Reut Cohen: Evidence of Islamic Antisemitism at the University of California at Irvine

Editor’s note

In our NER June article, “How One Southern California Jewish Federation undermines Student Zionism at a State University, “a former Anteater for Israel (AFI) leader and University of California at Irvine (UCI)  alumna, Reut Rory Cohen discussed the abuses of her and other AFI members by members of the Muslim Students Union. However, Muslim extremist speakers who spoke during MSU-sponsored Israel Apartheid Awareness weeks provided the evidence. What follows is an excerpt from an NER interview with Ms. Cohen providing evidence and context for what she witnessed during her undergraduate career as an AFI leader. 

Reut Rory Cohen

Jerry Gordon:  Under your leadership at AFI what actions occurred during what was Israel Apartheid Awareness week (IAAEW), now renamed Anti-Zionism Week, sponsored by the Muslim Student Union and Students for Justice in Palestine?

Reut Cohen:  Speakers ranged from Amir Abdel Malik Ali to Ward Churchill. As you can probably gather, a lot of defrocked academics and radicals serve as MSU/SJP speakers.

Abdul Alim Musa and Amir Abdel Malik Ali, two radical imams, are no strangers to UC Irvine where they regularly spread their seething hatred of America, Israel and Jews on behalf of the Muslim Student Union. These speakers are involved with the As-Sabiqun movement which aims for Islamic revivalism and enabling Islam to take “complete control of … the lives of all human beings on Earth.”

It may be worth noting that two days before 9/11 — at a Sept. 9, 2001 fundraiser at UC Irvine on behalf of the cop-killer Jamil Al-Amin — Musa said:  “Imam Jamil coined a phrase, and that phrase meant this: ‘If you don’t give us justice. If you don’t give us equality. If you don’t give us our share of America. If you don’t stay out of our way and leave us alone, we’re gonna burn America down.”

During a May 9, 2007 “Islamic Revival” event at UC Irvine Musa discussed his belief that the U.S. carried out the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon:

When you hear about some bomber that blew up the World Trade Center or blew up this or blew up that, I’m telling you brothers and sisters, that is your CIA. That is your government blowing up people, blaming it on us … Didn’t Adolf Hitler burn the Reichstag, blame it on the people and he became the Fuhrer and what happened? He could suspend civil liberties. And he could wipe out and he could war against all of his enemies. That’s what Adolf Hitler did, isn’t that right? He burned the Reichstag himself…. They blew up the World Trade Center, blamed it on us, and then come out with the PATRIOT Act and all these criminal laws. Right?

At the same event, Musa said:

Who ran the slave trade … who funded [it]? You’ll study and you will find out: the Jews … It was the Jewish bankers … in Vienna, with pockets full of money, funding and insuring, that’s who did it…. you can’t tell us about no holocaust. Between the African Americans and the Native Americans, everybody else’s stuff was [supposedly] small potatoes [according to Jews].

Some notable quotes from Malik-Ali moments during my UCI student days: 

The enemies of Islam know that when we come back to power we’re gonna check ’em.

Stay conscious and ask Allah to raise the Muslims and give us victory over the disbeliever.

When it’s all over, the only one standing is gonna be us [Muslims].

Sooner or later, today’s Muslim students will be the parents of Muslim children. And they should be militants.

Neo-cons are all Zionist Jews.

Israelis ought to return to Germany, to Poland, to Russia. The Germans should hook y’all up. You [Israelis] should go back to Germany.

In America, you’re mostly fighting with your tongue, but you should also learn how to fight with the sword.

The group these gentlemen are involved with is outrageous. Founded in the early 1990s by Imam Abdul Alim Musa, As-Sabiqun (whose name means “The Vanguard” in Arabic) is a Sunni endeavor that seeks, through “an organized Islamic movement,” to establish Islam “as a complete way of life in America” — “in total, complete, and uncompromised service of Allah.”

On July 4, 1994, As-Sabiqun enumerated its major organizational objectives in a document that stated, most notably:

We resolve to work with other communities (movements) … toward the end of harnessing the power of Muslims and their resources for the purpose of reestablishing the system of governance known as Khilafah, or the Caliphate, patterned after the leadership exemplified by Prophet Muhammad.

We resolve to utilize all the tools of Islam to develop an analysis and plan of action to totally and completely obliterate the hold of jahiliyyah [spiritual ignorance] and enable Islam to take complete control of our lives, and ultimately, the lives of all human beings on Earth.

We resolve to shape the ideas, beliefs, and moral viewpoints of the people into an Islamic mold. Toward this end we will … develop the comprehensive educational system that is necessary to inform, inspire, and direct the society toward Islamic revolution (or evolution).

We resolve to make Islam a living force by challenging and breaking the hold of social and political forces seeking to suppress and destroy Islam.

As-Sabiqun’s major ideological influences include the writings and crusades of Malcolm X, Maulana Mawdudi, Shaikh ‘Uthman dan Fodio, Sayyid Qutb, Kalim Siddiqui, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and Muslim Brotherhood founder Hasan al-Banna.

Though As-Sabiqun is a Sunni entity, it has publicly voiced support for such Shi’a movements and organizations as the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran and the Lebanon-based terrorist group Hezbollah. According to Abdul Alim Musa, Muslims today ought not to engage in the “counter-productive” habit of focusing on the differences between Sunni and Shi’a Islam; rather, they should aim to unite in their struggle against non-Muslims.”

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Reut Rory Cohen is a Los Angeles-based communications expert, photographer, and adjunct professor. She received a Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Irvine and a Master’s degree from the University of Southern California. More information can be found at her Facebook page (https://facebook.com/reutrcohen) and Website (www.reutrorycohen.com).