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Militant Islam Monitor > Weblog > Fulbright's Terror Ties vs. Hamas activist / FAU prof Mustafa Abu Sway and Dan Restrepo's lies

Fulbright's Terror Ties vs. Hamas activist / FAU prof Mustafa Abu Sway and Dan Restrepo's lies

March 23, 2004

Here is a response to a Feb.26 article in the FAU University Press written in support of Hamas activist FAU professor Mustafa Abu Sway, by the opinions editor Dan Restrepo.

MIM Note:This article was published in the FAU University Press on April 8th 2004. I have retained the original version here in order to maintain access to the links . B R http://universitypress.collegepublisher.com/news/654188.html?mkey=1296962

It was also placed on the "Campus Watch" website where complete documentation is available regarding the ongoing investigation and controversy surrounding Mustafa Abu Sway's known Hamas involvement and his current position as visiting Fulbright scholar at Florida Atlantic University. http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/1106

Dan Restrepo claims that FAU Fulbright visiting professor Mustafa Abu Sway,whose ties to Hamas and terror funding were exposed by Dr.Daniel Pipes and Asaf Romirowsky "spent his career teaching peace",

The facts presented below prove that Mustafa Abu Sway-director of Islamic Studies at Al Quds University, is a Hamas activist :

Beila Rabinowitz - director of Miltant Islam Monitor

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Dr.Daniel Pipes links to this letter on his website: http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/116 Click on for his complete Weblog "Mustafa Abu - Sway, Islamist "

March 23, 2004 update: In response to an article in the Florida Atlantic University Press, Beila Rabinowitz provides important new information on Abu Sway, including the fact that when asked the difference between defending one's rights and terrorism, he replied "Sometimes, there's really a play on words, and it depends on where one stands."

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To the Editors:

I am researcher on Middle East related issues and am replying to Dan Restrepo's opinion piece entitled; "Fulbright's Terror tie or Pipes defaming lie?" in the FAU University Press of 2/26/04. (see below )

Dan Restrepo used distortion and defamation in order to defend Hamas activist Mustafa Abu Sway and attack the noted Middle East specialist Dr .Daniel Pipes, who was personally appointed by President Bush last year to be on the board of directors of the USIP -The United States Institute of Peace.

Professor Pipes and Asaf Romirowsky exposed Abu Sway's terrorist connections in two articles entitled :"Fulbright's Terror Ties" and "Hamas in the Florida Classroom". http://www.danielpipes.org/article/1287 http://www.danielpipes.org/article/1487

At the beginning of his diatribe against Dr. Daniel Pipes for exposing Abu Sway's ties to Hamas, Restrepo writes that: "Pipes accuses Fulbright scholar Mustafa Abu Sway of having ties to the terrorist organisation Hamas"...He is trying to send a message that if your work is unpopular or goes against what he thinks is right your'e a terrorist".

Restrepo's inability to distinquish between terrorism and academics is symptomatic of the warped perceptions which prompted him to state that Mustafa Abu Sway "has spent his career preaching peace" despite his documented ties to Hamas.

Dan Restrepo absurdly labels Dr. Pipe's Middle East Forum as an "anti Muslim" "un" think tank", and confuses the MEF forum and Dr. Pipe's website . www.danielpipes.org

Professor Daniel Pipes , who wrote about Abu Sway's Hamas affiliations, was named "an authoritative commentator on the Middle East" by the Wall Street Journal. He speaks fluent Arabic ,has studied in Egypt, and written 12 books on Middle East related issues. He is the editor of the Middle East Quarterly and director of the Middle East Forum, a think tank that "works to define and promote American interests in the Middle East". http://www.meforum.org His website www.danielpipes.org is a source of reliable information on the Middle East and accessed by thousands of people each day. One of Dr. Pipe's books is entitled; "Militant Islam Comes to America" which explains the difference between the religion of Islam, and militant Islam which propagates terror. http://www.danielpipes.org/bios/

Besides being a known Hamas activist, Professor Abu Sway's academic credentials include being the director of the Islamic Studies at Al Quds University in Jerusalem. Al Quds University has been raided and closed down by the Israeli Defense Forces numerous times due to terrorist activity by it's students and staff.

