IPT Story Prompts ZOA President to Demand CAIR Fire Ayloush

Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) President Morton A. Klein is calling for the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) to fire Los Angeles chapter director Hussam Ayloush after he advocated for the "termination" of Israel.

"Iran's regime calling Israel a 'cancerous tumor' is like the pot calling the kettle black. All the people of that region will be better off once both murderous regimes are terminated," Ayloush tweeted Sunday.

The Investigative Project on Terrorism first reported on Ayloush's statement. The ZOA statement cites Monday's IPT article, which also details Ayloush's record of incitement. Klein also called for the Democratic Party to revoke Ayloush's delegate credentials.

Based on his tweet, one might assume Ayloush has an equal disdain for the Islamic Republic of Iran and Israel. However, Counter-Islamist Grid Director Kyle Shideler points out that CAIR previously organized a dinner for ex-Iranian president Mohammad Khatami. While Ayloush may now like to see regime change in Iran, he has a long history of describing Israel in ways that echo Iranian rhetoric calling for its destruction.

He has referred to Israelis as "zionazis" and repeatedly equated the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) with ISIS terrorists.

Ayloush's call for Israel's destruction is anti-Semitic, according to the U.S. State Department's definition established in 2010. Demonizing Israel by "[d]rawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis" and "denying Israel the right to exist" are among the behaviors which constitute anti-Semitism.

Now Ayloush is trying to equate Israel with the Islamic Republic of Iran – the world's foremost state sponsor of terrorism worldwide which continues to actively plot attacks throughout the West.

In light of this sentiment, the ZOA is urging "every Jewish and civil rights organization and Rabbis, priests, Imams, politicians and Democratic party officials to join ZOA in demanding Ayloush's termination from his CAIR and Democratic Party posts."

"We specifically call on Minority leader Chuck Schumer, Cong. Nancy Pelosi, Majority leader Mitch McConnell, and Cong. Paul Ryan to speak out strongly and clearly. No more incitement to murdering Jews!", Klein said in the ZOA statement.

CAIR Official Calls for Israel's Termination

Hussam Ayloush, a senior Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) official, in a tweet on Sunday called for the Jewish state to be "terminated."

"Iran's regime calling Israel a 'cancerous tumor' is like the pot calling the kettle black. All the people of that region will be better off once both murderous regimes are terminated," Ayloush wrote.

Based on this tweet, one might assume Ayloush has an equal disdain for the Islamic Republic of Iran and Israel. However, whereas Ayloush would like to see regime change in Iran, he has a history of describing Israel in ways that echo Iranian rhetoric calling for its destruction.

He has referred to Israelis as "zionazis" and repeatedly equated the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) with ISIS terrorists.

"You know how many hundreds of Jewish American kids are recruited to join the Israeli occupation army? Hundreds. Every year. They leave their country, leave America, to go join with an army that is engaged, with no debate, in major violations of human rights, and maybe some would argue, and I'm one of them, war crimes," Ayloush said in May, adding that "no one has ever established a CVE program to see, why would normal Jewish American kids leave their home and join to be part of an army committing war crimes."

That kind of comparison "is frankly insane," British Muslim Maajid Nawaz, a former radical who now fights Islamist ideologies, said in 2015.

It's also anti-Semitic, according to the U.S. State Department's definition established in 2010. Demonizing Israel by "[d]rawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis" and "denying Israel the right to exist" are among the behaviors which constitute anti-Semitism.

Now Ayloush is trying to equate Israel with the Islamic Republic of Iran – the world's foremost state sponsor of terrorism worldwide which continues to actively plot attacks throughout the West.

He didn't call for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be voted out and replaced by someone less hawkish in the conflict with Palestinians. He called for it to be terminated.

Ayloush runs CAIR's Los Angeles chapter and remains politically influential despite his radical views on the Middle East conflict. According to his Facebook profile, he remains a delegate in California's Democratic Party.

As we've noted previously, Ayloush's willingness to make outrageous comparisons likening Israel to the world's greatest terrorists, he bristles at the very question of whether Hamas is a terrorist organization. In a 2013 exchange captured on video, Ayloush angrily dismissed the question as "not acceptable," and "proves that you have nothing but bigotry in you."

It's difficult to imagine a parallel circumstance in which a prominent public figure calls for the "termination" of a foreign state and manages to retain his influence. Ayloush isn't criticizing a specific policy. He wants an existing nation to disappear.

Despite Criticism of Israel, Hamas TV Station is a Legitimate Target

Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza fired over 460 missiles and rockets targeting communities in southern Israel Monday and Tuesday, killing one person and injuring at least 108 others.

