Replies

February so far...

Muslim chaplain misunderstands Islam, smuggles box cutters into Manhattan jail
Just so that you don’t get the idea that the Post is “Islamophobic” for reporting on this story, Reuven Blau and Dan Mangan include a completely gratuitous reference to an illegal bar mitzvah party organized by a Jewish chaplain for an inmate’s son. Box cutters = bar mitzvah. Check.
“Muslim chaplain ‘smuggled’ box cutters into jail,” by Reuven Blau and Dan Mangan in the New York Post, February 3 (thanks to herr Oyal):
A Muslim chaplain for the city Department of Correction was arrested this morning for allegedly trying to smuggle in three box-cutters to a lower Manhattan jail.
The imam, Imam Zul-Qarnain Shahid, has worked as a DOC jail chaplain for three years, according to department sources.
Several sources said Shahid was caught this morning attempting to bring three box-cutters into the jail known as the Tombs during a visit there. It was not known why he was visiting the jail....
A DOC chaplain assigned to the Tombs - politically connected rabbi Leib Glanz - resigned last year after The Post exclusively revealed that he had organized a bar mitzvah party within the jail’s walls for the son of an inmate. The bar mitzvah featured catered food and a live band, as well as dozens of non-inmate guests....
When confronted, according to a source close to the events, he explained that he was lost and was looking for Fort Dix — the site of an attempted jihad attack in 2008. This report offers scant details, and there are apparently few to be had, but I am sure that Abdulrahim Sulaiman just wanted to help slash open the piñata at the school party, or perhaps help cut the lunchmeat at Fort Dix.
“Trespasser carried knife into Tappan Zee Elementary, police say,” by Alex Taylor for LoHud.com, January 21 (thanks to Shawn):
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/01/knife-carrying-muslim-enters-new-york-elementary-school-is-asked-to-leave.html
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NY: Elementary schools increase security after knife-carrying Muslim walks in
An update on this story. If you read the comments there, you will see one from a man claiming to be colleague of Abdulrahim Sulaiman, and saying that the incident was a harmless misunderstanding. That may be so, although not all the details of the explanation tally with the charges and the $5,000 bail here; in any case, school officials seem to be taking this incident very seriously indeed, if only as an illustration of what could happen.
“S.Orangetown schools target intruders,” by Jane Lerner for LoHud.com, February 1:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/02/ny-elementary-schools-increase-security-after-knife-carrying-muslim-walks-in.html
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February 1, 2010
http://www.lohud.com/article/20102010347
S.Orangetown schools target intruders

Jane Lerner
jlerner@lohud.com

PIERMONT — New security measures are being put in place at all South Orangetown schools after a stranger carrying a knife walked into a district elementary school last week.

The doors to all schools will now be locked when classes are in session, according to a notice sent from Superintendent of Schools Ken Mitchell to all parents.

In addition , anyone coming to the school will have to present photo identification and additional cameras will be installed.

“While we understand the tightened security and reduced access may be inconvenient, it is essential that we take every reasonable measure to ensure that our buildings are secured for the safety of our students and staff,” Mitchell wrote.

Parents said that they agree with the need for more security in the schools.

“In today’s climate you have to do what you can to protect the children,” said Mary Paul, who has children in the middle school and in the high school. “If this is what the district thinks is necessary, then I’m in favor of it.”

The new measures come after two incidents that raised alarms about school security in South Orangetown.

The most recent took place Jan. 20, when a 23-year-old Connecticut man entered the main lobby of Tappan Zee Elementary School in Piermont.

The man, Abdulrahim Sulaiman, 23, of Bridgeport, was apparently lost and asking for directions, district spokeswoman B.J. Greco said.

Sulaiman was stopped by school officials and escorted outside. He also asked school officials if he could park his car in the parking lot and take a nap, Greco said.

The man left the school grounds, but after officials called police he was spotted at a nearby convenience store and arrested.

Police said Sulaiman was carrying a knife similar to a switchblade at the time of his arrest.

