The Deeper Flaws in Egypt's Draft Constitution

Egypt's Islamist president Mohammed Morsi's recent power grab effectively eliminated judicial oversight over executive decision making, causing mass protests throughout the county.

But the draft constitution rushed through an Egyptian assembly dominated by Islamists, and scheduled to go before voters Dec. 15, contains a host of provisions which inhibit minority rights and the free exercise of religion, writes Hudson Institute Research Fellow Samuel Tadros.

Among the provisions Tadros highlights as causing concern:

· The addition of an anti-blasphemy clause. This isn't that surprising, given a recent Egyptian court's order sentencing seven people to death in absentia for allegedly insulting Islam and its prophet.

· Changes in defining "citizenship." Previously, it referred to equal rights for both Muslims and non-Muslims. The new provision adds a further allegiance to the Islamic nation.

· Removing words "on the basis of sex, origin, religion, and creed" from a provision prohibiting discrimination.

· Bestowing power to resolve issues of Sharia law upon al-Azhar University in apparent dominance over lawmakers.

· Adding the word "shura" in reference to the political system, a term associated with an unelected, Islamist consultative process which is absurdly compared to democracy. Purely religious parties, according to this Article, can be now be established; a provision that was previously banned.

· Dropping language forbidding forced evacuations within Egypt. Coptic Christians have been forced to leave in four difference cases since the start of the popular uprising in 2011.

Tadros lists plenty of additional troubling examples. The Islamist dominated constitutional draft provides a significant setback for religious freedom and infringes on the rights and protections previously granted to Egypt's minorities. Read his full article here.

A Terrorist's U.S. Rooting Section

Aafia Siddiqui (aka "lady al Qaida") is hardly a peaceful, innocent Muslim victim of overzealous U.S. law enforcement, but you'd hardly know it if from listening to American Islamists and their allies.

Two years ago, Siddiqui was convicted of attempting to murder American personnel in Afghanistan. She was sentenced to 86 years in prison for a July 2008 incident in which she grabbed a gun from a U.S. interrogator and opened fire on American and Afghan soldiers. A federal appellate court upheld the conviction and affirmed her sentence last month.

Siddiqui had been among the most wanted female jihadists. In 2003, 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed identified her as key al-Qaida operative during questioning.

Ayman al-Zawahiri (then Osama bin Laden's deputy) called for Muslims to "take revenge" on those who imprisoned her. He vowed Muslims will respond to such provocations "bombing for bombing, and killing for killing."

But this record hasn't discouraged U.S. Islamists and allies like former Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga., who appeared on Iranian and Libyan regime television last May to denounce the United States, from rallying to her defense.

During a visit to Islamabad on Tuesday, McKinney called for repatriating Siddiqui to Pakistan.The former congresswoman is visiting Pakistan as part of her "Give US our daughter back" campaign to repatriate the terrorist to that country, an epicenter of jihadist radicalism. McKinney, (who was joined by Sara Flounders of the International Action Center) called Siddiqui a "poor innocent woman" and a victim of "injustice" at a press conference in Islamabad.

Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) activists have been staunch defenders of Siddiqui as well. CAIR-New York, for example, has tweeted that activists should come out to protest Siddiqui's "unjust" 86-year sentence. Activists with the Muslim Alliance of North America, the Islamic Circle of North America and the American Muslim Alliance participated in a 2010 mobilization on Lady al-Qaida's behalf prior to sentencing.

Inspector General Probing FBI/CAIR Interactions

The Justice Department's Inspector General is investigating contact between FBI field offices and representatives from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a report to Congress first flagged by reporter Ryan Reilly shows.

The FBI cut off contact with CAIR in 2008, citing evidence in a Hamas-financing trial that tied the organization to both the Palestinian terrorist group and Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. Internal records of a U.S.-based Hamas support network listed CAIR among the group's member organizations. "[U]ntil we can resolve whether there continues to be a connection between CAIR or its executives and HAMAS," a senior FBI official wrote in 2009, "the FBI does not view CAIR as an appropriate liaison partner."

FBI Director Robert Mueller reaffirmed the ban on working with CAIR during congressional testimony in April, 2011.

But reports about field offices defying that order have surfaced repeatedly.

Last year, the Investigative Project on Terrorism reported on efforts by the Hartford, Conn. field office to hide their work with CAIR officials. An e-mail obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request showed that agents were unhappy having to abide by FBI headquarters' policy of not working with CAIR.

