Boca Mosque Targets Jews, Christians and the West

icbrFor the Islamic Center of Boca Raton (ICBR) some things have changed and some have stayed the same. The center went from a storefront, where it began, to a nearly 30,000 square foot mosque. That was a huge change. It has also lost a number of imams along the way, a couple of whom have been charged with crimes. Many of the faces still remain, though, and so does the hate that was exhibited when the center was established over 15 years ago.

ICBR started as a result of an effort by the Muslim Student Organization (MSO) at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) and FAU Professor Bassem Alhalabi, who helped create the MSO. The founding directors of the center included three persons: Alhalabi, travel agency owner Khalid Qureshi, and then-FAU student Syed Ahmad, who was also a website designer for Hamas in Gaza.

Alhalabi, prior to getting his job at FAU, was an assistant to Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Sami al-Arian, while they were together at the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa.

Today, two out of the three, Alhalabi and Qureshi, are still directors at the mosque.

From October 1999 through September 2001 – roughly three years – the website of ICBR had an essay prominently posted on it, entitled ‘Why can’t the Jews and Muslims live together in peace?’

The essay stated, “There cannot be harmony between Jews – who are usurpers and aggressors, who have oppressed and persecuted others… Jews are people of treachery and betrayal; it is not possible to trust them at all… As the Muslims and Jews are enemies residing in opposing religious and doctrinal camps, it is not possible for them to be brought together unless one is made to submit to the other by force… [Muhammad] said, ‘You will fight the Jews and will prevail over them, so that a rock will say, O Muslim! There is Jew behind me, kill him!’”

The imam of the center at the time, Ibrahim Dremali, claimed that the essay appearing on the center’s website was the result of hackers, even though much of the other material that had been on the site was derived from the same place that the essay came from, the violently anti-Semitic IslamQA.com.

Dremali’s rendition of the facts were contradicted by then-Spokesman for ICBR, Dan McBride, a Muslim convert who said that the only reason why they took the essay off the site was because they received numerous complaints about it.

Today, there is a new imam leading the mosque, Fathi Kalfi, but the rhetoric coming from him and another ICBR official shows that absolutely nothing regarding the center’s bigotry towards others has changed.

On the ICBR website, there is currently a section which allows one to listen to speeches given by the Islamic center’s leaders to the center’s congregants. The first page is for Fathi Kalfi, ICBR’s present imam. In his speech titled ‘Fitns after Prophet (pbuh) and Abu Baker (ra),’ he incorporates an anti-Semitc and anti-Christian message, in order to make a point about what is taking place in Syria.

Kalfi says, “Damascus – used to be the capitol of every Muslim from Yemen to Andalusia [Spain] to Heng [China]. All of them, the capitol was Damascus, so it has a special place in the hearts of believers. Today, it’s controlled by Batiniyah Nusairiyah [sect of Shiah Islam]… Batiniyah have the same steps; they have the same direction – the same goal. You know what’s their goal? Destroy Islam… Bathiniyah, Ibn Taymiyyah [an Islamic scholar] said they are worse than Jews and Christians. So their goal is to destroy Islam – kill the Muslims and occupy their land… But Allah al-Jenna will not let them, Inshallah, because they will be defeated soon.”

In a second speech, Kalfi rails against the West and complains about Muslims who adopt or admire anything coming from the West, even if it is something positive. In his ‘Fitns & Situation of Muslim Uma,’ he states, “Brothers and sisters, Muslims live in a time of fitn, temptations, religious innovations, time of myths and deviation. What made it worse, brothers and sisters, is the advancement of the West, especially in the worldly matter, which led some Muslims to get influenced by that and they started to glorify or embrace anything that comes from the West, either it’s good or bad.”

Kalfi later speaks about an end of time conspiracy, where Muslims will war against the West. If the imam were saying these things from overseas as a member of Isis or al-Qaeda, it would make more sense. But Kalfi is spewing his hate from Boca Raton, Florida, a symbol in America of Western affluence and containing a sizeable Jewish population.

Another page on ICBR contains the speeches of Mounir Bourkiza, the General Manager at Garden of the Sahaba Academy, ICBR’s children’s school. In his speech to the congregants, titled ‘Major Shirk,’ he states that Christian belief is “nonsense.”

Bourkiza says in the speech, “Or as the Christians believe… They apply the same characteristics of the creation of a human to Allah al-Jenna. They say Allah is the father and he has a son and all this kind of nonsense.”

Most probably due to past infractions, which included a link from the ICBR website to a site raising funds and recruiting fighters for al-Qaeda and the Taliban, ICBR has taken the step of placing a disclaimer on its website’s ‘About Us’ page. What is both interesting and ironic is that the mosque put, at the end of the disclaimer, a statement regarding anti-Semitism. It reads, “It must be clear that ICBR condemns Anti-Semitism whether it originates from Muslim, or any other sources.”

Evidently, ICBR does not condemn anti-Semitism enough, because the mosque’s own imam actively spreads anti-Semitism, and the mosque is so proud of it that it moved to place the anti-Semitic content on its website for everyone to listen to. And not only has the imam targeted Jews, but both he and the GM of the ICBR children’s school have targeted Christians as well.

