MUSLIM STUDENTS
Investigation into Muslim
Student Union at California University
Muslim Student
at Washington University Removes 2,977 American Flags Commemorating 9/11
Victims
SEP 13, 2021
PJ Media
Fadel Alkilani, a student at Washington University in St. Louis,
is an enterprising young man who clearly has a bright future ahead. On
Saturday, as people all over the world mourned the deaths of 2,977 people in
jihad attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., Alkilani
busied himself with pulling up 2,977 flags that had been placed on campus in
honor of the victims and throwing them away. Among Leftists today, that’s the
kind of behavior that leads to rapid career advancement– clearly, Fadel Alkilani is an up-and-coming young man.
The flags were
part of the Young America’s Foundation’s “9/11: Never
Forget Project”: “YAF activists at high schools and colleges across
the country are keeping alive the memory of those lost to radical Islamist
terrorists in the world-changing events of September 11, 2001. The
iconic displays made up of 2,977 American flags—one for each innocent life
taken—bring schools, communities, and individuals together to pay tribute and
continue our promise to ‘never forget.’”
YAF members at
Washington University duly placed the 2,977 flags, only to have Alkilani, wearing a mask and his hair in a bun, come pluck
the flags up and fill trash bags with them. In a video YAF posted on
Twitter, Nathaniel Hope of Washington University’s hearty band of College
Republicans confronts Alikani, who justified his
action by claiming (falsely) that the flag display was a “violation of school
rules.” He maintained that he, on the other hand, had not violated any
university rules, telling Hope: “I did not violate any university or legal
policy. Now go away.”
Later, Alkilani posted online a
“Formal Statement on the Flag Relocation Incident,” in which he sanctimoniously
employed that tried-and-true strategy of Leftists everywhere: He claimed
victimhood. Instead of apologizing for his callous, thuggish, and fascist act, Alkilani wrote: “Currently, there is a massive harassment
campaign propagated primarily by Washington University College Republicans, as
well as the national Young American’s Foundation [YAF] regarding an incident
that occurred at approximately 6 am on Saturday, September 11, 2021. There is a
large amount of misinformation circulating, and I seek to explain both what
occurred and why it happened.”
The
“misinformation” that he proceeds to clear up is the claim that he was
“‘stealing’ the flags. This is due to a WashU College
Republicans member, taking a video of me collecting flags in plastic bags.
However, I had no intention of removing the flags from the Mudd Field area, and
my full protest did not have the chance to be actualized. My planned protest
was to place the bags of flags on Mudd field, along with various statistics
[including those below] explaining the human cost of 9/11 in the past 20 years.
On the sides of the bags, some writing may be visible, but the full statement
was not outlined at the time of the video. I did not deface, destroy,
damage, nor steal any flags, nor did I interfere with any registered event
time. I assert that I did not violate any University Code of Conduct
policy, though the conduct process is undergoing. Additionally, I was verbally
and physically harassed by numerous WashU students
and WUPD officers, whom I plan to report through official channels.”
Actually, the
video quite clearly shows him pulling up the flags, which did indeed deface and
destroy YAF’s memorial and constitutes stealing the flags in itself. But Alkilani considers his actions justified, you see, because Muslims are
victims: “Since 9/11, Islamophobic hate crimes have been higher than
they ever were before.” Alkilani goes on to accuse
the United States of various atrocities in response to 9/11 and then claims:
“Any memorial of 9/11 that does not contend with these facts is not only
incomplete, but it also amplifies pro-imperialist sentiment and actively
disrespects those who have died because of American Invasion. A memorial which
uses US flags is especially insidious, as it does not recognize those who have
fallen, but uses a symbol that was on the shoulders of those who are
responsible for the deaths of 900,000 people, and uses the innocent lives lost
during 9/11 as a political prop upholding American hegemony.”
You can see
from this why Fadel Alkilani is a rising star, and
why we will almost certainly be hearing from him again. This is just the sort
of half-truth and misinformation that his Washington University professors
likely taught him and that Leftists marinate in these days. To further cement
his future as Congressman Alkilani, Senator Alkilani, Commissar Alkilani, he
piled on more victimhood propaganda: “Muslims such as I have faced fear,
harassment, and Islamophobia from those who unjustly use the victims of 9/11 as
a political cudgel.”
In
reality, anti-Jewish hate
crimes are far more common in the U.S. than anti-Muslim hate
crimes. No hate crime is justified, but Alkilani’s
contention that Muslims in the United States have been unique victims of
discrimination and harassment since 9/11 is simply not borne out by the facts.
Alkilani lives in the Left’s fantasy world, where
MAGA-hat-wearing yahoos roam the streets unchallenged, threatening and
brutalizing “brown people” at will. But don’t worry! Alkilani
is okay: “For those of you who have been reaching out in concern of my safety,
I would like to assure you that I am working with the university to ensure that
I am safe during this time.”
That’s great.
Now: Are displays placed by patriotic students at Washington University safe
from him?
Muslim
college student who lied about Trump supporter subway attack pleads guilty
The Muslim college student who lied
to cops about getting attacked on the subway by drunken Trump supporters took a
plea deal on Friday.
Yasmin Seweid, 19, copped to falsely reporting an
incident and disorderly conduct for the bogus claim.
Seweid, of New Hyde Park, L.I., said hate-filled
white men harassed her and tried to snatch the hijab off her head during an
encounter on the No. 6 train on Dec. 1.
Seweid previously admitted she wasted police
resources to cover up for her missed curfew.
She must go through six months of counseling and complete three days of
community service.
If Seweid fulfills the terms of her deal, the top
charge against her will be tossed and she'll be left with just a violation.
The prosecutor read an apology letter from Seweid.
"I was stupid," the teen wrote. "I plan to continue to find ways
to better myself."
She's due back in court in November to update the court on her progress.
‘Stuff Jews in the Oven’ Among Antisemitic Social Media Posts Flooding Pages of
University of Texas-Arlington Students, Covert Campus Watchdog Finds
FEBRUARY 15, 2017
Algemeiner.com
“Jews only live once” and “stuff Jews in the oven” are among the offensive
comments flooding the social media pages of current and former students at the
University of Texas, Arlington (UTA), a dossier recently released by a covert
campus watchdog group revealed.
According to the document, compiled by Canary Mission – which anonymously monitors
anti-American, anti-Israel and antisemitic activity on US college campuses — 24
UTA students and graduates have likened Israel to Nazi Germany, called for
violence against Jews and both denied and championed the Holocaust in Facebook
and Twitter posts.
Majority of the posts come from former and current students affiliated with the
school’s chapters of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and Muslim Student
Association (MSA).
In 2014, UTA student Mariam Ghanem — an SJP activist and member of MSA —
compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Hitler, and tweeted a
cartoon equating Nazi soldiers and IDF officers.
In 2013, Ismail Said Aboukar — a member of UTA’s SJP
and MSA and a proponent of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
(BDS) movement — referred to the Nazi genocide of the Jews as “#LiesToldInSchool.”
Aboukar also said the “world would be sooo much better without jews man
[sic].”
Nancy Salem — an activist with UTA’s SJP and a supporter of BDS — retweeted a
riddle asking: “How many Jews died in the Holocaust?” The answer: “Not enough,
HAHAHAHA.” And another: “How was the copper wire invented?” Answer: “They threw
a penny between two Jews.”
