Last week I reported about the response by our local Islamic extremists to the distribution of the DVD copies of “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War against the West” in dozens of major US daily newspapers on Sunday, September 14, including the Columbus Dispatch. Hatemongering organizations, like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), have gone near catatonic with rage that anyone is challenging their control over the establishment media.
Well, the second round of Obsession DVDs has begun hitting Ohio homes, as seen from the mailer above which arrived here yesterday. This very well may push extremists like CAIR over the edge. CAIR has already demanded an FEC investigation into the organization, the Clarion Fund, who is sponsoring the DVD distribution. And in Toledo, Muslim groups are in a state of near hysteria, claiming that they are living in fear because of the video drops.
Thus, in a curious turn of events, CAIR is directly responsible for Islamophobia, telling Muslims that they need to be afraid.
What is CAIR afraid of exactly? What the Clarion Fund has done is to take their message beyond the reach of Islamic extremists with their jackboot grip on the establishment media narrative, and reach out directly to American families to warn them about the immediate dangers of Islamic extremism. While the producers of Obsession go to great lengths to distinguish between mainstream Muslims and extremists, CAIR and its allies are attempting to erase that distinction between moderates and jihadists.
CAIR’s malignant ideology has finally turned in on itself, and their reactionary response to the Obsession DVD drops is exposing the group’s true motives for all the world to see. When American families watch the Obsession video, and compare it to CAIR’s overheated rhetoric, the jig will be up.
PS — look for my forthcoming review of the Clarion Fund’s next documentary, “The Third Jihad”, which is scheduled for release next month.
In May 2004, international Muslim Brotherhood figure Wagdi Ghoneim came to Central Ohio to speak at a fundraiser for the Noor Islamic Cultural Center, now in Hilliard. That, of course, was before he was arrested, deported, and banned from the US later that year for his advocacy of terrorism and religious extremism. He was serving as the imam for the Islamic Institute of Orange County (CA) at the time. A few months ago I reported on Ghoneim’s Central Ohio connections after Ghoneim was arrested and deported from South Africa for the same reasons.
Well, the former Noor Center speaker appeared earlier this month on Al-Nas TV, addressing the age-old issue of how eating and drinking with your left hand follows Satan and his success at beating back the demonic temptations to use his left hand. MEMRI has the video, and also the transcript of Ghoneim’s remarks:
Wagdi Ghoneim: Some people eat with their left hand. What’s this supposed to be? They say: When you eat, the fork goes in the left hand. Do you eat with your left hand? You do, and then you take a drink. What’s this supposed to be? You use your left hand, and yet you claim to hate Satan?! You dare to tell me that you sense the enmity of Satan?! Allah give me the strength to resist Satan. . . Hold on a sec. The Prophet Muhammad said: “When you eat or drink, do not use your left hand, because Satan eats and drinks with his left hand.” Whoever eats and drinks with his left hand follows Satan, and whoever loves the Prophet Muhammad must eat with his right hand.
But when you tell people this, they say: But Sheik Wagdi, the rules of délicat and étiquette require the knife to be in the right hand, and the fork in the left. You should cut the food with your right hand, and eat with your left. If you dare to switch — the fork in your right hand and the knife in your left — they say: “Oh, how sauvage! This is unheard of.” Brother, what délicat? You are a Muslim.
When I was secretary-general of the commerce trade union, a large Iraqi delegation came, and we took them to a very big, five-star hotel in Cairo. We sat down to eat, and as I always do, I took the knife in my left hand and the fork in my right. Along comes the chef in his hat, taps me on the shoulder, and whispers: “Pardon me. . .” I said to him: “I am a Muslim!” So he said: “I’m sorry, I apologize.” I take pride in my Islam — or is Islam something disgusting, which I should be ashamed of? No.
[...]
Ghoneim: Some people say: “I am left-handed. I use my left hand for everything.” I was like you. I used to eat, drink, dress, and write with my left hand. That’s how Allah created me. The moment I became religious in 1969, Allah be praised, this came to an end. There were times when Satan tempted me to use my left hand, so in order to put an end to this altogether. . . What do I eat? Rice? I eat rice with a spoon. Bread? I need to cut it first. Fine, I’ll cut the bread in advance. I prepare the water and everything. That’s it. I’ve already cut the bread. . . Then I take my left hand and place it under my left leg. That’s it, it’s stuck. It won’t come out. I take the spoon in my right hand, and the same goes for the fork. . . The hadith says that when you are done eating, you should lick your fingers clean, because you don’t know where exactly the blessing lies. You say this is disgusting because it was the Prophet Muhammad who said it, but if Michael Jackson or some nobody told you to lick your feet, you would. We are Muslims, and we follow the path of the Prophet.
