Mahmoud El-Yousseph threatens legal action

It seems that my post last week, “Mahmoud El-Yousseph: ‘Hezbollah are freedom fighters’,” has pushed Mahmoud over the edge (see also the post at JihadWatch). His loosening grip on reality should come as no surprise, as evidenced by his non-stop claims to be some great American patriot, while he openly praises and hails the terrorist group Hezbollah as “freedom liberation fighters”, which has killed hundreds of American military and civilian personnel. This glaring contradiction makes his mental meltdown understandable.

But now it seems that his schizophrenia has deepened to outright paranoia. Because as he states in this email message below, I have hacked into his Yahoo account. (And apparently I’ve also disabled his spellchecker.)

And there are his projection issues, demonstrated in his general use of epithets directed at me, such as “Patrick bin Laden”, “fat ugly pig”, bastard, idiot, and my personal favorite, “pigot”. It seems he forgot “infidel pig”. Of course, I’m the “basher” and rabid hater.

Then there is his claim that he is joining a class-action lawsuit against me for defamation and slander. I will wait with bated breath for their press conference and their lawsuit. Bring it on, Mahmoud.

There are some other indications of how sick and twisted Mahmoud’s thinking has become. Instead being Hezbollah’s cheerleader, he now claims that he ran some one-man protest theater against the violence in Lebanon. And he begged the Secretary of Defense to send him to Lebanon in 1983, even though he admits he wasn’t in the military. But he says was ready to help protect the Marines — from the Israelis!

And having caught him in a lie about his alleged preparations to run to battle in Lebanon in 1983 (where, again, he admits he wasn’t even in the military at the time), he blames his own three-man organization for the mix-up. And he never tires in telling everyone how he always had his dufflebag packed ready for war. Because he’s an American patriot, you see. And a cheerleader for America’s enemies who have killed hundreds of American Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen.

Absolutely beyond parody:

Date: Tue Oct 30, 2007 10:36 pm
From: Mahmoud El-Yousseph elyousseph6@yahoo.com
To:
Re: Patrick Poole Barks at the Wrong Tree

Dear friends,

You may or may not have seen the story below on Front Page Magazine by no other than Pat-trick Bin Laden taking aim me this time, and questioning my loyalty patriotisim. I do not have the liberty of all the free time of this fat ugly pig. However, I will response before Memorail Day, and will forward the frist copy of my response to his publication. I will also join in the slander and defamation class action-suit and attending the press conference in the near future.

Unlike, Pattie Poole, I do care about the truth and accuracy. For that reason, I included in this e-mail a copy of my email to the founder of apaam asking himto make a correction that was posted on apaam web site. I was never given chance to present and defend my side of the story.

Since I coud proof now that Mr. P. Bin Laden had broken ino my yahoo acount using a soft ware and other spying devices, he will be reading the same message you are reading now.

He will find out soon who is more loyal and patirotic American citizen, him or I.

He will discover who supports terroris sponsered nation and terrorer group here and abraod, him or I.

He will know who denounce and led one-man protest at down town Columbus in 1983 to protest the killing of American citzen and help a poster that read. US embassy attack is terrorist act, and asked the governor of Ohio to lower the flag half masked.[Channel 10 New]

I will proof to that pigots, that it was me and not him who wrote to the former Sec. of Defense in 1983 that I will and ready to go to Lebanon to help our marines when the were harassed and threatened by Isreali defense forces in Beirut, Lebanon. Even though I was not int the service.

I will tell this idiot it was me who call the father of Marine Captin Chales B. Johnson of Nina, Wisconson to praise his son act of bravery and courage to challange and stand up to the Israeli attrocity in Lebanon.

It was me and not him who public praised Marine Cap. Johnson in a letter published in the Columbus Disptch in 1983.

Well, due to time restriction, I will not be able to states all the 100 reason to refute this bastard false allegation, but in due time, I will show him my true color, when it comes to our homeland security, loyalit and patritism to America. He will know the real truth, as to which one among the two of us was truly willing in ready to defend and die for America.

Besides, I served in the U.S. uniform during peace and war time. Where was Pat-trick Bin Laden hiding when my duffle- bag was ready to go? He was not hiding in a cave, but rather in a country [Albania] that not many people in America, know or care about.

This basher is like a junk-yard dog, but this time he is barking at the wrong tree and have chewed more than he can swallow.

