UPDATE: Omeish's entire speech December 2000 speech in which he calls for "the jihad way" can be viewed here.

The Associated Press reports that Dr. Esam Omeish, president of the Muslim American Society, resigned from Virginia's Commission of Immigration Thursday, just hours after Gov. Tim Kaine became aware of online videos that show Omeish at rallies denouncing the invasion of Lebanon by the "Israeli war machine" and telling a crowd of Washington-area Muslims: "...you have learned the way, that you have known that the jihad way is the way to liberate your land." The latter video was obtained exclusively by the Investigative Project on Terrorism and can be viewed on YouTube, along with another video that shows Omeish congratulating Palestinians for giving up their lives for the sake Allah.

Kaine became aware of Omeish's rhetoric on WRVA radio in Richmond when a caller asked about the Omeish appointment and the videos. The caller had read about Omeish at the Web site Little Green Footballs. The governor responded, "That is news to me, what you say, and it's something we will check out."

According to the AP, the governor watched the videos himself and tried to call Omeish. Mahdi Bray, the head of the MAS Freedom Foundation, said that Omeish was unavailable.

In a statement issued Thursday, Kaine called Omeish "a respected physician and community leader, yet I have been made aware of certain statements he has made which concern me. Dr. Omeish indicated that he did not want this controversy to distract from the important work of the Commission."

Omeish was appointed to the Commission of Immigration in early August. This 20-member panel was created this year to evaluate the effect of federal immigration policies on Virginia. Omeish's organization, the Muslim American Society, has close ties with the Muslim Brotherhood – a movement founded in 1928 in Egypt that seeks to reestablish an Islamic state governed according to the strict tenets of Shariah (Islamic law) that would eventually encompass the entire world.