Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Nihad Awad

Council on American-Islamic Relations

Fifth Column

20030902

Fifth Column

Universities/Black Bloc/Iran proxies all together: Round-up 4/6-4/12/2025

2025-04-13

Stories I happened across while wandering through the internet last week.

University Apologizes For Inaction After Student’s Antisemitic Abuser Pleads Guilty
[DailyWire] Nearly a full year since college soccer player Noam Nedivi came forward with his story of antisemitic abuse, his university is apologizing for not only its failure to protect the student, but also actions that derailed his college experience.

Lawrence Technological University actually kicked Nedivi off his team and declined to protect him from a roommate who subjected him to months of antisemitic verbal and physical abuse. The Michigan school has now formally apologized after his former roommate and teammate, Zavier Chimienti, pleaded guilty to ethnic intimidation and misdemeanor domestic violence in October.

The ordeal, first reported by The Daily Wire nearly a year ago, included Chimienti harassing Nedivi with anti-Jewish slurs, Nazi salutes, and full-on physical abuse.

“Last year, a Jewish student reported verbal and physical antisemitic abuse committed by another student on campus,” LTU’s administration wrote in a press release. “The student’s complaint should have been handled better. In that way, we failed him and the LTU community, and caused unnecessary pain to our student. We apologize to our student for the hurt caused him [sic].”

Nedivi told The Daily Wire that he is relieved the situation has come to an end, but he’s far from satisfied.

“I am glad that most of the truth has come to light, but LTU’s campus was a hostile environment for me for more than a year after I reported Zavier’s harassment in my own campus apartment,” Nedivi said. “He was never suspended at any point, even after he pleaded guilty in state court.”

Nedivi added that the lack of prioritization of his safety made him decide to finish his degree online. “LTU acted more like a criminal organization than a university trying to protect me,” Nedivi added. “LTU’s administration deliberately falsified evidence, made up lies to ruin my reputation and kept me from accessing critical student resources.”

Princeton Radicals Disrupt Event With Naftali Bennet, Yelling 'Genocide' and Pulling Fire Alarm
[WashingtonFreeBeacon] Anti-Israel activists at Princeton University disrupted a speech by former Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett, setting off a fire alarm and calling him "a fucking war criminal." The agitators joined a larger group after getting kicked out, where they told Jews to "go back to Europe" and flashed pro-Hamas hand gestures.

During Bennett’s Monday speech, which was sponsored by Princeton’s Center for Jewish Life, roughly a dozen agitators shouted, "We charge you with genocide! You’re a fucking war criminal!" and held posters with a red handprint as they marched out of the event, footage posted by the New Jersey chapter of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) showed. Princeton students and faculty led the disruption, according to AMP. A video from the Princeton Palestine Liberation Coalition, meanwhile, showed a fire alarm going off. "GENOCIDE ALARM ACTIVATED," the group wrote. Princeton's Students for Justice in Palestine chapter also shared footage of the disruption on its Instagram story.

After school officials escorted the agitators out of the event, they joined several dozen more outside and continued protesting for nearly three hours, an attendee told the Washington Free Beacon. They shouted down Jews, saying, "go back to Europe." They also used their fingers to form upside-down triangles, a symbol Hamas uses to denote Israeli targets.

AMP’s national arm was recently accused of serving as Hamas’s "propaganda arm in New York City" and is facing a Senate committee investigation over its role in fueling anti-Israel demonstrations on college campuses, the Free Beacon reported. Its founder and chairman Hatem Bazian, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, has called for Israel’s dismantling and once argued that "it’s about time we had an intifada in this country."

On Saturday, AMP helped organize an anti-Israel march in Washington, D.C., that included speeches from Council on American-Islamic Relations executive director Nihad Awad, notorious anti-Semite Linda Sarsour, and Grant Miner, the Columbia University graduate student expelled for storming a campus building. It also featured murals honoring Hamas and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorists.

CU Boulder pro-Hamas protestors barge into class – get yanked out by their keffiyehs
[CollegeFix] A trio of pro-Hamas student activists recently barged into a University of Colorado Boulder classroom and were promptly hauled back out by their keffiyehs.

The Daily Camera reports after entering the “Designing for Defense” class last week, one of the activists went to the front of the room and prepared to read a statement, whereupon a man who appeared to be the instructor said “No, you may not.”

He then grabbed the statement and said “Get out.”

Soon after, a video from the Buffs 4 Palestine Instagram page shows two men, one of whom “appeared to be [neither] an employee or student,” according to the Camera, dragging the activists from the room.

The pro-Hamas student organization has been in “bad standing” since October due to violations of university policy. These include “disrupting a career fair” and “using amplified sound.”

In a statement, the university said it “condemns acts of violence and does not tolerate classroom disruptions, both of which violate state law and university policies.”

12 anti-Israel protesters charged with felonies for barricading themselves in Stanford president’s office
[IsraelTimes] Twelve protesters are charged with felony vandalism for their actions during a June 2024 pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protest at Stanford University in which demonstrators barricaded themselves inside the office of the school president. Those charged, ranging in age from 19 to 32, entered the building and demonstrated a “conspiracy to occupy” it, prosecutors say, adding that at least one suspect entered the building by breaking a window. All suspects wore masks, they say. Dozens of other protesters surrounded the building and chanted: “Palestine will be free.”