That is all the time I get. Thanks for your time. I will keep you posted

Salam,

Mahmoud

Stay tuned for more of Mahmoud El-Yousseph’s greatest hits!

Cleveland imam quits before he starts

The saga of Ahmed Alzaree has come to a close, at least as far as the Buckeye State is concerned. He was scheduled to assume his position with the Islamic Center of Cleveland — Ohio’s largest mosque — in just days. But the Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that Alzaree has thrown in the towel [a larger article appeared later on Monday afternoon]:

Imam Ahmed Alzaree announced Monday, three days before he was to start work as the spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of Cleveland, that he was resigning.

Alzaree said allegations by bloggers that he was anti-Semitic and was associated with individuals suspected of having terrorist ties so poisoned the atmosphere in Northeast Ohio that he and his wife, Marwa, decided to look elsewhere.

What Alzaree couldn’t stand is the public scrutiny. Having to answer hard questions. And he had three separate articles by the Plain Dealer in his defense (in addition to the original PD puff piece).

Just a few days ago I posted some new information about Alzaree’s tenure at the Islamic Center of Omaha, and the questionable website material that appeared immediately upon his arrival. Tom Blumer of BizzyBlog also weighed in (Tom was the first to discover some of the questionable sermons by Alzaree) with new info. That prompted a sturdy defense of Alzaree in Saturday’s edition of the Plain Dealer, explaining away all of the new info without actually addressing it (oh, he didn’t know about that webpage preaching jihad that magically appeared when he took his position in Omaha, and he didn’t know who fellow Egyptian extremist preacher Wagdi Ghoneim was when he was invited to Alzaree’s mosque, even though Ghoneim is one of the most famous preachers in the Islamic world).

But Alzaree was aware that new questions about his resume and his past tenure in Omaha were about to emerge (courtesy of Blumer and yours truly), so he’s calling it quits. In the end it was too many questions, and not enough real answers.

Good luck on your new endeavors, Ahmed!

Update #1: Here are my previous Alzaree-related posts:

Sept. 25 — Ohio’s largest mosque hires Egyptian hate sheikh to replace deported terror cleric Fawaz Damra
Oct. 2 — Establishment media dhimmis ignore new Cleveland imam’s terror ties
Oct. 25 — Cleveland’s new imam: an “interfaith” moderate or two-faced jihadist?

And here are Tom Blumer’s posts:

Sept. 25 — Meet the New Imam, Same as the Old Imam?
Sept. 29 — Ahmed Alzaree Follow-up: Who WAS That Cleveland.com Blogger? (at the Plain Dealer’s Wide Open blog)
Oct. 2 — COAT’s Imam Ahmed Alzaree Follow-up
Oct. 25 — Imam Ahmed Alzaree and the Islamic Center of Cleveland Follow-up: Part 1
Oct. 25 — Imam Ahmed Alzaree and the Islamic Center of Cleveland Follow-up: Part 2
Oct. 29 — Imam Ahmed Alzaree resigns from Islamic Center of Cleveland

Update #2: Here are some links to the Associated Press article (courtesy of BizzyBlog):

Ohio.com, MSNBC, Jerusalem Post, International Herald Tribune

Anisa Abd El Fattah laments dead HAMAS terrorist-in-chief

In commemoration of today’s taxpayer-financed “Many Faces of Islam” conference at the Ohio State Capitol atrium, featuring HAMAS operative Anisa Abd El Fattah, I thought it might be appropriate to revisit some of the professional history of our fellow Columbus resident and would-be Columbus Public School Board member. (You might also want to revisit our post regarding Fattah’s defense earlier this year of neo-Nazis and UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh’s recent take of the same.)

Below is a 2004 press release from Fattah in her previous position as the Director of Public Affairs for the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR), which one convicted terrorist leader described as “the political command for HAMAS in the United States”. The topic is the assassination of HAMAS founder and terrorist-in-chief Ahmed Yassin by the Israelis following HAMAS terror strikes against Israeli civilians. Yassin had been named a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US in 1995.

But in her press release, Anisa Abd El Fattah laments the dead terror chief and hails “the Islamic Resistance Movement”, the formal name for HAMAS. Again, Fattah — who has publicly defended terrorist organizations and has herself personally worked for multiple convicted and designated terrorists (Mousa Abu Marzook, Abdurahman Alamoudi, et al.) — is at this very moment participating in an event at the Ohio Statehouse.

