Austria May Ban Four-Fingered MB Salute

The Austrian government is considering outlawing a four-fingered salute representing support for the Muslim Brotherhood. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan popularized it and began using it after Egypt's military toppled the Brotherhood in 2013.

Muslim Brotherhood members and sympathizers around the world use the image on websites, posters and literature. If the ban is approved, anyone in Austria who flashes the salute could be fined $4,600.

It also has been used by Muslim Brotherhood supporters in the United States, including members of Egyptian Americans for Freedom and Justice (EAFJ) and former Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official Mohamed Elibiary.

Erdogan's role in popularizing the gesture seems to be driving the Austrian ban. It also would outlaw a wolf-head like salute used by the pro-Erdogan Turkish fascist group the Grey Wolves. Its most infamous member, Mehmet Ali Agca, tried to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981. The Wolves have become some of Erdogan's greatest non-Islamist supporters and aim to unify all Turkic peoples in Turkey across and throughout Central Asia into a single nation.

It was the only group besides Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) that backed constitutional changes allowing him to consolidate power.

So far Turkey hasn't responded.

Relations between Austria and Turkey have become tense due to reports that Erdogan's intelligence agency, the MIT, spied on Erdogan's enemies in Austria. In February 2017, a member of Austria's Green Party alleged that an umbrella organization headed by the Turkish embassy's religious attaché had carried out spy operations in Austrian mosques.

Turkey was inserting "unacceptable Turkish government politics in Austria," said Green Party member Peter Pilz.

Austria closed seven Turkish-linked mosques in June due to concerns over political Islam. Chancellor Sebastian Kurz complained about "parallel societies, political Islam and radicalisation." The Turks responded by accusing the Austrians of racism. The imams were paid by Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs, also called the Diyanet. It has a close relationship with Turkey's MIT intelligence agency.

Palestinian Leaders Dig In Over Payments to Terrorists

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Qadri Abu Bakr, who directs the Palestine Liberation Organization's Commission of Prisoners' Affairs, recently issued a defiantly assurance that they won't end payments to terrorists and their families despite international pressure.

Bakr "emphasized that the leadership ... will continue to support the resolve of the prisoners and their families and will not succumb to the Israeli and American pressures calling to stop the Martyrs' (Shahids) and prisoners' salaries (rawatib) and allowances (mukhassasat)," reports the official PA daily Al-Hayat Al Jadida and translated by Palestinian Media Watch (PMW).

Bakr's sentiment mirrors Abbas'.

"By Allah, even if we have only a penny left it will only be spent on the families of the Martyrs and the prisoners, and only afterwards will it be spent on the rest of the people," Abbas said on official PA TV in July, adding that "martyrs and prisoners" are "stars in the sky" and that these terrorists "have priority in everything."

These statements reaffirm that Palestinians convicted of attacking Israelis take precedent over all over sectors of Palestinian society. In fact, terrorists and their families receive far higher payments than welfare recipients.

The amount of money paid to imprisoned or released terrorists depends on the length of sentence, which is a function of an action's severity. The more brutal the attack or murder, the more money a Palestinian prisoner receives.

Despite growing international pressure to halt this practice, roughly half of the foreign aid that the PA receives is allocated for payments to terrorist inmates and the "families of martyrs."

The Palestinian government spends $355 million annually on terrorist salaries, about 7.5 percent of the PA's budget, a PMW analysis shows.

This form of Palestinian incitement is one of the main reasons the Trump administration has taken specific measures against the Palestinian Liberation Organization in recent weeks. In mid-September, the administration revoked residency permits for the family of the PLO's envoy to the United States and reportedly shut down all PLO bank accounts in the country. The White House announced the closure of the PLO office in Washington a week earlier.

ISNA-Canada Suspended for Funding Kashmiri Jihadists

Canada's Revenue Agency (CRA) has suspended the Islamic Society of North America-Canada (ISNA-Canada), the Global News reports.

Federal auditors say ISNA-Canada "failed to conduct any meaningful due diligence" for $136,000 it sent to an Islamist charity about a decade ago that may have gone into the hands of a terrorist group operating in the conflict-ridden Kashmir region.

Although the findings from the 2011 audit were communicated to ISNA-Canada in 2014, the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) only sanctioned the organization on Sept. 5, the report said.

The one-year suspension took effect Sept. 12 and includes a $550,000 penalty.