At the time, the university said 13 people were arrested during the protest, one police officer was injured, and the building suffered “extensive” damage.

US President Donald Trump’s administration has threatened to withhold federal funding from universities, including Stanford, over allegations that they failed to stop antisemitism and intimidation of Jewish students.

Northwestern SJP Chapter, Quoting PFLP Terrorists, Urges Members to 'Build an Intifada' and 'Destroy Amerika'
[WashingtonFreeeBeacon] Northwestern University's Students for Justice in Palestine chapter held an anarchist training session for its members at which it cited propaganda from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terror group urging U.S. students to "build an Intifada" and "destroy amerika."
Northwestern's Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter featured two radical pamphlets as part of its materials for the Thursday training, titled "Organizing Safety 101." One of those, an anarchist pamphlet, quoted a PFLP leader and called on students to "build an Intifada" so they could "destroy amerika." The other, crafted by the SJP chapter, featured a PFLP cartoon on the cover and encouraged students to "channel [their] anger" so they could "aid in the fight" against Israel.

a mob of Yale students shouting "VIVA VIVA PALESTINA" as they tear down an American flag on campus, and cheer as it hits the ground.

pic.twitter.com/oZmZWed6MU
— Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) April 11, 2025

US administration seeking consent decree on Columbia over campus antisemitism — WSJ
[IsraelTimes] The Trump administration is working to force Columbia University into a consent decree that would legally bind the school to follow federal guidelines in how it combats antisemitism, the Wall Street Journal reports. The newspaper, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, reports that the potential consent decree is part of the administration’s negotiations with the university over freeing up $400 million in federal funding that has been blocked.

Columbia University says in an emailed statement that it “remains in active dialogue with the Federal Government to restore its critical research funding.”

Any consent decree with Columbia could last for years and would give a federal judge oversight powers for ensuring that the school adheres to any agreements it meets with the federal government on how it addresses antisemitism, the Journal says.

Link

Home Front: WoT

CAIR denounces ruling to deport Mahmoud Khalil

2025-04-12

[GEO.TV] The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) denounced the ruling by an immigration judge to deport the permanent resident for his ''peaceful political activities'' calling it a ''dangerous, unconstitutional'' decision, Al Jazeera reported, citing a statement.

“Although today’s ruling is just the first step in a long legal process, it should be alarming to all Americans who cherish the Bill of Rights and basic freedoms like free speech,” said Nihad Awad, CAIR’s national executive director, in a statement.

“We are confident that federal courts will see through the Trump administration’s lawless attack on free speech and that the movement against the Israeli government’s genocide will continue to grow in our nation, despite these Orwellian attempts to suppress free speech.”

Court allows US admin to deport pro-Palestine Mahmoud Khalil

[GEO.TV] An immigration judge ruled Friday that a pro-Paleostinian student protester, a US permanent resident detained by the Trump administration, can be deported, US media and a legal rights group said.

Assistant Chief Immigration Judge Jamee Comans said the government had met its burden to prove it had grounds to deport him, Fox News reported.

"An immigration judge ruled immediately after a hearing today that Mahmoud Khalil is removable under US immigration law," the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement.

Comans had ordered the government to spell out its case against Khalil, who the government is seeking to deport on the grounds that his protest activities are a threat to national security.

In a letter to the court, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio

...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration...
insisted that Khalil's activism could hurt Washington's foreign policy.

The Times of Israel adds:

Lawyers for Khalil are expected to appeal. And a federal judge in New Jersey has temporarily barred Khalil’s removal from the country.

Khalil’s lawyers, including representation from the American Civil Liberties Union, have challenged the legality of his detention, saying the Trump administration is trying to crack down on free speech protected by the US Constitution.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, however, has cited the Immigration and Nationality Act, passed in 1952, which gave the executive branch power to deport any noncitizen who poses “potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.”

The law also specifically allows for the deportation of a non-citizen who “endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization.”

On Friday, Justice Department attorneys said in papers filed in federal court in Newark, New Jersey, that Comans would not have the authority to immediately free Khalil.

They said an immigration judge could determine if Khalil is subject to deportation and then conduct a bail hearing afterward if it is found that he is not.

Khalil isn’t accused of breaking any laws during the protests at Columbia. The government, however, has said that noncitizens who participate in such demonstrations should be expelled from the country for expressing views that the administration considers to be antisemitic and pro-Hamas.

Khalil, a 30-year-old international affairs graduate student, had served as a negotiator and spokesperson for Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a student coalition that spearheaded anti-Israel protests at the school.

CUAD has praised “violent resistance” by Palestinians, including, explicitly, the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, in which terrorists killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 hostages. The group also hosted a number of pro-Hamas figures to campus, including Khaled Barakat, who was later listed by the Biden administration as a specially designated foreign terrorist.

In addition, Khalil served as a negotiator and spokesperson for the anti-Israel encampment at Columbia last year, and for students who broke into and occupied a university building, unfurling a banner calling for “intifada.” He is not personally accused of participating in the building occupation, however, and wasn’t among the people arrested in connection with the demonstrations.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Former CAIR-KY gov’t affairs director accosts random Jew in Manhattan office building hallway, demands ISIS jihad on recording witnesses

2025-02-08

[X] If someone could translate whatever nasty thing she is saying in Arabic, that would be lovely.

🚨Meet Noora Shalash, Director of Government Affairs for CAIR-Kentucky.

