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Home Front: WoT
Biden, en Route to Michigan, Issues Anti-Israel Executive Order; Exaggerates ‘Settler Violence'
2024-02-02
[Breitbart] President Joe Biden issued an executive order Thursday that purports to target so-called “extremist settler violence” in the West Bank, but whose terms are so broad that they could be used to impose sanctions on Israeli elected leaders and political parties.

The order was issued as President Biden made a trip to Michigan, where Arab- and Muslim-American voters have threatened not to support him in the key swing state in the 2020 presidential election because of his perceived support for Israel against Hamas.

The order claims that there are “high levels” of violence directed by Jewish Israeli settlers against Palestinian residents of West Bank, known to Israelis as Judea and Samaria. In fact, such violence has not risen, and is dwarfed by violence by Palestinians.

As analyst David Weinberg recently noted at the Jewish News Syndicate:

There is no escalating or unprecedented wave of settler violence in Judea and Samaria under cover of the war in Gaza. The frenzied focus on “settler terrorism” by the highest officials in Washington is based on fake news.

…

Overall, the level of friction/violence in 2023 is about the same as that of 2022, totaling about 1,000 instances of violence of all types over the course of the full year.

…

In 2022, there were more than 5,000 Palestinian terror attacks against Israeli Jews, including car-rammings, shootings, stabbings and bombings of innocent men, women and children. These attacks included over 500 firebombings, leading to the injury of more than 150 Israelis. There was a 210% rise in rock-throwing incidents in 2021 over 2020 and a 156% rise in bomb-throwing incidents in 2021 over 2020.

Notably, the executive order does not provide any factual basis or evidentiary record substantiating its claims.

The claims about “extremist settler violence” are used as a way of balancing criticism of Palestinian terrorism, and appeasing a restive anti-Israel constituency in the Democratic Party.

The overwhelming majority of “settlers” — that is, Israeli citizens who live in communities across the 1949 armistice line — are peaceful. But the language of the executive order is so sweeping that it could theoretically be applied to non-violent people.

For example, the executive order allows sanctions to be imposed on anyone found to “have acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any person blocked pursuant to this order,” meaning it could apply to a lawyer, or anyone who argues on behalf of an accused “settler.” Moreover the executive order allows the president to sanction any “entity” that has members who are sanctioned, which could mean that the U.S. could sanction parties or leaders in the Israeli government. The White House’s national security spokesman, John Kirby, told reporters on Air Force One that the U.S. was not sanctioning any Israeli leaders “at this time,” but left open the possibility.

Already, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), whose executive director celebrated the October 7 terror attack,has demanded in a press release that the Biden administration begin sanctioning right-wing members of the Israeli government.

As Breitbart news has noted:

In 2007-8, CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the terror financing trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. That case, in turn, led the FBI to discontinue its work with the organization. In 2009, a federal judge ruled that the government “produced ample evidence to establish” the ties of CAIR with Hamas, the Palestinian terror organization. The United Arab Emirates labeled CAIR a terrorist organization in 2014 (a decision that the Obama administration opposed).

The timing of the executive order comes as the U.S. is pressuring Israel to accept a Palestinian state at the end of the war, despite the fact that doing so would reward Hamas for the terrorism of October 7; and as the U.S. reportedly presses Israel to accept a hostage deal that would end the war short of achieving Israel’s objective of destroying Hamas’s military capabilities and ending its governing role in Gaza.

Update: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement in response:

The overwhelming majority of residents in Judea and Samaria are law-abiding citizens, many of whom are currently fighting – as conscripts and reservists – to defend Israel.

Israel acts against all Israelis who break the law, everywhere; therefore, exceptional measures are unnecessary.