In addition to boasting Hamas activist Professor Abu Sway on their faculty, Al Quds maintains the Abu Jihad Center for Political Prisoners (sic) Affaris". "The center is named after the code name for Mr.Khalil Al-Whazir one of the founders of the Palestinian National Liberation movement (Fateh) and a martyr of the Palestinian revolution" . http://www.alquds.edu/centers&institutes/acppa.php The president of Al Quds University, Sari Nussibeh, appeared on television with Hamas leader Khalid Mischal and praised the mother of a suicide bomber. On an Arab news site he stated that "There was need to reexamine the benefit of martyrdom operations within Israel in the context of the goals we seek to accomplish ." http://www.the-idler.com/IDLER-02/7-20a.html

Restrepo writes that Abu Sway has "spent his career preaching peace" and neglects to mention that the Jordanian national is presently being investigated by the State Department for his ties to Hamas and terror funding activities . http://www.danielpipes.org http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/963

Dr. Pipes and Asaf Romirowsky exposed Mustafa Abu Sway based on information provided by the Israeli government. Besides being documented as a Hamas activist Professor Mustafa Abu Sway is known as :

*A board member and raised funds for two Jerusalem based Hamas related organisations.

*Having worked with the Charity Coalition and two other organisations which have had their assets frozen by the American government.

*Being connected to Sheik Ra'ed Saleh -the jailed leader of the Islamist movement in Israel .http://www.danielpipes.org/article/1487

When commenting on the media exposure of his Hamas activism , Mustafa Abu Sway cynically asserted that: "My views will not change because of this harrassment".

Mustafa Abu Sway presented examples of how, (as Restrepo claims) he "spent his career preaching peace" to an interviewer in the 'American Muslim' online.

: When Abu Sway was asked, what in your opinion is the difference between the violence of defending one's rights and terrorism?" Abu Sway replied:

"Sometimes there is really a play on words, and it depends on where one stands...Definitely, if we address the issue from the point of view of national law the Palestinians have a right to defend themselves...Under these conditions. I think that one would only expect that Palestinians would do something about it". "Now what is the difference between violence and terrorism?" "I think there is a fine line between both issues and sometimes the cards are mixed". If you target those outside the conflict it is terrorism. But ultimately , if one targets the military force of the occupier, then I do not think it is terrorism although one would wish that the whole thing did not exist in the first place". http://www.americanmuslim.org/17palestine17a.html

The "whole thing" that Restrepo's 'career peacenik' Abu Sway wishes, "didn't exist in the first place", is very likely a cynical reference to Israel. At a 2001 interfaith conference Abu Sway remarked, to audible gasps from the Jews in the audience, that he "wishes the state of Israel would dissappear". http://www.216.239.37.104/search?q=cache.hcygv7tlC6AJ:www.christianitytoday.com/bc/2003/002/6.8html+%22abu+sway%22%22wished+the+state+of+Israel+would+dissapear.%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

Mustafa Abu Sway further related that: "On the first day of the new intifada he, (an Al Quds University colleague) was at the Al Aqsa Mosque , and I was there too"... Mustafa Abu Sway and his friend from Al Quds University were not the innocent bystanders he pretends they were . Everyone on the Temple Mount at the Al Aqsa mosque that day had come there to attack Israelis. Al Quds University, as a center of Hamas activity, would have been at the forefront, not only because of it's proximity to the Temple Mount where the riots began but because the:

"Official Palestinian Authority media exhorted the Palestinians to violence. On September 29, the Voice of Palestine, the PA's official radio station sent out calls "to all Palestinians to come and defend the al-Aksa mosque." The PA closed its schools and bused Palestinian students to the Temple Mount to participate in the organized riots. http://www.us-Israel.org/jsource/myths/mf19a.html#a1

Towards the end of his rant against Dr. Pipes for exposing Mustafa Abu Sway's connections to Hamas and terror funding , Dan Restrepo poses this unintentionally rhetorical question: "While Abu Sway can understand why there are prejudices and accusations against Muslims, does that make them right?"