Here’s her press release as retrieved from U.S. Newswire:

United Association for Studies and Research Condemns Murder of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin

3/23/2004

From: United Association for Studies and Research, 703-750-9011 [number no longer active - ed.]

WASHINGTON, March 23/U.S. Newswire/ — The United Association for Studies and Research (UASR), a Muslim American think tank, condemns yesterday’s murder of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder and spiritual leader of the Islamic Resistance Movement in Palestine and calls upon Israel to end its policy of extra judicial murders of Palestinian people, the destruction of their homes and property and the continued illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories.

“We condemn the murder of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and also Israel’s policy of targeted assassination,” says UASR Director of Public Affairs, Anisa Abd el Fattah. “It is ironic that Yassin was killed only days after releasing a statement saying that his organization was willing to cooperate with the Palestinian Authority, and other Palestinian groups in an effort to prevent anarchy should Israel withdraw from Gaza. To most political analysts, this was a signal that the Islamic Resistance Movement was preparing to perhaps moderate its activities and focus more on alleviating the suffering of the Palestinian people, rather than attacking Israel. Sheikh Yassin, contrary to what Israel says, had offered Israelis many opportunities to enter a truce, and to end the practice of targeting civilians by both sides but Israel refused these offers. Israel proved yesterday that it is not interested in peace with the Palestinian people, and that it has reserved for itself the right to kill at will, in violation of international laws, and any recognized and civilized concept of justice. Israel has continued its attempts at provocation today by issuing public statements threatening other acts of violence against Palestinians and other extra judicial killings. We believe that Israel has taken this path of escalated violence to avoid what has become the inevitable reality. Israel can no longer justify its illegal occupation of Palestinian lands beyond its 1967 borders, nor can it any longer justify its attacks on the Palestinian people, which it claims as retaliation, and the destruction of their homes and property. The United States should be the first to strongly and without reservations, condemn these acts of provocation and also Israel’s criminal policy of targeted assassinations, and the United Nations Security Council should take immediate steps to ensure the security of the Palestinian people and their property, and to end the occupation.

Please forward questions or comments to UASR at 703-750-9011 or by fax at 703-750-9012. [UASR is now defunct, so these numbers are no longer active — ed.]

Needless to say, the Israelis had their own take on their successful assassination in light of Yassin’s direct role in directing terrorist attacks targeting Israeli civilians:

The founder and leader of the Hamas terrorist organization, Ahmed Yassin, was killed today in the northern Gaza Strip.

Yassin was the leader and mentor of Hamas in the territories, and the authorizing and initiating authority for all Hamas terrorist attacks emanating from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Although he was not a religious authority, many named him “Sheikh Yassin,” for his status as leader of Hamas.

The perception that Yassin was the “political” leader and left the management of terrorist activities to others is incorrect. In fact, there is no differentiation between the “political” and “military” wings of Hamas. Yassin, himself, often authorized and encouraged attacks and strongly preached against Israel. . .

Yassin was the senior authority in the decision making process for carrying out terrorist attacks, and was the main address in all matters concerning the determining the policy for terrorism. He was viewed as a highly admired and charismatic persona serving as a main factor in attacks against Israel.

May Ahmed Yassin rot in Hell. Thanks to the Israelis for eliminating this POS from the planet. We owe you our thanks.

And remember Anisa Abd El Fattah’s defense of terrorist leader Ahmed Yassin next time the Columbus Dispatch rises to her defense.

Mahmoud El-Yousseph: “Hezbollah are freedom fighters”

President and First Lady Reagan at Dover Air Force Base reviewing the remains of the 19 US diplomats, who along with 44 others, were murdered by a Hezbollah suicide bomber that attacked the US Embassy in Beirut in April 1983.

[Welcome JihadWatch and RoP readers!]

Twenty-four years ago this week, October 23, 1983, a truck laden with explosives rammed into the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, killing nearly 250 American military personnel who were serving as peacekeepers. One local columnist for the Newark Advocate, Marion Star, and regular Columbus Dispatch letter to the editor contributor, Mahmoud El-Yousseph of Westerville, who promotes his previous military service as though it immunizes him from criticism, openly praises and defends the group responsible for this atrocity.

Prior to 9/11, the terrorist group responsible for killing the most Americans was not Al-Qaeda, but Hezbollah, the Iranian and Syrian-backed Shi’ite terrorist group that has terrorized Lebanon for more than two decades. A particular target for Hezbollah terrorist activity has been American military personnel, as was the case with the Marine barracks bombing.

