When Rabbi Daniel Korobkin was invited to be a part of Prime Minister
Harper’s delegation on his recent trip to Israel, the National Council of
Canadian Muslims (formerly CAIR-CAN) demanded that he be dropped. His crime? He committed
the cardinal sin of introducing Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer at an event
last September in Toronto hosted by the Jewish Defense League. Jason MacDonald,
the prime minister’s director of communications, slammed the NCCM for even
making the suggestion. “˜We will not take seriously criticism from an
organization with documented ties to a terrorist organization such as Hamas,” MacDonald
said” whereupon the NCCM threatened to sue.
The NCCM retorted that MacDonald’s statement
was “˜absolutely false” and said that it is not associated with any terrorist
group. NCCM Executive Director Ihsaan Gardee added by email that “Our legal
counsel is of the view that this statement is defamatory and libelous and we
will be taking this up with the PMO.
So does the NCCM have ties to Hamas or not?
The following documented report from the superb Canadian site Point de Bascule
outlines their history. In order to understand the context of the PMO”s
remarks, it is helpful to go back to the origins of CAIR-CAN. CAIR-CAN was
established as a branch of the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR) that had itself been founded by three leaders of a Hamas front
group in the United States.
It is imperative that you read this
report to understand
the threats, the bullying and the
Lawfare tactics that
are being used against those who speak
out.
Subject: Hassan al-Banna was
described as a role model by three senior directors of the NCCM / CAIR-CAN
Écrit par Point de Bascule on 07 Février 2014. Posted
in Articles par Point de
Bascule
Other CAIR-CAN senior directors
praised Hassan al-Banna and vowed to implement his doctrine in Canada.
Hassan al-Banna: Remembering a True Guide – The full
article is archived on Point de Bascule
Hassan al-Banna was described as
a role model by three senior directors of the NCCM / CAIR-CAN
When CAIR-CAN became the National Council of Canadian
Muslims, it presented itself as “a leading voice that enriches Canadian society through Muslim
civic engagement and the promotion of human rights”.
This description is misleading given the fact that
many of the leaders of the NCCM / CAIR-CAN (past and present) have collaborated with organizations in Canada and abroad whose track records are incompatible with
human rights. Although the NCCM / CAIR-CAN Executive Director Ihsaan Gardee
claimed in a CBC interview that his
organization has never had any relationship with the Washington-based Council
on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), documents issued by his own
organization prove otherwise.
In the context of the NCCM’s recent defamation suit against the PMO for having linked the NCCM to Hamas, discussing
the relationship between Washington-based CAIR and the NCCM / CAIR-CAN is all
the more relevant given the fact that in a 2009 American case, a federal judge concluded that “The [U.S.] government has produced
ample evidence to
establish the associations of CAIR, ISNA [and other organizations] with
Hamas."
The NCCM / CAIR-CAN’s claim that it is committed to
human rights can also be challenged by looking at the ideologues endorsed by
the leaders of this organization over the years. Given the fact that important
leaders of the NCCM / CAIR-CAN have openly endorsed ideologues whose goal is to
establish a totalitarian society based on sharia, this organization must be
considered a threat to human rights and definitely not a source of enrichment
for Canadian society.
One such totalitarian ideologue who has been endorsed
by prominent NCCM / CAIR-CAN directors is Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the
Muslim Brotherhood. Al-Banna advocated the establishment of a society based on
sharia and in his essay To what do we invite
humanity?, he praised Hitler as a
role model for Muslims looking for "success, influence and fortune." As a matter of fact, when the New York Times
announced Hassan al-Banna’s death in 1949, it highlighted that his
organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, had become a movement “with mystic and fascist overtones.”
Hassan al-Banna was openly endorsed by at least three
senior NCCM / CAIR-CAN directors. In 1999, before the incorporation of
CAIR-CAN, current NCCM director Khadija Haffajee was on the Editorial advisory
board of Islamic Horizons when the magazine hailed Hassan al-Banna as “a True Guide.”
In 2004, while he was on CAIR-CAN’s Board, Jamal Badawi described al-Banna as “most inspirational.” Badawi added that “More than any other
individual he [al-Banna] has epitomised twentieth century Islamic thought and
ideology.”
