VICTORY:
Legislators Shun 911 Mosque Fundraising Dinner

“Look at their Federal Election Commission reports, these spineless politicians are owned and operated by the radical Islamists and their sinister front groups.” James Lafferty

The first action SOIA (Stop Islamization of America) endorsed and supported was VAST’s (Virginia Anti-Sharia Task Force) PROTEST AT 9/11 MOSQUE FUNDRAISING DINNER. I was thrilled to be able to work with the wonderful James Lafferty, chairman of VAST.

We denounced the  appearances by Congressmen Gerry Connolly (D-Virginia) and James Moran (D-Virginia) and former Gov. Tim Kaine at a fundraising dinner for the controversial mosque Dar Al Hijrah.

Reps. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., and Jim Moran, D-Va., have “trashed their oath to protect and defend the U.S.” by agreeing to attend the annual banquet for Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center, a large mosque in Falls Church, Va., a suburb of Washington, according to the Virginia Anti-Shariah Task Force, or VAST.

VAST criticized Virginia Democrat Gov. Tim Kaine for agreeing to attend the event, while praising Democrat Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia for withdrawing from the event following complaints from concerned constituents. “While brave young Virginia men and women are risking their lives to fight terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan, Connolly, Moran and Kaine are yucking it up with them and slapping each other on the back over at the Marriott,” charged VAST Chairman James Lafferty.

The three politicians’ campaign war chests are heavily funded by radical Islamists who support the mosque.The good news is, with the exception of jihad tool Gerry Connolly, THEY DID NOT SHOW UP TO THE DINNER.

VICTORY!

This is a template for SIOA. What better  strategy in dealing with Congressmen on the jihad payroll and/or advancing Islamic supremacism? It will have a devastating impact on congressmen (particularly those running), and indeed might even end their seedy political careers.

It will send a direct in-your-face message to our other elected loose canons who never address these intentions or activities to their electorate and then abuse their positions once elected.

James Lafferty, Chairman of VAST, sent me these observations of today’s protest:

And then there was one…

At the beginning of the big Dar Al Hijrah fundraising dinner at a Northern Virginia Marriott, liberal Congressman Gerry Connolly was the only elected official left standing on the radical mosque’s invitation list. And there were no reported sightings of “Jihad Gerry” at or near the dinner. The original guest list published on the Dar Al Hijrah website included seven politicians, all Democrats including DNC chairman and former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine.

Subjected to a heavy barrage of phone calls to their offices and the offices of some of their high-dollar contributors, everyone from Senator Jim Webb and liberal Congressman Jim Moran to several Virginia delegates either flat-out withdrew or found some excuse for not attending the jihadi dinner.

The Virginia Anti-Shariah Task Force (VAST), ACT for America, the Center for Security Policy and Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA) successfully turned the stampede of politicians away from the 9/11 mosque dinner. None of the observers present outside the dinner was able to spot a single politician entering the dinner.

“The tide is turning,” said VAST Chairman James Lafferty. “In the past, politicians got wined and dined by Dar Al Hijrah and got fat checks from CAIR and other radical groups. Nothing was said and no one knew. Now we are shining the light of public scrutiny on this whole shady process.

“Connolly may still get fat checks from the jihadi front-groups and their bag men but everyone will know about it. The anti-shariah coalition of activist groups here in Virginia will blow the whistle. More people will read his FEC campaign contribution reports than read the Washington Post.” Coalition protestors gathered across the street from the Marriott in Falls Church with signs like “Dar Al Hijrah is Anti-American” and “My Congressman is a Traitor.” Several van loads of women in burkas responded in various ways from flipping them off to yelling “get a life!”

Hotel and private security guards refused to allow several ticket holders to enter the event and even ejected some of the people who had purchased the tickets at the Dar Al Hijrah website because they didn’t appear on an invited guest list. The only explanation was that there were concerns about the “anti-shariah people” disrupting the event. There were certainly plenty of seats. Given the many cancellations by the politicians, the event wasn’t anywhere near sold out.

Huge victory for counter jihad action.

The original flier headlined that seven elected officials were “invited”: former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, now Chair of the Democratic National Committee, Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA), Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Sen. James Webb (D-VA), Fairfax Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Sharon Bulova, Fairfax Supervisor Penny Gross, and Virginia State Delegate Kaye Kory.