The Times of Israel noted that four individuals were the first to be sanctioned:

The US State Department said in a statement that the four individuals being designated in the first round are David Chai Chasdai, who allegedly initiated and led the rampage of the northern West Bank village of Huwara last year, which resulted in the death of one of the Palestinian residents; Eitan Tanjil, who was allegedly involved in assaulting Palestinian farmers and Israeli activists by attacking them with stones and clubs, resulting in injuries that required medical treatment; Shalom Zicherman, who allegedly assaulted Israeli activists and their vehicles in the West Bank, blocking them on the street, and attempted to break the windows of passing vehicles with activists inside; and Yinon Levi, who allegedly regularly led groups of settlers from the Meitarim Farm outpost who assaulted Palestinian and Bedouin civilians, threatening them with additional violence if they did not leave their homes, burned their fields, and destroyed their property.
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Government
Long banned for FBI, CAIR still consults with fed, state, local gov’t law enforcement
2019-06-25
Another branch of the deep state swamp, CAIR is an unindicted co-conspirator in the 2007 Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development terror-financing case. The government alleged the Texas-based group, once the largest Muslim charity in the U.S., funneled millions of dollars to the Palestinian militant group Hamas...
[PJMedia] A group banned from associated with the FBI because of its alleged ties to Hamas, a regional Iranian catspaw, is still a go-to resource for law enforcement officials in South Florida.

The leaders of Council on American Islamic Relations Florida recently met with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. Those leaders included Wilfredo Amr Ruiz and Nezar Hamze. This meeting was held within the context of a federal program called Group Violence Initiative, which is designed to counter gang violence in inner-city communities.

FBI policy has formally prohibited the federal law enforcement agency from associating with CAIR since 2008, due to the group’s documented ties to organizations involved with financing the terrorist group Hamas. A similar policy does not exist for the U.S. Department of Justice despite previous efforts in Congress to encourage the DOJ to institute such a policy, despite federal prosecutors writing that "from its founding by Moslem Brüderbund leaders, CAIR conspired with other affiliates of the Moslem Brüderbund to support terrorists." CAIR has also been designated as a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates.

Despite these relationships, CAIR Florida has continued to successfully interface with federal officials. In 2017, CAIR Florida participated in a DHS Civil Rights and Civil Liberties town hall and in 2016, the Department of Homeland Security hired the CAIR Florida branch to facilitate a training event between DHS and State Department officials and French Law enforcement.
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Fifth Column
MN Dhimmi Dem Governor Walz To Open Three New Government Offices To Fight Islamophobia
2019-04-05
[AlphaNewsMN] Star Tribune reports that Worthington, Bemidji, and Duluth are the favorites to receive the new office. Along with new government offices, Governor Walz pledged additional gestures including being the first Governor to host an iftar dinner celebrating Ramadan.

While speaking to a controversial group Council For Islamic-American Relations, a non-profit that has been linked to islamic terrorist groups, Governor Tim Walz announced that he plans to open up at least three new government human rights offices in greater Minnesota to fight Islamophobia promote Dhimmitude.

Star Tribune reports that Worthington, Bemidji, and Duluth are the favorites to receive the new office. Along with new government offices, Governor Walz pledged additional gestures including being the first Governor to host an iftar dinner celebrating Ramadan.

So I'm here today to deliver a pretty simple message: Hate and Islamophobia have no home in Minnesota," Walz said. "But you do."
Fully endorsing self loathing racist Christophobia?
Comments were made during a full day seminar on Islamophobia hosted by Metropolitan State University.

Walz's CAIR was founded in part with donations from the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), later tagged as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organization that has been indicted for providing material support to Hamas.
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Home Front: WoT
Ties between Hamas-linked charities and BDS highlighted in Congressional testimony
2016-04-21
[IsraelTimes] Terror finance expert describes ’network’ of ex-fundraisers in organizations linked to Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, and key pro-boycott organization

The US should boost transparency of nonprofit organizations in order to shed light on ties between a key pro-boycott organization and defunct charities that were implicated in funding Hamas, analyst Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told members of Congress during testimony Tuesday afternoon when two subcommittees of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs met to discuss current threats to Israel.

During testimony, experts including Schanzer highlighted regional nonstate actors such as Iran and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS) as key threats to Israel.

The chairman of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade, Ted Poe, described the BDS movement as "a threat which seeks [Israel’s] ultimate destruction."

Schanzer, a former terror finance analyst for the US Treasury, presented open-source research conducted by his group, the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies which highlighted a network linking Hamas supporters with the leadership of the BDS movement.