Calif. Muslim students guilty of disrupting speech
By AMY TAXIN, Associated Press
September
24, 2011
SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) — A jury convicted 10 Muslim students Friday of
disrupting a talk by the Israeli ambassador on a university campus in a case
that has stoked an intense debate about free speech.
The students also were convicted of conspiring to disrupt Ambassador Michael
Oren's speech in February 2010 at the University of California, Irvine.
The students were charged with misdemeanor counts after standing up, one by
one, and shouting prepared statements such as "propagating murder is not
an expression of free speech" that were followed by cheers from
supporters.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Peter J. Wilson sentenced the defendants to
56 hours of community service and three years of informal probation.
The judge found that the incident did not merit jail time and he added that the
probation period would be reduced to one year if the community service is
completed by the end of January 2012. Minimal court fines and fees were also
assessed against the 10.
About 150 people including relatives and supporters of the students and Orange
County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas attended the verdict in a case that
has often packed the courtroom. Some community members gasped and started
crying when the verdict was read and about a dozen walked out.
The case has stoked an impassioned debate in the affluent suburbs southeast of
Los Angeles about free speech rights.
Some community members called the trial a waste of taxpayers' money and said
prosecutors were singling out the defendants because they are Muslim.
Khalid Akhari, a 19-year-old bioengineering major at
the nearby University of California, Riverside, said the jury's decision
doesn't change how he feels about what he did that evening, but he worries it
could have a chilling effect on student protests.
"I don't want people to feel like they should be scared that they're going
to be prosecuted," Akhari said. "If you
want to stand for your message, you need to stand for your message. You have to
be ready to accept the consequences."
Prosecutors said the students broke the law by interrupting Oren's speech on
U.S.-Israel relations and cutting short the program despite calls to behave
from campus officials. Defense attorneys argued the students had a right to
protest.
Rackauckas said a line must be drawn between protests that are lawful and those
that aren't. Had the situation been reversed, with Israeli students protesting
a Muslim speaker in this way, he said he would have prosecuted the
demonstrators just the same.
"Any way you look at this, this is censorship," Rackauckas told
reporters after the verdict. "It's not against or for any particular
group. This is strictly about the rule of law and not allowing one group to
shut down another."
Defense attorneys said they would appeal the ruling and challenge a law that
broadly defines a disruption of speech irrespective context. They argued there
is a difference between protesting at a political event, for example, and in a
courtroom.
After the verdict, the attorneys praised students for their bravery in standing
up to Oren and compared them to civil rights activists such as Martin Luther
King Jr.
"This jury verdict, I think, should be worn as a badge of courage,"
Tarek Shawky, one of six defense attorneys working on the case, told reporters.
Free speech experts say the verdict was anticipated in light of similar cases
involving a so-called "heckler's veto" in which individuals try to
shout over a speaker. But such cases don't often go to trial, said Joseph Russomanno, an associate professor of journalism and
communication at Arizona State University who focuses on free speech issues.
On Friday, the sponsor of Oren's speech, the Rose Project of Jewish Federation
& Family Services, Orange County, praised the verdict while an interfaith
coalition of community groups denounced it and vowed to support the students
for protesting the Israeli government's actions in Gaza.
UC Irvine said in a statement that it supports free speech.
"We nurture a campus climate that promotes robust debate and welcomes
different points of view," said Rex Bossert, a university spokesman.
During the trial, prosecutor Dan Wagner told jurors the students infringed upon
the rights of 700 people who had gone to the Irvine campus to hear Oren. He
showed video footage of university officials pleading with students to stop
interrupting the diplomat's speech and emails sent among members of UC Irvine's
Muslim Student Union planning the disruption and calculating who was willing to
get arrested.
Defense attorneys countered there were no hard rules for the speech, and the
students might have been discourteous but didn't break the law. Lawyer Reem
Salahi, who represented two of the defendants, said the demonstration was
modeled after a series of protests at UC Irvine and elsewhere in which students
shouted at lecturers but weren't arrested. She said the demonstration never
intended to halt Oren's speech entirely.
Attorneys for both sides showed dueling pie charts breaking down how much time
the students demonstrated, how long their supporters cheered and how much time
Oren spoke to prove whether the meeting suffered a significant disruption.
Attorneys for the students — who attended UC Irvine and UC Riverside — argued
before the trial that charges should never have been filed and that the issue
was already handled on campus.
In 2010, the students were cited, released and disciplined at UC Irvine, which
revoked the Muslim Student Union's charter for a quarter and placed it on two
years of probation.
Earlier this year, Rackauckas filed criminal charges against 11 students,
prompting an outcry from the American Civil Liberties Union and a host of
Jewish, Muslim and campus groups. Charges against one defendant are being
dropped.
U.S. Arrests Saudi Student in Bomb Plot
By
CHARLIE SAVAGE
The New York Times
Published: February 24, 2011
WASHINGTON — A 20-year-old Saudi Arabian student living in Texas has been
arrested by federal agents, who charged him with planning to build bombs for
terror attacks in the United States, the Justice Department announced Thursday.
According to an affidavit filed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the
student, Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari, indicated in online
research and in a journal that he was considering attacking the Dallas
residence of former President George W. Bush as well as hydroelectric dams,
nuclear power plants, nightclubs and the homes of soldiers who were formerly
stationed at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
Mr. Aldawsari, a business major at South Plains
College in Lubbock, Tex., is in the United States legally on a student visa,
the bureau said. He came to the government’s attention on Feb. 1, when a North
Carolina supply company reported that he had tried to order five liters of a
chemical that can be used to make an explosive.
A subsequent investigation found that he had already obtained large supplies of
the other two chemicals needed for the explosive compound — trinitrophenol or
TNP — in December, court documents said.
“Aldawsari purchased ingredients to construct an explosive
device and was actively researching potential targets in the United States,”
said David Kris, the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s
national security division. “Thanks to the efforts of many agents, analysts and
prosecutors, this plot was thwarted before it could advance further.”
There was no indication on Thursday that investigators had found links between
Mr. Aldawsari and Al Qaeda or some other foreign
militant group. According to the affidavit, he wrote in his journal that he
wanted to found a new terrorist group modeled after Al Qaeda, which he would
lead, and he indicated that he had been methodically planning for years to
commit a terrorist attack.
“I excelled in my studies in high school in order to take advantage of an
opportunity for a scholarship to America” that was offered by the Saudi Arabian
government, investigators said he wrote. “And now, after mastering the English
language, learning how to build explosives, and continuous planning to target
the infidel Americans, it is time for Jihad.”
The journal was also said to list “important steps” toward his goal, including
obtaining a forged United States birth certificate, applying for a passport and
driver’s license, renting cars online, putting bombs in them and taking them to
various sites during rush hours, and then leaving the city for a “safe place.”
The affidavit says that in his journal, Mr. Aldawsari
said he was inspired by the speeches of Osama Bin Laden and wrote that the
terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, had produced a “big change” in his thinking.
It also contends that he was the writer of a blog called FromFarAway90,
published in a mix of English and Arabic.
The Arabic posts on that blog speak at times about war and distress in
Palestine and other Muslim lands and about driving infidels out of the Islamic
world, and they ask that Allah make the writer a martyr. It is not clear
whether Mr. Aldawsari wrote the posts or copied
material from elsewhere.
