http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=572cea4b-839c-4080-9999-f53611a46aba
Cat Stevens was guest of Canadian Hamas front Muslim singer criticized Judaism as a 'so-called' religion Stewart Bell National Post Tuesday, September 28, 2004 TORONTO - Yusuf Islam, the British singer formerly known as Cat Stevens, was the guest of honour at a Toronto fundraising dinner hosted by an organization that has since been identified by the Canadian government as a "front" for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. In a videotape of the 1998 event obtained by the National Post, Mr. Islam describes Israel as a "so-called new society" created by a "so-called religion" and urges the audience to donate to the Jerusalem Fund for Human Services to "lessen the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Palestine and the Holy Land." The Jerusalem Fund is one of four "fronts" named in a secret Privy Council Office memo that was sent to Jean Chretien, then prime minister, on May 23, 2000, discussing what it called groups that "have unsavoury links with terrorism. "In a limited number of cases, fundraising in support of violent foreign struggles takes place in Canada through the cover of ethnic, religious or community-based associations and groups, lobbying and even criminal activity," the report says. "Front groups operating in Canada include the Jerusalem Fund for Human Services (Hamas Front), the World Tamil Movement (Tamil Tigers Front), the Canadian Kurdish Information Network (Kurdistan Workers Party Front) and the Babbar Khalsa (a Sikh extremist front)." Hamas, also known as the Islamic Resistance Movement, is responsible for most of the suicide bombings against Israelis. Canada has outlawed Hamas under federal anti-terrorism legislation, making it illegal to support the group. Best known for his hit songs in the 1960s and '70s, when he was known as Cat Stevens, Mr. Islam, 56, a Muslim convert, made headlines last week when his flight from London to Washington was diverted to Maine because his name appeared on a U.S. watch list. He was expelled from the United States for national security reasons. "Yusuf Islam was placed on the watch list because of activities that could be potentially related to terrorism," a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security told reporters. The expulsion was criticized by Muslim groups, and Mr. Islam denies any ties to terrorism. "I never knowingly gave any terrorist group money," he said after being deported from Israel in 2000. "I've given to poor people and hospitals. I've helped to buy ambulances in the Holy Land. Obviously quite clear and supportable aims." But on June 20, 1998, Mr. Islam gave the keynote address at a Jerusalem Fund fundraising dinner held in Toronto. The event was videotaped, and a copy was obtained by the SITE Institute, a U.S. terrorism research organization. The video opens with a scene of Niagara Falls, overlayed with the Jerusalem Fund logo, which features the al-Aqsa Mosque and the maple leaf. It begins with an unidentified man explaining the activities of the Jerusalem Fund, which he describes as "helping the Muslims in Palestine" by financing hospitals, health clinics, families in need and orphans. "Palestine is close to the heart of each and every Muslim. What the Muslims of Palestine have been doing for many years now has been that bright light shining, that hope ... that they are still believers that can raise the banner of jihad in the most difficult of circumstances." Mr. Islam then begins a 45-minute speech in English in which he says it is "intolerable" for Muslims to "stand and watch" the situation in the Middle East. He describes Jerusalem as the centre of a land that is holy because of its connection to Allah. "So this city which is blessed because of its religious nature. Therefore, what we see today is the result of the departure of religion from this area, of the uprooting of religion. So many of the people of the faith have been exiled from this region, moved on, to make way for what? Strangely and ironically, they moved on in the name of so-called religion, on behalf of ... the Jews. "Of course, that would explain what is happening. Because the moment that religion and religious virtues disappear, there for sure follows trouble, tyranny, oppression," he says. "So what do we see then today? The concoction of a so-called new society based on an old society." He says there could be "no redeemer except Allah. No political concept or construct or treaty or agent except the laws of Allah, which he instructed for this world. Jerusalem is that, the symbol of that. Out of the hands of the righteous then it falls into disrepute and blood. "Jerusalem, al-Quds, it is a mirror reflecting the reality ... If it is dark, if it is bloody, then so too is the world. Today it reflects injustice of the secular man over the religious man. And how can the secular man be given the control and the sanctuary of the divine place of worship when he doesn't even respect what is holy? How? And how can those of faith allow that to happen? Therefore, peace will not return until we return to the Holy Land." � National Post 2004 --- On Wed 09/29, A Nizami < [EMAIL PROTECTED] > wrote: From: A Nizami [mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2004 04:18:25 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [ppiindia] Deportasi Yusuf Islam: Bush Paranoid? Assalamu'alaikum wr wb,<br><br>Saya pikir Bush paranoid terhadap teroris.