Biden’s judicial appointee draws scrutiny for ties to controversial 9/11 memorial event

A prominent Jewish rights organization said it has “serious concerns” about President Biden’s nomination to a US appeals court over his ties to a controversial pro-Palestinian advocacy group at Rutgers University.

The nonprofit watchdog StopAntisemitism said Adeel Mangi’s association with the Rutgers Center for Safety, Race and Rights (CSRR) will affect his ability to remain impartial as a judge.

The New Jersey-based Muslim lawyer was chosen by President Biden to serve as a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third District in November.

The nomination quickly drew intense scrutiny from Conservatives over his ties to the CSRR, where he served as a member of its advisory board from 2019 to 2023.

The advocacy group drew attention when it hosted a panel on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in 2021, during Mangi’s tenure, featuring Dr. Sami Al-Arian, a former professor at the University of the South of Florida who pleaded guilty in 2006 to assisting. Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a terrorist group.

The watchdog StopAntisemitism said Adeel Mangi’s connection to the Rutgers Center for Safety, Race and Rights (CSRR) could affect his ability to remain impartial as a judge. Sipa US via AP

Al-Arian, who was born in Kuwait to Palestinian parents, was sentenced to 57 months in prison.

The panel, titled “Whose Narrative? 20 years since September 11, 2001,” also included Hatem Bazian, a UC Berkeley professor and co-founder of Students for Justice in Palestine, who appeared to passionately call for the Intifada in the United States in a video discovered by the Jerusalem Post.

Another speaker on the panel was Dr. Rabab Abulhad, who attempted in 2020 to organize an event featuring notorious Palestinian Liberation terrorist member Leila Khaled, known for a pair of brazen kidnappings she carried out in late the 60s and early 70s.

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A poster for the event is displayed in downtown Rutgers, the same place where Adeel Mangi serves on the advisory board, titled: Whose Narrative? 20 years since September 11, 2001.

“We are not confident that he can impartially execute his judicial duties and he should be removed from consideration immediately,” StopAntisemitism executive director Liora Rez said in a statement.

“His association with the Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR) raises serious concerns, as does his connection to CSRR Executive Director Sahar Aziz and his horrific 9/11 commemoration featuring the convicted terrorism supporter Sami al-Arian,” Rez said. adding that the group “firmly opposes” Mangi’s nomination.

However, not all Jewish groups agreed with StopAntisemitism’s position.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called Mangi’s questioning “inappropriate and harmful” in a Jan. 9 statement, calling it blatant Islamophobia.

“This was an attempt to create controversy where none existed,” the organization said.

Senator Ted Cruz during the hearing for Biden’s judicial nominee, Adeel Mangi. sentedcruz/X

“ADL urges leaders to refrain from fueling discrimination and hatred, and urges the Senate to offer Mr. Mangi a fair vote, based on his qualifications and fitness for office.”

He added that Mangi “was subjected to aggressive interrogation unrelated to his experience or professional qualifications. “Rather, he was forced to provide answers to a wide range of questions about his views on global strategic considerations in a way that he inappropriately politicized these issues and raised serious questions about pretexts and bias.”

The CSRR on its website lists the “criminalization of Muslim identity” through “U.S. and global national security laws and policies” as one of the main themes of its mission.

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Recent conferences held at the CSRR include “Psychoanalysis under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine” and “Palestine Teach in Series: Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Territories,” according to its website.

During Mangi’s confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in December, Republican lawmakers criticized the lawyer for his association with the center.

“Are you willing to denounce the center whose board you served for inviting a convicted terrorist, a supporter of Palestinian Islamic Jihad…” Texas Senator Ted Cruz said during an aggressive line of questioning.

Republican lawmakers criticized Adeel Mangi for his association with the center. sentedcruz/X

Mangi insisted that her involvement was limited to academic advising and that she knew nothing about the controversial 9/11 panel.

“I don’t know anything about this event or who these people are, I’ve never heard of any of them, if anyone there is a terrorist, I condemn them,” he told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Mangi submitted his resignation to the CSRR last June and left office at the end of July.

“The center’s work had not coincided with what I personally felt were the most productive areas of academic focus in supporting civil rights litigation,” he wrote in the Committee’s questionnaire.

Mangi’s confirmation vote is scheduled for Thursday. If appointed, he would be the first Muslim in American history to serve on the federal appeals courts, where judges serve for life.

He did not respond to requests for comment when contacted by The Post.

The Post has also contacted the CSRR.

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Source: vtt.edu.vn

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