The affidavit also said Mr. Aldawsari, using several e-mail
accounts, often sent research to himself about potential targets and
explosives. The authorities retrieved several e-mails about manufacturing TNP
and other explosives and about how to convert a cellphone into a remote
detonator.
Other e-mails — with subject lines like “Nice targets” — contained the names
and addresses of three Americans who had been stationed at Abu Ghraib during
their military service in Iraq and the locations of 12 reservoirs and dams in
Colorado and California. An e-mail entitled “Tyrant’s House” listed the address
for Mr. Bush’s house in Dallas.
Mr. Aldawsari also made “numerous Internet searches”
related to realistic-looking baby dolls and strollers and viewed photographs of
altered dolls, which the F.B.I. said “could indicate” that he was considering
concealing explosives in such a doll.
The search of his apartment, the affidavit said, also found flasks and chemical
lab equipment, a gas mask, a protective suit and Christmas light wiring that it
said was suitable for producing a bomb.
Muslim Student Union members shocked by suspension
By
DEEPA BHARATH and ELLYN PAK
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Published: June 14, 2010
IRVINE – UC Irvine's Muslim Student Union members say a year-long suspension
came as a shock and that the university's action would deny Muslim students a
sense of community, according to a statement released Monday afternoon.
“Suspending the MSU would undoubtedly create a chilling effect and deprive
Muslim students -- both current and incoming -- of a place where they can
develop a sense of community with one another and with the broader UCI campus
community,” said incoming MSU President Asaad Traina.
“Depriving Muslim students a venue to associate jeopardizes their rights under
the First Amendment and is an act of marginalization at a time when Muslim
students and Muslim youth already feel besieged."
Campus officials at UCI have banned the Muslim Student Union for one year and
placed the organization on disciplinary probation for an additional year,
according to the Jewish Federation Monday morning.
Federation officials say they obtained documents from the university through
the Freedom of Information Act, which show that the Muslim Student Union has
been suspended on campus effective Sept. 1.
MSU members said contrary to the federation's statements, the student group has
not been officially suspended.
The suspension is the result of a months-long internal review by the university
following the arrest of 11 union students during Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren's
speech on campus. Oren was repeatedly interrupted by the union members.
The group has appealed the decision, according to Husam
Ayloush, executive director of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations. Members also denies that the Oren disruptions were
an officially sanctioned MSU activity and that the students acted on their own.
Their attorney, Reem Salahi, said based on her understanding of the
university's policies and procedures, what has been issued is not a
"ban," but only a recommendation. The student group is waiting to
meet with university officials.
"That said, I don't agree with their actions at all," she said.
"This is nothing but collective punishment. All Muslim students on campus
have been punished for the actions of a few."
So far, UCI has not released any information about this ban and does not plan
on doing so, said Cathy Lawhon, director of media
relations.
"I do not have personal knowledge of this, as the process and the actions
against the students and the group were privileged," she said. "We
value the privacy of our students and the process. This is a private and
privileged process, and we will honor that process."
Although other individuals and groups might discuss this issue, the university
will not, Lawhon said.
A May 27 letter sent to the Muslim Student Union by Lisa Cornish, senior
executive director of Student Housing, which was also copied to Dean of
Students Rameen Talesh,
details the violations that were believed to have been committed by the union
and the disciplinary action taken against them. This document was obtained and
provided to The Orange County Register by the Jewish Federation.
Cornish's letter says the university's decision to suspend the union was based
on Google Group e-mails, personal observations by university officials
including the police chief, observations by other students and "the fact
that all of the disruptors retained the same attorney to represent them in the
student conduct process."
Cornish's letter talks about how the Muslim Student Union held a meeting Feb. 3
prior to the ambassador's visit and methodically discussed how to disrupt the
event. The students talked about sending "the speaker a message – our goal
should be that he knows that he can't just go to a campus and say whatever he wants"
and "pushing the envelope."
They even voted on one method of action and said, "We all go through with
this together insha Allah ta'ala,
together as one MSU."
Cornish's letter states that the students planned every detail of the
disruption including scripting statements.
The letter also goes into detail about what each one of the disruptors yelled
out during Oren's speech.
Cornish says in the letter that she has concluded based on her review that the
Muslim Student Union and each of its authorized signers violated several
university policies including "disorderly and lewd conduct, participation
in a disturbance of peace or unlawful assembly, obstruction or disruption of
teaching, research, administration, disciplinary procedures or other University
activities and other forms of dishonesty including ... fabricating information,
furnishing false information, or reporting a false emergency to the
University."
The letter orders the Muslim student union to cease operations from Sept. 1, a
suspension that will be active until Aug. 31, 2011. After that date, the group
will be placed on "disciplinary probation" for one more year. Any
misconduct during that period could result in further action against the group
or its members, Cornish's letter states. Also, group members must collectively
complete 50 hours of community service, which also needs to be approved by the
university.
Ayloush said he is disappointed by The Jewish
Federation's decision to release information that was meant to be confidential.
"I'm puzzled at their attempt to score political points at the expense of
the privacy of the students and the process that is internal to UCI," he
said.
Ayloush called the university's actions
"unprecedented, heavy-handed and draconian."
"It appears to be politically motivated to silence any future peaceful and
legitimate criticism of Israel's brutal practices," he said. "This
was nothing but a peaceful and symbolic protest of the Israeli Ambassador at
UCI. It was a reflection of a growing worldwide campaign by human rights
activists to end the Israeli occupation of Palestine and their racism toward
the Palestinian people."
The Muslim students did not engage in fraudulent, immoral or criminal behavior,
Ayloush said.
Shalom Elcott, president and CEO of the Jewish
Federation Orange County, said he commends the university's decision to follow
through on this issue.
"The university's disciplinary action regarding the MSU establishes an
important and appropriate precedent and sends a powerful message to other universities
across the nation."
Elcott said the federation along with other campus
and local Jewish organizations have worked with the university to resolve this
issue.
Jeff Margolis, co-chairman of the federation's Rose Council, said the
university's actions show that it has "taken seriously the on-campus
actions of the Muslim Student Union and its serial disregard for university
policies and civil discourse."
Muslim student accused of stabbing Jewish prof
Saudi
national entered office, attacked Mideast scholar
December 05, 2009
WorldNetDaily
A Muslim anthropology graduate student is being charged with second-degree
murder in the stabbing death of a Jewish professor at Binghamton University in
Vestal, New York.
The victim is Richard Antoun, 77, professor of Middle
Eastern studies and the author of "Understanding Fundamentalism:
Christian, Islamic and Jewish Movements."
The man in custody is Abdulsalam Al-Zahrani, 46-year-old Saudi national.
The attack took place Friday afternoon when the student entered the professor's
office and stabbed him, according to an eyewitness. Campus police tackled the
assailant to the ground, while emergency service workers rushed to Antoun's side.
University President Lois DeFleur issued the
following statement Friday: "This afternoon, in an act of senseless
violence, the Binghamton University community lost one of its long-time faculty
members. ... Our hearts go out to the Antoun family
and we will provide them with as much assistance as we can in this time of
sorrow."
New York Gov. David Paterson also released a statement about the victim:
"He touched the lives of many students and was respected by his
colleagues. Though he will be missed on campus, he will live on in his writing,
his research and his students, whose lives he forever changed."
