ACLU Sues MAS-Run Minneapolis Charter School

A Minneapolis charter school has been sued by the American Civil Liberties Union, which argues taxpayer money is being used to promote religion, in violation of the Constitution's Establishment Clause in the First Amendment.

The Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA) "advances, endorses, and prefers the Muslim religion over other religions or nonsectarian approaches in connection with school activities and fosters entanglement between government and religion," the lawsuit says. It seeks injunctions forcing the school to correct the violations and to "refund to the state of Minnesota the pro rata portion of student aid TIZA has received for its students."

The school has around 430 students in kindergarten through 8^th grade, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports. It received $3.8 million in state funding this academic year. Most of the students live in poverty, the lawsuit notes, yet they do score well on standardized tests.

Still, school officials have tried to keep its administrative practices a secret. Administrative handbooks stress "requirement that information about the operations of TIZA be withheld from the public" and threatens to fire violators. That, the suit says, is inconsistent with running a public school.

TIZA is run by officials at the Muslim American Society's (MAS) Minnesota chapter which control the curriculum and land on which the school is based. This creates conflicts of interest for school administrators, the lawsuit says. In addition,

MAS' stated goal "shall be to attain the pleasure of Allah (God)" and identifies its mission as "to present the message of Islam to Muslims and non-Muslims."

Muslim prayer sessions are held during school hours and religious material is posted on classroom bulletin boards, the lawsuit says. Girls adhere to a stricter dress code than boys and women faculty are required to be "covered from neck to wrist and ankle."

The lawsuit describes the school's namesake, ibn Ziyad, as "a Muslim military leader who conquered portions of what is now Spain and Portugal during the eighth century.

Former Extremist Sees Hypocrisy in Gaza Debate

A former Egyptian radical offers some strong words for those in the "Arab street" and westerners who have come out so strongly against Israel's attempt to neuter Hamas militarily. Tawfik Hamid challenges Israel's critics to be consistent:

"If it truly cared for Muslims' lives, it should have demonstrated in the same numbers and with equal vehemence against the Islamists who murder hundreds of thousands of their fellow Muslims, not to mention the Hamas slaughter of rival Fatah members - women and children included."

Hamid, author of Inside Jihad, an autobiographical account of his life in radical Islamist movements and his transition into a reformist, now lives in America and lectures on the extremist threat.

He might agree with some of the demonstrators that the conflict in Gaza is unnecessary. However, Hamid pins the blame on Hamas as the aggressor:

"If the Palestinians focused on building their society rather than destroying those of others, the whole region would enjoy peace and flourish. Should Palestinians recognize the right of Israel to exist, end terrorism against Jews and nurture a sincere desire to live in peace, they would end their suffering."

His column ran in the Jerusalem Post. Here's hoping U.S. outlets pick it up, too.

Situational Outrage?

Amid all the shrill condemnation over its incursion into Gaza, Jerusalem Post Editor David Horovitz notices a surprising acceptance of the fact that Israel has bombed a number of mosques in Gaza in its campaign to defang Hamas.

The bombings have not been the target of a new wave of protests over the destruction of Muslim houses of worship. Horovitz guesses this is because it is accepted that Hamas desecrated them first by storing explosives in them and because "Islamists know they've been found out."

One bombed mosque was named for Ibrahim al-Maqadma, a Hamas founder and military chief killed by the Israeli military in 2003 in retaliation for a series of Hamas suicide bombings. "There has been no frenzied rush" to deny Israeli claims that the mosques are being used to store weapons and as Hamas command centers, Horovitz writes.

If people aren't going to blame Israel, he wonders why they aren't blaming Hamas for creating the situation:

"Imagine the intra-Jewish storm were a synagogue's sanctity to be compromised in any remotely comparable manner. So where are the Islamic leaders, in Gaza and beyond, bitterly castigating Hamas for its unholy disrespect? And where are the horrified rank and file worshipers?"

It's not the only violation of the rules of warfare by Hamas, he notes:

"Civilians are supposed to be off limits. So too, by extension, homes, schools and places of worship. Yet Hamas stores its ammunition and manufacturers its weaponry in precisely such places."

Hamas fighters are wearing street clothes to blend in with civilians and keeping children nearby as they launch missiles toward Israel, in hopes it will dissuade an Israeli response.

