“And the only reason they’re taken back to secondary inspection and questioned that way is because of their faith, what they happen to be wearing, and what direction they pray,” said Hamas-linked CAIR New York’s litigation director Ahmed Mohamed.
No. Maybe it’s because of the support for jihad detailed in this article.
“Turns out NJ mayor who complained about DHS questioning has history of jihad support,” by John Rossomando, American Thinker, November 7, 2019:
A New Jersey mayor who expressed bewilderment after being stopped and questioned by Customs and Border Protection (CPB) agents in August distributed aid in 2013 with pro–Muslim Brotherhood jihadists allied with al-Qaeda’s former Syrian affiliate, social media posts show. Other posts show Prospect Park mayor Mohamed Khairullah’s sympathies with various Syrian jihadist groups.
It isn’t known whether those activities triggered the CBP questions. The agency declined to comment.
Nevertheless, Khairullah told the Washington Post in September that he “doesn’t go near shady organizations” during numerous trips to Syria as a relief worker.
He complained at a September press conference organized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) that CBP pulled him aside upon his August return from Turkey to New York’s JFK airport. The agents took his electronic devices and interviewed him about his travels and his background. Agents told Khairullah they were keeping his phone, and it took him 12 days to get it back.
“I felt that I was selected basically because of my name and identity,” Khairullah said. He also claimed that his support for U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar might have led to his having been singled out.
“It’s flat-out insulting,” he said. “It’s flat-out stereotyping of Muslims and Arabs.”
Khairullah claimed that his rights were violated when CBP agents asked him if he had met with any terrorists during his trip.
CAIR backed the claim that Khairullah was targeted solely due to his religion. “And the only reason they’re taken back to secondary inspection and questioned that way is because of their faith, what they happen to be wearing, and what direction they pray,” said CAIR New York litigation director Ahmed Mohamed.
It is more likely that Khairullah was pulled aside by the CBP due to his frequent travel to the Syrian war zone via Istanbul, former CBP agent Phil Haney, who specialized in targeting potential terrorists, told the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT).
“This has to do with indicators of potential terrorism,” Haney said, noting that the 2008 Holy Land Foundation Hamas terrorism financing case proved the existence of a network of individuals and groups in the U.S. that support Islamist terrorism abroad.
Khairullah’s Charity and Its Terror-linked Partners
The mayor worked on relief missions and was a board member with Watan USA, the American branch of the London, England–headquartered Watan Foundation. Watan’s partner organizations and some of its leaders have supported and assisted al-Qaeda in Syria. Its co-founder and president, Moaz al-Sibaai, belonged to the Muslim Brotherhood–linked Muslim Council of Britain’s Business and Economics Committee.
A 2015 IRS tax form listed Khairullah as a Watan USA board member. It signed a cooperation agreement in 2016 with Turkey’s IHH Humanitarian Relief.
Leaked Turkish documents show that IHH provided logistical and financial support to al-Qaeda’s then-Syrian affiliate, Jabhat al-Nusra, in 2013, in conjunction with Turkish intelligence agency the MIT. IHH has aided al-Qaeda since the 1990s and maintains close relations with Hamas, according to a report by terrorism analyst Evan Kohlmann, published by the Danish Institute for International Studies.
Khairullah’s social media shows he repeatedly expressed support for Jabhat al-Nusra. For example, he praised the 2014 defection of a Hezb’allah faction to al-Nusra, saying, “The Lord will be pleased.” Other Khairullah Facebook posts show him supporting the Jabhat al-Nusra–led jihadist coalition called the “Army of the Conquest.” He backed its 2015 military campaign in Syria’s Idlib Province….
Khairullah even thanked ISIS for taking bandits off the streets of Syria.
“A good thing that ISIS has done is to eliminate the thieves and bandits in their area of control. Allah knows what was behind this move,” Khairullah wrote in a Jan. 5, 2014 tweet.
Khairullah did not respond to an email asking about his statements….