Oh, and don’t forget to lick your fingers after eating in the proper Quranic manner! We wouldn’t want to give in to Satan’s temptations!
Pipeline News has provided a very brief overview of Ghoneim’s documented racist views and support for terrorism:
He had also referred to Jews as “monkeys” and “pigs” during a Brooklyn College conference of the American Muslim Alliance on May 24, 1998.
Before leading the audience in anti-Jewish verse, Ghuneim said: “The Jews distort words from their meanings. . . . They killed the prophets and worshipped idols.
Speaking about suicide bombings that took place in Israel in 1996: “Those young people who explode themselves to kill the Jews were not committing suicide but jihad,” Ghuneim said, “They are mujahedeen because there is no way to struggle and fight the Jews except that way. Allah bless those martyrs.”
On May 24, 1998, for example, CAIR co-sponsored an incendiary rally at Brooklyn College that featured speakers spouting anti-Jewish rhetoric. One speaker was Wagdy Ghuneim, a radical cleric from Egypt. He told listeners, “Allah says he who equips a warrior of jihad is like the one makes jihad himself.” He led the audience in a song with the lyrics: “No to the Jews, descendants of the apes.”
The audio of Ghoneim leading a song depicting Jews as monkeys and apes can be found at the Investigative Project.
All of these incidents occurred and made public well before Ghoneim’s May 2004 appearance on behalf of the Noor Center.
Included in the Sunday edition of the Columbus Dispatch this past weekend (you know, before the power went out) was an advertising insert containing a DVD copy of the documentary, “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West”. You can go to FrontPage Magazine to read my review of the movie.
Even before the newspapers began hitting the porches of Central Ohio homes, Islamic extremists upset with the DVD distribution began a campaign to attack the Columbus Dispatch for allowing the distribution campaign. Hany Saqr, chairman of the Noor Islamic Cultural Center in Hilliard, sent the following email to supporters demanding that they contact the Dispatch to express their disapproval (thanks to my friends who forwarded this message):
From: Hany Saqr To: Noorfriends Subject: please act now . . not later Date: September 16, 2:48am
The Sunday Columbus Dispatch released in the advertisements a DVD titled “Obsession: Radical Islam’s War against the West”
This DVD is a mere campaign of spreading hate against the Muslim community
Please contact Columbus Dispatch and ask about the reason behind this anti-Muslim campagin and who is sponsoring it
Head Retail Advertising — Nick Lazaroff — nlazaroff@dispatch.com Advertising — adaugherty@dispatch.com, ckerr@dispatch.com, sthomas@dispatch.com VP of Marketing — Philip Pikelny - ppikelny@dispatch.com News Editor — Ben Marrison — bmarrison@dispatch.com Religion Editor — klecker@dispatch.com, mheagney@dispatch.com
Let us know the columbus dispatch response by sending an email to: contact@noorohio.org
There is even now a Facebook page, “Muslims against the Columbus Dispatch”, that features the exact same information contained in Saqr’s message. As an aside, the Facebook page is run by a kid out of Miami University, Azzam Mahmood.
Here’s the message from the Facebook page:
On Sunday September 14th, 2008 The Columbus Dispatch had released thousands of newspapers containing DVDs containing disparaging comments against Islam, containing huge amounts of slander. They were written as advertisements however, as seen in the Times, these were implemented by the newspaper. As Muslims we should end our subscription and look into new sources of news, unbias and truly newsworthy. The Dispatch has proved through its supposed “advertisement” that its conservative voice is no longer needed in our society.
Act now, and contact one of these people, the more emails the more impact, remember!
Head Retail Advertising — Nick Lazaroff — nlazaroff@dispatch. com Advertising — adaugherty@dispatch .com, ckerr@dispatch. com, sthomas@dispatch. com VP of Marketing — Philip Pikelny — ppikelny@dispatch. com News Editor- Ben Marrison - bmarrison@dispatch. com Religion Editor — klecker@dispatch. com, mheagney@dispatch. com
Stand up for your culture and people!
