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YUSUF AL-KHATAB
(Joseph Leonard Cohen)
 Yusuf Al-Khatab was born in Morocco in 1969 to a Jewish family as Joseph Leonard Cohen. His family moved to Brooklyn, New York, when he was a child and he grew up as an ordinary Jewish American. In his teenage Joseph Leonard Cohen received a Jewish education at a Jewish seminary run by the anti-Zionist orthodox Satmar Hasidic community in New York.
In 1998, Joseph Leonard Cohen and his family immigrated to Israel and moved to a Jewish community in the Gaza Strip and later to a small town in Israel. Yusuf Al-Khatab obtained an Israeli citizenship.
Yusuf Al-Khatab says his conversion to Islam started after a series of conversations online with a Muslim from the United Arab Emirates. Based on Yusuf al-Khattab's account, rejection of Judaism and even hatred of Jews were the focus of their exchange.
Yusuf Al-Khatab and his wife converted to Islam in Morocco, his birth country, in 2002 and together with their children moved to an Arab neighborhood in East Jerusalem, where he worked for a Muslim Charity. Around that time, he became involved with a Web site that aims to convert Jews to Islam, called Jews for Allah (JFA). The JFA site was created by Yusuf al-Khattab's associate, Mohammed Ghounem.
The JFA site contains anti-Semitic content. For example one section called "Judaism: A Religion of Terrorists?" argues that Zionist-Jews are terrorists and explains that "Jews who accept Islam are in reality leaving the proven illegal terrorists and joining the peaceful Muslims".
In 11/2002, Yusuf Al-Khatab posted online a seemingly threatening note regarding a New York rabbi. He posted the rabbi's photo and home address and wrote: "Please make every effort to reach this man, and help him understand what its like to suffer under lies…Please Ikhwan [Arabic for "brothers"], just make contact with this man." Yusuf Al-Khatab later claimed that his home was raided by the Israeli police because of a fabricated complaint by this rabbi.
After a brief time living in Tetouan, Morocco, Yusuf Al-Khatab returned to the USA in early 2007. That year, Yusuf Al-Khatab formed the New York’s branch of Revolution Muslim Group – RM, led by Sheikh Abdullah el-Faisal, and currently (2009) serves as its Amir (Arabic for "leader") and "chief executive officer." While reportedly living in Queens and working as a pedicab driver, he seems to spend time in Morocco.
Yusuf Al-Khatab posted in his website, in 01/2009, a prayer calling for the murder of Jews and exhorting Muslims to “throw liquid drain cleaner in their faces." And there's nothing authorities can do about it. Yusuf Al-Khatab was, therefore, indicted of inciting to violance but, on 10/13/2009, was acquitted after the court said he is protected under the first amendment of the USA constitution, which grants him the freedom of speech and expressing his voice.
* Revolution Muslim – RM, has only a handful of active members. They have reportedly received the attention of law enforcement, in 01/2009, in response to the Israeli military operation against Hamas in Gaza, Revolution Muslim posted a picture on its Web site of Chabad's world headquarters in Brooklyn with a message encouraging readers to "make every attempt to reach these people and teach them the message of Islam or leave them a message from Islam. The posting, which was titled "Do Not Let Orthodox Judaism Get Away From Murder in Ghaza," reportedly prompted a police investigation. They also run a website - REVOLUTIONMUSLIM.COM .
* Chabad is a Jewish Zionist Orthodox congregation with followers all over the world but with its headquarters in New York.
* Related topics -
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15/10/2009 06:48:53
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