This past Saturday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson delivered what amounted to an impassioned pep talk to the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) at the group’s annual conference in Chicago.
Johnson, The Washington Post notes, “was the first sitting Cabinet secretary and the highest-ranking U.S. official to address an ISNA conference,” adding:
He told the crowd of hundreds of Muslim religious and political leaders, activists and professionals that he hoped his appearance at the conference serves as a precedent for future appearances by officials of his rank. And he compared the Muslim American struggle for recognition, respect and equal rights to that of other American religious, racial and ethnic communities.
“Do not despair,” he is quoted as saying at one point. “If you know American history, take comfort in learning from it.”
Will this presidential election be the most important in American history?
That’s sage advice. The secretary would do well to follow it. The history of the group he was addressing has also been well documented. From the Investigative Project on Terrorism:
ISNA was founded in 1981 by American-based members of the Muslim Brotherhood. In its early years, ISNA’s leadership was dominated by people tied to the Brotherhood.
While the Obama administration has refused to add the Muslim Brotherhood to the FBI’s list of known Foreign Terrorist Organizations, the group Hamas does appear on the list. And where did Hamas come from? A little more history is in order via the Investigative Project:
The Muslim Brotherhood created the Hamas terrorist group in 1987 to wage a violent jihad against Israel. Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, had been a Brotherhood leader in Gaza for years prior to becoming Hamas’ spiritual founder. [Emphasis added]
But Jeh Jones doesn’t have to look far to find Islamic terrorists posing as peaceful and peace-loving Americans. As I wrote last December, the inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security released a bombshell report revealing that 72 individuals on the terrorist watch list were actually employees of Johnson’s department!
Even as Jeh Johnson is urging Muslims to learn American history, another Muslim group in upstate New York is looking to rewrite it:
Two words included on a memorial to victims of the 9-11 terror attacks are now stirring a major debate in New York.
A group is taking issue with the words “Islamic terrorists” as they appear on the monument in Owego.
The Islamic Organization of the Southern Tier worries the wording could encourage hatred towards Muslims living in the city, painting all Muslims with the same brush, they say.
