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Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Radical Islamist Views Catching Up With Obama

Radical Islamist Views Catching Up With Obama

October 29, 2008

Radical Islamist Views Catching Up With Obama

By BEILA RABINOWITZ and WILLIAM MAYER

October 29, 2008 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - The controversy over the L.A. Times' refusal to release a video of a farewell dinner for Professor Rashid Khalidi, a spokesman for the PLO [when it was officially listed as a terrorist organization] which was attended by Senator Barack Obama [for whom he held a fundraiser] is now the subject of frenetic speculation.

Regarding the controversy, this publication observed today, "One can only conclude that the Times has fraudulently represented this matter and that it has also mischaracterized the nature of the events covered in the initial story of the Khalidi farewell party. The Times has engaged in a cover-up, has repeatedly lied about it and is now reaping the rewards of its transparent mendacity." [source, http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=latimesid=10.29.08%2Ehtm]

In contrast to the LA Times video story, scant attention has been paid to Obama's connection to radical Islamist Ali Abunimah and pro-Palestinian apologist Edward Said who both were present at the Khalidi event.

Below a video statement by Abunimah detailing Obama's support of the Palestinians and his opposition to, "the Israeli occupation."



Transcript of Ali Abunimah's remarks from the above video:

"I knew Barack Obama for many years as my State Senator when he used to attend events in the Palestinian community in Chicago all the time. I remember personally introducing him on stage in 1999 when we had a major community fundraiser for the community center in the Dahaisha refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. And that's just one example of how Barack Obama used to be very comfortable speaking up for and being associated with Palestinian rights and opposing the Israeli occupation."

Dahaisha is a long-time Hamas and Al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade stronghold and identified in a 2002 Israeli briefing as a point of origin for suicide bombers.

"In the Bethlehem area we are also working in the Dahaisha refugee camp. Specifically from Dahaisha in the last few weeks, three suicide bombers originated." [source, Briefing by Amb Dore Gold- Former Ambassador to UN- and Col Miri Eisen- IDF Intelligence Corps - 2-Apr-2002, http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Speeches+by+Israeli+leaders/2002/Briefing+by+Amb+Dore+Gold-+Former+Ambassador+to+UN.htm?DisplayMode=print]

The radical Palestinian movement freely admits its ties to Dahaisha as no lesser authority than the LA Times states:

"Al Aqsa also claimed responsibility when a resident of the Dahaisha refugee camp outside Bethlehem, Mohammed Daraghma, waded into a crowd of women and children in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Jerusalem and detonated a powerful bomb strapped to his body. He and 10 Israelis, including two infants and other children, were killed." [source, "Martyrs" Leading War on Israel, By Tracy Wilkinson, March 08, 2002, Los Angeles Times, http://articles.latimes.com/2002/mar/08/news/mn-31758]

In 1998 Obama and his wife attended a farewell banquet for Khalidi [the video of which the LA Times is suppressing] at which Edward Said was the keynote speaker. Khalidi, the ex-PLO member, now occupies the Edward Said chair of Arab Studies at Columbia University.


In the above pictures taken at the banquet, Barack Obama and his wife Michelle are seated next to Edward Said and his wife. Edward Said is known for his unapologetic anti-Jewish and anti-Israel views. On a visit to the Israeli-Lebanese border, Said was even photographed throwing rocks at Israeli Defense Force [IDF] soldiers.


Said condemns "the U.S. for what he called the "Israelization" of its policy, he characterized the post-9/11 American war on terror not as a just cause, but as unwarranted aggression against something unilaterally labeled as terrorism by Bush and his advisors." [source, http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=634]

According to an Israel National News article from March, 2008:

"Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama is currently hiding his anti-Israel views in order to get elected, according to a well-known anti-Israel activist. The activist, Ali Abunimah, claimed to know Obama well and to have met him on numerous occasions at pro-Palestinian events in Chicago.

In an item he penned for his anti-Israeli website Electronic Intifada, Abunimah wrote:

"The last time I spoke to Obama was in the winter of 2004 at a gathering in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. He was in the midst of a primary campaign to secure the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate seat he now occupies. But at that time polls showed him trailing. As he came in from the cold and took off his coat, I went up to greet him. He responded warmly, and volunteered, "Hey, I'm sorry I haven't said more about Palestine right now, but we are in a tough primary race. I'm hoping when things calm down I can be more up front." He referred to my activism, including columns I was contributing to the The Chicago Tribune critical of Israeli and US policy, "Keep up the good work!" [source, Electronic Intifada, http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6619.shtml]

Discover the networks describes Ali Abunimah as, "a Palestinian American who serves as the Board of Directors Member for the Chicago-based Arab American Action Network. He is also a co-founder of the Electronic Intifada website, which was created by activists affiliated with the International Solidarity Movement. His personal website, abunimah.org, acts as a clearinghouse for his writings, which are fiercely hostile toward Israel and the United States..." [source, http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=1426]

The president of of the Arab American Action Network at the time was Mona Khalidi, wife of Rashid Khalidi.

World Net Daily reports, "In 2001, the Woods Fund, a Chicago-based nonprofit that describes itself as a group helping the disadvantaged, provided a $40,000 grant to the Arab American Action Network, or AAAN, for which Khalidi's wife, Mona, serves as president. The Fund provided a second grant to the AAAN for $35,000 in 2002. Obama was a director of the Woods Fund board from 1999 to Dec. 11, 2002, according to the Fund's website. According to tax filings, Obama received compensation of $6,000 per year for his service in 1999 and 2000. Obama served on the Wood's Fund board alongside William C. Ayers, a member of the Weathermen terrorist group which sought to overthrow of the U.S. government and took responsibility for bombing the U.S. Capitol in 1971." [source, http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?pageId=57231

As Dr. Daniel Pipes observed in a recent article, Obama Would Fail Security Clearance, "Islamic aggression represents America's strategic enemy; Obama's many insalubrious connections raise grave doubts about his fitness to serve as America's commander-in-chief."

The connection of Barack Obama to Edward Said and Ali Abunimah are numerous and damning, they serve as further proof of his close ties to enemies of the West and his now failing attempts to hide them. http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=obamasaidid=10.29.08%2Ehtm

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