The research tracked employees of three now-defunct organizations ‐ the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, Kind Hearts Foundation for Humanitarian Development and the Islamic Association for Paleostine -- all of which were implicated by the federal government for terrorism finance, specifically of Hamas. A federal court found that the Holy Land Foundation had sent some $12 million to Hamas over the course of a decade

The research yielded what Schanzer described as "a troubling outcome" ‐ with seven key employees of these organizations now associated with the Illinois-based organization American Muslims for Paleostine.

Schanzer told members of Congress that the latter is "arguably the leading BDS organization in the US, a key sponsor of the anti-Israel campus network known as Students for Justice in Paleostine." The organization, he said, provides money, speakers, training and even "apartheid walls" to SJP activists on campus, for the annual Israel Apartheid Week events.

"The overlap between AMP, Holy Land, Kind Hearts and the Islamic Association for Paleostine is striking," said Schanzer, but noted that "our open source research did not indicate that AMP or any of these individuals are currently involved in any illegal activity."

"The BDS campaign may pose a threat to Israel, but the network I describe here is decidedly an American problem," he warned. Americans for Justice in Paleostine raises money as a transparent 501c3 tax-exempt non-profit, which then provides funds for AMP which has the usually temporary designation of a corporate non-profit ‐ a status that is usually transitional en route to a tax-exempt 501c3 organization.

"There appear to be flaws in the federal and state oversight of non-profits charities," Schanzer complained. Although advocating for increased transparency, Schanzer said that he had a sense from talking to former colleagues that the Treasury was less invested in uncovering charities serving to fund terror networks than in the past.

"BDS advocates are free to say what they want, true or false, but tax advantaged organizations are obliged to be transparent," Schanzer told the panel. "Americans have a right to know who is leading the BDS campaign and so do the students who may not be aware of AMP’s leaders or their goals."
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Home Front: WoT
Mosque near 'Clock Boy' Ahmed's Texas Home Connected to Terrorism
2015-12-08
[BREITBART] A north Texas mosque, near the home of "Clock Boy" Ahmed, was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the largest terrorism financing trial in United States history. The judge found there was ample evidence that the mosque, the Islamic Association of North Texas, assisted the Holy Land Foundation in funding millions of dollars to a Paleostinian military terrorist organization that has killed Israeli children.

The Richardson, Texas, mosque, also known as the Dallas Central Mosque, was set up largely for the purpose of funding Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, and terrorist activities by funding the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF). The foundation was based in the same city as the Islamic Association of North America -- Richardson, Texas.

The HLF was designated as a terrorist organization by the federal government in 2001. The organization was shut down and its assets were seized because the charity's primary purpose was found to fund Hamas. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and other governments.
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Home Front: Politix
Illinois state police revoke Muslim chaplain appointee
2010-06-23
The Illinois State Police has revoked the appointment of a prominent Chicago-area cleric to be its first Muslim chaplain after questions about his connection to a charity with ties to the militant Palestinian group Hamas. In a statement, state police officials said Sheikh Kifah Mustapha, the associate director of the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview, could not serve as a volunteer chaplain "due to information revealed during the background investigation." State police declined to be more specific.

In December, Mustapha was one of seven religious leaders trained in Springfield to become volunteer state police chaplains. State police said they discovered after all seven volunteers completed the training that detailed background checks had not been done. Shortly after Mustapha's appointment, Steve Emerson, executive director of the Washington-based Investigative Project on Terrorism, criticized Illinois law enforcement for ignoring Mustapha's history as an "unindicted co-conspirator" in the case against the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, once the nation's largest Muslim charity.

The foundation's two founding members were sentenced last year to 65 years in prison each for funneling millions of dollars to Hamas, which the U.S. has labeled as a terrorist organization. Mustapha helped raise money for the group in Chicago but was never charged with any crime.

On Wednesday, the Council on American-Islamic Relations will hold a news conference to protest the revocation of Mustapha's appointment.
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Fifth Column
Dallas CAIR Board Member Deported for Terrorism Link
2010-02-20
HT to Hotair
An immigration judge in Dallas on Friday ordered an outspoken Islamic leader deported after the U.S. government alleged he had ties to terrorist groups in the Middle East.

