Counterterrorism Blog

Brian Hecht of The Investigative Project has this comment on the reaction to the Amman bombings by one Washington-area Muslim cleric: This morning�s Washington Post ("Bombing Victims Mourned in D.C. Area") reports on a sermon at Dar al-Hijrah Mosque in Northern Virginia, in which their Imam, Shaker Elsayed, condemns the horrific, multiple suicide bombing attacks in Amman, Jordan. The Post�s Tara Bahrampour describes the scene:

"Addressing more than 200 worshipers last night at the Falls Church mosque, Sheikh Shaker Elsayed said: "Brother Al-Alami and Brother Hwail lost 17 members of their family through . . . this senseless act -- people who did nothing but go about celebrating the wedding of their son and daughter."

While Mr. Elsayed�s sentiments, in this instance, are appreciated, it should be noted that he has built a career justifying, and applauding, similar attacks, as long as the victims were non-Muslims. Before Elsayed was a preacher at Dar al-Hijrah, he was the Secretary General of the Muslim American Society (MAS). At a December 2002 conference sponsored by MAS and the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), Elsayed had the following to say, in Arabic, about Palestinian suicide bombers:

�� about the subject unfairly named suicide bomber, homicide bomber, murderers, or killers. Our answer to this issue is simple�The Islamic scholars said whenever there is an attack on an Islamic state or occupation, or the honor of the Muslims has been violated, the Jihad is a must for everyone, a child, a lady and a man. They have to make Jihad with every tool that they can get in their hand. Anything that they can get in their hand and if they don�t have anything in their hand then they can fight with their hand without weapons.�

At a June 5, 2001 press conference and sit-in at the State Department, Elsayed, was asked �[d]o you condemn the terrorist attacks from Hamas and the suicide bombings?� He responded:

�I made a statement that we do stand in support the Palestinian resistance � The so-called Israeli settlers are not civilian population. They are military reserves, they are armed, trained and dangerous. They invade the Palestinian neighborhoods at night and they squander everything. They kill, they maim, and they destroy homes � If I were there, I would use every power in my hand to defend my family.�

"Only when Israel complies with international law that the Palestinians will stop throwing stones and shells and rocket attacks, but so long as occupation continues, we say to the Palestinian people, �Go ahead. Continue your fight against occupation no matter what name they give you because we give you the name of courageous people who stand for the rights and we�re standing with you��My name is Shaker Elsayed � I�m the Secretary General of the Muslim American Society."

Many of the Palestinian terrorist attacks against Israelis specifically target civilians, at places such as restaurants, cafes, buses and even religious celebrations, not to mention establishments that have been attacked in the past that are known hangouts for both Jews and Arabs. Maxim, a restaurant in Haifa, for example, had joint Jewish and Arab ownership and was the victim of a Palestinian Islamic Jihad suicide bomber in October 2003. Al-Qaida�s statement of responsibility, as noted earlier by Evan Kohlmann, justifies the attack of the hotels in a manner very similar to Elsayed�s support for Palestinian terrorists, reasoning that the hotels were more than just civilian vacation spots, but central to Zarqawi�s perceived war against Islam.