Sulaiman was charged with third-degree criminal trespass and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, both misdemeanors.

He is free on $5,000 cash bail and due in court Wednesday.

The incident came six months after Peter Cocker of Tappan, a former New York City police officer, burst into South Orangetown Middle School with a gun and held the superintendent hostage for a short time.

Cocker was angry about a letter that Mitchell had sent home the day before about the swine flu.

The incident ended when Mitchell wrestled Cocker to the ground as police were breaking down his office door. Cocker, 37, pleaded guilty in November to second-degree kidnapping, a felony, and was sentenced last week to five years in prison.

Greco said both incidents point to the need for better security in the schools.

The new measures will include unannounced security checks. The additional security will cost the district extra, Greco said.

“When dealing with children, you can never be safe enough,” she said. “But nothing is ever fail-safe.”

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Taliban to murder American soldier unless MIT-trained jihadist is released
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/02/taliban-to-murder-american-soldier-unless-mit-trained-jihadist-is-released.html

“Being Muslims, it becomes our religious and moral obligation to help the distressed Pakistani woman convicted by the US court on false charges.”
Odd, isn’t? The Western media avoids mentioning anything about the fact that Aafia Siddiqui is a Muslim or was influenced by Islamic teachings, as if it were completely irrelevant to her violent actions. Yet at the same time, for the Taliban that’s the only thing that matters about her.
“Taliban to execute US soldier if Aafia not released,” from the PakTribune, February 5 (thanks to Sr. Soph):
PESHAWAR: The Afghan Taliban on Thursday demanded the release of Dr Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist who has been convicted by the US court on charges of her alleged attempt to murder US soldiers in Afghanistan, and threatened to execute an American soldier they were holding currently. They claimed Aafia Siddiqui’s family had approached the Taliban network through a Jirga of notables, seeking their assistance to put pressure on the US to provide her justice.
“Being Muslims, it becomes our religious and moral obligation to help the distressed Pakistani woman convicted by the US court on false charges,” said a senior Afghan Taliban commander. The commander, whose militant network is holding the US soldier, Bowe Bergdahl, called our sources from an undisclosed location in Afghanistan and threatened to execute the American trooper if their demand was not met. He claimed AafiaSiddiqui’s family had approached the Taliban network through a Jirga of notables, seeking their assistance to put pressure on the US to provide her justice.
“We tried our best to make the family understand that our role may create more troubles for the hapless woman, who was already in trouble. On their persistent requests, we have now decided to include Dr Aafia Siddiqui’s name in the list of our prisoners in US custody that we delivered to Americans in Afghanistan for swap of their soldier in our custody,” explained the militant commander....
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New York: Muslim chaplain who smuggled box cutters into prison is convicted murderer
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/02/new-york-muslim-chaplain-who-smuggled-box-cutters-into-prison-is-convicted-murderer.html
More prison jihad. How did this man get to be approved as a chaplain? Was his adherence to the Religion of Peace™ enough to allay any concerns about his record?
The New York Post story below is essentially the same story I commented upon here, but the essential detail of Zulqarnain Abdu-Shahid’s murder conviction has been added in. The editor, however, did not bother to remove the gratuitous moral equivalence of the mention of the rabbi who got in hot water for an illicit bar mitzvah for an inmate’s son. Murder and box cutters equal an under-the-table bar mitzvah in our enlightened new multicultural world.
“Muslim chaplain ‘smuggled’ box-cutter blades into jail,” by Reuven Blau and Dan Mangan for the New York Post, February 4 (thanks to Pamela):
A city Department of Correction Muslim chaplain who served 14 years in prison for murder and robbery was arrested today for carrying three utility blades and a pair of scissors into a lower Manhattan jail, authorities said.
The chaplain, Zulqarnain Abdu-Shahid, had the utility blades and scissors in his duffel bag when he arrived at the Manhattan Detention Complex in the morning, according to the city Department of Investigation.
Read the DOI release here (PDF)
The dangerous items were found after an X-ray machine alerted correction officers to the presence of metal in the bag, the DOI said.
Authorities did not say why Abdu-Shahid was visiting the jail, commonly known as the Tombs, or why he was carrying the scissors and the rectangular blades, which were 1-and-1/2 inches long by three-quarters of an inch wide.
