BACKGROUND EXCERPTS ON

THE MUSLIM PUBLIC AFFAIRS COUNCIL

This report accompanies the letter sent by six national leaders of faith-based organizations on August 14, 2012 to the Southern Poverty Law Center requesting that they not participate with the Muslim Public Affairs Council in a teleconference. Excerpts below are from reports at the Investigative Project on Terrorism at http://www.investigativeproject.org : in particular, http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/358.pdf and http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/356.pdf (original citations included).

BACKGROUND EXCERPTS ON THE MUSLIM PUBLIC AFFAIRS COUNCIL

1. October 6 2000 MPAC Rally On October 6, 2000, MPACs Mahdi Bray coordinated and led a rally where approximately 2,000 people congregated in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. to express their outrage over (Israels) aggression against Palestinian civilians and holy sites. Hate speeches and exhortations to violence against Jews were heard throughout the rally. With our blood and soul we will liberate Palestine, was frequently shouted by speakers and the crowd. At one point during the rally, Mahdi Bray played the tambourine as one of the speakers sang the following song while the crowd repeated: Al-Aqsa [mosque] is calling us, lets all go into Jihad, and throw stones at the face of the Jews [sic].2 Bray introduced Dr. Ayman Sirajudeen, who equated Israel with the Nazi regime and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Likud Chairman Ariel Sharon with Adolf Hitler. At the rally, Sirajudeen said about Jews: You have no morals, no principles. You want the whole world to look at you and to see the Jew as a victim, but you do not want the Palestinian to be seen as a victim, because a killer is a killer, a Zionist is a Zionist, because a Jew has no morals unless they stand up to tell the State of Israel that you are killers and there is no difference between Barak and Sharon and Hitler. All are the same.3 2. October 28 2000 MPAC Rally Protestors at another anti-Israel rally,4 officially co-sponsored by MPAC and officially organized by Mahdi Bray, marched in Washington, D.C. on October 28, 2000 singing Victory comes from Allah and Hizbollah is our model and Oh dear Nasrallah, we are allied with you in liberation.5 On arriving at Lafayette Park, one speaker, American Muslim Council leader Abdurahman Alamoudi6 addressed the cheering crowd: I have been labeled by the media in New York to be a supporter of Hamas. Anybody supports Hamas here? [Crowd cheers responsively] Hear that, Bill Clinton? We are ALL supporters of Hamas. Allahu Akhbar! [Crowd cheers]. I wish they added that I am also a supporter of Hizbollah7 Mahdi Bray lifted his hands in the air and cheered along with the crowd.

2 3

October 6, 2000, Rally in front of Israeli Embassy, IPT video tape. Ibid 4 Subject: CAIR-NET: Muslims Rally for Jerusalem Outside the White House, posted by the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) on http:msanews.mynet.net, October 25, 2000. Mahdi Bray is listed as the primary contact. 5 Videotape, Rally in Lafayette Park, Washington D.C., October 28, 2000. 6 Alamoudi was convicted in 2004 for illegal financial dealings with Libya and provided financial support to Hamas and Al Qaeda and is serving 23 years in prison, http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2004/October/04_crm_698.htm . Alamoudi has also admitted his involvement in a plot, masterminded by Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffi, to assassinate Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Patrick Tyler, Two Said to Tell of Libyan Plot Against Saudi, The New York Times, June 10, 2004. 7 Videotape, Rally in Lafeyette Park, Washington D.C., October 28, 2000.

Dr. Maher Hathout, MPACs Senior Advisor, spoke at this rally: We did not come here to condemn the condemned atrocities committed by the apartheid state of Israel. Because butchers do what butchers do. And because what is expected from a racist apartheid [state] is what is happening now.8 3. MPAC Rally December 22, 2000: At a December 22, 2000 Washington, D.C. rally organized by Mahdi Bray (MPACs thenPolitical Director),9 the crowd responsively chanted with the emcee in Arabic, Khaybar, Khaybar oh Jews, the Army of Mohammed is coming for you! Posters calling for Death to Israel and equating the Star of David with the Nazi swastika were openly displayed and antiSemitic literature calling for the destruction of the Jews and Israel was distributed. Members of the crowd burned the Israeli flag while marching from the White House to the State Department. Bray told the rally attendees, [w]e are calling upon this government to stop taking our dollars and sending it to the state of Israel to commit the atrocities against our brothers and sisters. He added, Jerusalem will be and must be free.10 At the rally, Bray introduced Abdelhaleem Ashqar, identified as a prominent Hamas member in a FBI report on the Holy Land Foundation.11 Ashqar told the crowd, [w]e have exclusive rights over Jerusalem, over Aqsa mosque, it is not subject to negotiation.12 Imam Mohammed Al-Asi, Director of the Islamic Education Center in Potomac, Maryland and a known supporter of Hezbollah, exhorted the crowd to violence in the name of Islam: Now, all our khatibs (speakers), our Imams, our public speakers, should be concentrating on militarizing the Muslim public. This is not a time to make a speaking issue out of thisMuslims have to familiarize themselves with every means possibleRhetoric is not going to liberate Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa. Only carrying arms will do this task. And its not going to be someone else who is going to carry arms for you and for me. It is you and me who are going to have to carry these arms.13 4. MPAC Executive Director Salam Al-Marayatis Anti-Israel 9/11 conspiracy theory: The day of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, MPAC Executive Director and co-founder Salam alMarayati created a furor when he stated on an L.A. radio program: If we're going to look at suspects, we should look to the groups that benefit the most
8 9

