Stop The ISM

Christopher Nassetta, President Feb. 3, 2008

Hilton Hotels Corporation

9336 Civic Center Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Dear Mr. Nassetta;

Congratulations on your new post as the head of the Hilton Hotel Corporation. As the new chief of a major corporation, no doubt you feel the buck stops with you, which is the reason for this letter.

We are writing you as a concerned group of Jewish and Christian Americans about an upcoming scheduled international conference scheduled at the Hilton Hotel in Anaheim to be held there by a group known as Al Awda, the Palestine Right of Return Coalition. Prior to your taking over the helm at Hilton last December, and only last year, Al Awda held their international conference at the Embassy Suites Hotel, your subsidiary, next door to the Anaheim Hilton. This year, Al Awda is secretly trying to hold the same conference again only this time at the Anaheim Hilton. We suspect that a catering manager at Hilton is sympathetic to this group, but have bee unable to confirm this.

That previous conference was originally scheduled to take place at UC Riverside, but the campus administration canceled the event after it was revealed to them what Al Awda says and does behind its façade and that its associations are not what they claim they are. Enclosed are some articles and links that were written about the Al Awda conference and previous Al Awda conferences, as well as the attendees and their open support for terrorism, their links to American Nazis due to mutual anti-Semitism, and support for terrorist groups that have attacked the United States such as Hizballah, Hamas and even Al Qaeda.

Al Awda is an openly anti-Semitic organization whose founder has called Jews “a disease” and the purposes of this conference at your hotel are to recruit and train people to 1) Boycott Israeli businesses 2) Boycott American-Jewish and other American-owned businesses that employ Jews in upper management 3) To support the terrorist organization Hamas that has murdered not only Israelis but several American citizens as well 4) To suggest a Jewish conspiracy of Jewish control of America and 5) To voice support for the same Iraqi “resistance” that is killing American soldiers overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other things.

Al Awda publicizes and contributes to anti-Jewish blood libel: Attached you will find an article from the website radioislam.com that is affiliated with Al Awda. Al Awda changed the contents of this page after they were exposed last year at UC Riverside, however, this link on the Web has the archived page:

http://web.archive.org/web/20040910172809/http://radioislam.org/resistance/massacr.htm

Note the page speaks of the “Blood Orgy of the Jewish Devils,” refers to Jews at “Satan’s Soldiers,” and contains a letter at the top from Pastor Ray Redfeairn who was the head of

Aryan Nations (Nazi Party) at the time of posting praising the organization and its work.

The page (which is still up) claiming Jews murdered a 12 year-old Palestinian boy (a story that has long since been proven to be a hoax), if you scroll down, reveals every Al Awda chapter’s actions as part of the Radio Islam promotion. No other groups are listed because this is part of Al Awda’s networks. I recommend you read the entire page, including the many false claims such as this sentence about Jewish law below:

“A Jew who murders a Gentile is guilty only of a sin against the laws of Heaven, not punishable by a court. To cause indirectly the death of a Gentile is no sin at all.”

Such statements as these are commonly spoken inside Al Awda events as long as the press is not within earshot to hear them. This is one reason Al Awda does not permit cameras or recorders from outside parties at their events as they will do at the Hilton.

We also wish to point out to you that this conference is to be an “international conference” bringing in Al Awda affiliates from Europe and the Palestinian Authority. We call your attention to a poem sent out by the Al Awda listserv by Raja Chemayal, an activist with Al Awda in Europe that was written in praise of suicide bombings. Chemayal may attend this international conference. You can see this poem on the Web at this link: http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:fp5JVXXvd7UJ:www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1556680/posts+Raja+Chemayal+%2B+Lee+Kaplan&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

The leaders of Al Awda such as Mr. Chemayal have even compared the terrorist leaders of Hamas to Jesus Christ. See this link: http://www.stoptheism.com/?M=&T=312 .

Al Awda’s listserv in the past praised Hizballah, the terrorist organization that murdered 241 marines in Beirut in 1983. The organization continues to praise the Ba’ath Party and al Qaeda insurgents who kill US soldiers in Iraq, something it obscures in doubletalk as “resistance.” see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Return_(guerrilla_organization).