In a speech in September 2002, then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage described the danger of the organization: “Hezbollah may be the A team of terrorists and maybe al-Qaeda is actually the B team.”

Here’s a quick review of Hezbollah’s murderous tally against US military and government officials:

• Hezbollah made its debut in April 1983 by slamming a truck laden with explosives into the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, killing 63, including 19 Americans. After the attack, the embassy was moved to another location, which was also bombed in September 1984.


• Emboldened by their successful attack on the U.S. Embassy, Hezbollah launched another suicide bombing against the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut on October 23, 1983, causing 241 deaths — at that time the biggest loss for the Marines since Iwo Jima. Simultaneous with the attack on the Marine forces, Hezbollah bombed the barracks of French peacekeepers. An attack on Italian peacekeepers was foiled. Four months after the bombing, President Reagan ordered the withdrawal of American forces from Beirut, with France quickly following suit.


• Throughout the 1980s, Hezbollah was behind the kidnapping of many Westerners in Lebanon throughout the 1980s, including the capture and brutal murder of CIA Beirut Station Chief, William Buckley. Journalist Terry Anderson was kidnapped and would eventually spend 2,454 days in captivity, along with several officials from the American University of Beirut. In order to secure the release of the hostages, the Reagan administration covertly organized an arms-for-hostages deal with Hezbollah’s primary state-sponsor, the Islamic Republic of Iran, which would only result in the release of three American hostages.


• In June 1985, Hezbollah terrorists seized TWA Flight 847 en route from Athens to Rome, and diverted the plane to Beirut. When the terrorists demands were not met, a US Navy Seabee diver on board, Robert Dean Stethem, was shot and his body dumped on the airport tarmac. Other American military personnel were savagely beaten. The plane’s passengers and crew were held for 17 days. In the weeks that followed, Israel released a number of Shi’ite prisoners, though U.S. officials deny that there was a covert deal. Only one hijacker was ever captured and held for several years in Germany.





Navy diver Robert Dean Stetham, murdered by Mahmoud El-Yousseph’s “freedom fighters” and his body dumped on the Beirut airport tarmac.

• In 1990, Hezbollah captured, tortured, and eventually hanged Marine Corps Colonel Richard Higgins, a decorated Vietnam combat veteran who was on duty as an unarmed United Nations peacekeeper in Lebanon. His body was not recovered for another year. The story of Higgins’ life, captivity and murder is memorialized in a book written by his wife, Marine Lt. Col. Robin Higgins, Patriot Dreams: The Murder of Colonel Rich Higgins.
  
  
• A Saudi Hezbollah cell was involved in providing al-Qaeda operatives with explosives training in their June 1996 attack on the Khobar Towers in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, which killed 19 American Air Force servicemen with the 4404th Wing and injured more than 500 others. According to then-FBI Director Louis Freeh, in his 2002 Congressional testimony to the Joint Intelligence Committee: “The direct evidence obtained strongly indicated that the 1996 bombing was sanctioned, funded and directed by senior officials of the government of Iran.”

I revisit this grim history because one of Central Ohio’s most vocal Muslim activists, Mahmoud El-Yousseph, has openly and repeatedly declared that “Hezbollah are freedom fighters” — the same terrorist group that has murdered hundreds of American military personnel and citizens.

Here’s a video of El-Yousseph claiming that “Hezbollah are freedom liberation fighters” at an anti-Israel rally in July 2006 (at ~ 1:15 in the video; courtesy of hourglass1941, part of this blog post):



Additionally, El-Yousseph submitted the following letter to the editor to the Columbus Dispatch several years ago again praising Hezbollah, who are responsible for the murder of hundreds of Americans, as “freedom fighters” after the terror group captured (and eventually executed) Israeli soldiers — an act in violation of international law, though one El-Yousseph apparently approved of:

Why did Hezuballah captured [sic] Israeli soliders?
Tue Oct 17, 2000 9:33 am

Hezuballah freedomm [sic] fighters of south Lebanon shocked the whole world on Oct. 7, when it captured 3 Israeli soliders [sic] in the town of Khiam on the border line to Israel. Khiam is a Lebanese town, it is still occupied by Israel. Israel claimed, the town belong to Syria. Howeveer [sic]; Syria fanatically denied the Israeli claim. Thereby made Hezuballah attack on an Israeli army convoyy [sic] in the town as legitimate act of self defanse [sic], in resisting a foriegn [sic] occupying army. Keep in mind Israel continue to hold 2 of Hezuballah leader in addition to 15 more Lebanese. Many of whome [sic] were kidnapped with in their own country.

