This is the statement released by an organization who in public, professes to be bridge builders, and interfaith leaders, yet their board member choices speak volumes.
The American Muslim Advisory Council (AMAC) is not at all whom they say they are, in fact Antisemitism runs through the veins of some of their board, including their recently departed director, Paul Iesa Galloway.
Galloway, who now resides in Colorado, was the founder and executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) Houston’s branch. CAIR is widely known to be an arm of Hamas, who has been at war with Israel for decades. CAIR formerly known as the Islamic Association of Palestine, (IAP) was Hamas’ primary voice in the United States. Galloway molded AMAC into the social justice, Muslim Brotherhood supporting group they privately are today.
Current board member Drost Kokoye, a refugee from Kurdistan, is the extreme, anti-Jewish, outspoken member of the board. Along with her membership to the Muslim Student Association,(MSA) she supports the radical, boldy anti-Semitic Students for justice in Palestine at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) where she attends school.
Ms.Kokoye also protested Israel and held a sign calling for all aid to Israel to be frozen.
Since pictures speak louder than words, here are some of Drost Kokoyes social media posts on Israel and Jews.
Other members and their Muslim Brotherhood associations
The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) is the largest Muslim Brotherhood organization in the United States.
In Sept 2018, The American Muslim Advisory Council’s (AMAC) Chair of the board, Zulfat Suara, proudly accepted an award from ISNA.
In 2008, ISNA’s website contained a library of books they promoted as recommended reading, but also Hadiths (traditions and words of the prophet Muhammad) and rulings by Islamic scholars.
Board member Saleh Sbenaty, a refugee from Damascus Syria, is a professor at the Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), where he is also the facilitator and mentor to the Muslim Student Association (MSA). The MSA is the Muslim Brotherhoods second largest front group, whose purpose is for its members to use Dawa ( the proselytizing of Islam) to spread the word of Islam on college campuses. The MSA has aligned with the Students for Justice in Palestine, an anti-Semitic group, to promote the Boycott, Divest, Sanction (BDS) movement.
Program manager, Sabina Mohyuddin doesn’t have a large presence on social media. but when she does post, it is anti Israel.
The American Muslim Advisory Council in Tennessee has the audacity to release a statement condemning violence, when several of its board members are in fact, just as anti-Semitic as the ideology held by the shooter. Just as tasteless, and offensive is the added narrative that they too are victims, politicizing this incident to inform readers other groups are marginalized.
The Truth of the matter is Jews in the United States are the number one victim of violence, harassment and discrimination, not Muslims, blacks, or LGBTQ persons.
According to the ADL
In 2017, there were 1,015 instances of harassment, an increase of 41% over the 721 incidents reported in 2016. One hundred sixty-three of the harassment cases were part of the spree of bomb threats made against Jewish institutions in the first quarter of 2017. If those bomb threats were not included in the total number of harassment cases, the total would be 852, an increase of 18% over the 2016 figure.
The American Muslim Advisory Council (AMAC) is allowed to train our law enforcement, participate in the farce known as interfaith events, and claims to build bridges. It is time they are recognized as nothing more than a social justice organization who uses religion as a guise to garner support and sympathy for their own cause.