Nabil Sadoun, a Dallas resident and former board member of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, was deported to his native Jordan after he failed to appear at his immigration hearing. He entered the U.S. in August 1993.
bye bye
Sadoun's attorney, Kimberly Kinser, said he was already in Jordan and was unable to return to Texas because the government had taken his permanent resident card, or green card.

She denied he was tied to any terrorist groups.
of course she did
In the hearing, Judge Anthony Rogers of the Executive Office for Immigration Review, said Sadoun "made a decision to leave the U.S." and forfeited his right to fight his deportation. He said the decision was final and could not be appealed.

In court, the judge made vague references to the government's voluminous motion to deport him, including alleged involvement with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. The judge concluded Sadoun lied on government forms when he denied he was a member.

The judge also indicated there was evidence Sadoun contributed to the Richardson-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, which was the largest Islamic charity in the United States. Prosecutors convicted the group of funneling money to terrorist groups and several of its leaders were sent to prison. In the case, CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator.

The judge's comments in court provided the only window into the allegations against Sadoun. The documents detailing charges made by the Department of Homeland Security were not publicly available.

Ibrahim Hooper, a CAIR spokesman, said Sadoun left the organization several months ago.
of course he did
Asked the reason for his departure, Hooper said, "Board members come on, (and) they leave."
"...when their cover is blown"
Over the years, Sadoun made public comments critical of Israel, but Rogers said he considered the remarks free speech and gave them no weight in the decision to deport him, "no matter how distasteful they are to this court."
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Home Front: WoT
Big Sis in secret talks with Muzzie Brotherhood
2010-02-17
Last month, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and her senior staff privately met in Washington, D.C., with a select group of Muslim, Arab, and Sikh organizations. Among the mix were three organizations directly associated with an outlawed terrorist entity — the Muslim Brotherhood.

Secretary Napolitano spent an hour and a half briefing them on Department of Homeland Security (DHS) counter-radicalization and anti-terrorist programs. The intensive briefings spanned two days (January 27 and 28) and were called by the DHS.

Although there is no evidence of an exchange of classified information, this meeting was the beginning of an Obama administration program aimed at devising a new information-sharing framework with the Muslim organizations — some of them regarded as extremist because of their ties to the Muslim Brotherhood. The group is to meet regularly with DHS senior aides and with Napolitano. This program was imported from the United Kingdom. The Obama administration has decided to replicate the UK program to win over Muslims and to get them to collaborate with the federal government.

Although Matthew Chandler, deputy press secretary and spokesman for Secretary Napolitano, refused to comment on the meetings or identify the groups that attended the two-day session, Pajamas Media has learned the identities of a number of the participants and interviewed them — including those linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.

A former U.S. intelligence officer told PJM:

The “counter-radicalization' program is something that the other side created for us. … It initially started in Britain. The Muslim Brotherhood groups suggested it. We went over there and got it. We thought it was a great idea and now we're using it. It's the enemy giving us a way to destroy ourselves.

Another Muslim leader from the meeting was Salam al-Marayati, the executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). MPAC has a long history of defending terrorist acts. Al-Marayati repeatedly defended the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, the Muslim “charity' which was convicted of nine federal criminal counts and in 2001 was identified by the U.S. Treasury Department as a “Specially Designated Terrorist.'

In a 1999 PBS interview, al-Marayati called Hezbollah attacks on Israel “legitimate resistance.'

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Home Front: Politix
AG Holder to speak to CAIR-linked group
2009-11-10
Note: You can click the pic to get the full size version!
Attorney General Eric Holder has agreed to give a keynote speech next week to a Michigan group which includes the local branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations even though the FBI has formally severed contacts with the controversial Muslim civil rights organization.

On Nov. 19, Holder is scheduled to speak in Detroit to the first annual awards banquet of Advocates and Leaders for Police and Community Trust, a coalition of several dozen law enforcement and community groups. An online registration form for the event includes the Council on American Islamic Relations-Michigan on a list of “official & participating organizations.”

A spokeswoman for ALPACT confirmed that CAIR is a member of the coalition.

