CAIR's Patriarchs: New AAH Video Exposing CAIR's Connection to Terrorist Leaders

Source: CAIRwatch

U.S. Taxpayers Fund Pro-Hamas Propaganda

With the federal government facing trillions of dollars in red ink, one might think that the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), which receives upwards of $30 million a year from the taxpayers, would want to show Congress it wasn't squandering money on propaganda for terrorist groups like Hamas.

But that hasn't happened. Instead, USIP has issued a new report that twists reality to argue that Hamas has moderated and Israel needs to negotiate with the terror organization. The authors of the report are a Jew and Muslim, USIP informs readers: Paul Scham, a visiting professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Maryland College Park, and Osama Abu-Irshaid.

USIP identified Irshaid as a writer who "is completing a Ph.D. thesis on Hamas at Loughboro University, U.K., and is founder and editor in chief of Al-Meezan newspaper, published in Arabic in the United States." But USIP (and Foreign Policy magazine, which has published lengthy excerpts of the report ) neglected to inform readers that Irshaid used to be editor of Al-Zaytounah, the biweekly Arabic-language newspaper published by the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP). Read more ...

Source: IPT News

Homeland Security Appeals Qatanani Ruling

The Department of Homeland Security has appealed a judge's order granting permanent residency to a New Jersey imam with ties to Hamas. Mohammad Qatanani's failure to report a 1993 arrest and detention by Israeli officials when he applied for his green card is at the heart of the government appeal, the Hackensack Record reports.

Qatanani denies having Hamas links and said that, while he was detained by Israel, he did not include the information on his application because he was not convicted of a crime. A federal judge sided with him last September.

Qatanani had widespread support in New Jersey, despite a record of condemning Christians to eternal hellfire and his attendance at numerous radical conferences in the United States. For example, Qatanani spoke at the 1999 Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP) conference in Chicago. The IAP served as a Hamas propaganda arm in the United States and was part of a secret Muslim Brotherhood committee assembled to help Hamas politically and financially.

The appeal is before the Board of Immigration Appeals.

Source: IPT Blog

The Hate Bus: Islamist groups exploit Jewish and Christian religious icons to promote the "superiority" of Islam.

By Joe Kaufman

CAIR and ICNA, two groups with documented ties to extremist groups overseas, have happened upon a new ploy to bring “non-believers” to Islam. The groups are using public transportation – subways and buses – to advertise their message. However, that message is one that is highly offensive and demeaning to those of other faiths, as it promotes Islam as a religion of superiority and spreads false information about revered Christian and Jewish figures.

CAIR or the Council on American-Islamic Relations was built out of Hamas. It was the brainchild of leaders from the American propaganda wing of Hamas, the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP). As well, it was established in 1994 as a part of Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook’s American Palestine Committee, a group whose mission was to raise money for Hamas from the United States.

CAIR, like all other radical Muslim groups, believes that Islam is superior to all religions and that the U.S. Constitution should be replaced by the Quran. This sinister belief and agenda were revealed in July of 1998, when then-CAIR National Chairman and current Chairman Emiritus Omar Ahmad was quoted in an article as saying, “Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faith but to become dominant. The Quran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth.” Read more ...

Source: FrontPage Magazine

Hamas Fundraisers Don't Add Up

DALLAS – Internal records detailing fund raising hauls by the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) indicate that the group took in hundreds of thousands of dollars more than it reported on tax forms, an FBI agent testified Wednesday.

An HLF ledger shows $396,000 was collected at various fundraisers in 1990, Agent Robert Miranda testified. But HLF's tax returns reported only $88,490 that year. Entries on the ledger indicate Hamas leaders routinely were part of the fundraisers. In a comment section next to the donation totals, numerous entries note that the Hamas guest speakers "took it." Other notations indicate defendant Mohamed El-Mezain also "took it."

El Mezain, a former HLF chairman, is among five men on trial, accused of conspiring to provide material support to Hamas. Prosecutors say HLF illegally channeled more than $12 million to the Palestinian terrorist group through donations to a series of charities, or zakat committees.

Miranda's testimony marked at least the second example in which tens of thousands of dollars in HLF funds go unaccounted for. Last week, FBI agent Lara Burns described two separate HLF donations of $100,000 to an Islamic center but accompanying paperwork accounted for only $20,000 in each case, she said. Read more ...

