Sunday, October 21, 2007

Former Hilliard HAMAS cleric pictured with two global terrorists

Two months ago I reported on our former Hilliard resident, Salah Sultan (Soltan), who spoke at a conference in July honoring Specially Designated Global Terrorist and HAMAS spiritual leader Yousef Al-Qaradawi (see “Hilliard man roasts global terrorist Qaradawi at conference in Qatar”), an event in which Sultan was photographed with the terrorist leader (see "Hilliard man shares a moment with Global Terrorist Qaradawi"). Sultan’s speech and a paper he delivered at the conference are posted on Qaradawi’s own personal website. Qaradawi was listed by the U.S. government as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in 1999.

But new photographic evidence of Sultan’s appearance at the Qaradawi conference in July has emerged showing Sultan sitting on the speakers dais with HAMAS leader Khaled Mash’al and Qaradawi while Mash’al praised the terror cleric for his fatwa endorsing HAMAS suicide bombings against Israeli civilians. Mash’al’s comments were broadcast live by Al-Jazeera, and recorded and translated by MEMRI.

In the video of their remarks, Sultan can be clearly seen seated on the dais with the two terrorist leaders, as seen in the screen captures below.

Salah Sultan (far left) seated at the conference speaker dais (taken at 2:40 in the MEMRI video).

Sultan (third from right), Khaled Mash’al (third from left), and Yousef Al-Qaradawi (middle in white turban — 4:13).

Mash’al (left) and Qaradawi (right) justifying suicide bombings (3:43).

Mash’al praises Qaradawi for his suicide bombing fatwa (1:07).

Qaradawi expressing his support for HAMAS, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah (3:29).


It’s important to note that even though Sultan fled the country earlier this year for Bahrain after having his US citizenship application denied (thanks to yours truly, see my multiple FrontPage “Hometown Jihad” reports in the right-hand links column), he is still able to re-enter the country. He is still a member of the Fiqh Council of North America and has appeared at recent meetings, notwithstanding his continued association with designated global terrorists.

Why is Sultan still allowed to travel in and out of the US despite his openly associating with terrorist leaders, even being repeatedly photographed with them?

As a member of the Fiqh Council, Sultan was a signatory of their much-heralded 2005 “Fatwa against Terrorism”, which specifically prohibits any cooperation “with any individual or group that is involved in any act of terrorism or violence.” And yet Sultan and another Fiqh Council member and “Fatwa against Terror” signatory, Jamal Badawi, were both in attendance and actively participated in the conference honoring HAMAS terror cleric Qaradawi, as well as openly associating with HAMAS political head Mash’al (see my previous Family Security Matters article, “CAIR Terror Fatwa Signatories Attend Conference Honoring HAMAS Terror Cleric Qaradawi”).

Since Sultan has moved to Bahrain and obtained citizenship there (much to the displeasure of many Bahrainis), and he is directly flaunting the anti-terror fatwa he signed, why is he still a member of the Fiqh Council of North America?

This is the same Salah Sultan that the Columbus Dispatch defended in May 2006 as a "moderate" (much as they have with local terror apologist Abukar Arman, and now, local HAMAS operative Anisa Abd El Fattah). In that article, the Dispatch dismissed his connections to Qaradawi:

Soltan is a former president of the Islamic American University in suburban Detroit, and he said Al-Qaradawi served the school as “volunteer chairman of the board.” [Qaradawi was appointed after he had been designated a global terrorist by the US government — ed] The two men also belong to the European Council for Fatwa and Research, but Soltan said members of the scholars group hold divergent views.
Of course, the Dispatch’s defense of Salah Sultan appeared two weeks before he appeared on Al-Risala TV declaring that the US was behind the 9/11 terror attacks and defending al-Qaeda cleric and Specially Designated Global Terrorist Abd Al-Majid Al-Zindani (MEMRI report, video, transcript), and a month before Sultan spoke at a pro-HAMAS rally in Istanbul with HAMAS head Ismail Haniyeh.

Where’s the Columbus Dispatch now?