Update: Rami Ibrahim was unable to promote his views live on UFC Fight Pass. He was forced to withdrawal from the fight at the last minute, citing an injury during training.
Glory World Series Kickboxing will be hosting Glory 33 tonight in Trenton, New Jersey. This is one of the largest kickboxing events in the world and will be broadcasted live on ESPN’s UFC Fight Pass. Among the fighters is Rami ”The Son of Palestine” Ibrahim. Ibrahim, a Muey Thai fighter, is really looking forward to promoting his love for Palestine in front of a large television audience.
However, Ibrahim doesn’t just support the idea of a Palestinian national identity. He happens to be a proud Hamas sympathizer with numerous social media post that say “long live Hamas” [1] [2]. He also believes that ISIS is a Jewish/Mossad plot.
From Ibrahim’s social media:
Hamas is an openly anti-Semitic terrorist organization whose stated goals are to kill Jews and establish an Islamic Caliphate. Over the years, Hamas has claimed responsibility for the deaths of hundreds of innocent civilians, including several Americans. Hamas is brutally repressive toward women and gays; they have a tendency of savagely dragging dead bodies through the streets and using child labor to create terror tunnels into Israel.
Both the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Glory Kickboxing were contacted via Twitter regarding Ibrahim’s taste in Jew-hating terrorist groups. The Chairman did acknowledge the tweet and thanked me for informing him. While it appears that Ibrahim will not be pulled from the fight, he did post an angry rant on Facebook complaining that he has to “explain himself” to the fight promoters regarding his views.
Ibrahim is not without his supporters. Several of his terrorist loving anti-Israel activist friends have been petitioning on Facebook to keep him in the fight [1][2].
Ibrahim’s friends within the fighting community have not only shown their support for him, but also their complete lack of knowledge of the hateful ideologies of the terrorist group Hamas. For example, after noticing Ibrahim was promoting his fight on the Philadelphia-based radio podcast, Cage Side Submissions, I attempted to contact the outlet via a private Facebook message. I asked them to question Ibrahim about his anti-Semitism and terrorist sympathies. However, the real question is why they would even have someone who supports a terrorist organization on their show to begin with. Would they let Ibrahim have airtime if he said “long live ISIS” or “long live the al-Qaeda”?
My comment was promptly replied to and dismissed as “political dribble.” The radio show’s host – a friend of Ibrahim’s – quickly went to Facebook with screenshots of my Facebook profile – in an attempt to shame me – and ranted about how terrible I was for attempting to besmirch a person’s character over his political and/or religious beliefs. Friends and students of Ibrahim’s went to bat for him in the comment section. Apparently, according to various members of the fighting community, being an open supporter of a Jew-hating terrorist group is now regarded as “a religious view.“
Additionally, Ibrahim, again, couldn’t understand why his fighting achievements weren’t enough to nullify issues with his personal beliefs. It really doesn’t matter how good of a fighter he is. Hamas is a blood-thirsty terrorist organization responsible for the brutal murder of both Israelis and Palestinians. As a fan of fighting sports, it’s disturbing to know that a Hamas sympathizer will be parading his views live on ESPN. However, what’s more disturbing is the willingness of people to overlook someone’s support for a murderous terrorist group so long as that person is nice to them personally and perhaps has some talent in the ring.
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