International law which Israel claim to adher [sic] to, clearly states: No occupying force is permitted to transfer civilian populations or combatant out of the occupied country. These two reasons set the stage for Hezuballah mid day surprise attack. “Might is right”. This is the only language Israel understand. Oct.12, another shocker by Hezuballah. One Israeli reserve officer captured in Swisserland [sic], and is in the group costudy [sic]. That reminded at first by the Israel kidnapping few years back of one of its own citizen from Italy. The man have [sic] worked at an Israel nucluar [sic] facility in Israel, and has given an interview to a British newspaper aboout [sic] Israell [sic] nucluar [sic] program.

He was smuggled into Israel in a secert [sic] operation, and still serving time in Israeli jail. If Israel can do it and get away with it , why can,t others. After all, All what Hezuballah wants is: 17 Lebanese to be freed, and for Israel to completly [sic] and immediatly [sic] leave the town of Khaim. It,s up to Israel now!.

Mahmoud El-Yousseph
24 Central Ave.
Westerville, OH. 43081
{614}898-7242
16 OCT.2000

The fellowing [sic] text was send to the dispatch as letter to the editor.

What is especially sickening about El-Yousseph’s cheerleading for this terrorist organization is that he trumpets his own personal military service with the Air Force while doing so. So while endorsing as freedom fighters a terrorist group that killed a large contingent of deployed US Air Force personnel, El-Yousseph can always be seen sporting his trademark “US Air Force Retired” baseball cap whenever he and his buddy Ahmad Al-Akhras are chanting “death to Israel” downtown at the federal courthouse. In fact, he is wearing that cap in the video above when he makes his “Hezbollah are freedom fighters” remark.

Additionally, El-Yousseph signs all of his articles and correspondence “US Air Force retired”, and touts his military service online, such as his profile for the Association of Patriotic Arab Americans in the Military (APAAM). [See, for instance, El-Yousseph’s October 26th Marion Star column touting his military service.] He even goes so far as to highlight his training in 1983 for possible service in Lebanon — a peacekeeping mission to protect the Lebanese people where hundreds of US military personnel were murdered by the very Hezbollah terrorist group he openly praises.

He obviously ignores the oath he took before God when he was inducted into the US military:

“I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.”

Hezbollah has long been named a Specially Designated Terrorist Organization by the US government, so why does Mahmoud El-Yousseph violate his induction oath by cheering and applauding America’s enemies who are responsible for the deaths of so many US service men and women? Especially the 19 Air Force personnel (his own branch of service!!!) murdered by Hezbollah in the Khobar Tower attacks?

And what about Hezbollah’s repeated calls for “death to America” by its highest-ranking leaders? For instance, this video of Hezbollah terrorist-in-chief Hassan Nasrallah telling a crowd of the Hezbollah faithful in February 2005 that “death to America” is their constant motto:

We consider it [America] to be an enemy because it wants to humiliate our governments, our regimes, and our peoples. Because it is the greatest plunderer of our treasures, our oil, and our resources, while millions in our nation suffer unemployment, poverty, hunger, unmarriageability, ignorance, darkness, and so on. America… This American administration is an enemy. Our motto, which we are not afraid to repeat year after year, is: “Death to America.”

Crowd: Death to America
Death to America
Death to America
Death to America
Death to America
Death to America

Or similar statement made by their Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem, who led a crowd of Hezbollah supporters with that same “death to America” chant less than a year ago:



Since Mahmoud El-Yousseph seems so willing to utilize every opportunity to remind everyone about his military service, perhaps he can answer for us how he is able to justify his support for Hezbollah and terrorism, and still claim to be faithful to his country and his citizenship and military induction oaths to support America against its declared enemies? How can he present himself as a loyal and patriotic American while at the same time praising a group that vows to destroy America?

Here’s a hint, Mahmoud: you can’t claim to be an American patriot and wrap yourself in Old Glory while simultaneously draping yourself in Hezbollah’s flag and applauding their acts of terror, especially when that flag is drenched with the blood of hundreds of American Marines, soldiers, sailors and airmen.