She really let the mask slip that this is a harmless civil rights organization when she yells “I demand Jihad, I want ISIS to kill all of you.”

Great job @jewhatedb 💪 pic.twitter.com/fRxGLpW7Zx
— Jason Curtis Anderson (@JCAndersonNYC) February 7, 2025

A longer version of which the above is an excerpt:

Midtown Manhattan - crazed antisemite assaults a visible Jew and gets arrested.

“F*ck the Jew … f*ck the Zionists” she says confidently. pic.twitter.com/EdmTR2UzWg
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) February 7, 2025

‘F—k the Jew, F—k the Zionist’: Former CAIR Director Launches Antisemitic Tirade in Manhattan
[Algemeiner] A former senior employee of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) was caught on camera launching a profane and antisemitic tirade at Jewish men in New York City in a viral video posted to social media on Thursday.

Noora Shalash, who previously worked as the director of government affairs for CAIR’s Kentucky branch, was confronted by an individual in an office building after allegedly harassing a "visibly Jewish man." After being grilled for her alleged conduct, Shalash then went on an antisemitic diatribe.

"F—k the Jew. F—k the Zionist," Shalash said.

Shalash then said that she "loves Jesus" and claimed Jews "dishonor the Virgin Mary and call her a ’whore.'" She also called the man recording the video a "b—ch" and swiped her hand at his cellphone. A security guard intervened and physically pulled Shalash away while she appeared to continue attempting to assault the man.

"This is what Jews have to deal with in New York City," the man said.

The video, which was obtained and posted on X/Twitter by the watchdog group StopAntisemitism, quickly went viral on social media, gaining nearly 600,000 views within 16 hours.

CAIR National responded to the viral incident, claiming that Shalash had not been employed by the organization for five years and currently has "no other role at our civil rights group."

"We condemn and reject the antisemitic comments in the video, just as we condemn and reject the anti-Paleostinian racism and anti-Moslem hate," the organization added.
*Wink Wink*
A picture circulated on social media showing CAIR identifying Shalash as a bigwig as of October 2020.

CAIR has long been a controversial organization. In the 2000s, the organization was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing case. Politico noted in 2010 that "US District Court Judge Jorge Solis found that the government presented ’ample evidence to establish the association'" of CAIR with the Paleostinian terrorist group Hamas
Hamas

..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,...
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), "some of CAIR’s current leadership had early connections with organizations that are or were affiliated with Hamas." CAIR has disputed the accuracy of the ADL’s claim and asserted that it "unequivocally condemn[s] all acts of terrorism, whether carried out by al-Qa’ida, the Real IRA, FARC, Hamas, ETA, or any other group designated by the US Department of State as a ’Foreign Terrorist Organization.'"

CAIR leaders have also found themselves embroiled in further controversy since Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

The head of CAIR, for example, said he was "happy" to witness Hamas’s rampage of rape, murder, and kidnapping of Israelis in what was the largest single-day slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust.

"The people of Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
only decided to break the siege — the walls of the concentration camp — on Oct. 7," CAIR co-founder and executive director Nihad Awad said in a speech during the American Moslems for Paleostine convention in reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown
...home of Al Capone, the Chicago Black Sox, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel...
last November. "And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land, and walk free into their land, which they were not allowed to walk in.

Two commenters on the Instapundit post on the subject claimed to know/know about the Shalash family of Lexington, Kentucky. Bottom line, they are an immigrant clan of violent criminals, the kind who'll pull an AK-47 on a schoolboy who annoyed one of the youngsters of the family. Wanting evidence (of course!), I did a search, and discovered two articles about men with the same name and antecedents, so presumably relatives. The first, a report from the sixth federal appeals court, informs us that the FBI agrees with the Instapunditeers — one of the family appealed his federal conviction for stealing and trafficking in stolen baby formula on the basis that “…eight weeks prior to his trial, CBSNews reported that the FBI had traced money from baby formula traffickers to terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah…” and “…FBI Director Robert Mueller [told a reporter] that sales of black market baby formula have been used to fund terrorist organizations.”

A local newspaper informs us that a man with the same name, so presumably also a relative, a former imam for the Islamic Center of Lexington, went to jail for conspiring to a murder-for-hire of a third man who owed him money.

Link

Fifth Column

This is the woke army plotting to crash Trump's inauguration

2025-01-17

[FoxNews] A network of organizations in the ‘Woke Army’ of socialists and Islamists plan to protest Trump’s inauguration

This past July, as anti-Israel crowds took to the streets of Washington, D.C,, to protest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu address to Congress, Zaid Mohammed Mahdawi, 26, climbed atop a monument at Columbus Circle in front of Union Station and allegedly spray-painted an ominous message: 'HAMAS IS COMIN''. He punctuated the warning with the red, inverted triangle that the terrorist organization uses as a symbol to mark its targets.

Nearby, demonstrators pulled down and burned a U.S. flag to ashes, tackled U.S. Park Police officers trying to arrest agitators and spray-painted other menacing graffiti, including ‘DEATH 2 AMRIKKKA,’ on memorials.

At 3:26 p.m., the U.S. Park Police pulled the protest permit, which had been issued to the ANSWER Coalition, a Washington-based, self-declared socialist organization. Later, the FBI charged Mahdawi and other protesters with destruction of government property.