Antoun received a doctorate from Harvard in 1963 and
joined the Binghamton faculty in the early 1970s. He was "a sociocultural
anthropologist who has conducted research among peasants in Jordan, urbanites
in Lebanon, peasant farmers in Iran and migrants in Texas and Greece,"
according to the univerrsity's website. He retired in
1999 as professor emeritus.
"He dedicated his life to trying to understand the people of the Middle
East," the professor's sister Linda Miller, of Holden, Mass., told the New
York Times. "He never said an unkind word to anyone in his life."
Miller's husband, the Rev. David J. Miller, said that Antoun
had been married to his wife, Rosalyn, for 17 years and had a son, Nicholas,
40.
The New Chill on Campus
By Phyllis Chesler
FrontPageMagazine.com
April 11, 2006
When Brigitte Gabriel recently gave a speech at
Memphis University, she was confronted with a familiar sight: an audience so
hostile to her message that it had come not to debate but to silence her.
A passionate and powerful speaker who had witnessed Palestinian terrorism and
experienced anti-Jewish and anti-Christian propaganda in her native Lebanon,
Gabriel had been invited to speak at the Tennessee campus by religious studies
professor David Patterson. But the day before Gabriel's speech, Patterson began
receiving threatening e-mails.
“Do you honestly think the scheduled lecture
will serve any useful purpose other than inflaming the Muslims, insulting them
and spilling poison in the community?” one message asked. Another charged that
inviting Gabriel to speak was “worse than hosting of the Imperial Wizard of the
Ku Klux Klan.” Still another described her as among “the true enemies of
Islam.”
The menacing emails proved prescient. When
Gabriel and Patterson arrived in the campus auditorium 15 minutes before her
scheduled presentation, several rows of seats in the front of the room were
already occupied by men and women dressed in distinctive Muslim clothing.
Before Gabriel was introduced, a Muslim man who has been a long-term graduate
student at the university strode to the front of the room and announced: “We
have been told that the speaker will only accept questions written on cards.
Everyone who believes this is an un-democratic lecture, raise your hands.” The
Muslims in the audience shouted their agreement.
Undaunted, Gabriel went to the front of the
room and announced that the lecture belonged to her and that those who did not
see it this way were welcome to leave. Two campus police officers stood on
either side of her. They also called for backup. By the time order was restored
and Gabriel began her speech, 10 police officers were posted in the room.
Patterson implored the audience to give her a chance to be heard.
After her speech, she answered every question
submitted — questions she described as “Palestinian talking points” — before
the Muslim audience members swarmed onto the stage and surrounded her, yelling
angrily. Finally, police officers grabbed her and hustled her out a side door.
Someone else had to retrieve her coat and suitcase while she waited in a police
car to be driven to the hotel where, for security reasons, she was registered
under another name. Only after she had locked her door and drawn the curtains,
did Gabriel allow herself to tremble.
“The intimidation takes a toll on you,” Gabriel
said in an e-mail message to friends after the Memphis speech. “I was dreading
this all day, ever since my hosts told me they had been receiving hostile
e-mail about my lecture. It was weighing so heavily on my heart. My stomach was
in knots. I got a migraine headache. I knew I was going into battle and there
was no way out of it. I was nervous and stressed. Each time this happens, I
hate it and it makes me feel that I don't want to do it anymore. But I will do
it. I will never stop. If we stop, the Islamists will have won. We cannot allow
that to happen.”
Cases of workplace harassment are nothing new,
of course. Years ago, I was asked to testify in a legal action on behalf of a
woman who worked the night shift alone in a small store. As a devout Christian,
she was offended by the pornographic magazines the store sold. She also felt
endangered by the kind of men who came in after midnight to peruse and buy
these magazines. She eventually refused to sell the magazines during her shift,
and was fired. So she sued.
During her trial, an important question was
deliberated: Does the First Amendment right of pornographers override a woman's
personal religious beliefs and her rights to on-the-job safety? Does being
surrounded by pornographic magazines constitute a “hostile” work environment?
The company retaliated for her lawsuit by depicting her to the press as a
fanatic on a rampage against both secular society and free speech. My decision
to testify on her behalf led some of the usual suspects to question my
political sanity and my feminism.
Over the years, I have been consulted by other
women, especially those in blue-collar, formerly all-male jobs who have often
been harassed and forced to live with sadistic pornography placed in their
lockers, locker rooms, and work areas. The film North Country, which
stars Charlize Theron, depicts exactly such mistreatment of women miners. The
film is based on a real class action lawsuit that 19 women first filed in the
1970s against Ogleby Norton in Eveleth, Minn. The
women sued because they were subjected to verbal, physical, psychological, and
sexual abuse and to omnipresent sexual graffiti. It took more than 20 years for
the women to win a settlement, but only after they found themselves put on
trial. Their sexual, gynecological, psychological, and marital histories were
scrutinized in the courtroom. Many people said that the women simply ought to
“tough it out.” Some said that pornography and insults were protected under the
First Amendment.
Today, those who speak out against Islamic
extremism face similar circumstances. When someone tries to tell the truth
about Islam or departs from the politically correct line — against America,
Israel, Jews, and religion — they are subjected to hostile working conditions,
just like the women miners of North Country. In the West, authors
critical of Islam are routinely threatened, sometimes sued for “defamation,” or
slandered as “racists.” Western academics who criticize Islamic culture have
been ostracized or silenced on campus. They are shouted down, shamed,
interrogated, and cursed. In Muslim countries, meanwhile, such authors are more
often jailed, mobbed, murdered or forced into exile.
This state of affairs prompts some urgent questions:
Do we want speakers on our campuses to be subjected to such hostility, to run
such a gauntlet in order to be heard? (This even as the Western academic world
has given a free pass to those who defend the rights of misogynist terrorists
who practice both religious and gender apartheid in Islam's name.) Why have so
many university presentations descended to the level of the “Jerry Springer”
show? Why, when speakers tell the truth about this on American campuses, must
they endure harsh and punitive working conditions?
This reality must be exposed, challenged, and
transformed. We must condemn militant tactics that aim to suppress speech and
not confuse them with a civilized or scholarly exchange of ideas. We must
liberate our campuses from such barbarism. Brave voices like Brigitte Gabriel
deserve nothing less.
An Annual Hatefest
By Joe Kaufman
FrontPageMagazine.com
May 10, 2006
All around America, Muslim student groups are testing
the limits of Free Speech by bringing radicals to their respective campuses to
give hate-filled talks. One of the institutions that this practice has
become prevalent in is Florida Atlantic University (FAU).
The Muslim Student Organization (MSO) at FAU,
for the past seven years, has celebrated its annual hatefest
– “Scholar’s Night” – with the worst of extremists. In April of 2001, at
its 2nd Annual Scholar’s Night, one of the featured speakers was Rafil Dhafir, a man who currently sits behind bars,
convicted for illegal activity with regard to an Iraqi-based charity called
Help the Needy. In April of 2003, at its 4th Annual Scholar’s
Night, the MSO brought to the campus: Hamas and Hezbollah supporter, Al-Haaj Ghazi Khankan; alleged
Neo-Nazi, William Baker; and potential co-conspirator of the 1993 bombing of
the World Trade Center, Siraj Wahhaj.
