More On Esam Omeish And Mahdi Bray

Article from the October 23, 2007 edition of the Northern Virginia Daily:

Gilbert, Athey criticize Kaine: Delegates - Ties too close

By Garren Shipley -- Daily Staff Writer

Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is far too close to a Muslim group that allegedly has ties to Islamic terrorism and espouses radical views, according to two local delegates. But a group leader says the charges are founded in racism.

Kaine should move to put some distance between his administration and the Falls Church-based Muslim American Society, said Dels. Todd Gilbert, R-Woodstock, and Clifford L. "Clay" Athey Jr., R-Front Royal.

It all started when Kaine appointed Dr. Esam Omeish, the president of the society, to the Virginia Commission on Immigration. Gilbert wrote to Kaine, asking him to reconsider the appointment after seeing online videos of Omeish accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians and exhorting Muslims to "the jihad way."

Omeish resigned less than a day later under pressure from Kaine.

But after some investigation, the delegates say the connections between Kaine and MAS appear to be deeper than just one appointment.

Kaine was the keynote speaker at the society's Freedom Foundation "Standing for Justice Dinner." He was photographed with leaders of the group, including Imam Mahdi Bray, the executive director of the foundation.

In an online video of a 2000 rally in Washington, Abdurahman al-Amoudi — who would later plead guilty to charges of funneling money from Libya to Saudi militants — took to the podium and declared his support for Hamas and Hezbollah.

Hamas, now the ruling party in the Gaza Strip, started a wave of suicide bombings against Israeli civilians in 1993, according to the nonpartisan Council on Foreign Relations. Hezbollah, which now holds a quasi-state in southern Lebanon, is thought to be behind the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 servicemen.

"I have been labeled by the media in New York to be a supporter of Hamas. Anybody support this Hamas here?" al-Amoudi says in the video, drawing cheers from the crowd and fist pumps from Bray.

"I wish the added that I am also a supporter of Hezbollah. Anybody supports Hezbollah here?" he asks, drawing more cheers and fist pumps.

The video speaks for itself, Gilbert said.

"The governor shouldn't have been involved with this organization and its leadership," Gilbert said.

That being said, anyone can be the victim of bad staff work, he said.

"If [Kaine] didn't know this stuff, now that he does know it, he should say he rejects what the leadership of this organization stands for and he's going to distance himself from it, and encourage other leading Dem-ocrats to do the same."
Athey was less generous.

"It is clear that Governor Kaine and the Democratic Party sought the support of radical individuals who could turn out votes in his election. According to Mahdi Bray, the governor received that support," said Athey, referring to a story earlier this month in The Washington Times, in which Bray credited the Democrats' success in 2005 and 2006 to his organization.

"Ask Jim Webb what kind of impact we have," Bray said. "Ask the governor of Virginia what kind of impact we have. The Democrats' win hinged on the Muslim vote."

"I am not going to dignify the latest allegations by Dels. Gilbert and Athey with a comment," said Kaine spokesman Kevin Hall via e-mail. He also declined to comment on Bray's election-related statements.

Bray said Monday that he and others at the video weren't cheering for the terrorist organizations.

"The majority of the people they were kind of raising their hands, and kind of cheering, and so on because this was so uncharacteristic of al-Amoudi," Bray said. "We didn't know he had a problem with law enforcement. He was considered the pillar of the American Muslim community."

Bray said his gestures weren't in support of Hamas and Hezbollah.

"You saw me pumping my fists. You didn't see me raising my hands. If they had shown the audience, you would have seen people in the audience raising their hands and falling out laughing," he said. "For him to come and make these kinds of radical rants, no one took him seriously."

Bray said he does not support violence, and would have been more judicious in his reaction had the event happened after Sept. 11, 2001.

He also suggested that Gilbert had racist motives for his statements, noting that the delegate could be a "throwback" to Virginia's racist past.

"There are some throwbacks. And I think that Gilbert and others are throwbacks to the old days" who want to "maintain the status quo. Maybe their district is not as diverse as Northern Virginia."

Gilbert said Bray's charges are typical.

"We're so mired down in political correctness and this feeling that you have to be tolerant of all views that you can't even call somebody out for congratulating suicide bombers, and promoting and supporting recognized terrorist organizations," Gilbert said.

