Congresswoman Elise Stefanik on Monday condemned Democratic vice-presidential nominee and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz for rubbing shoulders with the founder of National Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) during a 2019 event.
Walz was photographed with the anti-Semitic scholar and SJP founder Hatem Bazian during the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)’s March 2019 event on “Challenging Islamophobia” at Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, the Washington Free Beacon reported.
“Tim Walz condones and props up anti-Semites like The Most Dangerous Professor in America Hatem Bazian,” Stefanik told The Daily Wire. “Kamala Harris and Tim Walz is the most radical anti-Semitic ticket in history.”
Walz reportedly opened the CAIR event, and used his remarks to announce the formation of an office to address Islamophobia in Minnesota.
Bazian is also the founder of the anti-Israel American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), which is under investigation in Virginia for suspicions it finances terrorist activity, according to the Free Beacon.
The troubling anti-Semitic histories of CAIR and SJP have been well-documented, especially since Hamas’ October 7 massacre of Israelis. CAIR’s executive director, Nihad Awad, celebrated Hamas’s attack stating he was “happy to see people breaking the siege” and that Israel does “not have that right to self-defense.”
SJP has been the driving force behind the anti-Israel encampments on college campuses, which have led to the harassment of Jewish students and the disruption of some college graduations.
Both AMP and SJP were named in a May lawsuit filed in federal court, which accuses the groups of working to support Hamas, a U.S.-designated terror organization, by acting as “collaborators” and “propagandists.”
Walz came under fire last week after it was revealed that he hosted extremist Islamist Imam, Asad Zaman, multiple times. Zaman met with Walz’s gubernatorial office as recently as May 2023. Zaman, who is the executive director at the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, has a history of sharing his Facebook page to share Hamas press releases, anti-Semitic blogs, and a link to a piece on a website for a 2013 pro-Hitler film, the Washington Examiner reported.
In a statement on October 7, the Muslim American Society of Minnesota affirmed its “unwavering support for the Palestinian people in their struggle against the Israeli occupation” and called for the U.S. to “pressure Israel to cease these atrocities” many days before Israel entered Gaza.
Zaman also delivered the invocation before Walz’s 2019 state address, and was reportedly awarded over $100,000 in funding from Walz’s administration.