“Courage Under Fire” was the theme of this year’s banquet held by the Los Angeles branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
Those “courageous leaders” under fire included featured speakers:
- Pennsylvania State Representative Movita Johnson-Harrell, accused of stealing $500,000 from a charity fund
- Temple University Professor Marc Lamont Hill, an anti-Semite who supports the eradication (violent, if necessary) of the state of Israel
- CAIR-LA executive director Hussam Ayloush, a Muslim Brotherhood and avid Hamas supporter
- Law professor and comedian Amer Zahr, who proudly serenaded Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odeh and compares Israel to ISIS and describes the Jews of Israel as white supremacists
Far from being victims under fire, these featured speakers are also anything but “courageous leaders.”
Meanwhile in Canada, Islamists were much more open about their agenda at a recent conference in Toronto titled “Reviving the Islamic Spirit.”
The conference, touted as Canada’s largest Islamic conference attracting thousands, featured radical Islamist American preachers Omar Suleiman, Yasir Qadhi, Zaid Shakir and Siraj Wahhaj, among others.
More accurately, the conference should have been titled “Reviving the Islamist Spirit.”
Ironically, while North American Islamists are hell-bent on keeping Islamist supremacy alive, author Ed Husain, a former Islamist radical, notes that a new Arab-Israeli alliance is forming in the Middle East, which he predicts will lead to less antisemitism and a pushback against Islamism.
Writing in The Spectator, Husain says, “A new narrative is emerging in the Middle East. New maps of the Muslim mind are being drawn and old hatreds are on the run.”
Sadly in Canada, judging from the speakers at the “Islamic” conference, attendees were most likely given a large dose of the “old hatred.”
Here are some short bios of the main speakers:
Omar Suleiman
Suleiman has a long history of supporting Hamas, praising terrorists and advocating for sharia theocracy — including defending its brutal hudud punishments. He pushed anti-Semitic tropes about how Israel controls U.S. foreign policy, calling Israel the 51st state of America.
Suleiman, who is the founder and president of the Irving, Texas-based Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research and has a large social media following, also has a history of making homophobic and anti-feminist remarks.
In a 2012 lecture, he asserted that, “If not for the Children of Israel, meat would not decay.” and Jews “harmed all of their prophets.” On Facebook, he wrote, “The Zionists are the enemies of God, His Messengers, sincere followers of all religions, and humanity as a whole.”
Shockingly, this past May, Democrats in Congress rolled out the red carpet for Suleiman, inviting him to give the invocation in Congress.
Imam Zaid Shakir
Zaid Shakir is a co-founder of Zaytuna College. Long before ISIS, Shakir preached that the Muslim world needs a new caliphate that will wage jihad and “use ... weaponry against the enemies of Islam.” He legitimizes attacks on U.S. soldiers, saying they are not terrorism.
Shakir promotes 9/11 conspiracy theories, saying the attacks “occurred under dubious circumstances that have yet to be thoroughly investigated.” He accuses the U.S. of “demonizing” Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban, Saddam Hussein, Muammar Qaddafi and Hugo Chavez, and depicts Al-Qaeda, Hamas and terrorists in Iraq and Chechnya as fighters against imperialism.
Yasir Qadhi
Qadhi defended the Islamic hadith, or saying of Muhammad, proclaiming that at the End of Days, the Jews will be slaughtered by the Muslims.
Qadhi is a Salafist preacher who has said, “Allah destroys this [American] version of capitalism” and that the U.S. economic system enslaves millions. He also preaches against man-made law and in favor of sharia law. There is a disturbing audio from him justifying the persecution of Christians and Jews under an Islamic State.
Siraj Wahhaj
Siraj Wahhaj is a radical Islamist preacher and the person who activist Linda Sarsour calls her “mentor, motivator and encourager.”
In 2018, Clarion Project helped break the story of a New Mexico jihadi compound run by Wahhaj’s son, Siraj Wahhaj, Jr. Two daughters of Wahhaj, Sr. were also with the group at the compound.
Leaders of the off-grid compound where women and children lived in abysmal, beyond third-world conditions, were also training the children to be school shooters.
After the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Wahhaj gave a sermon asking the question, “Who are the real terrorists?” He named three entities: The U.S. government, big business and the media.
Wahhaj served as a character witness for the “Blind Sheikh,” Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was found guilty of masterminding terrorist plots against the United States, including his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
In 1992, Wahhaj gave a sermon in which he advocated for armed jihad in streets for the benefit of Islam.