You can’t claim to be a patriot while supporting America’s avowed enemies, particularly those that have killed you own fellow servicemen and women — to say that tends to demonstrate severely divided loyalties would be an understatement.

Cleveland’s new imam: an “interfaith” moderate or two-faced jihadist?

UPDATE #1: Be sure to read Tom Blumer’s update on BizzyBlog, “Imam Ahmed Alzaree and the Islamic Center of Cleveland Follow-Up, Part 2” with more information that not all the radicals left Ohio’s largest mosque with the deportation of Fawaz Damra. He also has a good overview in Part 1 of his post concering the Plain Dealer‘s non-coverage of this story even after two separate reporters wrote two consecutive stories.

Last month, Tom Blumer of BizzyBlog and the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Wide Open Blog followed up on a PD story by David Briggs on the replacement imam at the Islamic Center of Cleveland following the deportation earlier this year of Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative Fawaz Damra. After some research, Blumer discovered that the replacement imam, Ahmed Alzaree, had made some rather disturbing remarks, specifically a sermon in which he makes the following statement:

Dear brothers and sisters, the talk about the Day of Judgment is long and full of things that will confuse the human mind and put fear in the hearts of the faithful. Every day that comes is much more Worse than the day before it as we get closer to the hour. Among the signs of the approach of Day of Judgment is what the messenger of Allah PBUH said: “The hour of judgment shall not happen until the Muslims fight the Jews. The Muslims shall kill the Jews to the point that the Jew shall hide behind a big rock or a tree and the rock or tree shall call on the Muslim saying: hey, O Muslim there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him, except the Gharqad tree which will not say, for it is the tree of Jews.” Agreed upon. This is seemed to be very soon and close now. We ask Allah SWT not to test us so hardly if we live till this horrible moment insha’allah.

This is taken from a Friday khutbah dated March 7, 2003 (the original article has since been removed, but it is still available through the Internet Archive). Building on Blumer’s discovery, I also found additional statements by Alzaree in that same khutbah expressing his lament that the compulsory Quranic jizya payments for dhimmi Christians and Jews had gone by the wayside. COAT contributor Sun Tzu also revealed that deported extremist cleric Wagdi Ghoneim had paid a visit to Alzaree’s Islamic Center of Omaha in August 2004, just before Ghoneim was taken into custody by immigration officials.

Embarrassed from getting scooped by one of their own bloggers, the PD quickly rushed out another story in response by reporter Robert Smith covering their tracks. As I noted at the time, Smith couldn’t even bring himself to admit that it had been one of their own bloggers (Blumer) that had scooped them (Blumer also noted that fact). But in the end, Smith put up a mediocre defense of Alzaree, allowing the Islamic Center of Cleveland’s president Jalal Abu-Shaweesh to explain away Alzaree’s anti-Jewish rant about how rocks will cry out for Muslims to kill hiding Jews by saying that Alzaree “was just being thorough”. What can you expect from the establishment media?

But since the PD has been mum on the matter for almost an entire month and Alzaree’s tenure at the Islamic Center of Cleveland about to begin, it bears worth mentioning some additional information I’ve uncovered concerning Alzaree’s previous tenure in Omaha.

Alzaree came to Omaha in mid-2002 after an apparent mosque coup in which an extremist element had taken control and began looking for an imam that more met their tastes (at one point, there were two competing “amirs” for the center). Around the time that Alzaree assumed his new position as imam, some very curious information began to appear on the Omaha center’s website.

In particular, a page dedicated to the “Palestinian issue” appeared, including links to such articles as “The New Nazis” (i.e. the Israelis), “Intifada (Uprising)”, and “The Israeli Myths about Palestine and Palestinians Exposed”.


And then there is a link to “Pictures of the Holocaust”, which bears the following comment:

We always hear about the Jewish Holocaust 60 years ago. These are picture of the Arab (Muslims and Christians) Palestinian Holocaust this year by the hands of the victims of the the first Holocaust. They learned well from their Nazi masters and executioners.

Nice. A real interfaith leader.

Then on the Omaha center’s “World Links” section we see links to Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV and the Islamic American Relief Association, a terror financing front closed by the Feds. Another section dated as recently as May 2006 entitled “Palestinian Live Reports” features information supporting the “Jenin massacre” hoax.

