FIRST ON FOX: The head of a prominent “social justice” group that published an essay calling for “decriminalizing Hamas,” along with defunding the police and eliminating immigration agencies, visited the White House multiple times earlier this year.

Joyce Ajlouny, listed as the general secretary of American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), is shown on official logs visiting the White House twice in March 2024 for a total of three meetings with members of the Biden administration.

Ajlouny and a delegation of religious leaders “met with Biden administration staff from the National Security Council, the Domestic Policy Council, and the Office of Public Engagement to demand an end to the genocide in Gaza,” according to a statement issued by Ajlouny at the time in a press release.

“I joined with people representing many different churches and denominations to call for an immediate and permanent cease-fire and full access for humanitarian aid,” she continued. “The Biden Administration has the power to make this happen.”  

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AFSC has pushed a variety of far-left causes, including a September 2019 essay written by author Jonathan Kuttab, a “Palestinian human rights lawyer,” titled, “Decriminalizing Hamas.” 

Kuttab called “to end the demonization of Hamas, bring it into the political process and begin the long road to peace and freedom,” the Washington Free Beacon reported this past week.

AFSC, a self-described “Quaker org” based in Philadelphia, has been a fierce critic of Israel, blaming it as the “root cause” of the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel last October.

At the height of the George Floyd riots in 2020, the group also posted a call to defund the police.

“In the wake of ongoing police killings of Black people, AFSC joins a growing number of groups calling on cities and states to invest money in schools, health care, and transformative justice approaches, rather than funding the police,” the post stated.

A person holds up a sign advocating for defunding the police as people gather to mark Juneteenth, Friday, June 19, 2020, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

In another post shared by the group, which is titled, “A Quaker call to defund the police,” the essay says, “Defunding the police is a demand from the Black Lives Matter movement.”

“At this point we need to follow and support the calls and demands from the Black people and grassroots organizations offering profound leadership,” the essay continued. “It is not for us to mute or critique the demands that Black folks are making right now.”

AFSC repeatedly called for defunding the police and abolishing ICE and border patrol on their official X account.

The Marguerite Casey Foundation, a radical far-left organization that has repeatedly supported abolishing police and ICE, is one of several left-wing foundations that has donated tens of thousands of dollars to AFSC, which includes the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, a billionaire-fueled fund that keeps popping up in the financials for anti-Israel groups.

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President Biden walks down the steps of Air Force One at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, Wednesday, July 17, 2024. (Susan Walsh/AP)

AFSC’s media relations director responded to Fox News Digital’s inquiry about their controversial positions by saying, “AFSC is a Quaker organization that values the life and dignity of every single person.”

“For more than a century we have worked to end wars and alleviate suffering in the U.S. and around the world,” Layne Mullett said. “In 1947, the Nobel Peace Prize was jointly awarded to AFSC and the British Friends Service Council, in recognition of the work of Quakers worldwide to heal rifts, tend to the wounded, and oppose war.”

“We have a long history in Israel and Palestine and began doing relief work in Gaza in 1948,” she continued. “We continue to do vital humanitarian work there today. We have been outspoken advocates to end the occupation of Palestinian and to build lasting peace with justice between Israelis, Palestinians, and all people for decades.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House and Harris campaign for comment but did not receive a response.

FIRST ON FOX: The Democratic National Committee (DNC) projected images on Trump Tower in Chicago on Sunday evening ahead of the party’s convention on Monday.

“All eyes are on Chicago, and tonight, everyone is receiving a preview of the contrast that Democrats will drive throughout the Democratic National Convention this week – directly on Trump International Hotel,” the DNC said in a statement.

The images on the Trump International Hotel and Tower, which is named for former President Trump, attempted to tie the former president and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, to Project 2025, a political initiative published by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank based out of Washington, D.C.

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Elements of the initiative have become controversial, leading Trump to deny attempts to link him to the project.

“I know nothing about Project 2025. I have not seen it, have no idea who is in charge of it, and, unlike our very well received Republican Platform, had nothing to do with it,” Trump said in a June Truth Social post.

The messages projected on the tower, which is the second-tallest building in Chicago, were also meant to contrast Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to the Republican ticket, with the DNC saying that the vice president and Minnesota governor “have proven records of delivering for working families.”

The Democratic National Committee projects images on Trump Tower in Chicago, on the eve of the Democrats’ national convention, on August 18, 2024 (DNC)

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“Now, they’re running to lead our country into a brighter future. Donald Trump and JD Vance are running on their backwards Project 2025 agenda, which would make the lives of our families worse and take away their freedoms, while granting Trump power like no president has had before,” the DNC statement said.

Democrats will begin their convention Monday after a rocky few months for President Biden, who in July opted to drop out of the race and endorse Harris. Harris quickly solidified support in the party and chose Walz as a running mate, leading to weeks of positive momentum in the polls.

The Democratic ticket will hope to continue that momentum at the convention in Chicago, with the DNC hammering home the message that “Trump and Vance are only looking out for themselves.”

