Muslim college co-founded by anti-Israel firebrand receives accreditation

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Zaytuna College--which was co-founded by Hatem Bazian, a controversial critic of Israel who also started Students for Justice in Palestine -- has become the first accredited Muslim college in the United States. (Zaytuna.org)

A California school co-founded by a firebrand who once called for an "intifada" in the U.S. has become the nation's first accredited Muslim college.

Zaytuna College, which operates out of two rented buildings in Berkeley, Calif., and had an enrollment of 30 in 2013, was officially accredited earlier this week by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges—one of the six academic organizations responsible for authorizing public and private colleges and universities in the United States. The certification means the school can apply for various federal and private grants, issue visas to international students and allow students to transfer credits to or from other accredited schools.

“Five years ago, we introduced an undergraduate liberal arts program inspired by the idea of restoring the holistic education that had been offered in the great teaching centers of Islamic civilization,” co-founder and President Hamza Yusuf stated in an open letter on the school’s website on Monday. “Today, Zaytuna’s accreditation roots this vision in a reality recognized within American higher education. It gives our community its first accredited academic address in the United States. And we hope, God willing, that there will be more such Muslim colleges and universities to come.”

“I am curious to know what level degrees Zaytuna will be allowed to offer, since its course catalog is limited and does not encompass the breadth of a standard liberal arts education.”

- Stephen Suleyman Schwartz, Center for Islamic Pluralism

The school offers one Bachelor of Arts, in Islamic Law and Theology. Course offerings include various courses on Islamic law, Introduction to the Koran, Ethics, Mathematics and History of the United States.

Yusuf, an Islamic Studies advisor at both Stanford University and University of California Berkeley, is known for being an outspoken critic of extremism. He drew a death decree from ISIS earlier this year for condemning the Charlie Hebdo massacre, in which workers at a French satirical magazine were killed by Islamist fanatics for publishing caricatures of Prophet Mohammad.

But the school's other co-founder, Hatem Bazian, who serves as the school’s chairman of academic affairs, has been accused of whipping up anti-Semitism on campuses across the nation through another organization he helped establish, the anti-Israel Students for Justice in Palestine. And at an April, 2004, rally in San Francisco in support of the Iraqi insurgency, Bazian appeared to call for an uprising in the U.S.

"Are you angry?" Bazian shouted to protesters. "Well, we've been watching intifada in Palestine, we've been watching an uprising in Iraq, and the question is that what are we doing? How come we don't have an intifada in this country? …and it's about time that we have an intifada in this country that change[s] fundamentally the political dynamics in here. And we know every — they’re gonna say some Palestinian being too radical — well, you haven't seen radicalism yet!"

Critics say any school associated with Bazian, who is a senior lecturer at University of California Berkeley, is suspect.

“He’s an anti-Israel activist and he uses academia to further his agenda,” Nonie Darwish, founder of Arabs for Israel and a human rights advocate, told FoxNews.com.

Neither Bazian nor other Zaytuna officials responded to multiple requests for comment.

Some critics who monitor higher education say the idea of a Muslim-centric school is fine in principle. But they are wary of Bazian's links to Students for Justice in Palestine.

"The blend between education and religion is nothing new, Caleb Bonham, editor-in-chief of higher education blog CampusReform.Org, told FoxNews.com. “College is supposed to be a time where the free exchange of ideas is explored. America, throughout our history, has encouraged diversity of thought and the freedom to worship as one desires.

"But Students for Justice in Palestine has proven itself to be an anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli organization since its founding," he added. "Our campuses must remain bastions of freedom of expression. I hope the founders uphold the principles of freedom that are inherent to all men and women."

The school, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded in 2008, received more than $11 million in contributions and grants from 2011 to 2012. However, specific donors were not listed on 990 forms filed with the IRS and the school's website only mentions 12,000 donors without any further detail.

The Zaytuna College website details a $7 million plan to build a new campus, a project that includes the recent purchase of a new building, but was put on hold until the accreditation came. According to officials for the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, any academic institution that gains accreditation becomes qualified to distribute federal aid to its students.

“Zaytuna may elect to do this, though they are also seeking for their students to graduate without owing debt,” Richard Winn, senior vice president of the WASC Senior College and University Commission said in a statement to FoxNews.com.

While Zaytuna and its students may benefit from the accreditation, the fact that the school offers only one degree program has some questioning the decision.

“I am surprised that Zaytuna College has received accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges,” Stephen Suleyman Schwartz, executive director of the Center for Islamic Pluralism, said in a statement to FoxNews.com. “I am curious to know what level degrees Zaytuna will be allowed to offer, since its course catalog is limited and does not encompass the breadth of a standard liberal arts education.”

Muslim college co-founded by anti-Israel firebrand receives accreditation

Suspicious fires destroyed Al Sharpton's financial records not once but - TWICE

Maybe he should call Hillary. She's looking for a fire to destroy some servers.

