Arab News

US Islamists are the enemy within

- DALIA AL-AQIDI

Several candidates in various US states have already begun their campaigns for the House of Representa­tives and the Senate in next year’s midterm elections. Islamist “progressiv­e” politician­s such as Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, who adopted and spread the narrative of American “Islamophob­ia and racism,” seem to inspire others to use the victim card to win votes. And why not? It worked for them.

Rana Abdelhamid, a young Egyptian American woman who is running to unseat Carolyn Maloney, a fellow Democrat, in New York’s 12th congressio­nal district, portrays herself in her campaign video as another victim of hatred in the US. “I was 16 years old when a man grabbed my hijab in a broad daylight and tried to rip it from my head. I felt powerless, abused, and scared,” she says.

In Virginia, another Islamist “progressiv­e” is trying to win another term as a state delegate. Ibraheem Samirah also sees himself as a victim. He says in his election video: “My father traveled to Jordan to care for his ill mother and was denied re-entry to the US by the Bush Administra­tion. My family uprooted and relocated to stay together and fight for my father’s reinstatem­ent.” Samirah did not tell his constituen­ts who his father and role model was, and why he was not allowed to return to the US in 2003. Sabri Samirah was a spokesman for the Islamic Action Front party and in 2011 he was introduced by Al Jazeera TV as a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhoo­d in Jordan. He was also the chairman of the Islamic Associatio­n for Palestine, which provided both propaganda and fundraisin­g services to Hamas, according to US court records.

Do all Muslim immigrants hate the US? Absolutely not.

Are all Muslim Americans radicals? Absolutely not.

Are secular Muslims uninterest­ed in US politics? Absolutely not.

Most Americans are not aware of the huge difference between the terms “Muslim” and “Islamist,” so they place all Muslim immigrants in the same category as Omar and Tlaib, which makes it hard for a non-Islamist to pursue a political career.

While secular Muslims have no proper representa­tion in the US, Islamist politician­s are backed by a few large Muslim organizati­ons such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which is known for its support of Muslim Democrat and “progressiv­e” politician­s.

CAIR’s co-founder and executive director

Nihad Awad, who is a big fan of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the “godfather” of the Muslim Brotherhoo­d, does not hide his feelings. He publicly praises the Turkish president for his leadership and support for Islamist movements around the world. Clearly Awad has chosen to ignore the human rights violations committed by the Turkish regime, the thousands of innocent people thrown in Erdogan’s prisons, and the lack of freedoms in the country that he frequented. American secular Muslims need to gather themselves under a national umbrella to be more effective and to raise awareness of the danger of the Muslim Brotherhoo­d and other radical groups that are trying to infiltrate the US political arena to serve foreign agendas against the interests of America, its people, and its allies.

It is vital for the American voter to comprehend the danger of the Islamists and their agenda, and understand that Islamists are using division and the demand for racial justice to win their votes.

Islamists in America need to be canceled, abolished, and defunded.

 ?? Twitter: @DaliaAlAqi­di ?? Dalia Al-Aqidi is a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy.
Twitter: @DaliaAlAqi­di Dalia Al-Aqidi is a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy.

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