Recently, the MSO kept with tradition, when it
held its 7th Annual Scholar’s Night. The event, which took
place at FAU’s Lifelong Learning Center auditorium on April 22, 2006, featured
speakers that denounced non-Muslim religions, verbally attacked Jews, and
proclaimed a future worldwide dominance of Islam. It was fittingly and
brazenly titled, ‘Believe It or Not: You were born a Muslim.’
The co-sponsors of the event were American
Muslims for Emergency and Relief (AMER); the Islamic Society of the University
of Miami (ISUM); the American Muslim Association of North America (AMANA); and
the Islamic Center of Boca Raton (ICBR), a radical mosque where an Al-Qaeda
operative, Rafiq Sabir, was recently taken into custody
and shipped to New York for trial.
Attending the function were a little over 50
people. Among the attendees were ICBR representative Bassem Alhalabi, a
tenured FAU professor and former assistant to Sami Al-Arian that was charged,
in March of 2003, with illegally exporting a $13,000 thermal imaging military
device to Syria. Also attending was the head of AMER and AMANA, Sofian Abdelaziz Zakkout,
who was previously the Vice President of the Hamas-related Health Resource
Center for Palestine, which was shut down in April of 2003. However, Zakkout was not just an attendee. Between lectures,
he would walk around the audience, taking pictures of anyone that did not look
like they belonged there. And Alhalabi sat
directly behind a couple of people for what seemed to be intimidation purposes.
AMANA, apart from being a co-sponsor of the
Scholar’s Night, supplied numerous informational materials for the event, which
neatly lined tables inside the lobby of the auditorium. Event-goers were
treated to at least three versions of the Quran; Islamic booklets based on a
wide range of subjects; organizational pamphlets; and audio CDs of speeches
given by various Islamic scholars.
Some of the booklets had innocuous titles, such
as ‘Islamic Activism’ or ‘Non-Violence and Islam,’ but others were nothing
short of appalling. One, entitled ‘The
Fire of Hell,’ revealed a dark side of Islam, where death is
cherished over that of life. It contained such statements as: “Death teaches us how to live; it shows us the way
to real success;” “Death is not the end of our lives; it is the beginning of
our real life;” “Death is greater than a hurricane. If one were to
realize this, one would think and speak about death more than anything;” and
“This is the true difference between a believer and a disbeliever; the
disbeliever lives for this world, while the believer lives for the next
world.” The booklet also assailed Jews as being “disgraced and
miserable.” It stated, “If Muslims do not rise to the task of warning
people of the next life, they lose their worth in the sight of G-d; they become
disgraced and miserable both in this world and the next. One only has to
look at the vicissitudes in the history of the Jewish people to understand this
fact.”
Another AMANA booklet, entitled ‘A BRIEF
ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING ISLAM,’ has listed as one of its editors Ali Al-timimi.
Al-Timimi was convicted in April of 2005 of
soliciting his followers, in the days after the 9/11 attacks, to join the
Taliban and wage jihad (holy war) against U.S. troops. Additionally, in
AMANA’s personal brochure, one finds Ibrahim Dremali, the
imam of the Islamic Center of Des Moines, Iowa, listed
as an AMANA advisor. Dremali’s name is also
found on the United States federal no-fly list.
The CDs that were given out by AMANA were also
very problematic. One of the speeches, entitled ‘Monotheism, the
Foundation of Islam,’ was made by Rafiq Mehdi, the imam of the mosque where
‘Dirty Bomber’ Jose Padilla converted to Islam. In another of the CDs,
‘Islam and Indiscriminate Violence,’ the speaker, Jalal Abualrub,
tells of an evil foreboding aimed at Jews, whereby Jews will suffer defeat at
the hands of Muslims. He states, “In the future, our prophet has told a
prophesy that there will be some kind of battle between Muslims and Jews – in
the future. And as usual, the Jews will be aggressors, because they have
committed so many aggressions against us. As usual, they’re the
aggressors there. There’s gonna be war, and
Muslims will defeat the Jews.”
Condemnations of other religions and non-Muslim
peoples did not end with the AMANA materials being given out in the
lobby. The event itself did much to energize these hateful
passions.
The first speaker, who the MSO described as a
“lecturer on the subject of Islam at the University of Miami and masjids around
South Florida,” was Shakil Haq. The thrust of Haq’s speech was on the meaning of Islam, and he used
various quotes from the Quran as proofs. During his talk, Haq took the liberty of pointing out that there were Jews
and Christians in the crowd. This, while he proceeded to denounce their
religions. He stated, “And do you know that we believe in the three
scriptures – that they exist, before Islam. The difference is we believe
that those scriptures have been tampered...”
The keynote speaker of the Scholar’s Night was
a dark-eyed individual by the name of Fadi Kablawi (not to be
mistaken for the Palestine Solidarity Movement leader with a near identical
name). A dentist by profession, Kablawi is a
student of Open Islamic Academy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He was previously the leader of a mosque outside the
University of Pennsylvania, where he attended dental school.
Like Shakil Haq, Fadi Kablawi teaches Islamic
topics at different mosques around South Florida. Also
like Haq, Kablawi, in the
course of his speech, recited select passages from the Quran. One of the
passages in particular has insidious overtones towards Jews and
Christians. Kablawi stated, “Allah said, ‘You
are the best nation created for humanity, then you join good, you forbid evil,
and you believe in Allah.’” What Kablawi
mysteriously left out was the second half of this verse (Surah 3:110), which
says, “If only the People of the Book had faith, [sic] it were
best for them: among them are some who have faith, but most of them [Jews and
Christians] are perverted transgressors.” [This quote was taken from one
of the free AMANA Qurans offered in the lobby.]
Kablawi followed up his
half-missing verse by stating, “So once a Muslim violates these rules, he is
not preferred in the sight of G-d. And once any nation, that at one
pointchosen by G-d, once they violated the
commands of G-d, they don't have that preference any more.”
It is obvious, given the previous verse and other verses as well, that, when Kablawi
used the term “chosen,” he was referring to Jews, who in his estimate, were
once chosen but now go against the commands of G-d. they were preferred by G-d
or
If one were not convinced that Fadi Kablawi’s statement was a
subtle attack on Jews, Kablawi soon helped him/her to
understand the truth, when he went on a loud rant against Jews whom he said
complain about the Holocaust, while acting like Nazis themselves. He
exclaimed, “What they complain of that happened to them by Hitler, they are the
first people to come to Palestine and do it to the Palestinians!”
Just as Haq attempted
before him, Kablawi, in his speech, tried to mask his
sentiments towards others by bringing up such terms as “the three Abrahamic
faiths.” But in the end, he couldn’t hide the obvious, which were his
disdain for the West and his idea of a future dominance of Islam over the
world. He stated, “And from here I say, the solution for all people and
the whole world is the religion of Islam. Because the disasters and the
genocide and the killing and the murdering and the bombing and the wars
happening in this world right now is by no means for personal gain, whether
it’s individual, whether it’s organization, government, whatever. When
the western man – without faith and without the conscious of G-d – took charge
of the world, this is what happened, and it’s time for Islam to take a turn and
prove that the religion of Allah will dominate.”
Before the speeches began, quotes from the
Quran were shown to the audience. One of the quotes was from Surah 3:56,
which states, “As to those who reject faith [Islam], I will punish them with
severe agony in this world and in the Hereafter, nor will they have anyone to
help.” It appears that Kablawi’s doomsday
statement was the perfect way to end the MSO hatefest
and come full circle with the beginning of the night.
