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ISLAMIST WATCH, a project of the Middle East Forum, combats the ideas and institutions of lawful Islamism in the United States and throughout the West. Arguing that "radical Islam is the problem, moderate Islam is the solution," we seek to expose the Islamist organizations that currently dominate the debate, while identifying and promoting the work of moderate Muslims. Islamist Watch specifically does not deal with counterterrorism but works to establish that lawful Islamism is by and of itself a threat. |
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Latest Islamist Watch Articles
Nonviolent Islamism in the News
BlogIW News Brief: Fort Hood Fiasco, UK Jihad Denial, and Moreby David J. Rusin • Fri, 31 May 2013, 9:16 AM
Islamist Watch (IW) maintains an extensive archive of news items on nonviolent Islamism in the Western world. The complete collection can be found here; lists organized by topic are accessible on the right side of the IW homepage. The following are some of the recent developments covered in the IW database: Fort Hood jihadist earns $278,000 while survivors suffer The U.S. Army's classification of the Fort Hood massacre as "workplace violence" deprives its victims of key benefits, but Major Nidal Hasan has been paid $278,000 and counting since his murderous rampage in November 2009. According to the Army, his salary cannot be halted until he is convicted. Hasan's newly confirmed windfall "makes me sick to my stomach," said Logan Burnett, a reservist shot by Hasan. "There have been times when my wife and I cannot afford groceries." In March, the Army nixed Purple Hearts for soldiers like Burnett, arguing that awarding medals would "set the stage for a formal declaration that Major Hasan is a terrorist." As survivors look to override the "workplace violence" label in court, several congressmen are pressuring the Pentagon directly. Two House Republicans and one Democrat recently sent a letter to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel that calls the designation "irresponsible" and links it to the "'political correctness' that caused the horrible toll of deaths and injuries at Fort Hood. … We ask that you swiftly reclassify the victims' deaths and injuries as 'combat-related' so that they and their families may qualify for the full scope of benefits provided to service members and DoD civilian employees who are killed or injured in combat." Meanwhile, Congressman John Carter, a Texas Republican, has introduced legislation aiming to thwart future Hasans by granting whistleblower protection to military personnel who report "ideologically based threats" in the ranks. Many had been aware of Hasan's radicalism but stayed silent out of fear.
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IW News Brief: Shari'a Creep in (Not So) Jolly Old Englandby David J. Rusin • Tue, 21 May 2013, 12:01 PM
Islamist Watch (IW) maintains an extensive archive of news items on nonviolent Islamism in the Western world. The complete collection can be found here; lists organized by topic are accessible on the right side of the IW homepage. The following are some of the recent developments covered in the IW database: Gender segregation at UK universities A briefing by Student Rights documents 46 events on UK campuses from March 2012 to March 2013 that "either explicitly promoted segregation by gender, or implied that this would be the case." The Commentator reports: "The events in question have been primarily hosted by Islamic societies on campuses, who often use separate telephone numbers for men and women to book their attendance." Some groups advertise specific events as segregated; others have general policies to that effect. Student Rights concludes that these "are not 'isolated incidents' but rather form a part of a wider, discriminatory trend on UK university campuses." A March 9 debate at University College London (UCL) ignited the issue. The Islamic Education and Research Academy held "Islam or Atheism: Which Makes More Sense?" It pitted lecturer Hamza Tzortzis, who has said that "we as Muslims reject … even the idea of freedom," against physicist Lawrence Krauss. When Krauss threatened to leave once he realized that segregation was being enforced, the organizers relented. "You are in a public arena and not in a mosque, not in a private event," he told a woman who objected to mixing. He added: "It is the obligation of people who don't feel comfortable with that to decide how they are going to mesh with broader society, not the other way around." UCL has banned the group from taking part in future events.
