ReCap February 2013

Welcome to the February edition of Best Current News’ ReCap series – brief summaries of selected articles chosen to keep you informed of threats to traditional Judeo-Christian values and western culture by Islamists. In each synopsis there are links provided to the original sources to provide you with more information.

United States:

Portland, Oregon:   Mohamed Osman Mohamud was found guilty of attempting to detonate a bomb during Portland, Oregon’s 2010 tree-lighting ceremony. Mohamud had been under FBI surveillance for over a year prior to his attempt after he had traded e-mails with two accused terrorists and written for an online jihadi magazine.

New York, New York:  Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis pleaded guilty to attempting to detonate a bomb at the New York Federal Reserve Bank. According ot court documents, Nafis, a Bangladeshi citizen, came to the U.S. in January 2012 intending to wage violent jihad.

Oakland, California:  Matthew Aaron Llaneza was arrested after he allegedly attempted to bomb a bank in Oakland, California. Llaneza met with an undercover FBI agent who he believed to have connections with the Taliban and the mujahidin in Afghanistan.

San Diego, California:  Four Somali nationals including an imam from San Diego were found guilty of supporting terrorism in Somalia. The group had raised $10,000 and wired it to Al-Shabaab, a terrorist group.

Ft. Hood, Texas:  Representatives Michael McCaul and Frank Wolf sent a letter to their fellow members of Congress demanding the Obama administration classify the Ft. Hood attack as a terrorist act rather than “workplace violence” after an ABC news story revealed, “the broken promises made to the victims.” Major Nidal Hassan, the sole suspect in the shooting is accused of killing 13 people and wounding 29 others. According to witnesses, he shouted “Allahu Akbar” as he began shooting. Two days prior to the shooting he gave out copies of the Qur’an along with his business cards with SoA(SWT) printed on them. SoA is stands for Soldier of Allah and SWT is used by Muslims to mean “subhanahu we ta’ala” or “glory to God.”

Worcester, Massachusetts:  The Worcester Catholic Men’s Conference withdrew an invitation for Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch to speak at their conference in March. The invitation was rescinded after the Islamic Council of New England sent an e-mail demanding the cancellation to the diocese.

Detroit, Michigan:  Detroit’s Suburban Mobility Authority for Regional Transportation (SMART) bus system rejected an anti-Muhammad ad by the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) despite the similarity to an ad that was previously accepted by an atheist group. The original ad said, “Don’t believe in God? You are not alone.” The rejected ad said, “Don’t believe in Muhammad? You are not alone.”

Chicago, Illinois:  The Chicago Transit Authority agreed to display anti-jihad ads on city buses only after losing a lawsuit by the American Freedom Law Center. The ads are in response to the “My Jihad” campaign sponsored by CAIR-Chicago that portray jihad as a peaceful struggle rather than a violent component of Islam.

New York, New York:  Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, famous for his attempt to build a 13-story mosque two blocks from the 9/11 World Trade Center site, had a lawsuit filed against him claiming that he used money donated for the project to finance a lavish lifestyle for himself.

Wichita, Kansas:  The Islamic Society of Wichita received approval to rezone about five acres of land near its mosque in preparation for development that could potentially include an apartment complex, an office complex, a medical clinic and a financial institution.

Falls Church, Virginia:  Sheik Shaker Elsayed, the imam of the Dar al-Hijrah Mosque in Falls Church, Virginia recently said in a speech to an Ethiopian Muslim group at a local high school, “Muslim men…are the first in jihad line…but they are last if anything is being distributed, unless it is arms for jihad.” Dar al-Hijrah Mosque has been characterized by law enforcement authorities as being “associated with Islamic extremists” and “operating as a front for Hamas.”

Lumberton, Texas:  Students at Lumberton High School in Texas were encouraged to dress in Islamic clothing, to refer to the 9-11 hijackers not as terrorists, but as freedom fighters and told to stop referring to the holocaust as genocide but rather call it ethnic cleansing as part of a World Geography class.