"The permit holder failed to answer his phone and the call went directly to voicemail," an FBI agent wrote in a fascinating affidavit that revealed that someone at a gym Mahdawi used sent the FBI a tip on his identity.

Nearly six months later, the ANSWER Coalition is poised to get a new permit to host another protest on Monday, according to a copy of the application I obtained from the National Park Service. The event name: "For Peace & Justice - Free Palestine." The target is obviously the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.

Past behavior indicates the protests will bring mayhem to the capital's streets. Yet, National Park Service spokesman Michael Litterst told me that current legal precedent makes it difficult to deny permits based on prior incidents.

Critics, like leaders of the Clarity Coalition, a network of Muslims, ex-Muslims and allies who oppose extremism, say it’s long past time to deny the permits. At a minimum, the public must have its eyes wide open about who is behind these protests.

As the protests unfold, media coverage will likely frame them as ‘organic,’ ‘grassroots’ activities. But make no mistake: These events will be part of a larger, well-funded operation. The demonstrators are aligned with adversaries to the U.S., including Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and Hamas, and are united in an unholy alliance that blends socialism with Islamism, or political Islam.

This coalition, which I call the "Woke Army," operates as a red-green alliance, the red symbolizing socialism and communism and the green representing Islam. These are the same groups that stoked the encampments of the so-called campus intifada around the country last year. Their ultimate goal is to dismantle American democracy and replace it with a socialist, anti-capitalist order. The first way to counter this threat is through transparency, vigilance and a commitment to truth.

The application lists the same "Person in Charge of Event," as it did in July: Brian Becker, the self-proclaimed Marxist founder of the ANSWER Coalition.

Protest organizers say they have at least 50 "endorsing" groups, and their motives are far from grassroots. I’ve created a public database as part of my work at the Pearl Project, a nonprofit journalism initiative, and, according to my analysis, 25 of the groups are self-described socialist organizations, five are Muslim, Arab or Palestinian, and the final 20 are "socialist adjacent."

The "red" in this alliance includes:

ANSWER Coalition: A Marxist-Leninist group infamous for organizing protests that amplify anti-American and anti-Israel rhetoric.

Code Pink: An anti-Israel group funded by Neville Roy Singham, a Shanghai-based American billionaire tied to China’s Communist Party, according to New York Times reporting.

Party for Socialism and Liberation: Advocates for dismantling capitalism and aligning the U.S. with socialist regimes.

The People’s Forum: A socialist group that serves as a proxy for Singham’s pro-China agenda, as also documented by the New York Times.

Democratic Socialists of America: The largest socialist organization in the U.S. and a big supporter of anti-Israel campaigns.

The "green" of this axis includes:

Students for Justice in Palestine: Founded by University of California at Berkeley academic Hatem Bazian, this controversial group has fomented many of the anti-Jew campus protests, banned now on many campuses.

Palestinian Feminist Collective: Committed to "Palestinian liberation & beyond."

Palestinian Youth Movement: Dedicated to a "strategy of mobilization, agitation and confrontation."

U.S. Palestinian Community Network: Organized days of protests in Chicago to disrupt the Democratic Party’s convention.

Muslim American Society: Created a "Survive Pack," with tips on building campus "Liberation Zones" and a resource from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, whose co-founder, Nihad Awad, said he was "happy" about the Oct. 7 incursions by Hamas into Israel.

In July, I went to the corner of C Street NW to report who had rented buses to ferry protesters to the first "HAMAS IS COMIN’" protest. It was the Party for Socialism and Liberation. This time, if you go to the "We Fight Back" website’s donation page, you’ll see who is getting the donations for the Jan. 20 protests. It’s The People’s Forum, whose logo and tax ID number appear on the donate page.

On Nov. 5, four days after Trump’s electoral victory, an anonymous person bought the website domain wefightback2025.org. Now the protest’s digital hub, it features an embedded Google Map geo-locating 80 planned "actions" across the country.

It even includes a "J20 media kit" with pre-designed Instagram graphics, a Canva template and printable protest posters emblazoned with slogans like "Stop the Genocide in Palestine" and "Defeat Extreme-Right Trump’s Billionaire Agenda!"

The kit even provides social media captions, complete with a megaphone emoji. They have their right to protest, but the world must have eyes wide open about who is behind the megaphones.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Islamic Advocacy Group C.A.I.R. Must Turn Over Donor Lists, Federal Court Rules

2024-12-01

[LegalInsurrection] Court: CAIR must produce the names of donors of $5,000 or more and contributions by “any individual or entity within … Saudi Arabia, Qatar or Kuwait.”

The Islamic advocacy group CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations

... the Moslem Brüderbund's American arm ...
) must disclose the sources of its funding, a federal district court has ruled in a defamation case against the organization.

The lawsuit was brought by Lori Saroya, a former chapter head and employee at CAIR, who resigned in 2018. After she left, Saroya took to the internet, the court filing says, in social media posts accusing CAIR of creating a hostile work environment and financial mismanagement.

CAIR first sued Saroya for defamation over those online accusations in 2021, alleging they "falsely implied CAIR received funding from foreign governments and terrorists." It later voluntarily dismissed its lawsuit in 2022. But the legal dispute between the parties didn’t end there.

