Israel Matzav

Obama invites 'Islamic scholar' linked to Hamas to speak at inauguration

Democratic President elect Barack Hussein Obama is reaching out to Hamas by inviting an 'Islamic scholar' who is linked to the terror organization to speak at his inauguration this coming Tuesday.

Ingrid Mattson, president of the Islamic Society of North America, is one of many religious leaders scheduled to speak at the prayer service at Washington's National Cathedral.

Mattson has been the guest of honor at State Department dinners and has met with senior Pentagon officials during the Bush administration. She also spoke at a prayer service at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Mattson, who was elected president of the society in 2006, is a professor of Islamic studies at Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut.

But in 2007 and as recently as last July, federal prosecutors in Dallas filed court documents linking the Plainfield, Indiana-based Islamic society to Hamas, which the US considers a terrorist organization.

Neither Mattson nor her organization have been charged. But prosecutors wrote in July that they had "a wide array of testimonial and documentary evidence expressly linking" the group to Hamas and other radical groups.

Linda Douglass, a spokeswoman for Obama's inaugural committee, would not discuss the case or say whether the committee knew about it.

"She has a stellar reputation in the faith community," Douglass said Saturday night.

The existence of the court documents was first reported by Politico (Hat Tip: Memeorandum).

The Islamic Society of North America, which describes itself as "the nation's largest mainstream Muslim community-based organization," is fighting its inclusion on a list of co-conspirators in the Dallas terrorism case against the Holy Land Foundation. In court documents, Mattson's group says it does not condone terrorism.

Hope and change!

UPDATE SUNDAY 11:11 AM

Politico adds.

Ms. Douglass also defended the invitation to the prayer service by pointing to Ms. Mattson’s history. “She has met with people in the Bush Administration over the years: Secretary of State Condi Rice, Karen Hughes, Alberto Gonzales,” the spokeswoman said.

However, most of those encounters took place prior to the Justice Department’s public filing alleging that ISNA took part in a pro-Hamas conspiracy. In June 2007, weeks after the list was filed, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales backed out of an outreach event a top ISNA official was to attend. Still, Hughes apparently attended an ISNA dinner in her honor in June 2008, after she left her State Department post. The divergent treatment suggests that officials at the Justice Department, the State Department and the White House may have disagreed about how to deal with the Islamic group.

Jacks and a Justice Department spokesman, Dean Boyd, declined to comment Friday on the invite to Mattson.

According to a statement from the Presidential Inaugural Committee, Mattson is among eight religious leaders slated to give “responsive prayers [that] symbolize America’s traditions of religious tolerance and freedom.” Others on that list include Rev. Jim Wallis of Washington, D.C., Rabbi Haskel Lookstein of New York, and a minister who married President Bush’s daughter Jenna, but supported Mr. Obama’s presidential campaign, Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell of Houston.

Rabbi Lookstein is a modern Orthodox Jewish Rabbi and is the principal of the Ramaz day school, one of the largest Jewish day schools in the United States. I know that I have several Ramaz alumni among my readers and there's a prominent pro-Israel blogger whose daughters attend that school who has been very anti-Obama. I'm curious to hear your reactions.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 7:55 AM