Furthermore, Kalfi has spoken out against the entire West, where he happens to reside, which only adds to the disturbing nature of his statements, as his words can incite listeners to commit hateful and violent acts on our own shores.

One former ICBR congregant who appeared to have been influenced by the extremism of ICBR is Dr. Rafiq Sabir. Today, Sabir is serving out a 25-year prison sentence for swearing allegiance to and providing material support to al-Qaeda.

No one can use the excuse now that the ICBR website has been hacked, because the hate statements presently found on it were made by those representing ICBR themselves, making the disclaimer seem more an exercise in deception than transparency.

Beila Rabinowitz, Director of Militant Islam Monitor, contributed to this report.

  • billobillo54

    As a Christian I have no problem with a Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Jew, atheist, or anyone else being critical of Christianity. Remember, it was Christians who founded the U.S. and wrote the Constitution including the First Amendment. What I do have a problem with is Islam: a political movement that is completely incompatible with the ideals of liberty, peace, tolerance and civility. Islam is a subversive, intolerant, authoritarian, anti-democratic, deceptive, socially and economically retrograde, abusive, misogynist, violent, medieval socio-political system. Islam is as antisocial and as inhuman and brutal as Nazism or Communism. ISIS is an accurate and authentic representation of Islam. So is Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Pakistan, etc. With that being said the U.S. must do several things:
    1. STOP THE IMMIGRATION OF ALL MUSLIMS INTO THE U.S.
    2. DEFINE ISLAM AS A TERRORIST, ENEMY, SUBVERSIVE POLITICAL SYSTEM.

  • Metatrona

    Turn all mosques into sports arenas. It is a far better use of the property.

    • Headed4TheHills

      Homes for the homeless. Could fit quite a few into 30,000 sqft.

  • billobillo54

    Herb: Romans Chapter 13, to sum up the pertinent text, says that government is to keep order and government is to protect the innocent. Since Islam is an ideology of evil and abuse at its core it must be resisted and fought not accommodated. Your willingness of precipitating the massive immigration of Muslims into the west is a prescription for disaster, death, abuse and torture. All of the Middle East and all of North Africa was once Christian dominated. Now Christians are killed, raped, sold as slaves, robbed and tortured. Using your logic the west should have accommodated and welcomed massive immigration of Germans during W.W. II???????

    • herb benty

      bbo. I am against Islam. All those Christians are with their Maker right now. Go back to Media Matters for some bolt-tightening, twit.

      • billobillo54

        Herb: Thanks for the clarification. I guess your faithfulness to Jesus stops when it comes to correcting a minor misunderstanding or perhaps a need for clearer composition. Is “twit” synonymous with fool (e.g. Matthew 5: 22)? It is good to know that you are against Islam and against immigration of Muslims to the U.S.

        • herb benty

          Jesus Christ my Lord is no pacifist hippie, He is “no respecter of men”, and He is coming “with a sword”. So forgive my impatience, fiddling around is not an option anymore. He came as the Lamb of God once, He now comes as the Word of God, the Messiah, King of Kings. And every knee will bow. PS. your attempted dissembling was feeble.

          • Headed4TheHills

            Amen, herb, amen. So many forget that when He returns it will not be as the sacrificial lamb but as the conquering king.

          • herb benty

            H4TH, Amen pal, looks like God will fullfill all very soon. Stay strong.

          • billobillo54

            If you read my posts you would see that I am no pacifist hippie. I merely misunderstood your post. But, rather than just correct my misunderstanding you called me a name and continue to mischaracterize me. I know Jesus is coming backs soon as The King of Kings and will “make war.” Actually, Gideon is a type of the Messiah (see Isaiah 9, Isaiah 10 and Psalm 83). Also, for example, Isaiah 63, demonstrates that YHWH has blood on His garments from waging war against Edom at the end of the age. Or, Micah Chapter 5, for example, is a prophecy of the end of the age in which the Messiah and the Jews and “7 princes and 8 principled men” will FIGHT against “The Assyrian.” Furthermore, the Scriptures clearly teach that Islam is the body of antichrist and the antichrist, rather than being a gay, secular European will be a Middle east Muslim. Remember, Gideon, after he killed the princes of Midian, took their “crescent ornaments” from their camels. Sola Fide.

          • herb benty

            Our God says in several places in the Old Testament, that He is a God of War. And He does not lose. He remains righteous even in War, and He remains Just and True, he has no, “blood on His Hands” in the sense that humans can have. Anyway, lighten up, your first post to me completely took my post the opposite direction I was saying. It looked “trollish” but forgive/forget seeing you’re a believer. Shalom.

          • billobillo54

            Amen Bro. God bless you.

          • herb benty

            Thanks from the heart, see you at the Big Supper!

  • Bert

    Notice that in this situation no one even notices the absence of any coherent response from the Jewish establishment. It is taken for granted that most Jews will remain cowardly and passive in the face of this growing threat. And the 40 or so Jewish Democrats in Congress also remain cowardly and silent. U.S Muslims can easily mobilize street demonstrations while the larger U.S. Jewish community simply hides out. As a lifelong Jewish activist I can only regard this callous indifference by most Jews with shame and disgust.

    • billobillo54

      We Christians are little better.

  • SCREW SOCIALISM

    Take Islamists at their word – and pushback yourself accordingly.