Rather than leave well enough alone, CAIR renewed the hostilities less than 10 days later in a blurb suggesting it had won its case against Saroya on the merits. It said she was using lawfare to "demand the names of CAIR supporters who have donated to us," and accused her of "cyberstalking," a state and federal crime, the court noted this week.

That blurb turned the tables. Now Saroya is suing CAIR for defamation over its accusations. And unlike CAIR’s earlier lawsuit, this one has legs.

As a nonprofit organization, CAIR isn’t ordinarily required to reveal its donors’ identities. But Saroya’s claims bring that information within the scope of discovery, federal Magistrate Judge David Schultz ruled this week. Saroya alleges "eyebrow-raising financial mismanagement" in the lawsuit, including "hiding from its own Board the sources, nature and magnitude of massive foreign funding of CAIR."

In its order granting her sweeping request for discovery, the court required CAIR to turn over the names of donors of $5,000 or more from 2014 through 2022, and documents showing contributions by "any individual or entity within, or any governmental unit of, Saudi Arabia

...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat Frational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
, Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
or Kuwait between 2007 and 2014."

That broad ruling, the court said, was "a self-inflicted wound occasioned by its own blurb. In commenting on the merits of the 2021 lawsuit in the manner in which it did, CAIR resuscitated the very issues that had just been laid to rest."

"CAIR’s blurb has opened the door to litigating—and thus discovering—the merits of the 2021 litigation," Judge Schultz wrote on Monday.

While it holds itself out as a Moslem civil rights organization, CAIR has long been accused of sympathizing with Islamic terror, including Hamas
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
, a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Last year, CAIR executive director Nihad Awad celebrated Hamas’s October 7 attacks against Israel at an event for American Moslems for Paleostine: "I was happy to see people breaking the siege...the people of Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
have the right to self-defense, have the right to defend themselves, and yes, Israel, as an occupying power, does not have that right to self-defense," he said.

In an interview with The Post, Saroya’s lawyer, Jeffrey Robbins, described Monday’s ruling as "the mother of all legal boomerangs": "It will force CAIR to ’turn over evidence about everything from fundraising practices, such as having raised money from foreign sources and concealed it; whether it deceived donors; whether it mismanaged donor money; whether it retaliated against employees or threatened to retaliate against employees for raising concerns about sexual harassment or the like,’ he told the paper.

Meanwhile,
...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth had turned a paler shade of blue. Star-A-Star had struck again...
although the court hasn’t set a deadline for discovery, it has scheduled a settlement conference for early next year. Now that it’s under order to open its books, CAIR could decide to settle—and close the case, only this time for good.

Link

Fifth Column

CAIR Objects to L.A. Proposal to Protect Synagogues from... ummm... CAIR

2024-09-18

[BREITBART] The Caliphornia, an impregnable bastion of the Democratic Party, chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations

... the Moslem Brüderbund's American arm...
(CAIR) is objecting to a proposal by the L.A. City Council to bar anti-Israel protesters from the entrances to synagogues.

The proposal is a response to a rise in antisemitism in the city associated with anti-Israel protests, especially several incidents in June in which pro-Paleostinian activists targeted local synagogues, obstructing entrances in one case.

City Council members Katy Yaroslavsky and Bob Blumenfield demanded action in June, calling for more resources for safety. They are the authors of the new proposal, which would require an eight-foot ''bubble zone'' around synagogues and other religious institutions.

The Los Angeles Times described the proposal in August, reporting that it ''would make it a misdemeanor for protesters to intentionally block the entrances of healthcare facilities, schools or religious institutions — or demonstrate within 8 feet of anyone trying to get inside. The protective 8-foot ''bubble'' would be required within 100 feet of a facility's entrance.'' It would apply to mosques as well as to synagogues.

CAIR has objected to the proposal, alleging that it intentionally targets pro-Paleostinian, anti-Israel activists:

The letter from CAIR California, which appears undated, urges the Los Angeles city attorney to examine the ''underlying context'' of the proposal, saying it is ''targeting pro-Paleostinian demonstrators' First Amendment rights.''

The letter claims that ''peaceful pro-Paleostinian protesters have courageously stood up against the ongoing violations of human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
'' at local universities and other sites. (There have been several acts of violence by the ''peaceful'' protesters; this news hound was assaulted by ''peaceful'' protests at a campus ''encampment'' in April.)

CAIR's national executive director, Nihad Awad, said that he was happy at the terror attack of October 7, 2023.

[X]

“Fucking Jews…fuck Israelis.” The Senate Judiciary Committee has refused to hold a hearing on antisemitism for the last year. They held one today on “all forms of hate.” It was interrupted by horrific antisemites. Maybe now the Senate will take antisemitism seriously?! pic.twitter.com/Yh6Wi2cJlc
— Shabbos Kestenbaum (@ShabbosK) September 17, 2024

Link

Home Front: Politix

Jamal Bowman is an Idiot

2024-05-08

[MSN] A member of the far-left "Squad" facing a tough challenge from within his own party recently attended a fundraiser co-hosted by an Islamic leader who said he was "happy to see" the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israeli civilians.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman, who represents New York's 16th Congressional District, attended the May 1 fundraiser at a private residence in Fairfax, Virginia, and didn't seem to mind the presence of Nihad Awad, a highly controversial and antisemitic figure who serves as the national executive director and co-founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

Awad faced sharp scrutiny last year after expressing his pleasure with the Hamas attack that resulted in the deaths of nearly 1,200 Israelis, including women and babies, and claiming Israel "does not have a right to self-defense."

