September 20, 2019

USA: 2,246 Fetal Remains Were Found In The Home Of An Abortionist That Democratic Presidential Candidate Pete Buttigieg Championed And Supported.


CBS Chicago published on Sep 13, 2019: More than 2,200 medically preserved fetal remains were found by a family after the death of a well known abortion doctor last week, the Will County Sheriff's Office confirmed Friday night.
CBS WBST22
written by Staff
Friday September 13, 2019

Officials say 2,246 fetal remains were found in the home of a doctor who used to perform abortions in South Bend until his license was suspended in 2015.

Dr. Ulrich Klopfer, who has a home in Will County, Illinois, passed away on September 3.

Klopfer used to practice out of Women's Pavilion in South Bend. You may remember the state of Indiana suspended Klopfer's medical license in 2015 for failing to exercise reasonable care and violating several notice and documentation requirements. He was accused of failing to report an abortion performed on a 13-year-old.

Last week his family was looking through his home in Will County following his death.

There they found the fetal remains.

The family requested proper removal of the remains, and that's when investigators found over 2,000 medically preserved fetuses at the property.

There is no evidence of medical procedures being performed at the location,

The investigation is ongoing and the family is cooperating.
Chicago Tribune
written by Angie Leventis Lourgos
August 6, 2019

A young woman exited the back door of the clinic clutching a fistful of crumpled tissues in one hand and some paperwork in the other as she made her way to the parking lot.

A trio of volunteers in bright pink vests labeled Pro-Choice Clinic Escort walked beside her until the patient reached her SUV. As she drove off the property, the escorts each deployed a rainbow-hued umbrella, hoisting them over their shoulders to form a colorful barrier between the vehicle and several protesters out front. Some were praying, others bore signs declaring “Abortion takes a human life” and “It’s a child, not a choice.”

With reproductive rights increasingly under fire across the country, the clinic opened June 27 in a particularly curious state of limbo: A federal judge in May granted a preliminary injunction allowing Whole Woman’s Health of South Bend to perform medication abortions even as the clinic remains unlicensed by the Indiana State Department of Health, pending the outcome of a lawsuit filed by the clinic’s owner. The state has appealed the temporary opening to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.

The small red-brick, pitched-roof clinic about 90 miles east of downtown Chicago has become the epicenter of a larger war over reproductive rights nationwide as more conservative states enact restrictions poised to challenge Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that established the right to terminate a pregnancy nationwide.

The state health department had denied the clinic’s 2017 application for a license over allegations it failed to meet the requirement of “reputable and responsible character,” as well as for not releasing information related to additional clinics.

Whole Woman’s Health of South Bend has called the state’s objections “politically motivated” and “medically unnecessary." It has waged a roughly two-year fight to bring abortion access to this city of about 102,000 in the shadow of the iconic Golden Dome at the University of Notre Dame.

The clinic’s tenuous survival has been championed by South Bend mayor and Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, whose national campaign includes a pro-reproductive rights platform.

“The mayor is deeply concerned by what he views as a new and extreme assault on Roe v. Wade in legislatures across the country,” said national press secretary Chris Meagher. “He believes that the truly radical idea in this debate and around abortion care is one of banning abortion outright. The South Bend clinic would be the only one for a radius of several counties. It is a restriction on a woman’s right if she is low-income, or doesn’t have a vehicle, and she has to visit multiple times, but the clinic is dozens of miles away.”

Last year, Buttigieg ignited a local firestorm when he vetoed a zoning request by the Women’s Care Center, an anti-abortion pregnancy center that attempted to open next door to Whole Woman’s Health of South Bend. In a letter to other city leaders, he argued that the neighborhood wouldn’t benefit from adjacent organizations with “deep and opposite commitments on the most divisive social issue of our time.”

Clinic officials applauded the mayor’s decision, thanking him in a written statement “for standing up for what is right and putting women and families of South Bend first.”

Yet the veto was denounced by many abortion opponents as stymieing a group that helps local women and children in need.

“It’s really disappointing to see him or any presidential candidate devalue the life of the unborn,” said Jackie Appleman, executive director of St. Joseph County Right to Life.

The pregnancy center — a nonprofit with the mission of giving women who face unplanned pregnancies the option to “choose life” — ultimately found a different site that didn’t require zoning changes.

It opened July 20, on the property of a former pet boarding business whose old owner learned of the charity’s plight.

The new location is just across the street from the abortion clinic, the two facilities with clashing ideologies in sight of one another.

‘I felt so shamed’
One clinic escort wiped beads of sweat from her brow and retreated to the shade of a large tree, awaiting the arrival of another patient. There was a weather advisory in effect that afternoon, with the heat index reaching more than 100 degrees.

Several anti-abortion demonstrators lingered just past a makeshift fence — a thin rope attached to a few wooden stakes separating the medical facility’s property from the public right of way. Clinic staffers say protesters are present every day, regardless of the weather.

“No one should have to go through this,” said 26-year-old Sarah Knowlton, a clinic escort who trains other volunteers. “We shield the patients. A lot of patients don’t understand, they think they’re just going to a doctor’s appointment. I didn’t understand when I was a patient.”

She recounted her own medication abortion some five years ago at a now-defunct clinic a few miles away. Abortion wasn’t a concept she ever thought of while growing up in a small Indiana town far from South Bend. As a 20-year-old college student still figuring out her life, Knowlton said she was grateful for a clinic close by.

The day of her appointment, mounds of snow filled the clinic parking lot after a winter storm, so she had to park on the street. She was shocked at the crowd of protesters that formed outside despite the icy roads and freezing temperatures.

The demonstrators kept calling her “mom,” she recalled, which enraged her. There were no escorts to walk by her side.

“It was the worst part of my abortion experience, having to walk through them,” she said. “I felt so shamed. They don’t know who I am, they don’t know me. Who are they? I thought Jesus said he who is without sin cast the first stone.”

More than 50 volunteers have been trained as escorts at Whole Woman’s Health and help in various ways, clinic staff say. When one protester began preaching with a megaphone, they raised money to buy a few sound machines to drown out the noise.