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IW News Brief: Boston and the Aftermath of Terrorby David J. Rusin • Tue, 30 Apr 2013, 2:45 PM
Islamist Watch (IW) maintains an extensive archive of news items on nonviolent Islamism in the Western world. The complete collection can be found here; lists organized by topic are accessible on the right side of the IW homepage. The IW database includes dozens of articles scrutinizing the many narratives, questions, and controversies to arise in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings carried out by two Muslim immigrants, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Several key developments are highlighted below: Political correctness at the FBI Following reports that Russian officials had contacted Washington about Tamerlan Tsarnaev's extremism years ago — warnings investigated and then set aside by the FBI — some suspect that political correctness paved the path to the attack. "The FBI can't talk about Islam and they can't talk about jihad," notes counterterrorism expert Sebastian Gorka, citing policies that de-emphasize radical Islam as a driver of violence. "I have zero doubt it affected their investigation of Tsarnaev," adds specialist Patrick Poole. Congressmen have voiced concerns as well. The FBI also dropped the ball prior to the Fort Hood bloodbath. In that case, the Washington field office cautioned its San Diego counterpart that probing Nidal Hasan was a "politically sensitive" subject, and internal emails classified Hasan's messages to an al-Qaeda operative as mere "research." Furthermore, building on its record of Muslim outreach follies, the agency recently caved to Islamists on training and expunged "biased" materials. Its "Guiding Principles: Touchstone Document on Training" declares that if someone belongs to a group that engages in both violence and "constitutionally protected activities," the FBI must not assume that the person is involved in the former. As columnist Matthew Vadum opines, "It's not that much of an exaggeration to say that the FBI could not have done anything about Tsarnaev unless he strapped on a suicide vest in front of them, called them 'infidels,' and detailed his abominable plans."
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IW News Brief: Multicultural Rape, March of Halal, and Moreby David J. Rusin • Wed, 17 Apr 2013, 11:12 AM
Islamist Watch (IW) maintains an extensive archive of news items on nonviolent Islamism in the Western world. The complete collection can be found here; lists organized by topic are accessible on the right side of the IW homepage. The following are some of the recent developments covered in the IW database: Australia: Do cultural differences excuse rape? Esmatullah Sharifi, an Afghan refugee who came to Australia in 2001 and launched a career as a sexual predator, has been granted leave to appeal his sentence for raping an intoxicated young woman in 2008. Robert Redlich, an appellate judge, explained that the sentencing judge had focused primarily on "the protection of the community" and improperly "rejected any suggestion [Sharifi] didn't have a clear concept of consent in sexual relations" due to cultural differences. Citing "aspects of his conduct that were strange" — Sharifi had treated the victim like a "willing participant" before driving her home — Redlich concluded that "it proves, in my view, an adequate basis for most grounds of appeal that [Sharifi] wishes to pursue." Whether or not the appeal succeeds, Redlich has already helped to bolster the "Muslim defense," described in a past IW news brief as "a double standard whereby a Muslim upbringing can excuse horrible behavior that would never be tolerated from non-Muslims," including workplace harassment, assault, and sex with minors. The Sharifi case touches on another taboo subject: the growing number of rapes perpetrated by Muslim men against non-Muslim women in the West.
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IW News Brief: Syrian Rebel PM Is Ex-CAIR Official, and Moreby David J. Rusin • Sun, 31 Mar 2013, 12:22 PM
Islamist Watch (IW) maintains an extensive archive of news items on nonviolent Islamism in the Western world. The complete collection can be found here; lists organized by topic are accessible on the right side of the IW homepage. The following are some of the recent developments covered in the IW database: New Syrian opposition leader linked to U.S. Islamist groups The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, the umbrella body seeking to replace the Assad regime, has elected U.S. citizen Ghassan Hitto as interim prime minister. Hitto served on the board of the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), but this is just one of his many ties to Muslim Brotherhood entities. The Indianapolis Star notes that Hitto worked for the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), which, like CAIR, were unindicted co-conspirators in the trial of the Hamas-financing Holy Land Foundation (HLF). Hitto also has been connected to the Muslim American Society (MAS), described by prosecutors as "the overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in America," and the defunct Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP). Given this record, it would strain credulity to suggest that Hitto is not an Islamist. A 2012 IW article looks at other leading American Islamists who now play key roles in the Syrian opposition, including Louay Safi, Yaser Tabbara, and Najib Ghadbian. Though their involvement does not bode well for Syria's future, consider the bright side: the more they focus on promoting Islamism over there, the less time they can devote to it over here.