During 2007-09, ISNA-Canada "gifted" $90,000 to the Relief Organization of Kashmiri Muslims (ROKM). ROKM is the "charitable arm" of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Pakistan and its armed wing, Hizbul Mujahideen, is a designated terrorist group in the United States and Europe. JI is a South Asian Islamist movement that seeks to promote a rigid interpretation of Islam in the U.S. and other secularly-government nations. Its leaders have defended terrorists and rationalized attacks against Western targets.

The audited records showed that ISNA-Canada gave an additional $46,000 to the Kashmiri Relief Fund of Canada that CRA earlier alleged raised money for ROKM.

According to the Global News, top Canadian officials have visited ISNA-Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke there in 2013 and Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale was photographed there in April 2017.

"Providing resources to organizations operating in support of a political purpose, including the achievement of nationhood or political autonomy, are not recognized at law as charitable," CRA documents obtained by Global News said.

"In addition, Canada's public policy recognizes that the tax advantages of charitable registration should not be extended to organizations whose resources may have been made available, knowingly or unknowingly, to a terrorist entity."

CRA has acted against ISNA-Canada before. ISNA's Islamic Services of Canada and ISNA Development Foundation lost its charitable status after audits revealed possible funding to the Hizbul Mujahideen.

Lawyers representing ISNA-Canada acknowledge that "not all of its practices may have been in complete compliance," but pin the blame on "unauthorized actions" by a former secretary-general who resigned in 2011.

Corporate records show that ISNA-Canada was the "Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)" until October 2014, when it changed its name to "Islamic Society of North America Canada." ISNA is a leading Muslim Brotherhood group in North America and its conferences routinely feature rhetoric in support of terrorist groups and other radicalism.

New Details Emerge on Bangladeshi Islamists' Upcoming Visit to Washington

A violent South Asia Islamist group reportedly is part of a secret plot to undermine Bangladesh's government and pave the way for the country's former supreme court chief justice to take control.

Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh (JIB) has a "secret verbal agreement" with Surendra Kumar Sinha to fund a campaign "getting Justice Sinha international media exposure," the Weekly Blitz reports. Sinha, the first Hindu to occupy Bangladesh's top judicial post, left the country following allegations of money laundering and graft and later tendered his resignation from overseas.

The report comes in advance of a visit to Washington, D.C. next month by JIB assistant secretary Abdur Razzaq, a Bangladeshi lawyer living in self-exile in the United Kingdom. As I reported along with Middle East Forum's Sam Westrop earlier this week, Razzaq is expected to meet with members of Congress and with think-tanks.

According to the Blitz, Razzaq planned to use Sinha's recently published autobiography to trigger a "mass revolt" against the Bangladeshi government which ultimately would force it from power, opening the door for Sinha's return.

"JIB policymakers are considering Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha as their 'tramp (sic) card' and would use him in appraising American policymakers and top jurists on the 'current situation' in Bangladesh. Members of JIB in the US also are trying to buy airtime in several television channels for airing interview of Justice Sinha," the Blitz said.

The article also detailed ties between a former top Jamaat financier Mir Quasem Ali and Islamist NGOs, including the Saudi-funded Rabita al-Alam al-Islami (Muslim World League), a Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated quasi government religious organization established in 1962 to propagate Saudi "Wahhabi" Islam.

Ali helped set up Bangladesh's first Sharia bank, the Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL) and is the founder of Ibn Sina Trust that runs several hospitals and diagnostic centers in Bangladesh.

Ali was hanged in 2016 after Bangladesh's International Crimes Tribunal convicted him of crimes related to Bangladesh's 1971 war of independence, including abducting and killing a teenager who supported independence. Razzaq had helped Ali hire a lobbying firm for an upfront payment of $500,000 to influence American lawmakers against the war crimes tribunal. Razzaq promised to pay an additional $2.5 million once Ali was released from prison.

Ali's brother, Mir Masum Ali, is an executive board member for the JI-tied Muslim Ummah of North America (MUNA). A 2010 picnic hosted by MUNA featured Muhammad Kamaruzzaman, JI's then-assistant secretary general, as the guest of honor. Kamaruzzaman was sentenced to death in 2013 for his role in the murder of 120 unarmed farmers.

Judge Denies Injunction Against CAIR Activity in San Diego Schools

Parents of some San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) students lost their bid to get a federal judge to inhibit it from working with the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). The Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund (FCDF) filed a motion for preliminary injunction on their behalf in March.