Seeking to Explain the "Tidal Wave of Indignation"

A terrorist group targets Israeli civilians with suicide bombings and rockets aimed at civilian centers and the world offers a collective yawn. But when Israel responds forcefully, seeking to neuter Hamas' ability to kill, "a tidal wave of indignation" results.

King's College professor Efraim Karsh wonders why this happens in this article for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. Answering his own question, Karsh blames anti-Semitism.

It can't be simply a concern over civilian deaths, he argues. Conflicts in Darfur, Congo and Chechnya have led to exponentially greater civilian casualties, yet:

"None of these tragedies saw protesters flock into the streets of London, Paris, Berlin, Milan, Oslo, Dublin, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Washington, and Fort Lauderdale (to give a brief list), as has been the case during the Gaza crisis."

He notes that no movement toward Palestinian statehood occurred in the 19 years Egypt and Jordan controlled the West Bank and Gaza and that some Arab regimes have treated Palestinians far worse than this. But Israeli action invariably sparks a reflexive outcry including "despicable comparisons of Israel to Nazi Germany and apartheid South Africa" that Karsh argues are rooted in anti-Jewish sentiment:

"Put differently, the Palestinians are but the latest lightning rod unleashed against the Jews, their supposed victimization reaffirming the millenarian demonization of the Jews in general, and the medieval blood libel - that Jews delight in the blood of others - in particular."

It's a provocative essay. Clearly it does not speak to all critics of the Israeli response, including those who express concern that the move could backfire and create more harm than good. But Karsh does have a point in his basic equation – terrorist actions draw light rebukes and a global shrug. Efforts to impede the terrorists' ability to act are treated as unforgivable forms of aggression.

British Brotherhood Company

The battle between Israel and Hamas in Gaza certainly is an emotional one for all sides. People are dying and, regardless of your view, that is a tragedy. But deference to such dire events is no excuse for letting advocates make outrageous claims without challenge.

The BBC should have figured this out by now, but it is drawing criticism for an appearance on an Arabic language program last week by Kamal El-Helbawy, a Muslim Brotherhood figure and founder of the Muslim Association of Britain. As the Telegraph reported, Helbawy said Israeli children were fair targets for attack because they are "future soldiers."

He also repeated a meme that Israeli children are taught math through examples involving the killing of Arabs:

"In elementary school they pose the following math problem - 'In your village, there are 100 Arabs. If you killed 40, how many Arabs would be left for you to kill?' This is taught in the Israeli curriculum."

Critics say Helbawy's words could incite attacks. "That goes in people's ears and spreads like wildfire and the listeners think it's OK to go and murder Israelis," Palestine Media Watch Director Itamar Marcus told the newspaper.

Helbawy calls himself a moderate. But he has a history of slurring Jews and Christians and advocating conflict. Officials barred him from coming to the U.S. in 2006.

HLF Prosecutor Honored

Congratulations to James Jacks, the Dallas-based federal prosecutor who helped lead the successful prosecution of officials at the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) for illegally supporting Hamas.

The Dallas Morning News reports that Jacks was named prosecutor of the year by the North Texas Crime Commission and that he's been appointed as acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas. Jason Trahan's report quotes Crime Commission president Neil Devroy explaining that Jacks was honored because "The guilty verdicts were judged to have impact far beyond North Texas because they are important milestones in America's efforts against financiers of terrorism."

Before a U.S. Treasury Department designation shut down the charity in December 2001, HLF routed more than $12 million to the terrorist group.

Hamas's Human Shields

One of the more heated arguments surrounding the Israeli-Hamas conflict in Gaza involves civilian casualties. There's a lot of talk of how densely populated Gaza is, but a new report from the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center shows how Hamas has used its control over Gaza to spread its terror infrastructure among the masses.

The 81-page report details how population centers are used to house military personnel, bombs and other explosives and as bases from which to fire rockets at Israeli cities.

It cites the number of secondary explosions following an Israeli-bombing, which indicates the targets, in fact, stored Hamas munitions. It's impossible to assess how many civilian casualties are due to those secondary explosions. But the report makes clear that Hamas deliberately urges women and children to serve as human shields:

"During Operation Cast Lead and in many instances in the past, the terrorist organizations have exploited IDF warnings to civilians to evacuate their residences before attacks to send children and adolescents to the relevant locations, knowing the IDF will not deliberately attack civilians. Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya and many other Hamas leaders (such as Nizar Rayyan, killed in Operation Cast Lead) have openly boasted about their use of their human shield tactics."