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IW News Brief: Hitler's Disciples, Islamic Flogging, and Moreby David J. Rusin • Fri, 22 Mar 2013, 11:36 AM
Islamist Watch (IW) maintains an extensive archive of news items on nonviolent Islamism in the Western world. The complete collection can be found here; lists organized by topic are accessible on the right side of the IW homepage. The following are some of the recent developments covered in the IW database: Muslim teens laud Hitler and the Holocaust on Dutch TV "I am satisfied with what Hitler did with the Jews," a teenager from the Dutch city of Arnhem states in a disturbing video that aired last month on the Nederland 2 channel. "As far as I am concerned, Hitler should have killed all Jews." The boy is one of several Jew-hating Muslim youths of Turkish descent shown conversing with Mehmet Sahin, a doctoral student who works to challenge "pathetic" attitudes of the type exhibited. The response to the broadcast underscores the hurdles that he faces. First, Dutch media ignored the story until the Simon Wiesenthal Center forced the issue weeks later. Second, Sahin has gone into hiding after receiving death threats. Anti-Semitism expert Manfred Gerstenfeld warns that the video represents merely "the tip of the iceberg." Having interviewed 117 young European Muslims, researcher Günther Jikeli concluded that "the majority voiced some or strong anti-Semitic feelings." The consequence is that Jews increasingly suffer violent attacks in Europe while officials do little to combat a problem that their policies created. Governments "allowed immigrants into their countries in a non-selective way without taking into account the cultural differences," Gerstenfeld explains. "Actively promoting anti-Semitism was part and parcel of the cultures these people came from." It is, he contends, "the most troubling development for European Jewry in the past 50 years."
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CAIR tells School: Don't Criticize Hamas and the Talibanby Marc J. Fink • Mon, 18 Mar 2013, 3:08 AM
CAIR Bullies Teacher Who Said Hamas and
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Islamist Watch (IW) maintains an extensive archive of news items on nonviolent Islamism in the Western world. The complete collection can be found here; lists organized by topic are accessible on the right side of the IW homepage.
The following are some of the recent developments covered in the IW database:
Shari'a worms its way into Spanish adoption law
"Spain has acceded to the demands of the Islamist government in Morocco by agreeing that Moroccan children adopted by Spanish families must remain culturally and religiously Muslim," reports Soeren Kern of the Gatestone Institute. "The agreement obliges the Spanish government to establish a 'control mechanism' that would enable Moroccan religious authorities to monitor the children until they reach the age of 18 to ensure they have not converted to Christianity"; annual trips to Morocco have been suggested. This would institutionalize the Islamic kafala system, in which adults can gain guardianship over Muslim children not their own, though the kids effectively continue to be someone else's — a far cry from Western adoption. Such planned changes to Spanish law sacrifice religious freedom to appease Islamists who wish only to keep these abandoned children tethered to the society that failed them in the first place.
Kern explains that France has similar laws. Foster care also has seen interfaith friction. A UK foster mother was axed in 2008 after a Muslim teen in her home embraced Christianity. The woman angered the local council by not stopping the baptism; she was reinstated following a legal battle. Now AFP reveals that "Turkey has embarked on a campaign to retrieve children of Turkish immigrant families living in Europe who are fostered by foreigners," i.e., non-Muslims.