Other Al Awda actions include:

July 2007: At least five communiqués from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), including one in conjunction with the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, and one joint statement with Hamas, were distributed via Al-Awda’s main list serve. Nearly all of the communiqués expressed support for terrorist activity, extolling “martyrs,” encouraging the “resistance,” and detailing violence against Israeli troops. All these groups are designated enemy terrorists per the US State Department.

March 2007: Al-Awda issued a press release in support of Ahmad Saadat, the general secretary of the PFLP, who is currently in Israeli custody. The release encouraged “freedom loving people” to demand his release from prison.

November 16-19, 2006: Samia Halaby, a former Al-Awda co-chair, served on a delegation at the “Solidarity with the Resistance” conference in Beirut, which was organized by the Hezbollah and the Communist Party of Lebanon. The gathering was held to consolidate international support for “the resistance movements in Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq, without distinction,” including Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and the Iraqi insurgency. The conference’s final statement indicated that participants agreed “to establish a worldwide network against the American-Zionist project which does not only target the area but also humanity.” This, they agreed, would be achieved by “developing more and greater relations between leftist, democratic and nationalist currents and Islamic and resistance movements.”

July-September 2006: Al-Awda organized and co-sponsored several anti-Israel events around the country in response to the fighting between Israel and terrorist organizations in Gaza and Lebanon. These events were marked by support for terrorist groups, calls for the destruction of Israel, messages equating Zionism with Nazism and a proliferation of anti-Semitism.

September 30, Brooklyn, NY
Rally co-sponsored by the Pakistan-USA Freedom Forum and the Coalition in Solidarity with the Arab People, which is made up of several groups, including Al-Awda, the International Action Center (IAC) and New Jersey Solidarity (ISM).

More than 100 protesters participated in the rally. One Al-Awda activist, Samia Halaby, displayed a t-shirt with the Hezbollah logo. Signs at the rally included, “U.S. and Israel OUT of Arab Land” and “Victory to the Intifada.” Speakers, representing the different groups involved in the rally, praised Hezbollah in their speeches. During her speech, Charlotte Kates of New Jersey Solidarity who is also a member of Al Awda and will be at the conference scheduled at the Hilton, stated: “Our troops are Hezbollah. Our troops are the Palestinian resistance, and we do support our troops. And we will struggle and we will build the resistance here until all Palestine is free.” An Al-Awda speaker declared: “We are all Hezbollah…I believe in armed struggle…Sixty years ago Arab lands were the Zionism free land…in less than another sixty years Palestine and Arab lands will be a Zionism free land again.” Another speaker led the crowd in chants of “long live the intifada!”

Al Awda’s motto is “From the river to the sea” meaning all of Israel is to be conquered from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean. The organization is not a human rights or peace group, but is in fact a support and propaganda arm for terrorists. Al Awda may tell you they are merely exercising their “freedom of speech”, but these events are specifically designed for training people on how to propagandize and attack American Jews, not just Israelis. They may point to some Jews in their ranks, but these are people of marginal Jewish ancestry who are usually Marxists, communists and anarchists. Huwaida Arraf, one of the co-founders of the umbrella group International Solidarity Movement (ISM), of which Al Awda is an active part, wrote a letter to the Washington Post in 2005 where she admitted the group works with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the PFLP. See:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/16/AR2006021602027_2.html and

http://stoptheism.com/Default.asp?M=28&T=152

Since you have only been on your job a month or so, a brief history of what took place prior to the last conference at the Embassy Suites would be in order:

Once the administration at UC Riverside changed their mind about allowing Al Awda on campus, they rescheduled to be at the Embassy Suites. Lee Kaplan, who was researching the Al Awda conference contacted Dominic Acolino, the manager at the Embassy Suties. Mr. Acolino, after seeing all the evidence provided, stated that he found Al Awda’s activities reprehensible and would not have them back but felt he had a contract and it was less than a week before the event. Follow-ups with Kathy Shepherd in your public relations department resulted in rude stonewalling the issue despite the copious evidence provided and a petition started against the Hilton Hotel chain see:

http://www.petitiononline.com/hh052507/petition.html . I understand Ms. Shepherd no longer works at Hilton.