Israel's military responded with coordinated strikes targeting roughly 160 terrorist sites, including the Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV and radio stations. An Egyptian-mediated temporary ceasefire appears to be in effect.

Israel's critics, including journalist Glenn Greenwald, lambasted Israel for destroying Hamas media outlets during the latest escalation of violence.

Greenwald says that the Israelis are "not even pretending this was accidental; they admit they were targeted."

Updated Nov. 15: Telegraph journalist Raf Sanchez toured Gaza Thursday, describing a witnesses's account of the bombing.

Enemy media and communications infrastructure can be justifiable targets in an armed conflict.

For example, an International Criminal Tribunal committee, created to review NATO's bombing campaign in the former Yugoslavia, argued that if media stations are used to incite crimes, then they can be a legitimate target for military action.

Al-Aqsa is Hamas' main media outlet which – like other Palestinian institutions – offers programs specifically geared to recruiting children to embrace terrorism and become suicide bombers to attack innocent Israeli civilians.

The stations also help Hamas communicate with its fighters.

"The [Al-Aqsa TV] station broadcasts violent propaganda against the State of Israel and its citizens, as well as operational messaging to militants, which include methods for carrying out attacks against civilians and soldiers and way to obtain weapons," the Israeli military said.

Israel similarly targeted Hizballah's Al-Manar TV station during the 2006 war in Lebanon.

In 2010, the U.S. Treasury Department designated Al-Aqsa Television because it is controlled and funded by Hamas – a designated terrorist organization.

"Treasury will not distinguish between a business financed and controlled by a terrorist group, such as Al-Aqsa Television, and the terrorist group itself," Stuart Levey, former Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said in 2010.

To limit casualties, the IDF used roof-knocking techniques to warn people inside the Al-Aqsa TV station, allowing all of the personnel inside to evacuate.

"Israeli planes fired three missile alerts, before F16 planes targeted with at least three missiles the al-Quds TV headquarters, destroying it completely... No injuries were reported," reported WAFA, the official Palestinian Authority news agency, on Monday, according to Palestinian Media Watch.

Click here to watch the last moments from Al-Aqsa TV's final broadcast before Israel destroyed the building.

Acquitted of Blasphemy, Pakistani Christian Reportedly Finding Refuge in Europe

When Asia Bibi's conviction for blasphemy was overturned last month, thousands of extremists stormed the streets of Pakistan. Blasphemy is a capital crime in that country, and the protesters wanted her dead.

Now Bibi has reportedly been released, and the extremists are rioting again.

Bibi, a Christian, was accused of blasphemy in 2009 after allegedly arguing with a group of Muslim women who claimed that she made derogatory remarks about their religion and their god – charges Bibi denied from the beginning. According to Deutsche Welle, such accusations are often used as vengeance in handling petty disputes. She was sentenced to death a year later.

The Washington Post reports Bibi's release has been confirmed by Pakistani officials. It is not clear where Bibi is at the moment. But Pir Afzal Qadri, a leader of the protesting group, claimed in a video that the government assured him "that she is in the custody of law enforcement agencies . . . and has not been flown out of the country,".

Foreign media speculation, however, has her en route to Europe – and probably to the Netherlands, where, according to CNN, she has already filed for asylum. Her lawyer, Saif ul-Malook, fled to Holland earlier this week after also receiving death threats in Pakistan in the wake of Bibi's acquittal.

On Thursday, the Dutch government offered Malook the right to remain in the country for three months through a temporary refuge program that aids human rights workers who are in danger in their homeland. He has not applied for asylum, but it is believed that he will accept the offer to remain in the Netherlands for the time being.

However, Malook has not said whether Bibi is joining him in Holland, though he did suggest at a press conference earlier this week that she may be coming to the West sometime soon. He also noted that her husband had written to British Prime Minister Theresa May to request asylum in the UK. While May has yet to respond, both Belgium and the Netherlands have indicated that they would welcome her arrival and assure her refuge.

So far, Dutch officials have refused to confirm or deny the rumors. But what is sure is that, as Islamist radicals threaten further violence in Pakistan, Asia Bibi is free.

Report: Hamas, Iranian Paymasters Fuel Violent Gaza Protests

Iran and Hamas are fueling violent protests at the Israel-Gaza border by paying Palestinian youth to participate and compensating injured Palestinians and families of those that get killed, according to young Gazans who spoke with Israeli reporter Ohad Chemo.