From the death-loving booklets in the lobby to
the concerted campaign of intimidation by the attendees to the anti-Jewish and
anti-Christian rhetoric from the speakers, MSO’s 7th Annual
Scholar’s Night was less of a “night” and more or a “nightmare” for FAU.
While the university should respect and honor the Freedom of Speech of its
students and faculty, it should also be wary of its campus being used as a
staging ground for the propagation of hatred and violence.
Fresh Muslim-Jewish Discord on
Campus
Program titles are considered
anti-Semitic by some at UC Irvine, site of civil rights probe.
By Kimi Yoshino
Times Staff Writer
May 12, 2006
Controversial events scheduled at UC Irvine next week with such provocative
titles as "Holocaust in the Holy Land" and "Israel: The Fourth
Reich" are sparking outrage among Jewish students who are asking
administrators to denounce aspects of the event.
Jewish students and community leaders say the program is the latest in a string
of offensive incidents at the university. The U.S. Office for Civil Rights is
investigating anti-Semitism at UCI, the first probe of its kind at a college.
"Instead of the university being a place for dialogue and discussion of
important issues, it's being turned into a platform for hate speech and
bigotry," said Rabbi Yonah Bookstein, a spiritual advisor at colleges in
Long Beach and Orange County.
"This is intentionally inciting and hateful toward the Jewish people of
the campus."
A complaint filed by the Zionist Organization of America in New York on behalf
of Jewish students at UCI prompted the ongoing investigation, said Kenneth L.
Marcus, former head of the office and director of the U.S. Commission on Civil
Rights.
"There are things that are happening on campuses all over the country, but
Irvine seems particularly severe to me," said attorney Susan Tuchman,
director of the Zionist Organization's Center for Law and Justice.
Federal officials say they have seen an escalation in anti-Semitism at
universities across the country since 2000, prompting the U.S. Commission on
Civil Rights to issue a report on the topic last month. The report, unrelated
to UCI, urges university leaders to set a moral example by condemning hate
speech.
The latest UCI controversy is centered on the Muslim Student Union's
"Holocaust in the Holy Land" program scheduled throughout next week.
Kareem Elsayed, 20, a member of the group, defended
the program titles. The dictionary definition of "holocaust" does not
include Jews, he said.
"I do understand why they're upset, but of course I disagree," Elsayed said. "We have been doing this kind of programming
for years. No matter how you slice it, they are not pleased with the fact that
we're criticizing the apartheid state of Israel. We change the name each year.
Each year, there's a commotion."
The Southern California Council on American-Islamic Relations also defended the
students' right, calling the terms debatable, potentially offensive words that
stop short of attacking a religion.
"We should allow students to debate these topics; otherwise
we're not going to go forward in this community," council spokeswoman Sabiha Kahn said.
Some Muslims disagreed.
Ijaz Sayed, president of the Ahmadi Muslim Student Assn. at UCI, said,
"You'll never find us holding an event like that…. We all have to live on
this Earth together and somehow create peace here."
Jewish student representatives and Jewish community leaders said they did not
want university officials to cancel the event, just criticize the language.
"We understand that anti-Zionism week is something we cannot stop because
of the university's free-speech policies," said Alex Chazen,
20, president of Anteaters for Israel and the Hillel Jewish Student Union.
"But when it comes to the term 'holocaust,' it creates a completely
different emotion. It's disrespectful."
UCI officials said they would not criticize the event.
"This is an issue of free speech," said UCI's dean of students, Sally
Peterson, adding that it would be illegal to prevent the program. "Hate
speech is also protected speech…. There's no law against being a jerk,
basically."
Anticipating the controversy, Chancellor Michael V. Drake issued a campuswide message Tuesday.
He made no mention of the "Holocaust in the Holy Land" but encouraged
those on campus "to show appreciation for one another, for people of
diverse opinions, backgrounds and cultures and for ideas that may be different
from their own."
Muslim students faced their own woes in February when college Republicans
displayed controversial Danish cartoons that depicted the prophet Muhammad and
incited international riots. They protested with posters that read "Yes to
Freedom of Speech, No to Hate Speech."
UCI officials allowed that event to continue.
The tension between Jewish and Muslim students goes back several years. In
2002, the Muslim Student Union posted a sign that read "Israelis Love to
Kill Innocent Children." The complaint filed with the Office for Civil
Rights also contended that students had been physically threatened and were
afraid to wear clothing or jewelry identifying them as Jewish.
Attempts at federal mediation, which could have resolved the complaint, failed
after the Zionist Organization of America broke off talks last summer because
it did not believe the university was willing to change, Tuchman said.
Last month, the Commission on Civil Rights said anti-Semitism should not
continue under the guise of political discourse.
"The fact that it takes place in a public lecture or that it presents
itself as being foreign-policy related doesn't make it any less
anti-Semitic," Marcus said.
"University leadership has a moral obligation to make clear that there are
limits on civilized discourse."
Health sciences graduate described
as pious and good-natured
By Dana Borcea
and Laura Thompson
The Hamilton Spectator
June 5, 2006
Colleagues and friends of the
McMaster University graduate arrested on the weekend expressed shock and dismay
at the Mississauga man's alleged involvement in plotting terrorist attacks in
southern Ontario.
Acquaintances of Ahmad Mustafa Ghany, 21, who graduated this spring from the health
sciences program, described the Muslim man as pious and good-natured.
Ghany was one of
12 men and five teens arrested in an undercover sting operation and accused of
planning a homegrown terrorist attack.
Police said they had acquired three
tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertilizer -- three times
the quantity used in the Oklahoma City bombings of 1995 that killed 168 people.
Yesterday the Toronto Star reported
that police investigating the alleged plot controlled the transfer of the
fertilizer to the suspects as part of the sting operation.
The adults
range in age from 19 to 43 and are residents of Toronto, Mississauga and
Markham, while the five youths cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal
Justice Act.
The group was transported to a
Brampton court on Saturday in a convoy of unmarked vans and accompanied by a
police helicopter.
At the courthouse, family members
jostled for a glimpse of the men chained together by leg irons and cuffs under
the watchful eye of sharpshooters positioned on the roof of a nearby building.
Police alleged the men knowingly
participated in a terrorist group and either received or provided terrorist
training in Toronto, nearby Mississauga, Fort Erie -- a border town across from
Buffalo, N.Y. -- and Ramara Township, located on the
shores of Lake Simcoe in central Ontario's cottage country.
Police refused to describe the
intended targets but ruled out the Toronto Transit Commission -- a massive
public transit system that includes buses, subways and streetcars.
The bail hearing was postponed
until tomorrow morning.
Like many of the other suspects, Ghany was born in Canada and his father, a medical doctor
with a practice in Toronto, immigrated to Canada from Trinidad and Tobago in
the 1950s.
Ghany commuted
to Hamilton for school from his parents' affluent home on a quiet, tree-lined
street in the Erindale neighbourhood
of Mississauga.
A neighbour
on Robin Drive said Ghany had moved into the house
more than 10 years ago and lived there with his parents and two sisters.
"I really just know his
parents enough to say hello," said Angela Rocha, who described them as
good neighbours.
She said she rarely spoke to Ghany, who she used to see playing basketball with his
friends in the family driveway.
The health sciences undergraduate
program he just completed is popular with students planning a career in
medicine.