"The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege — the walls of the concentration camp — on Oct. 7," Awad said during the 16th annual Convention for Palestine on Nov. 24 near Chicago. "And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land and walk free into their land that they were not free to walk in."

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Fifth Column

‘We Should Salute Them': Hezbollah Leader Expresses Gratitude for American Anti-Israel Activists

2024-03-16

[Algemeiner] Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday praised Americans who are putting pressure on US President Joe Biden to limit support for Israel because they are helping the Lebanese terrorist group’s cause.

“Today, what many people demonstrating in America are doing … Of course, we should salute them and be grateful to them,” Nasrallah said in remarks translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

In his speech, the terrorist leader highlighted the importance in his view of anti-Israel activism in the US.

Nasrallah went on to praise Democrats in America who are threatening not to vote for Biden in this year’s US presidential election due to his support for Israel in its war against the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza.

“The Arabs, the Muslims, and the non-Muslims, from among the other free Americans — Christians and others — in the Democratic Party who wrote to Biden: ‘We are uncommitted to vote for you.’ These people are very influential at this stage,” Nasrallah said.

These Americans are so important, Nasrallah explained, because Biden “is not afraid of the world, the international community, God, history, or anything. Biden now is afraid of one thing only — that his policy and actions in Gaza will lead him to lose the presidential elections. This is why he keeps debating, denying, and playing games.”

More than that, Nasrallah seemed to see an opening to help his cause, saying, “If the pressure and opposition [to Biden] in America continues, this may also open a door for hope.”

Both Hamas and Hezbollah are backed by Iran, which provides the Islamist terrorist groups with arms, funds, and training.

In its 1985 manifesto, Hezbollah wrote, “Our struggle will end only when this entity [Israel] is obliterated. We recognize no treaty with it, no cease fire, and no peace agreements, whether separate or consolidated.”

The terror group’s praise for American anti-Israel activists comes amid rising pressure in the US from segments of the Muslim community, the far left, and increasingly the mainstream left on Biden to lessen his support for Israel.

Nasrallah has not been the only voice calling for pro-Hamas and anti-Israel voices in the US to oppose Biden politically.

The day before the Democratic Party’s presidential primary in Michigan last month, Nihad Awad, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) delivered an address in which he called on voters to cast their ballots against the incumbent president.

“Our message [to Biden] is as follows: ‘Allah willing, our votes will make you lose the presidency,'” Awad said in remakrs flagged by MEMRI. “It is [also] a message to [the Democratic] Party: ‘You went too far, you listened to him, and did not draw the line, so you will lose the presidency.'”

US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) supported the “uncommitted” campaign against Biden in Michigan and, when asked in late February, she refused to say whether she would vote for Biden in November. Tlaib has accused Biden of supporting a “genocide” against Palestinians by supporting Israel’s right to defend itself by targeting Hamas in Gaza following the terror group’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel.

Recent letters from Democratic lawmakers to Biden include demands to cut off aid to Israel if it proceeds with its operation in Rafah — which is Hamas’ last stronghold in Gaza. Recent polls also show that a majority of young Americans think the Hamas atrocities of Oct. 7 were justified and believe Israel should “be ended and given to Hamas and the Palestinians.”

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-Lurid Crime Tales-

Controversial Muslim group CAIR now fighting a sex scandal lawsuit after it's dropped by White House over ‘happy' Hamas attack remark

2024-01-26

[NYPost] A controversial Islamic group — which the White House cut ties with after its director said he was “happy” about Hamas’ terror attack against Israel on Oct. 7 — is facing allegations of sexual assault and harassment. The suit could see the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) forced to open its books amid claims secret foreign donors are funding its multi-million budget.

Lori Saroya was once, in the words of one person who knows her, the “golden child” of CAIR. Based in Blaine, Minnesota, where she was a CAIR chapter leader, Saroya became so important to the national leadership that they brought her to the White House and groomed her to become a senior leader because she was the group’s “pride and joy.”

Now Saroya, 42, is shaping up to be CAIR’s worst nightmare as she pushes back in an ugly legal battle with the controversial Muslim civil rights organization that includes charges of sex assault and harassment allegations involving several CAIR leaders.

Saroya, who is now the first Muslim to serve on the Blaine City Council, filed a federal defamation lawsuit against the group last week in federal court in Minnesota. That suit was in response to a statement put out by CAIR in January 2022, accusing Saroya of “cyberstalking” CAIR staffers by using burner email and social media accounts to spread “Islamophobic tropes and conspiracy theories” about the organization. In her complaint, Saroya said that the press release led to her being bullied online and made her so afraid that she stopped going to her mosque. She also said the allegations in the press release came up during job interviews and she wasn’t offered jobs by those people. She has said she left CAIR after she called on the organization to look into sex assault and harassment allegations against several leaders, including one Saroya — who other members praise as “courageous” — said “engaged in a pattern of unwelcome and highly inappropriate conduct” toward her.

Saroya’s filing comes almost two years after CAIR dismissed its own federal defamation suit against Saroya in which leaders accused her of waging “a systemic and continuous internet smear campaign designed to damage [CAIR’s] reputation and to cause it severe economic harm.”

CAIR also charged in that lawsuit that Saroya “voluntarily resigned” from CAIR after a female staffer said Saroya had harassed her to the point that “the female staffer was contemplating seeking a restraining order.”

