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A controversial U.S. Muslim leader who has been highly critical of Israel and said that the Jewish state should be on the "suspect list" in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks participated on Tuesday in a White House summit on Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) that featured Vice President Joe Biden. Salam Al-Marayati, founder of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), tweeted out a photo of himself at the White House with Biden and bragged, "We joined VP @JoeBiden for a discussion at the @WhiteHouse #CVESummit which kicked off today." Al-Marayati has been viewed as a controversial figure due to...

The White House has still refused to name the “American Muslim leaders” with whom President Obama met to “discuss a range of domestic and foreign policy issues.” According to a White House statement on the President’s meeting, the domestic issues discussed were the “Affordable Care Act, anti-Muslim violence and discrimination, the 21st Century Policing Task Force, and the upcoming White House Summit on Countering Violence Extremism.” On the foreign policy front, “the President discussed the need to continue countering ISIL and other groups that commit horrific acts of violence, purportedly in the name of Islam,” while also congratulating Muslims on...

On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda operatives slaughtered nearly 3,000 Americans in an operation that marked the second major attack by violent jihadists against the World Trade Center. There wasn’t much mystery about who had carried out these atrocities — unless you were Salam al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Marayati warned Americans not to conclude that the suicide hijacking attacks were the work of Muslim terrorists. “If we are going to look at suspects,” he told a Los Angeles radio station, “we should look at groups that benefit the most from these kinds of incidents, and I...

President Barack Obama has sent Muslim Public Affairs Council director Salam Al Marayati, who has said that Israel is a “suspect” in the 9/11 terrorist attacks, to represent the United States at a human right conference in Warsaw. The Obama administration chose him to attend the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) annual 10-day human rights conference. He told the OSCE participants in Warsaw, “Hate speech that intends to degrade, intimidate, or incite violence against someone based on religion is harmful.” However, Al Marayati once told a radio host, “If we’re going to look at suspects [behind the...

The other day the New York Times invited a few contributors to answer the question “Is America’s religious freedom under threat?” The answer provided by Salam Al-Marayati, head of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), in an essay entitled “A Campaign Against Patriotic Muslims,” was a resounding yes – at least, that is, where his co-religionists are concerned. Among Al-Marayati’s assertions: “religious freedom for the Muslim American is under threat….Today’s anti-Muslim rhetoric is eerily similar to the pre-Nazi rhetoric against Jews….Hate against Muslim children in elementary and secondary schools is on the rise.” There is, insisted Al-Marayati, “an inquisition mentality...

During the Cold War, the term "anti-anti-Communist" was used to describe people who were not Communists themselves, but who objected to every practical initiative to counter Soviet and Red Chinese expansionism. In today's struggle against radical Islamists, Salam Al-Marayati, a founder of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) and its current executive director, can fairly be described as an "anti-anti-terrorist" - someone who rhetorically opposes Islamist terror but objects to virtually every practical measure that democracies take to defend themselves. While condemning terror in vague or general terms, Al-Marayati and MPAC focus their attacks on U.S. and Israeli security measures...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The FBI has launched an inquiry into the activities of a grocery store owner who is allegedly the U.S. leader of a radical Islamic group banned in parts of Europe and the Middle East, authorities said. Iyad Hilal, an Islamic author and philosopher who owns an Orange County market, hasn't drawn much attention to his writings or his role in the group, Hizb ut-Tahrir, which means Party of Liberation. But since the July 7 bombings in London, British Prime Minister Tony Blair has suggested banning the group there. Hilal is apparently not suspected of any terrorist...

Jihad on “24”: FOX, Kiefer Sutherland Repent to Radical Islam By Debbie Schlussel It was too good to be true. FOX’s “24” is the most exciting show on TV, this season. Action. Adventure. And it actually tells the truth about Islamic terrorists. They are here on our shores, pretending to be loyal Americans, and they are plotting to take over our country. With the help of plenty of complicit Muslim-Americans, working for the government and government contractors. Unfortunately, 9/11 wasn’t enough to prove that to many Americans. Way too many Americans—especially the ones deciding what we see on the big...

Editor's note: Readers may also be interested in Moderate Islam or Fata Morgana? and freemuslims.org Speaks Out.There is good news to report: The idea that "militant Islam is the problem, moderate Islam is the solution" is finding greater acceptance over time. But there is also bad news, namely growing confusion over who really is a moderate Muslim. This means that the ideological side of the war on terror is making some, but only limited, progress.The good news: Anti-Islamist Muslims have found their voice since September 11. Their numbers include distinguished academics such as Azar Nafisi (Johns Hopkins), Ahmed al-Rahim (formerly...