Ex-CAIR Official Again Attacks the U.S. on Iranian TV

Former CAIR official Cyrus McGoldrick recently traveled to Iran and again attacked the United States on Iranian state-controlled Press TV again, Front Page Magazine reports, citing McGoldrick's own social media posts.

McGoldrick, who served as advocacy director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) New York office, glorified Iran's confrontational posture vis-a-vis the West and Gulf states.

"Iran as always continues to be an opponent of ... injustice, an opponent of imperialism in the region and so it only makes sense ... that you see these very familiar allies, the same cast of characters, the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and now its regional allies standing against it [Iran] once again."

McGoldrick, who indicated he has relatives in Iran, specifically praised the Islamic Republic's active role in the Yemen conflict. A recent United Nations report confirms that Iran has delivered massive shipments of weapons to Houthi rebels in Yemen since 2009.

Iran claims that current shipments to Yemen are solely for humanitarian purposes and McGoldrick gladly plays the role of an unofficial Iranian spokesperson towing party line.

"This is just one more grotesque... example where Iran is being accused of what their opponents are already doing... Iran is sending much-needed aid, is being blamed for escalating a conflict which it certainly did no part in starting...it is very important and I want to put forward the immense pride that we have in the people who are on that boat..." McGoldrick said on Iranian TV.

CAIR officials routinely appeared on Press TV to criticize the United States during McGoldrick's tenure. But CAIR seemed to back away from that activity as it drew more public attention.

McGoldrick had no hesitancy to lash out at the United States, saying Yemen's conflict "is about the American hegemony throughout the Muslim world, throughout the world at whole."

On Thursday, he laughed off Joe Kaufman's article calling attention to his statements.

Since 2012, McGoldrick has been on Press TV 17 times, mostly to denounce the United States government, including President Obama, and law enforcement as evil and heavily biased against Muslims.

In a 2012 interview on Press TV, McGoldrick accused the FBI of using "tremendous resources to spy on Muslims, to demonize Muslims and to entrap Muslims..."

His affinity with the Iranian regime is extensive. In August 2012, he promoted an "al-Quds Day" rally in New York, featuring vehement anti-Israel rhetoric at the Iranian-inspired event.

Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini created Quds Day, a commemorative day used by subsequent Iranian leaders to call for Israel's destruction and publicly delegitimize the West.

Critics of Islam Continue to Face Threats

French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo suspended a journalist who received death threats for writing articles critical of Islamist radicalism, according to Le Monde and reported by Daily Mail. In a move that many view as hypocritical, the magazine called columnist Zineb El Rhazoui to a preliminary dismissal hearing.

According to the French-Moroccan writer, Charlie Hebdo's management is seeking to punish her for being outspoken about the direction the magazine has taken since the Islamist terrorist attack at the magazine's office which killed 12 people.

"I am shocked and appalled that a management that has received so much support after the January attacks could show so little support for one of its employees, who is under pressure like everyone in the team and has faced threats," Rhazoui told Le Monde.

Rhazoui and her husband, Moroccan writer Jaouad Benaïssi, were subjected to death threats from Twitter accounts claiming affiliation with the Islamic State. Photos of Benaïssi and his workplace were published along with suggestions on how to kill the couple.

Thousands of people on social media expressed their disapproval of the magazine's action on social media, including other Charlie Hebdo writers, accusing the magazine of blatant hypocrisy.

"...It is nasty and unfair to call a disciplinary meeting for a member of staff who is still suffering incredibly...It is paradoxical that the magazine receives prizes for freedom of expression while disciplining a journalist whose life is under threat," writer Patrick Pelloux said.

Furthermore, senior Charlie Hebdo cartoonist Renaud Luzier - who drew the front-page cartoon of the prophet Mohammed for the magazine after the terrorist attack - has resigned citing personal reasons. He asserts that his resignation was mainly a result of personal difficulties ensuing after the terrorist attack and the trauma of losing his friends and co-workers. Luzier claims the decision has nothing to do with internal divisions at the magazine following Rhazoui's suspension.

