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Authors: Erick Stakelbeck
Tags: #Political Science / Political Ideologies / Conservatism & Liberalism
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BOOK: The Brotherhood: America's Next Great Enemy
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The transcripts reveal that Abu Baker specifically directed the attendees, “Please don’t mention the name Samah in an explicit manner. We agree on saying it as ‘sister Samah.’”
37
This discipline was apparently hard to maintain. One participant slipped during the conversation, saying, “Hamas . . . the Samah Movement. I mean Samah.” His gaffe elicited nervous laughter from the rest of the group.
38
See, Hamas is just like you and me, a bunch of cutups—quite literally, when it comes to Jews.
37
This discipline was apparently hard to maintain. One participant slipped during the conversation, saying, “Hamas . . . the Samah Movement. I mean Samah.” His gaffe elicited nervous laughter from the rest of the group.
38
See, Hamas is just like you and me, a bunch of cutups—quite literally, when it comes to Jews.
The focus of much of the discussion in Philadelphia was the problems that the proposed Oslo peace plan between Israel and the PLO would present for Hamas and its support network in the United States. One participant complained, “There is no occupation now.... This will be classified as terrorism according to America.... How are you going to perform Jihad?” Yet some still wanted to continue openly to support the jihad: “In the coming stage, the most important thing we can provide in this stage is to support the Jihad in Palestine . . . it is the only way if we want to bring the goals of the [peace] accord to fail.”
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The HLF’s Shukri Abu Baker complained that when discussing the Palestinian issue with Americans, “I can’t say... that I’m Hamas. . . . For American organizations, if you’re against peace, you’re a terrorist.”
40
What the MB needed was not only an expansion of activities and efforts inside America, but a strategy of increased deception as well. After all, they were Islamically justified in doing so, as an exchange between Baker and another attendee, CAIR co-founder Omar Ahmad, showed:
40
What the MB needed was not only an expansion of activities and efforts inside America, but a strategy of increased deception as well. After all, they were Islamically justified in doing so, as an exchange between Baker and another attendee, CAIR co-founder Omar Ahmad, showed:
Abu Baker:
I swear by your God that war is deception. War is deception.... Deceive, camouflage. Pretend that you’re leaving while you’re walking that way.... Deceive your enemy.Ahmad:
This is like one who plays basketball; he makes a player believe that he is doing this while he does something else.... I agree with you. Like they say, politics is a completion of war.Abu Baker:
Yes, politics—like war—is deception.
41
Concerning the basketball reference, I believe that’s called a “head fake.” As for the notion that war is deception, why, that came straight from Mohammed himself, as recorded in a famous Islamic hadith (Bukhari, 52:269). In short, what the taqiyya masters gathered in Philadelphia needed were some new organizational tools and a rebranding of their efforts. Their war of deception would be waged in the media and in the political arena. Omar Ahmad laid out the plan:
In order to strengthen the Islamic activism for Palestine in North America we must do two things: widening the Muslims’ circle of influence and reducing the Jews’ circle of influence. . . . Based on this study, I concluded three things and they were almost discussed: having organizations which include media and research departments, another for politics and public relations, and another for money and law.
42
To widen their circle of influence, the Amerikhwan would institute a plan to “infiltrat[e] the American media outlets, universities and research centers.”
43
Nihad Awad, who is currently CAIR’s National Executive Director, suggested a program of “training and qualifying individuals in the branches and the communities on media activism through holding special courses on media.” Enlisting the media to assist in hopes of “broadcasting the Islamic point of view” was a key goal. Another Hamas-linked entity, the United Association for Studies and Research, recruited academics from respected universities in the Washington, D.C., area—including Georgetown and American Universities—to aid the cause. The endgame of this infiltration-and-co-opting strategy with universities and the media would result in the U.S. Brotherhood improving its “influence with Congress.”
43
Nihad Awad, who is currently CAIR’s National Executive Director, suggested a program of “training and qualifying individuals in the branches and the communities on media activism through holding special courses on media.” Enlisting the media to assist in hopes of “broadcasting the Islamic point of view” was a key goal. Another Hamas-linked entity, the United Association for Studies and Research, recruited academics from respected universities in the Washington, D.C., area—including Georgetown and American Universities—to aid the cause. The endgame of this infiltration-and-co-opting strategy with universities and the media would result in the U.S. Brotherhood improving its “influence with Congress.”
In his authoritative book on Hamas, terrorism expert Matthew Levitt summarizes the outcomes of the Philadelphia summit:
The participants decided on five central goals: (1) “Support the holy struggle, Jihad”; (2) Publicly distance their movement from Hamas “to avoid media criticism and negative public perception” ; (3) effect “Mass mobilization”; (4) “Actively solicit contributions and fundraising” for Hamas; and (5) “Influence the public opinion and the news media in the United States.”
