ISNA Canada Misspent $600,000 in Charity

ISNA Canada, a branch of the US-based Islamic Society of North America, misused more than $600,000 in donor money, according to the findings of a scathing audit obtained by the Toronto Star. Although ISNA Canada President Mohammad Ashraf appealed for donations "helping needy Muslims not only in Canada, but all over the world," the audit found that less than one in four dollars went to the poor over a four year period.

A "very small portion ... is distributed to the poor and needy and the major portion is spent on the administration of the centre," concluded the 2010 audit. "Spending for personal expenses out of the charity's funds is unethical," the auditor wrote, saying it is "tantamount to misappropriation of funds."

See the full audit here.

Although ISNA Canada draws in more than $1 million annually, the audit focused on charitable contributions given as part of obligatory Islamic tithing of zakat and fitrah. The funds were meant to aid the poor, but the audit revealed the practice of giving free perks to family members of a top official; the improper issuing of charitable tax receipts; and the diversion of charity money to private businesses, some of which were owned by Ashraf.

"The agency's funds were also used from 2005 to 2009 to pay Ashraf's wife and one of his daughters nearly $150,000 for a handful of services, from consulting and promotions to putting together a newsletter that comes out four times a year," according to the Toronto Star's report. Of that, $60,000 was spent installing cameras and frequently changing locks at the group's center, while $6,500 was spent each year for health benefits for Ashraf's daughters, even though they don't work for ISNA Canada.

"In a review of the financial statements for the halal meat certification agency … the auditor discovered Ashraf had received a $15,000 tax receipt after moving money from the agency's business account over to ISNA Canada and claiming it was a "personal donation," the newspaper reported. ISNA Canada also helped a Pakistani Muslim scholar with her immigration bid in Canada, stating in financial forms that she was employed by the group. However, she did not actually do work for the organization. "This is a serious violation of the (Canada Revenue Agency) rules and immigration rules to hire someone just in the books to help get through immigration," the auditor's report said.

Ashraf has been removed from the leadership of the group, stating that he is "being transitioned into retirement." His replacement told the Star that ISNA has "put an end" to the abuses.

ISNA Canada's website states something different. "As the Centre is now well-established and flourishing (even if it is in constant need of donations), Dr. Ashraf will be retiring from his position as Secretary General effective March 31, 2011," said a statement on its home page. "While we all want Dr. Ashraf to enjoy his retirement years, we also do not wish to lose the benefit of his decades of experience, knowledge and expertise with respect to the operation of a leading community organization. Accordingly, Dr. Ashraf will, upon his retirement, take on the role of Senior Special Advisor to the Organization."

IDF Commander: Enemy Missiles Will Strike Tel Aviv

A senior Israel Defense Force (IDF) commander believes that Tel Aviv is certain to be hit by enemy missiles in Israel's next war. "Missiles and rockets from all fronts will reach Tel Aviv next time around. Tens of missiles of various kinds will reach Tel Aviv time around," said Col. Dan Zussman, head of the IDF Home Front Command for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area.

The first missile to hit Tel Aviv "will startle people sitting at local cafes," Zussman predicted. "Tens of missiles of various kinds will hit the city, likely causing hundreds of casualties, damage to buildings and infrastructures," he added. "It's crucial for everyone to be equipped with protection kits [containing personal items for use in the event of a nuclear, biological or chemical attack] and prepare a protected area in their homes. All private and public bodies must do the same as well."

Meanwhile, new information from IDF suggests that improvements in Hizballah and Hamas missile-launching capabilities have already eroded the nation's deterrent against missile attack. Ha'aretz reported Monday that the Home Front Command has decided to shorten the warning time for Tel Aviv and Gush Dan residents from two minutes to 90 seconds.

"Hamas and Hezbollah can launch longer-range missiles with heightened precision. They possess more missiles than ever before, concealed in buildings and underground bunkers," the paper added. "This has prompted not only the 25 percent reduction in warning time, but also a modification of emergency Home Front Command protocol. This protocol will be passed on to each municipality, with a guidebook detailing the number of missiles that could hit the district as well as the level of damage and number of injured each municipality would potentially have to deal with."