Source: IPT News

Steven Choi for President: California councilman criticizes his opponent's tie to CAIR

By Robert Spencer

This story, predictably enough, makes scant mention of CAIR's questionable history: the terror convictions of various former CAIR officials; the Islamic supremacist statements made by some of its leaders; its designation as an "unindicted co-conspirator" in the Holy Land Foundation Hamas jihad terror funding case; and its derivation from the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), which is listed as an allied organization in the 1991 Muslim Brotherhood memo detailing a "grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and ‘sabotaging’ its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and Allah’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.”

Bravo for Steven Choi! He is not backing down, and even says, "If anyone has to apologize, it is them for publicly defaming my name." How about it, Ibrahim Hooper? Be a mensch for once. It would make quite a few people have more confidence in your "moderate" bona fides. You could apologize for impugning Mr. Choi's good will and good name, assure the public that you understand why Mr. Choi is concerned about CAIR, given its past history. You could announce, Ibrahim, that you are adopting the ten measures listed here as a manifestation of your good faith and new desire to show Americans that Muslims in this country are anxious to demonstrate that they are loyal citizens, and to jettison any elements of their faith as it has historically been understood and lived out that may interfere with their ability to adopt, sincerely and wholeheartedly, the American principles of non-establishment of religion and democratic pluralism. Read more ...

Source: Orange County Register
H/T: Jihad WatchSteven Choi
Latest recipient of The MASH Award

CAIR Exec's Telling Interview

In a recent interview with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Islam Online website, and reported by the BBC Middle East Monitoring Service, the Council on American-Islamic Relations' (CAIR), Executive Director Nihad Awad reflected on "interfaith dialogue," the Bush administration, the upcoming presidential election, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Asked about the prospect of a new U.S. president, and whether American Muslims regret support for George W. Bush in 2000, Awad's answer offers a disturbing window into his soul.

"We should not blame the Muslims for taking part in the political process, and we should not blame the United States alone for the 11 September 2001 attacks,
but we should also blame the perpetrators." (Emphasis added)

How noble.

It shouldn't surprise anyone to see Awad give an interview with a Brotherhood-linked website. After all, the Brotherhood's deputy chief, Mohammed Habib, recently acknowledged in an interview that there is a relationship between his group and CAIR. That's what federal prosecutors in the Hamas financing case against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) have said for more than a year, naming CAIR as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood's "Palestine Committee." That is less than thinly-veiled code for Hamas. Awad's former employer, the Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP), was also named in the same document as part of the Brotherhood's Palestine Committee, and has been named by two federal judges as a Hamas front group. Read more ...

Source: IPT News

Chicago's Hamas Youth

By Joe Kaufman

During the 1990s, the Hamas infrastructure within the United States was complete. It consisted of a propagation outlet, the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP); a financing wing, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF); a command center, the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR); and a defense mechanism, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Today, only the latter exists, along with a remnant of the IAP, the Mosque Foundation. Both have a presence in the Chicago area, where group and mosque are working hard to indoctrinate young Muslims into radical Islam.

In 1981, two Muslim Brotherhood entities, which later would be widely regarded as being aligned with the terrorist Hamas, were established within the Chicago area of Illinois. One, the IAP, was created as a collaboratory effort between future Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook and future Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Sami Al-Arian. Soon after the onset of the violent Palestinian Intifada against Israel, which began in 1987 and which gave birth to Hamas, the IAP became a publishing house for the Hamas charter and Hamas terror training videos.

The other entity that was created in ’81 was the Mosque Foundation (MF), also known as the Bridgeview Mosque. The center was actually founded 30 years earlier, but in 1981, MF’s original leaders were ousted, as the property was taken over by the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT). NAIT, an extremist Muslim Brotherhood offshoot, was recently named by the U.S. government as a co-conspirator for a federal trial dealing with the financing of millions of dollars to Hamas. Read more ...

Source: FrontPage Magazine

Tampa's Terror for Kids

By Joe Kaufman

Sami Al-Arian has been in prison, away from his digs in the Tampa, Florida suburb of Temple Terrace, for over five years, yet one of the structures that he left behind continues to propagate the same fanatical ideology that led to his punishment. Al-Arian’s mosque, the Islamic Community of Tampa (ICT), has been proudly advertising hatred and violence meant for the eyes of children. The mosque’s connection to an area youth academy should have all Americans concerned.