• Reverend Al Sharpton was running for office at the time of both of the fires
• One broke out below New York offices in 1997 as he was running for mayor

• The second happened in 2003 at the offices of his National Action Network

• Report suggests fires destroyed key financial records of civil rights activist

By Julian Robinson for MailOnline 

Published: 08:21 EST, 12 March 2015 | Updated: 09:17 EST, 12 March 2015 

Suspicious fires twice destroyed financial records of Reverend Al Sharpton (pictured)

Suspicious fires twice destroyed the financial records of Reverend Al Sharpton, a report has claimed.

The civil rights activist was running for office at the time of the fires, which were six years apart and in separate buildings in New York.

It has been reported that Sharpton subsequently failed to comply with tax and campaign filing requirements.

According to the National Review Online, the first fire happened in 1997 as Sharpton was running for mayor while the second happened while he was running for president in 2003. The fires destroyed 'critical financial records', the report said.

The first blaze, on April 10, 1997 - five days before Tax Day - started in a hair and nail salon below Sharpton's headquarters at West 125th Street in New York and investigators treated it as an arson/explosion case.

At the time, the Reverend's spokesman said the campaign had lost its 'entire Manhattan operation' while the mayor at the time, Rudy Giuliani, said the investigation centred on the salon rather than Sharpton's campaign

The National Review reports that Sharpton said he was unable to file certain financial documents and blamed the fire for the destruction of the records.

On January 23, 2003, a fire caused extensive damage in the offices of his non-profit organisation National Action Network on Madison Avenue. It happened a day after Sharpton submitted documents to create a presidential exploratory committee, the website reports. 

Investigators initially treated the blaze as suspicious but later put it down to 'NFA (Not Fully Ascertained) – heat from electrical equipment'.

But National Review Online reports that 'significant oddities' surrounded the fire and the investigation.

The civil rights activist (pictured) was running for office at the time of the fires, which were six years apart and in separate buildings in New York

It quotes supervising fire marshal, James Kelty, who attended the scene, as saying that he found it 'unusual' when he was unexpectedly relieved from investigating the blaze.

When Mr Kelty was told that the report into the fire was only six pages long with 38 pictures from the scene, he said that such a document would generally be 'much more exhaustive' given Sharpton's high profile.

The website also quotes sources about one of Sharpton's former employees J. D. Livingston.

It says Mr Livingston, who immigrated to the United States from Guyana, was first on the scene as the fire took hold.

The report says Livingston claimed he was in a reception room when the fire broke out but that a major fire had developed by the time fire crews arrived.

Civil rights activist Al Sharpton is pictured in April last year with US President Barack Obama

Mr Kelty is quoted as saying that this was 'odd' and 'not normal fire behaviour'. Mr Livingston is said to have had Sharpton's lawyer with him when he was speaking to authorities.

The report says that the maintenance man, who died in 2014, had, at some point, been living in the US illegally.

In an interview with the National Review Online, Sharpton confirmed that Mr Livingston had done some 'side work' with him, but dismissed allegations he was paying him 'under the table'.

When asked whether the fires were a case of bad luck, NRO quotes Sharpton as saying: 'I would say that you could speak to people that would certainly, whoever they are, could have their views.'

Suspicious fires destroyed Al Sharpton's financial records not once but - TWICE 

The Clinton Chronicles

Bill and his team setting up servers in the basement of his NY home for Hillary's secret email accounts and to send his two emails. The motivation...a 24X24 inch custom iPad including the iPorn app already installed... a gift from Jeffery Epstein. 

Al if we hide the wires up here I don't think anyone will find out about it.

Bill sending his 3rd email...

Don't worry honey I got you covered

She was so confident she couldn't resist raking Bush over the coals.

Video 107

But then.. a few years later...Hillary finds out her secret email accounts are not so secret.

Her two supporters are aghast.

She questions Bill. What is he doing!!!

"It depends on what is.. is?"

 Seems like he got a little sidetracked... 

Meanwhile... at Louis Tussaud's Waxworks in Niagara Falls another depricktion of the Clinton's makes its debut.

The Clinton Chronicles

Bill Clinton: I've Only Sent Two Emails In My Life

During Hillary's email scandal this side story broke. Odd to say the least.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/bill-clinton-two-emails-domain

Think about it...how many emails have you sent and received during your lifetime? Countless right?

I find this story inconceivable even for a Clinton. In his entire life he has sent only two emails even through he was once a governor and a former two term president? One of the emails he claims he sent went to John Glenn (now 93). Wonder if he remembers it? Another was an obscure email sent to American service members abroad while he was serving as President. Okay fine. But it's just beyond one's comprehension there isn't a LITANY of emails, at the very least, starting with Monica. What is particularly hard to swallow (maybe a bad choice of words)... during the impeachment proceedings between Clinton, his attorneys, Ken Star... no emails were exchanged? The former President claims he set up a domain for his staff, presidentclinton.com, after leaving office but doesn't use email himself?