What exactly are they demanding? It really isn’t clear, but we’re sure that there will be some profuse groveling by the Dispatch management involved, followed by a glowing article by Felix Hoover on how there are no Islamic extremists in Central Ohio. Will the Dispatch fall quickly back into line and apologize for offending Hany Saqr and his band of Islamic extremists?
In the off-chance that the Dispatch won’t knuckle under, contact the Dispatch at the email addresses above and thank them for standing firm in defense of the First Amendment — something some of our local Islamic leaders aren’t very fond of.
Here’s the press release from the Clarion Fund for the Obsession DVD drop:
September 15, 2008
CONTACT: www.watchobsession.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HOMES ACROSS AMERICA receive “OBSESSION” dvd
WARNING ABOUT RADICAL ISLAM THREAT TO AMERICA
Shariah Law Would Erase Basic Freedoms and Codify Discrimination Against Women
Homes in over 100 major American cities are receiving DVD copies of the film Obsession — Radical Islam’s War Against the West starting today.
The Clarion Fund will deliver millions of copies of the DVD during the next month to homes across America.
This is the second phase of a nationwide initiative to inform the American people about the threat of Radical Islam to America, including its efforts to incorporate Islamic fundamentalist Shariah law which would negate a wide range of Constitutional laws and rights.
At the beginning of August tens of thousands of copies were distributed at both the Democratic and Republican conventions. Additional tens of thousands were nationally distributed in publications including National Review, Chronicle of Higher Education, the New York Times and others.
The Obsession initiative is one of the largest distributions ever undertaken of a film to individual households because officials at the Clarion Fund believe the issues addressed in the film are critically important.
“Obsession demonstrates in graphic detail what can happen in a nation when it ignores the troubling symptoms of the influences of Radical Islam and its efforts to sneak Shariah principles into local and state laws,” said Watch Obsession.Org national chairman Tom Trento.
“Obsession offers details and documentation of story after story about secretive and often violent efforts to spread Islam throughout Europe and here in America. Every American should know the lessons taught by this important film.
“This film is not a blanket condemnation of all Muslims. Many moderate Muslims have been intimidated into silence by lawless and violent cells of extreme jihadists who are now operating in America and throughout the world.”
Consult the list below to identify a national spokesperson or someone from your area to interview. For more information about Obsession and Radical Islam go to radicalislam.org To see a four minute trailer from Obsession — Radical Islam’s War Against the West go to watchobsession.org
Those who have been following Sultan’s activities and statements might recall that he gave an interview to the official Muslim Brotherhood website, Ikhwanonline, immediately following the 2006 elections, "US Islamic Center: Democrats More Tolerant Towards Muslims".
The entire IslamOnline interview is definitely worth the read, and it is reprinted below in its entirety. There are a few curious statements I would like to point out. The most glaring is his statements about the political activity of the Jewish community in the US. Claiming that the number of Muslims in the US is greater than the Jews (a fact not supported by most polls, which finds the number of Muslims at no more than 3 million), he clearly wants Islamic political power to rival that of the Jewish community:
Jews are certainly less in numbers than Muslims now in the US. Our number is between 8 to 10 millions, yet although American Jews are no more than 6 million they have vision, plan, determination of whom to vote for and whom to ignore, and in some cases they support two candidates at the same time so that whomever wins becomes accountable to them. This is done in the Congress or the presidential elections. Jews in the US spend massive amount of money on elections’ publicity campaign. . .
Such exorbitant expenditure on US elections by Jewish-owned mega-businesses and organizations is not done in philanthropy.
Ah, but he’s not done yet. In fact, he relates a fictional account about how a Jewish community leader approached President Kennedy to help finance his reelection if only he would turn over foreign policy decision-making to the Jews. When Kennedy refused, they had him assassinated:
I will mention an example that Muslims in the US and Europe should be well aware of. Mr. Paul Findley’s book “Silent No More” says that President Kennedy in his second elections had a shaky stand, and accordingly a man responsible for 300 Jewish organizations proposing to fund all his campaign on one condition which was to place the keys of foreign policy in his hands, and Kennedy refused such proposal. The result was the assassination of John Kennedy.