The scene was much quieter this afternoon. One woman out front, Janet Hernandez, alternated between prayer and attempting to pass out literature on alternatives to abortion.

“We’re not here to beat them up, we’re here to let them know they have a choice — but to help them make the right choice, the best choice,” said Hernandez, 42, her cheeks reddened from the severe heat. “I know women who have had abortions who still think about their abortion babies. This is not your only choice.”

Without a license
Inside, the clinic walls are a soft shade of purple laced with various inspirational quotes.

“Liberation must come from within,” by Chicago-born writer Sandra Cisneros, is etched above the front desk.

In the clinic waiting room, some women were alone, some couples embraced or held hands. Occasional soft sobs permeated from the clinic’s counseling room.

Ten clients came to Whole Woman’s Health that weekday, most for state-mandated counseling prior to their medication abortion. The clinic offers only nonsurgical abortions, up to 10 weeks of gestation.

Indiana requires an 18-hour waiting period before terminating a pregnancy, so the patients would be returning on another day to take the first pill, which stops the fetus from growing; the second pill is taken at home 24 to 48 hours later, expelling the pregnancy.

Without a state license, the clinic has to send patients to an outside lab for any bloodwork or other testing, which also can delay the time-sensitive procedure, said Brenda Morgan, acting clinic manager. Whole Woman’s Health Alliance, a Texas-based nonprofit, also operates two other clinics in different states.

In Indiana, the medical provider first must go through an abortion informed consent brochure from the state health department, which includes color pictures of the embryo or fetus at the patient’s particular point in gestation as well as information about the likelihood of the fetus’s survival outside the womb.

“Indiana statute states: Human physical life begins when a human ovum is fertilized by a human sperm,” the brochure says.

Morgan said the staff provides its own patient counseling, separate from the state-mandated consent.

“You can come in here and know this is not the right time for me to have a baby, I’m in school, I can’t afford another baby," she said. "But we want to make sure this is not just the head talking, we want to make sure it’s the heart talking too. And that you know that you’re going to be OK when you walk out of here and you’re not pregnant.”

Last year, 8,037 women terminated a pregnancy in Indiana, an increase over 7,778 in 2017, according to state health department statistics released in June. In 2018, 142 were residents of St. Joseph County, which includes South Bend.

In granting the injunction that allowed the clinic to open, U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker noted the burdens of legal restrictions and travel, saying “the obstacles to obtaining abortions in northern Indiana are such that women find it easier to travel out of state to Chicago, bypassing nearby Merrillville, to obtain abortions there.”

Whole Woman’s Health of South Bend has served roughly three dozen patients so far in its first month, an average of about 10 each week, Morgan said.

“We definitely realize the need is here in South Bend,” she said. “The need for us to be here.”

State officials, however, called it “deeply troubling” to have a medical clinic — especially an abortion clinic — open without a state license.

“Indiana will stand strong to protect women and unborn children by ensuring that its duly-enacted abortion regulations are properly enforced and defended," said a spokesman for Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill .

‘Opportunity to choose life’

It is just 60 steps from the entrance of the abortion clinic to the front of the pregnancy center, visible across high-traffic Lincoln Way.

That follows a larger pattern that plays out on the streets of cities and suburbs across the country: After a new abortion clinic opens, an anti-abortion pregnancy center will often settle nearby or next door, a reproductive rights chess match of sorts.

After Whole Woman’s Health established an abortion clinic in downstate Peoria a few years ago, another Women’s Care Center opened in an adjacent building. The Peoria abortion clinic, however, closed in June.

Women’s Care Center — which now has 32 centers in 11 states, including one in west suburban La Grange — was founded in 1984 in South Bend by a Notre Dame professor.

“Our locations are very important to us,” said Vice President Jenny Hunsberger. “So we have opened up next to, across the street, close to abortion clinics. … Often if we are next door to an abortion clinic, women come to us — not because they are coerced, not because they’re tricked, not because they don’t know — rather because they’re unsure or they want a second opinion.”

At the nonprofit’s headquarters center on Notre Dame Avenue in South Bend, a man in the lobby bounces a baby girl on his knee while reading a magazine. The cream-colored walls and plush couches are designed to feel warm and inviting, like the living room of a home. A dresser by the entrance offers baby clothing of all sizes for moms and dads to take on the way out.

Hunsberger estimates the mothers of roughly half of all babies born in the surrounding county annually are served by Women’s Care Center facilities; in the city of South Bend, it’s about two-thirds, she said, comparing state health department data to the organization’s records. There are three Women’s Care Centers in South Bend.

The average client will visit eight times a year, Hunsberger said, with centers offering parenting classes, book giveaways and a boutique with free strollers, cribs and car seats.

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 3:33 AM 0 comments

USA: Prominent Democratic Donor Ed Buck Arrested After Multiple Men Overdosed In His Home, Accused Of Running A Drug Den In West Hollywood.


CBS Los Angeles published Sept 17, 2019: Democratic Party political donor Ed Buck was charged Tuesday with allegedly running a drug den out of his West Hollywood apartment and providing methamphetamine to a 37-year-old man who suffered an overdose last week, the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office said.

CBS This Morning published on Sept 18, 2019: A prominent Democratic donor is accused of running a drug den out of his Southern California home. Ed Buck is being held on $4 million bail after his arrest overnight. Two men have died in his West Hollywood home from apparent overdoses since 2017. A third man survived an overdose last week. Nikki Battiste reports.
CBS2 News, Los Angeles local
written by Staff
Tuesday September 17, 2019

WEST HOLLYWOOD (CBSLA) — Prominent Democratic donor and LGBTQ+ political activist Ed Buck was charged Tuesday with running a drug den out of his West Hollywood apartment and providing methamphetamine to a 37-year-old man who suffered an overdose last week, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office said.

Buck, 65, was charged with one felony count each of battery causing serious injury, administering methamphetamine and maintaining a drug house.

