Islamist Participates in Mayoral Swearing-In Ceremony: Joe Buckham
http://frontpagemag.com/2011/05/04/islamist-participates-in-mayoral-swearing-in-ceremony/
Bob Buckhorn is the new Mayor of Tampa Bay, Florida, replacing long time incumbent Pam Iorio. At his swearing-in ceremony, he made sure to include as participants leaders of all faiths. However, one of the invited – a local imam named Al-Inshirah Abdel-Jaleel – is currently involved in a terror-related institution and has exhibited extremism, himself.
On April 1, 2011, Bob Buckhorn was sworn-in and became the city of Tampa’s 58th Mayor. The ceremony, which at least one reporter described as “impressive,” took place at the Tampa Convention Center.
Religion played a prominent role at the event, as a number of participants included clergy from various faiths as well as a four dozen-plus member gospel choir. What is of concern, though, is that one of these clergymen was radical Muslim Al-Inshirah Abdel-Jaleel.
Abdel-Jaleel is a teacher of Islamic studies at the American Youth Academy (AYA), a children’s school founded by convicted terrorist Sami al-Arian, which originally went by the name Islamic Academy of Florida (IAF).
When al-Arian was taken into custody for his involvement with Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), IAF was named in the indictment as being part of the global “PIJ Enterprise” and a front for terrorist fundraising. After concerned lawmakers dropped the academy from Florida’s private school voucher program, IAF reincorporated under an innocent-sounding new name, American Youth Academy, using a street address directly adjacent to IAF.
One of the present directors of AYA, Ayman Barakat, was previously a director of IAF. As well, he is currently a director of the mosque al-Arian founded, the Islamic Community of Tampa (ICT), which is located on the same block as AYA. While it was incorporated as the Islamic Community of Tampa, the center also uses the name Masjid al-Qassam, the same name as Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s main mosque in the Gaza Strip.
A former director for AYA, Ibrahim Khader, co-founded with al-Arian a Tampa-area subsidiary of al-Baraka, a Saudi banking and investment corporation with reported ties to al-Qaeda financing. Former federal prosecutor John Loftus has alleged that funds from the local group might have reached the 9/11 hijackers. Khader and al-Arian dissolved the group less than three weeks after 9/11.
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