Mr. Shippley also embedded the following video in the online version of the article:

What The Blogosphere Can Do (With Addendum From The WaPo

Check out this news at The Center for Vigilant Freedom. Excerpt:

...Esam Omeish of the Muslim American Society will step down from the Virginia Commission on Immigration, to which he was appointed by [Virginia] Governor Tim Kaine....

Read the whole thing.

Addendum: Article from the September 28, 2007 edition of the Washington Post (emphases mine). Be sure to watch the videos!

A prominent Northern Virginia surgeon and Muslim activist appointed by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine to a state immigration commission was forced to resign Thursday after videos surfaced of him referring to the "Israeli war machine" as well as statements he made seven years ago in support of the "jihad way" in the Middle East.

Last month, Kaine (D) appointed Esam S. Omeish, chief of the division of general surgery at Inova Alexandria Hospital, to a 20-member panel that is spending six months examining whether Virginia needs to do more to curtail illegal immigration.

On Thursday, videos surfaced showing Omeish, who is also president of the Muslim American Society, giving speeches about Israel's relationship with its Arab neighbors.

After reviewing the videos, which were brought to Kaine's attention by a caller to his live monthly radio program, Kaine asked for Omeish's resignation from the Virginia Commission on Immigration.

"Dr. Omeish is a respected physician and community leader, yet I have been made aware of certain statements he has made which concern me," Kaine said in a statement. "Dr. Omeish indicated he did not want this controversy to distract from the important work of the commission."

The resignation could be embarrassing for Kaine as he tries to respond to calls to do more about illegal immigration. Republicans are using the overall issue to try to win votes in this fall's campaign for control of the General Assembly.

Kaine has taken a measured approach, placing blame on the federal government's failure to secure the borders and enact immigration reform. He has said he wanted the 20-member immigration commission, which the General Assembly created this year, to develop recommendations. House and Senate leaders appointed 10 members of the committee; Kaine appointed the other 10.

Omeish, of Fairfax County, is also on the board of directors of the Dar Al Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church. He graduated from Georgetown University. He was unavailable for comment.

In one of the videos,...Omeish is shown speaking in August last year at a rally on the Mall in opposition to Israel's invasion of Lebanon that summer. Omeish demands that Israel release Lebanese political prisoners and condemns President Bush's use of the phrase "Islamic fascism."

"The invasion of Lebanon, the destruction of its infrastructure and the deliberate targeting of civilians during the barbaric and disproportionate Israeli war machine is indeed criminal and must end now," Omeish says on the video.

In another video,...Omeish is speaking at a "Jerusalem day" rally in Lafayette Square. In the clip, dated Dec. 22, 2000, he urges the crowd to stand with Muslims fighting in the Middle East.

"We, Muslims of the Washington metropolitan area, are here today in subfreezing temperatures to tell our brothers and sisters that you have learned the way, that you have known the jihad way is the way to liberate your land," Omeish says. "And we, by standing here today despite the weather, we are telling them we are with you. We are supporting you." The clip shows 38 seconds of Omeish's speech, so the context of his remarks about jihad are unclear.

The Washington-based Investigative Project on Terrorism, which tracks what it thinks are radical Muslim groups, posted both videos on YouTube.

Omeish told the Associated Press late Thursday that his comments in the videos were taken out of context and that his reference to "the jihad way" was not a call for violent attacks.

"In Islam, jihad is a broad word that means constant struggle -- struggling spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, physically -- in all respects. So my words were in support of people who are resisting occupation and people who are trying to . . . remove oppression from their land," Omeish said.

Kaine appointed Omeish to the immigration panel because the governor wanted the group to be diverse and include a Muslim representative, administration officials said. The legislation establishing the panel also required that at least one member be a medical professional. Kaine said he will replace Omeish with another Muslim.

Omeish is on the board of directors of the Dar Al Hijrah center, one of the Washington area's oldest and largest mosques. It was scrutinized after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. At Inova Alexandria, Omeish was the surgeon on call after the Pentagon attack.

The FBI and the federal 9/11 commission concluded that two of the Sept. 11 hijackers briefly worshiped at the mosque after one of them befriended its imam in San Diego. FBI officials have said they found no evidence that the imam, who has since resigned and left the country, had prior knowledge of the attacks.