Abdu-Shahid, 58, was arrested at the scene and charged with four counts of first-degree promoting prison contraband — a felony carrying a maximum 7-year prison term — and four counts of the same charge in the second degree, a misdemeanor.
The Staten Island resident, who is married with three children, was ordered held in lieu of $30,000 bail during a hearing in Manhattan Criminal Court last night, where he appeared in a long robe and navy blue skull cap.
His lawyer, James McQueeney said the blades were ‘injector razor blades from an injector razor,” and that when Abdu-Shahid told that to the correction officers who stopped him, “his explanation that he didn’t know there were there [in the duffel bag] was accepted.”
“He was allowed into the” Tombs after the blades were confiscated,” McQueeney said. “Only later were questions raised about this.” [...]
Abdu-Shahid was hired as a Muslim imam chaplain by the DOC three years ago tomorrow, and has a salary of $49,471 annually.
State Corrections Department records show that he entered state prison in September 1979 to begin serving a sentence of 15-years-to-life for a second-degree murder and a first-degree robbery committed in Manhattan. He was paroled in August 1993, and finished his parole in August 2001. [...]
But a city Correction source said of Abdu-Shahid’s arrest, “It’s a disgrace that taxpayers are funding Muslim chaplains who not only have criminal records, but also are promoting violence.”
Abdu-Shahid’s boss — head chaplain Umar Abdul-Jalil — himself was hired by the DOC despite having done a 14-year stint in prison for drug dealing.
Abdul-Jalil who also is a Muslim imam, last year was stripped of two weeks vacation as punishment for signing off on a plan by Tombs chaplain Rabbi Leib Glanz to allow a bar mitzvah party for the son of an inmate in that jail.
After The Post uncovered the bar mitzvah — which included catered food, a live band, and scores of non-inmate guests, Abdul-Jalil among them — the politically connected Glanz resigned as chaplain, as did Correction security chief Peter Curcio.
In addition to the party, Glanz had also routinely arranged other preferential treatment for Jewish inmates at the Tombs, including allowing them nearly unfettered use of his office and phone, and bringing them food from the outside, The Post disclosed....
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Texas: Muslim who spoke at pro-Khomeini conference and threatened columnist anointed as “the country’s leading Muslim deradicalization expert”
Texas: Muslim who spoke at pro-Khomeini conference and threatened columnist anointed as “the country’s leading Muslim deradicalization expert”
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/02/texas-muslim-who-spoke-at-pro-khomeini-conference-and-threatened-columnist-anointed-as-the-countrys.html
Does Mohamed Elibiary, who is called in this ridiculous puff piece “the country’s leading Muslim deradicalization expert,” need to deradicalize himself? After all, he was one of the speakers at a December 2004 conference in Dallas entitled “A Tribute to the Great Islamic Visionary,” Ayatollah Khomeini. When Rod Dreher of the Dallas Morning News called him on this, he threatened Dreher, telling him: “Expect someone to put a banana in your exhaust pipe.”
I have met Mohamed Elibiary. He is a slick fellow. You can read here his dancing and obfuscation about deception in Islam and other matters, in a long exchange we had here at Jihad Watch. Read it carefully, noting the questions I ask him and the answers he gives to them, and ask yourself whether he really is or ought to be thought of as “the country’s leading Muslim deradicalization expert” — not that there is any more suitable candidate out there.
“Many Muslims quietly working to head off radicalism,” by Eileen Flynn for the Austin American-Statesman, February 6 (thanks to Ed):
In 2008, a New York woman feared her brother, a troubled young Muslim man living in New York, might be getting involved in a violent radical group in Pakistan. So she called a cleric in Houston for advice. The cleric in turn called Mohamed Elibiary, head of the Plano-based nonprofit Freedom and Justice Foundation.
Elibiary, who has quietly emerged as the country’s leading Muslim deradicalization expert, devised an intervention that played on the young man’s familial duties and got him to return to the United States where counselors and mentors steered him away from militant extremism.
That case is detailed in a new report from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a think tank that has compiled stories of other would-be terrorists who abandoned their violent plans.
And it’s a reminder that in the aftermath of last year’s Fort Hood shootings and the recent terrorism-related arrests of young Muslim Americans, we need people like Elibiary working with government and law enforcement....
Of course, people like Elibiary, and only people like Elibiary, are already working closely with government and law enforcement.

