Posted on 08/18/24
Baltimore, MD - Aug. 18, 2024 - After a flood of protests from the Jewish community, including the recently formed Council of Baltimore Region Activists (COBRA), it was announced last night that Ayman Nassar had resigned his recent appointment by Attorney General Anthony Brown to serve on Maryland's Commission on Hate Crimes Response and Prevention.
Nassar's resignation follows revelations of Mr. Nassar's extremism in a recent JNS article by Ben Baird of the Middle East Forum. As detailed in the article, Mr. Nassar is chair of the Aafia Foundation, which advocates for the release of a convicted terrorist, and which promotes the very attitudes and biases which the Commission is charged with combating. The Foundation's facebook page refers to the terrorists who perpetrated the worst mass-killing of Jews since the Holocaust as "Palestinian resistance fighters;" states that the Israelis murdered on October 7 were actually "indiscriminately" killed by "friendly fire;" calls the atrocities committed by Hamas "malicious, deliberately untrue, propaganda;" opposes any expressions of sympathy for the suffering of "Apartheid Israel;" and mourns the death of Hamas arch-terrorist, Ismail Haniyeh.
Mr. Nassar has expressed similar sentiments on social media. His scurrilous comments include the claim that 'Palestinians are taken as body organ donors and then murdered,' that the situation in Gaza is 'more than a genocide,' that Israel represents 'the colonized portion of Palestine,' that Americans are complicit in 'murdering children and creating chaos across the globe,' and that the 'special interests who tolerate alternative lifestyles are comparable to 'the Zionists who were able to justify genocide and occupation 75 years ago.
Attorney General Brown's appointment of Ayman Nassar is a repeat of the poor judgment he exercised with last year's appointment of Zainab Chaudry, which prompted the Maryland Legislature to enact legislation completely revamping the Commission. COBRA calls on AG Brown to stop selecting haters of Israel to an anti-hate commission, and to replace Mr. Nassar with an individual who is committed to combatting hate rather than promoting it.