The Lawfare Project calls for Canadian government to block entry into Canada of notorious American hate figure and terror-sympathizer
The Lawfare Project, a leading New York-based law and human rights think tank, calls on the Government of Canada to bar admission to Canada of American hate figure and terror-sympathizer Ms. Linda Sarsour.
Sarsour is scheduled to enter Canada to speak at a Toronto "Carry the Light" convention sponsored by the highly controversial Islamic Circle of North America Canada (ICNA Canada). ICNA Canada’s extremist ideological affinities and connections are reflected in a collection of analyses published by Canada’s leading expert on the Muslim Brotherhood, Marc Lebuis, at Point de Bascule Canada’s investigative web magazine. Concerns arising from these documents include ICNA Canada’s proximity to Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI), as reflected in the history of longtime senior ICNA Canada personality, Muhammad Iqbal Masood Nadvi (a.k.a. Al-Nadvi). The Canadian government describes JEI as a political organization with an "armed wing", Hizbul Mujahideen, which is "listed as a terrorist entity by the Council of the European Union and is declared a banned terrorist organization by the Government of India." Reports indicate that Canadian immigration authorities in 2008 prevented radical Jamaat-e-Islami leader Qazi Hussain Ahmad from entering the country to appear at an ICNA Canada-endorsed event.[1]
ICNA Canada’s granting of publicity to religious advocacy of sex slavery, has also received attention.
In reaction to news of this month’s pending ICNA Canada convention, B’nai Brith Canada and other Canadian human rights defenders are protesting the invitation to Sarsour and other "hateful speakers" slated to appear at the October 6–7, 2018 event. Among these undesirable individuals is preacher Siraj Wahhaj,[2] whom the U.S. government declared suitable for designation as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing prosecution.[3]
ICNA Canada surely knew that Sarsour has for years enthusiastically supported firebrand racist and anti-Semitic Nation of Islam (NOI) leader Louis Farrakhan. Sarsour’s enthusiasm for the NOI chieftain extended to her speaking at a rally, which, a New York Times article reports, was essentially a "pageant ... centered on Farrakhan as the celebrity father figure."
Sarsour was happy to be a prominent part of this, despite Farrakhan’s appalling past statements. A New York Times editorial states that the "chairwoman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights has correctly diagnosed Mr. Farrakhan's pathology as racist, sexist, anti-Semitic and homophobic." The Times says Farrakhan "asserted that Jews, Arabs, Koreans and Vietnamese doing business in black communities are 'bloodsuckers.'" According to the Anti-Defamation League, Farrakhan blames Jews for 9/11 and slavery, referring to them collectively as the "Synagogue of Satan." CNN quoted remarks Farrakhan made earlier this year as follows:
"White folks are going down. And Satan is going down. And Farrakhan, by God’s grace, has pulled the cover off of that Satanic Jew and I’m here to say your time is up, your world is through[.]"
Sarsour has never personally offered specific, public condemnations of Farrakhan and his racist ideology or apologized for her Farrakhan advocacy. Instead, she remains a vocal supporter of the ideologue and a welcoming intimate of other Farrakhan supporters. Truly, it is said that "only poisoned apples can fall from Mr. Farrakhan’s tree."
Only radicalism can explain ICNA Canada’s invitation to Sarsour. The Canadian government must bar the entry of Sarsour into Canada.
Moreover, there are credible allegations that Sarsour has links to terror-connected interests and other ideological extremists.
Sarsour is an advisory board member and apparently a donor of a small, U.S.-based organization called "Dream Defenders" (DD). As such, this group, and Sarsour with it, is implicated in the organization’s support for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), an illegal terrorist organization in Canada and the United States. On this basis alone, Sarsour would therefore appear, under Canadian law, to be inadmissible for entry into Canada.
This record is consistent with Sarsour’s having addressed the U.S.-based Islamic Society of North America, an unindicted co-conspirator organization and documented part of the Muslim Brotherhood core network. There, she boosted Siraj Wahhaj—her "favorite person in the room"—and called for "jihad" against an American president. Wahhaj supports enforcing Islamic law by corporal punishment and the stoning to death of miscreants. "Wahhaj has even raised funds for groups now designated for financing al Qaeda," concludes a terrorism assessment.
Linda Sarsour represents an extremist politico-ideological tendency that is a threat to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and its values of tolerance and security for all. Law and policy—and respected Canadian traditions of civility and openness—dictate that Sarsour and other foreign Islamist extremist ICNA Canada-invitees be barred entry into Canada. The Lawfare Project joins Canadians of good faith in calling for the Government of Canada to ensure that this occurs.
Footnotes:
[1] According to respected security specialist Patrick Poole, "The ISNA-Canada conference was run jointly with the Muslim Students Association and Muslim Youth of North America, and endorsed by the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations [since renamed the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM)], the Islamic Circle of North America, and the Muslim Association of Canada."
[2] Note that the public record discloses variations in the spelling of Mr. Wahhaj’s name.
[3] When the radical-connected National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM) and Islamic Social Services Association (ISSA) recommended, in a so-called counter-radicalization handbook, people like Wahhaj and Dr. Ingrid Mattson (formerly president of the U.S. unindicted co-conspirator group Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and now, disturbingly, with The Canadian-Muslim Vote), this was broadly interpreted as revealing the Islamist taint of NCCM and ISSA, and quite likely as evidence of an attempt to "launder" the reputations of such people. The Lawfare Project assisted Canadian national security analyst David B. Harris with his successful defense against a "libel lawfare" lawsuit launched by Mattson. Harris had described Mattson as "radical" in a Canadian national radio interview, and The Lawfare Project considers the characterization apt.