I think these two emails would be more in line with the one's actually sent.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2584309/Bill-Clinton-identified-lawsuit-against-former-friend-pedophile-Jeffrey-Epstein-regular-orgies-Caribbean-compound-former-president-visited-multiple-times.html

The first one was to his friend Jeffery Epstein wanting to have sex with under age girls on his orgy island.

The second was to deny the first existed.

Bill Clinton: I've Only Sent Two Emails In My Life

The prelude to another Clinton presidency

The scandal cauldron is already simmering and she hasn't even been nominated yet!

Hillary Clinton's Emails: Unanswered Questions About Deleted Correspondence

(click to enlarge)

Hillary Clinton was likely hoping to put the issue of her use of a private email account to rest by hosting a news conference, but more than a few questions remain unanswered. 

The former Secretary of State, who addressed the media shortly after giving a speech at the United Nations about women's empowerment, did not use a government email account during her tenure as the U.S.'s top diplomat. 

Former Secretary of State Addresses Situation

Hillary Clinton Didn't Use 2 Phones as Secretary of State -- but She Does Now

A Timeline of What Rules Were Allegedly Ignored

She said today that the reason for the use of one, personal account was convenience, though that does not explain the issue fully. 

Here are some of the questions that remain unanswered following Clinton's news conference. 

Why did she delete her personal emails?

Clinton argued that she had a number of emails about personal issues that should not be considered part of the public domain. 

"No one wants their personal emails made public, and I think most people understand that and respect that privacy," Clinton said today. 

How do we know what she deleted?

Clinton's word is really the only check that the public will have on this front. The emails that she chose not to keep included emails "about planning Chelsea's wedding or my mother's funeral arrangements, condolence notes to friends, as well as yoga routines, family vacations, the other things you typically find in inboxes," she said. 

Will the public ever know what emails she sent?

Yes, but only the emails that Clinton and her team have deemed related to her work as Secretary of State, and then from there, only what the State Department approved. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that once cleared, the 55,000 pages of emails that Clinton handed over will be shared publicly on a government website though not for several months. 

When it comes to her personal emails, the public will never know. Today, Clinton ruled out an independent review of her server. 

How many emails did she have? And how many pertained to work?

Clinton amassed 62,320 emails between March 2009 and February 2013 and fewer than half of those had to do with work. 

After today's news conference, Clinton's team released a statement clarifying the exact number of work and personal emails, saying that 30,490 were handed over to the State Department because they related to work and 31,830 were deemed "private, personal records." 

Her camp clarified that the timeframe for these emails does not exactly match up to her tenure as Secretary of State -- she was sworn in on Jan. 21, 2009 -- but for roughly the first two months she used the email address she had left over from her time as senator. However, her "practice" of emailing individuals who used a government account in order to ensure that they were saved is the only record that exists for that time period. Once she transitioned from that Senate account she no longer had access. 

That would mean that she sent 21.5 work emails and 22.46 personal emails per day. 

Why didn't she just use a government account for work and a personal account for issues pertaining to her private life?

There was no official answer to this. Clinton said that she chose to use one email address out of "convenience." 

"Looking back, it would have been better if I'd simply used a second email account and carried a second phone, but at the time, this didn't seem like an issue," she said. 

Was she using a personal account to avoid having her emails recorded on government servers?

Clinton claims that she always knew that her emails to government employees, who used state.gov email addresses, "were captured and preserved immediately on the system at the State Department." 

Wasn't she breaking the rules by using a personal email account rather than a government address?

Clinton maintained that she "fully complied with every rule I was governed by." She did not directly address a 2005 update in the Foreign Affairs Manual codified by the State Department that ruled employees could only use private email accounts for official business if they turned those emails over to be entered into government computers. That ruling also forbade State Department employees from including "sensitive but unclassified" information on private email, except for some very narrow exceptions. She did, however, note that she never sent classified information via email. 

Why did she think that it was acceptable to use a private server to host her emails?

She said that the personal server set up at her house in Chappaqua, New York, was already in place for her husband and his post-presidential career. That said, The Wall Street Journal reported that Bill Clinton has only sent two emails in his entire life, so his use of the system does not necessarily mean that the system is inherently secure. 

When asked whether or not her email plan was acceptable by the White House's standards, Clinton said "there are different rules governing the White House than there are governing the rest of the executive branch." 

Was her system safe?

"It had numerous safeguards," Clinton said of the server stored at her house. "It was on property, guarded by the Secret Service, and there were no security breaches. So, I think that the use of that server, which started with my husband, certainly proved to be effective and secure." 

How many phones did she use?

During today's news conference, Clinton touted the "convenience" of using one device, but it seems her habits have changed. 

Just two weeks ago, during a talk in Silicon Valley, Clinton said that she had both an iPhone and a BlackBerry, though she did not say when exactly she began using both devices. 

How will this affect the 2016 race?

She did not answer when asked if this issue has impacted her thinking about her expected presidential run, but Republicans are jumping into the controversy. 

Rep. Trent Gowdy, who heads the House committee investigating the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, said that "there is no way to accept" Clinton's explanation and is calling for an independent third party to review her server. 

The prelude to another Clinton presidency