And then there is the section dedicated to “Hot Spots”, where it lists Iraq, Afghanistan, and India. Notwithstanding the link at the bottom of the page, “What is Jihad”, it’s highly unlikely that they were identifying these countries as spots of "internal self-struggle".


In fact, on this page by Alzaree (he lists his email for suggestions on additional links) he states:

Remember that in Islam, the struggle of a nation to free itself from tyranny and oppression is also considered Jihad. Unfortunately, the world now considers such movements as terrorism and the people who try to free themselves as terrorists. Islam believes that people have the right to defend themselves even from oppressors like Israel, Russia and India.

Additionally, a page on Iraq features articles taken mostly from the Revolutionary Worker.

Again, virtually all of this material began to appear around the time that Alzaree took his position with the Islamic Center of Omaha, and these sources continued up until recently. Since Blumer first broke the story of Alzaree’s anti-Jewish rants, the Omaha website has undergone a thorough scrubbing, but there’s no avoiding the archive bots!

The challenge to the Plain Dealer is this: you’ve had two shots at covering this story. Thus far, you have been completely waxed by a couple of bloggers sitting at home in their pajamas (and yes, I’m literally sitting here in my pajamas). Are you guys actually going to get off your lazy media establishment asses and actually do some research, or must the new media do it all for you, thus confirming your irrelevancy? And when you use our research, are you willing to cite us as sources, since we’re the ones who have actually done the footwork on this story?

We’ll see, PD.

HAMAS-linked Ohio Statehouse conference speaker defends neo-Nazis

. . . because the Israeli occupation of Southern Ohio has driven them to despair!

In yet another another episode of “I couldn’t make this up if I had to”, new research (HT: Dirk Thompson) has revealed that one of the featured speakers at this weekend’s “Many Faces of Islam” conference at the Ohio Statehouse sponsored by the Interfaith Association of Central Ohio as well as taxpayers (through the Ohio Humanities Council, who contributed $1,000 for the event), Anisa Abd El Fattah (aka Caroline F. Keeble, would-be Columbus Public School Board member) defended neo-Nazis and justified their religious and racial hatred in an email exchange earlier this year with UCLA law professor and blogger Eugene Volokh.

The exchange between Fattah and Volokh (see his post, “A heartwarming tale of people coming together”) followed from her previous public statement affirming that:

We also believe that the Jewish Lobby has acted to create an environment in the US that is hostile to Muslims, Arabs, and others, including White nationalists, and Christians so that members of these groups can be discriminated against, and denied rights such as rights to the assumption of innocence unless proven guilty of a crime in a court of law, fair trials, due process, and justice, political association, organizing and petitioning our government on matters related to civil rights, liberties, and foreign policy.

This statement was part of her public call back in January as chair of the National Association for Muslim American Women (NAMAW) for the Department of Justice to investigate anyone she had deemed “connected” to the “Jewish Lobby” for violating the civil rights of anyone who was critical of Islamic extremists support for terrorist organizations, such as HAMAS and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or those who had felt intimidated when publicly attacked for their questioning the established facts of the Holocaust. (This is a point to remember, that Fattah had demanded a DOJ investigation for the supposed “sedition” of anyone connected with the “Jewish lobby”. Perhaps a DOJ investigation is in order, but not with Fattah’s identified targets.)

In response, Volokh had asked her exactly what she had meant by “White nationalists”. She replied:

The point is that every American has equal rights to free speech. That aspect of White nationalist behavior that includes fear mongering, name calling, and intimidation is wrong, yet they argue that their actions result from their frustration that they are stereotyped, and misrepresented by the media and made to appear as enemies of blacks and Jews, and others, when they simply want to preserve the white race, and its majority status. They feel that Jewish supremacism threatens their existence, and that Jewish activism is aimed at limiting their rights, and many Christians feel that same way.

Most of what we are talking about here is how we can colllectively preserve and protect the identies, and rights of groups in the US that have conflicting desires, and sensitivties, while preserving a sense of nationalism, or rather Americanism that can serve as a glue for our society that is strong enough to hold our country togther in spite of some of the stark differences that we represent in race, religion, political outlooks, socio-economic backgrounds etc.

In our opinion, the Bill of Rights is that glue, and a near perfect social contract. I’m not suggesting that we are going to resolve these issues tommorrow, but I am suggesting that we must start. I am praying that the complaint will serve as a first word in a dialogue that will embrace all of the various groups, and that will remove all unfair stigmas, and stereotypes, allowing every group to define itself, and also to set the tone and rules for everyone’s co-existence, and participation. The public space is increasingly smaller in my view, making it essential that we begin a dialogue on how 300 million people of different faiths, colors, races, cultures, attitudes, histories, hopes, etc., will share that space as equally and fully entitled American citizens.

