The Counter-Islamist Grid (CIG), a project of the Middle East Forum, will join local activists in Coral Springs, Florida on March 19 to protest the participation of Khalid Griggs at the South Florida Muslim Federation’s (SFMF) first annual Conference & Grand Bazaar.
Activists, including the Joe Kaufman Security Initiative (JKSI) and the Kashmir Hindu Foundation (KHF), will meet from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at the corner of Coral Ridge Dr. and Heron Bay Blvd. Journalists and concerned citizens are invited to attend.
Griggs has a history of making and supporting anti-Semitic statements on social media, including:
- Glorifying Adolf Hitler.
- Supporting the notion that America is “owned and controlled” by “pro-Zionists, Israeli fanatics and radicals.”
- Promoting calls for “Zionism” to be “destroyed.”
Griggs is vice president of the Islamic Circle of North America, which is reputedly the U.S. branch of Jamaat-e-Islami, a violent South Asian Islamist group that was complicit in the 1971 Bangladeshi genocide. He was reportedly an early member of the now-defunct Islamic Party of North America, which used the motto “Jihad, all out struggle is our means.”
Griggs’ ties to extremist groups led to a Wake Forest University alumnus calling for a donor boycott of the school after it hired Griggs as its first Muslim chaplain.
The South Florida Muslim Federation, an umbrella group for local Muslim institutions founded in 2017, has a history of involvement with individuals and groups promoting anti-Semitism. Abdur Rahman al-Ghani, the Federation’s former Facebook manager and team member, once claimed that Zionists are “demonic” and “the most evil on earth,” and Jews are “destroying the world.” Federation members include Masjid Jamaat Al-Mumineem and the Islamic Center of Weston, which promote Tafsir Ibn Kathir, a text referring to Jews and Christians as “enemies of Islam,” calling for the death penalty for homosexuals, cursing Hindus, and sanctioning domestic violence against women.
“We call on the South Florida Muslim Federation to drop Khalid Griggs from its speaker line-up,” said Joe Kaufman, chairman of JKSI. “He should be condemned for his anti-Semitic social media posts. Additionally, local politicians attending this conference are choosing to legitimize bigotry and extremism.”
WTFL radio host Joyce Kaufman and Dr. Ken Abramowitz, executive director of Save the West, will headline the demonstration as keynote speakers. Participants will also hear from CIG associate Joe Kaufman of JKSI and Deepak Ganju of KHF, who will discuss the impact of Islamist hate speech on their communities.
