1991 Islamic Committee for Palestine Conference in Chicago
Chicago, IL
Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)
Convicted PIJ operative Sami Al-Arian led a rally in 1991 in the auditorium of a Chicago high school to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the Palestinian Intifada. The rally featured Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) spiritual leader Abdel-Aziz Odeh and a host of PIJ imagery. At the event, Al-Arian called for Jihad:
The Koran is our constitution… Jihad is our path … Victory to Islam… Death to Israel… Revolution… revolution till the victory. [1]
Al-Arian also called Jews "monkeys and pigs" and warned against recent peace efforts aimed at ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict:
O brothers and sisters: Have we forgotten? Have we forgotten the Jews and who they are? God, the Glorious and Sublime, warns us of the Israelites, whom he has cursed in the Quran. "Those of the Children of Israel who disbelieved were cursed by David and Jesus, son of Mary; that, on account of their disobedience and their aggression. They used not to forbid one another from committing any of the evils they were committing. Evil is what they did!"
These people - whom God, the Glorious and sublime, had made into monkeys and pigs, had become discontent and angry with, had cursed in this world and in the hereafter, and had imposed a punishment on them in this World until Judgment Day - these people today hold sway over us, our people, our nation, and our future. We want to negotiate with them, to have a dialogue with them, as if we have forgotten who the Jews are, because we have distanced ourselves from our Quran, history, and heritage, and we do not understand our reality.[2]
In 2006, Al-Arian pled guilty to "conspiracy to make or receive contributions of funds, goods or services to or for the benefit of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a Specially Designated Terrorist."[3]
Fawaz Damra, then the imam of the Islamic Center of Cleveland spoke about the need to expel the Jews from Israel in order to achieve the Caliphate:
The Muslim nation will forever be unable to regain its Caliphate, glory, or veneration unless all are focused on the removal of the sons of monkeys and pigs from the land of Mohammad's midnight journey to the seven heavens.[4]
[1] USA v. Al-Arian, et al., 03-CR-77, GX 567—Video Recording of Islamic Committee for Palestine (ICP) Fundraiser at Currie High School, Chicago Illinois, September 29, 1991 , http://www.investigativeproject.org/220/al-arian-victory-to-islam-death-to-israel
[2] USA v. Al-Arian, et al., 03-CR-77, GX 567—Video Recording of Islamic Committee for Palestine (ICP) Fundraiser at Currie High School, Chicago Illinois, September 29, 1991 , http://www.investigativeproject.org/646/al-arian-allah-turned-the-jews-into-monkeys-and-pigs
[3] USA v. Al-Arian, et al., 03-CR-77, Plea Agreement (MD FL April 14, 2006).
[4] USA v. Al-Arian, et al., 03-CR-77, GX 567—Video Recording of Islamic Committee for Palestine (ICP) Fundraiser at Currie High School, Chicago Illinois, September 29, 1991 , http://www.investigativeproject.org/671/fawaz-damra-on-jews-sons-of-monkeys-and-pigs
