Islamic Saudi Academy Grad Held Without Bail After Trying to Board Plane With 7-Inch Blade

A Saudi Arabian man living in Tampa is being held without bond after being arrested June 4 for attempting to board a US Airways flight carrying a concealed weapon. Raed Abdul-Rahman Alsaif was trying to fly to Phoenix.

According to a criminal complaint by Gregory J. Mertiz, Special Agent with the Transportation Security Administration in Tampa, Alsaif submitted three bags for screening to TSA officers. A Transportation Security Officer saw a large butcher knife inside one of the bags. The knife was "artfully concealed between the outside fabric and the expandable pull handles of the bag," the complaint said, and the weapon was stored in a way that would have been "accessible to him [Alsaif] in flight."

Alsaif initially was arrested for violating state concealed weapon laws. He told police a friend gave him the bag and he didn't know there was a knife inside it. Police questioned the friend, who said that the bag wasn't his and that he had not given Alsaif a bag or a knife.

Raed Alsaif is a 2003 graduate of the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA) in Alexandria, Virginia, the same high school that was the subject of a report in June 2008 by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) which alleged that ISA was using radical Saudi textbooks. According to the report, passages in the textbooks used at ISA justify violent actions and intolerance to the reader including killing Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, apostates (converts from Islam) and adulterers. School officials say they have deleted the offending passages.

In 2003, the same year that Alsaif graduated from ISA, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, a U.S. citizen and ISA graduate and valedictorian was arrested in Medina, Saudi Arabia on terrorism related charges. In 2005, Ali was convicted on nine counts including providing material resources to Al-Qaeda and conspiracy to assassinate President George W. Bush. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Alsaif has been previously arrested on drug charges and driving without a license in Hillsborough County.

In addition to his current concealed weapon charges, authorities found that Alsaif has been living in the country illegally. Alsaif had been a University of Tampa student, but was dismissed for poor academic performance in May 2009. Alsaif failed to file a timely appeal for his dismissal. As detailed in Alsaif's Order of Detention, he is now in violation of his student visa and subject to deportation. The court document also claimed that there are reasons to believe that Alsaif "has not been entirely candid since his arrest."

Court Ruling Cuts off Saudi 9/11 Litigation

Saudi Arabia and four of its princes are immune from 9/11-related civil litigation after Monday's U.S. Supreme Court decision not to take up an appeal of a lower court decision that ruled against 9/11 families. The move keeps intact a ruling by New York's 2nd District Court of Appeals dismissing the lawsuits. In a statement, attorneys for the family of the FBI's former New York Executive Agent in Charge John O'Neill, who died at the World Trade Center, expressed disappointment at the ruling:

"We note, however, that there are still cases pending in the lower courts against other sovereign nations unaffected by the Supreme Court's ruling.

We note, too, that there are still cases pending against other defendants seeking to hold them accountable for their actions in assisting Al Qaeda."

Earlier Monday, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported on a government report which found a Saudi-financed charity, the Saudi High Commission, helped supply weapons to the Somali warlord responsible for killing 18 U.S. soldiers in the 1993 Black Hawk Down battle. According to the Inquirer:

"The Saudi Arabian High Commission has received humanitarian supplies from Sudan and Iraq; however the crates from the Sudan and Iraq have also contained military weapons, ammunition and supplies, usually hidden in false bottom containers," the intelligence report said.

The intelligence document does not make clear when the arms shipments took place or whether the weapons were employed in the Mogadishu battle. It also warned that its findings were raw, 'not finally evaluated intelligence.'"

The Defense Intelligence Agency report has been in the public domain since 1997, the Federation of American Scientists obtained it through a Freedom of Information Act Request. Read the memo here.

CNN on Megahed...by the Numbers

CNN ran a report Monday about Youssef Megahed, the Egyptian resident alien and former University of South Florida student (where convicted terror supporter Sami Al-Arian was once a professor and the current leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Ramadan Shallah, also taught). Megahed was acquitted in U.S. District Court in Tampa of federal explosives charges stemming from an ill-fated road trip to South Carolina with an associate who pled guilty to providing material support to terrorists. After Megahed's acquittal, the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Tampa took Megahed into custody and charged him with removal (deportation) violations, ostensibly on terrorism/security related violations that are believed to rely on evidence related to his criminal case, even though he was not convicted.

