We are constantly told that the overwhelming majority, if not totality, of Muslims in the West reject jihad violence as a “hijacking” of their peaceful religion. So why is it so hard to find Muslims who have no links to jihad groups such as Hamas to staff commissions of this kind. And is the “Expert Commission on Anti-Muslim Racism” going to reveal to us finally what race Islam is?
“Berlin appoints Islamists to a commission against anti-Muslim racism,” translated from “Berlin beruft Islamisten in Kommission gegen antimuslimischen Rassismus,” by Frederik Schindler, Welt, March 25, 2021 (thanks to Medforth):
Mohamad Hajjaj was appointed to the “Expert Commission on Anti-Muslim Racism” by the State of Berlin. Around 1.3 million euros from tax money went to his association, Inssan. But Hajjaj was active in associations that are considered Islamist by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution.
On February 26, the “Expert Commission on Anti-Muslim Racism” set up by the State of Berlin began its work. The committee is to develop “recommendations for a further development of prevention work on anti-Muslim racism” by spring 2022, announced the responsible Senate Department for Justice, Consumer Protection and Anti-Discrimination of Senator Dirk Behrendt (Greens) at the time.
Two of the six members were sent by the Islam Forum of Integration Commissioners: Lydia Nofal and Mohamad Hajjaj, the chairperson and the managing director of the Islamic association Inssan.
WELT research shows that Inssan and the persons named have references to Islamist organizations that were or are in part observed by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Nevertheless, Inssan has received large amounts of federal and state funding for years. The Berlin association was founded in 2002, according to its own statements it pursues the goal of “promoting the development of a German-speaking Islam”.
Nofal and Hajjaj are active in numerous committees and organizations. Both belong to the regional executive committee of the Central Council of Muslims in Berlin, both are members of the SPD working group of Muslim Social Democrats. Nofal was also appointed by the Berlin Senate Chancellery to the Advisory Board of the Institute for Islamic Theology at the Humboldt University in Berlin.
However, he was and still is active in other associations. In 2014, Hajjaj was quoted as head of the capital office of the Palestinian Community in Germany (PGD) in an interview with the internet portal web.de. In the fall of 2014, the Berlin internal administration announced that it was an organization of supporters of the Islamist terrorist organization Hamas. Hamas is represented in Germany by the PGD, according to the Hamburg Constitutional Protection Report from 2016.
When asked, Hajjaj denies having been active in the Palestinian Community in Germany. “I am and was not affiliated with this club in any way,” he said. The journalist of the text misquoted his position in a student group. WELT has received an email from Hajjaj in which he authorized his statements from the interview to the journalist. It was written from an email address that belongs to the PGD homepage.
The Turkish news agency Anadolu also quoted Hajjaj in January 2014 with a different spelling of the first name than belonging to the PGD, on the occasion of a demonstration against the siege of the Palestinian refugee camp Yarmouk in Syria. The article is not about himself, said Hajjaj. “I actually know the Muhammad Hajjaj named there. However, I am Mohamad Hajjaj. ”
When WELT subsequently confronted him with a photo of exactly this demonstration from January 2014, which was posted by the PGD on Facebook and in which Hajjaj can be seen, he informed them that the rally had not been organised by the PGD and that he had taken part as a spokesperson for a student group. WELT is in possession of a PGD flyer calling for the rally on the day in question.
When asked if Hajjaj was still vice-chairman of the Teiba Cultural Centre, he did not answer. A recent search of the register of associations at the Charlottenburg district court shows that Hajjaj still holds this position. In a handout as well as in the report of the Berlin Office for the Protection of the Constitution from 2016, the Teiba Cultural Centre is mentioned under the items “Islamist mosque associations and aid organisations” and “Connections of Berlin associations to the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic Community in Germany”, respectively.
