Jessica Russak-Hoffman | JNS
Zena Ozeir lists her current role on LinkedIn as assistant attorney general of the state of Michigan — a role that she has held since June 2023, per her profile.
The office of Dana Nessel, Michigan attorney general and a Democrat, told JNS exclusively that Ozeir does not currently hold that position.
“Zena Ozeir is no longer employed by the Michigan Department of Attorney General,” Kimberly Bush, Nessel’s director of public information and education, told JNS.
JNS sought comment from Nessel’s office about whether Ozeir was dismissed, and if so, whether it was as a result of a probe by the state office of her social media posts.
In June 2024, Nessel’s office told the Detroit News that it was investigating social-media posts, in which Ozeir appeared to direct expletives at America and Israel.
She made her handle private after the Detroit News sought comment from Nessel’s office, the paper said.
On Jan. 17, Ozeir was a panelist at an in-person event, which the group Palestine Solidarity Grand Rapids hosted in the city, per one of its social media posts. The event was hosted at the Fountain Street Church Sanctuary, per a flier, which identifies Ozeir as an “attorney, activist and USPCN member.” (The latter refers to the U.S. Palestinian Community Network, which “works closely with and unequivocally supports Students for Justice in Palestine,” per its site.)
The event flyer calls for the Holy Land 5 — leaders of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, who were convicted in 2008 of funnelling millions of dollars to Hamas — to be freed.
According to the Grand Rapids group, more than 100 people attended the panel, which featured Nida Abu Baker, whose father, Shukri Abu Baker, is one of the five who were convicted. Anti-war activist Tom Burke was also listed on the flier.
“We have learned that the law is not meant to protect us,” Ozeir said at the event. “This was something that’s been going on before Palestine was in the headlines all the time, and before 2023, and it’s a shame that it took a genocide for Palestine to become front and center.”
“The Holy Land Foundation case established that humanitarian aid providing public-support benefit to a group like Hamas constitutes terrorism support,” she added. “Wherever the wind blows, you could wake up one day, and Trump says, ‘Hey, I’m going to designate this a foreign terrorist organization, and then you are at risk of material support of terrorism.’”
The State Bar of California website states that Ozeir has an active license. It lists her address as the Michigan Office of the Attorney General.