Ha'aretz quotes security sources as saying that Israel will not have an effective deterrent for medium-range missiles (the kind Hizballah and Hamas are expected to fire at Tel Aviv ) until 2013.

Will Islamists Fill the Void in Tunisia?

Will the Jasmine Revolution that toppled Tunisian strongman Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali create more political freedom and liberty for Tunisia's people? Or could it pave the way for creation of an Islamist-dominated state that imposes harsh new curbs on civil liberties and political freedom? Writing at Slate.com, veteran journalist Christopher Hitchens suggests that the jury is still out.

Visiting Tunisia in 2008, Hitchens said the regime "was publicly dedicated to modernity and secularism and development" but "didn't really trust its citizens to be grown-ups." The country had had just two leaders since winning independence from France in 1956: Ali and the man he overthrew 24 years ago, President Habib Bourgiba, who spent close to 31 years in power.

Ali won elections with as much as 90 percent of the vote, and pictures of him were plastered everywhere one looked.

"Still, it wasn't as if Tunisia had a massive and wasteful military or an exorbitant dictator who named every building after himself," Hitchens writes. "When compared to its immediate neighbors, Libya and Algeria, the country had done relatively well in avoiding the extremes of megalomaniacal despotism a la Muammar Qaddafi and full-blown civil war (which in Algeria's case took the lives of almost 150,000 people.)" When a synagogue was bombed by al-Qaida in 2002, the government moved quickly to express solidarity with the victims and to rebuild.

One reason that Tunisians were able to mobilize so swiftly against the Ali regime "was simply that they knew they could. There was scant likelihood of the sort of all-out repression and bloodshed that was met by, say, the protesters against the Iranian mullahs," according to Hitchens.

During his 2008 visit to Tunisia, Hitchens met with Mongia Souahi, a theology professor who argued that the Koran did not require women to wear a veil. Souahi's reasoning was denounced by Rachid al-Ghannouchi, an exiled Tunisia Islamist who declared her a kuffar, or unbeliever.

"This, as everyone knows, is the prelude to declaring her life to be forfeit as an apostate," writes Hitchens, who notes that the New York Times referred to Ghannouchi and his Hizb al-Nahda group as "progressive." Ghannouchi reportedly is returning to Tunisia after years in exile in London.

Thus far, the Jasmine Revolution has been relatively free of Islamist tinges. But Ghannouchi's looming presence and the rise of groups like Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb serve as a reminder that its future remains undecided.

Shin Bet Chief: AQ Finding Gaza Supporters

Al-Qaida affiliated groups are behind some of the violence on the Israel-Gaza border, the head of Israel's security services, Yuval Diskin, said Tuesday. The statement was part of a briefing for Israel's parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on the ideology and activity of Gaza-based groups.

The comments followed a bomb attack along the area's separation fence by Palestinian militants, contradicting Hamas' order for "resistance" groups to discontinue attacks on Israel. Hamas' intentions aren't peaceful, but calculated, Diskin said.

"All the factions in Gaza want an Islamic caliphate," Diskin said. "Hamas wants to achieve that through charity organizations, while other more radical groups want the same goal through violence."

He estimated there are 500 militants who identify with al-Qaida "and some are in touch with al-Qaida's regional command." Hamas officials rejected the claim, saying it was an attempt "to antagonize the West and the world against Hamas and the Palestinian people."

Diskin's briefing also claimed that Israel stopping of 140 Gaza infiltration attacks last year, and cited an increase in Israeli-Arab involvement in terror attacks, such as the recent attempted bombing of a Jerusalem soccer stadium. 46 Israeli Arabs were arrested in relation to terror last year, as opposed to 24 in 2009.

He also expressed frustration with Egypt's efforts to control its border with Gaza. "If the Egyptians wanted to they could end weapons smuggling to Gaza in 48 hours," Diskin said. "They have only 14 kilometers of border with Gaza."

Yemen's Rising Prominence

To many Americans, 2010 was the year that Yemen appeared on the map.

While the country made global news in 2000 for the al-Qaida bombing of the USS Cole in its waters, in 2009-2010 you could not escape news of Yemen and its regional al-Qaida affiliate, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). From the glossy English-language jihadist magazine, Inspire, to numerous thwarted terrorist plots against the U.S. homeland over the past few years, Yemen has been front and center. Much of this has been because of the rising prominence of American-born jihadists operating in Yemen—namely Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan.

