Rep. Ilhan Omar Sponsors Bill for ‘Establishing U.S. Leadership in Combatting Islamophobia Worldwide’
(CNSNews.com) - Rep. Ilhan Omar (D.-Minn.) joined with Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D.-Ill.) on Oct. 21 in sponsoring the “Combating International Islamophobia Act,” which seeks to “establish a comprehensive strategy for establishing U.S. leadership in combatting Islamophobia worldwide.”
“The bill requires the State Department to create a Special Envoy for monitoring and combating Islamophobia, and include state-sponsored Islamophobic violence and impunity in the Department's annual human rights reports,” says a press release posted on Omar’s congressional website.
“The creation of the Special Envoy will help policymakers better understand the interconnected, global problem of anti-Muslim bigotry,” said the press release. “It will also establish a comprehensive strategy for establishing U.S. leadership in combatting Islamophobia worldwide.”
“We are seeing a rise in Islamophobia in nearly every corner of the globe,” Rep. Ilhan Omar is quoted in the press release as saying. “In my home state of Minnesota, vandals spray-painted hate messages and a Nazi swastika on and near the Moorhead Fargo Islamic Center. These types of incidents are all too common for Muslims in the United States and beyond. As part of our commitment to international religious freedom and human rights, we must recognize Islamophobia and do all we can to eradicate it. That’s why I’m proud to partner with Rep. Jan Schakowsky to create a special envoy to put an end to this bigotry.”
Here is the full text of the press release that was posted on Oct. 21 on Rep. Omar’s congressional website:
WASHINGTON—Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) introduced the Combating International Islamophobia Act, legislation to address the rise in incidents of Islamophobia worldwide. The bill requires the State Department to create a Special Envoy for monitoring and combating Islamophobia, and include state-sponsored Islamophobic violence and impunity in the Department's annual human rights reports. The creation of the Special Envoy will help policymakers better understand the interconnected, global problem of anti-Muslim bigotry. It will also establish a comprehensive strategy for establishing U.S. leadership in combatting Islamophobia worldwide.
This year, the United States has seen over 500 documented complaints of anti-Muslim hate and bias. In a recent study conducted by CAIR, found 69% of respondents personally experienced anti-Muslim bigotry or discrimination since 9/11. In a separate study conducted by the Othering and Belonging Institute, found 67% of Muslims personally experienced Islamophobia in their lifetimes. In March, the United Nations Human Rights Council cited discrimination and hatred towards Muslims has risen to “epidemic proportions.”
There has been a staggering rise in incidents of violent Islamophobia incidents worldwide. Whether it is the atrocities being committed against the Uyghurs in China and the Rohingya in Burma, the crackdowns on Muslim populations in India and Sri Lanka, the scapegoating of Muslim refugees and other Muslims in Hungary and Poland, the acts of white supremacist violence targeting Muslims in New Zealand and Canada, or the targeting of minority Muslim communities in Muslim-majority countries like Pakistan, Bahrain, and Iran—the problem of Islamophobia is global in scope.
“We are seeing a rise in Islamophobia in nearly every corner of the globe,” said Rep. Omar. “In my home state of Minnesota, vandals spray-painted hate messages and a Nazi swastika on and near the Moorhead Fargo Islamic Center. These types of incidents are all too common for Muslims in the United States and beyond. As part of our commitment to international religious freedom and human rights, we must recognize Islamophobia and do all we can to eradicate it. That’s why I’m proud to partner with Rep. Jan Schakowsky to create a special envoy to put an end to this bigotry.”
“For over a decade we have seen increasing incidents of violent Islamophobia both in the U.S. and worldwide – from the genocide of the Rohingya in Burma, and Uyghurs in China, to the attacks on Muslim refugees in Canada and New Zealand,” said Rep. Schakowsky. “It is past time for the U.S. to establish a comprehensive plan for combating this hatred worldwide. I am proud to join my friend and colleague, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, in introducing the Combating International Islamophobia Act. This critical legislation will create a Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Islamophobia to ensure the U.S. dedicates the resources necessary to safeguard human rights and religious and cultural freedom around the world.”
