Doc's Talk: American Muslims for Palestine's Telling Choice of Heroes

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

American Muslims for Palestine's Telling Choice of Heroes

STEVE EMERSON April 15, 2014

In the American civil rights movement, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King were among those who set the moral tone. They were champions of non-violence who believed in civil disobedience to generate change by casting light on unjust laws.
If Saturday's fundraising dinner for the group American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) is any indication, role models for their cause include an unrepentant killer, a woman directly responsible for two people's deaths in a grocery store bombing. Prosecutors say she is in America only because she kept that crime a secret from immigration officials.
In addition to its praise for Rasmieh Odeh, the dinner at a banquet hall outside of Chicago offered further insight into AMP's radical ideology. Other speakers included a man identified as a Muslim Brotherhood leader in Jordan who previously led a Hamas-propaganda arm in America and a man listed as a member of the Palestine Committee, the Muslim Brotherhood's umbrella organization of American-based Hamas-support groups.

And it is especially relevant if claims that AMP is working with the U.S. Department of Education and is developing a curriculum about the Palestinian cause for high school students prove to be true. While AMP members have a right to their beliefs, public officials should be wary of the group's consistent support for terrorists.
As we reported previously, AMP does not advocate for a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Rather, it openly endorses "resistance," a euphemism for violence, and speakers demand rejecting Israel's legitimacy.
It is in that context that Odeh received a hero's welcome. She was singled out as "a great community member, a great member for the Palestinian cause" by master of ceremonies Rami Bleibel.
Odeh was indicted in October and charged with naturalization fraud. She failed to disclose her arrest, and 10 years in an Israeli prison, for her role in 1969 bombings by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Two people were killed when one of the bombs went off in a grocery store.
The case is "politically motivated and its intent is to hurt the active Palestinian solidarity movement and to hurt all strong Palestinian activists that are standing up for the just cause of Palestine," said Bleibel, AMP's chapter coordinator. Speaking for AMP, he said that "Rasmieh's case is our case, as activists for this just cause of Palestine and supporters of human rights and supporters of justice for all over the world."
Politically motivated. That's the standard Islamist reply to virtually all prosecutions of terrorists and their supporters. It has been trotted out to minimize the conviction of five men in a Hamas-financing trial - the largest terror finance trial in U.S. history. It continues to be invoked in the case of a former Palestinian Islamic Jihad board member. And now, prosecuting a terrorist who lied on her applications to get into this country and obtain citizenship is politically motivated.
"We will not be intimidated," Bleibel said Saturday evening about Odeh. "We will continue to work day-in, day-out, night and day, to serve this beloved cause, until we see a free Palestine. I want to take this moment to ask all of you to get up, stand up, and give Rasmieh Odeh a round of applause and to applause to show the community is behind her and we will continue to support her."
The bombing was never mentioned. Odeh received several ovations.
Flyers available at the dinner urged supporters to sign a petition and call Illinois U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade, "to demand that she DROP THE CHARGES NOW!"
It's a message consistent with previous AMP gatherings, including a 2011 conference which cast Palestinians convicted on terror-related charges in America as heroes.
The AMP is no fringe outlier among Islamist groups. It is a founding member of the new U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations, joining the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Muslim American Society (MAS) and the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA).

Internal documents place CAIR on the Muslim Brotherhood's Palestine Committee, and, in 2008, the FBI cut off non-investigative interaction with the group over lingering questions of whether its leaders have ties to Hamas.
MAS was formed by Muslim Brotherhood members in the United States as the group's branch here.
ICNA's curriculum features Islamist authors like Sayyid Abu 'Ala Maududi, and its charter calls for the "establishment of the Islamic system of life" in the world, including in politics. Its handbook urges "striving to make this Deen [religion] a way of life for all."
School Curriculum
AMP Media Director Kristin Szremski later introduced a video showing some of AMP's work. The group is working with the Department of Education, she said, "to protect free speech on college campuses." That's an apparent reference to Northeastern University's attempt to suspend Students for Justice in Palestine, an AMP affiliate, for vandalism and violations of other policies during anti-Israel programs.
The video described "thousands" of workshops that AMP has had with Muslim high school students who "don't connect with their Islamic heritage in the Holy Land." AMP plans to develop a Palestinian curriculum "that will fit seamlessly into high school social studies or history lesson plans."
It also hopes to generate a policy paper aimed at persuading Congress to cut off aid to Israel.
Earlier, the audience heard from Sabri Samirah, introduced as "a longtime global and national Palestinian activist." Samirah spent years fighting government attempts to bar his return to the United States after a trip to Jordan because of visa issues.
The case was punishment for his work on the Palestinian issue, he said. None of that was mentioned in his court fight, but Samirah does have numerous connections that should prompt concern among U.S. immigration officials. During a 2011 appearance on Al-Jazeerah, for example, Samirah was introduced as "a political analyst and leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan."
And before he left the U.S., Samirah served as chairman of the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), a propaganda arm for Hamas and a cog in the Muslim Brotherhood's Palestine Committee, court records show.
During his tenure as chairman, the IAP's annual conference had the uncompromising title, "All Palestine is Sacred."
The evening's fundraising was led by another man with Palestine Committee ties. Jamal Said is included in the prosecution's list of unindicted co-conspirators in a section for Palestine Committee members. He also is listed in an internal Palestine Committee telephone list.
Keynote speaker Salman Abu Sitta, meanwhile, offered hyperbolic rhetoric about Palestinian suffering that ignored 20^th century history.
The creation of Israel, what Palestinians call Al Nakba, or the catastrophe, "is the largest ethnic cleansing operation in modern history," he said, "and is the most comprehensive ethnic operation, cleansing operation, in modern history. It is also the continuous ethnic cleaning operation. There is nothing like it. In Palestine's 5,000 year history there is nothing like it."
It should go without saying that the German Holocaust, aimed at eliminating European Jewry, ended up with 6 million Jewish dead. In Bosnia, officials tried to rid the country of Muslims and Croats.
In 1994, 800,000 Rwandans were killed as the dominant Hutu population tried to eliminate the Tutsi minority.
And, it bears mentioning that a nation trying to ethnically cleanse itself of a minority population would not ensure voting rights and parliamentary representation for that minority.
Sitta's absolute statement fits right in with AMP's message. The organization has no interest in compromise or peaceful co-existence. Its ambition is a Palestinian state replacing Israel. The group's true message must not be forgotten when schools, especially if any public schools, are approached by AMP representatives offering their version of a curriculum on the Palestinian issue.

FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributor Steve Emerson is an internationally recognized expert on terrorism and national security and the author of five books on these subjects, most recently "Jihad Incorporated: A Guide to Militant Islam in the US." Steve also writes for the Counterterrorism Blog and he is the CEO of the Investigative Project on Terrorism.

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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