Videotape, Rally in Lafeyette Park, Washington D.C., October 28, 2000. Subject: AMC-NET: December 22 Rally for Jerusalem in Washington, D.C. Posted by the American Muslim Council on http:msanews.mynet.net, December 18, 2000. 10 Audio, Jerusalem Day Rally, Washington D.C., December 22, 2000. 11 Action Memorandum, Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development International Emergency Economic Powers Act. From Dale Watson, Assistant Director FBI Counterterrorism Division to Richard Newcomb, Director of the Office of Foreign Assets Control, Department of Treasury, November 5, 2001. 12 Audio, Jerusalem Day Rally, Washington D.C., December 22, 2000. 13 Videotape, Worldwide Day for Jerusalem, Lafeyette Park, Washington D.C., December 22, 2000.

from these kinds of incidents, and I think we should put the state of Israel on the suspect list because I think this diverts attention from what's happening in the Palestinian territories so that they can go on with their aggression and occupation and apartheid policies. Why not put all the suspects on the list, instead of going ahead and shooting from the hip and saying those people did it and bombing the cornfields of Afghanistan and pharmaceutical factories of Sudan. . . .14 5. MPAC officials frequently use incendiary language about Zionist Influence: MPAC allegations about Zionist influence perpetuate anti-Semitic stereotypes: Prior to 9/11, MPAC Vice Chairman Aslam Abdullah stated that: [t]he only group that has penetrated the media is the group of Zionists. And they have penetrated it not because they are super journalists, but because they have the backing of the money of the people who produce that media. They control it.15 In September 2004, in the Muslim Observer, Abdullah wrote: Zionists and Israel own most congressional members and their staff. Zionists and Israel are in control of the White House as nothing moves about Israel in the highest executive office without the approval of Israel and AIPAC. Most public officials who are paid by American tax payers owe their allegiance to the state of Israel and its security. Moreover, almost all major media personalities are more Israelis than many Israeli media people. Abdullah wrote in the same article, [i]t is not a secret that every word of the Presidential speech that relates to Israel has to be first approved by Zionists and Israel. It is not a secret that most congressmen receive their directives from pro-Israeli bosses in Washington...Congressis already owned by Israel and by its agents in our country.16

At an MPAC symposium on Jerusalem at Cal-State Fullerton in May 2001, MPAC Senior Advisor Maher Hathout stated: [i]t is obvious that at least from our perspective that the United States is also under Israeli occupation. So, we have a Congress that beats the Knesset in being proZionist17 After Salam al-Marayatis appointment to the Congressional Commission on Counterterrorism was withdrawn in July 1999, MPAC issued a press release that stated: American Muslims are appalled by the pressure tactics applied by extreme Zionist organizations to sabotage the nomination Muslims condemn the Zionist attempt to
14 15

Larry Stammer, After the Attack: Jewish-Muslim Dialogue Newly Tested, The Los Angeles Times, September 22, 2001. Muslim Wavelength Radio, August 30, 2001, 16 Aslam Abdullah, Israeli Mole in the Pentagon, The Muslim Observer, September 3-9, 2004. 17 Videotape, MPAC Symposium on Jerusalem: Dispelling the Myths, Cal State Fullerton, May 6, 2001.

establish a pro-Israel litmus test for any Muslim who is being considered for national service Zionists will once again claim success in marginalizing the American Muslim community through launching a smear campaign using ethnic and religious bigotry, distorted information, partial citations, and complete fabrications as tactics of intimidation and blackmail.18 That same month, MPAC Board Member Omar Ricci wrote, Zionist extremism has reignited the flames of McCarthyism at the end of the 20th century. This time it is American Muslims who are on the receiving end of its wrath.19 6. MPAC opposes Muslim Americans who are genuine moderates and not Islamists.20 In March 2012, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, an Arizona physician and Navy veteran, was appointed to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Dr. Jasser founded the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, advocating the separation of mosque and state and taking on Islamist groups.21 The AIFD website states The American Islamic Forum for Democracys (AIFD) mission is to advocate for the preservation of the founding principles of the United States Constitution, liberty and freedom, through the separation of mosque and state. AIFD is the most prominent American Muslim organization directly confronting the ideologies of political Islam and openly countering the common belief that the Muslim faith is inextricably rooted to the concept of the Islamic State (Islamism).22 More recently he was a co-founder with many other moderate Muslims of the American Islamic Leadership Coalition. Jasser is an observant Muslim and the author of the recently published book A Battle for the Soul of Islam: An American Muslim Patriot's Fight to Save His Faith.23 MPAC sent out an Action Alert to its mailing list, stating that Jassers appointment was an affront to all Muslims.24 7. MPAC featured a speaker with Neo-Nazi connections MPAC often invites well-known anti-Semites to speak at their events. For instance, MPAC has invited reverend William Baker to speak at several of their sponsored and co-sponsored conferences. Baker is the founder and head of Christians and Muslims for Peace, based in

