Keith Ellison's MAS Hate AffairBy: Joe Kaufman FrontPageMagazine.com | Friday, May 30, 2008
After being outed for speaking in front of an organization, the Minnesota MAS -Minnesota)– as the group was calling for the murder of Jews and the waging of war against non-Muslims – United States Representative Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota) has gone back for a repeat performance. Yet, while Congressman Ellison continues his outrageous conduct, he still gets rewarded with invites to sit on Congressional entities highly inappropriate for someone such as himself. Why?
For well over five years, since at least December of 2002, MAS-Minnesota propagated hatred on its website aimed at Jews and Christians. Up until recently, when the pages containing the offending material were removed, the following quotes could be found on the site:
- “The Holy Prophet (and through him the Muslims) has been reassured that he should not mind the enmity, the evil designs and the machinations of the Jews...”
- “In view of the degenerate moral condition of the Jews and the Christians, the Believers have been warned not to make them their friends and confidants.”
- “If you gain a victory over the men of Jews, kill them.”
- “The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say, ‘O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him.’”
- “May Allah destroy the Jews, because they used the graves of their prophets as places of worship.”
As well, there were quotes calling for violence in the name of Islam and praising terrorist organizations. They included:
- “A Muslim must always worship Allah and wage jihad until death in order to reach his ultimate goal… Regularly make the intention to go on jihad with the ambition to die as a martyr.”
- “The [Islamic] revolution... has been crystallized in the steadfast, brave, aware Islamic resistance movement ‘Hamas’... Hamas is an embodiment of the Palestinian People’s belief in its Muslim and Arab origins, and a testimony that this people is still alive and will never die and that its jihad will be carried on by pure hands and clean hearts until victory is achieved with the will of Allah.”
- “Western secularism moved into a Muslim world already estranged from its Qur’anic roots, and delayed its advancement for centuries, and will continue to do so until we drive it from our lands. Moreover, we will not stop at this point, but will pursue this evil force to its own lands, invade its Western heartland, and struggle to overcome it until all the world shouts by the name of the Prophet and the teachings of Islam spread throughout the world.”
All of the above statements were located on the MAS -Minnesota website, when U.S. Representative Keith Ellison gave the keynote address at the group’s 4th Annual Convention, in May of 2007. This fact was pointed out by this author on a number of occasions. Never once has the Congressman ever condemned the statements or MAS -Minnesota for placing them on its site. Instead, he has elected to remain silent about the issue. But that makes sense, considering the fact that he just spoke in front of the group yet again.
This month, from May 23-24, MAS -Minnesota held its 5th Annual Convention, entitled ‘Islam: Faith & Life... Continuing the Good Work.’ One of the speakers for the event was“unindicted co-conspirator” of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center MAS -Minnesota’s site, but like the group’s hate quotes, it was removed.
Co-sponsoring this year’s event was Islamic Relief (IR), a group that Israel Israel
Representative Ellison’s attendance at these two MAS conventions is not a fluke. Ellison has participated in a large number of other radical Islamist events, including functions for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR ), the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), and the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC).
Knowing the above, one would have to wonder how it could be possible for someone such as Ellison to be appointed to Congressional forums against anti-Semitism and against terrorism, but that is just what has happened.
The Congressional Task Force on Anti-Semitism (CTFAS), founded by the now deceased Representative Tom Lantos, had not formally gotten off the ground yet – it still hasn’t – but one of the first things the group did was to appoint Keith Ellison as a member. Its creation was announcedon July 31, 2007 . Ellison joined the group 19 days later, on August 19.
On February 12, 2008 , this author and the group he chairs, Americans Against Hate, took a delegation to meet with United States Representative Ron Klein (D-Florida) to discuss this matter with him. Representative Klein co-chairs CTFAS with Mike Pence (R-Indiana).