"I can only share our mutual disappointment in the ongoing stalemate between CAIR-National and our FBI office in Washington, DC," wrote the agent, whose name was redacted. "It is apparent that until the stalemate ends, FBI Headquarters will continue to instruct all FBI field offices across the country not to have formal relations with their local CAIR Chapters. It is not a decision each field office makes on their own. This mandate/order is given to us by FBI Headquarters."

The investigation is disclosed in the IG's semi-annual report to Congress.

"In response to a congressional request, the OIG is reviewing interactions between FBI field offices and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)," it says. "The review will determine if these interactions were in compliance with FBI policy and guidance that restricts certain interactions with CAIR."

No other details are provided.

Senate Bill Bars Gitmo Detainees From Being Brought to U.S.

The Senate passed a measure barring the transfer of Guantanamo Bay terrorist detainees to prisons on U.S. soil by a 54-41 vote late Thursday, triggering a White House veto threat.

The measure comes on the heels of a General Accountability Office report released Wednesday that said the 166 Guantanamo detainees could safely be moved to federal prisons without jeopardizing national security.

The report contained no specific recommendations, but indicated it would be feasible to house the detainees in six facilities run by the Defense Department and 98 run by the Justice Department after certain modifications.

"To say that high-risk detainees cannot be held securely in a maximum-security prison is just plain wrong," Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., told reporters after releasing the report. The Bureau of Prisons already houses 373 convicted terrorists, she said.

"The administration may want to close Guantanamo, but the American people do not want foreign terrorists like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed brought to the United States," said bill sponsor Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H.

In a statement given to the Investigative Project on Terrorism, Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., the ranking Republican on the Intelligence Committee, said that closing the facility would raise numerous problems.

"The very first page of the GAO report lays out in stark terms the serious problems that would come into play if detainees from Guantanamo were transferred to the United States, including legal and cost considerations, compliance with U.S. and international laws, collecting intelligence information, and ensuring the safety and security of the public," Chambliss said. "These are among the reasons why Congress has prohibited the transfer of these detainees to the United States and why those prohibitions must continue."

Incoming ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., had similar sentiments.

"Sen. Feinstein's report yesterday on housing GITMO detainees within the United States acknowledges cost, legal and security obstacles to the terrible idea of transferring detainees to the U.S.," Inhofe told the IPT in a written statement. "These areas – especially the potential of granting terrorist detainees the constitutional rights reserved for Americans and the security issues involved are why there has long been broad bipartisan opposition to transferring terrorist detainees to American soil.

"Simply put, these detainees must not be brought to the United States."

The White House responded to the bill's passage saying it threatens the Executive Branch's power to manage military operations in the ongoing conflict and that it "provided no benefit whatsoever to our national security."

Tunisian Leader: Islamists to Dominate Arab World

The leader of Tunisia's Islamist party said that Islamist movements will dominate the Arab world eventually.

Rached al-Ghannouchi, whose Ennahda party rules Tunisia, said that Islam will be the "reference point" after the various revolutions are fully consolidated.

"There's a true way that Islam represents the common ground for everyone … Eventually Islam becomes a reference point for everyone," Ghannouchi said.

To what extent Shari'a law will be imposed on public life in the various countries that have undergone popular uprisings remains to be seen.

However, political Islam will certainly have a greater role in these societies.

These tensions are most notable in the Arab world's largest and most powerful country – Egypt, where liberal and secular segments of society are clashing with the sympathizers of the dominant Muslim Brotherhood following Islamist president Mohammed Morsi's recent dictatorial power grab.

As the Syrian civil war wages, the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist forces are gaining more power within the Syrian opposition.

Ghannouchi also expects that the Gulf countries will undergo similar transitions eventually, citing mass protests in Kuwait. Morocco is also engaging in significant reforms after early elections last year ushered in an Islamist-led government.

In light of Ghannouchi's comments, it must be noted that Tunisia is regarded as the most liberal and secular country in the Arab world – its experience with political Islam may therefore serve as the defining test for the composition of the new Middle East.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad Leader Promises "Savage Round" of Fighting

A leader of the third-largest Palestinian faction told the Egyptian newspaper El-Balad Thursday that the truce with Israel will be brief and that Palestinians are braced for a "more savage and bloody round" of fighting with Israel.

"We are preparing for a new, more savage round," Dr. Mohammed Al-Hindi, a leading Palestinian Islamic Jihad figure told the newspaper. "We are in a short truce (hudna), the Israeli enemy is preparing for further rounds of war in Gaza."