In 2012, while he was a CAIR-CAN director, Wael Haddara was also the president of the Muslim
Association of Canada (MAC). MAC’s website proclaimed back then that “MAC's [...] modern roots can be
traced to the Islamic revival of the early twentieth century, culminating in
the movement of the Muslim Brotherhood. […] MAC adopts and strives to implement
Islam […] as understood in its contemporary context by the late Imam, Hassan
Albanna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. MAC regards this ideology as
the best representation of Islam as delivered by Prophet Muhammad.” The same
mission statement was already posted on MAC’s website in 2005 when Jamal Badawi and Wael Haddara were
both MAC directors and CAIR-CAN directors.
According to the Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Watch, “The Muslim Association of Canada (MAC) appears to be one of the only
organizations in the world that has acknowledged its ties to the Muslim
Brotherhood.”
Wael Haddara resigned his position on
CAIR-CAN’s Board of Directors in April 2012. On December 12, 2012, MAC issued a
press release announcing Haddara’s resignation as president of the organization
for “personal reasons.” On December 28, 2012, Wael Haddara was identified in an
official United Nations document as a member of the Egyptian delegation at the UN. He had become
a close advisor to now
deposed Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi. Haddara had just
been promoted from the Muslim Brotherhood infrastructure in Canada to the
original one in Egypt. This was the logical outcome of Wael Haddara’s
involvement with CAIR-CAN and the Muslim Association of Canada.
Khadija Haffajee
CAIR-CAN was incorporated in 2000.
When Khadija Haffajee joined its Board of Directors (either in 2000 or 2001), she was already on
the Majlis al-Shura of the Islamic Society of North America, ISNA’s
decision-making body. Khadija Haffajee was first elected as an ISNA’s
administrator in 1997 and re-elected in 2001 and 2004. As a member of ISNA’s
leadership, she was on the Editorial advisory Board of Islamic Horizons. ISNA
refers to its own publication as “ISNA's flagship bi-monthly magazine.”
Khadija Haffajee and another current NCCM director,
Shahina Siddiqui, have presented their autobiographies in a book entitled Muslim
Women Activists in North America: Speaking for Ourselves. It was edited by
Katherine Bullock and released in 2005. As this article is being published, the
portion of the book concerning Haffajee is still available on Google Books.
ISNA was established in 1982 by the Muslim Brotherhood
leadership in North America in order to mobilize and radicalize Muslims outside
of college and university campuses. The Muslim Students Association (MSA) had
already been established in 1963 to target Muslim students. In the 2009 American legal case referred to previously, the judge remarked that a Muslim
Brotherhood document produced as Exhibit 3-64 by the U.S. government “further
ties ISNA to the Muslim Brotherhood by listing it as an ‘apparatus’ of the
Brotherhood.”
ISNA is number 1 and MSA number 2 in a listing of 29
organizations affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood network in North America
that was added to an internal memorandum written by an MB leader in 1991. In this memorandum, the goal
pursued by the Muslim Brotherhood in North America is clearly presented:
POINT 4 The Ikhwan (Muslim Brotherhood) must understand that their work in
America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western
civilization from within and "sabotaging" its miserable house by
their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God's
religion is made victorious over all other religions... It is a Muslim's
destiny to perform Jihad and work wherever he is and wherever he lands until
the final hour comes."
This memorandum was made public after it was seized by
police and produced for evidentiary purposes in a 2008 trial that led to the
conviction of all accused in a terror
financing case. This excerpt was
also quoted in the 2009 American legal case referred to earlier.
In July 2013, the ISNA Development Foundation’s
charitable status was revoked by the Canada Revenue Agency because it provided tax receipts for donations made to a
non-status organization that was funding a jihadist organization in India. At
the time, ISNA’s leaders claimedthat “There has been
no links of authority or responsibility between the United States
and Canadian organizations for a few decades, despite the similarity of
names.” When the charity status revocation occurred in July 2013, at least two
administrators of ISNA-Canada (Mohamed Bekkari and Khalid Tarabain) were on the
U.S.-based ISNA’s Board (ISNA’s Board in June 2013 – ISNA’s Board in August 2013).
