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Kaufman: Florida “peace” group on the attack

Apr 23, 2005 7:39 am By Robert Spencer

A provocative new piece from Joe Kaufman:

Middle East expert Dr. Daniel Pipes is being attacked for his
acceptance of controversial measures taken in response to acts of terrorism, but look who’s
attacking him!

Pipes writes, in his December 28, 2004 column Why the Japanese Internment Still Matters,
“For years, it has been my position that the threat of radical Islam implies an
imperative to focus security measures on Muslims.”
 
He further states, “…especially in time of war, governments should
take into account nationality, ethnicity, and religious affiliation in their homeland
security policies…”

With respect to this, Pipes cites and lauds one author’s defense
of internment camps.

Evidently, this was not taken well by some.  These individuals and/or groups have gone out of
their way to malign Pipes for what they call his exhibiting hatred towards Muslims.  One of the most recent attacks has come from a South
Florida
entity that goes by the name of JADA or Jewish Arab Dialog Association.

On January 27, 2005, a piece entitled An Open Letter to Mr. Daniel Pipes,
written by JADA co-founders Souheil Elia and Jack Lieberman, was published “for JADA”
by the American Muslim Association of North America (AMANA).

In the article, Elia and Lieberman describe Dr. Pipes with severe
terms like:  “racist,” “warmonger”
and “hatred promoter.”  They write,
“Mr. Pipes, in his blind hatred for Muslims and Arabs, does not realize the fact that
both the Arab and Muslim communities in the US, according to police records, boast an
enviable record as to absence of violence.”

And then Elia and Lieberman go that much further and equate Dr. Pipes’
views with that of a Nazi.  They write, “The
only possibility for Mr. Daniel Pipes’ ideas to find acceptance in the US is for America
to repudiate its constitution of liberty and justice for all and develop a mirror image of
Hitler’s Nazi regime.”

An attack such as this doesn’t make much sense for a group like
JADA with its declared mission to “engage all relevant parties in frank and honest
discussions aimed at finding resolutions to the Middle East problems, through dialog
and exchange of ideas, rather than through violence and wars.”

But then again, past statements and affiliations made by the members
of JADA totally contradict every bit of its mission!

As the group’s name implies, JADA is comprised of both Jews and
Arabs.  Notwithstanding this group’s
outward appearance of all inclusiveness, JADA is nothing more than a mouthpiece for
radical Islam.

An Open Letter to Mr. Daniel
Pipes
is not the only article AMANA has published.
 
In one entitled The Call for the
Unity of Religions – A False and Dangerous Call
, it is written, “The
Christians and Jews want the Muslims to be like them.
 
That is why they support this deceptive call for ‘unity.’”  And in another entitled Homosexuality
is not O.K.
, it is written, “Whenever you find in a
society the act of homosexuality you will find disease and death… [If homosexuals don’t
try to ask for forgiveness], they should keep low profile about their abnormal human
activities.”

This is important not just because Elia and Lieberman chose to have
such an organization publish their material, but because AMANA is actually headed by a
Board and Steering Committee Member of JADA itself.  His
name is Sofian
Abdelaziz-Zakkout
, and he is credited with having been the past Vice President of the Health
Resource Center
for Palestine (HRCP), a group affiliated with the HAMAS front, the Islamic
Association for Palestine (IAP).  HRCP was
closed down, shortly after it was brought to light that the group had admitted to raising
funds for “shuhada” (i.e. suicide martyrs).

In addition, Abdelaziz-Zakkout showed up in support of Adham Amin
Hassoun, at Hassoun’s August 2002 court hearing.
 
Hassoun was indicted by the
United States government
“with seven charges stemming from a scheme to conceal
from federal officials his activities in recruiting fighters and raising money to support
global jihad.”  At the hearing,
Abdelaziz-Zakkout stated, “They
don’t have anything against him… The guy is clean.”

Souheil Elia or S.E. Elia, as he is more widely known, co-founded
JADA with Lieberman in the summer of 2003, yet his journey on the subject of the Middle
East
started long before then.

In an article published by the Miami Herald, dated November 1, 2003,
entitled A quest for
peace in Mideast
, Elia relates a story about how he and his family became refugees
in Lebanon, in 1948.  He talks of a massacre against Arabs and states
that “his parents became frightened of the escalating violence,” so they left Israel
for Lebanon.  “They thought we would be
gone for two weeks,” he said.

This is indicative of the fable that many in the Arab community have
created concerning why they left Israel in 1948.

As stated in Samuel Katz’s BATTLEGROUND: FACT
& FANTASY IN PALESTINE
:  “The
Arab refugees were not driven from Palestine by anyone.
 
The vast majority left, whether of their own free will or at the orders or
exhortations of their leaders, always with the same reassurance – that their
departure would help in the war against Israel… Their victory was certain, they
claimed, but it would be speeded and made easier if the local Arab population got out of
the way.  The refugees would come back in the
wake of the victorious Arab armies and not only recover their own property but also
inherit the houses and farms of the vanquished and annihilated Jews.”

When Souheil Elia reached adulthood, he sought higher education in
the United States.  He later returned to Lebanon
to teach at American University in Beirut (AUB).  Elia
then made his way back to the States in the early to mid eighties, around the time when
Hezbollah terror fighters kidnapped one
AUB president and murdered another, and scores of American military and U.S. Embassy
personnel were being blown up
by Hezbollah in Beirut.