The Combating International Islamophobia Act is cosponsored by Reps Bass, Bowman, Carson, Correa, Dean, Dingell, Eshoo, García (IL), Green (TX), Grijalva, Jacobs (CA), Jackson Lee, H. Johnson (GA), Jones, Kim (NJ), Lowenthal, C. Maloney, McGovern, Newman, Norton, Ocasio-Cortez, Pascrell, Payne, Phillips, Pocan, Pressley, Rush, Sires, Tlaib, Watson Coleman, and Williams.
“The rise of Islamophobic incidents in our nation and across the world is atrocious and concerning,” said Rep. Maloney. “New York City is one of the most diverse and welcoming cities in the world. And like New Yorkers of all faiths, our Muslim community contributes to the unique and rich cultural diversity for which New York City is universally known. Like every New Yorker, they deserve to live and work free from discrimination and harassment. It’s up to all of us to stop and stand up to Islamophobia wherever and whenever we see it. I’m proud to cosponsor the Combatting International Islamophobia Act, which will allow my colleagues and I to better understand the global problem of anti-Muslim bigotry – and work towards strategies to end it.”
“Tragically, we continue to see the growing threat of Islamophobia both in Illinois' 3rd Congressional District and around the world. As a global leader, the United States has a fundamental and moral obligation to take a stand against this rising danger and protect the religious freedoms, human rights and safety of all Muslims,” said Rep. Newman. “I’m proud to join Reps. Omar and Schakowsky in co-sponsoring the Combatting Global Islamophobia Act so that America can further live up to our values by leading the rest of the world in combatting bigotry, discrimination and hate against Muslims both domestically and across the globe.”
“The rise in islamophobia around the world threatens our Muslim neighbors here in the United States,” said Rep. Watson Coleman. “My own state of New Jersey has seen school children chasing and harassing Muslim students, a teacher pulling a hijab from the head of a student, and a school showing Islamophobic dramatic films to ‘teach’ students about Islam. Fighting Islamophobia abroad will help us eliminate it here at home. I’m grateful to my colleagues Reps. Omar and Schakowsky for bringing this bill forward.”
The Combating International Islamophobia Act is endorsed by American Muslim Empowerment Network (AMEN), American Muslims for Palestine, Americans for Peace Now, Arizona Muslim Alliance, Center for Victims of Torture, Church World Service, Common Defense, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), Human Rights First, ICNA Council for Social Justice (ICNA CSJ), IfNotNow, International Islamophobia Studies Research Association, Islamophobia Studies Center, Islamophobia Studies Journal, Jetpac Resource Center, Jewish Voice for Peace Action, Libyan American Alliance, MPower Change, Muslim American Society, Muslim Public Affairs Council, Oxfam America, Poligon Education Fund, Revolutionary Love Project, Secure Justice, South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT), Together We Serve, U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO), United Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries, and Veterans For Peace.
"The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) welcomes the introduction of Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Jan Schakowsky's Combating International Islamophobia Act – legislation to establish a special envoy office at the U.S. State Department to monitor and combat international Islamophobia,” said Nihad Awad, National Executive Director, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). “While global Islamophobia, anti-Muslim state policies and hate incidents have increased for the past two decades, the American Muslim community has consistently called for the creation of a special envoy position to monitor and combat this rising tide of hate. Our nation needs better tools to combat Islamophobic state policies and violence in countries like China, India, Myanmar (Burma), Sri Lanka, the European Union, and elsewhere. Global Islamophobia is not only a threat to the safety and security of Muslims here and abroad, it is also a threat to international religious freedom and democratic principles. CAIR is calling on congressional leadership and the Biden-Harris administration to support the Combating International Islamophobia Act and make this special envoy position a reality."