So Salah Sultan claims that the Jews in America killed President Kennedy because he wouldn’t let the Jews control American foreign policy. Wonder how our interfaith leaders, like Sultan’s friend and Interfaith Association of Central Ohio board member, Abukar Arman, would respond to Sultan’s views on this topic?
Two other topics covered by Sultan in his IslamOnline interview should be noted:
He states that if Muslims would participate in elections, they could then leverage their political power to show that homosexuality is a “perversion”, and ensure that their views would be taught in American schools.
He also advocated US elections done by Islamic “shura councils”, i.e. theocracy.
Just as reminder, here are some of the organizations that Sultan worked with in Central Ohio:
Sultan also served as religious director for the Hilliard-based Islamic school, Sunrise Academy, where he also conducted teacher training.
Sultan later served as the resident scholar at the Noor Islamic Cultural Center in Hilliard, working directly with his Muslim Brotherhood buddy, Hany Saqr.
Oh, and let’s not forget that one our local Muslim columnists Mahmoud El-Yousseph proclaimed Sultan "one of America’s most-noted Muslim scholars", and Sultan was defended as a moderate in a lengthy article by Columbus Dispatch reporter Felix Hoover.
Sultan also gave an interview to Al-Risala TV (translated by MEMRI) in May 2005, just days after the Dispatch article defending Sultan appeared, where he claimed that the 9/11 attacks were done by the US government, and defending Yemeni Al-Qaeda cleric and designated terrorist, Abdulmajid Al-Zindani:
How Can US Muslims Change Realities Interview with Dr. Salah Soltan
By Abdelrahman Rashdan
Staff Writer — IslamOnline.net
US Muslims: Interview with Dr. Salah Soltan
Dr. Salah El-Deen Soltan has been described as “one of America’s most-noted Muslim scholars.” Scrolling through his eight-page CV, one would be astonished at the amount of positions, publications, activities, researches, and workshops he held, led, or was part of.
As the founder of several US Muslim organizations, including the American Center for Islamic Research, the Sultan Publishing Company, and the Islamic American University, Dr. Soltan has proved that his insight of the American Muslim community is worth digging into.
It is obvious that the American-Muslim community needs change, needs to be more active in the US politics, and needs to change the policies of its country that has changed and continues to change the lives of a lot of Muslims all around the world. And it appears that Dr. Soltan is well-suited for the talk about this arduous mission.
“To achieve Allah’s consent and Paradise through the reformation of the soul, the family, the society, and the nation according to the methodology of the Qur’an and the Sunnah,” this is how he sees his mission in life, and it shows in this interview.
IslamOnline.net (IOL): Why should Muslims participate in the US elections?
Salah Soltan: I believe that such participation is not only permissible, but obligatory as well when it comes to the US elections; and the Islamic text proves that.
Allah — Subhanahu Wattaala (“Glorious and exalted is He”) — says: [Hide not testimony] (Al-Baqarah 2: 283) and elections is a witness according to the agreement of many of the Ummah scholars. [Hide not testimony. He who hideth it, verily his heart is sinful] (Al-Baqarah 2:283) such scripture, along with many others, signifies that nonparticipation leads to the sinning of the heart.
Through research, collecting opinions of credible Sheikhs and Fatwa councils, arguing the doubts that some of the respectable brothers and Sheikhs rouse about the participation in elections, all of that made me end up with a firm believe that participation in the US elections from the juridical angle is an obligation.
Circumstantially, it is an obligation too. According to the constitution, the American system makes everything goes through elections. I believe that for every Muslim who lives there commanding what is right and forbidding what is wrong goes through elections.
The participation of Muslims in the US elections is a judicial obligation and a circumstantial necessity.
The last elections before I left America was about smoking in public places in Ohio. Voters went to vote and Muslims were mobilized to vote against smoking in public, especially in restaurants.
Even the police has a board that is elected by cities’ citizens. Mayors, governors, board electricity companies, and educational councils are all elected.