Britain:

Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti, a leading playwright in Britain has accused the BBC of “extraordinary” censorship after she was told to remove key lines from a drama about the honor killing of a 16 year-old Asian girl.  The BBC asked her to remove the lines over fears the lines would suggest Muslims condoned honor killings.

Anjem Choudary, Muslim cleric and former leader of al-Muhajiroun and Islam4UK called hard-working Britons “slaves” and urged his followers to collect government benefits claiming it is their “Jihadseeker’s allowance.” Choudary reportedly receives 25,000 pounds (around $37,500) in government benefits yearly. In addition, both of Choudary’s Islamic groups were outlawed in 2010 under the Terrorism Act.

A school cafeteria worker lost her job after accidently serving non-halal meat at Moseley School in Birmingham. Although students of multiple faiths attend the school, all 1,400 students are served only halal meat. Halal indicates that an action or object is permissible in Islam. Halal meat is slaughtered according to Islamic law methods including saying, “In the name of Allah” prior to slaughtering the animal.

Saudi Arabia:

Fayhan al-Ghamdi, an Islamic “celebrity” imam accused of raping and killing his five-year-old daughter was released from custody after serving only a few months in jail and paying “blood money.” Al-Ghamdi admitted to using a cane and cables to injure his daughter because he doubted her virginity.

Denmark:

A gunman tried to assassinate Lars Hedegaard, a Danish free speech activist and president of the Free Press Society who has been outspoken regarding the threat of radical Islam to freedom of the press. Hedegaard was fined 5,000 kroner (around $1,000) in 2011 by the Eastern High Court for making “racially offensive” comments which included, “When a Muslim man rapes a woman, it is in his right to do so.”

Bangladesh:

Nineteen Christian children from the Bandarban district of Bangladesh were rescued from a trafficker who planned to sell the children to fundamentalist Islamic boarding schools in Dhaka. This year alone 55 children have been rescued from madrassas in Dhaka. The children are forced to convert to Islam and have their names legally changed to Muslim ones. Sources believe as many as 200 more children may be in need of rescue.

Spain:

The Spanish government has agreed to demands by the Moroccan government by agreeing that Moroccan children adopted by Spanish families must remain Muslim. The agreement obligates the Spanish government to establish a way Moroccan religious authorities can monitor the adopted children until they reach the age of 18 to make sure they have not converted to Christianity.

Egypt:

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the second largest international organization behind the UN and largest Islamic organization in the world, continued its attempt to curtail criticism of Islam at its 12^th Islamic Summit held in February in Cairo. As part of this ongoing effort the OIC plans to push for nations to enact laws to criminalize “denigration of religions” which if implemented would violate the right of free speech considered a basic human right in free nations.

In the Media:

Iraqi cleric Qays bin Khalil Al-kalbi, currently living in the U.S., in an interview on  Al-Aqsa TV regarding the Jewish people said,  “They try to give the impression that the Israelis are the Chosen People, God’s favorite. But being chosen does not indicate preference. After all, Allah chose Pharaoh to massacre you, so who was better — you or him? ….Allah chose Hitler to kill you, so who was better — you or him? … Allah chose you to be the most wretched of all peoples. Allah transformed you into apes and pigs. You were chosen as the best to become apes and pigs.”

Yusuf al-Qaradawi, spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood admitted on Arab TV, that Islam exists today because those who are apostates are killed. He said, “If they had gotten rid of the apostasy punishment Islam wouldn’t exist today…So opposing apostasy is what kept Islam to this day.”

The tenth issue of Inspire Magazine was published on February 28. Inspire is an online magazine written in English reportedly published by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.  The 60-page issue of the magazine encourages the assassination of world leaders including President Obama, the burning US embassies in Muslim nations, and strategies for lone-wolf attacks. Is also contains a page featuring “Wanted Dead or Alive for Crimes Against Islam” which includes names and pictures of nine people who have spoken out against Islam. Listed without a picture is Molly Norris, an American cartoonist that is currently in hiding because of her suggestion of a “Draw Muhammad Day” on Facebook.