"Just as it is necessary to have a special envoy to combat antisemitism, it is vitally important that the United States establish a Special Envoy to combat the scourge of Islamophobia," said Hadar Susskind, Americans for Peace Now's President and CEO. "We stand in solidarity with Muslim victims of hatred and bigotry and we urge Congress to pass this important bill."
Full text of the legislation is available here.
How Islam Mutilates Christ
Not only does Islam claim Abraham, Moses, and Jesus; it apparently claims post-biblical figures, such as Saint George, as well. So states a recent article on My London, the real point of which is apparently to assert Christian and Muslim “commonalities.” Thus, “on St George’s Day, which in Eastern Christianity is marked on May 6, Muslims in the area [of Nazareth] join Christians in their venerations of the saint.”
Judaism also finds its way into this article on religious syncretism. Thus, “according to some Sufi traditions, the [Hebrew] Prophet Elias, Al-Khidr [a character in the Koran], and Saint George are all the same person. They believe Elias reappears at different times in human history under different names to help stricken believers in times of crisis.”
The entire article is a testimony to the widely entrenched conviction that, because Judaism, Christianity, and Islam share many of the same characters, creating rapprochement between the three faiths is not just easy; it’s the most natural thing to do.
Left out of this calculus is the all-important fact that Islam does not treat biblical characters the way Christianity does. Christians accept the Hebrew Bible, or “Old Testament,” as it is. They do not add, take away, or distort the accounts of the patriarchs that Jews also rely on.
Conversely, while also relying on the figures of the Old and New Testaments -- for the weight of antiquity and authority attached to their names -- Islam completely recasts them in a manner that validates itself and invalidates Judaism and Christianity.
Consider, for example, Islam’s treatment of Jesus (‘Isa’ in the Koran). Not only does Islam vehemently deny Christ’s sonship to God, a new book on Islamic sources inadvertently underscores the fact that ‘Isa’ is in fact the antithesis of Jesus -- his doppelganger.
Although Muslim Sources of the Crusader Period by professors James E. Lindsay and Suleiman Mourad is full of important historical documents from that era, including first time translations, the writings of Ibn ‘Asakir (1105-1175) -- an influential Islamic scholar who also authored the popular Forty Hadiths for Inciting Jihad -- on Jesus, based on established hadiths, are germane to our topic. From beginning to end, Ibn ‘Asakir, like all other Muslim scholars before and after him, uses Jesus to validate Islam and invalidate the actual faith founded by Christ.
According to these Muslim accounts, Jesus will indeed return -- Christian “bridge-builders” to Islam can be happy about that -- but only to “break the crosses, slaughter the pigs, end the jizya tax on non-Muslims, making warfare against the People of the Book (e.g. Jews, Christians, Zorastrians etc.) and others licit…” (p. 158) In short, Islam’s Jesus is a jihadist on a par with ISIS.
Here are a few selections from Ibn ‘Asakir’s “biography” of Jesus/‘Isa’ (from Muslim Sources of the Crusader Period):
He quotes Muhammad, asserting that whoever is willing to make him, Muhammad, Christ’s equal, as well as contradict the oldest Christian Creed (1 Cor. 15: 3-7), will go to heaven:
Whoever testifies that there is no god but God, alone with no partner, and that Muhammad is His servant and messenger, and that Jesus is His servant and messenger, the son of His servant, His word which he gave to Mary, and a spirit from Him, Allah will admit him to paradise for saying that (p.159).
When a woman says to Jesus, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breast that suckled you,” a shocked Jesus replies: “No, but blessed is he who reads the Qur’an and follows what is in it” (p.159).
In several of these hadiths, Muhammad appears intent on making himself Jesus’s equal. Thus, when his child-bride, Aisha, asks the prophet: “If I outlive you, would you permit me to be buried beside you?” “No,” responds Muhammad: “in that place there is only 
room for my grave, for Abu Bakr’s grave [Muhammad’s companion and successor, or first caliph], for ‘Umar’s grave [Muhammad’s companion and second caliph], and for the grave of Jesus son of Mary” (p.160).
