Par for the course, Islamopanderer Chris Christie appoints Islamist-friendly AG to be temporary Senator
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has appointed Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa to the Senate following the death of Senator Frank Lautenberg. Chiesa, who will serve until a new candidate is elected, has led the Christie Administration’s outreach to Islamist radicals. Christie also appointed a Muslim terrorists’ lawyer for Superior Court judge in 2011.
Clarion Project In November 2012, the Clarion Project broke the story that four Islamists belong to Attorney General Chiesa’s Muslim outreach committee. One member, Imam Mohammad Qatanani, has a long relationship with Governor Christie.
- Imam Mohammad Qatanani, whose deportation is sought by the Department of Homeland Security for not disclosing on his green card application that he was arrested and convicted by Israel in 1993 for his involvement with Hamas;
- Ahmed Shedeed, a fervent supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and President of the Islamic Center of Jersey City, a mosque with a history of Islamist leadership. Its website currently contains disturbing statements about jihad, the West, wife beating and polygamy;
- Mohammed Younes, the President of the American Muslim Union, a group with Islamist leadership and close ties to Qatanani’s mosque, which was founded by a Hamas fundraiser; and
- Imam Abdul Basit of the New Brunswick Islamic Center, a mosque founded by a radical cleric. In July, it held a Brotherhood-linked seminar featuring multiple extremist speakers.
When serving as U.S. attorney for New Jersey, Christie embraced and kissed Mohammed Qatanani, imam of the Islamic Center of Passaic County, and praised him as “a man of great goodwill.” He did this after Qatanani had publicly ranted against Jews and in support of funding Hamas, a U.S. government–designated terror organization, and on the eve of his deportation hearing for hiding an Israeli conviction for membership in Hamas. In addition, Christie designated a top aide, Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles McKenna, to testify as a character witness for Qatanani
The Department of Homeland Security has been trying to deport Qatanani because of his Hamas links since July 2006. His green card application left out a 1993 conviction in Israel for his involvement with the terrorist group. Shortly after his release, he moved to N.J. to lead the Hamas-founded Islamic Center of Passaic County, alongside a later-convicted Hamas fundraiser. The DHS took note of Qatanani’s cash transfers to the West Bank.
A 2008 court filing by the Department of Homeland Security summarized: “It is certainly suspicious when a person who has been convicted of being a member of, and providing services, to Hamas, who has personal ties to a Hamas militant leader, and a Hamas fundraiser also sends undisclosed cash to the West Bank.”
As U.S. Attorney, Christie defended Qatanani as a “man of great goodwill.” His Assistant U.S. Attorney, Charles McKenna, was as a character witness for Qatanani during the trial. Christie later appointed McKenna as the Director of the N.J. State Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness. McKenna is now Christie’s Chief Counsel.
Qatanani was preaching extremism, even as the trial was ongoing. He was originally granted permanent residency against the objections of the DHS, but the Board of Immigration Appeals overturned the decision.
The relationship between Qatanani and the Christie Administration, particularly Chiesa, continued. In 2011, Christie picked Qatanani’s attorney, Sohail Mohammed, as a Superior Court Judge.
Governor Chris Christie attends the Swearing-In Ceremony for Sohail Mohammed as New Jersey Superior Court Judge at the Passaic County Courthouse in Paterson, N.J. on Tuesday, July 26, 2011.
In May 2012, Chiesa cleared the NYPD of breaking N.J. law in its counter-terrorism surveillance. He immediately met with Qatanani afterwards, as well as the executive-director of his mosque and an official from the N.J. chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. CAIR is an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas-financing trial and was labeled by the U.S. government as a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entity.
Christie judicial appointee, Sohail Mohammed, an immigration lawyer who represented detainees caught in the post-Sept. 11 furor, watches the Fox series ‘24’ at his office in Clifton, N.J. “Somewhere, some lunatic out there watching this will do something to an innocent American Muslim because he believes what he saw on TV,” Mohammed said.
On July 24, Qatanani attended an Iftar dinner at the Governor’s Mansion, where Christie called him a “friend” and said his critics are “bigots.” Chiesa attended Friday services at Qatanani’s mosque in April.
There are three other individuals on Chiesa’s Muslim outreach committee with concerning links. Mohammed Younes is the President of the American Muslim Union, a group with close ties to Qatanani’s mosque. Younes served on the mosque’s board of trustees and the two organizations have had at least five common officials.
Ahmed Shedeed is the President of the Islamic Center of Jersey City. As the Clarion Project’s original story showed, he is a fervent supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood and was even photographed at a rally in New York City for Egyptian President Morsi. The website contains anti-American rhetoric, justification of jihad, promotion of polygamy and links to an article titled, “Does Islam Allow Wife Beating?” The given answer is that “a husband may use some light disciplinary action in order to correct the moral infraction of his wife.”
Mohamed Morsi, center
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