According to the DA’s office, Buck was accused with injecting the victim with methamphetamine at the defendant’s apartment in the 1200 block of Laurel Avenue in West Hollywood. The man survived.

The charges come after two other men died of drug overdoses at Buck’s residence dating back to 2017, prompting community outrage and calls for his arrest.

“I remain deeply concerned for the safety of people whose life circumstances may make them more vulnerable to criminal predators,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said in a statement. “With this new evidence, I authorized the filing of criminal charges against Ed Buck.”

Prosecutors recommended bail set at $4 million in a motion that called Buck a “violent, dangerous sexual predator,” who “mainly preys on men made vulnerable by addiction and homelessness.”

The motion went on to say that Buck used the bait of “narcotics, money, and shelter” to lure victims to his home where, “in a position of power, Buck manipulates his victims into participating in his sexual fetishes.”

According to the motion, Buck’s actions “led to the death of two men in Buck’s apartment, Gemmel Moore and Timothy Dean.”

Moore died in Buck’s home in July of 2017. The coroner’s office said drug paraphernalia was found at the scene and ruled the death an accidental methamphetamine overdose.

Then, on Jan. 7, 2019, a second man, 55-year-old Timothy Dean of West Hollywood, was also found dead at Buck’s home. His death was also ruled an accidental meth overdose.

“The defendant’s predatory acts and conscious disregard for human life must be stopped,” the motion said.

He is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday. Buck’s attorney said he would fight the charges against his client “vigorously.”

An attorney who said he talked with family members of Moore and Dean said the family members were relieved and grateful that Buck was behind bars.

“It’s unfortunate that it’s taken a third overdose for the (Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department) to finally act,” Hussain Turk, the attorney for Moore’s family said. “We believe that the third overdose could have been avoided. We believe that the death of Timothy Dean could have also been avoided had they taken the death of Gemmel Moore seriously.”

If convicted as charged, Buck would face a possible maximum sentence of five years and eight months in state prison.

Buck remained in jail Tuesday night, and the case is still under investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Fox News published Sept 18, 2019: Dem donor Ed Buck arrested, charged with running drug den. Prosecutors say Ed Buck injected a 37-year-old man with meth and was operating a drug den; Jonathan Hunt reports from Los Angeles.
Fox News
written by Edmund DeMarche
Tuesday September 17, 2019

LOS ANGELES – Ed Buck, a prominent Democratic Party donor, was arrested Tuesday and charged with operating a drug house after a third man reportedly suffered an overdose inside his West Hollywood home last week and survived.

Buck has faced public scrutiny after two black men died from overdoses 18 months apart inside his home. He was not charged in those cases.

Buck is due in court Wednesday to respond to three counts of battery and injecting the alleged third victim with methamphetamine on Sept. 11, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Prosecutors wrote in court papers obtained by the Times that Buck used his position of power to manipulate his victims into participating in his sexual fetishes.

“These fetishes include supplying and personally administering dangerously large doses of narcotics to his victims,” the prosecutors wrote, according to the Times.

Seymour Amster, Buck’s attorney, told Fox News that he would not comment on the arrest and said he is dealing with the issue. Amster has in the past defended his client and insisted that he did nothing wrong.

In July 2017, a young black man, Gemmel Moore, was found dead of a drug overdose in Buck’s apartment.

An autopsy report said Moore, 26, died of a methamphetamine overdose. He was found naked on a mattress in the living room, which was littered with drug paraphernalia.

Eighteen months later, 55-year-old Timothy Dean also suffered a methamphetamine overdose. Prosecutors didn’t file criminal charges, citing insufficient evidence. Activists, however, called for his arrest.

In the most recent incident, Buck allegedly brought the man to his home earlier this month and injected him with methamphetamine. About a week later, the man returned to Buck's home and was injected again and suffered an overdose, according to court documents obtained by KTLA.

Buck is accused of thwarting the man's attempt to get help. The man fled the apartment and reportedly called for help from a nearby gas station. He survived but was treated at a hospital.

Prosecutors are reportedly seeking bail of $4 million. KABC-TV of Los Angeles reported that he faces up to five years and eight months in state prison if convicted.

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 1:11 AM 0 comments

September 19, 2019

USA: An Iraqi Muslim Immigrant U.S. Citizen Who Worked As A Mechanic For American Airlines Was Charged With Sabotaging A Plane, Claimed It Was Part Of Labor Dispute. Terrorist Ties Revealed.

The Daily Caller
written by Luke Rosiak, Investigative Reporter
Thursday September 19, 2019

A former American Airlines mechanic who was arrested days before Sept. 11 for allegedly sabotaging an airplane — who at the time said the act was part of a labor dispute and because he wanted overtime — has terrorist ties and wanted Allah to harm non-Muslims, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani, who is originally from Iraq but gained U.S. citizenship, had Islamic State videos on his phone, said Allah wanted to hurt non-Muslims, and recently returned from a trip to Iraq, prosecutors said. The federal prosecutors presented the evidence at a bail hearing in Miami.

Alani allegedly sabotaged a Boeing 737 carrying 150 passengers in July. A sensor detected the problem just before takeoff, and Alani was then paid overtime to fix the problem. But video also showed him inserting styrofoam into sensitive plane components to cause the problem, an FBI affidavit stated. American Airlines suspended Alani, and subsequently fired him.

“Out of my evil side, I wanted to do something,” Alani admitted, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Medetis, The Associated Press reported.

He could face 20 years in prison for willfully disabling an aircraft, but has not been charged with terrorism.

His attorney, public defender Christian Dunham, asked for $200,000 bail, which he said would be secured by multiple relatives who are in the U.S. as well as former American Airlines co-workers, the AP reported.

The Federal Aviation Administration revoked his aircraft mechanic certificate, Dunham said.

Judge Chris McAliley rejected bail, calling Alani’s actions “unconscionable.”

“You may be very sympathetic to terrorists,” she said.