We sought to convince Klein to remove Ellison from the group. We showed the Congressman a number of documents proving our point, including screenshots of the offending MAS -Minnesota web pages and the programfrom the November 2008 North American Imams Federation (NAIF) conference, where Ellison had spoken, featuring Ellison’s image directly next to that of Siraj Wahhaj (mentioned earlier) and Al-Qaeda web designer, Mazen Mokhtar.
Unfortunately, even after viewing such overwhelming evidence, Representative Klein refused to remove Ellison from the task force. And the task force is not the only group he should be removed from.
On January 30, 2007 , six months prior to the establishment of CTFAS, Representative Sue Myrick (R-North Carolina), along with Representatives Bud Cramer (D-Alabama), Kay Granger (R-Texas), and Ben Chandler (D-Kentucky) announced that they had formed a new bipartisan Congressional Anti-Terrorism Caucus. It was heralded as a breakthrough, as it showed that members of Congress were finally beginning to recognize the problem– finally they were beginning to “get it.”
However, when viewing the ‘Congressional Caucus Memberships’page on the government website of Representative Ellison, one finds out that Ellison, as well, sits on the anti-terror caucus, a group that many hoped would target organizations Ellison is affiliated with.
According to Myrick’s office, caucus members “attend meetings where experts give presentations regarding terrorism and jihadist ideology.” But how effective could it be, if the group allows a “jihadist” like Ellison to join, essentially giving him cover to continue his egregious activities?
This month, Cairo , Egypt ’s Al-Ahram Weekly reported on a video conference taking place in Washington , D.C.
Ellison, later, was asked about American Muslim non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and their effectiveness. He stated, “[A] lot of these NGOs are really doing a good job, but they still have a lot of work to do, like the Islamic Society of North America, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and the Muslim American Society. But we still need more people to get involved and more groups starting up.”
Representative Keith Ellison’s Islamist connections make him a danger to America United States
Keith Ellison’s continued presence on Congressional groups based on fighting anti-Semitism and terrorism makes a mockery of those groups. It subverts those groups’ stated goals, and it renders them virtually useless. To preserve the integrity and effectiveness of the organizations, he should be removed from them immediately.
Beila Rabinowitz, Director of Militant Islam Monitor, assisted with this report.
Swearing on the Quran
The first Muslim American congressman offers his thoughts on the
American Muslim community's involvement in the political and social life of the
US, Mohamed
El-Sayed listened in
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| Keith Ellison
|
"It wasn't a violation of the American constitution, since Article 6 states that there is no religious test for fulfilling the requirements of an elected office," Ellison said in reply to a question by Al-Ahram Weekly during a video conference from Washington, which was sponsored by the American Embassy in Cairo. "The Quran is the book that inspires me and which I read every day," he pointed out.
Offering his thoughts on the conditions of the Muslim community in America and the challenges facing it, Ellison sees that political life for US Muslims is better than many might suppose in the Arab world, where America's image has taken a beating after the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, and the horrifying stories told by Arabs released from Guantanamo Bay. "The Muslim community in the US is still in its infancy or embryonic stage," he said. "There is no body stopping American Muslims from taking part in politics, but they always lacked organisation and leadership," he added.
He pointed out that after the Bush administration took some measures which had "an impact on people's ability to immigrate [to the US], as well as their privacy, personal rights and liberties, Muslim Americans were concerned about the possibility of a negative impact of these policies on their ability to be fully engaged in the American society." Nevertheless, about two- thirds of American Muslims are immigrants. "Traditionally immigrants focus on business activities and education, and so it takes a generation or two to actively take part in politics. But because of the developments in the political scene following 9/11, we have seen an upsurge in civic engagement. Muslim Americans are now getting involved [in politics] quickly," he said.
The election of Ellison, in fact, is seen by many observers as just the beginning of a movement among the Muslim community in America to actively participate in political life.
Many in the Arab world wonder whether Muslim Americans could repeat the success of the Jewish lobby in the US. Ellison is sanguine about the prospects for an influential Arab- Muslim lobby in America. "Palestinian Americans have got to form an active lobbying bloc to help push the US government to advocate for Palestinian statehood," he said. "No one in America is going to help you; you have to help yourself. You have to organise your community to get something done."
