The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), a leading U.S. civil rights organization advocating for Arab-American communities, is facing unprecedented internal upheaval following the April 27 ousting of its longtime national executive director Abed Ayoub, a controversy that has exposed deep rifts over governance, workplace culture and accountability.
In the wake of Ayoub’s termination, growing public and internal pressure has mounted for the entire ADC board to step down to make way for a full organizational overhaul. But Board Chair Safa Rifka, an 80-year-old infertility and reproductive endocrinologist, has rejected these calls in an emailed statement to Middle East Eye (MEE), provided through the public relations firm Poston Communications. Rifka argues that any mass board resignation would capitulate to what he calls a social media-driven campaign of misinformation, and would betray ADC’s core mission at a moment of heightened urgency for Arab-Americans.
The chain of events that led to Ayoub’s removal began on April 1, when he submitted a 39-page formal restructuring proposal to the full ADC board. The document, titled *ADC/ADCRI Transformational Restructuring and Compliance Strengthening Plan* (ADCRI is ADC’s research arm), called for a 90-day institutional reset to address longstanding structural flaws. Ayoub’s plan centered on clarifying the long-muddled line between board governance and day-to-day management — a gap that he wrote had generated repeated concerns from community members over inconsistent treatment and unclear accountability. He proposed building a disciplined institutional framework that aligns organizational purpose, staffing, systems, authority and oversight, and shifting ADC from a personality-led operation to a transparent, accountable institutional model. Ayoub also called for full transparency around donation collection and expenditure, staff roles and compensation, and major decision-making processes.
Ayoub argued that the restructuring was critical because ADC had grown exponentially following the October 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent Israeli military campaign in Gaza, events that upended U.S. civil society and triggered a sharp rise in anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian hate crimes, workplace retaliation and campus censorship across the country. Even critics of Ayoub acknowledge that ADC stepped up dramatically to defend its community during this period: the organization’s legal team has intervened in high-profile cases, from fighting the deportation of former Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil to defending University of Michigan students and staff disciplined for pro-Palestine advocacy, and filing a lawsuit against anti-Muslim Republican lawmaker Randy Fine. Ayoub noted in his proposal that while this rapid growth was a marker of the organization’s vital work, it had left outdated systems and governance structures unable to keep pace, creating a liability that undermined the group’s impact.
Three days after submitting his plan, on April 4, Ayoub filed an internal complaint alleging ongoing harassment and a hostile work environment at ADC. “I cannot effectively lead with board members who force us to fight internally and externally. No Executive Director can,” he wrote in the complaint, a copy of which MEE has reviewed. Ayoub told MEE that the board appointed an investigation committee staffed by the very members he had accused of misconduct, comparing the process to “Israel investigating itself.” He also alleged a pattern of personal belittlement during his tenure, as well as anti-Shia sentiment from some board members — claims that Rifka has denied, saying his leadership has always prioritized open dialogue across all segments of the Arab-American diaspora.
On April 11, Ayoub left for a pre-planned family vacation, and requested medical leave for an undisclosed health condition on April 21. Rifka claims that after Ayoub could not be reached to confirm a specific return date, the board had “no other choice but to assume [Ayoub’s] voluntary resignation.” The same day, the board appointed stewardship director Nabil Mohamed as Ayoub’s replacement, a change that was not announced publicly until May 1, despite being finalized in late April. Ayoub’s email access was revoked on April 23, and he received his formal termination notice four days later. He is now suing ADC, represented by the Nisar Law Group, calling his firing “unjust” and “unlawful,” the outcome of an orchestrated “smear campaign” against him. Ayoub has stated that if he receives any financial compensation from the lawsuit, he will donate all funds to create a “Survivor’s Fund” for more than a dozen women who have accused ADC of verbal abuse, sexual harassment and sexual assault dating back to 2006.
Internal accounts of Ayoub’s tenure are divided. A current part-time ADC staffer, connected to MEE by the organization’s PR firm, described the workplace as “chaotic” under Ayoub, claiming he often disappeared from the office and ignored staff concerns. Ayoub countered that he was always available to staff during working hours, and noted that he took second and third jobs in evenings and weekends to support his family. Ed Hasan, a governance expert appointed to the ADC board by Rifka in December who was himself ousted in April, told MEE that the organization suffers from an unprofessional work environment marked by conflicts of interest and lax handling of discrimination claims — but placed the blame not on Ayoub, but on board leadership.
The crisis deepened in late April, when U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American member of Congress, resurfaced decades-old allegations of misconduct against women at ADC that date back to 2006 and 2013 in an Instagram video. Since then, multiple current and former female staffers have shared their experiences on social media, with some defending Ayoub and others accusing him of downplaying harassment claims — claims Ayoub outright rejects. A group of anonymous current Arab-American female ADC employees launched an Instagram account on April 25 demanding the organization be returned to the community it serves. Since Jenin Younes was named the organization’s public face on April 24, the board has defended its actions, saying it maintains a zero-tolerance policy for harassment, discrimination, intimidation and retaliation, and encouraging anyone with concerns to submit reports directly to the organization. In a May 1 statement posted to its website, the board said it is “actively strengthening ADC’s structure and strategy to maximize our impact at a time when our community continues to face intensifying civil rights challenges.” Rifka also told MEE that the board had already been pursuing governance reforms, including bylaw updates and clearer separation of board and executive functions, and claimed these efforts may have prompted Ayoub to leave — a claim Ayoub rejects, asking “Why would I put that full plan together just to leave?”
The internal chaos now threatens ADC’s funding, as the organization’s largest individual donor has threatened to pull her support. In a May 1 email to Rifka and ADC staff obtained by MEE, California-based donor Diane Shammas — who has given a total of $500,000 to ADC over her years of support — said she is “frankly outraged by the abrupt removal of Abed Ayoub.” Shammas, who previously left the ADC board over complaints of dismissiveness and unequal treatment of female employees in the DC office, added that the ongoing concerns about governance, workplace culture and internal culture are “equally troubling.” Her longstanding support for the organization, she wrote, is “notably compromised,” and she will “regrettably have to reassess my continued involvement and financial support.” ADC’s latest public tax filing shows the organization recorded $675,000 in revenue in 2024, and has seen a dramatic budget boost in recent months, drawing some of its largest donations in a decade amid rising demand for its civil rights and advocacy work following the 2024 U.S. election.
