Universities, Part 3

Holy War on the Home Front
by Harvey Kushner, Bart Davis

(Page 4 of 4)

Last year, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced the indictment of Nafi along with seven other men. Aschroft accused Nafi of being the British head of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. If so, Nafi is responsible for more than one hundred killings, including suicide bombings, car bombings, and drive-by shootings in and around Israel, some of which included American citizens. Questioned last year, Nafi said of his relationship with al-Arian, "Of course I have spoken with Sami al-Arian. He is a friend, a good friend of mine."

In 1995 federal agents descended on WISE headquarters, al-Arian's office at USF, and his home. The affidavit used to obtain the search warrants described WISE and the ICP as fronts for the PIJ. The FBI seized tapes from the late 1980s and the early 1990s in which al-Arian proclaims in Arabic, "Death to Israel" and "Let us damn America."

In 1997 federal agents arrested al-Arian's brother-in-law, Mazen al-Najjar, who worked at WISE and the ICP. He entered the country from Gaza in December 1981 on a student visa. Al-Najjar was al-Arian's close childhood friend and also attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Al-Najjar fought a deportation order and was jailed as a security threat.

Al-Najjar spent three and a half years in jail before his release on December 15, 2000. However, in response to an ACLU brief, the court decided the use of such evidence violated al-Najjar's rights, even though al-Najjar's ICP was responsible for helping known terrorists obtain visas to enter the United States. He went free but was arrested by federal agents on November 24, 2001, after the court ordered him deported. His attorneys sued, arguing there wasn't a host country to take him.

While al-Najjar was back in prison fighting deportation, al-Arian was busy fighting his own case with USF and the federal authorities. Al-Arian was a showman and a self-promoter. A professor at USF who knew al-Arian said he thought Sami's real downfall was his desire for publicity, and if he hadn't gone on Fox's The O'Reilly Factor, he might still be at USF. However, host Bill O'Reilly, an unrelentingly confrontational interviewer, grilled al-Arian about his relationship with Shallah and remarks he made about "Death to Israel." It was the beginning of the end, but al-Arian tried to limit the damage by appearing on a talk show hosted by a much friendlier and far more liberal Phil Donahue. This exchange was a real highlight, demonstrating how far a liberal can bend over backward: "So, one more time, sir," said interviewer Phil Donahue to Professor Sami al-Arian, "and I know that you're probably getting tired of these same questions - 'Death to Israel' did not mean you wanted to kill Jews, do I understand your position?"

On February 21, 2002, federal authorities confirmed an active investigation into the conduct of Professor Al-Arian. On March 20, 2002, federal officers again executed search warrants on al-Arian and WISE and fifteen other Muslim businesses and charities in connection with investigations into terrorist funding.

On August 21, the same day his brother-in-law Mazen al-Najjar was deported, USF lawyers asked a state judge to rule on whether firing al-Arian would violate his First Amendment rights. President Judy Genshaft finally said, "After all I have seen and heard, I believe that Dr. Al-Arian has abused his position at the university and is using academic freedom as a shield to cover improper activities."9 The USF lawsuit accused al-Arian of founding organizations that support terrorism, bringing terrorists to America, and raising money for terrorist groups.

The Coalition of Progressive Student Organizations, representing fifteen student groups at USF, published a letter of support in the name of academic Free Speech: "In an unanimous vote on Wednesday, January 9th, the Coalition of Progressive Student Organizations at USF voted to resolve to not support the Board of Trustee's recommendation to terminate Dr. Sami Al-Arian and President Genshaft's decision to effect their decision. This stance of The Coalition was made in alliance with the Muslim Student Association and with the input of members of the Graduate Students United of USF."

The Coalition listed among its members and student organization affiliates the Africana Studies Club, Amnesty International, the Campus Greens, the College Democrats, Cuba Vive, Free the Planet!, the NAACP, NOW@USF, the Student Environmental Association, the Students for International Peace & Justice, the PRIDE Alliance, the Shanachie, the Muslim Student Association, and the Free Thinkers. The letter concluded: "...as this university has terminated Dr. Al-Arian for reasons other than those for which he is officially charged, we a collective student voice, deplore the Board of Trustees for committing an injustice against a tenured faculty professor. This scenario would render students to the possibility of wanton discipline. We impress upon the BOT to be mindful of the diploma that we shall always display, bearing the name of University of South Florida, and the reputation it caries with it. [signed] Anthony T. Brooks, Chairman, The Coalition, University of South Florida"

On February 20, 2003, a federal indictment accused al-Arian of being a principal in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The professor and seven other co-conspirators were charged with running a criminal enterprise in the United States and conspiring to kill and maim others abroad.

