The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) has announced that it has met Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the National Security Adviser as part of an interfaith group centered on the Middle East. According to the ISNA announcement:
On Wednesday September 29, representatives from ISNA joined interfaith leaders from the National Interreligious Leadership Initiative for Peace in the Middle East (NILI) at the White House and State Department. ISNA also hosted a one day strategic planning meeting for attending members of NILI at the ISNA Office for Interfaith and Community Alliances. Representing ISNA at the White House and State Department meetings were ISNA President Elect Imam Mohamed Magid, National Director for the Office of Interfaith and Community Alliances Dr. Sayyid Syeed and Director of Community Outreach Mohamed Elsanousi. In Wednesday’s meetings, the interfaith leaders reaffirmed their commitment to peace in the Middle East and support for the Obama administration’s efforts to continue peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. “We are people of hope. We call upon the members of our religious communities to pray for the peace of Jerusalem and to support active, fair, and firm U.S. leadership to advance comprehensive peace in the Middle East,” said the statement. “It will be difficult to achieve, but peace is possible.” The leaders presented a statement entitled, “New Hope for the Peace of Jerusalem,” during Wednesday’s meetings with National Security Advisor General James Jones and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on behalf of NILI. The statement recognized the current challenges to peace faced by both Israel and Palestine and called for a two-state solution and sustained U.S. leadership for peace…..ISNA was a founding member of NILI in 2003 when the unprecedented collaboration of more than 33 Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders and organizations began with the purpose of organizing for a peaceful resolution and two state solution between Palestine and Israel. Since its creation, ISNA and NILI have communicated directly with President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, President Bush, former Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice and with members of Congress to call for more active, determined U.S. leadership for peace.
For full text of the statement and its endorsers, go here
As documented in a Hudson Institute report, ISNA grew directly out of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood. The organization has a long history of fundamentalism, anti-semitism, and support for terrorism and during the recent Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial, ISNA was named as an unindicted co-conspirator as a result of what the government called “ISNA’s and NAIT’s intimate relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood, the Palestine Committee, and the defendants in this case.” Although it is true that recently ISNA has issued condemnations of terrorism which for the first time identify Hamas and Hezbollah by name, there is no indication that the organization has ever addressed or acknowledged its history of support for terrorism. Also, as the Hudson Institute report observes, almost all of the ISNA founders remain active in the organization and ISNA maintains close relations with all other components of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood. Previous posts have discussed the ties between ISNA and the Reform Jewish community.