American Muslim Institutions Marginalize Palestine for Proximity to Power

As American Muslims observe Ramadan through fasting and celebration, nearly a year and a half into the U.S.-Israeli genocide of Palestinians, the community—led largely by its youth—mobilized last year to cancel political iftars across the U.S. While some still took place, many were called off, marking a significant shift and a victory for principled resistance.

Despite this progress, political iftars are making a comeback this Ramadan.

In Houston, Texas, the Islamic Society of Greater Houston (ISGH)—the city's and nation’s largest Muslim organization, overseeing 20 mosques and centers—has decided to revive its tradition of political iftars by participating in the annual Houston Mayoral Iftar, despite publicly condemning it just last year. Even as hundreds of thousands of Palestinians remain buried under rubble in Gaza, some American Muslims seem to have moved on.

Given the open hostility of Mayor John Whitmire, ISGH’s participation this year is alarming. On June 6, 2024, Houston Chronicle journalist Eric Killelea reported that Whitmire proudly emphasized his "working relationship" with Houston’s Jewish community while commemorating Israel’s 76th anniversary. Whitmire made his allegiances unmistakably clear: “...and when some of your enemies challenged me to do a proclamation for a cease-fire, I would not respond.”

Additionally, Whitmire attempted to pass an ordinance to prevent protests in front of elected officials' homes, but it failed. He accused Pro-Palestinian protestors of being Iranian agents, an Islamophobic dog whistle that is often utilized against the Muslim community.

Last year ISGH, unequivocally stated: “The Board has unanimously felt that due to the atrocities committed against our brothers and sisters in Gaza and the huge loss of innocent human life, it should refrain from attending Iftar events with leaders who fail to renounce the atrocities and fail to call for a permanent ceasefire openly and publicly.” Additionally, the statement emphasized that the community’s values and that of the Mayor were not in alignment.

ISGH’s Troubled History in Regards to “Normalization”

“Normalization,” is when Muslim figures and institutions legitimize pro-Israel figures through symbolic partnerships while sidelining the Palestinian community. Attending events like the Houston Mayoral Iftar normalizes Zionism and whitewashes politicians’ token engagement with the Muslim community, allowing them to support Israel without accountability.

ISGH has a controversial history regarding the Palestinian cause—whether through interfaith "faithwashing” programs that host Zionists or anti-Palestinian figures, or by allowing masjid spaces to be politicized by hosting politicians who fail to deliver tangible results for our community.

However, under the previous administration, ISGH briefly took steps toward course correction. While the previous administration, not without fault, had its critics, it recognized the community’s frustration and responded accordingly. In 2021, ISGH placed a temporary moratorium on interfaith events to ensure that anti-Palestinian figures would not be part of ISGH’s interfaith programming and that future engagements would involve only reliable partners.

This decision came after nationwide American Muslim backlash when prominent Houston Imams signed a statement with Rabbis that not only ignored Israeli occupation and violence but sanitized the IDF’s attack on Masjid Al-Aqsa in 2021. Instead of explicitly condemning the Israeli military’s violent storming of Al-Aqsa during Ramadan, the statement used vague language about "violations of sacred spaces."

ISGH later clarified that it had not sanctioned the statement and that the Imams had signed in their own individual capacity. Some Imams also took to social media to explain to the community that they had been unaware of the statement’s contents.

The statement was organized by Shariq Abdul Ghani, Director of the Minaret Foundation, an interfaith and civic organization. According to the Jewish Herald-Voice, Ghani holds membership within the ADL.

ADL claims to be a civil rights organization, but critics accuse it of leading attacks against prominent Muslim organizations for their pro-Palestinian and anti-genocide advocacy. Journalist Tom Perkins, writing for The Guardian, on July 9, 2024, reported that the ADL had been involved in spying on an anti-genocide Black organizer. Additionally, the ADL has fully endorsed the U.S. government's kidnapping and disappearance of Columbia University student Mahmood Khalil for his anti-genocide advocacy.

Despite distancing itself from the statement, ISGH took a definitive step by ceasing interfaith engagement with Zionist leaders.

