REPORT: GROUND ZERO MOSQUE FOUNDER TIED TO FLOTILLA GROUP

Andy Soltis at the New York Post is reporting that the Imam responsible for the Mosque scheduled to be built near Ground Zero not only has ties to the Free Gaza Movement - the group responsible for the recent attempt to break an Israeli blockade of Gaza; he is also a prominent member of a group that sponsored the flotilla. A Turkish group with ties to Hamas - IHH - financed the flotilla as well. Making this much worse is that it should be even more obvious to Mayor Michael Bloomberg that Rauf is not at all what he claims to be:

Via the Post:

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is a key figure in Malaysian-based Perdana Global Peace Organization, according to its Website.

Perdana is the single biggest donor ($366,000) so far to the Free Gaza Movement, a key organizer of the six-ship flotilla that tried to break Israel's blockade of the Hamas-run Gaza Strip Monday.

Soltis also quotes Deborah Burlingame, sister of one of the pilots killed on 9/11:

"I think it goes to show he is not the man he represents himself to be. We have two Imam Raufs," she said.

"We have the anti-Israel, anti-democratic imam, and we have the smiling, soft-spoken moderate Muslim who says 'Why can't we all get along?'

That leads us to former Muslim terrorist and current Christian, Walid Shoebat, who has been sounding the alarm about Turkey for years and has also translated Rauf's Arabic words into English.

Here is a statement from Shoebat (pictured) about his findings via Special Guests:

Walid Shoebat: Little is known regarding the founder of the Ground Zero Mosque, Faisal Abdul Rauf or his views on Islam. Many view him moderate and others connect him to his father’s affiliation to the Muslim Brotherhood. While others object that this would be guilt by association. For that we searched Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf’s own words – in the Arabic and not what he says in English to the western media.

It should shock every American to find out that Faisal Abdul Rauf stated to the popular Islamic media Hadiyul-Islam (www.hadielislam.com) on May 26, 2010 in an article by Sa’da Abdul Maksoud. In it he states that an Islamic state can be established regardless of the government being a kingdom or democracy. In another article titled “I do not believe in religious dialogue” should alarm the ardent skeptic on the mindset of the Islamic visionary who advocates establishing Islamic lobbies throughout the West.

He also admitted that “[In the West] they have separation of church and state, this of course does not exist in any Muslim country. About 99% refuse to separate religion from state and many call for establishing an Islamic Caliphate.” And regarding religious dialogue Abdul-Rauf stated “this phrase is inaccurate. Religious dialogue as customary understood is a set of events with discussions in large hotels that result in nothing. Religions do not dialogue and dialogue is not present in the attitudes of the followers regardless of being Muslim or Christian. The image of Muslims in the West is complex which needs to be remedied.” And when his view regarding an Islamic state he responded that “throughout my discussions with contemporary Muslim theologians that an Islamic state can be established in more than just in a single form or mold. It can be established through a kingdom or a democracy.

The important issue is to establish the general fundamentals of Shariah that are required to govern. It is known that there are sets of standards that are accepted by [Muslim] scholars to organize the relationships between government and the governed.” When questioned on this, that “the current governments are unjust and do not follow Islamic laws” Abdul Rauf commented “new laws were permitted after the death of Muhammad, so long of course that these laws do not contradict the Quran or the Deeds of Muhammad…so they create institutions that assure no conflicts with Shariah.”

If you're unfamiliar with Shoebat, read his bio at Special Guests. His heritage includes maternal ties to Winston Churchill and paternal ties to Hitler's favorite arab, Hajj Amin al-Husseini.

h/t to Free Republic for the Post article.