Posted on 10/21/2007 1:27:57 PM PDT by PRePublic
Ohio No Stranger to Radical Islam
http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/252977.aspx
CBNNews.com - COLUMBUS, Ohio - One traditional Middle Eastern grocery is painted to match the distinctive red, white, black and green of the Palestinian flag. Over the meat counter hangs a flag often flown at rallies for the terrorist group Hamas.
But this grocery store isn't located in Gaza or the West Bank. It's in Hilliard, Ohio: a sleepy suburb of Columbus. It seems an unlikely battleground in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but support for the Palestinian cause runs deep.
"We are critical of our government policy in the Middle East, and its blind support of Israel," Mahmoud El-Yousseph, a local columnist said.
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He said, "Our foreign policy in the Middle East, it stinks. It needs a tune up, and we're going to speak about it, whether people like it or not."
El-Yousseph served 20 years in the U.S. military. His son is serving in Iraq now. He says patriotism isn't an issue for this Muslim community.
"We are God fearing, law abiding American citizens," El-Yousseph said. "We love this country. We want to work together for the common good of our national defense."
A Jihad Hotbed?
Patrick Poole isn't so sure. A writer and consultant on terrorism-related issues, he returned to the Columbus area recently after a 10-year absence.
"After a decade away, to come back and see all the changes that Hilliard had gone through and then to find out that we are essentially a center of jihad -- one of the hottest centers of jihad in the country -- was just mind blowing," Poole said.
Columbus is no stranger to Islamic radicalism. Members of an al-Qaeda cell attended a local mosque. Two of the men were convicted on federal terrorism charges. One plotted to bring down the Brooklyn Bridge. Another planned to blow up a local shopping mall.
Federal law enforcement officials say other members of the cell are still on the loose.
That al-Qaeda cell was one of the largest yet discovered in America. El-Yousseph says he and other local Muslims condemned those involved.
But Poole says support for two other terror groups is widespread among Columbus Muslims.
"Hamas and Hezbollah and everything going on in Israel are really the linchpin issues of radicalization here in Columbus," Poole said.
According to Poole, there's a budding Hamas support network in the area. He says much of this network leads back to one man -- Dr. Salah Sultan.
Poole said, "I discovered that Dr. Salah Sultan --a very prominent international cleric who's closely associated with Yusuf Qaradawi -- was living right around the corner from my own home."
Sultan's relationship with Qaradawi is the first thing that caught Poole's attention. Qaradawi is listed by the U.S. as a specially designated global terrorist. He's openly advocated suicide bombings against Israeli civilians. He's also called on Muslims to fight U.S. troops in Iraq.
A Closer Look
Terrorism expert Steven Emerson has followed Sultan and Qaradawi's activities closely.
"Sultan is an acolyte of Qaradawi," said Steven Emerson, of the Investigative Project on Terrorism. "And Qaradawi is a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood who has called for killing Americans and killing Jews"
Their relationship is so close that Sultan joined in honoring Qaradawi at a reception this summer.
Emerson said, "The fact that Sultan is hanging out with these men indicates exactly where he stands."
Qaradawi is a leader of The Muslim Brotherhood, a jihadist movement that seeks to establish worldwide Islamic law. A exclusive interview with Sultan was featured on the Brotherhood's Web site last year.
El-Yousseph told CBN News that Sultan is a Muslim scholar. He says Sultan's views aren't extreme, and that he even supports women's rights in countries such as Saudi Arabia.
Sultan's views on 9/11 are more problematic. He told Saudi TV the attacks were planned by the U.S. government.
"The entire thing was of a large scale and was planned within the U.S., in order to enable the U.S. to control and terrorize the entire world," Sultan said.
Sultan recently left his home in an affluent Columbus suburb and now lives in the tiny Persian Gulf nation of Bahrain.
His application for U.S. citizenship was denied after he appeared at a Hamas rally in Turkey last summer. But he's still allowed to enter the U.S. and move around freely.
Sultan agreed to a phone interview with CBN News, but later cancelled.
Poole says Sultan continues to be influential in the Columbus area's Muslim community.
"Dr. Sultan was insulated into all of the major Islamic institutions here in Columbus," Poole said. "The Islamic Society of Greater Columbus, Sunrise Academy -- the private islamic school -- the Al Noor center, he was preaching at several other mosques. He was all over the place and integrated into all those institutions."
For example, one site that used to be Hilliard's public library is now home home to Sunrise Academy, a K- 8 Islamic school. Sultan lectured there on a regular basis. Siraj Wahhaj also appeared there recently. He's an un-indicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
El-Yousseph says Sultan and other Muslims in Columbus have been singled out unfairly since 9/11.
He said, "Most Muslims I know are professional here. Doctors, lawyers, engineers, grocers, schoolteachers who love this country, who left overseas because of religious persecution. They want to be here for a better life. They're not here to betray America and stab it in the back."
Emerson says that's exactly the case with Sultan.
"Salah Sultan has made incredibly incendiary comments about Jews, about jihad." he said. "This is not someone we want in the United States."
Can we start cracking down on these people now?
During the Second World War locally we had a German Restaurant that was well known for its pro-Hitler views.
In 1942, some FBI agents showed up and suggested to the owner that he might want to close down for the duration. They suggested that sometimes accidents happen and if he were closed he would not have an accident.
He closed until 1947.
Problem solved.
It's not "your" policy, it's America's. Your policy is set by the PLO and Fatah. We have different interests.
“a German Restaurant that was well known for its pro-Hitler views.”
Don’t forget the people who ran off to the mountains to hide for the duration.
A viewpoint which would not be out of place in the "Ron Paul Revolution."
More like a Muslim putsch..
Well this is great /sarc. I’m a student at Ohio State University, which is in Columbus. And on the map of Islamic terror networks in the US, Ohio has like three of ‘em in Cleveland. My home state of Maryland also has a couple.
The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of finding a some remote tropical island to live on for awhile...
“We are God fearing, law abiding American citizens,” El-Yousseph said. “We love this country. We want to work together for the common good of our national defense.”
Until you can take it over and destroy those who oppose you.
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
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It scares me that these people are in our midst. Who knowes how many are really here and who on the slightest provacation will start to cause trouble. Add these to all of the illegals and we could have real/significant blood shed in our cities.
Wow, even (in the 1970’s) as the term “palestinians” was just coined...
Your neck of the woods ping! This sure isn’t the Ohio my dad was born and raised in, that’s the truth!
Former Buckeye bump -
I can’t recall if it was Cleveland or Cinncinnati...
but not too long after 9-11...
even sanctimonious liberal Bill Moyers on PBS aired a report about
an Imam in Ohio who was outed as a frothing-at-the-mouth Islamic
that had been calling Jews “pigs and monkeys” on a video tape.
For once, Moyers actually did serve the public interests when outing
one of of the thousands? MILLIONS? of Islamics that are committed
to infiltrating and then KILLING people in the USA and Europe that
dare to disagree with them.
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