On July 6, 2013, Khadija Haffajee spoke at an event
organized to announce CAIR-CAN’s name change to the National Council of
Canadian Muslims. Ottawa-based Muslim Link published the colour picture on
its website and the
description below in the paper copy
of its newspaper (p. 3).
Hassan al-Banna’s 50-point
Manifesto
One of the articles praising Hassan al-Banna in the
March-April 1999 edition of Islamic Horizons highlighted an important proposal of his totalitarian program:
getting rid of all political parties and replacing them by a one-party state (“He [al-Banna] called for mediation between [political]
parties and even for their dissolution so they could emerge as a single entity
serving according to the guidance of Islam.”)
This one-party state proposal is the first one in
Hassan al-Banna’s 50-point Manifesto. According to Ikhwanweb, the Muslim
Brotherhood’s website, the Manifesto was part of a letter sent by Hassan
al-Banna to many Muslim leaders in 1947, including the king and the prime
minister of Egypt. It contains fifty proposals for a systematic implementation
of sharia. They are grouped in three categories (1. Political, judicial and administrative;
2. Social and educational; 3. Economic). The 50-point Manifesto is available on Point de
Bascule.
Here are some of the proposals advocated by Hassan
al-Banna and those who revere him as their “True Guide”:
1. POLITICAL, JUDICIAL AND
ADMINISTRATIVE SECTORS
1.1 - An end to party rivalry, and a channelling of
the political forces of the nation into a common front and a single phalanx.
1.2 - A reform of the law, so that it will conform to
Islamic legislation in every branch.
1.6 - The surveillance of the personal conduct of all
its employees, and an end to the dichotomy between the private and professional
spheres.
2. SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL SECTORS
2.3 - An end to prostitution, both clandestine and
overt: the recognition of fornication, whatever the circumstances, as a
detestable crime whose perpetrator must be flogged.
2.4 - An end to gambling in all its forms - games,
lotteries, racing, and gambling-clubs.
2.5 - A campaign against drinking, as there is one
against drugs: its prohibition, and the salvation of the nation from its
effects.
2.6 - A campaign against ostentation in dress and
loose behavior; the instruction of women in what is proper, with particular
strictness as regards female instructors, pupils, physicians, and students, and
all those in similar categories.
2.7 - A review of the curricula offered to girls and
the necessity of making them distinct from the boys' curricula in many of the
stages of education.
2.8 - Segregation of male and female students; private
meetings between men and women, unless between the permitted degrees [of
relationship] to be counted as a crime for which both will be censored.
2.10 - The closure of morally undesirable ballrooms
and dance halls, and the prohibition of dancing and other such pastimes.
2.11 - The surveillance of theatres and cinemas, and a
rigorous selection of plays and films.
2.12 - The expurgation of songs, and a rigorous
selection and censorship of them.
2.13 - The careful selection of lectures, songs, and
subjects to be broadcast to the nation; the use of radio broadcasting for the
education of the nation in a virtuous and moral way.
2.14 - The confiscation of provocative stories and
books that implant the seeds of skepticism in an insidious manner, and
newspapers which strive to disseminate immorality and capitalize indecently on
lustful desires.
2.15 - The supervision of summer vacation areas so as
to do away with the wholesale confusion and licence that nullify the basic aims
of vacationing.
2.16 - The regulation of business hours for cafés;
surveillance of the activities of their regular clients; instructing these as
to what is in their best interest; withdrawal of permission from cafés to keep
such long hours.
2.19 - Due consideration for the claims of the moral
censorship, and punishment of all who are proved to have infringed any Islamic
doctrine or attacked it, such as breaking the fast of Ramadan, wilful neglect
of prayers, insulting the faith, or any such act.
2.26 - Consideration of ways to arrive gradually at a
uniform mode of dress for the nation.
2.27 - An end to the foreign spirit in our homes with
regard to language, manners, dress, governesses, nurses, etc; all these to be
Egyptianized, especially in upper class homes.
3. ECONOMIC SECTOR
3.4 - The protection of the masses from the oppression
of monopolistic companies, keeping these within strict limits, and obtaining
every possible benefit for the masses.