Regarding the accusations against Al Quds University's visiting Fulbright scholar and documented Hamas activist Mustafa Abu Sway , the facts speak for themselves. The answer to Restrepo's question is "yes".

Sincerely,

Beila Rabinowitz

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Original letter by Dan Restrepo-Opinions editor of FAU University Press

Fulbright's terrorist tie or Pipes' defaming lie?
By Dan Restrepo


Daniel Pipes runs the Middle East Forum (www.meforum.org), an anti-Muslim website and (un)think-tank. With all the work he must put into promoting "American interest in the Middle East," the self-proclaimed purpose for his project, I wonder where he finds the time to accuse an FAU professor of terrorist links.

In his column in the New York Post in October,

"Fulbright's terrorist tie" Pipes accuses Fulbright scholar Mustafa Abu Sway, who teaches at the Honor's College in Jupiter, of having ties to the terrorist organization Hamas (see my column in UP 11, Nov. 6).

Pipes and those of his ilk are trying to put a scare into university professors. He's trying to send the message that if your work is unpopular or goes against what he thinks is right, then you're a terrorist.

"My views will not change because of this harassment," said the soft-spoken Abu Sway in between sips of his coffee. "But I'm sure that there will be those who are intimidated. And that's really the whole purpose of these accusations."

While Abu Sway did well to not speak ill of Pipes, the late professor Edward Said had his own critique. Said, who taught at Columbia University and was a respected

Middle East aficionado, wrote in the Nation that Pipes and people like him are trying to "make sure that the '[Islamic] threat' is kept before our eyes ... while assuring themselves profitable consultancies, frequent TV appearances and book contracts."

Pipes also has links with Steven Emerson, a writer who, according to mediamonitors.net, "has recently been forced to retract accusations he made last year about a former journalism lecturer at California State University."

FAU checked and confirmed with the US State Department and the Fulbright Program that Pipes' accusations were false, prompting him to write a second column, this time in the New York Sun. Pipes wrote that FAU and the Fulbright Program are "promoting militant Islamic indoctrination by a man connected to terrorism."

Abu Sway has spent his career preaching peace. In one of his essays he wrote, "Muslims should never translate their pain into a violation of Islamic Law, which could result in inflicting pain and injustice on others." In another essay he wrote of Islam, "No degree of pain or suffering permits suicide, not even for political reasons."

While Abu Sway can understand why there are prejudices against Muslims and accusations against him, does that make them right?

"Something emerged out of that sad event [9/11]; we talk about targeting Muslims in a way that is not healthy," he told me. "This [universities] is where you exchange ideas ... where intellectuals challenge each other ... you cannot basically force one idea on everybody."

Indeed that is what a university is for. Professors get paid fairly little for what they do and as compensation they have research time and other professors to bounce ideas off of. The university, from a professor's perspective, is a free-flowing marketplace of ideas.

Daniel Pipes allegation is trying to disrupt this system. He's trying to silence the intellectual community at the university level.

"It's dictatorial, it's despotic, it's definitely not healthy," said Abu Sway.

That is exactly the end result when a society decides to persecute those who think for a living.

http://216.239.51.104/search?q=cache:0P5HeyUbWE4J:universitypress.collegepublisher.com/news/2004/02/26/Opinions/Fulbrights.Terrorist.Tie.Or.Pipes.Defaming.Lie-618342.shtml+%22mustafa+abu+sway%22+%22restrepo%22&hl=en&lr=lang_de|lang_en&ie=UTF-8

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