As reported by the IPT in April and again in June, Megahed's supporters and apologists argue Megahed is being treated unfairly. Some even claim the immigration case amounts to double jeopardy. The law, however, is clear. Deportation proceedings are civil/administrative in nature, not criminal, and foreign nationals (aliens) in the United States may be subject to removal based on a lesser standard of evidence than "beyond a reasonable doubt" in criminal cases, even if the evidence is very similar.

There is no double jeopardy. This process is not used by the government frequently and a decision to proceed requires significant review by high-ranking officials within DHS, sometimes in consultation with the Department of Justice.

Today's CNN article contained 55 paragraphs. Of those, only five reflected the U.S. Government's position in the case. The rest of the article describe Megahed's "plight" and how the former foreman of Megahed's criminal case jury traveled to the Florida detention center to personally visit with Megahed and his family.

The network report did identify a few facts that are worth noting, including that a government search of a computer found at Megahed's residence found "numerous videos, documents and an internet search history that supports Islamic extremism, jihad against the United States..." Also, CNN quotes a former Miami U.S. Attorney as saying, "The government doesn't use this a lot, but I think this is an arrow in the quiver that needs to stay because there are those cases where the government needs to do everything in its power to keep us safe, from some of those same individuals." Also, Guy Lewis states, "In one context, the real question is, are you going to jail for a long time. The other context is, are you going to get to live among us?"

The other 50 paragraphs clearly side with Megahed.

Maine Fines Group for Allegedly "Inflammatory" Mailing on Muslim School Program

The state of Maine is fining the Christian Action Network (CAN) $4,000 for mailings the state considers to include an "inflammatory anti-Muslim message."

The fines are based on two regulatory violations that CAN denies committing.

"These bogus charges and fines the State of Maine has imposed are nothing but an attempt to stifle our free speech and silence our organization from speaking out about the steady creep of radical Islam in America," CAN president Martin Mawyer told Patrick Poole at Pajamas Media. "We fully intend to appeal the state's penalties because if they successfully silence us here, we will quickly find that we won't be able to speak out anywhere."

At issue is a mailing CAN sent to state residents urging them to protest petition Maine's governor against proposed school curriculum that could require "students to pray to Allah, dress up as Muslims, adopt Muslim names, and learn the five pillars of Islam." Similar exercises for other religions are not a part of the program.

Poole didn't get far trying to get state officials to specify what was inflammatory about the mailing. But, he said part of the fine is rooted in CAN's lack of a proper registration for the mailing and the unsanctioned use of Gov. John Baldacci's name. CAN denies the allegations.

Given the screeds that fly around during a political campaign, it's difficult to imagine how Maine's action makes any sense. Read Poole's full report here.

NYPD: Hizballah More Dangerous Than Al Qaeda

Hizballah has greater capability than Al Qaeda of staging a mass-casualty terrorist attack in the United States, according to a top New York Police Department (NYPD) official.

"Hizballah at the strategic level, with its state sponsors, more or less decided not to attack the United States' interest directly in the continental United States at all," NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Counterterrorism Richard Falkenrath said Tuesday. "But our assessment is, if they ever change their minds, they have the capacity to inflict terrible damage on the United States, and I worry about that a lot. We haven't seen it yet, but I don't like to be in a position where our defense lies in the strategic decision of a terrorist organization."

In remarks to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Falkenrath added that he had seen strategic analyses of what could persuade Hizballah to alter its strategic decision not to attack the United States. Falkenrath said those would include "direct U.S. military operations against the Hizballah leadership" as well as attacks against Iran, the terror group's state sponsor.

Hizballah has focused its terrorist actions abroad because "they would have too much heat on them if they did attack the United States, and they can accomplish most of their interests without it," Falkenrath said.

Read more about Falkenrath's remarks here.

New Jersey Resident Heads To Prison For Aiding Hizballah

A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced New Jersey resident Saleh Elahwal to 17 months in prison for providing material support to the terrorist organization Hizballah. Elahwal pled guilty in December to aiding the broadcasts of Al-Manar, a Hizballah-operated television channel which produces hate programming like this.

