Muslim congressman called 'security' issue

Muslim congressman called 'security' issue
Used Quran for swearing-in, accused of associating with radical group

The Muslim congressman from Minnesota who used a Quran for his swearing-in ceremony now is associating with a Muslim group accused of fomenting violence against Jews and Christians and either should distance himself or resign, say critics.

As WND has reported, Ellison also allowed his election supporters to shout, "Allahu Akbar!," the same phrase allegedly used by the 9/11 suicide pilots, and he has confirmed to reporters that "in terms of political agenda items, my faith informs these things."

Regarding Ellison's speech last month at the Muslim American Society's annual conference in Minneapolis, Joe Kaufman, founder of Americans Against Hate, warned, "This is of grave concern."

In an article at FrontPage Magazine as well as in a news statement, Kaufman said: "Not only is it a conflict of interest for a member of the U.S. House of Representatives to participate with such groups, but it is, as well, an issue of national security. Those in positions of power must demand an end to Keith Ellison's dangerous and bigoted associations. Either that or they must insist on his resignation."

As WND reported earlier, it was in 2000 when Ellison joined Bernadine Dohrn, one of the founders of the 1960s radical group the Weather Underground, and several other speakers at a fundraiser for then-recently arrested Kathleen Soliah, a.k.a. Sara Jane Olson.

Soliah – who along with a small band of Bay Area radicals took in Bill and Emily Harris and Patty Hearst, the last surviving members of the Symbionese Liberation Army following the May 17, 1974, shootout in Los Angeles – had been on the run since the three SLA "soldiers" were captured in September 1975.

Initially charged with planting pipe bombs under two police cars in Los Angeles in August 1975, Soliah was later charged in Sacramento for the murder of a bank customer killed in an April 1975 holdup after the victim's son exerted pressure through the media to reopen the case. Hearst, in her 1981 book, "Every Secret Thing," described the bungled robbery as an SLA operation in which she, Soliah, the Harrises and several others participated.

Soliah was arrested in St. Paul, Minn., in June 1999 where she had been living under the name Sara Jane Olson.

Founded in 1998, Americans Against Hate is a civil rights organization and terrorism watchdog group whose goal is "to be an active voice against those that spread bigotry and violence."

The group said just days ago, Ellison gave the keynote address in front of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota at the group's fourth annual convention

"While Ellison spoke, the group was actively spreading vitriolic hatred and violence aimed at Jews, Christians and other non-Muslims via its website," Kaufman's statement said.

He cited the following statements on that group's Internet site:

* "The Holy Prophet (and through him the Muslims) has been reassured that he should not mind the enmity, the evil designs and the machinations of the Jews..."

* "In view of the degenerate moral condition of the Jews and the Christians, the Believers have been warned not to make them their friends and confidants."

* "If you gain victory over the men of Jews, kill them."

* "The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say, 'O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him.'"

"May Allah destroy the Jews, because they used the graves of their prophets as places of worship."

* "A Muslim must always worship Allah and wage jihad until death in order to reach his ultimate goal… Regularly make the intention to go on jihad with the ambition to die as a martyr."

"On Monday, June 4th, the Chairman of Americans Against Hate (AAH), Joe Kaufman, phoned the local and Washington, D.C., offices of Congressman Ellison to demand that he denounce MAS. Kaufman has received no response from the Congressman or anyone in his offices," the statement said.

Ellison's office also did not respond to a WND request for comment.

"When Keith Ellison ran for office, he denounced the anti-Semitism of Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam (NOI), a group that he was previously affiliated with. We demand that he do the same to the Muslim American Society. It is not only improper for a United States Representative to participate with such groups, but it is a danger to national security," Kaufman said.

He noted that Ellison also spoke to the MAS organization in December, 2006, shortly after he was elected.

While Ellison had been "heavily active" with Farrakhan's organization earlier, Kaufman said, he did distance himself from that group during his campaign for the U.S. House seat from Minnesota's 5th District.

It was then he faxed a letter to the Minnesota Jewish Community Relations Council's executive director, Stephen Silberfarb, confirming, "There has been much speculation about my past connections to the Nation of Islam … I have long since distanced myself from and rejected the Nation of Islam due to its propagation of bigoted and anti-Semitic ideas and statements, as well as other issues."

But Kaufman noted soon after he sent the letter, Ellison allowed the national executive director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations to work on his campaign.

As WND reported, that group recently was named with two other prominent U.S. Islamic groups as an "unindicted co-conspirator" in a plot to fund the terrorist group Hamas.

Federal prosecutors also cited the Islamic Society of North America and the North American Islamic Trust as participants in a plot with five officials of the defunct Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, who go on trial July 16 in Dallas, the New York Sun reported.

CAIR is a spinoff of the defunct Islamic Association for Palestine, launched by Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook and former university professor Sami al-Arian, who pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to provide services to Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Several CAIR staffers have been convicted on terrorism-related charges, and CAIR founder Omar Ahmad allegedly told a group of Muslims they are in America not to assimilate but to help assert Islam's rule over the country.

"Following the election, Ellison continued to cavort with CAIR, addressing its November 2006 banquet, in addition to speaking at events sponsored by other groups connected to terrorism," Kaufman said.

Kaufman said the MAS was founded in 1993 and, "today, it mostly acts as an activist organization, holding conferences and youth camps throughout the United States."

But he said the Minnesota chapter provides information about "waging jihad'' against non-Muslims."

"One [discussion] reads, 'A Muslim must always worship Allah and wage jihad until death in order to reach his ultimate goal, although the goal is invisible and it takes a long time to achieve,'" Kaufman said.

The website has one section devoted to "Stoning to Death of Jews and other Dhimmis," Kaufman said.

"Additionally, MAS-Minnesota's website contains laudatory declarations towards Hamas," he added, where the organization is called a "steadfast, brave, aware Islamic resistance movement."