In another account, Muhammad says, “The biblical prophets are siblings of the same lineage. I and Jesus too are siblings because he prophesied me and there are no prophets between me and him (p.161).”
In yet another account, Ibn ‘Asakir presents Jesus as “praying behind” yet another caliph (Muawiya I): then, “after Jesus finishes his prayer, he will take his lance, go toward the Antichrist and kill him. Then Jesus will die and the Muslims will wash him and bury him” (p.161).
Such is the transformation -- or mutilation -- that Jesus has undergone in the Muslim tradition. And Christians are supposed to see this as a possible “bridge” to Islam, a source of “commonalities”?
It’s the same, incidentally, with other biblical characters. Consider Abraham (Ibrahim), whom this entire “Abrahamic” movement is named after. While Jews and Christians focus on different aspects of Abraham -- the former see him as their patriarch in the flesh, the latter as their patriarch in faith or in spirit (e.g., Gal 3:6) -- they both rely on the same verbatim account of Abraham found in Genesis.
The Muslim account, however, introduces and exemplifies the hate Muslims are obligated to have for non-Muslims: “You have a good example in Abraham and those who followed him,” Allah informs Muslims in Koran 60:4; “for they said to their people, ‘We disown you and the idols that you worship besides Allah. We renounce you: enmity and hate shall reign between us until you believe in Allah alone.’”
In fact, this verse is the cornerstone verse that all “radical” Muslims, especially of the Islamic State, cite as proof that Muslims must hate all non-Muslims. In other words, rather than serve as a bridge between Islam and Judaism and Christianity, Islam and the Koran use Abraham to teach Muslims to hate Jews and Christians.
One can go on and on: according to Islamic traditions, Mary, the mother of Christ, is Muhammad’s “wife” in heaven -- yet another characterization that would seem to sever hardly build “bridges.”
Surely it’s a curious thing: when certain people -- namely, whites -- “appropriate,” say, the superficial dress or costume of another people: woe, all is woe. But when Islam appropriates and completely perverts the central figures of two faiths, Judaism and Christianity, Jews and Christians are supposed to feel good about it, and see it as an opportunity for “reconciliation” with Islam. Interesting how that works.
To be clear, the Muslim appropriation and subsequent mutilation of biblical figures is a source of problems, not solutions. It is only the secular mindset, which cannot rise beyond the surface fact that three religions claim the same figures -- and so they must all eventually “get along” -- that does not and never will get it. The Saint George article on My London -- which spends an inordinate amount of time cracking jokes about drinking in pubs -- is a perfect example.
Raymond Ibrahim, author of Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West, is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum, and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute.
Image: Piqsels
Poison Jihad: UK Lawyer Injects Food Items with Blood
There are so many ways to kill, and jihadis try to utilize them all.
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Leoaai Elghareeb, a 37-year-old Muslim in London, was recently charged, according to the UK’s Daily Mail, with “contaminating or interfering with goods with blood at three supermarkets in west London.” Elgareeb must be one of those people the establishment media keeps telling us about, those dirt-poor, woefully ignorant people who turn to jihad out of sheer desperation, right? Wrong. He is a solicitor for a firm known as Opus Legal contractors; legal work generally makes its practitioners affluent, and the Daily Mail tells us that “homes and flats in the area where Mr Elghareeb lives sell for upwards of £1.5m.” (that’s well over two million dollars). So why did he do such a thing? Could it have something to do with his Islamic faith? Of course not! Why, that would be “Islamophobic”!
Elghareeb contaminated food at three London supermarkets: Tesco Express, Little Waitrose and Sainsbury’s Local. According to the Guardian, Elghareeb is “alleged to have entered the Waitrose store at 7.30pm on Wednesday with syringes filled with blood. The prosecutor Jennifer Garland said Elghareeb was accused of using the syringes to ‘inject food items with blood.’” He is also “accused of doing the same in the nearby Sainsbury’s store, as well as throwing eggs, before going on to inject more items in Tesco Express and then being arrested.” No one could be sure of the extent of Elghareeb’s work, and so according to the Daily Mail, “Hammersmith & Fulham Council advised shoppers to throw away anything bought from the three shops.”
