1. Huwaida Arraf was born on February 1976 and is an American activist and lawyer who co-founded the International Solidarity Movement, a Palestinian-led organization using non-violent protests and international pressure to support Palestinians.
18 Facts About Huwaida Arraf
1. 2.
Huwaida Arraf's mother is from the West Bank town of Beit Sahour and her father from Mi'ilya, a local council in Northern Israel.
3.
Huwaida Arraf's parents moved from the West Bank to Detroit, Michigan, Arraf's birthplace, to be able to raise her away from the violence in the West Bank.
4.
Huwaida Arraf spent a year at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and studied Hebrew on a kibbutz.
5.
Huwaida Arraf later earned a Juris Doctor from American University's Washington College of Law.
6.
Huwaida Arraf's focus was on international human rights and humanitarian law, with a particular interest in war crimes prosecution.
7.
Huwaida Arraf worked with the International Human Rights Law Clinic at the Washington College of Law, where she represented clients before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on issues ranging from indigenous lands rights to cross-border abductions and irregular rendition.
8.
In 2001, Huwaida Arraf worked at the Center for Coexistence in Jerusalem as a regional coordinator.
9.
Huwaida Arraf was the chair of the Free Gaza Movement, the organization behind the Gaza Freedom Flotillas, a series of groups of ships carrying pro-Palestinian activists that were organized to break Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.
10.
Huwaida Arraf was aboard the 2008 Free Gaza boats as well as the 2010 flotilla that was raided by Israeli commandos on May 31.
11.
At the time of the raid, Huwaida Arraf was aboard the Challenger 1, one of the smallest boats of the flotilla.
12.
Huwaida Arraf resigned from this position in October 2012 after a new board was approved on September 17,2012.
13.
Huwaida Arraf's resignation came shortly before a controversy over an allegedly antisemitic tweet posted by Greta Berlin on the official Twitter feed of the Free Gaza Movement.
14.
In November 2021, Huwaida Arraf declared her candidacy for Michigan's 10th congressional district in the 2022 election.
15.
Huwaida Arraf placed fourth in the five-way Democratic primary held in August 2022, losing the nomination to Carl Marlinga.
16.
Huwaida Arraf was a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 2024 election to the University of Michigan Board of Regents, challenging Shauna Ryder-Diggs and incumbent Denise Ilitch for the nomination.
17.
Huwaida Arraf launched her campaign in August 2024, at the urging of students angered by the university's response to the pro-Palestinian protests.
18.
Huwaida Arraf lost by roughly 100 district-weighted votes in the straw poll at the party convention.