American Airlines has been engaged in a dispute with its unions, the Transport Workers Union of America and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

The airline went to court in August to allege that mechanics were intentionally slowing down work causing 900 flights to be canceled over the summer in order to gain leverage in contract negotiations. The judge ordered a permanent injunction against the union requiring it to work normally. The unions caused “enormous financial losses to American, and untold harm in lost customer good will,” American said in its filing, asking the judge to order the unions to pay for the canceled flights.

When Alani was arrested, he reportedly told investigators his efforts were part of this slowdown, and the arrest — coming days before the 18th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attack by jihadist terrorists — was reported in the press as a labor dispute.

“Alani explained to law enforcement that he was upset at the stalled contract dispute between the union workers and America Airlines, and that this dispute had affected him financially. Alani claimed that he tampered with the Target Aircraft in order to cause a delay or have the flight cancelled in anticipation of obtaining overtime work,” an FBI affidavit filed at the time of his arrest stated.

Gary Peterson, a vice president at the Transport Workers Union, told CNBC of the sabotage: “From a union standpoint we wouldn’t condone even the thought of doing this.”

Peterson did not respond to a request from the Daily Caller News Foundation about why, then, former colleagues were — according to Alani’s lawyer — willing to pay the bail for someone who said he sabotaged an aircraft as a result of the labor dispute.

The public defender, Dunham, did not return a request asking how many TWU members offered to pay his bail and what their names were.

“We are cooperating with federal authorities in this investigation. The safety of our customers and team members remains our top priority,” an American Airlines statement reads. “American Airlines suspended Mr. Alani immediately after he was charged, and was terminated soon thereafter.”

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Posted by Princess Mononoke at 11:46 PM 0 comments

USA: New Jersey Man Indicted For Terrorist Activities On Behalf Of Hizballah’s Islamic Jihad Organization. If Convicted On Most Of The Charges Against Him, He Could Get A Life Sentence.

United States Dept of Justice
written by Office of Public Affairs
Thursday September 19, 2019

Alexei Saab Allegedly Was Trained by Hizballah’s External Terrorist Operations Component in Bomb-Making and Conducted Intelligence-Gathering in New York City and Elsewhere in Support of Hizballah’s Attack-Planning Efforts.

The Department of Justice today announced that Alexei Saab, 42, of Morristown, New Jersey, also known as Ali Hassan Saab, Alex Saab, or Rachid, was charged today in a nine-count indictment for offenses related to his support for Hizballah and separate marriage-fraud offenses. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Paul G. Gardephe.

“According to the allegations, while living in the United States, Saab served as an operative of Hizballah and conducted surveillance of possible target locations in order to help the foreign terrorist organization prepare for potential future attacks against the United States,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers. “Such covert activities conducted on U.S. soil are a clear threat to our national security and I applaud the agents, analysts, and prosecutors who are responsible for this investigation and prosecution.”

“As a member of the Hizballah component that coordinates external terrorist attack planning, Alexei Saab allegedly used his training to scout possible targets throughout the U.S,” said U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman. “Even though Saab was a naturalized American citizen, his true allegiance was to Hizballah, the terrorist organization responsible for decades of terrorist attacks that have killed hundreds, including U.S. citizens and military personnel. Thankfully, Saab is now in federal custody, and faces significant prison time for his alleged crimes.”

“As alleged, Saab began his training with Hizballah operatives overseas and, while living in the U.S., surveilled multiple locations in major cities,” said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney Jr. “Today’s announcement highlights the persistent efforts of a sophisticated international terrorist organization to scout targets at home and abroad, identifying vulnerabilities, and gathering essential details useful for a future attack. In the city that never sleeps, neither do the FBI agents, detectives, and analysts who work on the JTTF to protect it, and because of their work, Saab’s future surveillances will be limited to a cell. We cannot do this work alone. I would like to thank the countless private security professionals who protect many of these sites, remind them to remain vigilant in order to make the enemy’s job more difficult, and I would ask the general public to continue to report suspicious activity to law enforcement like you have so many times in the past.”

“I would like to thank the efforts of the investigators and our Counter-Terrorism law enforcement partners who worked tirelessly to assemble the case that prevents this individual from caring out his plans,” said NYPD Commissioner James P. O’Neill. “This case sends a clear message of deterrence to all those who plot to promote violence here in the U.S. and abroad.”

According to the Indictment and Complaint unsealed today in Manhattan federal court:

Hizballah is a Lebanon-based Shia Islamic organization with political, social, and terrorist components. Hizballah was founded in the 1980s with support from Iran after the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, and its mission includes establishing a fundamentalist Islamic state in Lebanon. Since Hizballah’s formation, the organization has been responsible for numerous terrorist attacks that have killed hundreds, including United States citizens and military personnel. In 1997, the U.S. Department of State designated Hizballah a Foreign Terrorist Organization, pursuant to Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, and it remains so designated today. In 2001, pursuant to Executive Order 13224, the U.S. Department of Treasury designated Hizballah a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity. In 2010, State Department officials described Hizballah as the most technically capable terrorist group in the world, and a continued security threat to the United States.

The Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO), which is also known as the External Security Organization and “910,” is a component of Hizballah responsible for the planning and coordination of intelligence, counterintelligence, and terrorist activities on behalf of Hizballah outside of Lebanon. In July 2012, an IJO operative detonated explosives on a bus transporting Israeli tourists in the vicinity of an airport in Burgas, Bulgaria, which killed six people and injured 32 others. Law enforcement authorities have disrupted several other IJO attack-planning operations around the world, including the arrest of an IJO operative surveilling Israeli targets in Cyprus in 2012, the seizure of bomb-making precursor chemicals in Thailand in 2012, and a seizure of similar chemicals in May 2015 in connection with the arrest of another IJO operative. In June 2017, two IJO operatives were arrested in the United States and charged with terrorism-related offenses in the Southern District of New York. In May 2019, a jury convicted one of those two IJO operatives on all counts.

