When Christopher Wray, the FBI director, handed a diploma to Husham Abu-Aisha at the FBI National Academy graduation on Dec. 12 in Quantico, Va., Abu-Aisha was identified verbally as being from “Ramallah, state of Palestine.”
A spokesperson for the intelligence agency told JNS on Wednesday that “the FBI has taken steps to ensure this does not happen again.”
“During a recent graduation of the FBI’s National Academy, one student’s agency location was incorrectly stated. This information was submitted by the student on class completion paperwork in advance of the graduation ceremony,” the FBI spokesperson told JNS.
“The language was not in accordance with U.S. protocol, should not have been used, and in no way reflects any change in U.S. policy,” the spokesperson added. “This graduate was from the Preventative Security Organization in the Palestinian Territories.”
The Preventative Security Organization is part of the Palestinian Authority. The U.S. government does not recognize a state “Palestine.”
On Nov. 19, the nonprofit FBI National Academy Associates, whose more than 14,000 members are graduates of the “FBI’s prestigious National Academy Program,” shared a photo of Abu-Aisha on Facebook describing him as being “from Palestine.”
“Here is the FBI recognizing a student from ‘Ramallah, the state of Palestine.’ I’ve met with Chris Wray in Israel, and he knows damn well that the United States does not recognize a ‘state of Palestine,’” wrote David Friedman, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, on Dec. 15. “Kash Patel can’t arrive soon enough to clean up this mess.”