Hamas pays $100 a month to youth who participate in border protests that have continued unabated since the end of March, Chemo was told.

Hamas' state patron, Iran, pays $3,000 to each family of a "Shahid" (martyr) who gets killed at the protest. Seriously wounded Palestinians get $500 from Hamas, while less severely injured rioters get $200.

Even bus drivers who transfer the protesters to the Israeli border receive roughly $25 for a one-way trip.

Some Palestinians told Chemo they disagreed with the Hamas strategy.

"If there would be work and income nobody would show up [to the demonstrations]," an older Palestinian said. Many protesters, he added, are members of the Hamas military wing.

"Hamas is the only group which profits from the violent demonstrations," another Palestinian said.

Aid agencies and members of the international community routinely point to Israel's blockade of Gaza as the source of the strip's rising economic woes and sky-rocketing unemployment. But some of the Gazans interviewed admitted that Hamas' strategy of prioritizing violent confrontation against Israel is directly hurting the local economy.

According to some of the locals, Hamas engages in widespread extortion on various essential goods. For example, as soon as a truck driver enters Gaza from the Keren Shalom border crossing, they are forced to pay roughly $140 to Hamas. Gasoline imports from Egypt and cigarettes are similarly taxed at high rates.

Some interviewees admitted that there have been minor strikes and protests against Hamas for these practices, but the terrorist group's militant wing quickly shuts down dissent with violent force.

Others interviewed nevertheless expressed strong support for Hamas and its never-ending war against the Jewish state.

The vast majority of Palestinian fatalities during violent demonstrations on the Israel-Gaza border were members or affiliates of terrorist organizations – primarily Hamas.

The findings, supported by official statements from Hamas leaders, prove that Hamas always has been the driving force behind the deadly protests. Hamas also orchestrated several attacks at the border and continues to encourage the launching of incendiary kites and balloons into Israel that spark devastating fires.

Any attempts to portray the riots as "peaceful protests" defies the evidence, Hamas' own leadership, and local Gazan insights.

New Radical Leadership at Qaradawi's Muslim Scholars Group

A Moroccan cleric who says Israel's destruction is a duty for "the entire Muslim Ummah" has been elected to head an influential global Muslim scholars group linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.

Ahmed al-Raissouni will lead the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), which has a long history of supporting terrorism. More than 1,500 members of the IUMS's General Assembly elected al-Raissouni Wednesday during a meeting in Istanbul.

The delegates came from all over the Islamic world and from the United States, Turkey's pro-regime newspaper Yeni Safak reported.

Al-Raissouni made his comments about destroying Israel in 2006 after a Hamas electoral victory. He also signed a declaration in 2015 calling for the overthrow of Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi.

"Striking an alliance with the Zionist aggressors [and] protecting and defending them, while showing hostility to the Palestinian resistance, conspiring against it and besieging it by destroying Sinai and deporting its people – all these constitute treason against the faith and the homeland and contempt for the way of the Prophet," the 2015 declaration said.

Al-Raissouni succeeds IUMS founder Yusuf Qaradawi, 93, who stepped down last weekend. Qaradawi has been the Muslim Brotherhood's most influential religious scholar for decades. He is best known for his endorsement of Palestinian suicide bombings and for encouraging Muslims to move to Europe and America to Islamize them – fulfilling an Islamic prophecy about the conquest of Rome.

Egypt, The United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Bahrain classify the IUMS as a terrorist organization due to its alleged role in trying to destabilize those countries. It counts Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh as a member and calls for Israel's destruction. During the Iraq War, the IUMS approved a fatwa sanctioning killing American soldiers.

Some IUMS members, including Libyan Sheikh Ali al-Salabi and Yemeni Sheikh Abdel Majeed al-Zindani are Muslim Brotherhood members who have supported al-Qaida. Al-Salabi attended the current Istanbul conference.

Qaradawi praised Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last weekend, saying that the West plotted against Turkey and would have succeeded without his leadership. Qaradawi predicted in 2014 that Istanbul, the former Ottoman capital, would become the capital of a new Caliphate.

"We pray for Turkey to be the administrative center of the Islamic world again," Qaradawi said Saturday.

That praise for Erdogan, "while bashing others in the region, most specifically Saudis, suggest Erdogan [is] building his Islamist credentials with endorsement of top [Brotherhood] clerics who came to [the] convention in Istanbul," Abdullah Bozkurt, former editor of the Turkish newspaper Today's Zaman, told the Investigative Project on Terrorism.