Former ISGH President Ayman Kabire also joined other prominent American Muslim leaders in signing an open letter urging the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) to sever ties with the American Jewish Committee (AJC), citing the AJC’s long history of anti-Muslim rhetoric and anti-Palestinian bigotry. The letter stated: “The AJC has praised anti-Muslim bigots like Daniel Pipes, Steve Emerson, and Ayaan Hirsi Ali; since 2018, it has smeared Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and other Muslim Americans who support Palestinian freedom, spread Islamophobic tropes (including blaming the Quran for anti-Semitism), and repeatedly defended war crimes committed by the Israeli government against the Palestinian people.”

While the previous ISGH administration attempted to push ISGH toward a more principled stance, under newly elected President Emran Gazi, the organization appears to be reversing course.

From Malcolm X to Palestine: The Crisis of Muslim Leadership in America

The issues with ISGH—how it engages with politicians and mishandles the Palestinian cause—are just a microcosm of a larger crisis within American Muslim institutions. Across the country, many Muslim organizations and institutions prioritize political access over principled resistance, hosting officials and organizations who fund Israel’s crimes while they offer empty platitudes to Muslim communities.

From New Jersey to New York to Houston, political iftars and interfaith events serve as a tool to neutralize Muslim outrage, forcing communities into photo-op diplomacy instead of pushing for substantive action. Rather than demanding accountability from those in power, many American Muslim elites equate "having a seat at the table" with influence.

ISGH exemplified this contradiction when it hosted a "Muslim African American History Conference", during its celebration of Black history month, where some celebrated Malcolm X. Ironically, ISGH is now engaged in the very political appeasement Malcolm warned against—he explicitly condemned leaders who sought validation from oppressors rather than standing for justice.

Malcolm X was one of the earliest American Muslim figures to link Black liberation to Palestinian freedom, stating: "I implore every person of conscience regardless of their origins or beliefs to stand steadfast with the Palestinian people in their unwavering quest for justice".

He understood what too many Muslim leaders today refuse to acknowledge: you cannot serve the oppressed and the oppressor at the same time.

The Path Forward: Rejecting Performative Politics & Building True American Muslim Power

Despite the vital work of Muslim-led advocacy organizations at the national level–lobbying against Israeli aggression, combating anti-Muslim bigotry, and defending civil rights–they have largely remained silent on the communal marginalization of Palestinian Muslims within Muslim institutions.

Pro-Palestinian causes and voices are often sidelined in favor of institutional diplomacy, where organizations and religious leaders engage in highly curated discussions. These efforts–whether through photo-ops, interfaith panels, or iftar parties–offer the illusion of inclusion.

At the same time, institutional diplomacy acts as a filter, creating a false sense of influence, where the mere presence of Muslim leaders at official gatherings is mistaken for real political impact, even when little actually changes. In the end, institutional diplomacy manages dissent rather than empowering it, ensuring that pro-Palestinian advocacy stays within boundaries that don’t threaten the status quo.

Every American Muslim organization, both large and small, bears a responsibility to address anti-Palestinian marginalization within our communities. The Palestinian cause is not just a foreign policy issue—it is a moral imperative that speaks to the core of justice in Islam—and it impacts our domestic policy issues. Palestinian-American political analyst, AbdelHalim AbdelRahman, writing for the Center for International Policy, explains, “Gaza hit home with America’s labor unions and youth, marking foreign policy not as a separate issue from domestic issues but one intimately bound up in them.”

When Muslim organizations fail to stand for justice, they alienate their members, especially young people, and disconnect grassroots leaders from traditional spaces. This fracturing erodes trust in religious institutions and risks rendering them irrelevant and morally bankrupt overtime. Ultimately, it diminishes Muslim collective power, making advocacy for justice on the national scale less effective.

As the ethnic cleansing of Palestine continues, and as our civil rights come under attack, it is no longer enough for Muslim institutions to fundraise for donations for Palestine’s humanitarian concerns, while undermining the movement politically. The time for appeasement politics should have been over last year!

Malcolm X famously stated: "If you turn the other cheek, you can be enslaved for 1,000 years."