44
Mission accomplished. Not only would the organizations represented in Philadelphia have more coordination and greater focus, their areas of operation would increase dramatically. As discussed during the Philly meeting, the Holy Land Foundation was in the process of opening a new branch office in Jerusalem that would more directly serve Hamas. This increased activity would not go unnoticed by authorities in Israel and the United States.
A few weeks after the 9/11 attacks, things began to unravel for the Holy Land Foundation, eventually culminating in the successful prosecution of top HLF executives—convicted of using their “charitable” organization to raise millions in funds for Hamas. As we’ve seen, evidence introduced in the HLFers’ ensuing trial provided irrefutable proof that the Muslim Brotherhood is interested in subverting American foreign policy and America itself.
THE SURGEON“Can you tell us about your organization’s ties to the Muslim Brotherhood ?”
The assembled left-wing press corps turned their heads around and gasped.
A tall, outspoken Islamophobe was in their midst, and he was asking questions—tough questions.
It was about time.
I had stood near the back of the room for thirty minutes, listening to Esam Omeish spin the several dozen media members who had gathered for his press conference. It was a masterful performance. Handsome, affable, and passionate, Omeish sounded utterly convincing as he denied charges of anti-Semitism and extremism while mournfully announcing his resignation from the Virginia Commission on Immigration. The gathering of reporters, clearly smitten, responded with googly eyes and a series of softball questions that supported Omeish’s victim narrative.
Then I asked about the Muslim Brotherhood.
You could have heard a pin drop. Omeish, flanked by a cadre of Muslim, Christian, and leftist friends who had come to attest to his sterling character, looked a bit surprised. So did my media “colleagues,” who, at the time, didn’t know the Muslim Brotherhood from the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. Part of the reason was that it was September 2007, a few years before the Brotherhood would become a household name thanks to the so-called Arab Spring. The other part is that the mainstream media could care less about Esam Omeish’s background. All they knew was that he was a persecuted minority being unfairly smeared by vicious right-wing bigots. After all, he told them so.
Omeish—taking advantage of his audience’s sympathies as well as its ignorance—maintained that while there were some past links, his group no longer had any tie to the Brotherhood. He repeated this line when I approached him after the press conference: an event from which he was able to escape with his reputation damaged, but still intact.
It shouldn’t have been. Omeish had resigned from the Virginia Commission on Immigration after multiple videos surfaced online of him seemingly praising Islamic terrorism. In one, he lauded his Palestinian “brothers and sisters” for “giving up their lives for the sake of Allah and for the sake of Al-Aqsa (Jerusalem),” adding that they were “spear[heading] the effort to free the land of Palestine—all of Palestine—for the Muslims.”
45
In another video, captured at a public rally held across the street from the White House in 2000, Omeish said of the Palestinians, “You have known that the jihad way is the way to liberate your land.”
46
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In another video, captured at a public rally held across the street from the White House in 2000, Omeish said of the Palestinians, “You have known that the jihad way is the way to liberate your land.”
46
These and other videos showing Omeish making inflammatory remarks about Israel had been uncovered by the Investigative Project on Terrorism and led directly to him stepping down from the immigration commission. Predictably, Omeish claimed that his comments were “taken out of context” and that he was a victim of a “smear campaign” driven by “anti-Muslim intolerance. ”
47
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He had been appointed to the commission just a month earlier by then-Virginia governor (now Democrat Senator) Tim Kaine, who wanted to have a diverse group that included a Muslim representative.
48
When it came to selecting the Libyan-born Omeish, Kaine and his staff apparently didn’t do their homework. On paper, Omeish’s credentials as a top surgeon at a Washington-area hospital and a graduate of Georgetown University School of Medicine seemed to make him the perfect choice. His extracurricular activities were the problem. In addition to delivering anti-Israel harangues in public, Omeish was on the board of directors of the terror-tied Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in northern Virginia and also served, at the time of his appointment by Kaine, as president of the Muslim American Society (MAS).
48
When it came to selecting the Libyan-born Omeish, Kaine and his staff apparently didn’t do their homework. On paper, Omeish’s credentials as a top surgeon at a Washington-area hospital and a graduate of Georgetown University School of Medicine seemed to make him the perfect choice. His extracurricular activities were the problem. In addition to delivering anti-Israel harangues in public, Omeish was on the board of directors of the terror-tied Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in northern Virginia and also served, at the time of his appointment by Kaine, as president of the Muslim American Society (MAS).
MAS, which declares on its website that it has “expanded its reach into thousands of communities across the United States,” was founded by members of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1993 and now boasts more than fifty chapters nationwide. By the early 1990s, much of the MB network in the U.S. had been established. One critical component that was still missing, however, was on-the-ground ideological training of MB members. The Brotherhood addressed that need by creating MAS.