Ali Erbas, head of Turkey's Department of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), and Istanbul Mayor Mevlüt Uysal flanked Qaradawi as he gave his speech. This signifies Erdogan's desire to push the Brotherhood's cause further, Bozkurt said. It also shows the Diyanet with its 140,000 state employees firmly backs the Brotherhood's ideology.

Iran Reportedly Building Syrian Military Base for Pro-Regime Militias

With Hizballah's help, Iran has started building another military base to serve pro-Iran militias in southwestern Syria, the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center reports, citing the Syrian opposition website al-Souria Net.

Iran began building the base in Daraa province after the Assad regime took control over the region in July. Hizballah operatives are taking the lead in the construction process, with help from Iraqi Shi'ite militia fighters.

To create space for the military structure, Iran-affiliated terrorists destroyed roughly 650 homes and multiple villages in the Lajat region. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) oversaw the transfer of weaponry and ammunition to the region. Last month, IRGC officers and local militia commanders reportedly met several times to improve weapon flows and military coordination regarding the new base.

In February, satellite imagery exposed another Iranian military base outside of the Syrian capital Damascus. That IRGC-run base reportedly has the ability to host missiles that can strike any part of Israel.

Iran already oversees a military compound near the Damascus airport and other high-profile airbases and permanent military sites across the country.

Iran continues to invest considerable resources in strengthening relations with local allies in Syria, including Hizballah and other Shi'a militias. But recent reports suggest that the Iranian axis is fostering ties with unlikely partners: former U.S.-backed Sunni rebels in Syria.

Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Hizballah recruited close to 2,000 fighters, most of whom from Syrian rebel groups that lost U.S. financing last year. Hizballah is paying these rebels to switch sides and integrate into a growing, Iranian-led force in southern Syria. Joining Hizballah also offers assurances that the former opposition fighters will avoid detention by the Syrian regime.

Recruiting local Sunni proxies allows Iran to enhance its presence close to Israel's border after seemingly withdrawing from the region to escape Israeli airstrikes.

In addition to building military infrastructure in Daraa province, Iran's expanding its ideological reach and established a branch of a Shi'ite religious organization in late October. Other IRGC-affiliated organizations help spread the regime's radical ideology across Syria to enhance the Islamic Republic's soft power presence in the country.

Violence Continues as Pakistani Islamists Protest Christian Woman's "Blasphemy" Acquittal

Thousands of Islamist demonstrators in Pakistan continue to violently protest the acquittal of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who was falsely accused of blasphemy and spent the last eight years on death row.

Protesters clashed with police, burned cars and disrupted traffic, blocking ambulances. Schools across Pakistan have been closed and a major zone in Islamabad is sealed off.

Asia Bibi was charged in 2009 with insulting Islam's prophet Muhammad after drinking from a cup of water before allowing fellow Muslim farm laborers drink first. After being beaten in her home, Bibi's accusers say that she confessed to blasphemy. She was sentenced to death in 2010.

On Wednesday, Pakistan's Supreme Court overturned her sentence. For that, the Supreme Court judges "deserve to be killed," said Muhammad Afzal Qadri, leader of the extremist Islamist Tehreek-i-Labaik party. But Bibi has not been released from prison, as negotiations for her safety broke down between the government and Islamists.

"Which government can function like this, blackmailed by protests?" asked Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan, accusing the Islamists for "inciting [people] for their own political gain."

Radical religious groups, including a charity founded by UN-designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed, vowed to join the protests today.

Public support for blasphemy laws in Pakistan remains high, driving a wedge between the ruling party and extreme Islamists stoking protests. And that sentiment is not limited to South Asia.

A Maryland mosque last year praised the terrorist who killed a former Pakistani governor critical of Pakistan's blasphemy laws. Salman Taseer was targeted by radical Islamists after he defended Bibi. In 2011, his bodyguard Mumtaz Qadri shot and killed him.

American Islamist groups said nothing about Taseer's killing.

After Qadri was executed for the killing in 2016, the Gulzar E Madina mosque hosted a celebration in his memory, "attended by dozens of people including young children and teenagers."

Radical Islamists in Pakistan, whether organized terrorist groups or mobs of people, often take matters into their hands.

In April 2017, a violent mob beat to death a university student who faced a blasphemy accusation that investigators later deemed false.

Sunni terrorist groups connected to extremist Pakistani organizations last year targeted minorities in several deadly attacks including Ahmadi Muslims, the Shi'a Hazara community, and Christians.

In December, for example, Islamic State terrorists killed nine civilians in a targeted attack involving a suicide bomber against a Methodist church in Quetta.

