Back in the United States after a whirlwind 18-nation tour of Africa and the Middle East, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is daring the U.S. Congress to call him in for questioning.
“I call your bluff. Bring me before Congress. It’s time for a showdown,” Farrakhan told a crowd of 12,000 supporters Sunday at the University of Illinois in Chicago, his first public appearance since his return.
Spearheaded by Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) the House’s most outspoken critic of the black nationalist Muslim, the International Relations Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights is scheduled to begin hearings March 19 on Farrakhan’s activities abroad, with a focus on his relationships with leaders of nations that the U.S. government deems pariahs.
Farrakhan’s itinerary included Iraq, Iran, Sudan and Libya, leader Muammar Gadhafi pledged $1 billion to Farrakhan to finance political activities in the United States.
During his stopovers, Farrakhan publicly railed against U.S. policy toward those countries.
The House subcommittee will be “looking at the issue of Farrakhan’s world tour of terror,” said King spokesman Dan Michaelis.
“The first round of the investigation will be into the lack of action by the administration,” said Michaelis, adding that there is “reason to believe” that the administration had a copy of Farrakhan’s tour schedule.
“Nothing was done to check his passport upon his return,” Michaelis said.
U.S. citizens are prohibited from visiting certain countries without special permission from the State Department.
This week, the White House denounced Farrakhan’s trip as a “thugfest tour.”
Meanwhile, the Treasury Department is investigating whether Farrakhan broke U.S. law by spending American currency in Iran, Iraq or Libya.
The Justice Department has put Farrakhan on notice, saying that it will launch an investigation if he receives the money from Libya.
He would have to register as a foreign agent, the Justice Department said.
Accepting “$1 billion from Col. Gadhafi would put him in the category of foreign agent,” Michaelis said.
In his Chicago speech, Farrakhan defended his world tour and the heads of state he met.
“Gadhafi is a revolutionary. He’s my friend. He’s my brother,” Farrakhan said. “Gadhafi is hated because he’s the leader of a small country that is rich. But he uses his money to finance liberation struggles.”
Farrakhan said that if Congress calls him to testify, he would “call the roll of members of Congress who are honorary members of the Israeli Knesset.”
Jews, he said, “had wrapped their tentacles around the U.S. government.”
He also attacked the U.S. foreign aid program.
“Every year, you give Israel $4 [billion] to $6 billion of the taxpayer money and you haven’t asked the people nothing,” Farrakhan said. “Who are you an agent of?”
Michaelis said these comments were “typical of Farrakhan’s routine anti-Semitic bile.”
But, Farrakhan maintained that the purpose of his tour, like that of the last October’s Million Man March, was to spread the message of “atonement and reconciliation.”
He compared himself with the late Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.
“Whenever a black man from among us becomes international, he got in trouble,” he said. “I am the living inheritor of that legacy.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
