by Sam Westrop
The proposed legislation specifically calls for taskforce leaders to include the executive directors of Darul Farooq Center, the Islamic Association of North America, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim American Society (MAS).
Two
Democratic lawmakers in Minnesota have put forward a bill nominating
anti-Semitic Islamist organizations—and specifically, their demonstrably
anti-Semitic officials—to become members of a new "taskforce on the
consequences of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism."
Sponsored by Democratic Representatives Jay Xiong, Carlos Mariani and Aisha Gomez, H.F 2587 seeks to
"analyze the impact of Islamophobia and antisemitism, recommend actions
to improve the safety of Minnesota's Muslim and Jewish communities,
increase participation by the Muslim and Jewish communities in civic
life, and recommend possible legislative action."
In the wake of the New Zealand massacre by a self-proclaimed "eco-fascist," and with rising anti-Semitism, including from Minnesota's own U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, who could object to the Minnesota legislature seeking to combat hate?
But
there is one very good reason to be concerned: The bill seeks to place
anti-Semitic activists from anti-Semitic organizations on the taskforce.
The proposed legislation specifically calls for taskforce leaders to
include the executive directors of Darul Farooq Center, the Islamic
Association of North America, the Council on American Islamic Relations
(CAIR) and the Muslim American Society (MAS).
MAS's
Minnesota branch is led by Asad Zaman. Despite his nomination to the
proposed taskforce, Zaman is not shy about his views on Jews and
Islamism. His Facebook account is replete with anti-Semitism, apologism
for Hamas and support for convicted war criminals.
Posts promoted by Zaman include links to a neo-Nazi, Holocaust-denial website, which promotes viciously anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, as well as blogs
that claim that American presidents "depend upon the votes and
influence of Jews in New York who support Israel, have always been ready
to give the Israelis the weapons to enable them pursue this evil. In
effect, U.S. foreign policy is determined by Israel."
Zaman's obsession with Jews includes hundreds of posts praising
fringe groups of anti-Zionist Jews as (in implicit contrast with
mainstream Jewish organization) "Jews of conscience" and "integrity."
Zaman has written:
"It is a tactic of the Israeli lobby to label those whom they cannot
shut up as anti-Semites. (please check out the Hasbara manual)."
Although MAS was established by the Muslim Brotherhood, Zaman is a vocal supporter
of its ideological cousin, Jamaat-e-Islami—a South Asian Islamist
movement responsible for the mass murder of tens of thousands of
civilians during Bangaldesh's 1971 Liberation War. Zaman praises these
mass murderers, referring to its former leader, Moitur Rahman Nizami (who was executed for his part in the genocide) as a "great shaheed [martyr]."
Zaman
has also shared posts mourning other Jamaat-e-islami leaders authored
by Islami Chhatra Shabir, Jamaat's student branch, which Jane's
Terrorism and Insurgency Centre named in 2014 as the third-most violent non-state armed group in the world.
In
light of all his anti-Semitism and support for violent Islamist causes,
the MAS-MN director's apologism for the designated terrorist group
Hamas is not particularly surprising. He writes
that: "It is Israel, not Hamas, that uses human shields. And Israel has
a long track record of blaming others for the very crimes it commits."
Zaman also promoted a post from Hamas's official website mourning the execution of the Jamaati war criminal Nizami.
CAIR Minnesota is also a worrying candidate to control a taskforce against anti-Semitism. Along with its parent organization's long history of ties to terror and the overt anti-Semitism of its officials,
CAIR Minnesota also regularly invites anti-Jewish speakers to address
its events. Recent examples include Hatem Bazian, who tweeted two
anti-Semitic images
that accuse "Ashke-Nazis" of rape, murder and organ-trafficking; as
well as Hussam Ayloush, director of CAIR's Los Angeles branch, who, in
2018, called for Israel to be "terminated" and expressed support for Hamas supporters convicted of financing terrorism.
Both CAIR and MAS will be familiar to many Americans, and certainly to law enforcement. Officials of both MAS and CAIR were named
by federal prosecutors as unindicted coconspirators during the 2008
Holy Land Foundation terror financing trial, which uncovered a vast
support network for the designated, genocidally anti-Semitic, terror
organization Hamas. In 2014, the United Arab Emirates named both CAIR and MAS as terrorist organizations.
The
other two groups named in the bill also have their problems. The
Islamic Association of North America (formerly known as the North
American Council of Somali Imams) has backed BDS efforts against Israel and appears to be in close contact with the anti-Semitic Turkish regime.
The
other, Dar Al-Farooq, is a prominent Minnesota mosque mostly serving
Somali congregants. Its director, who is also nominated to join the
taskforce, is Mohamed Omar. On social media, Omar has posted videos
about "apartheid Israel," along with rants by the fringe Neturei Karta
sect, claiming that Jews in Israel rape and pillage. Neturei Karta has been a strong supporter of the Iranian regime, as well as far-right activists in Europe. In 2006, one of its leading officials stated that Holocaust victims "deserved it."
The
taskforce will be responsible for "reviewing" Islamophobia and
anti-Semitism in Minnesota. It will further "recommend outreach
programs," recommend "training for law enforcement, city and county
attorney offices, public defender offices, and the courts," sponsor
public campaigns, and review "existing Minnesota law and [propose]
amendments or new statutory provisions."
While
the bill also calls for Jewish members to be appointed to the
taskforce, it refrains from proposing specific organizations, instead
calling for "two rabbis" and "the executive director of two Jewish
community organizations." (One wonders who will be responsible for
deciding which rabbis and organizations.)
Officials
from the nominated organizations are all strong supporters of Rep.
Ilhan Omar, and have denounced accusations that she is anti-Semitic as a
"distraction." It is clear that anti-Semitic Islamists in Minnesota are
behind this effort. It is even clearer that Minnesota's representatives
should not be tasking anti-Semites with managing and defining the
threat of anti-Semitism. Sam Westrop is director of Islamist Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum.
Source: https://www.meforum.org/58043/minnesota-lawmakers-nominate-anti-semites
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