Saab joined Hizballah in 1996. Saab’s first Hizballah operation occurred in Lebanon, where he was tasked with observing and reporting on the movements of Israeli and Southern Lebanese Army soldiers in Yaroun, Lebanon. Among other things, Saab reported on patrol schedules and formations, procedures at security checkpoints, and the vehicles used by soldiers.

In approximately 1999, Saab attended his first Hizballah training. The training focused on the use of firearms, and Saab handled and fired an AK-47, an M16 rifle, and a pistol, and threw grenades. In 2000, Saab transitioned to membership in Hizballah’s unit responsible for external operations, the IJO, and he then received extensive training in IJO tradecraft, weapons, and military tactics, including how to construct bombs and other explosive devices. In 2004 and 2005, Saab attended explosives training in Lebanon during which he received detailed instruction in, among other things, triggering mechanisms, explosive substances, detonators, and the assembly of circuits.

In 2000, Saab lawfully entered the United States using a Lebanese passport. In 2005, Saab applied for naturalized citizenship and falsely affirmed, under penalty of perjury, that he had never been “a member of or in any way associated with . . . a terrorist organization.” In August 2008, Saab became a naturalized U.S. citizen.

While living in the United States, Saab remained an IJO operative, continued to receive military training in Lebanon, and conducted numerous operations for the IJO. For example, Saab surveilled dozens of locations in New York City—including the United Nations headquarters, the Statue of Liberty, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, the Empire State Building, and local airports, tunnels, and bridges—and provided detailed information on these locations, including photographs, to the IJO. In particular, Saab focused on the structural weaknesses of locations he surveilled in order to determine how a future attack could cause the most destruction. Saab’s reporting to the IJO included the materials used to construct a particular target, how close in proximity one could get to a target, and site weaknesses or “soft spots” that the IJO could exploit if it attacked a target in the future. Saab conducted similar intelligence gathering in a variety of American cities. The FBI recovered photographs from Saab’s electronic devices reflecting his surveillance activities, including photographs of New York City landmarks.

In addition to his attack-planning activities in the United States, Saab conducted operations abroad. For example, Saab attempted to murder a man he later understood to be a suspected Israeli spy. Saab pointed a firearm at the individual at close range and pulled the trigger twice, but the firearm did not fire. Saab also conducted intelligence-gathering for Hizballah in Istanbul, Turkey.

Finally, unrelated to his IJO activities, in July 2012, Saab married another individual (CC-1) so that CC-1 could apply for naturalized citizenship in the United States based on their marriage. On March 13, 2015, Saab and CC-1 jointly filed a petition seeking to obtain naturalized citizenship for CC-1. In doing so, Saab and CC-1 falsely claimed under penalty of perjury that their marriage was “not for the purpose of procuring an immigration benefit.”

Saab is charged with providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; conspiracy to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; receiving military-type training from a designated foreign terrorist organization, which carries a sentence of 10 years in prison or a fine; conspiracy to receive military-type training from a designated foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison; unlawful procurement of citizenship or naturalization to facilitate an act of international terrorism, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison; marriage fraud conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of five years; citizenship application fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years; naturalization fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of five years; and making false statements, which carries a maximum sentence of five years. The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by a judge.

Assistant Attorney General Demers and U.S. Attorney Berman praised the outstanding efforts of the FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, which principally consists of agents from the FBI and detectives from the NYPD. They also thanked the Counterterrorism Section of the Department of Justice’s National Security Division.

This prosecution is being handled by the Office’s Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael K. Krouse and Jason A. Richman are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Trial Attorneys Bridget Behling and Alexandra Hughes of the Counterterrorism Section.

The charges contained in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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Posted by Princess Mononoke at 10:29 PM 0 comments

USA: Tell the City of Champaign, Illinois To Fire Its Anti-Semitic Commissioner Ahmed Taha Who Has Promoted Calls For The Killing Of Jews.

Islamist Watch
written by Sam Westrop
Monday September 9, 2019

In July, we wrote about the city of Champaign, Illinois, where Mayor Deb Feinen decided to appoint a violently-minded anti-Semitic Islamist activist to the city's Human Relations Commission, which advises on minority rights and serves as "a hearing board for complaints" about minority rights.

In other words, Mayor Feinen appointed a racist to an anti-racism commission.

Ahmed Taha has promoted calls for the killing of Jews, republishing text that stated: "There is a Jew behind me, come kill him." He also spreads anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about Egypt's President Sisi, and even Joe Biden. He is a prominent advocate for Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, one of the most dangerous theocratic Islamist movements in the Middle East.

Our July article, which you can read here, was shared by many thousands on social media. Local Jewish groups were deeply concerned and approached city officials. But Mayor Feinen, despite speaking with these local Jewish organizations, has done nothing. She has even refused to condemn Taha's violent anti-Semitism publicly.

How can it be that someone as dangerous as Ahmed Taha is given a public role, and that when the city is made aware of his extremism, it refuses to act?

This embrace of a leading anti-Semitic Islamist activist may well be a harbinger of things to come, in which other Islamist extremists are welcomed into state and municipal government. It is vital that we do not let this matter rest.

If you live in Illinois, the Middle East Forum encourages you to write to your legislators and ask them for help. Ask them to tell Mayor Feinen that anti-Semitism must be opposed, not embraced.

You can message your legislators easily through our messaging system (see below or click here).

If you do not live in Illinois, you can contact the Champaign's Mayor office by clicking here; and Champaign's Human Relations Commission by clicking here.

Please act now. And share our campaign and this blog post with others.

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Posted by Princess Mononoke at 10:21 PM 0 comments

USA: Women’s March Kicks Out Linda Sarsour, Tamika Mallory And Bob Bland For anti-Semitism. But Replaces Her With Zahra Billoo, A Radical Muslim Who Advocates For Jihad And Islamic State.

Clarion Project
written by Shireen Qudosi
Tuesday September 17, 2019

Anti-American Islamist Zahra Billoo is set to replace Linda Sarsour as a board member in the Women’s March movement. The move comes as the Women’s March replaced three original leaders after anti-Semitism accusations the movement could no longer ignore.

