In an article published today on the Texas shootings last Sunday , the New York Times has identified and/or quoted five local Muslims. The article begins:
GARLAND, Tex. — When Muslim leaders in the Dallas area learned in February that a provocative blogger had rented space to exhibit caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, they decided to ignore her.
They were well acquainted with Pamela Geller’s vitriol against Islam and figured that there was no point protesting and giving her free publicity.
‘We don’t want to be falling for her tactics,’ Alia Salem, the executive director of the Dallas and Fort Worth chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said to her colleagues. ‘She’s trying to bait the Muslim community.’
So it was that on Sunday night, Ms. Salem was at a festive interfaith women’s event with hundreds of Jewish, Christian and Muslim women when she received a text message from a friend saying that two gunmen had been shot and killed while attacking the center where Ms. Geller was hosting her event. First, Ms. Salem said, she started to cry, fearing news of more deaths.
Then she took calls from those she views as allies — other Muslim advocates, a Methodist minister, an organizer for the American Civil Liberties Union — to come up with a response that would walk a fine line: clearly condemning the extremists behind the attack, while also calling to account what they see as hatred decked out in free speech finery.
Read the rest here.
With the exception of one local businessman, the Texas Muslims identified in the above article are all known to be leaders in the US Muslim Brotherhood and or Hamas support infrastructure. As described above, Alia Salem is a local leader of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), long part of the US Muslim Brotherhood/ Hamas support infrastructure in the US. The other individuals interviewed or identified by the NYT were:
- Ghassan Hitto, identified in the article only as “a Syrian-American businessman with ties to Garland, served in 2013 as prime minister of a Syrian opposition coalition’s interim government.” However, in July 2013 the GMBDW reported on Mr. Hiitto and his extensive connections to the US Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas support infrastructure.
- Mohamed Elibiary, (dressed up for the occasion in a Texas flag shirt) identified only as “a founder of the North Texas Islamic Council — and a former member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council.” However, the GMBDW was the first publication to report in October 2010 on Mr. Elibiary’s own ties to the the US Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas support infrastructure.
- Azhar Azeez identified as the president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) described only as “a large umbrella group.” In fact, ISNA is a long-time and integral part of the US Muslim Brotherhood and in August 2014, the GMBDW reported on Mr. Azeez’s election as the new ISNA President as well as both his background in the US Muslim Brotherhood and his ties to the same Hamas support organization that had once been chaired by Mohamed Elibiary,
For our analysis of whether the Muslim Brotherhood was tied to the shootings, go here.
Fir the us Muslim Brotherhood reactions to the shootings, go here.