School board officials voted in April 2017 to enter into a formal partnership with CAIR but modified its plan three months later. At their July meeting, the board voted to move away from a formal partnership with CAIR and establish an intercultural committee comprised of people from different religions and communities instead. FCDF called this a "religious gerrymander" built around CAIR.

It claimed that the school district's anti-bullying/anti-Islamophobia program violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution and California state law in its motion. Parents also claimed their children suffered "irreparable harm" from favoritism shown to Muslim students.

Federal Judge Cynthia Bashant ruled Tuesday that they failed to meet the burden of proof for their objection to obtain the injunction. She wrote that the parents had not shown they were subjected to "irreparable harm" from the policy.

Bashant ruled that California's No Aid Clause never has been interpreted to "require governmental hostility to religion, nor to prohibit a religious institution from receiving an indirect, remote and incidental benefit when there exists 'a secular primary purpose.'"

She also shot down FCDF's claim that the school district placed "taxpayer money under the direction of a sectarian organization" because it did not provide evidence that CAIR directed the SDUSD's use of funds. Her ruling described the acquisition of the CAIR-recommended textbooks was consistent with California's No Aid Clause. District officials contradicted the FCDF's claim that the school district did not provide instructional materials that "address all major world religions."

Bashant noted there is no evidence to support Plaintiffs' belief that the District "lavishes" Muslim students with "benefits" not received by students of other religions.

"...[T]he Revised Policy largely blunts Plaintiffs' claims about unequal benefit or unequal benefit or 'special treatment' for Muslim students," Bashant wrote.

Her ruling says that the Establishment Clause was not violated because the Islamophobia curriculum served a secular purpose of deterring bullying. It also upheld the school district's use of the CAIR report to justify the creation of the anti-Islamophobia curriculum, saying that it was not a case in which "significant, admitted flaws in methodology" undermine the existence of a compelling interest." This was even though district statistics show that only two students in the entire school district were bullied because they were Muslim.

CAIR Chief to Meet with Turkish and Iranian Presidents

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani invited Nihad Awad, the Council on American-Islamic Relations' (CAIR) executive director, to meet with them in New York during this week's U.N. General Assembly meeting.

"It's not about photo ops for me," Awad wrote on Twitter. "It's about real issues and people's lives. Please engage and tell me what issues and questions I should raise."

It marks the third straight year Awad meets Erdogan around the UN session, joining U.S. Council of Muslim Organizations (USCMO) leaders last year and with two dozen other Islamists in 2016.

"...[It] makes you wonder what Awad gets in return from Erdogan's government," said exiled Turkish journalist Abdullah Bozkurt, who noted Erdogan has jailed 60,000 opponents.

Despite Erdogan's increasing authoritarian actions, Awad and his organization have held Erdogan's Turkey out as a beacon of democracy.

While Awad has been warm toward Turkey and Erdogan, his relations with Iran have been different. He attended a 2009 meeting with then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but skipped similar meetings with Hassan Rouhani in protest of Iran's support for Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad. He apparently lambasted Rouhani during a 2016 meeting, blaming Iran for Syrian bloodshed and denouncing Iran for promoting sectarianism.

Erdogan will be in New York until Thursday. He spoke over the weekend at several events sponsored by the Turkish American National Steering Committee (TASC).

His son-in-law, Turkey's Finance Minister Berat Albayrak, joined Erdogan at a speech he gave Sunday to TASC supporters, the Turkish news website Haberler.com reported. Hacked emails from TASC leaders showed they gave Albayrak regular updates about their work and were interviewed by the FBI on suspicion they were engaged in political espionage on behalf of Erdogan. One such email from former TASC co-chairman Ibrahim Uyar to Albayrak described a July 2016 White House rally against the Turkish coup attempt that he organized. Awad and other American Islamist leaders participated in that rally, which also was sponsored by TASC.

Politics is the means for Muslims to convey their demands to decision makers, Erdogan said in Sunday's speech. That includes Muslims in the United States.

"American Muslims have an interest in the nearing elections, which is positive news. At the end of the elections we hope to see many of our brothers in decision-making positions. We are ready to exchange our experience as Turkey," Erdogan said.

