On Friday, December 29th, in coordination with the Middle East Forum, a delegation of five concerned leaders from the local Fort Lauderdale, Florida, community met with General Manager Mark Cherry of the Fort Lauderdale Marriott Coral Springs Hotel & Convention Center.
Their concern was the (January 12-13) scheduled conference and bazaar organized by the South Florida Muslim Federation (SFMF), an umbrella organization for South Florida’s many radical Muslim groups.
The goal of the meeting? Shut down the South Florida Muslim Federation conference and bazaar.
This from frontpagemage.com.
With the help of a public outcry, the mission was a success.
There were several concerns about this conference taking place, starting with SFMF itself.
Directly following the October 7 massacre of over 1200 Israelis perpetrated by Hamas—literally on the same day as the attack—SFMF asked its followers on social media to donate funds to Gaza via the U.S. chapter of Islamic Relief, a group that has been banned by a number of nations.
NOTE: Israel has labeled Islamic Relief a front for Hamas and previously arrested its Gaza leader. And regarding its U.S. chapter, IRUSA, its ex-Chairman Khaled Lamada tweeted that it is “absurd” to classify Hamas “as a terrorist organization” and used his social media to promote Hamas.
Islamic Relief was to be the main sponsor
(“Premier Sponsor”) of the SFMF conference.
The President of SFMF is Samir Kakli, who took over the job from Nezar Hamze, a former representative for the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which is a member organization of SFMF.
NOTE a recent history of Samir Kakli:
– In June 2020, Kakli promoted the Palestinian ‘Day of Rage,’ large-scale protests that resulted in violence against Jews.
– In October 2020, he called for the release from prison of leaders of the Holy Land Foundation (HLF), who were convicted of raising millions of dollars for Hamas. In December 2022, he questioned Israel’s nationhood, posting on Facebook, ‘[T]heir ‘nation’ is built on lies and fantasy.’
– SFMF and its leader Kakli have both promoted events run by Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a group that was recently banned from operating in Florida universities for its declared alliance with Hamas.
– In May 2022, SFMF co-sponsored an anti-Israel rally with SJP. During the rally, Kakli and others called for Israel’s destruction with shouts of ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’ and ‘Death to Israel.’
The delegation also presented concerns about many of the speakers for the SFMF conference.
– One conference speaker, Naima Khan-Ghany, was recently removed from the two committees she served on in the Broward County School Board, as a result of her making numerous anti-Semitic posts on social media. One post referred to Jews as being ‘Satanic.’
– Another speaker, social media influencer Yasemin Kanar, a.k.a. The Real Yaz, three days after October 7, stated, ‘[A]ll of Hollywood is run by Zionist Jews and promoting pedophilia.’ Kanar, as well, praised Hamas. She further posted, on her Twitter account, a video claiming the documented rapes committed by Hamas are fake. And she posted a video of rabid anti-Semite Lucas Gage saying, ‘You guys don’t know what Jewish supremacists will do to push a narrative. They will lie. They are called the ‘Masters of Lies’ for a reason… [E]veryone’s starting to see it, maybe our ancestors are right, maybe antisemitism isn’t this irrational hatred.’
– Yet another speaker, founder and Imam of the Darul Uloom Institute (DUI) Shafayat Mohamed, was thrown off several Broward County boards for his vile rhetoric against the LGBTQ community, including claiming that natural disasters are caused by gay sex.
The meeting between the delegation and Marriott GM Mark Cherry lasted just over an hour. A Joe Kaufman Security Initiative 30-page PowerPoint presentation informed Mr. Cherry of the evidence against SFMF and its event speakers—their extensive and documented support for Hamas and an extreme hostility of Jews that went way beyond hatred of Israel.
The PowerPoint began with a page containing graphic images from the October 7 atrocities—a rape victim and bloodied and burned bodies. The intent of display[ing] these images was to convey the barbaric cruelty being justified by the SFMF speakers.
[The delegation] also provided information showing that other hotels, including Marriotts, had recently cancelled similar conferences, due to issues related to safety and security. Given the anti-Semitic atmosphere following October 7 and given the terrorist element shadowing the SFMF event, [the delegation] suggested [Mr. Cherry] consider doing the same.
Following our Marriott meeting, an article regarding the situation was published in the Middle East Forum’s Focus on Western Islamism, titled ‘Coral Springs Marriott Set to Host Florida Gathering of Hamas Sympathizers.’
The piece sparked a public outcry from the community. Phone calls were made, including by city officials, emails were sent, and petitions were signed in the thousands.
The result of all of this was the Coral Springs Marriott’s cancellation of the SFMF conference. Mark Cherry and the Marriott Corporation deserve everyone’s thanks.