We wish to point out an excuse of short notice no longer applies this year since the next conference is scheduled for May 16-18, 2008 and the location of its taking place at the Hilton is not being announced on the Al Awda website because they are worried about the truth getting out in enough time now. The event being scheduled at your hotel in Anaheim on May16th –18^th has been confirmed by anonymous Hilton staff aned reservations are being taken.. I also wish to point out your manager at the Embassy Suites, Mr. Acolino, last year said had he known the truth about the group he would not have scheduled them and would not do so again in the future.

We wish to also make you aware that Al Awda is part of the international boycott and divest from Israel campaign that urges people to not do business with companies that already do business with Israel. Included on this List are US corporations with Jewish management. Are you aware that Hilton Hotels is on the Al Awda boycott list ? Despite this being pointed out to Ms. Shepherd last year, she chose to ignore that fact. That information alone is enough to justify canceling any contracts you may have. See:

http://www.boycottisraeligoods.org/modules37164.php and http://www.boycottisraeligoods.org/modules14613.php .

We discovered the links above by going through another US Nazi Party website that used Al Awda’s official boycott logo on it, located at NSM88.com, 88 symbolizing Heil Hitler. That link has been removed but we have the evidence, also from archives posted on the homepage of www.StoptheISM.com .

We find it bizarre that Hilton might openly allow an anti-Semitic event on its grounds,

but even more so one that also attacks American businesses for doing business with or hiring Jews while even listing Hilton itself of the Boycott list!!!

We are hoping with this letter to get you to cancel this noxious event at your hotel. Certainly if another organization in America sought a conference at a Hilton Hotel such as the Ku Klux Klan that sought to condemn and boycott African Americans, Hilton would not allow it to take place on their property? We as part of the American Jewish and Christian communities ask for the same consideration and ask you to cancel this event. Conversely, if this is not done, we intend to reissue our petition against Hilton Hotels and will have more than five days to do so.

Please read carefully all the enclosed supporting documents and let us know what you intend to do. I personally look forward to hearing from you as new management at Hilton Hotels, and will do this time the right thing. Please review all the attached listed hyperlinks to more supporting evidence as an addendum to this letter, we believe you will find them an eye-opener.

Good luck in your new position.

Sincerely,

Lee Kaplan

National Director

DAFKA.org

StoptheISM.com

510 459 6944

leekaplan@dafka.org

1 Attachment below

The following articles should be printed out and sent with the letter as a packet to Hilton executives:

http://web.archive.org/web/20040910172809/http://radioislam.org/resistance/massacr.htm

http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:Q_WeXEPXflAJ:www.stoptheism.com/%3FM%3D%26T%3D312+Raja+Chemayel+%2B+Lee+Kaplan&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

http://www.adl.org/israel/israel_protest_calendar_2006.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Return_(guerrilla_organization)

http://www.adl.org/israel/anti_israel/al_awda/default.asp

http://web.archive.org/web/20040910172809/http://radioislam.org/resistance/massacr.htm

http://www.adl.org/terrorism/symbols/popular_front_pa1.asp

http://www.adl.org/terrorism/symbols/al_aqsa_martyrs_2.asp

http://www.adl.org/main_Israel/hamas_facts.htm

http://www.adl.org/terrorism/symbols/hezbollah.asp

http://www.adl.org/israel/israel_protest_calendar_2006.asp

http://www.boycottisraeligoods.org/modules14613.php (Note Hilton International among Al Awda’s boycott list).

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=47AD365E-6F00-4578-985A-E24DAB469EA8

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=7D383BC4-3DB6-416B-8607-8E51053EF633

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=C8BB89FC-8346-4489-ABF0-6995E3669764

http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:XEO-fdD9eUoJ:www.stoptheism.com/Default.asp%3FM%3D1%26T%3D165+Raja+Chemayel+%2B+Lee+Kaplan&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us Al Awda is part of the ISM.

www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1556680/posts

http://www.stoptheism.com/ Home page has expose on Electronic Intifada and Al Awda and has copies of Nazi website and former link to Boycott Israel campaign.