[1]Regardless of the circumstances, when a representative from CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a group with close ties to Hamas, is allowed into the White House, a serious, indeed dangerous, problem exists.
One day after the brutal death of his cousin – a revenge attack following the murder of three Israeli teens – Tariq Abu Khdeir, a 15-year-old boy who had traveled to Israel from Tampa, Florida, found himself arrested and beaten by an Israeli officer. On the day of his being taken into custody, authorities alleged Khdeir was masked, armed and actively participating in rioting against officers. They said, as well, he had resisted arrest.
A video purporting to be of the beating went viral, and an Israeli investigation into the footage commenced.
While Khdeir claimed total innocence in the matter, and to be sure, months later, the charges against him were dropped, his family’s choice of an attorney for his case makes Khdeir’s claim of innocence highly suspicious, if not an outright lie. Throughout the process, the lawyer representing Khdeir was Hassan Shibly, the Executive Director of the Florida chapter of CAIR.
CAIR was established in June 1994 as being part of the American Palestine Committee, an umbrella organization acting as a terrorist enterprise run by then-global Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook. Marzook was based in the U.S. at the time and currently operates out of Egypt as a spokesman for Hamas. In 2007 and 2008, amidst two federal trials, the U.S. government named CAIR a co-conspirator in the raising of millions of dollars for Hamas.
Under a graphic of the World Trade Center in flames, CAIR posted to its national website a link to the Hamas charity, Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), asking its followers to donate money. The group also asked its followers to donate to the al-Qaeda charity, Global Relief Foundation (GRF).
In November 2014, just six months ago, along with ISIS, al-Qaeda and Boko Haram, CAIR was listed as a terrorist organization by United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Hassan Shibly has exhibited his own radical behavior.
Shibly is an admirer of controversial Islamic lecturer Khalid Yasin who, during a 2005 interview, stated the following about non-Muslims and homosexuals: “There’s no such thing as a Muslim having a non-Muslim friend. If you prefer the clothing of the kafirs over the clothing of the Muslims, most of those names that’s on most of those clothings is faggots, homosexuals and lesbians.”
Fox News host Megyn Kelly recently pointed out on her show that, for at least four years, Shibly has referred to himself as a “fan” of Yasin and/or labeled Yasin an “interest” on his personal Facebook page. This, after Shibly had been warned years before about Yasin.
In December 2004, Shibly was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, while crossing over the Canadian border, following a conference he had attended in Toronto. The conference was ‘Reviving the Islamic Spirit,’ and according to the Investigative Project on Terrorism, it featured a number of extremist speakers including notorious anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan and neo-Nazi William Baker.
About Shibly’s and others’ detentions, a border spokesman stated, “[W]e have credible, ongoing information that these types of conferences have been used and are being used by terrorist organizations to not only transport fraudulent documents but to mask travel by terrorists.” According to Shibly, he was “led by three armed officers [2]” into a room “for questioning and fingerprinting.” He was told to stand face-first against the wall with legs spread for a pat-down search. He said he was “treated as a suspect.”
In June 2011, the Tampa Tribune reported on previous statements Shibly had made regarding Hezbollah. Shibly had stated that Hezbollah was “basically a resistance movement” and “absolutely not a terrorist organization.”
In August 2014, only nine months ago, Shibly tweeted that “Israel and its supporters are enemies of God. [3]”
All of this is disturbing in itself, but what is much more so is the fact that this man was invited to the White House.
On April 15th, National Security Council staff met with Shibly and the Khdeir family at the West Wing of the White House. CNN published a photo of a smiling Shibly and a smiling Tariq Khdeir seated there. Shibly tweeted another with both Tariq and his mother Suha Khdeir [4].
A White House official is quoted on CNN, stating “The U.S. government has remained closely engaged with Tariq and his family since his return from Jerusalem.”
Question: Was the NSC aware of Shibly and his organization’s backgrounds, prior to him being allowed to enter the premises? Or did the White House CAIR?
This event evokes a similar memory when Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Sami al-Arian and his family were given the honor of taking photos with President George W. Bush at the White House. That was an embarrassment and a significant lapse in national security. So is this.
There was a time when the White House was considered nothing less than sacred in the U.S., a time when Americans knew the difference between friend and enemy. This photo op is an example of how far we have fallen as a nation and how vulnerable we truly are.