Elghareeb, the court was told, was a “man of previous good character.” Sure he was. So what happened? Neither the Daily Mail nor the Guardian would dare mention it, but jihad contamination and poisoning attempts are not new. Earlier this year in India, there were four incidents of Muslims spitting on the food of non-Muslims, one said he’d been doing it for years. Also in India in 2019, Muslims plotted to poison food offered in a Hindu temple that is consumed by at least 40,000 devotees.
Al-Qaeda has long considered the contamination of food as a jihad mass murder tactic. In 2018, a Muslim named Husnain Rashid called on other Muslims to murder four-year-old Prince George and poison supermarket ice cream. That same year, a convert to Islam was sentenced for distributing material calling for jihad and possessing a handbook for poisoning unbelievers. Another owner of that poisoning handbook ultimately plotted instead to attack non-Muslims with a knife. And in 2017, the Islamic State called on Muslims to poison food in Western supermarkets. And it has happened at least twice before in Britain: in 2008, shop owner Saeed Hashmi sold chocolate cake sprinkled with human feces.
The Daily Mail reported back in July 2017 that an Algerian Muslim named Sahnoun Daifallah, a chemist, “squirted a mixture of urine and faeces from a 1.5 litre weed killer container – concealed within a laptop bag – at the Air Balloon Pub in Birdlip, before moving on to a Waterstones bookshop in Cirencester. Two days later, he targeted a Tesco store in Quedgley and a Morrisons in Abbeydale. Damage to the businesses was estimated at £700,000 [$948,000].”
In 2008, according to the BBC, “a man has been remanded in custody charged with spraying urine at two supermarkets, a pub and a book shop. Sahnoun Daifallah, 42, of Bibury Road, from Gloucester, appeared before magistrates and pleaded not guilty to four charges of contaminating products.” In 2006, another Muslim in the UK was found to be selling poisoned hamburgers.
In Canada in 2009, according to the Canwest News Service, “Mastoora Qezil, 41, was arrested by Guelph police Thursday and is facing a common nuisance charge…The Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued warnings last week after sewing needles were found in meat products at a supermarket.”
There is much more. The Islamic State called on Muslims to poison the food that British royal Kate Middleton buys at supermarkets. The Islamic State told Muslims to poison food in Western supermarkets. Two jihadis were arrested for mass poisoning plots, one of the Lebanese army’s water supply.
We also know that jihadis have long wanted to poison the water supply. As far back as 2002, the feds arrested two jihadis who were carrying plans about how to poison water supplies. In 2003, al-Qaeda threatened to poison water supplies in Western countries. In 2011, a jihadi in Spain likewise planned to poison water supplies.
And in May 2013, seven Muslim “chemical engineers” were caught trespassing at the Quabbin Reservoir, a key supply of water for Boston, after midnight. Only months later and indirectly did we hear that it was a “criminal matter.” A month later, locks were cut at the aqueduct that supplies water to Greater Boston.
Also in May 2013, jihadists were caught in Canada who had considered poisoning air and water to murder up to 100,000 people. In October 2013, the FBI was investigating a possible water supply threat in Wichita. In January 2014, a Muslim broke into a water treatment plant in New Jersey. In 2017, Kerala police in India uncovered an Islamic State plot to poison the drinking water of Hindu pilgrims.
So far, none of these plots have caused widespread deaths, but the strange case of Leoaai Elghareeb is a grim reminder that some jihadis still think mass poisoning is a workable tactic. Authorities should be on guard against it – that is, if they can tear themselves away from their outreach events at the local mosque long enough to make adequate preparations.
Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He is author of 23 books including many bestsellers, such as The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades), The Truth About Muhammad and The History of Jihad. His latest book is The Critical Qur’an. Follow him on Twitter here. Like him on Facebook here.
