“Qatanani denied ever having ties to Hamas…”
However, according to The Investigative Project, “DHS attorneys bolstered some of the evidence obtained from Israeli officials, including two confessions which include statements Qatanani made about his Hamas connection. Three additional witness statements came from people who told Israeli officials that Qatanani recruited them to join Hamas.”
The establishment propaganda media calls him a “voice of moderation,” because, after all, what else would be be as an imam with links to Hamas?
“Revered imam to face deportation charges again,” by Hannan Adely, The Record, December 2, 2016:
Eight years after a judge ruled in his favor, a revered Paterson cleric will return to court on Monday to once again fight deportation as federal authorities pursue allegations that he lied on his green card application about a conviction by Israeli authorities.
Imam Mohammad Qatanani, spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of Passaic County, known as a voice of moderation in New Jersey, broke the news to his congregation at services at the mosque Friday afternoon.
“I know that justice will prevail and that everything will be in the right way. I believe in the judicial system in this country,” Qatanani said.
Immigration authorities sought to deport Qatanani on grounds that he didn’t disclose an alleged arrest and conviction in Israel for being a member of Hamas, a group classified as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.
Qatanani denied ever having ties to Hamas and said he was detained, not arrested, by the Israelis during a trip to his native West Bank in 1993. Israelis never told him he was convicted of a crime and he never saw a judge, he said. Qatanani and expert witnesses had said Israelis routinely detained Palestinian men at the time….