Dr. Esam Omeish, the MAS leader caught on numerous videotapes spewing violent, hateful jihad rhetoric, is whining today about a “smear campaign.”
“Smear,” in this case, being defined as having his own words quoted and reported.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/28/AR2007092800789_pf.html
Esam S. Omeish, the Muslim leader from Fairfax County who resigned from the state immigration commission after controversial remarks made on video surfaced, defended his remarks today and said he was the victim of a smear campaign.
“The smear campaign brings forward comments and speech excerpts which were taken out of context . . . and used to undermine a whole community of faith in a relentless campaign of Islamophobia intimidation,” Omeish said in an 11 a.m. news conference,
Omeish submitted his resignation to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) yesterday after video surfaced of one speech in which he referred to the “Israeli war machine” and another 38-second excerpt from a speech he made at a December 2000 rally in support of the “Jihad way.”
“All these allegations revolve around obsolete historical associations, out of context statements wrapped in hateful, misleading insinuations by individuals who are bent on alienating and intimidating Muslim leaders and activists,” Omeish said. ...
Omeish told the Associated Press late Thursday that his comments in the videos were taken out of context and that his reference to “the jihad way” was not a call for violent attacks.
“In Islam, jihad is a broad word that means constant struggle — struggling spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, physically — in all respects. So my words were in support of people who are resisting occupation and people who are trying to . . . remove oppression from their land,” Omeish said.
Here’s a little more “smearing” of Omeish, in a press release from Virginia Delegate C. Todd Gilbert:
KAINE APPOINTEE ON BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF RADICAL “9/11” MOSQUE
WOODSTOCK, VA –– Virginia Delegate C. Todd Gilbert (R-Woodstock), who first alerted Governor Timothy M. Kaine to the fact that he had appointed a Muslim activist of questionable beliefs and ties to the Virginia Commission on Immigration, today questioned the process by which the Governor’s appointees are chosen.
“I don’t know how a problem of this magnitude could have slipped through the Governor’s screening process,” Gilbert stated. Gilbert noted that there are additional facts about the appointee in question that are even more disturbing than those already circulating in the media. He added, “Even a cursory internet search about the appointee in question would have also easily identified him as a leader of a potentially radical northern Virginia mosque.”
Contrary to the Governor’s public assertions that he first learned of the issue on a local radio call-in show on Thursday morning (September 27, 2007), the Kaine Administration first learned of the problem by way of a letter from Delegate Gilbert on Wednesday afternoon (September 26, 2007). In his initial response to media inquiries which first appeared in the Northern Virginia Daily newspaper, Kaine spokesman Kevin Hall quickly dismissed Gilbert’s assertions as “whispers and smears,” “just one of those conspiracy theories” and “innuendo, moving dangerously close to slander.”
In addition to being the President of the Muslim American Society, former Kaine appointee Dr. Esam S. Omeish, currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia. Among numerous questionable ties to radical Islam is the fact that at least two of the 9/11 hijackers were members in the months preceding the attacks. See the 9/11 Commission Report, pp. 221, 229-230. ...
In the spring of this year, the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque was infiltrated by the Mapping Sharia project, a group comprised of practicing Muslims and counter-terrorism experts who catalogue the activities of radical Islamic teaching centers and mosques. Counter-terrorism expert and project leader Dave Gaubatz personally spent over 300 hours immersed in the teachings of the Imams at the mosque. At the conclusion of his “conversion” to Islam, Imams at Dar Al-Hijrah supplied Gaubatz with violent, jihadist readings and CD’s. “They are teaching what they call Jihad Qital, which means physical jihad,” Gaubatz said. “They’re teaching violence and hatred of the United States . . . (t)he ultimate goal for those at Dar Al-Hijrah is to instill Sharia law in the U.S. and have America adhere to the Islamic faith,” he said. “They want America to be an Islamic state.” See the link to the story here. Dave Gaubatz of the Mapping Sharia Project may be reached at davegaubatz (at) gmail.com... Delegate Gilbert has spoken personally to Mr. Gaubatz regarding his research.
In April of 2007, Dr. Omeish stated, “I am currently serving on the board of Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic center which is the largest Islamic center in Northern Virginia.” Also see the Washington Post. Dr. Omeish has also been videotaped apparently leading Friday prayers at the mosque.
The Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center has been called “the 9/11 mosque” by investigative journalist Paul Sperry who wrote the book “Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives have Penetrated Washington”. In a 2005 interview, Sperry stated, “The interlocking directorships in these suspect Muslim lobby groups, charities and mosques like Dar al-Hijrah, the 9/11 mosque here, is alarming. They’re all connected to each other, and all connected to the Muslim Brotherhood or Hamas or Islamic Jihad or al-Qaida. It’s a syndicate, a Muslim mafia, and law enforcement is only starting to get their arms around it. The base of their operations is in Northern Virginia, where I live — right in the shadow of the nation’s capital.” See here and here.
Omeish and the Muslim American Society are also closely affiliated with Imam Siraj Wahhaj whom they have invited to be a co-lecturer of Dr. Omeish at MAS conferences. Wahhaj, a Brooklyn, New York cleric who testified as a character witness for convicted bomber “blind Sheihk” Omar Abdel Rahman, is an indicted co-conspirator in the first World Trade Center bombing and preaches openly about jihad, martyrdom and bringing about Islamic government in America.