McMaster spokesperson Andrea Farquar said the university had no prior knowledge of an
investigation into possible terror suspects or that arrests would be made.
She expressed her surprise, but
added she had no concerns for students' safety on campus.
"Security is a top priority at
the university, as well as safety ... there is no indication that there is any
reason for us to increase our security."
During his time at McMaster, Ghany was involved in the Muslim Students Association and
regularly attended social events and Friday prayer services.
He was also a member of McMaster
Muslims for Peace and Justice (MMPJ), an organization that advocates for human
rights both locally and globally and has tackled issues including the detainees
as Guantanamo Bay and the Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed that
spawned an international controversy.
Member Omina
Helbah worked with Ghany at
McMaster and expressed her shock over his arrest.
Helbah said the
reaction of many McMaster students has been shock and outrage. Some have been
brought to tears.
She believes the student body will
stand behind Ghany and that action will be taken.
"I'm sure MMPJ will definitely
take this on," she said.
She added the issue hits home for
her but has a reach far beyond the campus.
"This is something larger than
McMaster. It is something that will affect any Muslim Canadian."
Ahmad Munawar, who just finished
his third year at Mac, said he met Ghany a few years
ago through mutual friends.
"Everything I do know about
him is nothing but good," said the economics major. "Quiet, polite
and just a good-natured guy. I've only had good experiences with him, I've only
heard good things about him, which is why this is all a huge shock."
He described Ghany
as very pious and religious.
"From what I know, he wasn't
an extremist. He takes a moderate approach to things."
In a prepared statement, the Muslim
Association of Hamilton condemned terrorist activity of any kind.
"We Muslims are Canadians and
like any other Canadians, we want Canada to be safe and secure from all
external and internal threats," it read.
The issue of the arrests' impact on
Canada's significant Muslim population was hotly discussed on radio and
television talk shows throughout the weekend, a reminder of the days following
the 9/11 attacks.
Canada's spy service -- the
Canadian Security Intelligence Service -- said the men had become
"adherents of a violent ideology inspired by al-Qaeda."
In Toronto yesterday, police Chief
Bill Blair told a gathering of Muslim leaders that the suspects arrested were
not acting out of faith, but spurred by an ideology of hate and urged that
anger and fear not by directed at the Muslim community.
Ghany's lawyer
Rocco Galati, who represents two of the suspects, said he wasn't surprised by
the vandalism given the media's representation of the arrests.
Galati has represented several
other alleged terrorists, including Hamilton's Abdellah
Ouzghar.
"Of course
it's going to engender backlash," Galati said. "I hope people keep
their wits, but this is the problem with this kind of public show before any
allegations are actually read in court."
School Ties Link Alleged Plotters
Arrested Canadians Had Bonded at Clubs and on
Soccer Fields
By Doug Struck
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, June 11, 2006; Page A16
TORONTO -- They were school pals. One is 15.
Most are just out of high school, some still in. The 17 boys and men whom
Canadian police are calling "homegrown terrorists" forged their bonds
in student clubs and on school soccer fields, chatted on the Internet, and
urged each other to be heroes for their faith.
The arrests last weekend left many Canadians pondering how a country proud of its diverse
culture and political moderation could spawn such an apparent interest in
violence. Especially by people so young.
What started as boasts and youthful rhetoric
crystallized into action, the government says. The youths ordered $4,000 worth
of ingredients for a bomb, built a detonator and cased out targets for a
two-pronged attack that would take hostages on Parliament Hill in Ottawa while
setting off bombs in Toronto, prosecutors contend.
The plans allegedly ranged from the fanciful --
steering remote-controlled toys loaded with explosives into police stations --
to the meticulous. The suspects calculated the exact solutions of nitric acid
and grams of mercury they would need to detonate the bombs, according to a
summary of the prosecutors' allegations reviewed by The Washington Post.
The school ties have some people here asking if
Canada's attempt to accommodate all faiths and backgrounds -- many Canadian
schools offer rooms for Friday prayers and foster Muslim student clubs -- is
encouraging religious divisions. Some of the clubs "are very conservative,
very judgmental," said Rizwana Jafri, a Muslim
and an administrator at a Toronto-area high school. "Young people are
looking for a group to belong to, and religion plays into that. It's almost
cult-like."
Suspect Saad Khalid, now 19, is typical of
those charged. At Meadowvale Secondary School, he was bright and outgoing in
his early high school years, fellow students told reporters last week. His
father, a technology professional from Pakistan, lived in Saudi Arabia before
coming to Canada 10 years ago. The family recently moved to a brick townhouse
in one of the new suburban developments being carved out of farmland in
Mississauga, a spreading suburban town west of Toronto.
In 2003, Khalid's mother died in an accident.
In the following years, he became more strident about his Muslim faith. He
formed athe Religious Awareness Club to preach Islam
during lunch hours at the Meadowvale school. He spent time with two older
classmates, Fahim Ahmad, now 21, and Zakaria Amara, 20, the government
contends.
Meadowvale is a bustling, brick school in the
heart of Mississauga. Teenage boys in T-shirts and baggy jeans lolled about the
campus last week. A smaller knot of young girls, with Muslim headdress, stood
in the shade of a tree. School officials declined to speak to reporters and
urged students to do the same.
"Young people who are disenfranchised or
ill-fitting in a society look for ways to belong, and sometimes religion plays
to that, creating a desire for martyrdom, a desire to be a hero," Jafri
said. In her view, the school clubs they form sometimes paint an extreme view
of a Muslim world at odds with the secular values the school is trying to
teach.
Khalid and his pals spent time in a chat room
on the Internet and called themselves the "Meadowvale Brothers."
According to the Globe and Mail newspaper, which reported on the electronic
chat diary before it was removed from the Web, the young men's talk dealt with
movies and final exams. But Zakaria Amara kept returning to the issue of
sacrifice for Islam.
"I love for the sake of Allah, and hate
for his sake," he wrote, according to the newspaper.
Khalid and the others began attending a mosque
together, teacher Ahmed Amiruddin told CBC Radio last
week. "They would enter into the mosque to pray. They would come in
military fatigues," he said. "It looked to me like they were watching
a lot of these Chechnyan jihad videos online."
Gradually, they gravitated to the Al-Rahman
Islamic Center, a storefront mosque in a small strip mall in Mississauga. There
they met Qayyam Abdul Jamal, 43, a taciturn Pakistani
native with an angry view of the world. He cleaned the rugs and took out the
trash at the mosque. For those services, the directors tolerated his vitriolic
speeches that portrayed Muslims as oppressed by the West, according to people
familiar with the mosque.
"Many people who worked with him thought
he was just a loudmouth," said Tariq Shah, a lawyer who represents the
mosque. "In retrospect, maybe it was wrong that he wasn't taken more
seriously."
Across Toronto at an eastern suburb called
Scarborough, a similar process was underway, at the Stephen Leacock Collegiate
Institute, a high school. An alumnus of the school, Mohamed Durrani,
19, and another man, Steven Vikash Chand, 25, a former Canadian army reservist,
frequented the school grounds to encourage Muslim students to come to the
mosques, students and acquaintances told reporters last week. At least two of
the juveniles, a 10th-grader and a 12th-grader who are not being identified
because of their ages, joined their group.
The group proved inept at keeping its
activities secret. The complaints about Jamal, and some of the Internet
traffic, drew the attention of investigators as early as two years ago, police
officials have confirmed.