Federal agents arrested University of South Florida Professor Sami al-Arian on February 20, 2003, along with seven others, charged with providing material support to terrorists - after denying terrorist connections for almost twenty years. Shamelessly, al-Arian rallied the faculty under the banner of Free Speech, again claiming he was the victim of persecution and prejudice. In a speech to the faculty, he said, "During my career, I have never brought any politics to the classroom, my department, or the university."

He neglected to mention an astonishingly long list of items, among them an e-mail from one Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi', dated October 30, 1995. It reads:

Dear Sami:

Asslamu 'Alaykum

It was so nice to see you and have some time with you this past weekend in Chicago. Condolences for the death of the brother. I was terribly saddened at hearing the news.

Please stay in touch through email. If you have any news on the arrangement for the visit of our president in December, please inform me asap.

I am working with the grants office on the matter we discussed.

Thank you, wa salaam.
Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi'

The dead "brother" referred to in the e-mail was Dr. Fathi Shaqaqi, leader of the PIJ terrorist group, killed on October 26, 1995, on the island of Malta. In a stunning example of how the Islamic terror network functions, Professor Ramadan Abdullah al-Shallah - who had been brought to USF by Sami al-Arian - immediately left Florida and flew to the Middle East to replace Shaqaqi as leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. His leadership included the March 1996 suicide bombing in Tel Aviv that killed twenty civilians and wounded more than seventy-five, including two Americans.

To answer the question of whether al-Arian knew of Shaqaqi's death, here is FBI wiretap evidence cited in his indictment:

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF FLORIDA
TAMPA DIVISION
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

SAMI AMIN AL-ARIAN CASE No. 8:03 -CR-77

181) On or about October 30, 1995, in the early morning hours, SAMI AMIN AL-ARIAN received a telephone call from Unindicted Co-Conspirator Two in which Unindicted Co-Conspirator Two asked whether SAMI AMIN AL-ARIAN had heard that Fathi Shiqaqi had been killed. SAMI AMIN AL-ARIAN indicated he had heard and then refused to talk.

Al-Arian also neglected to mention what he wrote when a terrorist attack killed nineteen Israeli soldiers earlier that year: "The link with the brothers in Hamas is very good and making steady progress, and there are serious attempts at unification and permanent coordination. I call upon you to try to extend true support to the jihad effort so that operations such as these can continue."

The e-mail's sender, Ibrahim M. Abu-Rabi', is a Palestinian born in Nazareth, Galilee, who holds dual citizenship in the United States and Israel. Dr. Abu-Rabi' is currently professor of Islamic Studies, co-director of the Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford Seminary, and co-editor of the Muslim World.

A Hartford Seminary 2002 publication, Praxis: News from Hartford Seminary, has a picture of Dr. Abu-Rabi' with Tarik Hamdi on its "Reunion 2002" page (see the appendix). It was the FBI indictment of Sami al-Arian that charged that the World and Islam Studies Enterprise and a related Palestinian charity were fund-raising fronts for terrorists. The charity held conferences attended by people later identified as terrorists, including Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, the blind Muslim cleric convicted of plotting to bomb five New York landmarks. Tarik Hamdi was a former manager of the charity and was linked to Osama bin Laden's organization during the trial of the four men convicted in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa. Hamdi was also a board member of WISE when, in May 1998, he went to Afghanistan to deliver a satellite telephone and battery to Osama bin Laden.

The longtime presence of the Islamic terrorist network at USF-Tampa is indisputable. The danger to us is that it's operating at other American universities, too, using the Bill of Rights as a shield. That shield is not impenetrable, however. A lying professor or a lying cleric is just that - a liar.

© 2004 Penguin Group. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Harvey Kushner is an internationally recognized authority on terrorism prevention and has been a consultant to the FBI, FAA, INS, and U.S. Customs Service. He appears regularly on Fox News Channel, CNN, and MSNBC and is routinely quoted by major national publications. He wrote the expert's report in the civil litigation investigating the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Bart Davis is the author of eleven books and has written and coproduced two feature films. A member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, he has worked with every branch of the armed services during his career.