Justice Education Technology Political Action Center (JET-PAC) is a left-of-center fiscal sponsor of other groups and an advocate for Muslim voter turnout. Founded in 2015 by a Massachusetts politician, it was part of a major controversy in 2023 when one of its fiscally sponsored groups, Doctors Against Genocide, planned an event at the Holocaust Museum decrying alleged genocide in Gaza by Israeli military forces in the war following the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023. ¹

Background

JET-PAC was founded in 2015 by Nadeem Mazen, then a member of the Cambridge, Massachusetts City Council, and his campaign staff. Mazen had successfully been re-elected to City Council that year with the highest vote total of all 26 candidates in the race, and his staff credited that political victory to successful engagement and voter turnout of Cambridge’s Muslim population. Mazen and his team founded JET-PAC to replicate that political model around the country and grow the political influence of American Muslims. ² Mazen was named founding president of the PAC, and his campaign team made up most of JET-PAC’s staff. ³

Today, the organization runs a public service fellowship to prepare American Muslims to run for office. It also offers an AP-accredited U.S. Government and Politics curriculum to high school students that combines civic teachings with Islamic principles and community organizing practices. ⁴

Doctors Against Genocide

JET-PAC is a fiscal sponsor of Doctors Against Genocide (DAG), which claims it was formed in to oppose genocide and related war crimes. ⁵ According to critics, the group was formed in November 2023 following the Hamas attacks against Israel on October 7 and the resulting Israeli military response. Critics also note that most of DAG’s activities are directed against Israel while the group claims that the latter is perpetuating genocide in Gaza. ⁶

The group organized multiple “White Coat Marches,” or sit-ins, at the Egypt-Gaza border, the White House, and Capitol Hill, pressuring for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. ⁷ DAG also sent contingents to anti-Israel marches and vigils in Washington, D.C. across late 2023, and held a press conference calling for ceasefire with anti-Israel members of Congress, including Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Cori Bush (D-MO), and Ilhan Omar (D-MN). ^{8 9}

DAG planned a protest inside the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum for December 28, 2023, encouraging participants to obtain free entry tickets and go inside to protest there at 11 a.m., before a planned White House protest at 3 p.m. ¹⁰ The protest was cancelled after public backlash, though DAG claimed there was a “misunderstanding” and said its goal was to call attention to the genocide of the Holocaust and then call for an end to the genocide in Gaza. ¹¹

Jewish advocacy groups condemned the planned protest, such as Watchdog group Stopantisemitism.org releasing a statement, “Hamas has one goal – to murder Jews. For this physicians’ group to desecrate the Holocaust museum with their calls of a ceasefire (ie – for the Jewish nation to stop defending itself) is stomach churning.” ¹² In response, the Holocaust Museum claimed the museum had not been in touch with the DAG organizers but the planned event would have been “extremely offensive, particularly to Holocaust survivors.” ¹³

Leadership

Nadeem Mazen is co-founder and board president of JET-PAC. He served as Cambridge City Councilman for two terms, and ran for Congress in 2018 to replace retiring Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-MA), but dropped out due to poor fundraising numbers. ¹⁴

Mohammed Missouri is Treasurer of JET-PAC. He joined in 2019 after years on the staff of Massachusetts State Senator Jamie Eldridge. ¹⁵ Missouri also recently sat on the board of Progressive Massachusetts (“Progressive Mass”), a statewide group fighting for left wing principles like redistribution of wealth and the expansion of government power. ¹⁶

Shaun Kennedy is co-founder and campaigns director of JET-PAC. He was Nadeem’s deputy campaign manager. Shaun is primarily a campaign strategist and field operative but has experience in almost all aspects of civic and political organizing. ¹⁷

Financials

The Tides Foundation, a major left-of-center grantmaking organization, gave $10,000 in 2018 and another $10,000 in 2020. ¹⁸ Proteus Fund, another pass-through left-wing funding group, gave $8,000 in 2018. Chicago Community Trust gave $17,500 that same year. ¹⁹

JET-PAC reported $91,740 in revenue in 2022, down from $193,652 in 2017, the first year the group had nonprofit status. ²⁰