The "resistance factions" must be prepared for the next battle, which will be more violent and "start the curve of the collapse of the Israeli occupation," Al-Hindi said Wednesday night at a ceremony honoring journalists working in the Gaza Strip.

The remarks underscore concerns that the Egyptian-brokered cease-fire will be temporary and that renewed violence is ahead.

Al-Hindi also told El-Balad that implementing the truce last week was delayed for hours because a Palestinian negotiator rejected Israel's demand that a sentence be included stating that the Palestinian terrorists "stop the attacks from the Gaza Strip."

"We will not accept any political solution that does not achieve the minimum demands of the Palestinian people," he said.

Abbas, Hamas Poised for U.N. Victory

The United Nations General Assembly appears poised to vote to grant the Palestinian Authority non-member observer status after PA President Mahmoud Abbas' rejected President Obama's last-minute plea for compromise.

On Wednesday, Abbas rebuffed an appeal from Deputy Secretary of State of State William Burns and Mideast envoy David Hale, who tried to persuade him to withdraw or amend the proposed resolution recognizing an independent Palestinian state.

A similar ploy last year failed before the U.N. Security Council. By going to the General Assembly, the Palestinians avoid losing to a U.S. veto. The U.S. maintains that a Palestinian state can be created only through negotiations with Israel.

On Thursday, Germany reversed course, announcing it would not oppose the resolution but would abstain on the vote. France has said it would support the measure, and Great Britain has indicated it would abstain.

"We lost Europe," an Israeli diplomat said. "More than half of its countries will vote with the Palestinians, and the rest will abstain."

Although Hamas was hostile to Abbas' previous U.N. statehood push, supporters of the terror group celebrated the news in Hebron and Ramallah Thursday together with supporters of Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Writing in Thursday's Jerusalem Post, Hebrew University Professor Shlomo Slonim argues that Abbas and Hamas have adopted different strategies toward achieving the same goal.

For Abbas, the diplomatic route is "simply a case of war by other means," Slonim writes. "It is a two-step strategy: The first diplomatic warfare target is Israel's presence in the territories that came under Israeli rule in 1967."

Slonim predicts that "Once a Palestinian state with pre-1967 borders – including part of Jerusalem – is not only proclaimed, but endorsed by international bodies dominated by automatic majorities, Israel's presence in the territories is further delegitimized and its self-defensive measures can be discredited."

Lawfare, involving the systematic abuse of international human-rights bodies, "could proceed apace [through the International Criminal Court], with Israel being targeted for war crimes and sundry human rights abuses. Attempts to apply boycotts and sanctions would presumably multiply," he adds. "The aim would be to galvanize as many international institutions as possible to stamp Israel an illegal entity."

In all likelihood, Abbas' Palestinian state would be one lacking control over much of its territory. Israeli U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor notes that, out of concern for his personal safety, Abbas hasn't visited Gaza in nearly six years.

Under Hamas, Gaza has become a refuge for jihadist groups. The family of nations does not need another member "whose chief exports are extremism, hatred and terror," Prosor writes.

The world applauded Israel when it unilaterally withdrew from Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu noted."We got applause and then rocket fire. We left Gaza, and Iran entered, exactly like what happened in Lebanon."

Seven Egyptian Christians Sentenced to Death over Role in Film

A court in Cairo has sentenced seven Egyptian Christians to death after being tried in absentia for partaking in the infamous anti-Islam video that led to numerous violent protests in various Muslim countries in September.

"The seven accused persons were convicted of insulting the Islamic religion through participating in producing and offering a movie that insults Islam and its prophet," said judge Saif al-Nasr Soliman.

According to Egypt Independent, five of the defendants live in the United States, including the film's creator Nakoula Basseley Nakoula.

The amateur film, "Innocence of Muslims," sparked violent protests in Cairo and other Muslim countries that included attacks on U.S. embassies.

Even though the sentence will not be carried out, it illustrates the prominent role Islamic law plays in Egyptian society since the Muslim Brotherhood's rise, deeming any disrespect to Islam to be punishable by death.

Egypt's Coptic Church did not issue an official comment on the sentence.

Saudi Jihadist Targets Jews, Favors WMD

A Saudi religious scholar long regarded as close to al-Qaida and an advocate of Muslim use of weapons of mass destruction has issued a new fatwa mandating jihad against Jews.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reports that militant Naser bin Hamad al-Fahd's ruling referred to Jews as the greatest enemies of Islam in the modern age. Al-Fahd (whose work has won praise from al-Qaida boss Ayman al-Zawahiri) added that jihad against "the cursed Jews" everywhere is "one of the most important duties and greatest virtues."