A detailed investigative profile of the operations of the Muslim Brotherhood in America published in 2004 by the
Chicago Tribune
identifies the critical role MAS provides to the Ikhwan’s overall strategy in the United States.
49
One of the incorporators of the group was the then-leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S., a Panama City, Florida, doctor named Ahmed El-Kadi. The other two incorporators—Jamal Badawi and Omar Soubani—were listed as members of the Brotherhood’s Board of Directors in documents seized by U.S. authorities.
50
Outside direction was also provided by Mohammad Mahdi Akef, who would later serve as the Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
Chicago Tribune
identifies the critical role MAS provides to the Ikhwan’s overall strategy in the United States.
49
One of the incorporators of the group was the then-leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in the U.S., a Panama City, Florida, doctor named Ahmed El-Kadi. The other two incorporators—Jamal Badawi and Omar Soubani—were listed as members of the Brotherhood’s Board of Directors in documents seized by U.S. authorities.
50
Outside direction was also provided by Mohammad Mahdi Akef, who would later serve as the Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
MAS leaders had decided early on that they would not publicly identify themselves as the Muslim Brotherhood. As the
Chicago Tribune
explained:
Chicago Tribune
explained:
Documents obtained by the Tribune and translated from Arabic show that the U.S. Brotherhood has been careful to obscure its beliefs from outsiders. One document tells leaders to be cautious when screening potential recruits. If the recruit asks whether the leader is a Brotherhood member, the leader should respond, “You may deduce the answer to that with your own intelligence.”
Evidently, MAS’s deception extends not just to non-Muslims, but even to fellow Muslims who are potential recruits. The internal documents obtained by the
Tribune
provide a fascinating glimpse of how one obtains membership in the Brotherhood:
Tribune
provide a fascinating glimpse of how one obtains membership in the Brotherhood:
Not anyone could join the Brotherhood. The group had a carefully detailed strategy on how to find and evaluate potential members, according to a Brotherhood instructional booklet for recruiters.Leaders would scout mosques, Islamic classes and Muslim organizations for those with orthodox religious beliefs consistent with Brotherhood views, the booklet says. The leaders then would invite them to join a small prayer group, or usra, Arabic for “family.” The prayer groups were a defining feature of the Brotherhood and one created by al-Banna in Egypt.But leaders initially would not reveal the purpose of the prayer groups, and recruits were asked not to tell anyone about the meetings. If recruits asked about a particular meeting to which they were not invited, they should respond, “Make it a habit not to meddle in that which does not concern you.”Leaders were told that during prayer meetings they should focus on fundamentals, including “the primary goal of the Brotherhood: setting up the rule of God upon the Earth.”After assessing the recruits’ “commitment, loyalty and obedience” to Brotherhood ideals, the leaders would invite suitable candidates to join. New members, according to the booklet, would be told that they now were part of the worldwide Brotherhood and that membership “is not a personal honor but a charge to sacrifice all that one has for the sake of raising the banner of Islam.”
Did Esam Omeish and others who have been involved with the Muslim American Society go through a similar process? We may never know the answer. But federal prosecutors have stated that “MAS was founded as the overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in America,” even specifically citing the
Chicago Tribune
investigative report as support.
51
Additionally, the internal educational curriculum of MAS is composed almost entirely of the works of hardcore Muslim Brotherhood ideologues, namely Hassan al-Banna, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, and the godfather of modern jihadist ideology, Sayyid Qutb.
Chicago Tribune
investigative report as support.
51
Additionally, the internal educational curriculum of MAS is composed almost entirely of the works of hardcore Muslim Brotherhood ideologues, namely Hassan al-Banna, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, and the godfather of modern jihadist ideology, Sayyid Qutb.
Omeish himself confirmed the influence of the Brotherhood upon MAS in a 2004 letter to the editor of the
Washington Post
(written when Omeish was still MAS president):
Washington Post
(written when Omeish was still MAS president):
We, MAS, are a religious, educational, activist, and civic organization espousing the comprehensive understanding of Islam as explained by the prophet of Islam, Muhammad (peace be upon him), and as outlined and applied more recently by modern Islamic movements, of which the Muslim Brotherhood is pre-eminent.The moderate school of thought prevalent in the Muslim Brotherhood represents a significant trend in Islamic activism in the United States and the West, and we in MAS accordingly have been influenced by that moderate Islamic school of thought....The influence of Muslim Brotherhood ideas has been instrumental in defining our understanding of Islam within the American and Western context in order to espouse the values of human dialogue, tolerance and moderation. . . .
52
BOOK: The Brotherhood: America's Next Great Enemy
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