Nancy Pelosi Hires Former Terrorist Fundraiser

by Daniel Greenfield

In 2000, he oversaw a week of events that raised money for Islamic terrorists murdering Jews. From 2005 until the present, he oversaw a left-wing blog whose contributors used language that even he admitted was anti-Semitic. And now Faiz Shakir is about to become a senior advisor to the Democratic Minority Leader of the House of Representatives.

What happens to a top left-wing operative when he loses control of a media operation so badly that the White House has to distance itself from its allied think tank? He gets a job offer from Nancy Pelosi.

After the use of bigoted language by ThinkProgress contributors turned into a growing scandal, the White House publicly distanced itself from ThinkProgress, an outlet of the Center for American Progress, which Time Magazine called the think tank with the largest influence on the Obama administration. Jarrod Bernstein, the White House’s liaison to the Jewish community, described the events there as troubling and stated that the Center for American Progress’s attitude was not that of the Obama administration.

This distancing has however proven to be only momentary with Faiz R. Shakir, ThinkProgress’s longtime Editor-in-Chief and Vice President at the Center for American Progress, who had made the site what it is, going off to work as a senior advisor and new media director for Nancy Pelosi. Moving Faiz Shakir into such a prominent role where he will be able to influence policy and messaging for a key Democratic Party figure, while keeping Danielle “Jewbags” Gilbert on as the DNC liaison to the Jewish community, is proof once again that the Democratic Party does not take bigotry seriously when it is directed at Jews. Not only that, but it even rewards the bigots with plum posts.

Faiz Shakir had co-authored the “Fear Inc.” report, which had implicitly claimed that Islamophobia was the product of a Jewish conspiracy, and had written positively about the Tunisian Islamist Al-Nahda Party and its genocidal head, Sheikh Rashid Ghannouchi, who has engaged in blatant anti-Semitism, and has said, “There are no civilians in Israel. The population—males, females and children—are the army reserve soldiers, and thus can be killed.”

During his time at ThinkProgress, Faiz Shakir had repeatedly attacked the Jewish State, endorsing the Hamas aid flotilla to Gaza and attacking Israel’s attempts to defend itself against terrorists. Unlike some of his more radical junior colleagues, like Ali Gharib and Zaid Jlani, his position has forced Shakir to be somewhat more discreet.

But Shakir’s sympathy for Islamists and antipathy for the Jewish State are no surprise at all considering his activities during his college days when he was a member of the Harvard Islamic Society.

While the Harvard Islamic Society’s affiliation with the Muslim Brotherhood’s MSA is somewhat vague, its Constitution states that its independence does not preclude “affiliation with the Muslim Students Association of the United States and Canada.”

HIS was co-founded by Yusuf Ibish, the father of Hussein Ibish, who is a veteran pro-terrorist and anti-Israel activist, and Syed Hossein Nasr, an Islamic philosopher and opponent of the United States and Israel, who claims to be able to trace his ancestry back to Mohammed. During Faiz Shakir’s time there, HIS was presided over by Zayed Yasin, who became infamous for his “My American Jihad” speech.

In 2000, The Harvard Islamic Society held an Islamic Awareness Week and Faiz Shakir served as the co-chair for the week’s events. One of those events included a fundraiser for the Holy Land Foundation, a group which acted as the fundraising arm for Hamas in the United States. As co-chair of the week’s events, Shakir would have unquestionably been involved in the selection of organizations to donate to. That he chose a fundraising for a Muslim Brotherhood terrorist organization can only be regarded as highly significant.

Though the Holy Land Foundation was only raided in the year after that, it was well known at the time that the group was a front for terrorists, and the Harvard Islamic Society faced complaints and scrutiny for its terrorist fundraising. Zayed Yasin’s defense of the Holy Land Foundation made it quite clear that he was familiar with its true mission.

At the time, Shakir was quoted as saying that, “We want to give them a couple ways for them to think about Islam.” But apparently there was really only one way to think about Islam. There still is.

Under Shakir, ThinkProgress has promoted Muslim Brotherhood-linked Islamists, much as he tried to direct funds to Hamas during his Harvard days. It has been a long time since Shakir was a student and as someone who claims to be a foreign policy expert, there is no doubt that during his tenure at ThinkProgress he knew exactly what he was doing.

ThinkProgress is not just a site; it’s the messaging apparatus for the most influential think tank in the country. It’s where Democrats and their media allies pick up their talking points in their war on truth, justice and the American Way. And as senior advisor to the Democratic Minority Leader in Congress, and aspiring Majority Leader, Faiz Shakir will be doing what he was doing all along.

The Center for American Progress is the Soros Shadow Party’s tool for influencing domestic and international policy, but it is also filled with members of another shadow party: the agents of the Muslim Brotherhood. As a senior advisor to Nancy Pelosi, Faiz Shakir will be doing directly what he once did indirectly, openly what he once did covertly.

Putting a man like Shakir into such a position is a statement that the Democratic Party no longer cares what it reveals about itself as the last vestiges of caution that it adopted after September 11 fall away and the dark blotch of the two shadow parties covers it over. And so a man who chaired a week of events that raised money for an Islamic terrorist group, whose charter calls for the extermination of the Jewish people, and who ran a messaging apparatus whose contributors used anti-Semitic language, will now run the messaging apparatus for the leader of congressional Democrats.

The elevation of Faiz Shakir is yet another reminder to Jews that there is no longer a place for them in the Democratic Party.

Daniel Greenfield

Source: http://frontpagemag.com/2012/05/29/nancy-pelosi-hires-former-terrorist-fundraiser/

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