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Dry run at Detroit airport? “Arabic man” ignores instructions from security guards, part of airport shut down
Dry run at Detroit airport? “Arabic man” ignores instructions from security guards, part of airport shut down
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/02/dry-run-at-detroit-airport-arabic-man-ignores-instructions-from-security-guards-part-of-airport-shut.html
They thought maybe he didn’t understand English, but he did. So what was he doing? “Security scare closes airport concourse,” from UPI, February 8:
DETROIT, Feb. 8 (UPI) — Part of a Detroit airport terminal was shut down Monday after an Arabic man ignored instructions from security guards, police said....
The man allegedly refused to stop for questions during a security screening process, airport spokesman Michael Conway said.
Security guards at first thought the man didn’t understand English and therefore didn’t understand their questions, but when he was taken into custody, he began to speak in English, Conway said.
Police, who reported nothing unusual was found when the man’s body was searched, were conducting a background check and planned to search his luggage and car, impounded by airport police.

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http://www.jihadwatch.org/2010/02/texas-muslims-with-bomb-charges-in-truck-force-shutdown-of-forth-worth-highway-for-five-hours.html
We have heard from Kimberly Suzanne Al-Homsi, a.k.a. Asma Al-Homsi, before. She was apparently conducting surveillance at Love Field in 2007, wearing camouflage pants under her Muslim garb. She is a close friend of convicted jihad terrorist Wadih el Hage, Osama bin Laden’s former personal secretary. In July 2007 she threatened to murder a police officer, and ammunition was found in her house.
And now this.
“Two in custody after Fort Worth bomb scare,” by Monika Diaz and Rebecca Lopez for WFAA-TV, February 13 (thanks to Sr. Soph):
FORT WORTH — Southeast Loop 820 and East Rosedale Street in Fort Worth were reopened early Sunday morning after being shut down for five hours overnight.
The Fort Worth bomb squad detonated four charges that were found in a pickup truck that spun out on a slick road during a police pursuit.
Two people are in custody, and one of them — Kimberly Suzanne Al-Homsi — is well-known to police and federal agents.
The Fort Worth bomb squad worked through the evening on the threat. They sent a robot to check a possible explosive device inside the truck....
It all started in Arlington as a road rage incident in the 1000 block of West Abrams Street, police said.
“Someone called to say that there was a person in another vehicle that pointed a weapon at them,” said Arlington police spokeswoman Tiara Ellis Richard. “Officers found that vehicle and tried to conduct a stop. That vehicle did not stop, and as a result, the officers conducted a pursuit.”
The chase continued for 20 minutes. It came to an end when the truck spun out on Rosedale at around 5:30 p.m.
Officers took two people into custody: Kimberly Suzanne Al-Homsi, 45, — who is also known as Asma Al-Homsi — and Yasinul Alan Ansari, 18.
Al-Homsi was charged with evading arrest, two counts of terroristic threats, and also a prohibited weapons count. Both remained in custody Sunday without bond due to federal holds.
News 8 has learned that Al-Homsi has been under government surveillance and was on the federal “no-fly” list after being involved in a road rage incident in December, 2005.
At that time, she held up an inert grenade and threatened another motorist. The Garland bomb squad found ammunition in her car.
In 2007, the FBI and the Dallas Police Department called Al-Homsi a possible danger. Police say she has explosives and sniper training.
In an exclusive interview with News 8 in 2007, Al-Homsi said she disagreed with U.S. policy in the Middle East....