Doc's Talk: Illinois Imam Misrepresented Role With Hamas Front Under Oath

Friday, October 08, 2010

Illinois Imam Misrepresented Role With Hamas Front Under Oath

IPT News

http://www.investigativeproject.org/2229/illinois-imam-misrepresented-role-with-hamas

Officials with the FBI's Chicago field office said they had no problem with Kifah Mustapha, an Illinois imam who was named as an unindicted coconspirator by federal prosecutors in a 2008 terror trial, participating in a Bureau Citizens' Academy and touring the secret National Counterterrorism Center. FBI spokesman Ross Rice said Mustapha has never been convicted of a crime or charged with a crime. "If we thought he was a security risk, we wouldn't have included him," Rice told Bill Gertz of the Washington Times.

It seems the Chicago Bureau didn't look very hard.

An Investigative Project on Terrorism investigation has found that Mustapha, an imam at the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview, Ill., has an extensive history of raising money for groups tied to Hamas, the Islamist terror organization designated by the US government. That particularly includes the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the group for which Mustapha has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars. The FBI severed its relationship with CAIR in mid-2008 because of concerns surrounding the group's connections with Hamas.

Other IPT findings include:

* Mustapha misrepresented his leadership role in the Islamic Association for Palestine, Hamas' U.S. propaganda arm, while testifying under oath during a 2004 deposition, according to court records and IAP documents.
* Mustapha raised more than $100,000 for CAIR and another group closely tied to the radical Muslim Brotherhood – the Muslim American Society (MAS) – as recently as August 2010.
* He also appeared at an April 2010 CAIR fundraiser and raised more than $240,000.
* As a member of the band al-Sakhra, Mustapha performed at fundraisers for the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, which the federal government shut down in 2001 because of its ties to Hamas. In addition, Mustapha spent at least four years as a paid HLF fundraiser and was named as an unindicted conspirator in the 2008 HLF. It ended with the conviction of five foundation officials on charges they funneled millions of dollars to Hamas. Mustapha was shown in a video exhibit in the 2008 HLF trial singing "O Mother, Hamas for jihad," and calling for resisting Israel with a "machine gun and a rifle."
* He hosted a fundraiser in July 2009 for Viva Palestina, a British charity that raises money for the Hamas-run government in Gaza. Mustapha appeared at the Mosque Foundation with George Galloway, the former British Member of Parliament and Viva Palestina leader.

IPT first reported on Mustapha in January, after it was learned the Illinois State Police had invited him to be a Muslim chaplain. The revelations in the first IPT report, particularly that Mustapha was an unindicted coconspirator in the 2008 HLF trial, led the Illinois police to rescind their offer. Mustapha sued the police in August, claiming they had violated his 1st and 14th Amendment rights.

Mustapha gave his 2004 deposition in the case of Boim vs. Quranic Literacy Institute, which was brought by the parents of 17-year-old American David Boim, who was killed in a Hamas terrorist attack in the West Bank, against the Holy Land Foundation and related groups. A federal appeals court in December 2008 upheld the $156 million verdict against the groups named in the suit.

Court documents show that Mustapha worked for the Holy Land Foundation from 1996 to 2000 and helped raise more than $300,000 for the group. The IAP and HLF were identified by the U.S. government as two arms of the Palestine Committee, a Hamas support network created by the Muslim Brotherhood.

When asked by attorney David Oppenheim if he was a member of the IAP board, Mustapha said: "You know, there's all types of boards. We were a group of volunteers and we were a committee. I'm not sure if they included that in any of the board, but I did not register to be a board member as far as I remember."

Instead, Mustapha said, he was more of a volunteer for IAP.

But the program for the 2000 IAP convention in Chicago that Mustapha helped direct shows that he was a member of the "board of directors of the Islamic Association for Palestine." He was listed twice on that page of the program, once as a board member, and again as the convention's program director.

The 2000 IAP program contains congratulatory letters from the leaders of a variety of Islamist groups, including other members of Hamas' Palestine Committee, including the United Associated for Studies and Research (UASR), an Illinois-based group named along with CAIR as part of the Palestine Committee during a 2007 trial of the five HLF officials. In this exhibit, a 1994 agenda for a Palestine Committee meeting, CAIR, the IAP, HLF and the UASR are listed among organizations for the committee to develop.

According to the committee's amended bylaws from 1991, the committee was created to raise money for Hamas.

The program also featured letters from the head of the Global Relief Foundation, an Islamic charity shut down by the U.S. government in 2002 because of its support of terrorist organizations, and the American Muslim Council (AMC). The founder of AMC, Abdurahman Alamoudi, pleaded guilty in 2004 to taking money from Libya for a plot to kill then-Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Alamoudi is now serving a 23-year federal prison sentence.

Mustapha's fundraising activities were detailed during the Holy Land trial. Mustapha was named as an unindicted coconspirator because he was a member of the Palestine Committee or an affiliated organization and because he worked for Holy Land as a fundraiser. He continues to raise money for CAIR and MAS, according to an interview in August with the website Onislam.net.

"According to Sheikh Kifah Mustapha, Imam and assistant director of the mosque, these contributions were collected 'to support the projects of Islamic organizations operating on the American scene, such as the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) the Muslim American Society (MAS) and … charity organizations which have activities inside and outside the United States like Islamic Relief, besides supporting many mosques and Islamic schools spread throughout all the United States,'" the website reported.

CAIR was also named as an unindicted coconspirator in the 2008 Holy Land Foundation trial. The U.S. government designated Hamas a terrorist organization in 1995.

MAS, whose leaders include convicted felon Mahdi Bray, was founded in 1993 to give the Brotherhood more prominence in the United States, records show.

The Citizens' Academy to which Mustapha was accepted is a six-week program that takes place at various FBI field offices and at the Bureau's Quantico, Va., facility. FBI rules say a participant must either be nominated by a Bureau employee or recommended by a previous graduate. Attendees, the FBI website says, "must be at least 21 years old (with no prior felony convictions) and must live and work in the area covered by the field office sponsoring the academy."

As part of the program, Mustapha was also part of a 30-person group that toured the FBI headquarters in Washington and the National Counterterrorism Center. Mustapha's participation was reported last month by Chicago's WLS-TV.

An Oct. 29, 2009, article posted on the FBI's site says the Academy was created in the mid-1990s and is aimed at reaching out to various communities to help the Bureau do a better job.

FBI Director Robert Mueller was asked about Mustapha's participation in the program during a conference Wednesday. He did not address Mustapha specifically, but said "we look at the backgrounds of individuals who participate in the Citizens' Academies."

According to the Washington Times, Mueller noted that the six-week programs are separate from "the investigations that we may be handling.".

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The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

Bedouins:

Bedouins are nomadic Muslims who were in Israel when modern borders were set in place and are now considered Israeli citizens. They are not required to draft but a growing number choose to enlist. In 2012, there were over 1,400 Bedouin Muslim soldiers doing regular IDF service and almost 1,500 in the reserves.

Read more:http://www.idfblog.com/2014/02/27/truth-idf-numbers-pictures/#more-34027

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.
More...

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’
-- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.
Clare M. Lopez

Who is being discriminated-facts tell the truth

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,409 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-bias offenses showed:

65.4 percent were anti-Jewish.
13.2 percent were anti-Islamic.
9.5 percent were anti-other religion, i.e., those not specified.
4.3 percent were anti-Catholic.
3.8 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
3.3 percent were anti-Protestant.
0.5 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2010/narratives/hate-crime-2010-incidents-and-offenses.

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror Yemini
In 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").
Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state.
Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."
Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

Doc's Talk