Writer Peter D’Abrosca summarized it best in the headline to his article that reads:
After kicking out original board members Bob Bland, Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour, the Women’s March welcomed 16 new board members, one of whom is the notoriously hateful Zahra Billoo.

Billoo serves as a civil rights attorney and executive director of the San Francisco chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

Linda Sarsour was a bad choice. Zahra Billoo is worse.

Billoo usually makes a splash every Memorial Day with her controversial tweets against American soldiers. In the past, she tweeted she “struggles with Memorial Day each year” and whether to honor American soldiers who died in wars. She has a history of tweets depicting the U.S. military as “occupiers” and “murderers.”

However, Zahra Billoo had no problem honoring “black liberation soldiers” like the Black Panthers. Specifically, Billoo was referring to Jamil al-Amin, a member of the Black Panthers convicted of murdering a police officer in 2000.

Al-Amin also said, “When we begin to look critically at the Constitution of the United States … we see that in its main essence it is diametrically opposed to what Allah has commanded.”

Billoo has a history of praising the terrorist group Hezbollah. In a 2009 tweet she wrote, “AH [All Hail] for Hezbollah having the courage to do what the Arab governments won’t.”

She has likened the anti-Semitic terrorist group Hamas to a victim of rape, implying her support of Hamas rockets being fired into the civilian population of Israel.

In 2009, she casually tweeted that she was listening to a sermon of the noted anti-Semitic hate preacher Louis Farrakhan while at the gym. Farrakhan regularly calls Jews “Satanic” and claims they “control everything and mostly everybody.” He most recently likened them to “termites” and led a “Death to America” chant on a visit to Iran.

Billoo, much like other CAIR executives, has a history of launching vitriolic attacks against dissenting Muslims whose views she doesn’t share.
As for Linda Sarsour, her role with the Women’s March came with acceptance of secular views rejected by practicing Muslims, including a pro-abortion position the March forced women to accept if they wished to be part of the collective.

Shortly before her departure from the Women’s March became public, Sarsour announced she would join the Bernie Sander’s 2020 presidential campaign as a surrogate.

How do we make sense of this? By understanding that nothing has transformatively changed.

The chairs have just been switched around on the deck, but it is still the same deck on the same sinking ship that is Islamist supremacism — and it’s “locked and loaded” for the 2020 political battle.

This means that those of us on the “other side” need to do the same. We also need to remember that at its core, Islamism has no ideological basis other than being a reaction to colonialism. In recent years, Islamism has had to barter and borrow from socialist propaganda in order to gain relevancy — which is why we see it aligning with far Left politics.

Islamist supremacy cannot stand on its own, and it will not withstand the torch of inquiry critical Muslim thought brings.
Fox News
written by Caleb Parke
Thursday September 19, 2019

The Women's March is trying to rid itself of what critics have called an anti-Semitism problem.

Just days after booting Linda Sarsour, Tamika Mallory and Bob Bland off its national board following accusations of anti-Semitic rhetoric, the anti-Trump organization dropped a new board member, Zahra Billoo, after past online posts deemed anti-Semitic surfaced.

The Anti-Defamation League called for the Women's March to "condemn the statements and sentiments" of Billoo, a lawyer and executive director of CAIR (the Council on American-Islamic Relations) in San Francisco, describing her "long history of deeply offensive and antisemitic statements."

Billoo has described Zionism as "racism" and voiced seemingly hateful views toward Israel and those supporting it, going as far as to say in 2014, "I don't think we can work on civil rights together in the US" if someone supports Israel, which she compared to "baby killers."

CAIR has long been accused of being an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood and was named in 2007 along with 300 other organizations as an unindicted co-conspirator in a case on funding the extremist group Hamas in Gaza.

"I'm more afraid of racist Zionists who support Apartheid Israel than of the mentally ill young people the FBI recruits to join ISIS," Billoo, a friend of Sarsour's, wrote on social media in 2015, floating a conspiracy that the FBI recruited young people to join the Islamic militants in Syria and Iraq.
In 2014, she tweeted: "Blaming Hamas for firing rockets at [Apartheid] Israel is like blaming a woman for punching her rapist."

But, early Thursday morning, Billoo, in a series of 25 tweets, claimed to be the subject of "an Islamophobic smear campaign led by the usual antagonists, who have long targeted me, my colleagues, and anyone else who dares speak out in support of Palestinian human rights and the right to self-determination."

Billoo admitted anti-Semitism has been a "growing and dangerous problem" but stood by her words, saying she may have worded them differently now.

She was meant to be one of the 16 new board members of diverse backgrounds elected by a nominating committee, included three Jewish women, a transgender woman, a former legislator, two religious leaders and a member of the Lakota nation’s Oglala tribe, to replace Sarsour, Mallory, and Bland, the Washington Post reported.

The Women’s March, which was first held on Jan. 21, 2017, was a response to President Trump’s White House inauguration. Thousands of women in Washington, D.C., and in cities across the U.S. and world, used the day to advocate for human rights and women's issues, which protesters argued would face adversity under the new administration.

Posted by Princess Mononoke at 10:14 PM 0 comments

September 18, 2019

ISRAEL: UN Aid Work For Palestinian Islamic Refugees Is Part Of The Problem In The Middle East. Islamic Refugees In Gaza And West Bank Share Their Personal Stories Why They Left Israel In 1948

SwissInfo.ch
written by Staff
May 17, 2018

United Nations aid work for Palestinian refugees is a stumbling block to peace in the Middle East, hindering the integration of Palestinians who have lived in Jordan and Lebanon for years, according to Swiss Foreign Affairs Minister Ignazio Cassis.

So long as Palestinians live in refugee camps, they can dream of returning home, he said in an interviewexternal link published in several Swiss newspapers on Thursday.

Five million Palestinian refugees currently live in such camps, with aid and protection provided by the UNRWAexternal link, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.