Al-Fahd, currently jailed in Saudi Arabia, referred to Jews as "harbiyyoun" (infidels who must be fought) "no matter where they are."

"Allah said: 'Fight the leaders of disbelief,'" al-Fahd said of the Jews. "If I had ten arrows, I would have shot all of them, not at anyone else. By Allah, had I been able to carry out a martyrdom (suicide) operation against them, I would not have hesitated for a moment."

He added wistfully that if Allah had permitted 1,000 "martyrdom seekers" to attack Jewish "strongholds and interests everywhere," Muslims "would have defeated them and rendered them submissive and humiliated."

In May 2003, al-Fahd issued a fatwa approving the use of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by Muslims against the United States and Great Britain.

Pointing to U.S. use of the atomic bomb against Japan during World War II, al-Fahd said that if "Muslims could defeat the infidels only by using these kinds of weapons, it is allowed to use them even if they kill them all."

He was arrested by Saudi authorities shortly after a series of coordinated suicide attacks in Riyadh killed approximately 35 people and wounded 160 on May 12, 2003 and has been jailed since.

Obtaining mass-destruction weapons is a longstanding goal of al-Qaida. Jamal al-Fadl, who defected from al-Qaida in 1996 and became a source for the CIA and the FBI, said the terror group tried to obtain uranium in the 1990s while based in Sudan. Zawahiri published a 2008 fatwa justifying WMD use.

Al-Qaida's Inspire magazine has offered tips for American Muslims on the use of WMD to "wreak havoc on the enemies of Allah."

For "those mujahid brothers with degrees in microbiology or chemistry lays the greatest opportunity and responsibility. For such brothers, we encourage them to develop a weapon of mass destruction, i.e. an effective poison with the proper method of delivery," Inspire contributor Yahya Ibrahim wrote in the publication's October 2010 issue.

"Poisonous gases such as nerve gas are not out of reach for the chemist," he added. "An effective botulin attack administered properly could lead to hundreds if not thousands of casualties."

Islamic Terror Plots and More Smoke and Mirrors

Four Muslim men were charged in southern California last week in a terror plot to attack American targets overseas. Similar to other Islamic terror plots hatched in the U.S. in recent years, the suspects sought to join al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)'s Los Angeles office, attempted to minimize the significance of the arrests as it related to the American Muslim community. "It is important to keep in mind, that incidents of terrorism are rare, and thankfully this is not something that American Muslims have to deal with," Ayloush told the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.

Ayloush characterized the threat of radicalization of American Muslims as minimal.

"The best way to prevent self-marginalization and disenfranchisement is to promote a culture of engagement within a community, especially within the most vulnerable, younger people in such communities and that empowers people and makes them part of a positive change with their society and community," Ayloush said.

CAIR has a long history of apologetics and obfuscation when it comes to terrorism. The organization similarly has a history of attempting to thwart law enforcement counter-terrorism efforts.

Ayloush has his own history of disparaging law enforcement counter-terrorism efforts when they target Muslims and attacking America's support for Israel and its posture toward Muslims.

A U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee report titled "Terrorist Arrests and Plots Stopped in the United States 2009-2012" identified suspects in terrorism related cases charged by federal authorities. It cited three additional suspects that were not included in the reports "listed" findings; those were the arrests of Fort Hood shooter Major Nidal Hasan, Little Rock shooter Abdulhakim Muhammed, and attempted underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who were not prevented from attempting or carrying out attacks by the FBI. However, with the identification of those additional three suspects, the total grew to 98.

An analysis of those 98 terror suspects/defendants from the 2009-2012 time period revealed 17 who were not Muslim and not connected to Islamic terror plots. Therefore, nearly 83% of the terror suspects involved in U.S. terror plots from 2009-2012 were, in fact, Muslim.

A report issued by the Department of Justice in 2011 relating to "National Security Division Statistics on Unsealed International Terrorism and Terrorism - Related Convictions 9/11/01 - 3/ 18/10" identified, after analysis, more than 80 percent of all such convictions tied to international terrorist groups and homegrown terrorism involved defendants driven by a radical Islamist agenda.

The Senate Intelligence Committee report, that overlaps by 2009 and early 2010 with the noted DOJ statistical conviction report, clearly validates and continues the 80+% finding related to the post-9/11 case conviction analysis. These reports confirm that while the vast majority of Muslims in America are not terrorists, the clear and significant majority of terrorist plots and cases identified within the United States involve radicalize Muslims. For Ayloush and his organization to suggest otherwise diverts public attention from the truth.

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