<br>Sehingga meski dia bilang perang melawan teroris tidak<br>sama dengan perang melawan Islam, toh banyak ummat<br>Islam yang jadi korbannya termasuk Cat Stevens yang<br>begitu cinta damai serta anak2 panti asuhan yang<br>kelaparan di satu ponpes di Sukabumi<br>(www.geocitis.com/nizaminz).<br><br>Banyak ormas Islam kekurangan dana, karena AS meminta<br>negara2 Timteng menghentikan aliran dana dengan alasan<br>bisa dipakai untuk terorisme.<br><br>Wassalamu'alaikum<br><br><br>> YUSUF ISLAM'S STATEMENT <br>><br>http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1312256,00.html<br>> Friday September 24, 2004 <br>> <br>> First, I thank God for relieving me of my ordeal and<br>> delivering me home<br>> safe; also, thanks to all those who prayed for me<br>> and supported me through<br>> this whole dark episode, from eminent politicians,<br>> the press and religious<br>> leaders, to plain, everyday people. Never would I<br>> believe that such a thing<br>> could happen in the land of the free -<br>> unfortunately, it did. But it's<br>> warming to have such a wave of sympathy from my<br>> friends and my worldwide<br>> well-wishers. <br>> <br>> After the experience of my dramatic deportation from<br>> the USA it feels like<br>> I am on a different planet from the one I was on a<br>> couple of days ago;<br>> certainly the world has changed, not for the best. <br>> <br>> Two days beforehand, I had started a journey with my<br>> daughter to Nashville,<br>> intending to initiate work on a new recording<br>> project. Suddenly, our<br>> aeroplane was diverted 600 miles to Bangor<br>> International Airport and I<br>> found myself surrounded by six uniformed officers<br>> and handed over to the<br>> FBI for questioning. <br>> <br>> The most upsetting thing at this point was being<br>> separated from my<br>> daughter, Maymanah, not knowing how she was or when<br>> and where we might be<br>> united. <br>> <br>> And since my phone was confiscated I couldn't<br>> contact my family (nor could<br>> they ring me) and they were relegated to watching<br>> the whole frightening<br>> episode on TV and surviving on scraps of information<br>> shown by the media. <br>> <br>> My interrogators repeatedly wanted to know how my<br>> name was spelt; it<br>> sounded to me as though they had it mixed up with<br>> someone else's. Security<br>> officers finally told me that my name was on a<br>> no-fly list, I was<br>> classified as inadmissible and sent back to London. <br>> <br>> The amazing thing is that I was not given, and have<br>> still not been given,<br>> any explanation whatsoever as to what it is I am<br>> accused of, or why I am<br>> now deemed an apparent security threat - let alone<br>> given an opportunity to<br>> respond to these allegations. I was simply told that<br>> the order had come<br>> from on high. <br>> <br>> We have now initiated a legal process to try to find<br>> out exactly what is<br>> going on, and to take all necessary steps to undo<br>> the very serious, and<br>> wholly unfounded, injustice which I have suffered. <br>> <br>> I am a man of peace and denounce all forms of<br>> terrorism and injustice; it<br>> is simply outrageous for the US authorities to<br>> suggest otherwise. <br>> <br>> I have dedicated my life to promoting peace and<br>> understanding throughout<br>> the world. It would be devastating were the charity<br>> work I do through my<br>> humanitarian relief organisation, Small Kindness,<br>> which helps countless<br>> children and families, and which is accredited by<br>> the United Nations, to be<br>> undermined by what has happened. <br>> <br>> What makes the situation even more distressing is<br>> the fact that I have now<br>> been prevented from entering the United States - a<br>> part of God's earth that<br>> I love and whose people have always been great<br>> friends to me. <br>> <br>> Yet, after all this, I can think of no better<br>> response than by continuing<br>> what I believe to be the tremendously important work<br>> of caring for the<br>> _______________________________________________ No banners. No pop-ups. No kidding. Make My Way your home on the Web - http://www.myway.com ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Make a clean sweep of pop-up ads. Yahoo! Companion Toolbar. Now with Pop-Up Blocker. 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