However, Ellison stressed that ethnic communities should not fall prey to "tunnel vision" by being self-centred around their own problems, and that they had a lot to offer American society in general. "The Muslim community should not focus on issues that will only impact the Muslim community," he said. "Certainly they should promote some [of their own issues], but there are so many problems American Muslims share with other Americans."
While conceding that the immigration policies of the US have become "too restrictive", Ellison sees that American society is getting more tolerant and inclusive of all people from different ethnic and religious backgrounds. He points to himself as a Muslim congressman elected to represent a state where Muslims constitute only two per cent of its total population. Also, he considers Senator Barack Obama's successful campaign for securing the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party as a good example of Americans transcending their different ethnic origins to advocate a common goal. "People are increasingly coalescing around ideas and not just ethnic identity."
Although Ellison is taking part in efforts made by the US State Department to improve America's image worldwide, especially in Muslim and Arab countries, he took the liberty of criticising American policies on the Middle East. "Because of our lack of even-handedness in the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, many people in the Muslim world have doubted our commitment to democracy, doubted our commitment in promoting civil and human rights. The invasion of Iraq has done real damage to the reputation of the US," he said.
He is also of the opinion that it is very important for America to have "an open policy that would help build good relationships with the 300 million people in the Middle East. And it is very important as well that the next president believes in dialogue and negotiations, builds [good] relationships, and tries to build bridges of understanding." Therefore, Ellison supports Obama "like most Muslim organisations [in the US], since we believe he would do that."
Ellison is of the opinion that American troops should get out of Iraq right away, since this invasion has done severe damage to the reputation of the US. "It's about time to tell the world we are leaving [Iraq] and try to stabilise the situation there." He argues that most of the Democrats share his point of view on this issue.
When it comes to imposing American- style democracy on other nations, and Islamic nations in particular, Ellison begs to differ. "I don't think that we should impose our democracy on other nations, simply because this is not the right thing to do. Rather, the US should encourage democracy. We have many countries in the world that have elements of democracy but still have a long way to go to be fully democratic, and America should develop institutions and freedom of expression in these countries and should lead by example."
The rise of the religious right in America in the past few years rang the alarm bells in the minds of Muslim Americans and the Islamic world in general. But Ellison tries to assuage such fears. "They reached their peak in 2004, but now their views are widely discredited, because people are rejecting their ideology," he said. "In fact, large numbers of Evangelical Christians are now questioning the viewpoint of the religious right. This trend that we saw is being challenged as many religious people are standing for the rights of the immigrants, standing against racism, and standing in favour of the environment," he added.
Asked whether Muslim NGOs in the US do enough to promote a good image of the Muslim community, Ellison answered, "a lot of these NGOs are really doing a good job, but they still have a lot of work to do like the Islamic Society of North America [ISNA], the Council on American Islamic Relations [CAIR], and the Muslim American Society. But we still need more people to get involved and more groups starting up."
As far as discrimination against Muslims is concerned, Ellison says he personally has had to endure insults, and stresses that there have been incidents of the desecration of mosques. "Some people spray anti- Islamic, nasty comments on the walls of mosques, break their windows, and even knocked one of them down." According to Ellison, many Muslims are arbitrarily discriminated against. "There was a case of a Muslim chaplain in the US Armed Forces who was singled out for being a Muslim and was sent to Guantanamo Bay for 78 days in solitary confinement. And the whole case was then dropped because there was no case to begin with."
However, he argues that most people in America "are good-willed, and when an attack happens, people from all faiths come together and try to help correct the problem. And we are trying to reach out to those people."
Ellison pins high hopes on Muslims' active participation in social and political life. "Overwhelmingly, Muslims in America are rising to the challenge of civic engagement at a level we have not seen in the past, and they are responding positively to such a challenge," he concluded.
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