Then, in March last year, two Atlanta-area men
already under scrutiny in the United States traveled to Toronto to meet
Khalid's older acquaintance Fahim Ahmad and a friend from the Scarborough
group, Jahmaal James, then 22, according to an FBI
affidavit. They allegedly talked about targets for terrorist attacks in North
America and the possibility of training in Pakistan.
That summer, Ahmad used his credit card to rent
a car for two immigrants from Somalia, Mohammed Dirie,
then 22, and Yasin Abdi Mohamed, 22. Those two drove
to Columbus, Ohio. When they arrived at the border to return to Canada, guards
stopped the car and searched the two. They reported finding a pistol tucked in the
back waistband of Mohamed's pants and two more semiautomatic weapons taped to
the inner thighs of Dirie.
The arrests and visit by the men from Georgia--
both with ties to Ahmad -- prompted Canadian intelligence and police officials
to begin physical and electronic surveillance. Authorities apparently were
watching last November, when Zakaria Amara drove to northern Ontario.
Prosecutors offer the following account for how the conspiracy unfolded from
there:
Amara stopped at the local police and Natural Resources
Ministry offices to inquire about nearby forests. He returned to the area the
week before Christmas and set up a camp in woodlands near the town of Orillia.
Eleven men and boys came with him. They wore camouflage uniforms, fired a 9mm
pistol, played paintball, and engaged in training "clearly for terrorist
purposes."
They made plans for a second session at the
camp. They named their scheme "Operation Badr,"
after a battle of early Islamic history, and discussed strategies. They would
take politicians hostage in the capital, demand the removal of Canadian troops
from Afghanistan and the release of Muslim prisoners, and execute the
politicians "one by one" if the demands were not met.
Ahmad put a deposit down on another illegal
firearms purchase. The suspects scouted out a house where they could retreat
after staging an attack. They shoplifted walkie-talkies. Amara plumbed the
Internet at public libraries to learn how to assemble a bomb. Durrani enrolled in flight training but eventually backed
out, believing he would attract too much attention.
The group had business cards printed up to pose
as fictional "student farmers" to raise fewer suspicions as they
bought the fertilizer for a bomb.
But as the conspirators talked and made plans,
they fractured in disagreement. Zakaria Amara wanted to use truck bombs. Fahim
Ahmad favored an attack with guns. Amara thought Ahmad was taking too long.
In the end, they settled on both methods, the
government contends. Amara and the Mississauga group would bomb a site in
Toronto -- the final list included a downtown Toronto skyscraper containing the
offices of Canada's spy agency, the Toronto Stock Exchange and a military
establishment. At the same time, Ahmad, who had moved to Scarborough with the
group there, was to storm the Parliament or some other public place.
By last month, Amara had concluded that they
needed three tons of ammonium nitrate -- the group wanted to make a bomb bigger
than the two-ton explosive that Timothy McVeigh used to shatter the federal
building in Oklahoma City in 1995, killing 168 people.
When the youths ordered the fertilizer, agents
intercepted the shipment and substituted an inert powder. Police watched as
Khalid and one of the youths worked at a rented warehouse June 2 to prepare to
receive the shipment. The two lined cardboard boxes with plastic to store the
material. When Amara paid $4,000 to an undercover officer for the fake
fertilizer, the police descended. Khalid and the juvenile were arrested at the
warehouse. Squads of officers positioned around Toronto rounded up the others
through the evening.
Khalid is now at Ontario's Maplehurst
Correctional Center in solitary confinement. His cell has a metal bed, two
blankets, and a light bulb that stays on all night. He met with his lawyer Thursday,
but the two were separated by a glass shield and were able to talk only on a
telephone. Khalid held it awkwardly, with his wrists still handcuffed together,
said the lawyer, Arif Raza.
"Obviously, he's very down," Raza
said. "Very depressed."
A
third of Muslim students back killings
Radicalism and support for sharia is strong in British
universities
Abul Taher
London Times
July 27, 2008
ALMOST a third
of British Muslim students believe killing in the name of Islam can be
justified, according to a poll.
The study also
found that two in five Muslims at university support the incorporation of
Islamic sharia codes into British law.
The YouGov poll for the Centre for Social Cohesion (CSC) will raise concerns
about the extent of campus radicalism. “Significant numbers appear to hold
beliefs which contravene democratic values,” said Han-nah Stuart, one of the
report’s authors. “These results are deeply embarrassing for those who have
said there is no extremism in British universities.”
The report was criticised by
the country’s largest Muslim student body, Fosis, but
Anthony Glees, professor of security and intelligence studies at Buckingham University,
said: “The finding that a large number of students think it is okay to kill in
the name of religion is alarming.
“There is a wide cultural divide between Muslim and nonMuslim
students. The solution is to stop talking about celebrating diversity and focus
on integration and assimilation.”
The researchers found that 55% of nonMuslim students
thought Islam was incompatible with democracy. Nearly one in 10 had “little
respect” for Muslims.
In addition to its poll of 1,400 Muslim and nonMuslim
students, the centre visited more than 20
universities to interview students and listen to guest speakers. It found that
extremist preachers regularly gave speeches that were inflammatory, homophobic
or bordering on antisemitic.
The researchers highlighted Queen Mary college, part of London University, as a
campus where radical views were widely held. Last December, a speaker named Abu
Mujahid encouraged Muslim students to condemn gays because “Allah hates”
homosexuality. In November, Azzam Tamimi, a British-based supporter of Hamas,
described Israel as the most “inhumane project in the modern history of
humanity”.
James Brandon, deputy director at CSC , said: “Our
researchers found a ghettoised mentality among Muslim
students at Queen Mary. Also, we found the segregation between Muslim men and
women at events more visible at Queen Mary.”
A spokesman for Queen Mary said the university was aware the preachers had
visited but did not know the contents of their speeches. “Clearly, we in no way
associate ourselves with these views. However, also integral to the spirit of
university life is free speech and debate and on occasion speakers will make
statements that are deemed offensive.”
In the report, 40% of Muslim students said it was unacceptable for Muslim men
and women to associate freely. Homophobia was rife, with 25% saying they had
little or no respect for gays. The figure was higher (32%) for male Muslim
students. Among non-Muslims, the figure was only 4%.
The research found that a third of Muslim students supported the creation of a
world-wide caliphate or Islamic state.
A number of terrorists have been radicalised at
British universities. Kafeel Ahmed, who drove a
flaming jeep into a building at Glasgow airport last year and died of his
burns, is believed to have been radicalised while
studying at Anglia Ruskin university, Cambridge.
Wes Streeting, president of the National Union of Students, condemned the
study. “This disgusting report is a reflection of the biases and prejudices of
a right-wing think tank – not the views of Muslim students across Britain,” he
said. “Only 632 Muslim students were asked vague and misleading questions, and
their answers were wilfully misinterpreted.”
Some of the findings amplify previous research. A report by Policy Exchange
last year found that 37% of all Muslims aged 16-24 would prefer to live under a
sharia system.
Baroness Warwick, chief executive of Universities UK, said: “Violence, or the
incitement to violence, has no place on a university campus.”
Theodore Roosevelt's
ideas on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907
“In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here
in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be
treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to
discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin.
But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American,
and nothing but an American... There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man
who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all.
We have room for but one flag, the American flag.... We have room for but one
language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one
sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”
