Boston Islamists target Egyptian scholar [pg. 7]

By MATT RAND
The Islamic Society of Boston's (ISB) defamation suit against local media outlets, a Jewish advocacy group called The David Project, and terrorism expert Steve Emerson after they linked the ISB leadership to Hamas, Hizbullah and al-Qaida, was recently expanded to include exiled Egyptian scholar Dr. Ahmed Mansour. Mansour said that Arabic-language newsletters he picked up at the Society mosque in Cambridge were "filled with hatred against America. In this time of war, the American mosques here should defend America in the name of Islam." Mansour is part of the group Citizens for Peace and Tolerance which has protested the Islamic Society of Boston's links to terrorists. At the same time, however, the ISB withdrew its claim that reports linking its leadership to terrorist groups made contributions dry up. The ISB says the defendants conspired to prevent it from building a mosque across the river in Boston and that the ISB had been painted unfairly with: "...broad, unexamined, false, and defamatory brush strokes." Perhaps trying to placate its critics, the ISB recently sent a letter to the defendants' attorneys and Boston Jewish groups claiming the ISB is "...far more interested in peace and harmony than in winning a lawsuit." Jeffery Robbins, the attorney representing Dr. Mansour, Citizens for Peace and Tolerance and The David Project, wasn't buying that claim. "On the one hand they [the ISB] say they seek peace and harmony, on the other hand they sue for raising important questions about the founding and management of the ISB," he said. He suggested that the ISB was trying to chill speech that they did not like. Robbins added that the ISB was sending a message that "..no matter how legitimate questions are, no matter how compelling, you might want to think once, twice, three times before [asking them.]" The Islamic Society of Boston founder and first president Abdurahman Alamoudi has been arrested by the US federal government for taking money from Libya for "the express purpose of assassinating the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia." A tape aired on Fox 25 purportedly shows Alamoudi publically supporting Hizbullah and Hamas at a rally in Washington: "We are all supporters of Hamas, Allah Akbar," Alamoudi is seen telling the audience. "...I am also a supporter of Hizbullah. Anybody support Hizbullah here?" The Islamic Society has since distanced itself from Alamoudi. The same Fox 25 report alleges that radical Sheikh Yusef Quaradawi is listed on the ISB's past tax returns as a member of the its board of directors. Quardawi is banned from entering the US and Egypt. The ISB allegedly touted Quaradawi's support for its Boston mosque project in its Arabic-language brochure but made no mention of him in English-language brochures. The ISB lawsuit however rejected ISB connections to Quaradawi, claiming that: "Sheikh Quaradawi did not ever... have any active, significant or official role or relationship with the ISB."