Saroya calls CAIR’s claims “outrageously false” in her own civil complaint and one of her lawyers wrote in the suit that all the organization’s accusations are “part of a concerted effort to blacken her reputation, destroy her credibility, and silence her and others who have raised serious concerns about CAIR’s abuse of women, dishonest practices, and violations of civil rights, among others.”

“The complaint lays out a record of serious problems within an organization that holds itself out as as civil rights organization but as the complaint makes clear has engaged in a pattern of conduct which is the very opposite,” Saroya’s Boston-based lawyer, Jeff Robbins, told The Post.

Formed in 1994 by a group of young Muslim activists concerned about the rise in anti-Muslim discrimination, CAIR is now the biggest Muslim civil rights group in the US and includes about 33 local chapters across the US.

But there has also been controversy around the group and its uber-powerful co-founder of CAIR, Nihad Awad, who is Palestinian-American.

Last month, the Biden administration said it had ended its work with CAIR on crafting a national antisemitism strategy after Awad said he was “happy” to witness Hamas’ terror attack against Israel on Oct 7. Awad made the shocking statement at the 16th Annual Convention for Palestine in Chicago on Nov. 24, according to video footage circulated by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

The New Venture Fund — part of a liberal dark-money network — gave $40,000 to the Arizona chapter of the CAIR which shared a template on Instagram to help others denounce school administrators or employers who issue statements “in support of Israel.”

CAIR was also rocked by a lengthy National Public Radio investigation in April 2021 that focused mainly on the then-head of the Florida chapter of CAIR, Hassan Shibly, and allegations involving secret marriages, bullying and sexual harassment. Shibly has denied the allegations reported by NPR. The report included claims from numerous women who had issues with Shibly as well as other senior leaders at CAIR.

Saroya, however, according to several people who know her, was unusual in having the courage to stand up to the CAIR leadership. Prior to resigning from CAIR in 2018, she headed CAIR’s Minnesota chapter from 2007 to 2016 and then jumped to the national office as a national chapter development director and board member.

A former volunteer for CAIR, who did not want to be identified publicly, told The Post that she witnessed some of the same abusive behavior on the part of CAIR senior leadership that Saroya claims she did. She blamed Awad for engendering a culture of fear at CAIR which enables senior leaders to target staffers and volunteers, mainly women.

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-Great Cultural Revolution

Dem lawmakers have history of praise for group whose leader said he was 'happy to see' Hamas attack Israel

2023-12-10

[FoxNews] Sens. Baldwin and Brown said they condemn CAIR's 'blatantly antisemitic comments'.

Several Democrat members of Congress have a long history of public support for an organization whose leader recently ignited a firestorm over controversial comments regarding Hamas' deadly attacks on Israeli citizens.

Nihad Awad, the executive director and co-founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), recently said that he was "happy to see" the October 7 Hamas invasion of Israel and that the Jewish state did not have a right to self-defense because it is an "occupying power."

"The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege — the walls of the concentration camp — on Oct. 7," Awad said at the 16th Annual Convention for Palestine in the U.S. on Nov. 24. "And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land and walk free into their land that they were not free to walk in."

He continued, "And yes, the people of Gaza have the right to self-defense — have the right to defend themselves. And yes, Israel as an occupying power does not have that right to self-defense."

Awad's comments forced the White House to scramble and scrub CAIR as a committed partner to fight antisemitism on its website. A White House spokesperson also strongly reprimanded his comments in a statement to Fox News Digital.

"We condemn these shocking, Antisemitic statements in the strongest terms," the White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital. "The horrific, brutal terrorist attacks committed by Hamas on October 7th were, as President Biden said, 'abhorrent' and represent 'unadulterated evil.'"

Meanwhile, dozens of federal lawmakers across the U.S. have previously expressed support for CAIR, as featured on the organization's website, and some remained silent when asked by Fox News Digital about the co-founder's stance on the horrific attacks that left 1,200 dead and others captured.

Sen. Krysten Sinema, I-Ariz., who is facing re-election in the 2024 cycle, previously applauded CAIR's work as "advocating for a more just society" and also accepted thousands of dollars in campaign donations from former directors and chairs of the group's Arizona chapter.

"I applaud the council’s devotion to our nation’s democratic values and your work advocating for a more just society," Sinema said in November 2019, before she changed her party affiliation from Democrat to independent.

Federal Election Commission filings show the independent senator accepted $2,500 in contributions from the former director of CAIR’s Arizona chapter, Deedra Abboud, $250 from the chapter's former vice-chair, Mannan Abdul Mohammed, and $100 from the chapter's former chair over the years.

Sinema did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment regarding Awad's statement on Israel and whether she stands by her comments praising the group.

Others quoted in this article are:

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio
Sen. Tammy Baldwin
Over 100 members of Congress, including then-Senator Vice President Kamala Harris, wrote personalized thank-you notes to CAIR in 2018 to congratulate them on over two decades of work.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Mich.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., named CAIR's "American Muslim Public Servant of 2021."

What they said about CAIR before and after the CAIR statement can be read at the link.

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Home Front: WoT

White House scrambles to distance itself from Islamic group after leader's praise for Hamas' Oct 7th slaughter

2023-12-08

[FoxNews] White House had listed the Council on American-Islamic Relations as a group committed to combating antisemitism

The more fools they.