When Al-Arian arrived at the University of South Florida (USF) in 1986, his goals were a lot broader than just to provide a decent education to aspiring college students. From then till the time of his imprisonment, Al-Arian worked tirelessly to build a vast network of terror, whose goal was the destruction of Israel.

Prior to his arrival, Al-Arian had helped to set up the Illinois-based Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), what soon would become known as the American propaganda wing of Hamas. When he came to Florida, it was as an operative for Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a group he helped to found in Egypt in 1979. His Tampa cell consisted of a think tank, a charity, a mosque and a children’s school. The former two no longer exist; the latter two this author wishes to expose. Read more ...

Source: FrontPage Magazine

CAIRing for Guantanamo

By Joe Kaufman

he Guantanamo Bay detention camp holds many of the world’s most dangerous terrorists – individuals whose goal is to destroy America. Yet, there are some that claim the facility represents a symbol of repression against the innocent. One group in particular, CAIR or the Council on American-Islamic Relations, has been vocal in its opposition to Guantanamo. The head of the group’s California office, Hussam Ayloush, has been especially outspoken on the matter.

As of this writing, Hussam Ayloush has made 200 posts to his personal weblog. When viewing a part of it, one could easily get the impression that Ayloush is a decent person, an upstanding member of society. As an example, his most recent post deals with an interfaith gathering that took place in Madrid, Spain. However, looking beyond the blog’s shell, one discovers an individual (Ayloush) whose motives are pure evil.

On the right side of Ayloush’s blog there is contained a series of links. One of the links is to a website called IslamiCity. Along with its fancy multimedia sections and its colorful pages, the site repeatedly calls for the murder of Jews and repeatedly “curses” Jews and Christians.

The interfaith piece, dated July 23, 2008, titled ‘Need for Common Code of Ethics,’ consists of excerpts from the co-founder and National Executive Director of CAIR, Nihad Awad. Awad helped create CAIR, in June of 1994, as an adjunct to Hamas and, prior to it, worked for the American arm of Hamas, the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP). For Ayloush, posting statements made by a Hamas operative – indeed, an operative from a group Ayloush is associated with, CAIR – is understandable, given the fact that he (Ayloush) regularly exhibits an antithetical obsession with the state of Israel. Read more ...

Source: FrontPage MagazineHussam Ayloush
Latest recipient of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award

Seventh Circuit Vacates Holy Land Foundation Opinion, Grants Rehearing

By Andrew Cochran

On June 16, the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the opinion of a three-judge panel, rendered December 28, 2007, which overturned the landmark $156 million judgment against the Holy Land Foundation (HLF), other Islamic charities in the U.S., and an alleged Hamas fundraiser. The case arose out of the 1996 murder of David Boim, a 17-year-old American citizen, who was killed in a Hamas terrorist attack in the West Bank. David’s parents sued men who were directly involved in the murder; the Holy Land Foundation (HLF); the American Muslim Society, also known as the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP); the Quranic Literacy Institute (QLI); the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR); Saleh, the alleged Hamas fundraiser; and others (see this summary judgement order from the first trial for the complete list). The June 16 decision will result in a rehearing of the case by the entire court in the near future, thus giving the Boim family a second chance at the appellate level. Read more ...

Source: Counterterrorism BlogHoly Land Foundation
Latest recipient of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award

Terrorist Cries and Lies

By Joe Kaufman

The movie USA vs. Al-Arian, about the trial of Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Sami Al-Arian, has been released to the public via the internet. Its producers refer to it as a "documentary." That is just as much of a fable as the way the terrorist's family has been portrayed in the film.

Sami Al-Arian was indicted in February of 2003, charged with leading an American cell for the terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). During the mid-eighties to mid-nineties, Al-Arian had succeeded in building an entire infrastructure for PIJ within Southwest Florida. As well, he had been involved in the 1981 founding of the future propaganda wing of Hamas, the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), and the 2000 establishment of a Tampa subsidiary to Al-Qaeda financier, the Al-Baraka Group.

Regardless of any of this, Al-Arian has his supporters. One of them is a Norwegian filmmaker named Line Halvorsen, who, according to her bio, took an interest in the Al-Arian case in 2004.