“CAIR has been involved for a while,” said Chandra McMillion, community development facilitator for ALPACT. “CAIR is listed as an official member.”

The executive director of CAIR’s Michigan chapter, Dawud Walid, also confirmed its involvement with ALPACT. “It’s really nothing controversial. We’ve been part of this organization for years,” he said. “We meet every month and included with us is the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the FBI.”

Walid said he is a regular at ALPACT meetings—including one held Friday at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Detroit. “A lot of people are there: the NAACP, the ACLU, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee…the National Lawyers’ Guild,” he said.

The FBI claims it cut “formal contacts” with CAIR after federal prosecutors in the 2007 criminal trial of officers of a Texas-based Islamic charity, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, introduced documents the government said showed links between CAIR and the Muslim Brotherhood, which gave rise to Hamas.

“Until we can resolve whether there continues to be a connection between CAIR or its executives and HAMAS, the FBI does not view CAIR as an appropriate liaison partner,” FBI Congressional liaison Richard Powers wrote in an April letter to Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.).

The Justice Department referred questions about Holder’s speech and CAIR’s involvement to the FBI’s field office in Detroit which, in turn, referred the questions to FBI headquarters in Washington.

An FBI spokeswoman confirmed that the FBI’s Special Agent-in-Charge in Detroit, Andy Arena, will serve as co-chair for the Nov. 19 dinner.

“We are co-chairing the event. We are not sponsoring the event,” spokeswoman Jennifer Burnside said. She said the FBI “didn’t have any role” in selling tickets for the event or in issuing invitations.

Burnside also stressed the fact that the dinner is not a closed briefing. “It’s a public event and Joe off the street could attend,” she said.

Another factor contributing to federal law enforcement’s prominent role in the event is that the dinner will involve a tribute to Paul Sorce, an FBI agent killed in a traffic accident in March while conducting surveillance. “Honoring a fallen agent is very important to us,” Burnside said.

Asked about the FBI’s limits on contacts with CAIR, Burnside said, “Our policy doesn’t prohibit the FBI participating in meetings where CAIR is going to be involved.”

Former terrorism prosecutor Andrew McCarthy, a CAIR critic, said he was disappointed but not taken aback by the FBI’s parsing of its ban on “formal contacts” with the Muslim group.

“I wish I could say I’m surprised but I’m not remotely surprised,” McCarthy said. “When [the FBI] said they cut off formal ties with them, whenever they say something like that you have to look very carefully at the way it’s worded… The last administration was guilty of it, this administration is guilty of it—they have determined it is more important to have what it can publicly hold out as ties to the Muslim community than it is to be careful about who you have the ties with.”

In the FBI’s letter to Kyl, the agency said the limits on contacts with CAIR stemmed from its status as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land case. In 2007, five Holy Land officers were acquitted on some charges, while a mistrial was declared on others after jurors deadlocked. In a retrial in 2008, all the men were convicted.

“During that trial evidence was introduced that demonstrated a relationship among CAIR, individual CAIR founders…and the Palestine Committee,” the FBI’s Powers wrote. “Evidence was also introduced that demonstrated a relationship between the Palestine Committee and HAMAS, which was designated as a terrorist organization in 1995. In light of that evidence the FBI suspended all formal contacts between CAIR and the FBI.”

CAIR officials have denied any connection to terrorism and have complained bitterly about being named as co-conspirators in the Holy Land case. They note that since the group was never charged it had no forum to challenge the documents prosecutors said linked CAIR to the Muslim Brotherhood. CAIR officials have also noted that aspects of the documents are not consistent with CAIR’s activities.

CAIR and two other Islamic groups named as co-conspirators asked a federal judge to nullify the designation, but POLITICO reported recently that the groups’ motion was rejected in a secret ruling. However, the judge faulted prosecutors for publicly filing the conspirators list, a source said.

In March, an array of American Muslim groups threatened to cut ties with the FBI, citing, among other concerns, the agency's treatment of CAIR.

McMillion said the connection ALPACT creates between CAIR and the FBI’s Detroit office has been vetted by top officials in Washington.