Meanwhile, a suspected jihadist standing a criminal trial for planning a robbery and possession of firearms is accused of discussing plans to attack Dutch politician Geert Wilders. According to Dutch intelligence, the suspect returned from fighting in Syria's civil war.

These developments show that people, from writers to politicians, critical of Islamism and radical extremism continue to be threatened with their lives.

Islamists Hack Another Secular Writer to Death in Bangladesh

For the third time this year, Islamist radicals in Bangladesh hacked a secular writer to death in public.

Four masked men chased down Ananta Bijoy Das Tuesday morning as Das left his home in Sylhet. They hacked him with machetes after running him down.

Ananta Bijoy Das

"Ananta died on the spot," Metropolitan Police Commissioner Kamrul Hasan told the Daily Star. "Ananta was an organiser of local progressive publication outlet Jukti (logic) and a relentless writer on science."

Das was 31.

Oyasiqur Rahman Babu

On March 30, Oyasiqur Rahman Babu, 27, was murdered on his way to work. Like Das, Babu's writings criticized religious fundamentalism.

Avijit Roy

On Feb. 26, American citizen Avijit Roy was killed, and his wife severely injured, when attackers jumped them at a book fair. Roy had been threatened for his writings against religion, including his statement that religious extremism is like a virus: "if allowed to spread [it] will wreak havoc on society in epidemic proportions."

An al-Qaida branch claimed credit for Roy and Babu's murders.

A fourth secular activist, Ahmed Rajib Haider, was attacked and killed in February 2013.

Das, Babu and Roy were part of a movement, Shahbag, which advocated the death penalty for Islamist leaders convicted for murders and other attacks at the end of the 1971 war that saw Bangladesh break away from Pakistan.

An official with the Islamic Circle of North America, Ashrafuzzman Khan, was convicted in October 2013 in connection with the kidnapping and murder of 18 intellectuals at the war's end. He remains in the United States.

In a posting Monday that turned out to be his last, Das lashed out at police over their failures to stop the attacks on Roy and Babu even though officers were nearby. "Later the police claimed there had apparently been no dereliction of duty. One would love to know what their duty was," he wrote.

He called them "paper tigers when women were being molested one by one before an audience of thousands at the new year celebrations." When protests resulted, "the police pounced on them, injuring university students with the butts of their guns and their boots. Here too I was told that the police had not abandoned its responsibility. But I'm very keen to know what the real responsibility of the police is."

Das, along with Haider, Roy and Babu, died because his opinions were deemed unacceptable to some of Bangladesh's radical Islamists.

But this is an international phenomenon that shows no sign of waning.

Last week in Texas, two radical Islamists tried to massacre people who attended a cartoon exhibit and contest involving the Muslim prophet Muhammad. And, of course, 12people were gunned down at the offices of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in January by two brothers who boasted they had "avenged the prophet" by slaying those who dared to publish his caricature.

Report: Hamas Recruiting Students in Malaysia, Training Terrorists in Turkey

Hamas is actively recruiting Palestinians studying in Malaysia to join the terrorist organization, according to an indictment of Hamas operative Waseem Qawasmeh, the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC) reports. In a separate instance, a captured Hamas terrorist told interrogators he was sent to Malaysia, along with nine others, in order to train using hang gliders for conducting a terrorist attack against Israel.

Qawasmeh was charged in March with working with a banned organization and receiving money from it. In his indictment, prosecutors allege that Hamas directs Palestinian students and lecturers to engage in significant cultural and social activities at the International Islamic University Malaysia. Through these activities, Hamas operatives recruit and finance people to train in Turkey for future deployment to the West Bank and carry out attacks against Israel.

Israel's domestic intelligence agency believes that 40 Palestinian students were recruited to Hamas' military wing this way.

Qawasmeh's indictment refers to Hamas operating bases in Malaysia and Turkey and says Qawasmeh pledged allegiance to the group in December 2013. Ma'an Khatib, a university professor who is responsible for Hamas' operations in Malaysia, allegedly was present for the ceremony. Last year, Qawasmeh participated in Hamas' social activities program and was recruited to the Muslim Brotherhood by Mustafa Nijm, the head of Hamas' da'wah (Islamic outreach) committee at the Malaysian university.