18 19

Muslim Voice Must Be Heard, MPAC Press Release, July 9, 1999, Omar Ricci, Al-Marayati Should Have Remained Nominee, The Daily News of Los Angeles, July 16, 1999.

20

http://www.mpac.org/take-action/action-alert-voice-concern-about-dr.-jassers-appointment-touscirf.php
21 22

http://aifdemocracy.org/about/ Ibid 23 http://www.amazon.com/Battle-Soul-Islam-AmericanPatriots/dp/1451657943/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344641619&sr=8-1&keywords=Jasser 24 http://www.mpac.org/take-action/action-alert-voice-concern-about-dr.-jassers-appointment-to-uscirf.php

Laguna Hills, California.25 Prior to starting CAMP, Baker was the chairman of the Populist Party, founded by neo-Nazi Willis Carto in 1984, organizing its national convention that year.26 Baker has since attempted to reinvent himself as a Middle East expert. To that end he authored the book Theft of a Nation, a stridently anti-Israel book, that calls for the Zionist state of Israel to be dismantled and eventually eliminated.27 At the United for al Quds Conference in 2002, Baker was featured alongside al Marayati and Hathout. Al Marayati even introduced Baker, discussing the importance of Jerusalem to the Christian, Muslim, and Jewish faiths.28 During Bakers speech he told the Palestinians not to accept any peace settlement without the right of return, which demographically would mean the end of a Jewish majority in the State of Israel: If I give one word of advice to the Palestinians, the Filastini people, it is, do not settle for anything, sign nothing until you have guarantee, the right of every Palestinian whose been driven from that land to return. [Crowd shouts: Allahu Ahkbar] There will be no peace with these people in the Diaspora, forced out, They must have the right to return.29 The MPAC Teleconference Announcement follows verbatim:

25 26

Welcome to CAMP: Christians and Muslims for Peace, http://www.campintl.org Stan Brin, Hour of White Power; Reverend Robert H. Schuller relies on a man with ties to Neo-Nazis to build religious understanding, O.C. Weekly, (Feb. 15-21 2002), available at, http://www.ocweekly.com/2002-02-21/features/hour-of-whitepower The partys platform that year included provisions to allow states to restore Jim Crow segregation laws. Id. 27 Ibid 28 Salam al Marayati, Historical Perspectives, American Muslims for Jerusalem United for al Quds Conference: Humanity in Crisis, Buena Park, CA, June 15, 2002. 29 William Baker, The Importance of Jerusalem to All Faiths, American Muslims for Jerusalem United for al Quds Conference: Humanity in Crisis, Buena Park, CA, June 15, 2002.

Muslim Public Affairs Council Youre Invited: Natl Community Call on Real Impact of Hate in America w/ Hate Experts (Washington, DC - 8/9/12) The Muslim Public Affairs Council invites you to take part in a national town hall-style conference call on The Real World Impact of Hate Rhetoric in America on Wednesday, August 15, at 5:30 p.m. PST/ 8:30 p.m. EST. The 60-minute teleconference will feature experts from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the Center for American Progress and MPAC sharing recent data and analysis on recent irresponsible hate rhetoric by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and other public officials. They will also share resources to aid communities in combatting hate rhetoric. During the call, SPLCs Intelligence Project Director, Heidi Beirich, will discuss the latest annual count of the nations hate and hardline, anti-government groups. In addition, Beirich is the SPLCs expert on vextremism, including the white supremacist, nativist and neo-Confederate movements. Also on the call will be Wajahat Ali, a playwright, journalist, attorney and expert on the $40 million dollar Islamophobia industry in the U.S. As one of the co-authors of Fear, Inc.: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America, Ali will discuss the size, reach and influence of this dangerous network. He will report on the Islamophobia networks ability to influence politicians talking points, which feeds into the climate of anti-Muslim sentiment. MPAC President Salam Al-Marayati will address the connection between the rhetoric of hate from public officials and discrimination and violence by Americans targeting other Americans. WHAT: MPAC National Teleconference on The Real World Impact of Epidemic of Hate Rhetoric in America WHEN: Wednesday, August 15 at 5:30 p.m. PST/ 8:30 p.m. EST WHO: Wajahat Ali Co-Author, Fear, Inc.: The Roots of the Islamphobia Network in America Heidi Beirich Intelligence Project Director, Southern Poverty Law Center Salam Al-Marayati President, Muslim Public Affairs Council