Federal investigators say Dar al-Hijrah is a breeding ground for known terrorists, including:

• Fugitive Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook, a former mosque leader.
• Top al-Qaida fundraiser Abdurahman Alamoudi, now serving 23 years in federal prison for terrorism.
• Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, the would-be al-Qaida presidential assassin.
• Mohammed al-Hanooti, a current mosque leader and unindicted co-conspirator in both the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and recent Holy Land Foundation terror finance case.
• Ismail Elbarasse, a founding mosque member and leader who was arrested for allegedly casing the Chesapeake Bay bridge for attack.
• Abdelhaleem Ashqar, mosque leader and suspected Hamas operative recently convicted for obstruction of justice.
• Abdullah bin Laden, nephew of the al-Qaida kingpin whose name appears on the federal terrorist watchlist.
• Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, accused of murdering 13 and injuring 30 others in a jihad-inspired shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas.
• Hani Hanjour, 9/11 hijacker and Saudi national who flew the jumbo jet into the Pentagon.
• Nawaf al-Hazmi, 9/11 hijacker and Saudi national who joined Hanjour on the Pentagon flight and acted as second in command of the entire al-Qaida operation behind hijacking ringleader Mohamed Atta.

• The mosque, in fact, helped Hanjour and al-Hazmi obtain housing in the area.
• After 9/11, investigators found the phone number for Dar al-Hijrah in the Hamburg, Germany, apartment of one of the planners of the 9/11 attacks – Ramzi Binalshibh, a Gitmo detainee.
• Constructed with $5 million from the Saudi Embassy and run by radical Muslim Brotherhood leaders, Dar al-Hijrah is “a terror mill and a direct threat to national security,” says terror expert Paul Sperry, co-author of “Muslim Mafia,” an expose on the radical Muslim Brotherhood and its front groups in America.
• Once a month, Dar al-Hijrah’s lead imam – Shaker Elsayed – meets with top officials with the Council on American-Islamic Relations on the first floor of its Washington headquarters, Sperry notes. The Justice Department says Saudi-funded CAIR, which operates a booth at Dar al-Hijrah, is a terrorist front group for Hamas and its parent the Muslim Brotherhood.
• Elsayed has said Muslims have the right to use violence: “We do have license to respond with all force necessary to our attackers.”
• He also says he believes in the teachings of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna, which he describes as “the closest reflection of how Islam should be in this life.”
• The late al-Banna taught that “Islam wishes to do away with all states and governments anywhere which are opposed to this ideology and program of Islam. Islam requires the earth – not just a portion, but the entire planet.”
• Another imam at the mosque, Johari Abdul Malik, has preached to American Muslims that they are within Islamic law to “blow up bridges” and other infrastructure. “You can do all forms of sabotage,” he said at a 2001 Hamas conference.
• He has also called for Islamic supremacy in America.
• “We will see the day when Islam, by the grace of Allah, will become the dominant way of life,” Malik told his flock in 2004. “You will see Islam move from being the second largest religion in America to being the first religion in America.”
• Malik, who also acts as the mosque’s official spokesman, is a close friend of the former Dar al-Hijrah imam al-Awlaki, who privately ministered to the 9/11 hijackers. After the attacks, Awlaki fled to London, where he gave a sermon extolling the virtues of martyrdom.
• In an interview with author Sperry, Malik defended his friend’s sermon, arguing Muslims who die while fighting unbelievers in the cause of Allah are no different from U.S. Marines fighting and dying for America in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• “That’s the same thing as telling Marines in this country semper fidelis,” Malik told Sperry. “Telling people to give their all for their faith is not an unusual idea.”
• His mosque handled the funeral services of Maj. Hasan’s mother when she passed away in 2001. It was then that Hasan fell under the spell of Dar al-Hijrah cleric Awlaki, aka Anwar Aulaqi, who corresponded with Hasan in some 20 e-mails in the months leading up to Hasan’s alleged massacre.
• One of al-Qaida’s top Western recruiters, Awlaki is considered a rock star among jihadists and has cultivated fans among CAIR officials. CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper’s protege Ismail Royer and his terrorist cell chauffeured Awlaki around Washington in October 2002 as he looked for new terrorist recruits, according to Sperry. Prosecutors also found Awlaki’s phone number stored on their cell phones.
• Royer, who was personally recruited by Hooper and worked under him at CAIR’s headquarters, is serving 20 years in federal prison. Internal CAIR memos show Hooper is heading his appeal effort within CAIR.