Another example there is a fierce debate between the elected educational councils in different parts of America on whether to consider homosexual boys and girls pervert or not. If people vote that they are normal not pervert, they would assign big number of social counselors, not to guide those boys and girls, but to guide their parents and teach them to accept their homosexual children and that it is normal, as statistics show that 70% of those who leave school and home are homosexual, who are not accepted by their parents and tend to leave their parents which makes them drop out of school in order to work to earn their living. If Muslims were present in such debate, and demonstrate both logically and religiously that such homosexuality is prohibited pervert in all religions not just in Islam, the results would be very satisfactory.
I have an issue with brothers’ nonparticipation in elections, the duty of participation in election is put forth only when there is a presidential elections. But presidential elections are part of a long chain in the structure of the American society. Thus, I would like our brothers who have Fiqh of reality to give attention to every elections that occurs in any state not just to the presidential ones; I think this issue is really important.
The American congress is composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives and these are the most supreme powers after the president, and they give the needed legitimacy for the latter. The Congress can litigate the President and dismiss him.
Thus, nonparticipation means the continuation of their crimes in our countries.
Jews are certainly less in numbers than Muslims now in the US. Our number is between 8 to 10 millions, yet although American Jews are no more than 6 million they have vision, plan, determination of whom to vote for and whom to ignore, and in some cases they support two candidates at the same time so that whomever wins becomes accountable to them. This is done in the Congress or the presidential elections. Jews in the US spend massive amount of money on elections’ publicity campaign.
The average sum of money spent on publicity for a Senate candidate is $5 million and for the House of Representatives candidate is $1 million, yet the US presidential candidate exceeds by far this amount. The most expensive presidential campaign was that of President Bush in year 2004; it reached billions of US dollars.
If it was a presidential election, such as that coming up at the end of 2008, then there has to be formed a Shura council from all US states that will assemble and take one decision.
Such exorbitant expenditure on US elections by Jewish-owned mega-businesses and organizations is not done in philanthropy.
I will mention an example that Muslims in the US and Europe should be well aware of. Mr. Paul Findley’s book “Silent No More” says that President Kennedy in his second elections had a shaky stand, and accordingly a man responsible for 300 Jewish organizations proposing to fund all his campaign on one condition which was to place the keys of foreign policy in his hands, and Kennedy refused such proposal. The result was the assassination of John Kennedy.
These facts, supported with incidents and numbers, prove that the participation of Muslims in the US elections is a judicial obligation and a circumstantial necessity. I hope that Muslims stop yelling at the Islamic centers and Masjids justifying not participating in elections with claims of widespread scandals in the US, especially in the municipality elections.
IOL: Put between two choices of personal benefits — related to candidates’ internal agenda — and the US foreign policy that affects the Muslims world, which choice do you think the US Muslims should ideally go for?
Soltan:In this case I would put methodology instead of a solution. The methodology in such case would be the presence of a Shura council according to the nature of the elections. If it was a local election, then the Shura council would be a local one that would decide which candidate is more appropriate. If it was a presidential election, such as that coming up at the end of 2008, then there has to be formed a Shura council from all US states that will assemble and take one decision. But for one US Muslim to sit alone and start making a judgment of who fits and who does not that is not correct.
Two conditions have to be satisfied in a good candidate: does not be notorious for attacking Islam and to be qualified enough to the positions he is running for.
This Shura council has three levels of choice. The first, is that it chooses the best out of two good candidates incase both had no drawbacks, which does not happen. The second involves choosing between goods and evils, the lesser harm should be warded off for the greater benefit; if the harm is greater, then the benefit should be left. The third point, and which happens a lot in the US, is to choose the lesser of two evils; in the third case, both candidates will do harm to Muslims internally or externally, thus the choice will go to that who will do less harm to Muslims.
Thus, I propose two methodologies, one about decision making through the Muslim Shura councils that will work according to the municipality, state, or the US levels. The second is to value issues according to the best out of two goods, and then judging among the goods and evils, or judging the lesser of two evils concerning Muslims.
This is the methodology and US Muslims can solve problems accordingly.
IOL: What should the US Muslims look for in a presidential candidate?
Soltan:In my book "Muslims Participation in the American Elections: Its Obligation and its Islamic Guidelines," Sultan Publishing, 2005, I said that such conditions that determines an acceptable candidate should include that he does not be notorious for attacking Islam and to be qualified enough to the positions he is running for. If such candidate was not against Islam yet was not qualified enough, then he should not be chosen. If the two mentioned conditions were satisfied a Muslim can accordingly vote for such candidate.
