Just a week ago - on Monday the 27th - I noted that the FBI had searched the home of Hatem Abudayyeh, executive director of the Arab American Action Network. As you well know by now, the AAAN was founded by Barack Obama's Chicago friends, Rashid and Mona Khalidi -- and funded by Barack Obama and Prof. Bill "domestic terrorist" Ayers, through the Woods Fund.
You thought that was really something, right? Well, the plot may have thickened. Josh Gerstein reports at Under the Radar (Politico.com):
.... Hatem Abudayyeh, who serves as executive director of the Arab-American Action Network, took part in a meeting for Arab-American leaders held in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on April 22, according to appointment data posted on the White House website.
“He attended a briefing held by the Office of Public Engagement on April 22, 2010, to update members of the Arab-American community on issues of their concern,” White House spokesman Shin Inouye said.
[According to WhiteHouse.gov, "The Office of Public Engagement is the open front door to the White House."]
The guest list for the event was drafted by the Arab-American Institute. Inouye said President Barack Obama did not take part in the session, which appears to have involved more than 80 people.
The local ABC affiliate - WLS-TV - in Chicago has more on the raid by the FBI.
.... When FBI agents raided the Chicago home of Hatem Abudayyeh last Friday, they took his laptop computer and paper records, anything with the word "Palestine" on it, according to the man's attorney.
Federal search warrants indicate that authorities are looking for connections between terrorist organizations in the Middle East and South America and certain anti-war leaders and organizations in the U.S.
As executive director of the Arab American Action Network in Chicago, Mr. Abudayyeh is a well-known advocate for immigrant rights. When federal officers raided his North Side home last week, along with residences in Minneapolis, they were looking for funding links between Abudayyeh and the radical Islamic group Hamas that took power in the Gaza Strip three years ago.
Even as Abudayyeh is under investigation by a federal grand jury, city of Chicago records obtained by the ABC7 I-Team show that his Arab American Action Network has received thousands of dollars in city grants: as much as $457,000 since 1998. According to city officials, the money was intended for an after-school program for high-risk students who struggle with English.
Abudayyeh supporters late Monday afternoon protested the raids outside FBI headquarters on the West Side, where federal authorities say only that they have an ongoing investigation of activities "...concerning the material support of terrorism..."
We're in luck. It just so happens that PBS did a docu-story about Abudayyeh and his wife, Naima, as part of their "New Americans" series. It's called "Palestinian Bride." In Episode 1, we meet the in-laws:
.... Naima's oldest brother died in prison during the Intifada. He was 20 years old. Naima’s other brother Jihad was a leader in the youth movement and was arrested at the age of 13. He spent three years in prison. "Prison is like a flower that everyone in Palestine has to smell," says Jihad.
Hatem has been living in his parents' home in Chicago since graduating college. In anticipation of Naima's arrival, he is renovating the basement. Hatem has not yet established a path for himself and his life revolves around his neighborhood buddies and rituals like their weekly basketball game. Plans for his upcoming marriage and his wife's immigration are the biggest sources of stress he's ever had to deal with.
Hatem’s parents were instrumental in founding the first Arab community center in Chicago thirty years ago, and meeting Naima has revived his commitment to his Arab roots....
In Episode 2:
In the spring of 2000, Hatem lands a job directing the youth program for the Arab community organization his parents helped found. It is his first real job since leaving college. "The mission for the Arab American Action Network is the overall empowerment of the community," he explains. "A place like this can build youth leaders, we can build adult leaders."
With the advent of the second Intifada in September 2000, Hatem becomes increasingly political, a development which will have a profound impact on his and Naima's marriage.
You can even buy the video. Oh, sorry, wrong link. This is the one you'll want.
See why I said, "Oy a broch" ?
A broch is a way of expressing disgust, misery, disaster. If a guy wants to tell you he's miserable, he's nauseated, he's overwhelmed, he's disgusted, he's at his wit's end, he's heard the end of it, he wants to give up, he wants to run away, he wants to get out of town, he wants to destroy himself, it's all over, there's no end in sight, there's no way to get out of it, all of this can be said in one phrase, “Oy, a broch.”
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