The after-class activities of an associate professor at the University of South Florida have drawn attention amid allegations that he is a leader of a U.S. support network for Islamic terrorists.
Sami al-Arian, an associate professor of engineering and computer science, has denied the allegations that surfaced in a PBS documentary last fall, and again last month in a series of stories in The Tampa Tribune. The newspaper reported that Mr. al-Arian presides over a non-profit organization that helps to raise money for two terrorist groups, the Islamic Jihad and Hamas.
Mr. al-Arian could not be reached for comment. In a brief interview with the Tribune, he denied any ties to terrorists. He said he raises money for Islamic charities and for the Palestinian cause, which he supports.
Mr. al-Arian is a respected professor and has won awards for outstanding teaching.
In his off-campus hours, he is the president of the Islamic Committee for Palestine, known as I.C.P., which is the group accused of raising money for terrorists. The Tribune reported that an I.C.P. newsletter reproduced fliers from the Islamic Jihad and Hamas, and that an I.C.P. magazine included direct fund-raising appeals for the two groups. The magazine included a disclaimer that the views expressed within were not necessarily the I.C.P.'s, according to the Tribune.
The PBS program, “Jihad in America,” claimed to have documented a flow of money from the I.C.P. to terrorists in the occupied territories.
In his interview with the Tribune, Mr. al-Arian dismissed the documentary as lies and as part of a Zionist campaign to smear Islam. “I don’t call it ‘Jihad in America,’” he told the newspaper. “I call it ‘Jihad, Lies and Videotape.’” He said the I.C.P. focuses on education, charity work, and social issues. He condemned any violence against civilians but defended attacks on military targets.
Mr. al-Arian is also one of the founders of a think tank called the World and Islam Studies Enterprise, which has worked with university officials to bring Islamic speakers to the campus.
Michael G. Kovac, interim provost of South Florida, called the allegations against Mr. al-Arian “supposition” and defended him as “an outstanding professor.”
The university has no plans to investigate Mr. al-Arian’s off-campus activities. “I don’t believe it’s the university’s role to investigate,” Mr. Kovac said, “and I would hope the generalpublic understands that.”
