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Militant Islam Monitor > Weblog > Congressman Joe Sestak's name on CAIR banquet poster belies fundraiser announcement -Group removes staffer info from website

Congressman Joe Sestak's name on CAIR banquet poster belies fundraiser announcement -Group removes staffer info from website

March 7, 2007

MIM: Congressman Joe Sestak's story that 'he informed CAIR he wouldn't have any part of that [fundraising]' while acknowledging yesterday that he still plans to speak at their event explains why only his name is now on their event poster. The other three speakers were listed on a seperate 'fundraiser' announcement. CAIR also removed information about staffer Adeeba Al Zaman's new position as Congressional staffer for Sestak from their website. It appears that Sestak attempted a crude deception by agreeing to have his name on the 'banquet' poster on the condition that it wasnt used on the fundraising announcement .

"Sestak said when he found out the event was a fundraiser for the group, he informed CAIR he wouldn't have any part of that. He said he would honor his commitment to speak to his constituents..."

CAIR posted their "Fundraiser Event" notice with the names of the three speakers who had been removed from the banquet poster minus that of Sestaks forty eight hours ago. A link from the fundraiser announcement to the CAIR Philly 'for more information' about the event goes directly to the 'banquet' poster with Sestak's name.Obviously one of the biggest fundraising draws will be the presence of Sestak -so his lame pretence that 'he has told CAIR he "wouldnt have any part of [the fundraiser] is the equivalent of a fertility clinic doctor telling a female patient she is almost pregnant.It also reveals that Sestak does not hold the intelligence of his constituents or the American public in high regard.

MIM: This poster on the CAIR Philly website originally had four names besides Sestak's. They were removed when media inquiries were made to his Philadelphia office protesting his appearence at the CAIR fundraiser. Forty eight hours ago a notice on a Muslims events website listed the fundraiser with the names which had been removed from the original poster without Sestak's. Conclusion: Sestak isnt listed on the fundraiser announcement so he can claim that he is only speaking at the banquet!

According to the Delco Times Sestak isnt bothered by CAIR's terrorism tie's and made a lame excuse that since the group hadnt been closed down by the goverment it was alright. This answer is both disceptive and cynical since it is well known that prosecutions for terrorism are extremely difficult.

The case of CAIR's poster boy professor Sami Al Arian is one example. Counterterrorism expert Steven Emerson exposed his terrorism ties in 1993 as did Michael Fechter of the Tampa Tribune. It took a decade to arrest Al Arian and try him for his leadership role in Palestinian Islamic Jihad and funding of terrorists attacks which killed 100 people. He is presently in prison awaiting deportation and CAIR is campaigning for his release. His son, Abdullah Al Arian was a staffer in then Congressman Bonior's office.)

Sestak said, as far as he was concerned, he only accepted CAIR's invite because he'd been told 250 of his constituents would be there. He didn't sound too concerned about CAIR's alleged ties to terrorist entities.

"My take on this is I believe our government would close it down immediately" if such strong ties really did exist, he said.

"Having watched our government close down the Holy Land Foundation, I believe it would have closed CAIR if they had the evidence..."

"...Sestak said when he found out the event was a fundraiser for the group, he informed CAIR he wouldn't have any part of that. He said he would honor his commitment to speak to his constituents. After all, he's spoken to Irish, Polish, Chinese and Jewish groups. Muslim people are part of his constituency, too.

He said he intends to speak frankly to them. To say that every terrorist act needs to be condemned, not just generally, as CAIR likes to do, but specifically, which CAIR doesn't like to do.

"I will make it very clear that condemnation should be for specific acts, including Hezbollah and Hamas," he said. "I will be very up front about that and that I am a firm supporter of Israel in the Middle East. I will be very candid with CAIR in a discussion about that."

(Or did he mean, "candid with care" in a discussion about that?)

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18048016&BRD=1675&PAG=461&dept_id=18168&rfi=6

MIM: Congressman Joe Sestak is wrong about CAIR not being connected to the Holyland Foundation. According to Steven Emerson's new book "Jihad Incorporated" A Guide to Militant Islam in the U.S. CAIR both received money from and solicited donations for the HLF.

"Khalif Ramadan who served as Kindhearts director of domestic programs, was a training and evaluations consultant for the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). Their are a number of significant connections between CAIR and HLF -the Islamic Assocation for Palestine,the United Association for Studies and Research, the Muslim Arab Youth Association and the Safa group. For example, less then two months after CAIR filed it's article of incorporation, the organisation received a $5,000 wire transfer from HLF.Moreover CAIR assisted in raising funds for HLFduring the 1990's until the government shutdown of HLF. Ghassan Elashi, a founding board member of CAIR Texas, was also a chairman and treasurer of HLF. " (pg 343)

What: Fundraiser Event, "First CAIR Philly Banquet"

When: Saturday, April 07, 2007 (in 31 days) at 5:30:00 PM

Metroplex: Philadelphia, PA Where: CAIR-Pensylvania 1218 Chestnut Street; Suite 510 Philadelphia 19107 Directions

Who: Edward Peck, Br. Rafael Narbaez, Dr. Pervez Ahmed

Details: Sponsored by CAIR-PA www.cairphilly.org

http://muslim-calendar.com/type.asp?event_type=Fundraiser

MIM: The lastest altered posters on the CAIR Philly website.The poster with Joe Sestak's name now appears next to a poster with the 3 speakers names with the word fundraiser. Only problem is that CAIR's other posters for the "American Muslims Connecting and Sharing" events are all listed as "banquet/fundraiser".

http://www.cairphilly.org/

Note that the text for this poster reads " Annual Fundraising Banquet"http://www.cair-california.org/banquet/flyer-sc.jpg

MIM: Below the posting about Adeeba Al -Zaman on the CAIR Philly site which was changed after the articles came out about her being a Congressional staffer in Congressman Joe Sestak's office.

The posting below had been placed about a month previously and is still accessible in cache.

As of this writing no word on whether Al-Zaman is still a staffer but this obvious attempt to hide the information shows that bragging about the legal Islamist victory of having one of their staffers go from CAIR to Congress backfired.

Adeeba Al-Zaman

Adeeba Al-Zaman

Adeeba Al-Zaman was born in Houston, TX. She graduated in December 2004 from Rosemont College with a degree in political science. From April 2005 until September 2006, Adeeba was CAIR-PA's first full-time employee, Director of Communications. She was hired to develop the organization from the ground-up. Among other things, Adeeba presented CAIR-PA's 10-part course, "Understanding Islam and Muslims through History and Jurisprudence" at the Paoli Presbyterian Church. Adeeba is currently a Congressional staffer for Congressman Joe Sestak of PA District 7. She remains actively involved in various community and interfaith activities in the Philadelphia area.

MIM: For original web photos of both pages in their entirety go to:

http://www.americansagainsthate.org/cw/

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