“It is unrealistic that all of them can fulfil this dream. Yet the UNRWA keeps this dream alive,” Cassis said. “For a long time the UNRWA was the solution to this problem, but today it has become part of the problem. It supplies the ammunition to continue the conflict. By supporting the UNRWA, we keep the conflict alive. It’s a perverse logic.”

He called for the integration of long-term refugees in their countries of residence. Instead of UNRWA schools and hospitals, he said Switzerland could support Jordanian facilities to promote the integration of Palestinian refugees.

Financial crisis

Unlike the United States, Switzerland does not want to significantly reduce or end UNRWA involvement.

“In other cases that’s a good move: if there’s no money, things finally happen,” Cassis said. “But in this case, that’s a big risk: millions of Palestinians could end up on the street. If all nations refused to contribute to the UNRWA, a machinery would collapse that ensures a certain stability. This is a risk that Switzerland can’t afford – perhaps unlike the US.”

The UNRWA was founded in 1949external link following the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict and is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions from UN member states. The Swiss foreign affairs ministry says it is set to pay CHF21.2 million ($21.2 million) for 2018.

The US this year cut its contribution from $360 million to $60 million. “This is our largest funding crisis ever,” said the UNRWA’s Swiss head Pierre Krähenbühl on April 24.​​​​​​​
Palestinians Media Watch
written by Itamar Marcus
May 16, 2018

What caused the Palestinian refugee problem?

Exclusive PMW video compilation of 13 personal stories
told by refugees themselves
  • "Cars with megaphones roamed the streets, demanding that people leave"
  • "The one who made us leave was the Jordanian army"
  • "The radio stations of the Arab regimes kept repeating to us: 'Get away'"
  • "Our [Arab] district officer issued an order that whoever stays in Palestine is a traitor"
  • The Arab Salvation Army told the Palestinians: "We have come to you in order to exterminate the Zionists... Leave your houses and villages, you'll return to them safely in a few days."
  • "The Arab Salvation Army said: 'Leave, but don't go far from the village because they [the Jews] will make a short visit...' The people left with nothing, even without bread."

VIDEO: How we really became refugees 13 Palestinians tell their personal stories

What caused the Palestinian refugee problem? Why did hundreds of thousands of Arabs leave their homes during Israel's War of Independence in 1948?

This new Palestinian Media Watch video compilation adds important evidence to help clarify this question of historical importance. The video includes 13 personal stories mostly by Palestinian refugees from different regions telling what caused them to leave their homes in 1948. The common denominator of these testimonies is that the massive flight of Arabs was not from an Israeli "expulsion," as the PA claims, but was the result of a strategic decision by the Arab leaders and Arab armies who demanded that the Arabs leave. Others describe their families' decisions to leave because of fear of the coming battles. Some of the testimonies are from people who moved on to leadership positions, such as PA leader Mahmoud Abbas, who explains why his family along with the Arabs of Safed made the choice to leave. A few of the accounts are by Palestinian journalists who describe what caused the general flight.

Summing up the reasons Arabs left, Mahmoud Al-Habbash, currently one of the top Palestinian Authority religious figures, wrote:
"Most of them did not leave until they believed the false promises made by the [Arab] leaders and the political elites."
[Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 13, 2006]
See full transcripts of all 13 testimonies below

One of the common messages is bitterness over those "false promises" by the Arab leaders. One expressed it this way:
"The Arab regimes kept repeating...: 'Get away... It's a matter of ten days, or at most two weeks, and we'll bring you back...' We said to ourselves, 'That's a very long time. Two weeks is too much.' That's what we thought [then]. And now 50 years have gone by."
[Official PA TV, July 7, 2009]
Another lamented:
"Indeed there were among us those who left a fire burning under the pot, those who left their flocks of sheep, and those who left their money and gold behind, based on the assumption that we would return after a few hours."
[Al-Ayyam, May 16, 2006]
One refugee blamed Jordan:
"The one who made us leave was the Jordanian army... They told us: 'Leave. In 2 hours we liberate it and then you'll return.' ... We're still waiting for those 2 hours to this day."
[Official PA TV, May 15, 2013]
A striking example of how the Arabs of Israel ended up in refugee camps in neighboring countries is what happened in Jaffa (Tel Aviv):
"Cars with megaphones roamed the streets, demanding that people leave so the fighting [against Israel] would succeed... We went to the port and boarded a ship."
[Official PA TV, Oct. 2, 2014]
A number of points are very significant. First, these testimonies - though personal stories - are also describing large-scale movements, such as the flight from major cities like Jaffa and Safed. Second, they describe general orders to leave by Arab leaders and armies, broadcast on Arab radio to the entire Arab population. Third, the testimonies are presented openly by refugees themselves and by public figures, including leaders, in the official PA media. All of this suggests that awareness of Arab responsibility for the refugee problem must be widespread among the Palestinian population itself - even though Palestinian leaders refuse to accept responsibility in international forums.

These testimonies are even more critical today as tens of thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the majority of whose residents the PA still classifies as "refugees," are participating in the violent demonstrations Hamas has named "the March of Return" - meaning, the return to "Palestine" and the end of the State of Israel. Hamas' claim to "return" is based on the Palestinian allegation that they were unjustly expelled by Israel. However, these personal testimonies by Palestinian refugees themselves tell a very different story.