1. Karen K. Ho. “Doctors Against Genocide Cancels Event at the Holocaust Memorial Museum.” ARTNews. December 27, 2023. Accessed January 18, 2024. https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/doctors-against-genocide-cancels-event-holocaust-memorial-museum-washington-1234691316/
2. “About Us.” JET-PAC. Accessed January 18, 2024. https://www.jet-pac.com/about-us/
3. “About Us.” JET-PAC. Accessed January 18, 2024. https://www.jet-pac.com/about-us/
4. “Youth Training Program.” JET-PAC. Accessed January 18, 2024. https://www.jet-pac.com/our-work/#1511817330152-fb6dd6ce-4fc3
5. “Home Page”. Doctors Against Genocide. Accessed January 18, 2024. https://doctorsagainstgenocide.org/
6.  Ryan Mauro. “Left-Wing ‘Dark Money’ Powerhouse Funded Group Linked to Holocaust Museum Protestors.” Capital Research Center. December 28, 2023. https://capitalresearch.org/article/left-wing-dark-money-powerhouse-funded-group-linked-to-holocaust-museum-protestors/
7. “Home Page.” Doctors Against Genocide. Accessed January 18, 2024. https://doctorsagainstgenocide.org/
8. “Events” Doctors Against Genocide. Accessed January 19, 2024. https://doctorsagainstgenocide.org/events
9. TRTWorld on Instagram: “”Rashida Tlaib, Cori Bush, Ilhan Omar and members of the ‘Doctors against Genocide’ group protest in front of US Congress to demand a permanent ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza…” December 7, 2023. Accessed January 22, 2024. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0kttxotcoL/
10. Kristine Parks. “‘Doctors Against Genocide’ scraps event at Holocaust Museum, apologizes after uproar: ‘Misunderstanding’”. New York Post. December 27, 2023. Accessed January 18, 2024. https://nypost.com/2023/12/27/news/doctors-against-genocide-scraps-event-at-holocaust-museum/
11. Ryan Mauro. “Left-Wing ‘Dark Money’ Powerhouse Funded Group Linked to Holocaust Museum Protestors.” Capital Research Center. December 28, 2023. https://capitalresearch.org/article/left-wing-dark-money-powerhouse-funded-group-linked-to-holocaust-museum-protestors/
12. ^[1] StopAntisemites on Twitter: “Sickening – the newly formed “Doctors Against Genocide” plans to infiltrate the U.S. Holocaust Museum this Thursday (12/28) to demand Israel stop defending itself against Hamas terrorism.” December 26, 2023. Accessed January 17, 2024.  https://twitter.com/StopAntisemites/status/1739647373196787954?lang=en
13. Beth Harpaz. “Group opposing war in Gaza cancels Holocaust museum event after critics call it antisemitic.” Forward. December 26, 2023. Accessed January 17, 2024. https://forward.com/fast-forward/574619/palestinian-protest-doctors-against-genocide-holocaust-museum-washington/
14. Benjamin E. Frimodig and Isabel M. Kendall. “Mazen Drops Out of Congressional Race.” The Crimson. January 30th, 2018. Accessed January 21, 2024. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2018/1/30/nadeem-mazen-withdraws-race/
15. Mohammed Missouri. “Welcoming JET-PACs New Executive Director”. JET-PAC. August 7, 2019.  Accessed January 20, 2024. https://www.jet-pac.com/welcoming-jetpacs-new-executive-director/
16. Senator Jamie Eldridge on Facebook: “Bravo to Jetpac Director…” January 24, 2021. Accessed January 18, 2024. https://m.facebook.com/SenatorJamieEldridge/posts/10157806570093302/
17. “Our Team.” JET-PAC. Accessed January 18, 2024. https://donate.jet-pac.com/team/#shaun
18. “Tides Foundation” Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax. (Form 990). 2020. Accessed January 18, 2024. ”https://www.tides.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2020_Tides-Foundation_Form-990-Public-Disclosure-1.pdf
19. Ryan Mauro. “Left-Wing ‘Dark Money’ Powerhouse Funded Group Linked to Holocaust Museum Protestors.” Capital Research Center. December 28, 2023.  https://capitalresearch.org/article/left-wing-dark-money-powerhouse-funded-group-linked-to-holocaust-museum-protestors/
20. “Jetpac Resource Center”. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). 2020. Accessed January 18, 2024. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/475629373/202321359349202827/full