In this fulsome puff-piece about the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), Miami Herald pseudo-journalistic propagandist Jaweed Kaleem, whose inveterate prejudices have shown through in his “reporting” before, tries to mislead his unlucky readers into thinking that ISNA’s links to the jihad terror group Hamas are just a fabrication of Americans Against Hate, rather than something that has been officially confirmed by a U.S. District Court Judge and federal prosecutors. ISNA has even admitted ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas, contrary to Kaleem’s claim here.
Did Jaweed Kaleem really not trouble himself to find out any of that? Or does he just hope that you don’t know it? And are journalistic standards so far gone that he can keep his job at the Miami Herald despite consistently turning in such shoddy, misleading, inaccurate and tendentious work?
Apparently so.
“ISNA conference draws hundreds of Muslims,” by Jaweed Kaleem for the Miami Herald, January 8:
As a sophomore at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Feras Ahmed doesn’t get many opportunities to interact with other Muslims outside his family and a close circle of friends.
So when he heard that one of the largest Muslim organizations in the country was convening hundreds of Muslims from the eastern seaboard in South Florida this weekend, Ahmed joined his brother, mother, uncle and two cousins on a road trip to Fort Lauderdale.
“I’m here to try to get a sense of community, to get involved in what’s going on with Muslims in America,” the 20-year-old said. […]
Four months after a Gainesville pastor’s threats to set off a bonfire of Qurans drew international attention to Florida, the Islamic Society of North America is holding a regional conference in South Florida for the first time, aiming to strengthen community ties and promote civic engagement among Muslims.
The organization, which draws 40,000 Muslims to its annual national convention in Chicago, is making a timely bet on South Florida, which has about 70,000 Muslim residents.
“There has been a lot of misunderstanding of Islam. We have got to get out there and show who we are,” said Imam Mohamed Magid, the organization’s president and a well-known figure in Islamic circles. […]
Yes, there has been a lot of misunderstanding of Islam. Unfortunately for Magid, Muslims who misunderstand his peaceful, tolerant religion are committing acts of oppression and violence in its name virtually on a daily basis. Yet of course he is referring not to them, but to those non-Muslims who dare to report about their activities. He hopes not to convince violent and supremacist Muslims to live in peace with Infidels as equals on an indefinite basis without trying to impose Sharia upon them; instead, he hopes to convince Infidels to disregard the evidence of their eyes and ignore or misdiagnose Islamic jihad attacks and plots even as they increase in number around the world.
In a community where mosques and Muslim organizations are often divided along ethnic or geographical lines, the conference was notable for drawing a broad cross-section including Sunni and Shia Muslims and groups such as the Council on American Islamic Relations and Islamic Circle of North America. […]
A few hours later, Americans Against Hate held a protest outside the convention center. The small Broward organization accused ISNA of having ties to terrorists and of supporting Hamas, a U.S. State Department-designated terrorist group.
ISNA officials have denied such allegations, and the organization has formally denounced terrorism….