Ex-Syrian AQ Affiliate Disapproves of Turkish-Russian Agreement

Syrian jihadists belonging to al-Qaida's former Syrian affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) oppose a Turkish-Russian agreement to establish a demilitarized buffer zone around the country's Idlib province. This area in northwestern Syria remains the last area west of the Euphrates River outside the control of the Assad regime and its allies. HTS and other smaller rival jihadist factions dominate the province.

President Trump warned Bashar al-Assad earlier this month not to invade the province, saying it would be a "human tragedy." Clashes seemed imminent between Russia, Syria, Iran and the jihadists and triggered fears that millions of additional refugees might flood into Turkey.

Had Assad's troops intervened, they also could have risked accidental clashes with Turkish troops stationed in Idlib. Turkey promised to crackdown on HTS and other jihadists. Numerous Uighur and Chechen foreign fighters are in the province.

An HTS commander who identified himself as "Abu al-Fath al-Fergali" told the Syrian news website Enab Baladi that surrendering his weapon would be "treason" to his religion.

Zaid al-Attar, former head of HTS's political office, also rejected disarming because fighting provided "the only guarantee to the realization of the revolution's aims of attaining dignity and freedom." HTS's enemies only understand force, he said.

HTS has a high-stakes game ahead of it to keep from splintering. If it looks too weak, it could lose fighters to groups that are even more hard line such as the remnants of ISIS and al-Qaida's current affiliate Hurras al-Deen.

Turkey warned HTS and other jihadist groups they should disband or face elimination. Thus far, HTS has resisted those calls. The Assad regime has used HTS's existence as an excuse for carrying out a scorched earth policy.

The Turks and Russians plan to use drones to patrol the buffer area. Rebel groups that cooperate with Turkey and Russia will not be attacked, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said.

Stratfor predicts that the Assad regime and Iran could also eventually challenge the deal because they are motivated to weaken Russia's relationship with Turkey.

House Acknowledges the Need for a National Terrorist Registry

A bill that passed the U.S. House last week would create a vital tool to help the United States track dozens of convicted terrorists whose prison terms are nearing completion.

The Terrorist Release Announcements to Counter Extremist Recidivism Act (TRACER) would direct the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to inform state and local authorities about anticipated release dates and the locations where the terrorists would live post-release.

It's an idea the Investigative Project on Terrorism has advocated for more than a year.

Since the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, hundreds of people have been arrested and convicted of terror related offenses.

Most were motivated by a radical Islamic ideology which calls for the destruction of the United States and Western democracies. The Bureau of Prisons and the Justice Department have struggled to develop a viable de-radicalization or post release program.

The bill, sponsored by U.S. Rep. John Rutherford, R-Fla., acknowledges that failure and offers a way to fill in the gap.

"TRACER would actually do the same thing [as a sex offender registry] and be providing notification that someone has been released," said According to House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas.

McCaul also wants a viable program "to ensure that radicalization is not taking place because it is."

I testified about prison radicalization in 2011 before the House Homeland Security Committee. Recognition that Islamic radicalization occurs in prison, I said, was a necessary first step.

I also encouraged committee members initiate a comprehensive program that included information sharing among federal, state, and local authorities. It is necessary component for public safety, and this bill will do just that.

The bill passed on a voice vote which may indicate strong bipartisan support. But it has not been without its naysayers. Karen Greenberg, director of Fordham University's Center on National Security, demonstrated her naïveté when she said, "I do not distinguish them [terrorists] as any more dangerous than other people who might have been apprehended before they committed a crime or people who were convicted of committing a crime."

It is absurd to think that an individual who indiscriminately mows down innocent pedestrians on a New York City walkway or who travels overseas to join a terrorist organization and fight against U.S. coalition forces is no more a threat to society than a third rate burglar or confidence artist.

Thankfully, House members did not agree. A companion bill in the Senate is awaiting action in the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

The very real threat of recidivism by a released terrorist or a prison-radicalized parolee must be dealt with effectively and the Tracer Act is a step in the right direction.

Article Explores Why Somalia Deserves to be on U.S. Travel Ban List

U.S. immigration officials face serious challenges addressing refugee claims from Somalia, given that country's lack of systematic record keeping throughout its civil war and history of failed governments since 1991. As a result, Somalia deserves to stay on President Donald Trump's travel ban list, argues Todd Bensman in a recent article for the Center for Immigration Studies.