USA vs. Al-Arian premiered to a sold-out crowd, in Tampa, Florida, on May 16, 2007. The theatre canopy read in lights, "C.A.I.R. PRESENTS USA VS. AL-ARIAN." Indeed, CAIR has been a major part of the Al-Arian support network -- the group's Tampa chapter head, Ahmed Bedier, playing the role of Al-Arian's unofficial spokesman from the start. Read more ...

Source: FrontPage Magazine

CAIR Has Backed Islamist Meetings, Denigrated Muslim Moderates

By Steven Emerson

CAIR has co-sponsored and taken part in multiple Islamist conferences in the United States, while at the same time condemning and seeking to censor more moderate Muslims.

Those actions are described in today's installment in IPT's comprehensive 10-part series on the group. Among the highlights:

  • In May 1998, CAIR co-sponsored with IAP, HLF, MAYA and others a rally at Brooklyn College where speakers spewed anti-Jewish rhetoric.

Radical Egyptian cleric Wagdy Ghoneim -- denied entrance to Canada earlier in the year based on his membership in Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood -- told those attending that "... Allah says he who equips a warrior of Jihad is like the one makes Jihad himself," then led the audience in a song with the lyrics: "No to the Jews, descendants of the apes."

  • Despite the fact that a meeting program lists CAIR as a co-sponsor, group officials consistently have denied any role in the event. "As executive director of CAIR, I had never heard of this event, let alone authorize[d] sponsorship for it," Nihad Awad said in 2003 Senate testimony. Spokesman Ibrahim Hooper not only denied CAIR involvement in the event, but added, "I don't even know if that [rally] happened."
  • In October 2000, CAIR co-sponsored another rally, this one in Washington D.C., at which participants voiced enthusiastic support for Hamas and Hizballah. Read more ...


Source: IPT News

CAIR Comes Clean on Hamas

Since the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) was founded in June of 1994, the group has worked hard to conceal its true feelings about Hamas. That is, until now. Video footage taken at a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, rally against CAIR reveals its unabashed support for Hamas. If people had questions about CAIR's sympathies before, this should end all debate on the matter.

In March of 1994, the future co-founder and Executive Director of CAIR, Nihad Awad, revealed himself as a supporter of Hamas. "After I researched the situation inside and outside Palestine, I am in support of the Hamas movement more than the PLO," he said. "I know that this movement as an Islamic movement has not been objectively reported in the United States..."

When the declaration was made, Awad was the spokesman for the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), the American propaganda wing of Hamas. However, since CAIR was established just a few months later, the organization has been extremely hesitant about making any such pronouncements about Hamas. Except for a statement at a November 2001 interfaith gathering by ex-CAIR-New York President Al-Haaj Ghazi Khankan, which he now says was a misquote, CAIR has been virtually silent. Read more ...

Source: FrontPage Magazine

Former IAP President Indicted For Naturalization Fraud

Yaser Bushnaq, a former president of the Islamic Association for Palestine has been indicted in Virginia for naturalization fraud.

In applying to become a U.S. citizen in 2000, Bushnaq is accused of failing to disclose his affiliations with a series of organizations that the indictment links to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas. The indictment clearly defines the IAP as "an overt arm of the covert organization known as the Muslim Brotherhood."

In addition, it alleges that when Bushnaq applied to become a citizen he failed to disclose:

• He was the IAP's president from 1989-1991.
• That he worked under the pseudonym Yaser Saleh.
• He was a board of trustees member for the Al Aqsa Education Fund, "an organization that sought to raise funds for Hamas."
• He was an authorized signatory for the Marzook Legal Fund, established in 1996 to support Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook after his arrest by U.S. authorities.
Read more ...

Source: IPT News

Al-Arian's Third Strike

By Steven Emerson

In a ruling issued Friday, the 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals found that Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) operative Sami Al-Arian can't duck a grand jury subpoena in Virginia based upon a phantom claim that his 2006 guilty plea ruled out any future cooperation with law enforcement.

Al-Arian was serving out the remainder of a 57-month sentence for conspiring to provide goods and services to the PIJ when a federal grand jury in Northern Virginia subpoenaed him to testify about the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT). The IIIT is a think tank under investigation since at least 2002 for suspected terror financing. It was among the largest patrons of Al-Arian's own think tank, the World and Islam Studies Enterprise (WISE), which was based in Tampa during the early 1990s and housed no less than four members of the PIJ's governing board. Read more ...

Source: IPT News