3.5 - An improvement in the lot of junior civil
servants by raising their salaries, by granting them steady increases and
compensations, and by lowering the salaries of senior civil servants.
Other facets of Hassan al-Banna’s program
On February 4, 1949, the New York Times reported
that “the terrorist Moslem Brotherhood in Egypt has formed a suicide squad of
200 men, each sworn to give his life to the cause in some venture such as the
assassination of [Egypt’s] Premier Mahmoud Fahmy Nokrashy Pasha.” Egypt’s
Premier Pasha was killed by a veterinary student member of the Muslim
Brotherhood on December 29, 1948. This suicide squadron was the original model
that inspired Hamas to organize its own suicide operations many years later and
launch attacks not in Egypt this time, but at the heart of Israel. In its charter, Hamas identifies itself as “one of the wings of the Muslim
Brotherhood.”
In the introduction of its charter, Hamas quotes Hassan al-Banna, who proclaims his determination to
destroy Israel: “"Israel will exist, and will continue to exist, until
Islam abolishes it, as it abolished that which was before it."
In a 2009 speech on "Understanding Jihad and
Martyrdom," given at the Chebucto Mosque in Halifax (Nova Scotia),
long-time CAIR-CAN director Jamal Badawi justified the use of suicide bombers
and praised those who are killed in action as martyrs. The Investigative Project on Terrorism has gathered some audio excerpts of Badawi’s speeches on the
subject.
In his essay On Jihad, Hassan al-Banna has
also compiled numerous passages of the Koran, hadiths and excerpts of texts
written by Muslim scholars on the subject. One of these excerpts,
wholeheartedly endorsed by al-Banna, summarizes his adherence to the notion
that military jihad is a legitimate way to further the cause of Islam:
"It's an obligation for us [Muslims] to fight against them [the infidels]
after inviting them [to join Islam], even if they do not fight against
us".
Stockwell Day about Hassan
al-Banna and the Muslim Brotherhood
In 2011, while Stockwell Day was President of the
Treasury Board in the Canadian government, he commented in the House of
Commons on the situation in Egypt. At one point in his speech, he talked about
Hassan al-Banna and the Muslim Brotherhood. Some of his remarks were general
and applied not only to Egypt but to Canada as well. They help better
understand the background of organizations such as the National Council of
Canadian Muslims.
HANSARD (Parliament
of Canada – February 2, 2011)
– Stockwell Day: “The leader of the Muslim
Brotherhood, Hassan al-Banna talked and wrote in a very intelligent and
articulate way about the necessary use of terrorism when the time came. He
talked about using politics and he talked about using propaganda.”
“President Nasser tried to work with members of the
Muslim Brotherhood, or Al-Ikhwan as they were called, up until they tried to
assassinate him. Then he used very repressive means, driving many of them into
Saudi Arabia. When they fled to Saudi Arabia, we saw that joining of the
Saudi-Wahhabi and the Muslim Brotherhood Salafi group, leading to the modern
terrorist Islamist movement.”
[…] “As recently as 2008 their supreme guide, Mahdi
Akif, praised bin Laden as a Moujahid. He called for jihad in Egypt. That was
as recently as 2008. Their motto is still that ‘Jihad is our way. Dying in the
way of Allah is our highest hope.’ This is the Muslim Brotherhood.”
[…] “It is something in the DNA of those of us in the
west that we incline ourselves to appeasement before, at times, the most evil
forces. That is regarded as a weakness. That part of our DNA is actually based
on hope. We try to appease, hoping that rational minds will prevail. It is
actually a virtue, I believe, of western civilization, that particular hope.
Hope without reason [however,] can lead to great catastrophe.”
[…] “As we have heard other people say, trust but
verify.”
While in the Opposition in Ottawa a few years earlier,
Stockwell Day had experienced the Muslim Brotherhood’s lawfare tactics
first-hand when IRFAN-Canada sued him for defamation in 2006 after he had accused the group in 2004 of raising funds for the terrorist organization Hamas. Day was
eventually proven right when the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) discovered
that, for the 2005-2009 period alone,
IRFAN-Canada had transferred $14.6 million to Hamas. In April 2011, the CRA
revoked IRFAN-Canada’s charitable status (CRA – GMBDR – Toronto Star).