However, as CBS' 60 Minutes outlined on Sunday, there is more to Yemen than that which has made news in the West. To see the video report, click below.

Continue to full text of posting...

Journalist Group Drops Helen Thomas Award

The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) has ended a lifetime achievement award named after Helen Thomas, following "offensive and inappropriate" remarks she made in December about Zionist control over American policy.

Thomas resigned from her longtime position as a White House correspondent in June after being recorded telling Jews to "get the hell out of Palestine" and "go home" to Germany or other countries. After initially apologizing, she since has taken a more defiant tone. "Congress, the White House and Hollywood, Wall Street are owned by the Zionists. No question, in my opinion," she told 300 people gathered at a Michigan community center last month."

She recently told CNN's Soledad O'Brien that she was fired because "you can never mention Israel without being immediately called anti-Semitic, lose your job, or anything else."

The SPJ's board of directors decided to drop her name from the lifetime achievement award last Friday, following a recommendation from the group's executive committee. "While we support Helen Thomas' right to speak her opinion, we condemn her statements in December as offensive and inappropriate," the executive committee said at its January 8^th meeting.

Wayne State University previously dropped her name from an award honoring diversity in journalism.

"A lot of the pro-Israeli people thought I was anti-Semitic, which is very wrong," Thomas recently told O'Brien. "I could call President Obama anything in the book, and no one would say anything. You touch one thing about Israel and you're finished."

A New Era of Islamist/Communist Collaboration

Iran's growing influence in Latin America is "the most disturbing geopolitical development the region is facing today," writes former Costa Rican diplomat Jaime Daremblum. In a column posted at Mexidata.com, Darmblum calls Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez "the key to [Iran's] expanding reach."

Iran's terrorist proxy Hizballah has carried out two of the most horrific terrorist attacks in the Western Hemisphere in modern times. Both of the attacks took place in Buenos Aires. In 1992, the Iranian axis bombed the Israeli Embassy in Argentina, killing 42 people and wounding 242. The second large-scale attack occurred in 1994, when it bombed the largest Jewish community center in the city, killing 82 people and wounding close to 300.

"The official report from Argentine authorities confirmed the direct responsibility of Iran and Hezbollah in both attacks. The report pointed out that Hezbollah had 'followed orders issued directly by Tehran's regime,'" writes Daremblum, who served as Costa Rica's ambassador to the United States from 1998 to 2004 and is currently a senior fellow with the Hudson Institute.

The report pointed out that the terror group had "followed orders issued directly by Tehran's regime." Argentina issued arrest warrants against former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, former intelligence boss Ali Fallahian and four other Iranian nationals.

All of that took place before Chavez came to power in Venezuela and forged alliances with Tehran and the Castro brothers in Cuba. Today, Venezuela provides Cuba billions of dollars in annual subsidies, while Havana plays a large role in Chavez's army, intelligence, police and migration services. Hamas and Hizballah have opened offices in Caracas, according to Daremblum, and U.S. officials use the term "strategic association" to describe the relationship between Venezuela and Iran. Hizballah, Hamas and al-Qaida have channeled hundreds of millions of dollars to parent organizations in the Middle East thanks to fundraising in Venezuela, the Caribbean and the "Triple Frontier" border region shared by Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.

Iran's diplomatic presence in has been expanding in Latin America, as it has reopened embassies in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Uruguay and vastly expanded its "diplomatic" presence in Nicaragua. There are also indications that Hizballah has forged ties with drug cartels, as evidenced by the Colombian government's recent dismantling of a group comprised of Hizballah operatives and cartel members who had raised hundreds of millions of dollars for the Shi'ite group.

Security experts are concerned that the drug gangs' expertise "could be put at the service of terrorists who want to enter the United States without being detected," Darembloom writes.

Awlaki Gets 10-Year Sentence For Role in Contractor's Murder

A Yemeni state security court has sentenced jihadist Imam Anwar al-Awlaki to 10 years in jail in connection with the slaying of a French contractor.