IOL: How do you see the future of the Muslim community in the US? Is it going for a better or worse one?
Soltan:I imagine that the future of the US Muslims is tied up to a number of factors. First is giving more attention to the internal development more than moving and extending outwards in the Da’wah activity. Muslims in the US need much more internal treatment than external one; US and European Muslim communities need to bring up leaders and calibers much more than it is in the rest of the Muslim world.
Secondly, those Muslims must have the abilities to unite themselves behind one cause and say. The Muslim influence is conditioned with unity. As an example, in Birmingham, UK, where there is a high Muslim density, six Muslims ran into elections against each others and the other non-Muslim candidate won the elections because votes were wasted in the competition among the six Muslim candidates. Thus, the nomination of more than one Muslim candidate stood against the success of Muslims. We are facing an actual crisis because we are exerting some real efforts yet such efforts are wasted by disunity.
We do not want to get into a competition and end up with a weak politician that would do more harm than benefit to Muslims.
The third factor that will act towards a better future for the Muslim community is to foster political figures. Most Muslims in the US want to bring up their children to be either a medical doctor or an engineer; there are no Muslim Congressman except for only one who is a doctor and the others are lawyers. We have to direct Muslim youth since high school towards the study of law, but the mentality and culture of the immigrant Muslim community tend to put the study of medicine and engineering ahead of any other field.
Youth have to be directed to the study of political science and law, Allah Almighty said [If they had intended to come out, they would certainly have made some preparation therefore] (At-Tawbah 9:46). We do not want to get into a competition and end up with a weak politician that would do more harm than benefit to Muslims. The Muslim politician should have strength, distinction, ability to deliver strong speeches, and good argumentative powers so that he can command what is right and forbid what is wrong in the correct way.
On the bright side, there is a sister who studied Shari’ah in Zaitouna University and then travelled to Stockholm, Sweden to study the Swedish language and post-graduate degrees. She ran in elections as a member of the municipal council and won; she is an excellent example that should be followed.
Forth, we have to teach the native American people and not only Muslims that acquired the nationality. Till now there are many Americans that have a negative look to non-native immigrants; Native American, white, and African American Muslims have to be taught and trained well to become distinguished lawyers political activists, and I confirm that they can be trained from the Zakah money.
Not only training and education is needed, there have to be leadership positions that such Muslims must be placed in.
Not only training and education is needed, there have to be leadership positions that such Muslims must be placed in. Such practical experience is extremely important so that they can be lively, effective, and powerful leaders that would impress other Americans making them feel that Muslim Americans are also caring for the common interests and not only that of the Muslim community. In my book, I mentioned as the first condition for the participation in the US elections is that the Muslim candidates should observe the welfare of the US society first and then the US Muslims community. When the American common person finds that the Muslim candidate keen on his security, economic wellbeing, cleanliness of streets, the quality of education, the absence of drugs, raping crimes, and violence, this will be the best way to convince Americans that Muslims are different from what Zionists and Islam-enemies are spreading and accusing them of being.
These are the factors that I see determining the future of Muslims in the US. Always I am optimist and I see the future of US Muslims to be more pleasant than now by Allah’s willing.
Abdelrahman Rashdan is a staff writer for the Muslim Affairs section of IslamOnline.net. A graduate of the American University in Cairo, he holds a BA in political science with a specialization in political economy and international relations. Click here to reach him.
One of my earliest memories was the 1972 Olympic Games. American swimmer Mark Spitz’s Olympic record 7 gold medals in the games electrified the world — a feat only surpassed in recent days. But just days after Spitz’s amazing performance, the world was shocked again as the most horrific incident in the entire history of the Olympic games unfolded on September 5, 1972 in Munich.
In the early morning hours of that dreadful day, a band of Palestinian terrorists gained access to the 31 Connollystraße building housing the Israeli team in the Olympic village. Two Olympians were killed as the terrorists seized the hostages. Nine others were taken hostage. As the drama continued throughout the day and into the night, the Palestinian terrorists and their nine Israeli hostages were taken to the Fürstenfeldbruck airfield where two military helicopters awaited them. At 11pm that day, German police snipers opened fire before the helicopters could take off. The counterattack was unsuccessful, and the Palestinian terrorists shot and killed all of the Israeli hostages in one helicopter, and threw a hand grenade into the other, killing the rest of the hostages.