In December 2012, after IRFAN-Canada’s charitable
status was revoked for funding Hamas, then Liberal leadership candidate Justin
Trudeau nevertheless accepted to speak at the IRFAN-sponsored Reviving the
Islamic Spirit (RIS) convention in Toronto. Point de Bascule criticizedTrudeau for doing so.
Shortly after, CAIR-CAN (as NCCM was known at the time) issued a press release
to condemn Point de Bascule “for slandering” and
Islamophobia. The latter term is constantly used by Muslim Brotherhood
operatives to silence the critics of their totalitarian program and make such
critics pass for racists. Three days after CAIR-CAN’s press release,
IRFAN-Canada withdrew its sponsorship of the convention. Once in the spotlight, its links with Hamas had
become a liability for RIS organizers. What CAIR-CAN had described as
“slanders” on Wednesday had become an unchallenged fact for RIS organizers by
Saturday.
Apart from being engaged in the
destruction of Israel, in recent years leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood branch
Hamas have frequently advocated the Islamic conquest of the West (2008 – 2011 – 2012). On
July 16, 2013, Hamas threatened to launch terrorist attacks in countries where Israel’s embassies are
located. Canada is among the potential targets, of course.
Excerpts of a New York Times
article announcing Hassan Al-Banna’s death
MOSLEM BROTHERHOOD LEADER SLAIN AS HE ENTERS TAXI IN CAIRO STREET
Terrorist Leader Is Killed In Cairo
Terrorist Leader Is Killed In Cairo
February 13, 1949 - page 5
By ALBION ROSS
“[The Muslim Brotherhood] was banned after authorities
had declared it responsible for a series of bombing outrages and killings last
year [1948].”
[…] “It was disclosed recently that an inner circle of
the banned Brotherhood had recognized Sheikh Hassan [al-Banna] as Caliph, which
would have amounted to proclaiming him as political chief of the Islamic world.
This group of eighty conspirators, it was stated, carried out acts of terror by
lot.”
[…] “At first it [the Muslim Brotherhood] was a
religious and reform organization and had no trouble with the authorities.
During recent years, however, it had taken on the character
of a political movement with mystic and fascist overtones.”
“Sheikh Hassan's followers were fanatically devoted to
him, and many of them proclaimed that he alone would be able to save the Arab
and Islamic worlds. The campaign of terror appears to have had the purpose of
systematically intimidating the authorities, courts and police in preparation
for a seizure of power.”
Conclusion
The promises and the good intentions enunciated by the
NCCM / CAIR-CAN to media and police organizations must be compared with what
the NCCM / CAIR-CAN leaders are telling their own supporters before we can
legitimately conclude that this organization is an asset to counter the
radicalization occurring in the Muslim community. The promotion of a
totalitarian ideologue such as Hassan al-Banna by very important NCCM /
CAIR-CAN leaders demonstrates that this organization is definitely not a part
of the solution but a part of the radicalization problem in the Muslim
community in Canada.
Further reading
Point de Bascule: File Council on American Islamic Relations Canada (CAIR-CAN) / National
Council of Canadian Muslims
Point de Bascule (January 17, 2014): Prime Minister Harper's director of communications slams the
National Council of Canadian Muslims for “documented ties to a terrorist
organization such as Hamas”
Point de Bascule (July 18, 2013): National Council of Canadian Muslims: The new name chosen by
CAIR-CAN helps cover its links with Washington-based / Hamas-linked CAIR
Point de Bascule (December 21, 2012): CAIR-CAN
condemns Point de Bascule and uses John Ralston Saul as a poster boy to
legitimize the Islamist agenda
Point de Bascule (August 13, 2013): Early 2000s – Legal battle between CAIR and ISNA to get the acronym
CAIR as trade-mark in Canada
Point de Bascule (January 20, 2014): NCCM’s
Ihsaan Gardee, Justin Trudeau’s advisor Omar Alghabra, Amnesty Secretary
General Alex Neve and National Post’s Jonathan Kay tweet about NCCM and Hamas.
Hassan al-Banna: Remembering a True Guide – The
full article is archived on Point de Bascule
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