This article is a collection of outrageous responses by U.S. Muslim organizations to the October 7, 2023 terrorist attacks in Israel. This information was originally published on October 13 in this article by Susannah Johnston on the website “Focus on Western Islamism.”
The Muslim groups in this article are specifically praising the October 7th terrorist attacks on civilians— as if they were praising the 9/11 attacks, for example.
I have summarized the following information from the original article. See the actual article for its supporting links.
— Dr. Omar Suleiman, the founder and president of the Yaqeen Institute in Irving, Texas in said in a sermon about the attack, “I want you to know that you have a responsibility. You might not be in the trench, but maybe you’re one of the people on the outside of the trench that’s trying to push people away, that’s trying to make things easier for those [Palestinians] behind the trench. Whatever platform you have, whatever voice you have, whatever money you have, whatever dua you have — when you use that for Allah — you are not alone… Palestine will win inshallah”
— The Iranian regime-linked Manassas Mosque in Virginia declared its support for the Hamas terrorist organization in a recent newsletter: “We stand firmly with the Palestinian Resistance (Hamas) and the courageous people of Palestine. With the help of Allah (swt), they will bring liberation and justice to Palestine and to the rest of the world. The Israeli regime is weak and afraid of all the calls for the freedom of Palestine taking place all over the globe. The regime’s days are numbered.”
— Ammar Shahin, the imam of the Islamic Center of Davis, California posted pictures of Hamas’s attack on the day of October 7th, and later urged support for Gaza and claimed “victory is near.”
— Yasir Qadhi, the imam at the East Plano Islamic Center in Texas said on a YouTube video that since he is not employed at a university or other institution, he has “the luxury of bluntly saying I am not going to condemn the fight of an oppressed people.”
— Elizabeth Sohail, the Program Development officer at a Texas charity Baitulmaal, has denounced vigils for Israeli victims of the October 7th massacre as “propaganda.” Baitulmaal openly funds Hamas proxies in Gaza, and it is run by Mazen Mokhtar, a former fundraiser for the Taliban and other jihadist groups.
— Nihad Awad, the co-founder and Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) tweeted in Arabic on October 7 calling for all Arab people to reject normalizing relations with Israel. Awad publicly stated in 1994 that he is in support of the Hamas movement. (The Hamas charter calls for obliterating Israel and says, “There is no solution for the Palestinian problem except by Jihad.”) He also refers to critics of the Hamas terrorist attacks in the media as “Apartheid propagandists.”
— Ayah Ziyadeh, the advocacy director for a group called AMP refused to condemn Hamas in an interview with CBS News Miami, where she called Hamas’s actions a “response” and not an “attack,” and she said for Hamas to remain a “victim” was “unjust in itself.” Last year, a federal judge determined that a years’ long lawsuit which alleged that AMP is linked to Hamas could proceed.
— AMP has also been leading a forceful campaign to justify Palestinian “resistance” since the October 7th attacks, such as holding webinars featuring CAIR’s Nihad Awad who denounced President Biden as a “Zionist” who spews “Israeli propaganda.” Also AMP has been referencing the Muslim American Society’s Ibrahim Zeini who referred to Hamas as “resistance fighters” who are beginning to “shift” the Palestinian cause to “victory.”
— Tarek Khalil, an education coordinator for AMP said about the attacks at a talk at the Bridgeview Mosque Foundation and The Iman Foundation: “Okay, I’m going to give you two sides, and you tell me which side has a better claim to self-defense: Colonizer, occupier, dispossessor, oppressor on one side; Colonized, occupied, dispossessed, oppressed on the other … What they’re defending is an oppressor’s claim of self-defense … [Biden] is justifying the brutal slaughter of an entire people.” (The Bridgeview Mosque Foundation was reportedly investigated by the FBI in 2003 for “terror-related money laundering,” and a couple years later the mosque had their bank accounts closed for funding a group tied to Osama bin Laden. Also the U.S. government listed Jamal Said, the mosque’s current imam, as an unindicted co-conspirator in the trial of the Holy Land Foundation, an organization found guilty of funneling millions of dollars to Hamas.)
— Additionally, AMP’s Director of Outreach & Community Organizing Taher Herzallahs has been referring to Zionist Jews and Christian Zionists as “enemy number one.”
— Suhaib Webb, an American-born imam who runs an online school, said about the attacks, “It is fundamentally flawed to accuse people who are seeking their humanity and dignity and respect of being inhumane.” Also, after the 9/11 attacks Webb reportedly attempted to post bond for Hussein Al-Attas, who drove the “20th hijacker” to flight school.
— The Islamic Society of Baltimore posted a video on its YouTube channel which stated, “‘Do not forget us,’ said Palestine. ‘Dear Palestine, we never will,’ replied the Ummah.” Additionally, in 2004 the mosque’s then-cleric Mohammed El-Sheikh attempted to justify suicide bombings.
— The founder and director of a “Darul Uloom Online Institute of Islam” Mufti Yasir Nadeem al Wajidi tweeted, “Freedom fighters vs. occupying terrorists ‘How many times has a small force vanquished a mighty army by the Will of Allah!’ Quran: 2/249.” He also teaches at the Chicago-area Institute of Islamic Education.
— The Muslim Brotherhood affiliated Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) wrote on Facebook, “By actively, and often violently, preventing their pursuit of a self-defined identity, national autonomy, and global recognition, Israeli occupation and the world’s continued silence has offered Hamas and other groups the political vacuum needed to propel themselves into positions of leadership and justify their violent attacks.” MPAC has a history of sanitizing jihad and portraying terrorists as noble.
— Houda Atassi, the founder of International Humanitarian Relief (IHR) which is a charity that has a branch in Illinois, posted videos clips on October 8th that appeared to be from the terrorist attacks, saying “We pray for their victory.”