Ghazi Y. Khankan has died. Not only was he a 9/11 Truther and reportedly a defender of suicide bombers, but he was also a Director with CAIR-NY. Consequently, CAIR has seen fit to extend its sympathies.

Via PR Newswire:

The board and staff of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today offered sincere condolences to the family of Al-Haaj Ghazi Y. Khankan, a respected New York Muslim community leader and activist who died today on Long Island.

“To God we belong and to Him we return,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. “Brother Ghazi was a true pioneer in helping the American Muslim community have a voice in our society through positive civic engagement and coalition building. His interfaith efforts also helped Americans of other faiths better understand Islam and the American Muslim experience. As an early supporter of CAIR’s New York chapter, Brother Ghazi was instrumental in defending the civil rights of all New Yorkers.”

Awad added: “The best way to honor Brother Ghazi’s memory is to continue his life’s work of promoting mutual understanding.”

What does a Judeo-phobe like Awad know about “mutual understanding?”

But I digress…

Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report has linked to a story at the Global Jewish Advocacy site that has more on Khankan’s support for suicide bombers:

In November 2001, the executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations New York office, Ghazi Khankan, defended Hamas suicide bombings against Israeli civilians. “From a religious point of view, [Palestinians] have the right to defend themselves. Such self-defense cannot be equated with Bin Ladin. The people of Hamas who direct their attacks on the Israeli military are in the correct position. Those who attack civilians are wrong,” he said. Replying to a question concerning his definition of civilians, Khankan said, “Who is a soldier in Israel and who is not? Anyone over 18 is automatically inducted into the service and they are all reserves. Therefore, Hamas in my opinion looks at them as part of the military. Those who are below 18 should not be attacked.”

GMBDR also has an excerpt from Khankan’s 9/11 Truther theories:

“Why is it assumed that Muslims were behind the attack on 9/11? We know at least three people assumed to be hijackers who are still alive in the Middle East. The question is, who is impersonating these Muslim names? Who benefits from assuming Muslims are behind this tragedy and who benefits from this tragedy? I think the media should seriously go and investigate these three and find out if they are really the 3 hijackers or someone else is impersonating them. I think it is a very important thing that we insist the media not cover up these facts.”

Odds that Khankan was a Ron Paul supporter just went up.

Ben Barrack is a talk show host and author of the upcoming book, Unsung Davids