A former spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) - Canada may have broadened her readership, but has managed to continue propagating the same line, according to The Global Muslim Brotherhood Daily Report.
Hadeel Al-Shalchi, identified as CAIR-CAN’s “Communications Spokesperson” through at least 2004, is currently working as a Cairo-based correspondent for the Associated Press (AP). In that capacity, Shalchi has provided much of the U.S.-based media commentary regarding the recent shake-up at the popular Islamic web portal, IslamOnline – a platform she has used to promote the common Islamist narrative that Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, is a “relative moderate.”
As the Investigative Project on Terrorism has previously reported, any connection between Qaradawi and so-called claims of “moderation” is blatantly misleading. Demonstrative of this charge is a 2003 fatwa by Qaradawi, in which the Sheikh declared:
“those killed fighting the American forces [in Iraq] are martyrs given their good intentions since they consider these invading troops an enemy within their territories but without their will.”
Shalchi’s recent reporting suggests that while her affiliation has changed, it is still just business as usual for her – she continues to toe the line that she learned in her time with CAIR-CAN and fellow Muslim Brotherhood kin, the Muslim Students’ Association (MSA). Over the years – including during Shalchi’s tenure with the group’s Canadian affiliate – CAIR has repeatedly defended Qaradawi and attempted to rebrand him as moderate scholar.