How a Fringe Muslim Cleric From Australia Became a Hero to America's Far Right - 2019-06-25

How a Fringe Muslim Cleric From Australia Became a Hero to America's Far Right June 25, 2019, Robert Mackey, The Intercept

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For Islamophobes, Mohamad Tawhidi is something very close to a godsend. A Shia Muslim cleric, raised in Australia and educated in Iran, Tawhidi presents himself as an Islamic reformer who embraces and amplifies far-right warnings that immigration by his fellow Muslims poses an existential threat to Western civilization. "He's a hero," the former New York Assembly Member Dov Hikind said last month, introducing Tawhidi to an audience of Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn. "He is a super-special individual that God has introduced to this world." Tawhidi immediately repaid the favor by suggesting that Muslims, at least those from the majority Sunni sect, are mistaken to consider Jerusalem a sacred site. "Muslims who are fighting for Palestine are absolutely confused," he said. "Palestine is Jewish land." Tawhidi went on to call political Islam "a disease," and accused America's first two Muslim women in Congress, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, of "bringing a Hamas agenda to the U.S. Congress." Hikind, who is leading a campaign to force Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee over her comments about Israel, was delighted by Tawhidi's baseless claim that the two Democrats are secret agents of the Palestinian Islamist movement.

HIGHLIGHT from our event with @imamofpeace where he speaks about how @ilhan and @rashidatlaib represent Hamas in Congress!

"Why are you bringing a Hamas agenda to the US Congress?!" pic.twitter.com/sBvyoTpogM — Dov Hikind (@HikindDov) May 23, 2019

Wikipedia cite:

{{cite news | first = Robert | last = Mackey | title = How a Fringe Muslim Cleric From Australia Became a Hero to America's Far Right | url = https://theintercept.com/2019/06/25/mohamad-tawhidi-far-right/ | work = The Intercept | date = June 25, 2019 | accessdate = October 21, 2019 }}