Tampa Mayor Iorio to No Longer Award Radical Group CAIR with Proclamations

DECISION MADE FOLLOWING INFORMATION MAYOR RECEIVED FROM AAH CONCERNING CAIR’S HAMAS TIES

(Tampa, FL) Yesterday, June 9, 2009, Americans Against Hate (AAH) Chairman Joe Kaufman received a call from Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio’s office informing him that the Mayor will no longer be issuing any proclamations to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

The past week, Kaufman had been speaking with the Mayor’s office and had sent information detailing CAIR’s involvement with the terrorist group Hamas and CAIR’s stated support for Hamas. Kaufman showed proof that CAIR was named a co-conspirator in a recent Hamas fundraising terrorism trial and that the FBI recently cut ties with CAIR.

Kaufman had previously called on the Mayor to rescind her November 15, 2008 proclamation for “CAIR Day,” an award she had given to the Tampa office of CAIR at least the last four years.

A member of Mayor Iorio’s staff, Santiago Corrado, said that, while the Mayor would not rescind any prior proclamations – because the “CAIR Days” had already taken place and she could not go back in time and change the calendar – she would no longer sign any further proclamations to the group in the future.

Kaufman stated, “While we had wished Mayor Iorio would rescind the past proclamations from CAIR, we are thankful that no more proclamations will be awarded to the group. No group that has ties to overseas terrorists should receive any type of award, proclamation or otherwise.” Read more ...

Source: AAH

Joe Kaufman
Americans Against Hate
Latest recipients of The MASH Award

Islamist Masquerading as Human Rights Leader

By Joe Kaufman

Ahmed Bedier, the former Executive Director of the Tampa office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Tampa), is now the President of the Tampa/Hillsborough County Human Rights Council (THHRC), a group that the local Tampa government has involvement with. Given Bedier’s lengthy extremist past, isn’t this a conflict of interest for the city?

Bedier first arrived on the scene with CAIR, a group with deep ties to Hamas, in February of 2003. February 2003 was also the month that federal authorities took Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) operative and co-founder of CAIR’s parent organization, the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), Sami Al-Arian, into custody. It seems that this was no mere coincidence, for all throughout Al-Arian’s ordeal, Bedier was his unofficial spokesperson in the media. Anytime anything regarding Al-Arian came up, it was Bedier who was there to discuss the matter. Al-Arian was part of Tampa, and CAIR had its guy in Tampa to defend him.

Bedier was with CAIR for over five years, ending his association last May. During that time, CAIR was named in two federal trials brought by the U.S. Justice Department, one as a co-conspirator and the other as a supporter of terrorists. As well, in that time, three of CAIR’s former representatives were convicted of terror-related crimes. One, Randall Todd “Ismail” Royer, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for plotting to go overseas to join Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistani group responsible for the recent attacks on Mumbai, India. Read more ...

Source: FrontPage MagazineAhmed Bedier
Latest recipient of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award

Tampa Mayor Honors Extremism: "CAIR Day" is coming to town.

By Joe Kaufman

In April of 2007, Pam Iorio was sworn into office for her second term as Mayor of Tampa Bay, Florida, given the confidence of Tampa’s citizens that she will help protect them from harm. Yet every year for at least the last four years of the six-plus years she has served, Mayor Iorio has honored CAIR, a radical Muslim organization, with a Proclamation naming a day for the group. Is the Mayor just trying to placate a fringe constituency or has she submitted to terror?

Tampa has had an Islamic terrorism problem for more than two decades. Elements of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood have infected the population, rendering it vulnerable to those who wish to do harm to the city.

From August of 1986 till February of 2003, when he was taken into custody by law enforcement, Sami Al-Arian, a university professor, built an entire PIJ infrastructure within the Tampa area. He did so in the guise of a charity, a think tank, a children’s school and a mosque -- the latter two still in existence.

Youssef Megahed and Ahmed Mohamed, Tampa-area university students, were arrested in South Carolina, in August of 2007, and indicted for possession of explosive materials which were found in the trunk of their car. Mohamed later pled guilty to a separate charge of trying to assist terrorists by creating a video demonstrating how to use a remote-controlled toy to detonate a bomb. 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