Elahwal's attorney, Edward Sapone, seemed relieved at the sentence and acknowledged that providing satellite access and technological help to a terrorist organization like Hizballah is not activity protected by the First Amendment.

In December Elahwal admitted that during 2005 and 2006 he helped provide satellite transmission services for Al-Manar. Elahwal and co-conspirator Javed Iqbal received $112,000 from Al-Manar through HDTV Limited, a Brooklyn company they operated. Iqbal also pleaded guilty in December to providing material support to Hizballah and was sentenced to 69 months in prison. Read more about Elahwal and Iqbal's guilty pleas here.

Read more about Hizballah's longstanding efforts to raise money and smuggle weapons from the United States here and here.

Khamenei Outs Obama's Pre-Election Letter

The Washington Times scores a scoop today with confirmation that President Obama sent a letter to Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei before the June 12 elections seeking what a source told the newspaper was "cooperation in regional and bilateral relations" and a resolution of the dispute over Iran's nuclear program.

Khamenei actually referenced the letter in his sermon last Friday in which he ominously affirmed the results of the disputed re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and threatened protestors with a harsh response, notes reporter Barbara Slavin. She cites this translation:

"On the one hand, they [the Obama administration] write a letter to us to express their respect for the Islamic Republic and for re-establishment of ties, and on the other hand they make these remarks. Which one of these remarks are we supposed to believe? Inside the country, their agents were activated. Vandalism started. Sabotaging and setting fires on the streets started. Some shops were looted. They wanted to create chaos. Public security was violated. The violators are not the public or the supporters of the candidates. They are the ill-wishers, mercenaries and agents of the Western intelligence services and the Zionists."

As Caroline Glick notes, that's not even close to the craziest thing Khamenei said. But you wouldn't know the extent of it from media coverage.

"The [New York] Times did not mention that Khamenei ascribed world events to a Zionist conspiracy which he believes controls the US. It similarly failed to mention his long rant against the US for the FBI's 1993 raid on David Koresh's Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.

Had the Times - and other major media outlets - properly reported Khamenei's speech, they would have made clear to their readers that he is not a rational thinker. His view of world events is deeply distorted by his hatreds and prejudices and paranoia."

There's a spirited debate over the wisdom of Obama's outreach to Iran. Slavin's article concludes with an assessment from Iran expert Patrick Clawson, who said the President's tougher language Tuesday is a sign even Obama knows that if they ever existed, "the prospects for a successful engagement are declining."

Justice Department Recruits Civil Servants for ISNA Convention

Jennifer Rubin of Pajamas Media (PJM) has obtained a copy of an internal Justice Department e-mail urging employees to participate in the Islamic Society of North America's upcoming convention.

"Volunteers needed for unique opportunity. The civil rights division will be sponsoring an information booth at the islamic society of north america convention here at the washington convention center over the july 4^th weekend. The division needs volunteers to work at the booth at times on July 3 through July 5," according to the memo, which describes the ISNA convention as "a huge cultural event in the muslim community."

According to the e-mail obtained by Rubin, the Civil Rights Division is seeking attorneys who can "engage visitors in discussion" about the division's work, and wants "non-attorney staff, law students and student interns who would be willing to hand out literature and answer basic questions." The e-mail concludes: "If you are willing to volunteer for this unique opportunity, please submit your contavt [sic] information along with the dates you can volunteer to the Human Resources Office email account."

Why is the Justice Department soliciting civil service employees to work at ISNA's convention? Rubin notes our past reporting that ISNA was founded in 1981 "by Muslim Brotherhood members who had been part of the Muslim Students Association." Its founders included convicted Palestinian Islamic Jihad operative Sami Al-Arian.

ISNA was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Hamas terror-support prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF), which resulted last year in the convictions of five former HLF officials on 108 counts.

So federal prosecutors with access to stacks of bank records, including checks and vouchers from an ISNA subsidiary to senior Hamas terrorist operative Mousa Abu Marzook, consider ISNA a co-conspirator in a plot to route millions of dollars to terrorists. At the same time, their colleagues in Washington court volunteers to work at holiday weekend at the co-conspirator's conference.