It was left to ABC newscaster Jim McKay to tell the world the awful news, who announced the deaths of the Israeli athletes at 3:24am German time on September 6:
“When I was a kid, my father used to say ‘Our greatest hopes and our worst fears are seldom realized.’ Our worst fears have been realized tonight. They’ve now said that there were eleven hostages. Two were killed in their rooms yesterday morning, nine were killed at the airport tonight. They’re all gone."
These are the Israeli Olympic team victims of the Palestinian terrorist attack:
One German police officer was killed in the firefight at the airport:
Anton Fliegerbauer (German counter-terrorist police officer)
Here is a short ESPN video interviewing McKay and other ABC executives about that day:
A 2002 article by Los Angeles Times reporter Alan Abrahamson recounts the tragedy.
The frontpage of the New York Times, September 6, 1972:
A memorial plaque in front of the former Israeli Olympic team apartments in Munich, which reads in both German and Hebrew:
The team of the State of Israel stayed in this building during the 20th Olympic Summer Games from 21 August to 5 September 1972. On 5 September, [list of victims] died a violent death. Honor to their memory.
We will not forget.
Glorified and sanctified be God’s great name throughout the world which He has created according to His will. May He establish His kingdom in your lifetime and during your days, and within the life of the entire House of Israel, speedily and soon; and say, Amen.
May His great name be blessed forever and to all eternity.
Blessed and praised, glorified and exalted, extolled and honored, adored and lauded be the name of the Holy One, blessed be He, beyond all the blessings and hymns, praises and consolations that are ever spoken in the world; and say, Amen.
May there be abundant peace from heaven, and life, for us and for all Israel; and say, Amen.
He who creates peace in His celestial heights, may He create peace for us and for all Israel; and say, Amen.
UPDATE (9/5/08): Dave Gaubatz is reporting that ISNA made an illegal official endorsement of Barack Hussein Obama at last week's convention and has a video recording of such. We will link to it as soon as it is online. [HT: Northeast Intelligence Network]
The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) is a 501c3 tax exempt organization. As is true for any 501c3 entity, especially a religious organization, ISNA is prohibited from hosting or supporting any partisan political activity. And yet at their national convention here in Columbus last week, ISNA hosted an Obama campaign booth in their exhibitors’ area as this picture taken on Friday night shows:
[PS — Yes, you might think that is actually Barack Obama at the booth, but it is just a life-sized cardboard cutout. As thin and vapid as Obama’s policies and experience are, it is an easy mistake to make.]
You might recall that in January 2006, a local organization of liberal religious figures in Central Ohio demanded that the IRS investigate alleged political activity at two area churches — World Harvest Church in Columbus and Fairfield Christian Church in Lancaster.
“For me, it’s church and state, not church in state and I really feel there are some churches in central Ohio crossing that line,” said Eric Williams, senior pastor of the [North Congregational United Church of Christ]. “The law allows church involvement in issues. This goes beyond issue-involvement to partisan politics and we’re simply asking the IRS to uphold the law.”
Did ISNA and the Obama campaign violate tax and election laws in this instance? That is clearly an issue for the IRS and the FEC to decide. So based on their previous outrage at alleged partisan political activity by religious organizations, will Eric Williams and his friends now join Central Ohioans Against Terrorism in demanding that the IRS investigate whether the Islamic Society of North America violated their tax-exempt status by hosting the Obama campaign?
UPDATE: Graphic of the Ekhlass Parsley bounty post and partial translation included below (thanks to Sean Osbourne of Northeast Intelligence Network).
As reported yesterday by “Archangel” and the Northeast Intelligence Network, an internet message offering a $50,000 bounty on the head of Columbus-area Pastor Rod Parsley for defaming Islam appeared earlier this week on the notorious “Ekhlass” online forum. Parsley is the pastor of World Harvest Church.
The complicity of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), particularly the Ohio chapter, in this violent threat must be noted. Since May, CAIR has waged a media campaign against evangelical pastors, particularly Pastor Parsley, and made a number of statements stoking the flames of Christophobic bigotry (statements, by the way, given plenty of attention by the Columbus Dispatch). The campaign by CAIR has attempted to marginalize evangelicals Christians by seeking to silence any criticism of the wave of violence caused by Islamic radicalism all over the world.
