Jihad in the U.S. -- Oh, yes, it's underway here too...

[Snowden]

State won't close Virginia jihad academy: "They told us they'd revise their textbooks"


An update on this story: State is allowing the Islamic Saudi Academy to continue operating because school officials have assured them that they will -- in effect -- stop teaching things they have been teaching as basic tenets of Islam. And State bought it. Of course.

"State lets Islamic school operate: Officials say Saudi institute will revise violent textbooks," by Gary Emerling in the Washington Times, June 13 (thanks to Ruth King):

State Department officials said Thursday they have no plans to close a Saudi-financed Islamic school in Northern Virginia that has failed to eliminate violent and intolerant language in textbooks. "They told us they would revise the textbooks by the 2008 school year," State Department spokesman Rob McInturff said. "We don't plan to take additional action apart from the discussions that have been going on with the Saudi government."

Results released Wednesday from a federal investigation into the Islamic Saudi Academy - with campuses in Alexandria and Fairfax - found textbooks at the 900-student private school had passages that blame the Jews for "discord" and say it is sometimes permissible to kill non-Muslims. The investigation by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom focused on 17 textbooks used during the last school year and obtained from independent sources.

The panel, formed by Congress, last year recommended the State Department close the school, though members had not yet reviewed the textbooks....

State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos on Thursday cited the Saudi government's 2006 acknowledgement of a need to revise its textbooks and agreement to do so "in time for the start of the 2008 school year," which starts this fall....

The passages found in the review, according to the panel, include:

-- A passage in a 12th-grade Koranic interpretation textbook that states it is permissible for a Muslim to kill those who have left the faith, an adulterer or someone who has murdered a Muslim intentionally: "He (praised is He) prohibits killing the soul that God has forbidden (to kill) unless for just cause ...."

The commission said the text defines "just cause" as "unbelief after belief, adultery and killing an inviolable believer intentionally."

As I explained here, that is simply traditional, mainstream Islam. And now this school is going to stop on a dime and teach the opposite? I've got a bridge to sell you, too.



Dhimmi Watch: State won't close Virginia jihad academy: "They told us they'd revise their textbooks"

[Snowden]

Islamophobia? Ahmed Bedier throws Ahmed Mohamed under the bus



Bedier looks on approvingly as Jassim Aldeen of the USF MSA (a Muslim Brotherhood group) speaks about the Mohamed/Megahed case -- Aldeen played the race card too


Ahmed Mohamed is the Florida former student who has agreed to plead guilty to aiding jihad terrorists: "Mohamed To Admit Terrorism Support," by Elaine Silvestrini for The Tampa Tribune, June 14:

TAMPA - A former University of South Florida student has agreed to plead guilty to a charge he provided support to terrorists when he posted an Internet video showing how to detonate a bomb with a remote-controlled toy, according to a plea agreement entered in the case Friday.

From the beginning of this case, when Mohamed and his driving buddy Youseff Megahed were arrested in Goose Creek, South Carolina, with what was alleged to be explosive material in the trunk of their car, Ahmed Bedier, then of CAIR, was right on the case. Bedier is the character who has passed up opportunities to condemn stoning and who has said that there was "nothing immoral" about being part of Palestinian Islamic Jihad until it was designated a terrorist group. In "2 Florida students charged in explosives scare face $800,000 bond," by Noah Haglund, Dave Munday, and Andy Paras in the Charleston Post and Courier, August 5, 2007, Bedier was acting as the spokesman for both men, and downplaying the charges:

Ahmed Bedier, executive director of the Tampa chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights organization for Muslims, said family members have told him they think the materials were leftover fireworks Megahed kept in his trunk since July 4.

“Both of them are really naïve kids,” Bedier said.

In later stories Bedier played the race card and acted as an informal character witness for Mohamed as well as Megahed -- as in, for example, "Road trip, 'pipe bombs,' speeding, then arrests," by Abbie Vansickle in the St. Petersburg Times, August 7, 2007:

"Had they been two white kids, nobody would be asking those questions," said Ahmed Bedier, executive director of Tampa's chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. [...]

Those accusations don't square with what Bedier heard from their family and friends.

Mohamed, of 2107 E Nedro Road, moved to Tampa in January to pursue a graduate degree in engineering after studying at a university in Egypt, according to USF officials. Bedier said that Mohamed graduated at the top of his class from a prestigious program in civil and environmental engineering and that he served as a research and teaching assistant at USF. [...]

Bedier said he had problems with the accusations.

"We're really concerned about the lack of evidence in this case," he said.

But last night I asked Bedier for comment on Mohamed's guilty plea, and he responded by referring me to the Elaine Silvestrini story from today's Tampa Trib, in which he acts as if he never heard of this Ahmed Mohamed fellow:

Local Muslim activist Ahmed Bedier, who has spoken in support of Megahed, stressed that he doesn't know Mohamed or the Mohamed family.

Then how did he know before they were both "naive kids," and that this was all about "racism"? How did he know all that about Mohamed being "at the top of his class"?

He said the video, as described in court documents, was "unacceptable."

Although apparently it was unacceptable only because it might be "perceived" as such by law enforcement -- a "perception" that could get Mohamed 15 years in prison:

He said the case is "a reminder to all Muslim youth out there, especially young males, that they have to be very careful about their actions and what they say. Even if they don't think they're doing some kind of criminal act, it might be perceived by law enforcement ... that you're promoting something illegal. That can have some very bad consequences."

Mohamed, Bedier said, "was sent here on a scholarship to do a doctorate in engineering and not to make videos, and now he's going to pay the price for that."

So why is Bedier now claiming not to know Ahmed Mohamed? If Mohamed were a "good old boy," would Bedier be throwing him under the bus? Is it "Islamophobia"?