“This issue came up,” she said. “We know….of the real tension in terms of the FBI nationally having a very different posture. It actually did have to be approved through national channels not only for the FBI being a member but a co-chair…It ultimately was approved.”

Walid said he was unaware of any problems created by CAIR’s involvement in ALPACT. “It’s never been an issue,” he said.

The relationship between the FBI and Muslim groups in Michigan has been strained in recent days after agents shot and killed a local imam they said was the leader of a radical fundamentalist group. Luqman Abdullah, 53, was killed on Oct. 28 in Detroit after he refused to surrender and opened fire on agents attempting to arrest him and a band of his followers on federal weapons and conspiracy charges, the FBI said. An FBI dog was also killed in the exchange of fire, the agency noted in press released.

Walid has been sharply critical of the FBI for using deadly force in the operation, but the CAIR official said that doesn’t mean the group is at loggerheads with the federal law enforcement agency.

“We all have each other’s cell phone numbers,” Walid said. “There’s not the level of hostility that some people may think…..There are a number of organizations, not just CAIR, raising concerns about that situation with the imam.”
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Fifth Column
CAIR's Congressional Stooges
2009-07-29
From Jewish World Review
House Dems Carry Islamists' Water
By Steven Emerson

Seven House Democrats have written Attorney General Eric Holder invoking a list of grievances from radical Islamist groups and asking that Holder meet with representatives from those groups to hear their concerns.

The grievances include the use of convicted felons as informants in mosques, alleged religious profiling of Somali Muslims in Minnesota and elsewhere and allegations that the FBI is working with foreign governments to question American citizens who are terror suspects. In the letter, the representatives said:

"These concerns raise legitimate questions about due process, justice, and equal treatment under the law. We hope you will meet with American Muslim leaders to ensure that core American values are respected for all Americans, regardless of race, ethnicity, or faith. For your convenience, we have attached a contact list of American Muslim leaders."

These issues have been pushed by radical Islamist groups for months. The letter's close tracking of the interest groups' positions indicates that their officials dictated its terms for the members of Congress to sign. In fact, the nine entities all are listed in exactly the same sequence in this release from the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). The April 2009 release also cites two of the same issues as in the letter to Holder.

The letter was signed by California representatives Loretta Sanchez, Adam Schiff, Mike Honda and Lois Capps, along with Ohio representatives Mary Jo Kilroy and Dennis Kucinich. Northern Virginia Congressman James Moran joined the group. Moran serves on the House Appropriations Committee subcommittee on defense. Schiff and Honda serve on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies. Kilroy sits on the House Homeland Security Committee.

Schiff also serves on the House Judiciary Committee and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

Many of the groups listed for Holder to meet have radical histories and agendas. For example, the Islamic Circle of North America adheres to similar ideology as the Jamaat-i-Islami, which calls for Islamic revolution and creating an Islamist state in Pakistan. In the U.S., ICNA aggressively proselytizes among non-Muslims. The Muslim Public Affairs Council argues that Hizballah should not be a designated terrorist organization.

Three other groups listed for contact have direct roots in the Muslim Brotherhood, an international movement based in Egypt which seeks the creation of a global Islamic state, or Caliphate. Those groups include the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the Muslim Students Association, the Muslim American Society's Freedom Foundation, which is run by a convicted felon and the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR).

Prosecutors included CAIR on a list of unindicted co-conspirators in the prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and development, considered the nation's largest terrorism-finance case. FBI case Agent Lara Burns labeled CAIR a front group for Hamas during sworn testimony last fall.

While CAIR claims to condemn terrorist attacks, it has not been able to specifically condemn Hamas suicide bombings or Hizballah bombings of civilian communities In a 2000 interview with Al Jazeera (translation here), CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad defiantly refused to criticize Hamas or Hizballah:

"We do not condemn nor will we condemn any liberation movement inside Palestine, or inside Lebanon. If they want us to condemn a liberation movement inside Palestine, or Lebanon, they must condemn Israel dozens of times at all levels at all times. We will not condemn any organization. We are not under anyone's hammer. We are in the country of freedom. Why should we renounce principles?"