Vice President Kamala Harris and President Biden appeared together hours after a report came out that she was seeking “distance” from his policies. (Getty Images)

“This week, the entire country will witness what it looks like to unite behind hope and a clear vision for a better future, as Democrats rally behind Vice President Harris and Governor Walz,” the DNC said. “While Donald Trump and JD Vance are out for themselves, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are fighting for you.”

Go ahead, Democrats, party like it’s 2008.

In just a month, Democrats have gone from dreading their 2024 national convention that starts Monday in Chicago to dying to attend. Some Democratic officials and operatives had scheduled August vacations to have an excuse to skip the four-day affair, I’d heard. Now they’re sorry. Be there or be square.

Different candidate, different convention. Instead of renominating President Biden amid polls showing him behind Donald Trump, the Democrats will crown a far spunkier Vice President Kamala Harris. She’s already gotten under Trump’s thin skin, drawing such large crowds that he claims photos of her rallies are AI-generated, and she’s pulled ahead of him in the same polls that formerly had Biden losing.

Once again Democrats are embracing that hopey-changey thing they last savored 16 years ago, when they made Barack Obama their standard-bearer.

Conventions are political theater scripted to a party’s advantage. (OK, there was that previous Democratic convention in Chicago in 1968, and at this one, thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters could make trouble.) These gatherings are the single biggest opportunity for candidates to grab voters’ attention before the election; 25 million viewers caught Trump’s meandering acceptance speech last month at the Republican convention.

So, enjoy the week, Democrats. It could well be the high point of your 2024 campaign.

Because once Harris leaves Chi-town with her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, they face 10 weeks of trench warfare with a gutter-dwelling rival who knows no bounds. Racism? Misogyny? Trump is already playing those cards. In the weeks since Biden reluctantly exited the race and endorsed Harris, a rattled Trump has cursed the Democrats’ switcharoo and the reversal of his political fortunes.

He ludicrously claims Democrats staged an unconstitutional “coup” against Biden. He unashamedly hurls slurs at Harris to see what sticks, explicitly disregarding advisors’ pleas to stick to issues like the economy. So far, he’s squandering his chance to credibly define Harris and her record, leaving her free to reintroduce herself positively to voters who’d previously recoiled at having to choose between two fogies.

Yet eventually some part of the Trump attacks might land. Harris could and probably will make a mistake; for all her current polish and pizzazz on the stump, Democrats still brace for any sign of the internal dysfunction that quickly derailed her 2020 presidential campaign. Some embarrassing revelation could surface; already Walz has been thrown on the defensive for misleading descriptions of his 24-year service in the Army National Guard and his arrest three decades ago on a drunk driving charge.

The convention itself poses challenges as well as opportunities for Harris.

Were the familiar Biden still the candidate, the show likely would have focused on Trump, painting him as so unfit for another term that voters would shelve their misgivings about Biden — in keeping with the president’s saying, “Don’t compare me to the Almighty. Compare me to the alternative.” With the less well-known Harris as the nominee, the convention must showcase her, not Trump, and in a way that persuades fence-sitters that she can be president, and a president who fights for them.

Sure there will be lots of Trump-bashing; he’s earned it. But until a month ago, Harris — like most vice presidents — was little known and little more popular than Biden. As the convention tells the Harris story, expect to hear a lot about her job at a McDonald’s one summer during college, to blunt her coastal cosmopolitan persona. Harris’ acceptance speech, the convention’s finale Thursday night, will be more crucial than the usual: Typically, nominees come to the podium as familiar figures who’ve been campaigning for up to two years, not four weeks.

In selling herself, Harris also must sell the achievements of the Biden-Harris administration; too many Americans remain unaware or unbelieving. But, more than that, she must flesh out a vision for the next four years beyond just “finishing the job,” as Biden promised.

Another imperative: countering Trump’s “other”-ing of her as not quite a “real American,” the identity that MAGA Republicans claimed for themselves at their convention. Harris’ “We love our country” line wins cheers on the campaign trail, and calculatingly contrasts with Trump’s constant denigration of the United States as a third-world hellhole. She, and Democrats generally, must continue to take back the flag and “freedom.” Might Beyoncé appear to sing her song of that name? Stay tuned.

Beyoncé or not, by the time Harris reaches the podium, she will have had plenty of high-profile help setting the stage. On Monday, prime-time speakers will be Biden, who’s likely to receive a rapturous reception in gratitude as much for passing the torch as for his service, and Hillary Clinton, who’d hoped to be the first woman president but, poignantly, will argue for that honor to be Harris’. Tuesday night spotlights Obama, the first Black president extolling a possible second. Bill Clinton’s turn is Wednesday, followed by Walz’s nomination and acceptance speech.

That lineup telegraphs another contrast between the Democratic Party and a Republican Party dominated by a single vengeful man. Recall the no-shows at Trump’s convention: former President George W. Bush; former Vice Presidents Dick Cheney, Dan Quayle and Trump’s own, Mike Pence, and the party’s 2012 ticket, Sen. Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Paul D. Ryan.

Democrats expect to be one big, happy family in Chicago. And just like actual families, they’ll need their unity and harmony for the inevitable rough road ahead.

@jackiekcalmes