The e-mail was right. That is a unique opportunity. Read more about ISNA here.

Florida Group Sues Hotel for Cancelling Wilders Event

A Florida group has sued a Delray Beach hotel for the last-minute cancellation of its April conference featuring Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders.

But the real targets of the litigation aren't named in the suit, acknowledges Tom Trento, director of the Florida Security Council. His group wants to learn who, if anyone, pressured the Delray Beach Marriott to pull the rug out from underneath the council's Free Speech Summit.

"By this lawsuit we intend to find out who was really behind that cancellation," Trento said in a videotaped statement on the group's website.

Wilders' views on confronting radical Islam make him a controversial figure. He advocates banning the Quran. In a speech last week, he called for limiting immigration from Muslim countries, deporting those Muslims who violate the law, closing "all Islamic schools for they are fascist institutions" and freezing construction of new mosques. He has been denied entry into Great Britain in an attempt to appease radical Muslims and deny him free speech while jihadists calling for death to America and to Jews were receiving visas into the country.

He has been embraced by some as a free speech hero for his stance and for the resulting efforts to silence him. The April Florida Security Council event is not the only incident of a hotel withdrawing from a reservation at the last minute. In May, Nashville's Loews Vanderbilt hotel dropped reservations from a group called the New English Review to hold a symposium which was to feature a speech by Wilders via video link.

According to the Nashville Post website:

"Tom Negri, managing director of the Loews Vanderbilt, told NashvillePost.com this morning that no group had contacted him encouraging him to cancel but that he and the corporate office canceled the event 'for the health, safety and well-being of our guests and employees.'"

The Florida Security Council lawsuit, and exhibits including its correspondence with the hotel, can be seen here.

State Department Site Features Radical Mosque

The State Department web portal www.america.gov continues to whitewash radical Islamists. As we've reported, publications showcasing Muslims in America rely on radical Islamist organizations with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, while ignoring non-Islamist Muslims. Another example is a video, "Eid in America," about a Muslim religious holiday that can be seen here or here.

The video depicts the Dar Al Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Va. as a model of American diversity. It is packed with statements and vignettes portraying congregants as patriots who love everything about the United States. But the video fails to say anything about the longstanding history of connections between the mosque, its leadership and radicalism.

On Dar Al Hijrah's website, there are links to the sites of two prominent organizations linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, an 80-year-old religious movement that seeks to make Islamic religious law, or Shariah, the controlling basis for society: The Muslim American Society (MAS) and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

The imam of Dar Al Hijrah is Shaker Elsayed, a former MAS secretary-general, who has spoken admiringly of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan Al-Banna, telling the Chicago Tribune that his ideas are "the closest reflection of how Islam should be in this life." Elsayed also accused the Justice Department of unfairly targeting Muslims like Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, who was convicted of joining al Qaeda while overseas and plotting to assassinate President George W. Bush. Abu-Ali, currently serving a 30-year prison sentence, worshiped at Dar Al Hijrah.

The Eid video includes Esam Omeish, a member of Dar Al Hijrah's board of directors who was recently defeated in his bid for the Democratic nomination in District 35 in the Virginia House of Delegates. In 2004, Omeish praised Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder of the Hamas terror group who had been assassinated a month earlier by Israel as "our beloved Sheikh Ahmed Yassin." In 2007, Omeish was forced to resign from a Virginia immigration panel after a video was posted showing him praising Palestinians who chose "the jihad way" to liberate their land from Israel.

Read more about Omeish here.

In addition to Abu-Ali, other terrorists who attended Dar Al Hijrah have included Abdurahman Alamoudi, currently serving a 23-year federal prison sentence for illegal financial dealings with Libya and for participating in a plot by Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi to assassinate Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Another was Mousa Abu Marzook, a senior Hamas leader deported to Jordan in 1997. In March 2001, September 11 hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Hani Hanjour were worshipping at Dar Al Hijrah when they met Eyad al Rababah after services. According to page 230 of the September 11 commission report, al Rababah helped them find an apartment. Al Rababah was deported to Jordan after being convicted in a fraudulent driver's license scheme.

There are thousands of mosques in America. This is the one the State Department chose to showcase.

Newer Postings   |   Older Postings