Malaysian officials deny the allegations, but ITIC assessments accuse local Malaysian authorities of allowing Hamas to operate in the university.

Qawasmeh also received funds from another Hamas recruiter and was subsequently encouraged to partake in a Hamas financed training course in Turkey. After their training, recruits are sent to the West Bank to join Hamas' terrorist infrastructure in the Palestinian territory and carry out orders directed by senior Hamas officials in Turkey.

Hamas' international terrorist headquarters are based in Turkey and led by Salah Al-Arouri, a senior member responsible for enhancing Hamas operations in the West Bank. Last year, Israel uncovered an extensive Hamas plot to overthrow the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, orchestrated by Al-Arouri and other terrorist officials in Turkey.

Al-Arouri's Hamas connection and activities are well known to U.S. law enforcement officials.

Turkey, a NATO-member, openly supports Hamas politically and financially. It remains to be seen whether the United States or other members of the Western security alliance will apply pressure on Turkey to cease backing a designated terrorist organization committed to the destruction of Israel.

George Galloway and the "Vile Zionist Hyenas"

British MP George Galloway, friend to Hamas in Gaza, Saddam Hussein and Bashar al-Assad and other dictators, lost his bid for re-election to Parliament representing Bradford West Thursday by a 2-1 margin.

Newcomer Naz Shah, a Muslim feminist of Pakistani descent, won 19,977 votes to the incumbent Galloway's 8,557.

During the campaign, Shah told of her roots in poverty and domestic violence, including an abandoning father, an abusive step-father, and a forced marriage as a teenager in Pakistan. Galloway thought it was a good idea to challenge Shah's story and call her a liar.

While Galloway is notoriously anti-Israel – last August he "declared Bradford an Israel-free zone ... We don't want any Israeli goods. We don't want any Israeli services. We don't want any Israeli academics, coming to the university or the college." But Thursday's drubbing in the district with a large conservative Muslim community, seemed to turn on issues much closer to home.

While he congratulated the Labour party on winning the seat, he seemed more peeved by "others who are already celebrating: the venal, the vile, the racists and the Zionists will all be celebrating."

Judging by social media reactions, people of all stripes seem to be rejoicing at Galloway's humiliating loss.

Galloway promised we haven't seen the last of him:

"The hyena can bounce on the lion's grave but it can never be a lion and in any case, I'm not in my grave. As a matter of fact I'm going off now to plan the next campaign."

That's likely true. Galloway previously represented Bethnal Green in Parliament before losing badly in 2010. He then won the Bradford West seat in 2012.

Hamas Accused of Bulldozing Salafist Mosque Amid Rising Tensions

An Islamic State (ISIS) affiliate accused Hamas of destroying one of its mosques in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, the Jerusalem Post reports.

On Monday, an ISIS-affiliated organization reportedly detonated an explosive device near Hamas' security headquarters used to train police recruits.

These developments indicate rising tensions exist between Hamas and groups affiliated with the Islamic State in Gaza. Before Monday's bombing, the ISIS affiliate threatened various Hamas security officers, publishing some of their names and photos, after Hamas arrested several Salafist jihadi supporters. The ISIS affiliate called on "all of our soldiers" to act against Hamas if the Salafist prisoners were not released.

"Hamas and its security forces have 72 hours from the release of this statement to free all Salafist (jihadist) prisoners...all options are open to us to respond to Hamas," read the statement.

Ansar al-Dawleh al-Islamiyeh (Supporters of the Islamic State) claims that Hamas used three bulldozers Sunday to demolish the mosque in Deir Al-Balah. Hamas did not remove copies of the Quran before destroying the mosque, the Jerusalem Post's Khaled Abu Toameh reported on Twitter.

"...in light of Hamas' latest action, we renew our allegiance to Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi and call on him to strengthen his influence, to open up a war in Palestine in order to unite together in a war against the Jews and their accomplices," a statement from the ISIS affiliate said.