For more than two decades, few Somalis received formal birth certificates, driver's licenses, or other government-issued identification. Under these circumstances, Bensman asks, how could American officials secure a proper identity check or criminal history for any Somali adult seeking asylum in the U.S.?

Last month, federal prosecutors in Tucson, Ariz. charged a married couple - Mohamed Abdirahman and Zeinab Abidrahman Mohammad - with eight counts of making false statements throughout his refugee and legal permanent residency application process.

Zeinab faces three counts of providing false information in support of her husband, but was released on Aug. 10 after the judge did not deem her a danger to the public or a flight risk.

The government claims that Osman used a fake Somali passport and lied about many crucial details, including his real name and nationality. Osman allegedly lied about a relationship with the Somali-based terrorist organization al-Shabaab.

He claimed to have lost his hands after a 2010 terrorist attack before being abducted by al-Shabaab. But prosecutors assert that the couple has provided contradictory accounts at different points in time.

Osman's story eventually unraveled. Speaking with FBI agents last year, Osman acknowledged he was from Ethiopia, that he was recruited by al-Shabaab, and that his brother is an active member of the terrorist organization. He also reportedly admitted that he lost his hands while holding a homemade explosive in 2009.

The government could not definitely prove whether Osman had a criminal record or whether he had participated in terrorist activities, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Beverly Anderson.

These issues may cause some difficulties for the prosecution during the trial, which is set for Sept. 18.

"There can be no doubt that some real Somali citizens have suffered persecution at the hands of the ubiquitously present al Shabaab or that country's military-backed government. Such individuals may well deserve American sanctuary if their stories of suffering and claims of torture if returned could possibly be investigated and verified enough. But, very unfortunately, most involving Somalis probably can't be verified. And so the value of security must be carefully weighed against the value of providing sanctuary," writes Bensman.

NSC Meets Lobbyist Who Backed Syrian Jihadists

A Syrian-American lobbyist who pushed the Obama administration to support Syrian jihadists met with National Security Council (NSC) staffers Thursday afternoon. Mouaz Moustafa, executive director of the Syrian Emergency Taskforce (SETF), noted the meeting on his Facebook page. A NSC source confirmed that the meeting took place.

Moustafa frequently lobbied the Obama White House to support Syrian rebel groups against ISIS and the Assad regime. He pressured Congress and the Obama administration to support a train-and-equip program that saw American weapons end up in the hands of al-Qaida and ISIS.

The Trump administration canceled the operation.

The NSC meeting focused on Syria's last remaining jihadist stronghold, Idlib province, Moustafa wrote. He did not detail what he said about it. Iran, Russia and the Assad regime reportedly are planning an assault on the province to eliminate this last pocket of Sunni jihadist resistance. Turkey has troops there. President Trump warned last week that the operation could be "a grave humanitarian mistake" which could claim hundreds of thousands of lives.

Moustafa is best known for bringing U.S. Sen. John McCain to Syria in 2013, where McCain met with Free Syrian Army (FSA) leader Gen. Salem Idris. Many FSA factions had jihadist ideologies. Idris tweeted his support for al-Qaida's Syrian affiliate in 2015.

Moustafa urged the Obama administration in 2013 to support a now defunct FSA splinter group called the Islamic Front, calling it "the only counterbalance to extremists." Its constitution contradicted Moustafa's talking points about democracy and freedom in Syria.

"The focus now is to depose the regime and kick out people like Hizballah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and others that are killing us. And so that's the best way to describe their ideology," Moustafa said in a 2013 podcast. "I think the international community and the West ... must engage with the Islamic Front and need to be more pragmatic and realistic about what is going on ground in Syria in order to bring them on board with whatever political solution will happen in the future."

The Long War Journal reported in 2014 that al-Qaida was able to influence the Islamic Front without publicly acknowledging its role. Khalid al-Suri, an associate of al-Qaida leader Ayman Zawahiri, co-founded Ahrar al-Sham, a key faction in the Islamic Front at the time of Moustafa's statement. Ahrar al-Sham's leadership condemned democracy and mourned Taliban leader Mullah Omar in 2015.

Ahrar al-Sham's co-founder Khalid al-Suri was an associate of al-Qaida leader Ayman Zawahiri. Hasan Aboud, another Ahrar al-Sham founder, condemned democracy and expressed support for a caliphate. It mourned the death of Taliban founder Mullah Omar to whom al-Qaida and Zawahiri owed fealty in 2016, another example of its ideological leanings.

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