Seriously, of course, it is that Bedier doesn't want it on record that he was defending in the press and acting as the spokesman for a man who has pleaded guilty to aiding jihad terrorists. But it is. Nevertheless, however, the mainstream media will no doubt fall for this, getting amnesia about Bedier's previous race-baiting and plumping for Mohamed as well as Megahed, and continuing to treat Bedier as if he really were a human rights activist, as he styles himself.



Jihad Watch: Islamophobia? Ahmed Bedier throws Ahmed Mohamed under the bus

[Snowden]

Obama's half brother says Barack will be good President for the Jews, despite his Muslim background


Barack Obama's Fight the Smears website says flatly: "Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian."

Barack Obama's half brother says that the candidate has a "Muslim background."
Which one is lying?

This is not a Manchurian candidate issue. This is an honesty issue.

"Malik Obama says his brother will be good president for the Jews," from the Jerusalem Post, June 12 (thanks to all who sent this in):

Barack Obama's half brother Malik said Thursday that if elected his brother will be a good president for the Jewish people, despite his Muslim background.

In an interview with Army Radio he expressed a special salutation from the Obamas of Kenya.

Jihad Watch: Obama's half brother says Barack will be good President for the Jews, despite his Muslim background

[Snowden]

To discuss "Islamophobia" in the U.S., UN official meets with those who say that condemning Hamas and Hizballah would be "Islamophobic"


Which means that the State Department itself, in classifying them as terrorist groups, is "Islamophobic." I am confident that in his report Doudou Diène will not shy away from that conclusion.

Anyway, it wasn't just Ahmed Bedier. Diène met with a full rogue's gallery:

"U.N. Rapporteur Turns to Usual Suspects on 'Islamophobia,'" from IPT News, June 13 (thanks to all who sent this in):

[...] Yet a volunteer for the UN Commission on Human Rights met last month in southern California with a group of Islamists, well known for their habit of crying wolf about hate crimes, while at the same time offering more than a winking endorsement for acts of terrorism and broad support for terrorist groups.

Doudou Diène, a UN "special rapporteur," attended a meeting May 28 in Anaheim, organized by the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, to hear about what the Council calls "Islamophobia," racism and discrimination against Muslims, the Council announced in a statement. The UN says special rapporteurs "are unpaid and serve in a personal capacity, [who] receive their mandates from the UN Commission on Human Rights."

Any hate crime is a pox on our nation. But as we reported last fall, the data fails to support the notion that Muslims are being targeted disproportionately. The most recent FBI report, covering 2006, documented 2,640 hate crimes against African-Americans, 1,195 hate crime incidents based on sexual orientation, 967 incidents targeting Jews and 576 anti-Hispanic hate crime incidents. The report cites 156 anti-Muslim hate crime incidents.

These are the statistics, despite the efforts of groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) who stay vigilantly on the lookout for any opportunity to promote an alleged hate crime, even when the facts ultimately fall short.

Among those who helped bring Diène to town were Shura Council chairman Muzammil Siddiqi, two representatives of CAIR, and Abdel Jabbar Hamdan – a former fundraiser for the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF).

According to a statement, Siddiqi praised Diène's visit: "The Muslim community has continually supported law enforcement efforts and condemned terrorism," Siddiqi said in the statement. "However, members of the Islamic faith suffer from ongoing prejudice, discrimination and hate crimes."

CAIR's Hussam Ayloush added: "A comprehensive solution to the growing problem of Islamophobia should involve educational initiatives for the public, as well as persistently challenging anti-Muslim rhetoric by officials and pundits, which sometimes leads to hate crimes against Muslims."

The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), CAIR and others have condemned the Al Qaeda attacks on America. But elements of CAIR have pushed conspiracy theories that the attacks were done by others and orchestrated to hurt Muslims. And they resist challenges to condemn attacks by Hamas and Hizballah by name.

Furthermore, it is misleading to claim that they offer consistent support to law enforcement. Siddiqi, Ayloush and their respective organizations issue knee-jerk condemnations of all counter-terror investigations that target suspected radicals and American-based financing of terror committed abroad, as part of a "war against Islam." And it is precisely this mantra which Canadian intelligence cites as the most critical factor in radicalization.

[...]

These are the people with whom Diène met to discuss the depth of "Islamophobia" and what should be done about it -- people who think it is "Islamophobic" to designate Hamas, Hezbollah and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad as terrorist groups. According to the Council statement, Diène intends to issue a report on Islamophobia to the U.N. for release in 2009.

Read it all, and follow the links.



Jihad Watch: To discuss "Islamophobia" in the U.S., UN official meets with those who say that condemning Hamas and Hizballah would be "Islamophobic"

[Snowden]

U.S. government helping fund Islamic Saudi Academy


You know the Islamic Saudi Academy: the one that teaches mainstream Islamic concepts such as the killing of apostates and adulterers. Patrick Poole reports in "What Virginia’s Islamic Academy Doesn’t Want You to Know" at Pajamas Media, June 13:

The Bush administration considers the Saudi government to be one of our allies in the War on Terror, and that support extends to the Islamic Saudi Academy as well. Cinnamon Stillwell recently noted an article in the Mount Vernon Gazette that reported 22 soldiers from Ft. Belvoir had recently graduated from the Islamic Saudi Academy’s “Arabic as a Second Language” program. This means that the school is not only being funded by the Saudi government, but also our own government. Deputy Assistant Secretary of The Army Dr. Lynn Heirakuji and the U.S. Army’s Deputy Assistant for Foreign Languages Erol Smith attended the graduation ceremonies.

No doubt we’re all grateful that our government is so adept at identifying who our enemies really are.

Patrick has much more -- about criminal activities going on in the school, and more official indifference. Read it all.


Dhimmi Watch: U.S. government helping fund Islamic Saudi Academy