| Esam S. Omeish | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 19, 1967 Tripoli, Libya |
| Ethnicity | Arab |
| Alma mater | Georgetown University Georgetown University School of Medicine |
| Occupation | Surgeon |
| Employer | Inova Alexandria Hospital; Washington County Hospital; Esam S Omeish MD PC (President)[1] |
| Known for | Resignation from Virginia Commission on Immigration due to jihad controversy;[2] former President of Muslim American Society; 2009 State Assemblyman primary election candidate in the 35th District of the Virginia House of Delegates. |
| Home town | Falls Church, Virginia |
| Salary | More than $250,000 [3] |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Board member of | Dar al Hijrah Islamic Center |
| Religion | Sunni Islam |
| Spouse | Badria Kafala |
| Children | Abrar, Anwar, Yousof, Ibrahim |
| Website | |
| omeishfordelegate.com | |
Esam S. Omeish (born December 19, 1967) is a Libyan-born American physician and chief of the Division of General Surgery at Inova Alexandria Hospital since 2006.[4] He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque and former President of the Muslim American Society.
As President of the MAS in 2005, Omeish represented the organization at a news conference announcing an anti-terrorism campaign launched by a coalition of US-based Muslim groups.
In August 2007, Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine appointed Omeish to the Virginia Commission on Immigration. After a public controversy, Omeish resigned his seat on the commission. In 2009, he unsuccessfully ran for State Assemblyman in a primary election in the 35th District of the Virginia House of Delegates.
Contents |
Omeish immigrated to the United States in 1982, not knowing any English.[2][5] He attended J. E. B. Stuart High School in Falls Church, Virginia, where he and his brothers started the first Friday prayers in a high school in the District of Columbia area. He finished secondary school in two and half years, excelled in gifted programs and advanced placement courses, graduating with a near perfect grade point average.[6]
He attended Georgetown University.[5] Upon graduating with a double major in Government and Biology in 1989, he attended the Georgetown University School of Medicine, the only foreign student to gain admission in a pool of over 6000 candidates for less than 180 positions.[6]
Omeish helped start the first chapter of the Muslim Students Association (MSA) at Georgetown, and chaired the MSA Council for the Washington, DC, metropolitan area during his tenure at Georgetown.
A medical first responder to the tragic events of September 11 [4] he was the surgeon on call at Alexandria Hospital which received some of the victims of the attack on the Pentagon. He has, and continues to participate in several local and regional civic, religious and community organizations and has appeared on several media outlets. He has lectured extensively in various topics of Islamic activism, youth, community development and Islamic educational programs and continues to participate in programs nation-wide.[6]
His wife, Badria Kafala, is a scientist with a Ph.D. in molecular genetics, and they had four children as of 2009: Abrar, Anwar, Yousof, and Ibrahim.[7] His daughter Anwar was part of an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 2008, standing on the same steps where King stood in the summer of 1963 when he gave his "I Have a Dream" speech. The show included children from across the U.S., of different ethnic, racial, and religious backgrounds.[8]
Mohamed S. Omeish, the brother of Esam, is president of the US branch of International Islamic Relief Organization.[9][10]
Omeish is a former Vice President and current board member of the Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church, Virginia. He has consistently worked against extremist elements within the Muslim community emphasizing that “we…are uniquely positioned and equipped to provide a comprehensive, multifaceted approach in pro-actively combating terrorism and eliminating its scourge." According to Omeish, there is a need to “protect the mainstream Islamic community” from extremist ideology and violent action.[11]
In 2000, Esam Omeish hired Anwar al-Awlaki to be the mosque's imam, who at the time espoused moderate Muslim views.[12][13] Omeish said in 2004 that he was convinced that al-Awlaki: "has no inclination or active involvement in any events or circumstances that have to do with terrorism."[14]
In 2004, at 36 years of age, Omeish was the youngest member of the mosque's Board of Directors, and said there is "no question" that the mosque leadership needs to be more open and inclusive of younger people, including women. "The bottom line is that this is a mosque that is in the heart of Washington," he said. "Our goal is to make the congregation reflect that reality."[15]
Omeish acknowledged that some mosque members raised acceptable questions about the mosque's constitution, and that proposals under consideration in 2004 included direct elections to the mosque's board of directors, director term limits, and phasing out the board seats that the constitution assigns to officials of certain Muslim organizations.[15]
As of December 2009, he was still a member of the mosque's Board of Directors.[16]
Dr Omeish resigned from the Board of Directors of Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in early 2010 because of lack of major reform in center's policies.[17]
In 2004, as President of the Muslim American Society, Omeish wrote a letter to the Washington Post in which he took issue with "inaccuracies" in the definition of the Muslim Brotherhood put forward in an article entitled, "In search of friends among the foes, US hopes to work with diverse group" by John Mintz and Douglas Farah (Sep 11, 2004). In describing the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood, Omeish wrote that, "The moderate school of thought prevalent in the Muslim Brotherhood represents a significant trend in Islamic activism in the United States and the West, and we in MAS accordingly have been influenced by that moderate Islamic school of thought as it applies to our American identity and relevance for our American reality."[18][19]
Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, in an opinion editorial he wrote for the Weekly Standard, responded that,
"Omeish ... wrote that the reason MAS draws inspiration from the Muslim Brotherhood is 'in order to espouse the values of human dialogue, tolerance, and moderation.' Yet both MAS's curriculum and also the scholars that MAS requires its members to read openly flout these values."[19][20]
As President of the MAS in 2005, Omeish represented the organization at a news conference announcing an anti-terrorism campaign launched by a coalition of US-based Muslim groups.[21] He told reporters: "The fact of the matter is we know of no sleeper cells, we don't know of that phenomenon to exist in our community."[22] He attributed this success in part to the teaching of moderate, authentic Islam: "What has protected our community far before 9/11 from extremism and violent ideology is that balanced mainstream advocacy of Islamic principles."[21] He was still President of MAS as of 2007.[23] In late 2008, Dr Omeish resigned from the presidency because he and his current team were unable to enact major changes in the organization.