In September 2010, the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle interviewed an activist of the “German Initiative to Break the Gaza Blockade”, once referred to as Mohamed Hajjaj and once as Mohammed Hajja. When asked, Hajjaj stated that he had not participated in the initiative, but that it had been ” monitored via the media” by his student group. He did not answer the question whether he denied having given the interview to Deutsche Welle in 2010.
The Islamforum Berlin, which sent Hajjaj and Nofal to the “Expert Commission on Anti-Muslim Racism”, is responsible for the Integration Commissioner of the Berlin Senate. A spokeswoman said: “The decision to send experts to the expert commission on anti-Muslim racism was made by the Muslim representatives. She did not give any details on the content of the appointments. The justice administration, which is responsible for the entire commission, only referred to the integration commissioner.
“The importance of Inssan cannot be overlooked,” said Sigrid Herrmann-Marschall, an expert on Islamism. The association has built up a large network in recent years. “Lydia Nofal is the incorporated double strategy and acts as a mediator between the majority society and the Muslim Brotherhood’s network of campaigns,” Herrmann-Marschall continued.
Nofal did not respond to a request for an assessment of these allegations. It already distanced itself from the Muslim Brotherhood in 2007. “It is important to us that we remain independent of any ideology or movement,” Mohamad Hajjaj said about the accusations.
Inssan itself has also been under observation by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. From 2007 to 2009, the association was listed in the Berlin report as being close to the Muslim Brotherhood. In April 2018, Berlin’s interior administration announced that individual Inssan members had “personal connections” to the Islamic Culture and Education Centre Berlin (IKEZ) – according to Berlin’s 2017 report on the protection of the constitution, a “Berlin meeting place of Hamas supporters”. Both the IKEZ and Inssan and the Teiba Cultural Centre belong to the Islamforum Berlin, which was founded in 2005 on the initiative of the then Berlin Integration Commissioner.
The association Inssan, which belongs to the umbrella organisation Zentralrat der Muslime (Central Council of Muslims), has received large amounts of state funding since 2010. For example, the Inssan project “Network against Discrimination and Islamophobia” received funding from the Berlin state programme “Democracy. Diversity. Respect” received a total of 589,922 euros from 2010 to 2020. Since 2013, the annual payments have been increasing. For 2021, the planned sum is 116,599 euros, a spokesperson for the responsible justice administration announced.
The Inssan project “Mentors for Refugees” was funded by the Senate Commissioner for Integration between 2016 and 2019 with a total of 220,770 euros. Since 2020, the Commissioner has been funding the Inssan project “Active Strengthening of Muslim Activists”, so far with a total of 164,540 euros….
gravenimage says
Germany: Berlin appoints pro-Hamas Islamic supremacist to commission against ‘anti-Muslim racism’
…………….
As Robert Spencer says, what could possibly go wrong?
This creep has said that Muslims don’t demonstrate against Jihad terror because Muslims don’t have a “culture of demonstration”, which is supposedly a Western thing. He does not explain the regular violent rioting against any criticism of Islam all over the Muslim World.
mortimer says
Important observation by GI: Mohamad Hajjaj CLAIMS that Muslims don’t ‘protest’. Well, they sure as HELL DO protest against the DIRTY KUFAAR (but not against fellow Muslims) … and they even commit vicious atrocities to protest words or cartoons. But Muslims aren’t supposed to protest immoral actions or vicious atrocities committed by fellow Muslims … that is against SHARIA LAW.
In Islam, BACKBITING (against a fellow Muslim) is a MAJOR SIN, since it spreads DISUNITY among the JIHADIST COMMUNITY.
Muslims may certainly backbite against the DIRTY KAFIRS as much as they like, because the HONOR of a kafir is NOT defended … only the honor of a fellow Muslim is protected.
gravenimage says
Agreed, Mortimer.
jim says
OK Muslim is not a “race” so just as Islamophobia is a certifiable fallacy muslims are not a race…
mortimer says
Preposterous phrase ‘anti-Muslim racism’. Islam is a POLITICAL IDEOLOGY, not a ‘race’.
gravenimage says
+1