Another Jihad Attack, Another MB Mosque-Will There Be an Investigation?

The jihadist who launched an attack on two U.S. military recruiting yesterday in Chattanooga which killed four U.S. Marines and wounded a police officer, has been identified as Muhammed Yusuf Abdulazeez, a 24 year old engineering graduate of the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga (UTC).

Reports differ as to whether Abdulazeez, or his father, or both, may have been recorded on U.S. or International Terror Watch Lists. Yusuf Abdulazeez Senior records his place of birth as Nablus, in the Palestinian territories according to his Facebook page. Abdulazeez’s sister’s facebook page also showed a high degree of pro-Palestinian activism.

Abdulazeez and his family have been reported to have attended the Islamic Society of Greater Chattanooga (ISGC), which as Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Watch notes is associated with the Muslim Brotherhood through the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), which held title to the mosque’s original property, known as the Masjid Annour. NAIT was identified as an organization of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) Trial. In addition to being an unindicted Co-conspirator in the trial, Federal prosecutors introduced evidence showing that NAIT had shared bank accounts and funds with the Occupied Land Fund (OLF) which would later become the HLF. Copies of checks submitted at trial show NAIT funds being sent directly to Mousa Abu Marzook, now Deputy Chairman of Hamas’ Political Bureau.

Abdulazeez is far from the first jihadist to have ties to a Muslim Brotherhood-linked Mosque. The Islamic Sociey of Boston, was founded by convicted Muslim Brother and Al Qaeda financier Abdurrahman Alamoudi. The Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma was founded by convicted Hamas financier Mufid Abdulqader.  The Islamic Community Center of Phoenix, whose property is entrusted to NAIT, just like ISGC.

All of them with ties to recent jihadist attacks, all of them with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.

And of course, the Muslim Brotherhood was also a prominent player in the indoctrination of Carlos Bledsoe, who carried out the Little Rock Arkansas Recruiting Center attack, which killed Private Andy Long, and wounded another soldier. Bledsoe converted to Islam and was indoctrinated for jihad during his time in Nashville at Tennessee State University, where he joined the Muslim Student’s Association, the oldest Brotherhood front in the United States. The NYPD report “Radicalization in the West” identifies Muslim Students Associations as potential incubators for terrorist radicalization. Bledsoe also attended the Islamic Center of Nashville (ICN), where the MSA Chaplain Awad Binhamzh was president. ICN shared a post office box with the Islamic Society of North America, a Muslim Brotherhood front, and NAIT’s parent organization.

What role did the Muslim Brotherhood’s ties to the Islamic Society of Greater Chattanooga play in the indoctrination of Muhammed Yusuf Abdulazeez? Did ISGC play the part of an “Islamic Center” as described in the “Explanatory Memorandum” authored by MB/Hamas leader Mohammed Akram Adlouni:

The center we seek is the one which constitutes the “axis” of our Movement, the “perimeter” of the circle of our work, our “balance center”, the “base” of our rise, and our “Dar al-Arqam” to educate us, prepare us and supply our battalions in addition to being the “niche” of our prayers.

What role, if any, did the ISGC play in “preparing” and “supplying” Muhammed Yusuf Abdulazeez?

We are unlikely to ever find out.

U.S. District Attorney William Killian, who described the attack as a potential act of “domestic terrorism”, was also the keynote speaker for the opening of the ISGC in 2012. He described during that event how his friend of some 35 years was also the old college roommate of ISGC president Bassem Issa at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga.

As has been the case at the Islamic Society of Boston, and elsewhere, the ISGC’s “outreach” connections are likely to spare it from any deserving scrutiny for its potential ties to the Muslim Brotherhood or their role motivating jihad.

Outreach to Muslim Brotherhood-linked organizations and mosques must end, so that a true, in depth and serious investigation into the role played by the MB into indoctrinating young Muslims for jihad can begin. Until that occurs, there will be more attacks like in Chattanooga.