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San Diego: Muslim removed from flight blames King hearings, demands apology

Mar 17, 2011 8:53 am By Robert Spencer

IrumAbbasi.jpgAbbasi hard at work claiming victim status

Irum Abbasi may have been wrongly singled out. Nonetheless, the involvement of Hamas-linked CAIR in her case is just one of many red flags. In reality, no one should be shedding any real tears for Irum Abbasi, especially Irum Abbasi. She says, “I have lived in the United States for 10 years. I am a U.S. citizen.” So if she is a loyal U.S. citizen, she should understand that what happened to her is an unfortunate consequence of the fact that devout, observant Muslims worldwide, including hijab-wearing women, have carried out jihad terror attacks in the name of Islam, and so people who are entrusted with the safety of airline passengers have every reason to err on the side of suspicion. Those who are thus inconvenienced should consider it a small price to pay in order to head off the next terror attack.

I speak from experience. More than once I have been held and questioned at airports because of my work. Once I was working on this website on my laptop, someone saw “jihad” on my screen, and presently I was surrounded by police and large dogs, and hauled off for questioning.

Another time I was in an airport, having hurried from a venue where I had just given a talk. I don’t ever speak from a written text, but I do carry notes — a page or two of quotations from various Muslim Brotherhood operatives, etc., including jihadist and Islamic supremacist statements by some putative American moderate Muslims, as well as quotations from the Qur’an and Hadith, etc. I had this material in my suit pocket, and it dropped out when I took off my suit jacket to go through security. So a few minutes later I was again in the friendly presence of police and TSA personnel. One gentleman was holding up my notes and asking me why I had this material. I started laughing, because I realized that there was absolutely nothing in the notes to show that I actually opposed what was written there — and realized that it might take awhile to straighten the whole thing out.

And it did. But I didn’t mind. Because I knew what they were doing. I knew they weren’t holding the bearded, swarthy fellow with notes full of jihad and hate because they were racists and bigots, and didn’t like people of Middle Eastern descent, or hated Muslims, or what have you. They were doing their job, which was to protect the American people. Irum Abbasi and Hamas-linked CAIR should realize that, and I think they do. They should also realize that we are on to them.

“Muslim removed from flight wants crew disciplined,” from the Associated Press, March 17 (thanks to Twostellas):

SAN DIEGO “” A Muslim woman said Wednesday that she wants a Southwest Airlines crew disciplined for removing her from a flight for wearing a headscarf.

Irum Abbasi, 31, told reporters at a news conference outside San Diego’s airport that she was forced off a San Jose-bound flight in San Diego on Sunday because a flight attendant found her to be suspicious.

Abbasi said she was told that a flight attendant overheard her say on her cell phone words to the effect of: “It’s a go.”

The mother of three, who is originally from Pakistan, told reporters that she said, “I’ve got to go,” before hanging up because the flight was about to depart. She believes the flight attendant made the assumption about her comment because she was wearing an Islamic head scarf.

After patting down her head scarf and talking to her, Transportation Security Administration agents recognized the mistake and told her it was not necessary to inspect her purse or cell phone, Abbasi said.

But they refused to let her back on the plane, telling her the crew was uncomfortable with her on the flight, according to Abbasi. She was booked on the next flight.

“I was in tears,” Abbasi said. “I was just crying. I have lived in the United States for 10 years. I am a U.S. citizen.”

Southwest spokesman Chris Mainz said the airline has apologized to Abbasi twice, including the day of the incident. The airline also gave her a voucher for another flight, he said.

Abbasi said she gave the voucher to someone else and at this point does not want to fly Southwest again. She said she wants a written apology and a guarantee that the crew will be disciplined.

Abbasi, who is originally from Pakistan, said the verbal apology “doesn’t make me feel better. This time they said we weren’t comfortable with the head scarf. Next time, they won’t be comfortable with my accent or they won’t be comfortable with my South Asian heritage.”…

Hanif Mohebi, director of the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said his group believes she was targeted because of her head scarf and wants to meet with the airline to ensure it does not happen again.

Abbasi attributed her removal to growing anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. and said that it was a direct result of the congressional hearing called by Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., on the radicalization of U.S. Muslims….

The same day Abbasi was removed from a plane in San Diego, pilots on an Alaska Airlines flight from Mexico City to Los Angeles locked down the cockpit and alerted authorities when a flight crew grew alarmed at the behavior of three men who were conducting an elaborate orthodox Jewish prayer.

FBI and customs agents along with police and a full assignment of fire trucks met the plane at the gate at Los Angeles International Airport, and the men were escorted off. After questioning from the FBI, the men were released without being arrested.

Are the orthodox Jews demanding an apology? Holding press conferences? Claiming Judeophobia?

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Filed Under: air security, CAIR, claiming victim status


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