"Terrorism is the price of empire. If you do not wish to pay, you must give up the empire": Biden vows continued cooperation with Hamas-linked Islamic Society of North America, no concern on Left for Islamic jihad as it doesn't exist; “Islamophobia” does

The establishment media will care nothing about this. It isn’t as if Trump were appearing with someone who had been tarred as an “Islamophobe.” They’d be in a massive uproar over that. But links to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood? Who cares? There is simply no concern on the Left for Islamic jihad and its enablers. Jihad does not exist; only “Islamophobia” does.

“The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) was established in July 1981 by U.S-based members of the Muslim Brotherhood with a background as leaders of the Muslim Students Association (MSA). As author and terrorism expert Steven Emerson puts it, ISNA “grew out of the Muslim Students Association, which also was founded by Brotherhood members.” Indeed, Muslim Brothers would dominate ISNA’s leadership throughout the Society’s early years. Striving “to advance the cause of Islam and serve Muslims in North America so as to enable them to adopt Islam as a complete way of life,” ISNA was highly dependent upon Saudi funding during its early years.” — from Discover the Networks

In its latest filing before the federal district court in Dallas on behalf of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and its affiliate organization, the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT) in the Hamas-terrorism financing case, the ACLU has made a noteworthy admission.

Rather than deny that there is copious evidence tying ISNA and NAIT to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, the brief argues that such evidence is merely dated. In a curious footnote on page 7, the reply states:

Assuming the authenticity of documents’ dates, the most recent documents to mention either ISNA or NAIT are dated 1991, Gov. Exhs. 3-3 and 3-85, but the majority of the documents are older. Almost all of the numerous exhibits that purport to show financial transactions and that contain any mention of ISNA or NAIT are dated 1988 and 1989 (there are two dated 1990), almost a decade before the majority of the overt acts the government alleges in support of its conspiracy charges against the HLF defendants.

So ISNA and NAIT are not saying that the documents tying their organizations to Hamas are “inauthentic,” but that the problem with the evidence is just that it is old. Then, even more curiously, the reply goes on to argue something that the government has not even alleged:

Even if the “evidence” provided some basis for alleging criminality against petitioners, the government’s discussion of it shows the government utterly fails to grasp the singular weight and consequence that an official accusation of criminal conduct carries in our criminal justice system and in our society.

But, of course, the government has not charged ISNA or NAIT with criminal conduct, or the two groups would be indicted in their own right, rather than un-indicted co-conspirators who worked with the Holy Land for Relief and Development (HLF), the defendant and alleged Hamas-front. The reply brief then, as Shakespeare might write, “doth protest too much.”

President Biden Vows Continued Cooperation with US Muslim Brotherhood Organization

US President Joe Biden recently sent a letter vowing continued cooperation with the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) on the occasion of its 59^th annual convention. Held from 2–5 September 2022 in Rosemont, Illinois, the event featured appearances by several high-level Biden appointees and leading Democratic politicians, including several members of Congress. According to the Biden letter:

September 3, 2022, I would like to thank you and the Islamic Society of North America’s [sic] (ISNA) leadership for inviting me to participate in ISNA’s 59^th annual convention. This organization’s dedication to supporting and engaging Muslim Americans is invaluable in strengthening communities and empowering Muslim voices across our nation. (…) I look forward to continuing to work with ISNA Muslim Americans across our country to build bridges and underscore our common humanity.

This year’s edition of the annual convention was described by local media as the “largest networking event for the Muslim community in the country” and was attended by several thousand guests, a substantially lower number than in pre-pandemic years. Titled “Resilience, Hope, and Faith: With Hardship, Comes Ease,” it took place in person for the first time in three years and featured many exhibitions and educational and speaking events. Mirroring past ISNA conventions, speakers at the event included ISNA leadership and multiple other leaders of the Global Muslim Brotherhood (GMB) in the US, including:

• Siraj Wahhaj, an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing who has held various positions in ISNA, the American Muslim Council, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations
• Dalia Mogahed, the Director of Research at the US Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, a group whose Board of Advisors and staff includes prominent figures in the US Muslim Brotherhood. In 2009, Mogahed was appointed to President Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
• Mohamed Magid, former ISNA president and Executive Director of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society
• Muzammil Siddiqi, Fiqh Council of North America
• Abdul Malik Mujahid, former President of the Islamic Circle of North America

US diplomat Rashad Hussain, who in 2021 was appointed by President Biden to the post of United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom at the State Department, gave a keynote speech at a community service recognition luncheon. In 2010, the Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Watch, was the first to report on Hussain’s long history of engagement with the GMB in the US as well as support for Brotherhood causes, once having called the prosecution of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) leader Sami Al-Arian, one of many “politically motivated persecutions.”

References:

jihadwatch.org