Yesterday I noted that the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), the Canadian branch of the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), demanded that Prime Minister Steven Harper drop Rabbi Daniel Korobkin from a delegation traveling to Israel because Korobkin committed the cardinal sin of introducing Pamela Geller and me at an event last September in Toronto. The Prime Minister’s office responded by noting the NCCM’s ties to Hamas, whereupon the NCCM threatened to sue.
So does the NCCM have ties to Hamas or not? The superb Canadian site Point de Bascule answers: “Prime Minister Harper’s director of communications slams the National Council of Canadian Muslims for ‘documented ties to a terrorist organization such as Hamas,'” from Point de Bascule, January 17:
While Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is getting ready for his first visit to the Middle East scheduled to start on Saturday January 18, the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM — known until recently as CAIR-CAN) objected to the presence of Toronto Rabbi Daniel Korobkin in the official delegation.
Sun News reported that “Jason MacDonald, the prime minister’s director of communications, slammed the NCCM for even making the suggestion. “˜We will not take seriously criticism from an organization with documented ties to a terrorist organization such as Hamas,” MacDonald said.”
The NCCM retorted that MacDonald’s statement was “˜absolutely false” and said that it is not associated with any terrorist group. NCCM Executive Director Ihsaan Gardee added by email that “Our legal counsel is of the view that this statement is defamatory and libelous and we will be taking this up with the PMO.”
The NCCM considers that Korobkin should not be part of the delegation accompanying PM Harper because, in September 2013, he introduced Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, two anti-Islamist campaigners, at a public meeting in Toronto.
In order to understand the context of the PMO”s remarks, it is helpful to go back to the origins of CAIR-CAN. CAIR-CAN was established as a branch of the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) that had itself been founded by three leaders of a Hamas front group in the United States.
In their answers to FAQs provided when CAIR-CAN became NCCM, NCCM leaders completely falsified history and claimed that “There was never any operating or funding relationship between CAIR.CAN and CAIR.”)
The operating relationship between a Hamas front group called Islamic Association of Palestine, CAIR and CAIR-CAN is presented in the following chronology:
June 1994 — The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) was established by three leaders of the Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP): Nihad Awad, Omar Ahmad and Rafeeq Jaber. The IAP was a front group for Hamas in the United States in the eighties and nineties. In a video archived by the Investigative Project on Terrorism, Nihad Awad expresses his support for Hamas at Barry University in 1994. In 2002, an American judge presiding the case Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development v. Ashcroft concluded that the “Islamic Association for Palestine (“IAP”), has acted in support of Hamas.”
2000 — Foundation of CAIR-CAN
December 29, 2000 — A CAIR-CAN press release issued in Washington provides the name of a US-based CAIR leader as contact to comment about a fire at a mosque in Canada. In this press release, CAIR-CAN is referred to as CAIR’s “office in Canada.”
August 31, 2001 — A US-based CAIR leader’s name is added as contact in a CAIR-CAN press release criticizing the Canada-based National Post. In this press release, CAIR-CAN is referred to as “the Canadian office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.”
October 10, 2002 — Washington-based CAIR files a trade-mark application for an exclusive use of its acronym CAIR in Canada. In the Canadian government’s database, the address of the applicant CAIR is the following:
453 New Jersey Avenue, South East
Washington, D.C. 20003
United States of America2003 — In a Journalist’s Guide to Islam conceived by CAIR-CAN (p. 15), Washington-based CAIR is described as “CAIR-CAN”s parent organization” (p. 14).
December 16, 2003 — CAIR-CAN Chair Sheema Khan swears in an affidavit supporting Washington-based CAIR in a legal trade-mark battle that it “has direct control” over CAIR-CAN”s activities in Canada.
March 10, 2005 — A Canadian government agency confirms that, in Canada, the trade-mark on the acronym CAIR belongs to Washington-based CAIR.
August 14, 2007 — In a list of CAIR chapters, CAIR-CAN appears between CAIR-Ohio and CAIR-Central Pennsylvania.
Two CAIR-CAN leaders openly endorsed Hamas after it was listed a terrorist organization by the Liberal government in 2002
Jamal Badawi and Wael Haddara are two important pillars of the Muslim Brotherhood infrastructure in Canada. Both were members of CAIR-CAN Board of directors for ten years or so. Badawi was still identified as a CAIR-CAN leader on the organization’s website on May 28, 2013, while Haddara resigned his position on the Board on April 3, 2012. On March 3, 2004, both of them were simultaneously on CAIR-CAN”s Board and on the Muslim Association of Canada“s Board. That day, MAC issued a press release in which it openly endorsed Hamas. That was more than one year after the Canadian government, Liberal back then, had added Hamas to a list of terrorist organizations. The listing is available on Public Safety Canada’s website.
Apart from being engaged in the destruction of Israel, in recent years Hamas leaders have frequently advocated the Islamic conquest of the West (2008 — 2011 — 2012). On July 16, 2013, Hamas even threatened to launch terrorist attacks in countries where Israel embassies are located. Canada is among the potential targets, of course….