Hamas did not publicly comment on the accusations; however, sources close to the terrorist organization said that the bulldozed building was a Salafi-jihadist office and not a mosque.

The ISIS group accused Hamas of acting worse than the "Jewish occupiers," according to Israel NRG and reported by Algeimeiner.

"Armed men from Hamas came to Deir Al-Balah and destroyed the mosque, acting in a way that even the Jewish occupiers and the Americans have not acted," the ISIS group tweeted.

Canadian Homeland Security Adviser Suspended for Islamist Associations

An adviser for Public Safety Canada was suspended following a French-language TVA report that outlines his controversial views and relationship with organizations associated with terrorist financing, Point de Bascule reports.

According to the report, Hussein Hamdani encouraged student activists to "Islamize campus politics" in a 1996 document published by the Muslim Students Association. He called for Muslim students to influence decisions concerning issues such as same-sex marriage.

"It is the duty of the MSA to bring morality back into the campus. For example, the Student Union should not have to debate over endorsing legislation in favor of same-sex benefits, this issue should clearly be seen as immoral and thus voted against or ignored," Hamdani wrote.

Under Hamdani's leadership in 2003, the Ihya Foundation joined the Saudi World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) to initiate the "Reviving the Islamic Spirit" conventions in Toronto. In 2012, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) revoked WAMY's charitable status after the organization was found to have financed an al-Qaida affiliated organization.

Moreover, two organizations led by Hamdani transferred money to IRFAN-Canada, an Islamic charity that funnelled $15 million to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization. IRFAN-Canada also lost its official charity status in 2011 after a CRA audit exposed the organization as an "integral part" in Hamas' global financing infrastructure.

"These allegations [about Hamdani] are very concerning, a spokesman for Minister of Public Safety Steven Blaney said in a statement sent to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). "This individual's membership on the [Canadian] Cross Cultural Roundtable on National Security has been suspended immediately pending a review of the facts. While questions surrounding this individual's links to radical ideology have circulated for some time, it was hoped that he could be a positive influence to promote Canadian values. It is now becoming clear this may not have been the case."

Canada has been increasingly concerned with infiltrating Islamist influences and acknowledges that millions of dollars are flooding into the country from Gulf states to promote an extremist ideology.

In a testimony this week, former Canadian Security Intelligence Service Director Richard Fadden said that large sums of money are sent to religious-affiliated institutions in Canada to promote an "extreme Islamic jihadist interpretation of the Qur'an."

Foreign Money Promotes Radical Islamist Agenda in Canada

Millions of dollars are flooding into Canada from Gulf states to promote a radical Islamist agenda, according to testimony by the prime minister's national security adviser, the National Post reports.

"I think it's fair to say, without commenting on the particular country of origin, there are monies coming into this country which are advocating this kind of [Islamist extremist] approach to life," Richard Fadden said Monday during a national security hearing concerning a new counter-terrorism bill.

Fadden, a former director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, said that large sums of money are sent to religious-affiliated institutions in Canada to promote an "extreme Islamic jihadist interpretation of the Qur'an."

He also described the obstacles to tracking how the money is spent because of Canada's respect for religious freedom.

"The difficulty is in most cases the monies are not coming from governments; they're coming from fairly wealthy institutions or individuals within some of these countries. It makes it doubly difficult to track," Fadden said. It is "quite difficult" to determine where they money ends up.

Last year, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) raided the offices of the International Relief Fund for the Afflicted and Needy (IRFAN-Canada) after federal auditors accused the Muslim charity for transferring $15 million to Hamas. The Canadian government subsequently added IRFAN-Canada to its list of banned terrorist organizations.

IRFAN-Canada lost its charity status in 2011 following a Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) audit that exposed the organization as an "integral part" in Hamas' international fundraising infrastructure.

The issue of foreign Islamist financing has been the subject of previous Canadian Senate committee hearings. In February, Shahina Siddiqui, executive director of the Islamic Social Services Association in Winnipeg, testified that her organization refused $3 million dollars in donations from overseas "because there are strings attached to it, and we want to be a Canadian Muslim organization."