From her point of view, “White nationalists” (aka “neo-Nazis”) have been given a bad rap by the “Jewish Lobby” and falsely portrayed by that alleged lobby as “enemies of blacks and Jews”, when all they really are doing is expressing their resistance to “Jewish supremicism”, notwithstanding their “fear-mongering, name calling, and intimidation”. Much like her beloved HAMAS, whenever neo-Nazis burn crosses and vandalize synagogues, they are merely acting out of the oppression they suffer at the hands of the “Jewish lobby” and the nefarious network imposing “Jewish supremicism” to the detriment of their free speech rights, Fattah argues.

There are, of course, many obvious points I could make regarding Fattah’s defense of neo-Nazis, but I will let her statement stand on its own and leave those implications to the reader’s own judgment, apart from two observations:

1) The “Many Faces of Islam” conference to be held this coming Sunday in the Ohio Statehouse atrium has been trumpeted by its sponsors and supporters (including the Columbus Dispatch; see below) as an “interfaith event” intended to raise popular understanding of Islam. But as I’ve repeatedly demonstrated in multiple articles and posts here and elsewhere, virtually all of the speakers at the conference (specifically, Anisa Abd El Fattah, Robert “Farooq” Crane, and Zalfaqir Ali Shah) represent a very narrow and extremist interpretation of Islam hardly represenatative of the Muslim community in Central Ohio.

For instance, consider the following statement made by “interfaith” giant (and al-Qaeda-linked fundraiser for the shuttered KindHearts “charity”) Zalfaqir Ali Shah (more on Shah here) as reported by Islamonline:

If we are unable to stop the Jews now, their next stop is Yathrib (The Prophet’s city of Medina), where the Jews used to live until their expulsion by Prophet Muhammad. That’s the pinnacle of their motives.

I restate my own contention that this conference and its organizers defame the Central Ohio Muslim community by falsely attaching such extremist views to all Muslims. Anyone at this point trying to claim that these extremist views are actually representative of area Muslims, including, as we see, defending neo-Nazis and justifying the basis of their hatred, is more “Islamophobic” than anyone could ever accuse me of being.

2) It was Fattah and this alleged “interfaith” conference that the Columbus Dispatch reporter Randy Ludlow took to the defense of last week. Ludlow characterized my reporting of Fattah’s statements thus: “Poole attacks her strong support of a Palestinian homeland and the rights of Muslims to protect themselves and their land from Israelis whom she calls terrorists.” Of course, Ludlow ignored Fattah’s letter to the editor published by the Columbus Dispatch last month declaring all Israeli civilians in Gaza as “combatants”, and by reasonable inference, legitimate targets for terrorism.

Ludlow also falsely claimed that Fattah’s longtime employer, the United Association for Research and Studies, which had been described by one convicted terrorist leader of being “the political command for HAMAS in the United States,” had been cleared by a 2005 Senate Finance Committee investigation; when in fact I had provided evidence to him via email (specifically, a link to an Associated Press article published by the Akron Beacon Journal) more than a week prior to his article where the then-Senate Finance Chairman Charles Grassley indicated that the committee had most decidedly NOT cleared those organizations:

The Senate Finance Committee is done reviewing Internal Revenue Service records it requested two years ago, but that “does not mean that these groups have been cleared by the committee,” chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said in a statement Tuesday.

As we have repeatedly seen, the Columbus Dispatch is never one to let the facts get in the way of a good story, especially when it involves their friends involved in the jihadist network in Central Ohio. But you wonder in light of this recent evidence whether Mike Curtin, Randy Ludlow, and the many other apologists for Islamic extremism at the Columbus Dispatch are willing to continue to defend the outrageous statements of their terror-loving “interfaith” friends and endorse their apologies for neo-Nazis. The best bet would be for the Dispatch and the Ohio Democratic Party bloggers to keep silence on this one rather than draw attention to it.

Or maybe another “open letter” in defense of Fattah, the “Many Faces of Islam” conference at the Statehouse this weekend, and a whole host of terrorist organizations, is in the offing? Will Curtin, Ludlow and the Dispatch sign on?

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?