal challenges for their free speech and advocacy for Palestine.”
Stu Smith, an investigative analyst at the Manhattan Institute, criticized Ozeir’s presence on the panel, noting there is no verification that she is still working as an assistant attorney general in Michigan.
“This is the same Zena Ozeir who drew public scrutiny after posting, ‘Every accusation made by the Zionist entity is an admission. F**k them, f**k America, f**k genocide apologists,’” Smith stated.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office claimed it was reviewing the social media post after it was called out by the Detroit News in 2024, but no actions taken, if any, were ever publicly disclosed.
“Is someone currently on the Michigan AG’s payroll participating in this panel or not?” Smith wrote. “Because the public deserves a straight answer.” (JNS sought comment from Nessel’s office.)