Taliban Supreme Leader Makes First Public Appearance Since Conquest of Afghanistan
Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, nominal Supreme Leader of the Taliban and its “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” regime, made his first public appearance since the fall of Kabul on Sunday.
Akhundzada had not made an official appearance in public since he assumed control of the Taliban in 2016.
Akhundzada reportedly made an appearance at an Islamic seminary in the city of Kandahar. The Taliban forbade photos or video of the Supreme Leader’s appearance but, according to the director of the religious school, Akhundzada “greeted around 700 to 800 students,” who were “crying” with happiness as they “honored his coming.”
The Taliban regime released an audio recording of Akhundzada supposedly addressing the “brave soldiers and disciples” at the school.
“May God reward the oppressed people of Afghanistan who fought the infidels and the oppressors for 20 years. My intention here is to pray for you and you pray for me,” the voice allegedly belonging to Akhundzada said in the recording. This was followed by about ten minutes of prayers for the “martyrs” of the Taliban, its wounded fighters, and its newly-installed public officials.
“Let’s pray that we come out of this big test successfully. May Allah help us stay strong,” the recording concluded.
Head of the Taliban delegation, deputy prime minister Abdul Salam Hanafi attends an international conference on Afghanistan in Moscow on October 20, 2021. (ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Arab News on Sunday quoted speculation that the rare appearance and recording by the reclusive “commander of the faithful,” as his official title and endorsements from the al-Qaeda terrorist organization style him, is a sign that he intends to step out of the shadows and assume more direct and public control of the Taliban government. Various Taliban officials claim to be in regular contact with Akhundzada, but he usually only speaks to the rank and file through recorded messages on Muslim holidays.
On the other hand, Afghanistan’s independent Tolo News quoted skeptics who believe Akhundzada is injured or dead, possibly killed in Pakistan when a Taliban safe house was bombed in the spring of 2020.
The Taliban has long denounced rumors of Akhundzada’s death as “baseless rumors” and enemy “propaganda,” but skeptics noted there is no compelling security reason for the Supreme Leader to remain completely invisible and the people he claims to rule have a right to see and hear from him.
The Taliban regime again demanded international recognition as the legitimate government of Afghanistan on Saturday, threatening not only the people of Afghanistan but the entire world if their claim to power is not recognized by the United States and other nations.
“Our message to America is, if unrecognition continues, Afghan problems continue, it is the problem of the region and could turn into a problem for the world,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid warned.
Mujahid claimed the U.S. invasion that toppled the Taliban from power in 2001 could have been “solved” through “negotiation” and “political compromise” with proper diplomatic recognition.
No foreign power has yet recognized the Taliban as legitimate rulers of Afghanistan, not even China, which is clearly anxious to do business with the regime.
Head of the Taliban delegation, deputy prime minister Abdul Salam Hanafi speaks to the media during an international conference on Afghanistan in Moscow on October 20, 2021. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool/AFP)
According to Mujahid, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Taliban officials in Qatar last week, pledged financial support to develop infrastructure in Afghanistan, and promised the Taliban regime would have access to China’s markets.
The Washington Post on Monday reported the Taliban is attempting to shore up its legitimacy by sending a 33-year-old emissary named Maulavi Mahdi to deal with Afghanistan’s Shiite Muslims.
Mahdi describes himself as a “bridge between the Taliban and the Hazara community,” referring to the Shiite ethnic group he belongs to – a minority ruthlessly persecuted by the Taliban before the U.S. invasion in 2001.
The Washington Post took Mahdi’s prominence as a sign the Taliban knows it must appear “inclusive” and refrain from ethnic cleansing campaigns and religious persecution to secure international recognition, but also skeptically noted that Mahdi holds only a ceremonial position within the Taliban regime, while no one with actual power is a member of the Hazara community.
The Taliban is still kicking Hazaras out of their homes, paying bonuses to the families of suicide bombers who kill Hazaras, and refusing to prosecute any of its members for atrocities against the Hazaras, according to on-the-ground reports.
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