By Mark Ellis
Hillary Clinton’s recently-selected VP running mate, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, has a disconcerting record of embracing Islamists, according to an explosive report by Ryan Mauro of The Clarion Project.
Kaine selected a Hamas supporter for a state immigration commission; was a featured speaker at a dinner honoring a Muslim Brotherhood terror suspect, and received donations from well-known Islamist groups, Mauro discovered.
As Governor of Virginia, Kaine chose Muslim American Society (MAS) President Esam Omeish to the state’s Immigration Commission in 2007. A moderate Muslim organization that speaks out against Islamism criticized his appointment, charging that Omeish had not been vetted properly, according to The Clarion Project.
Federal prosecutors linked MAS to the Muslim Brotherhood in America in 2008, which was confirmed by a Chicago Tribune investigation
“Everyone knows that MAS is the Muslim Brotherhood,” convicted terrorist and admitted U.S. Muslim Brotherhood member Abdurrahman Alamoudi testified in 2012.
Omeish was also the vice president of a radical mosque known for its history of terror ties, including having radical cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki as its imam. The same mosque was frequented by two of the 9/11 hijackers and Nidal Hasan, the perpetrator of the Fort Hood shooting.
Incredibly, Omeish’s website says he remains a board member of the mosque.
Omeish’s website also says he was chairman of the board of Islamic American University, which had Hamas financier and Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader Yousef Al-Qaradawi chairman of its board until at least 2006, according to The Clarion Project.
Omeish was also chairman of the board for an Islamic center in New Jersey with heavy terrorist ties, with an
imam the Department of Homeland Security wants to deport because of his ties to Hamas.
In 2004, Omeish praised the Hamas spiritual leader as “our beloved Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.” Omeish also vowed to help Palestinians who understand “the jihad way is the way to liberate your land,” according to videotape from 2000.
When a state delegate wrote a letter to then-Governor Kaine warning him that the MAS has “questionable origins,” a Kaine spokesperson said the charge was bigotry, according to The Clarion Project.
Omeish resigned under heavy pressure, and Kaine acknowledged that his statements “concerned” him.
“But, apparently, they didn’t concern him enough to actually learn about the Muslim Brotherhood network in his state and to take greater precautions in the future,” Mauro noted.
In September 2011, Kaine spoke at a dinner that presented a Lifetime Achievement Award to Jamal Barzinji, who is a “founding father of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood,” according to the Global Muslim Brotherhood Watch.
He first came on to the FBI’s radar in 1987-1988 when an informant inside the Brotherhood identified Barzinji as being part of a network of Brotherhood fronts to “institute the Islamic Revolution in the United States.”
U.S. Customs Special Agent David Kane said Barzinji “is not only closed associated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad…but also with Hamas.” Barzinji was nearly prosecuted but the Obama Justice Department dropped plans for indictment.
Barzinji played a major role in nearly every Brotherhood front in the U.S., according to The Clarion Project.
The Barzinji-tied New Dominion PAC donated $43,050 to Kaine’s gubernatorial campaign between 2003 and 2005.
The PAC has strong links to the Democratic Party in Virginia, with almost $257,000 in donations. Barzinji’s grandson also served in Governor McAuliffe’s administration and then became the Obama Administration’s liaison to the Muslim-American community, according to The Clarion Project.
“Kaine has no excuse,” Mauro alleges. “If he has an Internet connection, then he and his staff should have known about their backgrounds. They were either extremely careless or knew and looked the other way in the hopes of earning donations and votes.”
“Clinton’s choice of Kaine is widely seen as a way of strengthening her campaign’s national security credentials. Yet, Clinton is asking us to trust a candidate on national security who appoints a Hamas supporter to an immigration commission and speaks at a dinner honoring a Muslim Brotherhood terror suspect.”
For the full report at The Clarion Project, go here
Ryan Mauro is ClarionProject.org’s national security analyst, a fellow with Clarion Project and an adjunct professor of homeland security. Mauro is frequently interviewed on top-tier television and radio. Read more, contact or arrange a speaking engagement.