The White House is scrambling to distance itself from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)

...one of many branches of the Muslim Brotherhood in America...

after its leader appeared to say that he was "happy" to see Palestinians in Gaza "break the siege" during Hamas' deadly Oct. 7 terrorist attack against Israel.

Nihad Awad, CAIR's executive director, is seen making the comments in a video making its rounds on social media.

"The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege, the walls of the concentration camp on Oct. 7," Awad says in the video, which quickly went viral on social media. "And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land and walk free into their land that they were not allowed to walk in."

"And yes, the people of Gaza have the right to self-defense, have the right to defend themselves," he added. "And yes, Israel, as an occupying power, does not have that right to self-defense."

After being contacted regarding the comments, a White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital they are removing the group from its publicly listed pledge to fight antisemitism.

Somebody in the Biden administration still cares about such things. How odd.

The White House spokesperson said CAIR was "one of several independent organizations" listed in a supplemental document regarding the efforts and that the White House is "removing their commitment" from the record.

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told Fox News Digital, "We condemn these shocking, Antisemitic statements in the strongest terms."

"The horrific, brutal terrorist attacks committed by Hamas on October 7th were, as President Biden said, ‘abhorrent’ and represent ‘unadulterated evil,’" Bates said.

"October 7th was the deadliest day for Jewish people since the Holocaust," he continued. "The atrocities of that day shock the conscience, which is why we can never forget the pain Hamas has caused for so many innocent people."

"There are families who are in agony mourning loves ones, and there are also families in agony as they do everything in their power to free loved ones being held hostage," Bates said. "Every leader has a responsibility to call out Antisemitism wherever it rears its ugly head."

More than six months after the announcement, Awad appeared at an American Muslims for Palestine event on Nov. 24 and made the controversial comments that led to the White House removing the group from its supplemental document on combating antisemitism.

In a lengthy statement to Fox News Digital, Awad said his comments were taken out of context by an "anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian hate website."

"During my remarks last week at a conference in support of Palestinian human rights, I condemned violence against all civilians and all forms of bigotry, specifically including Islamophobia and antisemitism," Awad said in the statement.

"Despite this, an anti-Muslim, anti-Palestinian hate website selected remarks from my speech out of context and spliced them together to create a completely false meaning," he added.

"What I actually said while discussing international law: Ukrainians, Palestinians and other occupied people have the right to defend themselves and escape occupation by just and legal means, but targeting civilians is never an acceptable means of doing so, which is why I have again and again condemned the violence against Israeli civilians on Oct. 7 and past Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians, including suicide bombings, all the way back to the 1990s—just as I have condemned the decades of violence against Palestinian civilians."

"The average Palestinians who briefly walked out of Gaza and set foot on their ethnically cleansed land in a symbolic act of defiance against the blockade and stopped there without engaging in violence were within their rights under international law; the extremists who went on to attack civilians in southern Israel were not," he continued. "Targeting civilians is unacceptable, no matter whether they are Israeli or Palestinian or any other nationality."

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Home Front: WoT

CAIR-Ohio fires director for being an anti-terrorist mole

2021-12-17

Former newspaperman has thoughts on this story from yesterday.

[DonSurber] The Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations fired its Executive and Legal Director Romin Iqbal for working with the Investigative Project on Terrorism, founded by Steven Emerson in 1995.

CAIR labeled the organization an anti-Muslim hate group, and thus the media did as well.

CBS reported, "A director of the Ohio Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Ohio) has been fired for allegedly aiding an anti-Muslim hate group."

Few media outlets named this alleged anti-Muslim hate group.

The Columbus Dispatch did name the group.

It said, "For several years, Iqbal, the executive and legal director of CAIR-Ohio, has been recording network meetings and sharing information regarding CAIR’s national advocacy work with the Investigative Project on Terrorism, a known anti-Muslim group, according to a Tuesday press release from the organization’s Ohio chapter.

"Saying he was among moles for the IPT, a Washington-D.C. Based nonprofit, Nihad Awad, CAIR’s national executive director, released information on the situation late Tuesday night, saying that last year the national office was sent information about the Investigative Project on Terrorism."

While the newspaper's story was thorough, no one contacted IPT for its side of the story. The fired director apparently did not return phone calls.

Also not mentioned in the Dispatch story -- or anyone's -- was IPT's work in bringing down the Holy Land Foundation, which 20 years ago was the largest Muslim charity in America. It also was funding Hamas. The founder of CAIR-Texas in Dallas was among those sentenced in 2008 for their terrorist activities. He got the longest sentence: 65 years.

I can see why CAIR might mot like IPT and would brand it a hate group.

But CAIR may have had cause to fire Iqbal.

CBS reported, "CAIR-Ohio said its Columbus office found suspicious purchases from ammunition and gun retailers in recent weeks made with a credit card linked to Iqbal.

"Staffers also found a suspicious package Monday mailed to the CAIR-Ohio Columbus branch containing parts for an AR-15, the group said, adding that the parts were bought with the credit card, though it couldn't say who bought the parts.

"The organization fill in law enforcement, which is investigating."

I don't know.

'Tis a weird story. We shall see if the media bothers with it or it goes down the memory hole along with the black supremacist who ran his SUV into Waukesha's Christmas Parade, killing six people and injuring another 50.

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