In February 2011, Omeish was instrumental in raising $250,000 in his home to send medical aid and doctors to Libya. He also visited the office of Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) to push for a no-fly zone over Libya [24]
In 2007, Omeish earned the prestigious "Outstanding Physician of the Year" award.[4] That same year, Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine appointed Omeish to the Virginia Commission on Immigration, which was examining whether Virginia should do more to restrict illegal immigration.[25]
On September 27, 2007, the Governor asked for Omeish's resignation as a commission member, and Omeish complied.[2][26][27][28][29] He resigned three hours after remarks he made were brought to the Governor's attention on a radio call-in show on WRVA radio in Richmond, Virginia, and only two days after having been sworn in at the commission's first meeting.[30] "That is news to me, what you say, and it's something we will check out," Kaine told the caller.[26][31]
Omeish had appeared in one video telling a crowd of Washington-metropolitan-area Muslims:
"you have learned the way, that you have known that the jihad way is the way to liberate your land."[2][5][25][32]
In another video he praised Palestinians for giving up their lives for Allah.[25] He appeared in another video screaming to a boisterous crowd: "We must prosecute those who are responsible for this war. Impeach Bush today! Let us cleanse our State Department, our Congress, our Pentagon of those who have driven America into this colossal mistake." Omeish also appeared in a video of an August 12, 2006, rally in Washington near the White House, denouncing Israel's invasion of Lebanon and the "Israeli war machine." He also accused Israel of genocide and massacres against Palestinians, and said the "Israeli agenda" controls Congress.[33][34]
In accepting Omeish's resignation, Kaine said, "Omeish is a respected physician and community leader, yet I have been made aware of certain statements he has made which concern me."[2] He added that background checks would be more thorough in the future.[2][35][36]
Omeish told a news conference that jihad has nothing to do with violence, but instead is about inner struggles leading to spiritual triumph.[25] Omeish said his remarks were "taken out of context."[2][5][37][38] He said Kaine was reacting to "speech excerpts taken out of context by proponents of a relentless campaign of ... Islamophobia."[5][39] He accused his critics of perpetrating a "smear campaign" against him.[40] Political commentator Cal Thomas disputed Omeish's assertion that his remarks were "taken out of context," saying that the meaning of the controversial phrase was clear.[41]
The Roanoke Times, for its part, wrote in an editorial that while Omeish is entitled to his views, "someone who has those views hardly seems to have the temperament to serve on the Virginia Commission on Immigration," and that the commission was "better without Omeish".[42]
After Omeish resigned, the office of House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford) released a statement from Delegate. C. Todd Gilbert (R-Shenandoah) entitled "Kaine Appointee on Board of Directors of Radical 9-11 Mosque", referring to the Dar Al Hijrah mosque.[43]
In 2009 Omeish ran for State Assemblyman in the Democratic Party primary election in the 35th District of the Virginia House of Delegates.[2][44] Omeish raised $143,734 for his campaign from January 1 to May 27, 2009 ($52,000 of which was his personal money), the fourth-largest amount of fundraising state-wide among all Virginia House of Delegates candidates.[45] His third-highest contributor was the International Institute of Islamic Thought.[46]
Upon starting his political candidacy, Omeish said, "I love Virginia and I've been involved in community activities since I came here. My candidacy is a continuation of a lifelong passion for public and community service." He also said, "As a physician and health care provider, I think this year health care is going to be one of the major issues we bring to the General Assembly."[47]
Local Virginians described him as a "a very logical person" that is very patriotic and who speaks the people's language.[47] Jim Hyland, the Republican candidate for the seat, said Omeish was a poor choice to represent his region's growing Muslim community. "What criteria were they using to select people?" he said. "I think (his views) come from a small-minded perspective—got to fight Israel and all that sort of rhetoric. Some people have tried move beyond that."[2] John Carroll, who ran against Omeish in the primary, said: "I was surprised (when I watched the video). He's about as nice a guy as you can meet," and "He's really championed health care for the uninsured."[2]
Columnist Marc Fisher wrote in The Washington Post, in a column entitled "From Fairfax To Richmond, 'The Jihad Way?'":
A candidate who speaks with great pride and zest to an audience of fellow Muslims about people "giving up their lives..for the sake of the Muslim honor" should also be someone who happily delivers the same message to the Virginia voters he hopes will choose him for public office. But there is not a word in Omeish's campaign literature about this great passion of his life.[5]
Omeish came in third in the primary on June 8, 2009, with 1,039 votes (15.7%).[48][49]
In June 2009, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton invited Omeish to join 100-200 invitees on a conference call that was billed as a forum in which to discuss how to bridge the divide between the United States and the Muslim community.[2] Omeish expressed his support for President Barack Obama, and said that Muslim-Americans needed to get more involved in politics. A press statement from his campaign office included a message from him expressing his hope that,
[...] my friends on the far right and even some of those in the media, that continue to try and distort my record and my name, and continue to distort public perceptions of the Muslim community, will realize that we have a president and an administration, along with most of the American people, that are ready to move beyond divisive politics.[2]