 Left: Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, the Spanish justice minister, has capitulated to the adoption jihad. Right: One inadvertent serving of non-halal meat sparked a furor at Birmingham's Moseley School, whose website shows a high concentration of Muslim students. |
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IW News Brief: Welfare Jihad, Public School Da'wa, and More
by David J. Rusin • Fri, 22 Feb 2013, 11:48 AM
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Islamist Watch (IW) maintains an extensive archive of news items on nonviolent Islamism in the Western world. The complete collection can be found here; lists organized by topic are accessible on the right side of the IW homepage.
The following are some of the recent developments covered in the IW database:
British radical promotes welfare-funded jihad
The UK's Sun secretly recorded cleric Anjem Choudary as he urged Muslims to further their jihadist pursuits by claiming public benefits. "The normal situation is for you to take money from the kuffar," he said, using a term for unbeliever. Ridiculing Britons with jobs, Choudary noted that some Muslims hardly ever work and instead focus on jihad. Based on research from 2010, Choudary "received £15,600 a year in housing benefit to keep him in a £320,000 house" and pocketed another £10,140 in council tax allowance, income support, and child benefits.
Islamists are known for living on the Western dole, especially in Britain, a scandal examined in a 2011 IW article by Kathy Shaidle. Recipients of UK benefits have included the bomb plotters of July 21, 2005, hate preacher Abu Hamza, and Abu Qatada, dubbed "Osama bin Laden's ambassador in Europe." (Unable to deport Abu Qatada, the government recently moved him into a three-bedroom home near a synagogue.) The phenomenon is not limited to the UK, as seen in new data indicating that Swedish citizen Taimour Abdulwahab, who blew himself up during a botched 2010 attack in Stockholm, had procured 750,000 kronor ($119,000) in student aid.
 Left: Anjem Choudary was recorded saying that Western leaders deserve to be killed and that freedom must be rejected. "We are going to take England," he boasted. "The Muslims are coming." Right: Mohammed Alharbi and his kids passed out pro-Islam material in a U.S. public school, but "not a single staffer or a teacher ever uttered a word," according to WTHI. |
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IW News Brief: Hedegaard Lives, UK's Jihad TV, and More
by David J. Rusin • Thu, 14 Feb 2013, 12:55 PM
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Islamist Watch (IW) maintains an extensive archive of news items on nonviolent Islamism in the Western world. The complete collection can be found here; lists organized by topic are accessible on the right side of the IW homepage.
The following are some of the recent developments covered in the IW database:
Islam critic Lars Hedegaard dodges assassin's bullet
Journalist Lars Hedegaard — a critic of Islam, defender of free speech, and associate fellow at the Middle East Forum — survived a murder attempt in Copenhagen on February 5. "Hedegaard, 70, said the gunman rang the doorbell of his apartment building on the pretext of delivering a package, and when Hedegaard opened the front door, the man pulled out a gun and fired a shot that narrowly missed the writer's head," the Associated Press reports. Hedegaard fought back, causing the assailant — described as "foreign" in appearance — to lose the gun and flee. In their post-attack coverage, Danish media have disparaged and blamed the victim.
Europe's elites employ scorn and prosecution to silence Islam's foes, but Islamists sometimes take a harsher approach, as seen in the slaying of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh and the ax assault directed at Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard. "The good thing is that Lars Hedegaard lives, and has vowed to persist in his courageous efforts to resist the Islamization of Europe," Bruce Bawer observes. "The bad thing is that his Muslim enemies are also alive and well and as determined as ever to wreak their monstrous havoc — and that their abettors in the media and elsewhere have lost none of their shameful readiness to relativize jihad and tear down heroes."
 Left: A perpetual thorn in the establishment's side, Lars Hedegaard was convicted and later acquitted of hate speech for broaching the topic of sexual abuse in Muslim families. Right: Zakir Naik of Peace TV has declared that under Shari'a it is appropriate to crucify and dismember people who "wage war against Allah." |
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