This is the leadership Holder is asked to meet. As reporter Mary Jacoby recently noted:

CAIR "has been working to stoke tensions in local Muslim communities over FBI investigative tactics. CAIR is angry at the FBI, because the bureau embarrassed it. How? By cutting off contacts with CAIR's national leadership last year. Why did the bureau do that? Because evidence in a major terrorism-support prosecution in Texas showed CAIR's origins as a propaganda arm of Hamas."

Indeed, a letter from an FBI congressional liaison states that the Bureau can't rule out an ongoing "connection between CAIR or its executives and HAMAS" and would cut off outreach communication with the group until it can.

Letters like the Democrats' letter to Holder representing constituents' concerns are not unusual and are "part of the propaganda war that goes on beneath the surface all the time and part of their efforts to undermine law enforcement," said Bob Blitzer, who led the FBI's domestic terrorism section in the 1990s. He said he encountered "a couple hundred" letters of this nature during his career. Each is handled seriously because members of Congress signed the letters.

Many of the representatives who signed this letter have a history of supporting CAIR. For example, Kucinich sent a video message praising the organization to the CAIR-Chicago 4th Annual Banquet on February 23, 2008:

"As the Council on American-Islamic Relations meets I want to pledge to you. I continue to pledge for your efforts to make sure that the powerful message of Islam, a message of peace and reconciliation reverberates. I want to make sure that you know that you have a friend in the United States Congress."

Sanchez has repeatedly attended annual CAIR banquets in Anaheim. Likewise, Honda spoke at CAIR's 2006 national banquet in Virginia, where called his hosts "the civil rights group that will speak on behalf of the community." Capps is included on a page of laudatory statements about CAIR, saying "I applaud CAIR for its important role in advocating for civil liberties, enhancing the understanding of Islam, and condemning acts of terrorism."

Moran is included on the same page, saying "It is through the activities of groups like CAIR that cooperation-rather than competition-between the various faiths can be achieved." Honda is quoted saying "CAIR's commitment to social justice and civil rights for all Americans will help our country to ensure that respect and tolerance exists for people of all religions and ethnicities."

In their letter, the representatives accept the claims of defendants in two criminal cases unqustioningly, despite sworn testimony to the contrary.

In Irvine, Cal., Ahmadullah Niazi, has been indicted on immigration charges. His brother-in-law has served as Osama bin Laden's security coordinator and Niazi is accused of lying about communication with him and a visit to Pakistan to see him. He also told an FBI informant that he considered bin Laden to be "an angel" and repeatedly discussed bombing buildings in California.

Niazi's supporters say he was entrapped by an agent provocateur and emphasize the informant's criminal record for forgery. They point out that Niazi even went to authorities in 2007 to report that the informant was discussing terrorist plots. In sworn testimony during Niazi's bond hearing in February, FBI agent Thomas Ropel III said Niazi went to authorities only after learning of a separate terror-indictment involving an informant and collaborated with CAIR official Hussam Ayloush to accuse the informant of being the terrorist.

Niazi then lied repeatedly about his conversations with the informant. For example, Niazi claimed that he and the informant had discussed jihad once or twice, when agents already possessed "at least 15 to 20 such conversations."

The following exchange took place between Ropel and Magistrate Judge Arthur Nakazato:

Agent Ropel: "We had discussed conducting terrorist attacks and blowing up buildings. We had discussed Mr. Niazi or anybody talking about sending money overseas and Mr. Niazi said none of those things were ever discussed between himself and this individual. And we had personally listened to recordings in which Mr. Niazi had instigated these conversations with that individual."

Judge: "He instigated the conversations?"

Agent Ropel: "Yes, Mr. Niazi did, specifically regarding these statements."

Another case involving informants four New York men were arrested after planting what the defendants thought were bombs outside New York synagogues. Their indictment alleges they also wanted to shoot down U.S. military planes.

The informant issue raised in the letter isn't expected to generate much excitement. It is "normal" to see informants in criminal investigations have felony records of their own, said Barry Sabin, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division.