Awlaki, an American citizen who is wanted dead or alive by the U.S. government for his role in providing religious legitimization for terrorist attacks, was convicted in absentia for inciting the October 6, 2010 killing of Jacques Spagnolo. Spagnolo, a French citizen, was working as a contractor with the Sana'a office of OMV, an Austrian oil and chemical firm.

The terrorist who fatally shot Spagnolo, 19-year-old Hisham Mohammed Assem, was sentenced to death. Awlaki's cousin, Othman al-Awlaki, convicted in absentia of inciting the killing of foreigners, was sentenced to eight years in jail.

Security court Judge Muhssein Allwan said the Awlakis encouraged Assem, a security guard at the company, to murder Spagnolo.

"All these acts threaten the stability of the country and the terrorist organizations try to make the country a hotbed for them," Allwan said in announcing the verdict. "The attack is an attack on the public order."

Read more here.

CAIR: How Dare They Point Out Our Mistake!

It crosses the line and should be taken down. But it's wrong to call attention to a poster used by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) to promote an upcoming meeting about alleged FBI abuses in terrorism-related investigations, a group spokesman says.

The Investigative Project on Terrorism broke the story about the poster Wednesday. Published on the group's San Francisco chapter website, it features an animated image of a skulking "FBI" agent in a hat and overcoat lurking outside a row of homes as their front doors slam shut. "Build a Wall of Resistance," it says, "Don't Talk to the FBI."

Even while acknowledging the poster is inappropriate, CAIR national spokesman Ibrahim Hooper blamed the messenger.

"The entire American-Muslim community is under the microscope right now with a cottage industry of Muslim bashers," Hooper told Fox News Thursday. "We're used to this kind of attack by the Islamophobic hate machine and in this case there is some justification in terms of the possibility of misinterpretation of this poster."

The event is called "Know Your Rights and Defend Our Communities from Grand Juries," and is in response to an ongoing investigation into possible terror support by groups in Chicago and Minneapolis. CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab dismissed the investigation as "a waste of taxpayer dollars."

On Thursday, Hooper disavowed any CAIR role in creating the poster, saying he didn't know who made it and that CAIR is among many sponsors of the event promoted. CAIR has organized "Know Your Rights" seminars for years. The message of never talking to the FBI without legal counsel is hammered at each event.

A group of Somali families demonstrated outside a CAIR event in Minneapolis in June 2009, angered that the message might hinder an investigation into a group of 20 young men who were believed to have gone to Somalia to join the terrorist group al-Shabaab.

In 2008, the FBI broke off formal communication with CAIR and its chapters, citing exhibits in a terror-financing trial that linked CAIR founders to a Hamas-support network in America. CAIR's creation was an outgrowth of that effort, an FBI agent said, reading from transcripts of a secret 1993 meeting of Hamas supporters.

Despite a pretty thick record to the contrary from the organization itself and its officials, Hooper claimed CAIR has "a consistent policy of positive and constructive engagement with law enforcement officials."

Hizballah Move May Topple Lebanese Government

As the world awaits the United Nations indictment of Hizballah leadership for the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, members of the terrorist organization and its allies continue attempts to destabilize the Lebanese government. CNN is reporting that members of Hizballah and its allies resigned Wednesday from Lebanon's unity government.

The actions reportedly occurred while Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri was meeting with President Barack Obama. Hariri, the son of the slain former Prime Minister, has refused to disavow the UN tribunal investigating his father's assassination despite Hizballah claims that it is all part of a U.S.-Israeli plot. The resignations, which will likely lead to the collapse of the already fragile unity government, is only the most recent attempt by Hizballah to shut down the UN probe.

Hariri was assassinated by a suicide bomber on February 14, 2005, and since that time the Special Tribunal for Lebanon has been investigating the murder. The tribunal, which was expected to conclude its work by the end of 2010, will reportedly indict at least six Hizballah officials in the plot. Hizballah and its allies have tried to shut down the investigation each opportunity they had.

In one of the more forceful attempts at intimidating the Lebanese government and UN Tribunal, Syria issued arrest warrants for 33 people, including Lebanese judges and international officials, for allegedly misleading the investigation. It was subsequently reported that Hizballah and its allies have detailed plans to seize control of Beirut if the indictments are issued. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley has criticized Hizballah for its "attempt to create a false choice between justice and stability."

Newer Postings   |   Older Postings