Media fail to mention radical ties of address touted as outreach to Muslims.
A speech yesterday by President Obama's deputy national security adviser, Denis McDonough, was hosted by a radical Muslim group that was designated by the Justice Department as an unindicted co-conspirator in a scheme to raise money for Hamas, WND has learned.
The speech was delivered at an affiliate of the group, the Islamic Society of North America, or ISNA.
McDonough's address is being touted as part of a White House initiative to reach out to Muslims ahead of this week's congressional hearings on Islamic radicalism.
McDonough's speech received widespread media attention today, yet not a single article mentioned he was visiting an official affiliate of ISNA. Most coverage did not mention the event was hosted by ISNA and its president, Imam Mohamed Magid.
A widely circulated Associated Press story reported McDonough spoke “to a Washington-area mosque known for its cooperation with the FBI and its rejection of the al-Qaida brand of Islam.”The article did not mention Magid or ISNA.
Other news accounts stated McDonough was speaking at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, which is also known as the Adams Center.
The few news reports on McDonough's speech that mention the event was hosted by Magid fail to identify him as president of ISNA or report on the Islamic group's radicalism. Magid serves as executive director of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, an official affiliate of ISNA.
A Miami Herald article on the event, for example, states simply of Magid, “ADAMS Center Mohamed Magid and board member Rizwan Jaka said they oppose terrorism and radicalization but are concerned that King will marginalize the Muslim-American community.”
ISNA itself, however, touts its connection to the Muslim center at which McDonough spoke.
An ISNA press release issued today reads: “Yesterday afternoon, ISNA President Imam Mohamed Magid hosted an event at ISNA affiliate organization, the All Dulles Area Muslim Center, of which Imam Magid serves as Executive Director.”
Continued the release: “The event, entitled, 'Our Collective Security,' featured Deputy National Security Advisor to President Obama, Mr. Denis McDonough, as he outlined the many contributions of Muslims to maintain national security and the White House's five point strategy to continue collaborations with the Muslim and interfaith community and to overcome extremism in all forms.”
At his speech, McDonough focused on Obama's initiatives for the Muslim community.
“Here in Virginia and across the country, Muslim Americans are our neighbors and fellow citizens,” he said. “You inspire our children as teachers. You strengthen our communities as volunteers, often through interfaith projects, like the President's “United We Serve” program.”
He told the crowd: “We're all Americans” and went out to ask the Islamic community to reject “violent extremism.”
ISNA is known for its enforcement of Saudi-style Islam in mosques throughout the U.S. It was named by the Justice Department as an unindicted co-conspirator in its case against the Holy Land Foundation in Texas, which was found guilty in 2008 of raising money for the Hamas terrorist organization. Last year, Holy Land founders were given life sentences for “funneling” $12 million to Hamas.
ISNA also was named in a May 1991 Muslim Brotherhood document, “An Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Goal for the Group in North America,” as one of the Brotherhood's likeminded “organizations of our friends” who shared the common goal of destroying America and turning it into a Muslim nation, according to Discover the Networks.
The Muslim Brotherhood seeks to create an Islamic caliphate. Hamas and al-Qaida are offshoots of the Brotherhood.
ISNA, through its affiliate, the North American Islamic Trust – a Saudi government-backed organization – reportedly holds the mortgages on 50 to 80 percent of all mosques in the U.S. and Canada.
Islam scholar Stephen Schwartz describes ISNA as “one of the chief conduits through which the radical Saudi form of Islam passes into the United States.”
According to terrorism expert Steven Emerson, ISNA “is a radical group hiding under a false veneer of moderation” that publishes a bi-monthly magazine, Islamic Horizons, that “often champions militant Islamist doctrine.”
The group also “convenes annual conferences where Islamist militants have been given a platform to incite violence and promote hatred,” states Emerson. Emerson cites an ISNA conference in which al-Qaida supporter and Palestinian Liberation Organization official Yusuf Al Qaradhawi was invited to speak.
Emerson further reports that in September 2002, a full year after 9/11, “speakers at ISNA's annual conference still refused to acknowledge [Osama] bin Laden's role in the terrorist attacks.”
ISNA also has held fundraisers for terrorists, notes Discover the Networks. After Hamas leader Mousa Marzook was arrested and eventually deported in 1997, ISNA raised money for his defense. The group also condemned the U.S. government's post-9/11 seizure of Hamas' and Palestinian Islamic Jihad's financial assets.
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