There are guidelines and layers of supervision to ensure the sending informants into houses of worship are necessary investigative steps. That's a point FBI Director Robert Mueller made in testimony March 25 before the Senate Judiciary Committee:

"I will say that we do not focus on institutions, we focus on individuals. And I will say generally if there is evidence or information as to individual or individuals undertaking illegal activities in religious institutions, with appropriate high-level approval, we would undertake investigative activities, regardless of the religion." [Emphasis added]

In Minneapolis, CAIR has complained of religious profiling in the investigation and urged people not to meet with the FBI without an attorney present. This has triggered a backlash from some members of the Minneapolis Somali community, who have repeatedly demonstrated against CAIR for, in their view, hindering law enforcement efforts to stop the recruitment of young men to return to the African nation to engage in jihad. At least 20 young men are believed to have traveled from Minneapolis to Somalia in the past year, with one killing himself in a suicide bombing attack. Three other young men from Minneapolis have been shot and killed in Somalia in the past two months.

Two men have been indicted in connection with facilitating travel for the young men to Somalia, where they were to join up with the al-Shabab terrorist group.

These are among the grievances for which Holder is being asked to devote his attention. That the representatives would accept at face value the claims of an organization the FBI has concluded is not "an appropriate liaison partner" is disturbing. CAIR has documented roots in a U.S-based Hamas support network. Among secretly recorded wiretaps in evidence in the prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development are conversations including two CAIR founders about deceiving Americans about their political ambitions and the outright declaration that "war is deception."

Before carrying their water again, the politicians may wish to find out whether the war ended.
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Home Front: WoT
Muslim charity member gets 65 years in prison
2009-05-27
DALLAS -- A founding member of what was once the nation's largest Muslim charity was sentenced to 65 years in prison Wednesday for funneling millions of dollars to the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

Shukri Abu Baker, 50, of Garland, Texas, was the first of five members of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development to be sentenced. Ghassan Elashi, 55, of Richardson, also got 65 years. Another defendant, Mohammad El-Mezain, 55, was sentenced to 180 months for one count of conspiracy to support a terrorist organization.

After a jury failed to reach a verdict in 2007, the men were convicted in a second trial last November on 108 charges stemming from allegations the charity sent more than $12 million to Hamas. It's illegal to give support to Hamas, which has been listed by the U.S. as a terror group since 1995 and is blamed for hundreds of suicide bombings targeting Israeli civilians.

The charity leaders were convicted on charges ranging from supporting a terrorist organization to money laundering and tax fraud. The two men still to be sentenced -- Mufid Abdulqaderand Abdulrahman Odeh -- were convicted of conspiracy.

The charity itself was convicted on 32 counts. It wasn't accused of violence, but of bankrolling schools and social welfare programs that the U.S. government says are controlled by Hamas.

The defendants said they only fed the needy and gave much-needed aid to a volatile region. "I did it because I cared, not at the behest of Hamas," Abu Baker told the judge Wednesday.
Because I cared, dammit!
U.S. District Judge Jorge Solis cut off Abu Baker and told him: "You didn't tell the whole story. Palestinians were in a desperate situation, but that doesn't justify supporting Hamas."

The charity's supporters say the prosecution was a politically motivated product of former President George W. Bush's "war on terror" and a prime example of anti-Islamic hysteria after the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S.

Defense attorneys also protested that an Israel official was allowed to testify anonymously that Hamas members were among the leaders of the charity's benefactors. The Israeli agent, who testified under the pseudonym "Avi," also appeared at the 2007 trial.
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Home Front: WoT
HolyLandFoundation members found guilty of supporting terrorism
2008-11-24
IPT News
November 24, 2008

updated 5:25 p.m.

DALLAS – A jury convicted five former officials at the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) on all counts [apprx 100 counts] in the Hamas-support case after 8 days of deliberations [following 15 years of investigations and two trials costing millions in legal cost].

The men, Shukri Abu-Baker, Ghassan Elashi, Mohamed El-Mezain, Mufid Abdulqader and Abdelrahman Odeh, could face up to 20 years in prison for their convictions on conspiracy counts, including conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. The verdicts, read Monday afternoon, ended a two-year saga in what is considered the largest terror financing case since the 9/11 attacks....
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