Wa'el Alzayat

Douglas Emhoff, Kamala Harris and Wa'el Alzayat

Wa'el Alzayat is the CEO of Emgage (formerly EmergeUSA).

Wa'el Alzayat "previously served with distinction as a U.S. Middle East policy expert at the U.S. Department of State for ten years, including as Senior Policy Advisor to U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power and Syria Outreach Coordinator with Ambassador Robert Ford."

About

From the Emgage website:

Wa'el Alzayat is CEO of Emgage, where he provides strategic and operational guidance and management for the organization. He is based in Washington, D.C. Alzayat previously served with distinction as a U.S. Middle East policy expert at the U.S. Department of State for ten years, including as Senior Policy Advisor to U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power and Syria Outreach Coordinator with Ambassador Robert Ford.

As a first generation Arab and Muslim American, Alzayat has long been a passionate advocate for protecting fundamental American values and freedoms, and increasing the civic engagement of minority communities. Alzayat was recently named Top 10 Inspiring Arab Americans Leaders by Huffington Post.

Ceasefire Now Resolution

Cori Bush posted a list of endorsements for her Ceasefire Now Resolution. Wa'el Alzayat was cited:,

Wa'el Alzayat, CEO, Emgage Action said: “We are horrified by the continued violence in the Middle East. The U.S. must use its influence to encourage de-escalation in the region and the reaching of a political resolution to this crisis, not a military one. It is critical that the U.S. calls for and supports a ceasefire in the face of this escalating violence, especially the targeting and killing of civilians, many of whom are children. We commend our officials who are calling today, through this vital resolution, for an immediate ceasefire. Our elected officials must be a voice of reason and calm."

Biden Endorsement

Excerpt from Ali Abunimah of The Electronic Intifada dated Sept 9, 2020:

"Emgage is not shy that it wants to be “the main civic organization for Muslim American communities.”

And the group, whose political action committee endorsed Joe Biden in April, scored a coup when the Democratic presidential nominee spoke to an online summit it organized this summer.

In July, The Washington Post described Emgage as the “largest Muslim American PAC” – political action committee – though it is unclear what that is based on.

The same article quoted a certain Farooq Mitha lauding Emgage on behalf of the Democratic nominee.

“Joe Biden is proud to stand with Emgage during one of the most challenging moments for Muslim Americans in recent history under Donald Trump’s presidency,” Mitha told the newspaper.

[...]

"Emgage may be a convenient vehicle to parlay business success into political influence and appointments. Yet despite its sudden elevation by association with the Biden campaign, Emgage is not a new organization.

It was founded in 2006 as the Center for Voter Advocacy.

Under that name, it sponsored a 2010 fundraiser at the Ritz-Carlton in Key Biscayne for Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Miami Republican who had one of the most hardline pro-Israel records in Congress. A blast email promoting the fundraiser sent by Farooq Mitha listed Khurrum Wahid, now Emgage’s board co-chair, as contact person.

The group changed its official address to that of the Mitha-owned motel in 2011.

The Center for Voter Advocacy then changed its name to Emerge USA in 2013. It became Emgage in 2017.

Until at least 30 August, Emgage listed its 10 board members – all men – on its website. That page was removed shortly after that date without explanation.

"Now, Emgage is organizing what it calls the Million Muslim Votes campaign, though there is little indication it has the infrastructure to pull off such a massive national voter registration and mobilization effort.

In 2019, Emgage did receive a significant injection of funds from the Open Society Policy Center, one of the funding arms of billionaire George Soros: $75,000 to advocate against Trump’s Muslim ban and $1 million for “organizational support.”

Emgage did not respond to an inquiry about how many voters it has registered.

The effort is nonetheless backed by well-known national Muslim organizations such as CAIR, MPAC and MPower Change – the latter led by Palestinian American activist and lightning rod Linda Sarsour.

Whether they were aware of it or not, these groups have decided to partner with Emgage despite its coziness with the Israel lobby.

Emgage’s CEO Wa'el Alzayat worked at the State Department for more than 10 years. He did a stint at the American embassy in US-occupied Iraq.

Alzayat was also a senior adviser to Samantha Power, President Barack Obama’s UN ambassador and a leading proponent of regime-change wars under the banner of “humanitarian intervention.”

Alzayat has also been marketed as an “expert” by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a cut out of the Israel lobby group AIPAC.

He has spoken in at least one Washington Institute event.

Alzayat did not respond to The Electronic Intifada’s request for comment...

'Hate speech' Resolution

On April 4, 2017, the US Senate passed Senate Resolution 118, "Condemning hate crime and any other form of racism, religious or ethnic bias, discrimination, incitement to violence, or animus targeting a minority in the United States". The resolution was drafted by Wa'el Alzayat of the Muslim organization, EmgageUSA (formerly EmergeUSA) and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC).

On April 6, 2017, EmgageUSA wrote the following on their Facebook page:

"Thanks to the hard work of Senator Marco Rubio, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Senator Susan Collins and Senator Kamala Harris we have achieved the approval of Senate Resolution 118, an anti-hate crimes bill drafted by Emerge-USA. It is days like this that Americans are reminded of this country's founding principles: equal opportunity, freedom, justice. We are proud to help support the protection of these rights #amoreperfectunion #theamericandream".

Senate Resolution 118 calls on...

"...Federal law enforcement officials, working with State and local officials... to expeditiously investigate all credible reports of hate crimes and incidents and threats against minorities in the United States and to hold the perpetrators of those crimes, incidents, or threats accountable and bring the perpetrators to justice; encourages the Department of Justice and other Federal agencies to work to improve the reporting of hate crimes; and... encourages the development of an interagency task force led by the Attorney General to collaborate on the development of effective strategies and efforts to detect and deter hate crime in order to protect minority communities..."

The resolution refers to hate crimes against Muslims, Jews, African-Americans, Hindus, and Sikhs and was sponsored by Senator Kamala Harris and co-sponsored by Senator Marco Rubio, Senator Dianne Feinstein, and Senator Susan Collins.

The original drafter of the resolution was Wa'el Alzayat of EmergeUSA.