The following is the transcript of the personal stories and testimonies in the video compilation:

How we really became refugees:
13 Palestinians tell their personal stories

Why I left Bir Ma'in - Orders of Jordanian army, promised we would "return in 2 hours"

PA TV reporter: "How did you leave Bir Ma'in? Did you experience the Nakba?"
Fuad Khader: "We left, I mean, the one who made us leave was the Jordanian army, because there were going to be battles and we would be under their feet. They told us: 'Leave. In 2 hours we liberate it and then you'll return.' We left only with our clothes, we didn't take anything because we were supposed to return in 2 hours. Why carry anything? We're still waiting for those 2 hours to this day."
[Official PA TV, May 15, 2013]

Why I left Ein Karem - Orders from Arab regimes: "Get away [for] at most two weeks"

Refugee from Ein Karem: "The radio stations of the Arab regimes kept repeating to us: 'Get away from the frontline. It's a matter of ten days, or at most two weeks, and we'll bring you back to Ein Karem [in Jerusalem].' And we said to ourselves, 'That's a very long time. Two weeks is too much.' That's what we thought [then]. And now 50 years have gone by."
[Official PA TV, July 7, 2009]

Why I left Safed - Out of fear

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: "The [Arab] Salvation Army withdrew from the city [Safed in 1948], causing the [Arab] people to begin emigrating. In Safed, just like Hebron, people were afraid that the Jews would take revenge for the [Arab] massacre in 1929 (Note: 65 Jews were murdered in Hebron, 18 in Safed) ... [In 1948] the people were overcome with fear, and it caused them to leave the city in a disorderly way."
[Official PA TV, Jan. 1, 2013]

Why I left Jaffa - Orders from Arab fighters

Pa TV host: "Abu Ghazaleh, tell us nice memories of Jaffa..."
Former Jordanian MP Talal Abu Ghazaleh: "Cars with megaphones roamed the streets, demanding that people leave so the fighting [against Israel] would succeed. They called to us in Arabic to leave our homes: 'We - the Palestinians, the fighters - want to fight, and don't want you to impede us so we ask you to leave the city [Jaffa] immediately ...' All of us - me, my family, and the others - left any way we could. We went to the port and boarded a ship."
[Official PA TV, Oct. 2, 2014]

Why I left Kafr Saba - We were told to "evacuate village" and assumed we would "return after a few hours"

Asmaa Jabir Balasimah (PMW narration of newspaper): "We heard sounds of explosions and of gunfire at the beginning of the summer in the year of the Nakba [1948]. We were told that the Jews attacked our region and it is better to evacuate the village and return after the battle is over. And indeed there were among us those who left a fire burning under the pot, those who left their flocks of sheep, and those who left their money and gold behind, based on the assumption that we would return after a few hours."
[Al-Ayyam, May 16, 2006]

Why I left Majdal - Orders from Arab district officer

Refugee in Gaza (talking on the phone): "My grandfather and my father told me that during the Nakba our [Arab] district officer issued an order that whoever stays in Palestine and in Majdal is a traitor."
Head of Islamic Movement in Israel Ibrahim Sarsur: "The one who gave the order forbidding them to stay there bears guilt for this, in this life and the Afterlife throughout history until Resurrection Day."
[Official PA TV, April 30, 1999]

Why I left Dir Al-Qasi - We were told we'd return "in a week or two"

Sadek Mufid: "We headed first from Dir Al-Qasi to Rmaich [in Lebanon], because of what they said at the time: 'By Allah, in a week or two, you'll return to Palestine.' The Arab armies entered Palestine, along with the Arab Salvation Army. We left - we and those who fled with us - and we all headed for Lebanon."
[Official PA TV, Feb. 9, 2010]

Why I left Safed - Family decision out of fear "hoping we would return

PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: "To be honest, we were afraid. My family decided - I was the oldest of those who left with my brother's wife and his two children - that they would move us... I had two pairs of shoes, a new pair and an old pair. I said: ''I'll leave with the old pair, and leave the new pair for when we come back...'' We left hoping we would return. They took us east, east of Safed, to the Jordan River."
[Abbas' Facebook page May 14, 2014]

Why I left Jerusalem - Out of fear expecting to return in "two weeks"

PA TV narrator about poet Iskandar Khuri: "His family left first with other families due to the increasing pressure of terror by the Zionist gangs, in order to protect their lives, and because they thought that their absence from their homes would not last longer than two weeks, and that they would return to them after the entry of the Arab armies into Palestine."
[Official PA TV, Sept. 8, 2016]

Why Arabs left - Orders of Arab Salvation Army, you'll return "in a few days"

Journalist Jawad Al Bashiti (PMW narration of newspaper): "In the Palestinian Nakba, the first war between Arabs and Israel had started and the Arab Salvation Army told the Palestinians: 'We have come to you in order to exterminate the Zionists and their state. Leave your houses and villages, you'll return to them safely in a few days.'"
[Al-Ayyam, May 13, 2008]

Why Arabs left - Promises by Arab leaders they would return in "a few days or months"

Mahmoud Al-Habbash (PMW narration of newspaper): "The leaders and the elites promised us at the beginning of the Nakba in 1948, that the duration of the exile would not be long, and that it would not last more than a few days or months, and afterwards the refugees would return to their homes, which most of them did not leave until they believed the false promises made by the leaders and the political elites."
[Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Dec. 13, 2006]

Why Arabs left in 1948 - Orders of Arab leaders

PA daily columnist Fuad Abu Hajla (PMW narration of newspaper): "You [Arab leaders] are still searching for the way to provide aid, like one who is looking for a needle in a haystack, or like the armies of your predecessors in 1948 who forced us to emigrate, on the pretext of clearing the battlefields of civilians."
[Official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 19, 2001]

Why I left Allar - Orders of Arab army - "Leave... then you will return"

Ali Muhammad Karake: "When news reached us that the Jews were nearing our village, the Arab [Salvation] Army - may Allah protect them - came and said: Leave the village so it won't happen to you, like Deir Yassin." They slaughter, and do things." They said: "Leave, but don't go far from the village because they [the Jews] will make a short visit to the village, leave, and then you'll return to the village." The people left with nothing, even without bread and went to the mountains, and pitched [tents]."
[Al-Quds daily YouTube channel, May 17, 2016]

Arabs rejected Jews' offer to live together in Israel

Abu Muhammad 'Amara: "The truth is that the Jews brought a mediator to us, a person we knew and who knew us. They gave us choices. The first choice was that you hand over your weapons and stay on your land and live the way you live. The second choice was that you leave if you don't want to hand over [your weapons]. If you don't want to leave and go away, prepare yourselves for battle. All three were hard... For me, handing over my rifle at that time [was] actually like handing over my wife."
[Official PA TV May 15, 2013]

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