Pakistan has charged about 1,000 people with blasphemy since 1987, and convictions can carry the death penalty. These laws especially target members of Pakistan's minority communities. But the law can be also applied to anyone that is seen as a threat to the government.

According to the US State Department's International Religious Freedom Report for 2017, civil society organizations "reported lower courts often failed to adhere to basic evidentiary standards in blasphemy cases."

Asia Bibi's acquittal highlights the plight of all religious minorities in Pakistan and the destructive power of radical Islamists across the country.

BDS-Supporter Linda Sarsour Accepts Ben & Jerry's Donation – A Brand with Ties to Israel

Ben & Jerry's ice cream announced a new flavor on Tuesday, Pecan Resist, "with the intention to resist the current [Trump] administration's regressive agenda, celebrating the activists who are continuing to resist oppression."

In addition, the ice cream brand plans to donate $25,000 to four organizations devoted to social justice issues including the Women's March.

Women's March national co-chair and Islamist activist Linda Sarsour was pictured alongside figures from other activist organizations and Ben & Jerry's top officials.

Some on social media were quick to be entertained by the news that Sarsour, a strident Israel hater and anti-Semite, is accepting money from a company that has a long-standing presence in Israel. How will she reconcile that with her self-described stance as "an unapologetic, pro-BDS, one-state solution" activist?

Ben & Jerry's has a vibrant operation in Israel, with its founders celebrating the business's 40^th anniversary by touring Israel and handing out ice cream to Israeli fans.

Avi Zinger brought Ben & Jerry's to Israel 30 years ago as a licensee of the parent organization. The Israeli affiliate is one of two factories outside the United States.

Israel's Ben & Jerry's affiliate is independent of the global parent company, it said Wednesday in a Facebook post. But BDS advocates, those who want to isolate Israel economically, politically and in the arts, have called for a boycott of Ben & Jerry's over its Israeli presence.

But it's hard not to see the irony behind Sarsour's engagement with a popular brand that has visible business ties in the Jewish state.

For years, Sarsour has expressed a deep hatred for the Jewish state and anyone who supports it. Last month, she spoke at the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)'s national convention, arguing that Muslims should not defend or "actually try to humanize the oppressor," which was a reference to Israel.

It seems that Sarsour has to pick her battles. She openly supports "resistance" against Israelis – a term often used by Islamists to include terrorism. At the same time, she is willing to accept money from an organization with a business presence in Israel to support her anti-Trump resistance campaign at home.

Jihad Jane's Recruiter Sentenced to 15 Years

An Algerian man was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison for conspiring with Americans and others to recruit men and women in Europe and the United States to a terrorist cell to wage violent jihad in the West.

Ali Charaf Damache, also known as "Theblackflag," led the terrorist cell, some of whose members intended to travel to South Asia to obtain explosives training and return to Europe to carry out terror attacks. Damache, who was extradited from Spain last year, pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.

Damache enticed Pennsylvania resident Colleen R. LaRose (a/k/a "Jihad Jane") and Jamie Paulin Ramirez, who lived in Colorado, to travel to Ireland, live with him and train for violent jihad. He also sought the help of 15-year-old Mohammad Hassan Khalid, a Pakistani citizen and U.S. permanent resident, to recruit violent jihadists to the terrorist cell that planned to train with al-Qaida for attacks in the West.

LaRose and Ramirez were regarded as "highly valuable recruits" to Damache since they held American passports and could travel around freely in the West. LaRose soon earned a reputation "as an aggressive hard-working force and her American background and appearance rendered her highly valuable to terrorists." She was tasked with killing Swedish cartoonist Lars Vilks, who drew caricatures of Islam's prophet Muhammad. She was instructed to carry out the murder in a way that would frighten "the whole Kufar [non-believer] world."

LaRose and Damache traveled to Europe but were unable to reach Vilks, who survived a separate attack and whose home was set on fire.

LaRose was sentenced to 10 years in prison in connection with the conspiracy. Ramirez received an eight-year sentence on one count of providing material support to terrorists.

The blonde-haired, blue-eyed LaRose was particularly valuable to Damache because she was able to travel without arousing suspicion. She moved to Ireland where she married Damache in an Islamic ceremony. Ramirez brought her son to Ireland and train in violent jihad with Daamche. She also videotaped her son talking with her about his desire to shoot "kuffar" [non-believers].

Upon completing his prison sentence, Damache will be deported to Ireland, where he is a citizen, or his country of origin Algeria.

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