While Israeli critics throw the phrase "war crimes" around, the report cites specific violations by Hamas:

"In particular, Hamas must be called to cease its deliberate attacks against wholly civilian objects in attempts to maximize damage to civilians and civilian property, and avoid using civilians and civilian population centers as `human shields'.

These continuing grave violations of basic principles of the Laws of Armed Conflict, as carried out by Hamas and other terrorist organizations, demonstrate their complete disregard for the well-being of civilians on both sides of this conflict, posing a direct assault, not only on the law, but on humanity itself."

Video Shows UN Ambulance Helping Hamas Gunmen

As United Nations officials continue to insist no Hamas fighters were near the Gaza school hit by Israeli artillery fire Tuesday, they might do well to check out this fairly shocking video on Liveleak.com.

 

In the last 10 seconds or so, Hamas gunmen clearly are seen jumping into a UN-marked ambulance fleeing what appears to be approaching Israeli fire. We can't vouch for the video, but it looks like it was posted by a Hamas sympathizer, given the title's reference to "Freedom Fighters in the Gaza Strip."

 

UN officials insist there was no fire coming from the school were at least 40 people were killed,  but an Associated Press report cites two witnesses who said low level Hamas operatives were among the dead and had been "firing mortar shells from near the school." 

The UN needs to ensure its ambulances are being used to treat the wounded and not cornered Hamas gunmen.

Homeland Security Appeals Qatanani Ruling

The Department of Homeland Security has appealed a judge's order granting permanent residency to a New Jersey imam with ties to Hamas. Mohammad Qatanani's failure to report a 1993 arrest and detention by Israeli officials when he applied for his green card is at the heart of the government appeal, the Hackensack Record reports.

Qatanani denies having Hamas links and said that, while he was detained by Israel, he did not include the information on his application because he was not convicted of a crime. A federal judge sided with him last September.

Qatanani had widespread support in New Jersey, despite a record of condemning Christians to eternal hellfire and his attendance at numerous radical conferences in the United States. For example, Qatanani spoke at the 1999 Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP) conference in Chicago. The IAP served as a Hamas propaganda arm in the United States and was part of a secret Muslim Brotherhood committee assembled to help Hamas politically and financially.

The appeal is before the Board of Immigration Appeals.

Moral Inversion in Gaza

There is no shortage of analysis and commentary concerning Israel's attempt to destroy Hamas' ability to fire rockets indiscriminately into civilian communities. But Melanie Phillips makes several key points in this column published Sunday in The Spectator that are worth reading.

She notes that those speaking the loudest for Israeli restraint were silent about the "bombardment of Israeli towns by more than 6000 rockets in the past six years, deliberately targeting innocent civilians," and continue to ignore Hamas' use of Gaza residents as human shields. When those innocents are injured or killed, it fuels the cries of disproportionate force and demands for a ceasefire. No one challenges the terror masters to stop placing them in harm's way:

"The worst thing is the moral inversion, in which the murderous victimisation of innocent Israelis is ignored while their murderers are described as ‘civilians' when they are finally killed by the Israelis -- who are demonstrably taking care to avoid civilian casualties wherever possible."

Phillips points out reporting in a New York Times story which demonstrates clearly the nature of those Israel fights. The article describes a Palestinian woman's search for her husband in a Gaza hospital. It turned out the man was shot in the head, "like five others killed at the hospital this way in 24 hours," (emphasis added) for allegedly collaborating with Israel. "A crowd at the hospital showed no mercy after the shooting, which was widely observed," the Times story continued.

So much for the Hippocratic Oath. Phillips, meanwhile, offers a small ray of hope by citing Reform Party of Syria President Farid Ghadry's refreshingly candid assessment:

"We Arabs must be the ones to stop Hamas and Hizbullah, rather than support their demonic and twisted logic of resisting development, enlightenment, and progress of the region. Even when development and enlightenment stare them in the face, their instinct is to destroy them pretending to safeguard their honor, the mechanics of which supersede all else including a happy life of fulfillment and accomplishments. So while we abhor violence of all kind, Israel's campaign against Hamas must continue to the bitter end not only for the sake of peace but also to help Arabs realize they have a choice: Destroy like Gaza or develop like Dubai."

Finally, for a more tongue-in-cheek essay, see Martin Lewis' entry on the Huffington Post.

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