In 2005, Omeish joined a group of moderate Muslim clerics in the United States in denouncing Islamic terrorism overseas.

The Islamic center is closely affiliated with the Muslim American Society. Several of the group's founders had been active in the Muslim Brotherhood, a movement that started in Egypt in the 1920s and advocates a purer, more restrictive form of Islam in the Middle East.

Before the videos surfaced, Del. C. Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) had written a letter to Kaine on Tuesday expressing concern about Omeish's links to the Muslim American Society.

"There are many of our fellow Muslim citizens who value our democratic institutions and constitutional guarantees," Gilbert wrote. "The origins, affiliations and goals of the Muslim American Society, however, should be a matter of grave concern to all Virginians."

Before he saw the videos, Kevin Hall, Kaine's spokesman, dismissed Gilbert's letter as xenophobic. After Omeish resigned, Gilbert praised Kaine for acting swiftly to remove him.

"I would hope that the governor's staff was vetting candidates for state commissions a little better, but I am certainly pleased the governor himself has taken action," Gilbert said.

Hall said the governor's office carefully scrutinizes appointees to state commissions. "But I think it is fair to say that YouTube was not part of the vetting process in this case," Hall said. "It certainly will be from here on out."

Dr. Omeish will be holding a press conference today, September 28, 2007, at 11:00 AM. Taquiyya alert!

Dhimmi Kaine

lgf: Outrage of the Week: Leader of Muslim Brotherhood Front Group Appointed to Virginia Commission on Immigration

The Democratic governor of Virginia, Timothy M. Kaine, has appointed Dr. Esam Omeish of Muslim American Society to the Virginia Commission on Immigration.

Google information about Dr. Esam Omeish's medical practice.
Do a people search on "Esam Omeish" at SuperPages.com

Virginia Governor Kaine And MAS

Christine of Vigilant Freedom/910 Group Blog recently posted this piece, which delineates Virginia's governor's recent buddying-up with the Muslim American Society. Excerpt:

This last weekend, the Commonwealth of Virginia was signed over to the Muslim Brotherhood, care of the Muslim American Society (MAS). Tim Kaine must be hoping for a VP nomination from Obama - after all, if the Democrat Party presidential ticket needs a Southerner, he’d better prove his dhimmitudiness early in the game.

He gave the keynote speech at the local Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation dinner. A real team player, he’s just following Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) game plan from her Syria visit, and Steny Hoyer’s (D-MD) charm offensive with the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. With very little effort, his staff could have researched the connections of the MAS to the Muslim Brotherhood and some extreme jihadist doctrine. We have to assume this is a choice, not a mistake....

[...]

The Brotherhood probably thought they wouldn’t get Virginia for another decade or two, but then they hadn’t planned on this level of help from Kaine.

Governor Kaine kowtows to MAS/Muslim Brotherhood.
That's Mahdi Braying Ass in the left foreground

Go read the whole thing.

Steny Hoyer meets with Muslim Brotherhood

Rep. Steny Hoyer

From Little Green Footballs: Democrats Talking with Muslim Brotherhood

... House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer met with the head of the Muslim Brotherhood’s parliamentary bloc, Mohammed Saad el-Katatni, twice on Thursday — once at the parliament building and then at the home of the U.S. ambassador to Egypt, said Brotherhood spokesman Hamdi Hassan.

Hoyer represents the 5th district in Maryland, which covers "includes a large portion of Prince George's County, the three counties of southern Maryland - Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary's - and a portion of Anne Arundel County."

As noted before, the Muslim American Society, based in Falls Mosque (as I refer to Falls Church, VA), is the U.S. arm of the Muslim Brotherhood. MAS no longer lists its street address. Smart. The Muslim Brotherhood has provided the ideological basis of Islamic terrorist organizations, including Al-Qaeda (recall that Ayman al-Zawahiri, UBL's no. 2, was part of the Muslim Brotherhood).

This is part of Northern Virginiastan's efforts to out dhimmi politicians. Hoyer's constituents should revolt - note that Jim Horan voted aye on HR 1640. This turnaround was effected by concerted opposition that resulted from his comments that Jewish interests were responsible for entry in Iraq and campaign contributions from Muslim groups for the 2002 elections were made public - Moran was one of the main beneficiaries of campaign donations from Muslim groups that year.