This most probably had an influence on Elia’s life, as he would,
in 2001, help found the South Florida chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination
Committee (ADC), a national organization that has had a number of statements made record of
in support of Hezbollah
, from June of 1996 through June of 2000.  This includes a May 2000 quote by ADC spokesman
Hussein Ibish to the Los Angeles Times.  Ibish
stated, “Everywhere Hezbollah fighters, derided by the Israeli and U.S. governments
as ‘terrorists,’ conducted themselves in an exemplary manner… [They are] a
disciplined and responsible liberation force.”

The ADC has a record of making numerous anti-Jewish statements, as
well.

Elia would serve as the Chairman of the local chapter.

The two groups, ADC and JADA, have worked together in the past, most
recently co-sponsoring a November 2004 event held at Nova Southeastern University, in Ft. Lauderdale.  The event (“THE
PRESENT HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY TO USE NON VIOLENCE FOR THE RESOLUTION OF THE ISRAELI –
PALESTINIAN CONFLICT”
) included panelists Sofian Abdelaziz-Zakkout [see above]
and Altaf Ali, the Executive Director of CAIR-Florida.
 
CAIR or the Council on American-Islamic Relations was created by the IAP
[see above] and has been cited for having numerous other ties to radical Islam.  The ADC and JADA also both participated in a CAIR
sponsored ‘Interfaith
Press Conference
,’ that took place in May of 2004.

At a previous JADA event (“Road Map to
Peace – Reality or Illusion?”
), held in Miami on October 2, 2003, which also
featured Abdelaziz-Zakkout, Elia made a number of disturbing statements concerning the
subject of suicide bombers.  He stated, “They
have turned to suicide, because we have robbed them of every reason to live.”  Making the point that suicide is the Palestinians’
only means to defend themselves, Elia said, “They don’t have Apache helicopters
or tanks.  Their bodies are the only weapons
they have.”  And “We have nothing to fight with, except with our
lives.”

He echoed this feeling about suicide bombers, in the November 2003
Miami Herald article.  He is quoted as saying,
“You have to give them a reason to live.  You
don’t want to give them a justification to die.”

The other co-founder of JADA is Jack Lieberman, a man best known for
being the former president of the Southeast region of the American Jewish Congress.

To compliment his fellow comrades in JADA, Lieberman is an honorary
member of the anti-Israel far left.

In August of 1999, Lieberman was named
to the board of directors of Americans for Peace Now
, a Washington, D.C.-based
anti-religious group that advocates giving up large parcels of Israeli land with the
intent of creating a Palestinian state.

To prove his allegiance to the principles of Peace Now, he signed a
petition created in May of 2003 by Brit Tzedek v’Shalom – Jewish Alliance for
Justice & Peace to throw Israeli Jews out of their homes in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip.  Or as Brit Tzedek v’Shalom put it,
“to remove a major obstacle to peace.”  The
petition (‘A CALL TO BRING THE
SETTLERS HOME TO ISRAEL
’) goes on to solicit contributions from the European
Union, the United Nations and others, for the express purpose of a “massive
relocation effort, irrespective of whether the Israeli government is ready to participate.”

In February of 2004, Lieberman had the dubious distinction of having
his name placed on Masada 2000’s ‘SELF-HATING and/or ISRAEL THREATENING LIST.’

Besides being anti-Israel, Jack Lieberman is also anti-war.  Under his alter-ego “Jolly Jack,” he has
posted numerous messages to the internet calling on persons to join
protests against the war in Iraq
.

Through the Broward AntiWar Coalition, Lieberman participated in
“regular monthly protests
against the war
.”  According to him,
one of the protests was held in New York City “against the Republican National
Convention and the whole Bush agenda!”

Furthering his war against the “Bush agenda,” in November
of 2004, Lieberman posted his phone number to the internet calling for volunteers
to assist MoveOn
, the ultra-left group which was working to get Senator John Kerry
elected President of the United States.

Lieberman has, in the past, posted his political commentaries on
Marxist websites.  In one post of a letter he
had written to convince people to help free imprisoned Haitians, he addresses his readers
as “Comrades
and Friends.
”

Jack Lieberman, with all of his posting, has also found time to be a
bit of an entrepreneur.  In March of 1997, he
used a Marxist site to sell computer software featuring audio commentaries, video footage
and essays of and/or by convicted cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal.  Lieberman described it as an “excellent CD ROM
program” and an “excellent educational program.”

Today, the term “peace” has become synonymous with those
persons and/or groups that disagree with the way we fight against the enemy.  This allows a group like JADA to profess its ‘peacefulness,’
while striving towards the complete opposite.  JADA
members’ statements and affiliations prove this to be the case.

Elia and Lieberman’s attack on Dr. Daniel Pipes does not
represent a “frank and honest discussion” at all or any type of “dialog and
exchange of ideas.”  At best, it
represents a close-minded, disrespectful attitude towards those that take positions that
stray from their own.  At worst, it assists the
enemy and gives furtherance to the enemy’s cause.

Joe Kaufman is the Chairman
of Americans Against Hate and the host of The
Politics of Terrorism
radio show. Beila Rabinowitz, Director of Militant Islam
Monitor, contributed to this report.

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