Central Ohioans Against Terrorism calls on CAIR to apologize for the violence provoked by their partisan political attacks on Parsley and immediately demands that they denounce this jihadist threat of violence against a member of our own community. CAIR should learn to how to express their political and religious disagreements without having to sink to ugly and divisive campaigns of religious bigotry in an attempt to smear and marginalize American Christians other faith communities. Their flagrant Christophobia in this instance has directly resulted in the violent threats we see against Pastor Parsley.
Partial machine translation:
50 thousand dollars to those who come Presse Rod Parsley
(To hear from those who were given the book before you who have been involved is often abused) of Imran, 186
To each of Nasser taghoots this is America incite fighting all Muslims To both defend Americans from the Muslims, this is America incite fighting all Muslims To all secular Ethan, this is America incite fighting all Muslims Toner to the bad and scientists Sultan, this is America incite fighting all Muslims The dogs and interior ministries in the Arab and Muslim worlds, this is America incite fighting all Muslims
The sincerity of the Mujahideen in the name of Allah and there is superseding Khose and Almkzlon, the Americans claim to a crusade and annoy Allah and His Messenger, it would read the article fully aware repugnant to Islam and the Reverend Enough of this lowliness and Hakarh when he says that God Almighty is the devil who was revealed to Muhammad peace be upon him.
This is Rod Carsley Rod Parsley, who incited Christians in the United States to prepare to fight a war to eliminate the new crusade against Islam and Muslims, through speeches and written by the famous religious center in the pro-American Republicans. This is a priest's spiritual adviser McCain now
This picture of the American priest - Treasury God - Muslims, it is able to do it already, who is president of the Church "World Harvest" and you following URL who wants to prosecute and eliminate
Last week the Ohio Department of Education released the school report cards for the 2007–2008 school year. Included in these were the report cards for International Academy and Westside Academy, both here in the Columbus area, two charter schools operated by officials of the extremist Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). As I note in my article today, “CAIR gets failing grades at running Ohio charter schools”, both schools failed miserably.
Here’s the intro:
The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) released their annual school report cards this week, and the results show that two taxpayer-financed Islamic charter schools operated by officials of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) have failed miserably yet again. But protected by powerful political connections, including Ohio Governor Ted Strickland and Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman, and apparently indifferent to their exploitation of the Somali children that comprise the vast majority of their students, the Islamic extremists running the operation appear to have no fear of losing their cash cows. In fact, Ohio educrats have renewed one school’s contract after five years of complete academic failure.
The two schools, International Academy and Westside Academy, are run by a group of local Islamic leaders, including CAIR national board vice chairman Ahmad Al-Akhras, CAIR-Columbus president and CAIR-Ohio board member Abukar Arman, and Islamic Society of Greater Columbus president and imam Mouhamed Tarazi (who serves as principal of one of the schools). At one time or another, all have served on the board of the local private Islamic school in Central Ohio, Sunrise Academy.
Beginning operations in 2002, International Academy has a long track record of failure. According to the school’s most recent state report card, the school only meets two of the 19 indicators measured (one of the two indicators it met was attendance). The performance index score of 73.9 fell well short of the 100 points required (of 120 total; the state median is 96.6), but since that was slightly more than the 72.2 scored the previous school year (2006–2007) the school received a “continuous improvement” designation. Only in the Orwellian world of union-controlled, taxpayer-financed public education does this performance rate a grade of C-, thanks to some grade inflation in this year’s report cards courtesy of the ODE.
That “continuous improvement” designation notwithstanding, since International Academy opened, it has never met the state’s required “adequate yearly progress” standard and has never met more than two of the state indicators. Looking at the past three years of academic performance data, we find in four of the seven tested areas, test scores declined last year from the previous year.
The second school, Westside Academy, appears to be following in its older brother’s failing footsteps. Their state report card shows that they met state standards in one area — attendance. Across all grade levels and subjects, less than 20 percent of their students rated proficient or better. In one subject area, 3rd grade math, the school achieved zero percent proficiency. Their performance index also dropped to 56.9 last school year (again, 100 of 120 points being the state requirement), putting them in the “academic watch” category.
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