A 2004 report by the Council on Foreign Relations revealed that Saudi Arabia is promoting its brand of radical Islamist ideology in Canada by funding certain Islamic institutions. The Saudi government acknowledged that it funds Muslim institutions in Canada, including mosques in Ottawa and Calgary and an Islamic center in Quebec.

The task force said that Saudi Arabia spent hundreds of millions of dollars to finance 1,359 mosques and 210 Islamic centers around the world.

"This massive spending is helping to create the next generation of terrorists and therefore constitutes a paramount strategic threat to the United States ... This massive spending is an integral part of the terrorist financing problem. It fosters virulence and intolerance directly at the United States, Christians, Jews and even other Muslims," the report said.

Lawsuit Alleges Sexism, Anti-Semitism by Al Jazeera America Official

A senior Al Jazeera America manager is facing serious allegations of sexist and anti-Semitic discrimination after an employee filed suit Tuesday for wrongful termination.

Matthew Luke is seeking $15 million in damages from the Qatar-owned network. The complaint filed in New York state court accuses Osman Mahmud of sexist discrimination, such as removing female employees from projects and excluding women from emails and meetings related to their assignments. Mahmud also allegedly made anti-American and anti-Semitic comments, such as "whoever supports Israel should die a fiery death in hell."

According to the lawsuit, Luke was fired 10 days after filing a report regarding Mahmud's behavior to Al Jazeera's HR department.

Mahmud denied the allegations in an interview with the Washington Post.

Among the other claims, Mahmud ordered a senior news official to replace a photographer, an Israeli national, with a Palestinian who was less qualified.

When the official complained, she was reassigned to a less prestigious position and replaced by a male colleague. The lawsuit describes Al Jazeera America's chief executive as believing a correspondent's reporting was too pro-Israel, even though Al Jazeera is notorious for its highly critical stance against the Jewish state.

The network's Arabic and English outlets have been plagued by reports that its biases trump its stated objective of providing objective journalism. Nearly two dozen staffers resigned in protest of the network's sympathetic coverage toward the Muslim Brotherhood after the 2013 ouster of Mohamed Morsi as Egypt's president.

In January, in the immediate aftermath of the massacre of cartoonists, other staffers and police at the satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo, internal Al Jazeerah emails obtained by the National Review show executive producer Salah-Aldeen Khadr urging staff members to emphasize the magazine's "racist caricatures" in their coverage.

He suggested they question if this was "really an attack on 'free speech,'" and whether the spontaneous "I Am Charlie" signs held posted and displayed by outraged French citizens was an "alienating slogan."

"Was this really an attack on 'Free speech'?" one Khadr email said. "Who is attacking free speech here exactly? Does an attack by 2-3 guys on a controversial magazine equate to a civilizational attack on European values..? Really?"

The "Je Suis Charlie" (I am Charlie) signs were counter-productive, he claimed. "You don't actually stick it to the terrorists by insulting the majority of Muslims by reproducing more cartoons – you actually entrench the very animosity and divisions these guys seek to sow."

That sentiment was echoed by Qatar-based reporter Mohamed Vall Salem, who wrote, "what Charlie Hebdo did was not free speech it was an abuse of free speech in my opinion, go back to the cartoons and have a look at them!

"It' snot [sic] about what the drawing said, it was about how they said it. I condemn those heinous killings, but I'M NOT CHARLIE."

A Guide to Israel Haters' Thinking

We recently examined the way blind hatred of Israel drives Islamists and their allies to believe some pretty outlandish things, such as equating the IDF with the Islamic State's marauding band of psychopathic killers.

The Elder of Ziyon blog is out with a handy chart that creatively builds on the theme.

"If Israel does something bad, it is proof that Israel is evil," the blog said, explaining the mindset of Israel haters. "If Israel does something admirable, it is proof that Israel is evil. If Arabs do something bad, it is because Israel is evil."

See for yourself here.

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