By Debbie Schlussel
**** UPDATE: Detroit Free Press star legal reporter David Ashenfelter does a nice write up.
Note that the Freep story is accompanied by dozens of anti-Semitic comments, many by Muslims (you know, the “tolerant” “Religion of Peace”). Note also that the Detroit Newsistan and its reporter Paul Egan, who knew about this, chose NOT to cover the story. ****

A few months ago, I told you about the guilty plea of Mohamad Fouad Abdallah, a Lebanese Shi’ite resident of Dearbornistan, who sent me two e-mails on behalf of Hezbollah, threatening to rape and kill me.
I asked readers to send letter to the Federal Judge, Marianne Battani, to urge a tough sentence on Mr. Abdallah. Thanks for all of your excellent letters. I am humbled and proud by your solid displays of patriotism. Your letters helped a lot, and I think the Judge took them to heart.
I just returned from the sentencing, this afternoon, in USA v. Mohamad Fouad Abdallah, Case Number 2:08-cr-20223, at which I spoke. Despite the theatrics and bad acting job by Abdallah, Judge Battani did not disappoint. She sentenced Abdallah to eight months in federal prison, a lot of community service and probation, and lectured him that “in America, we don’t do this. We don’t do this here. We have the First Amendment and Freedom of Speech.
Just a reminder of Mohamad Fouad Abdallah’s e-mails to me:

— michael b mikeb1968@hotmail.com wrote:
From: “michael b” mikeb1968@hotmail.com
To: dschlussel@yahoo.com
Subject: YES I LOVE HEZBOLLAH…AND FUCK YOU..
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2006 19:34:47 -0400
HEY WHITE BTICH JEW.FUCK YOU.HEZBOLAAH IS AWSOME.WE WILL NEVER DIE BITCH.WERE GONNA BLOW YOU UP.

***

— michael b mikeb1968@hotmail.com wrote:
From: “michael b” mikeb1968@hotmail.com
To: dschlussel@yahoo.com
Subject: HEY WANNA SUCK MY ARAB COCK??
Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2006 19:35:33 -0400
FUCK YOU AND YOU WILL SOON BE RAPED AND WILL DIE.

While I’m disappointed that Judge Battani didn’t give Abdallah the full 12-month sentence recommended under the federal sentencing guidelines (and which he solidly deserved), I’m pretty happy with this and was glad she told this proud Hezbollah Muslim off for trying to silence me and for sending me two violent rape and death threats. I was glad to hear Judge Battani repeatedly tell him how especially disturbed she was with his crime.
As I noted before, I have always thought that Judge Battani–a Clinton appointee–was one of the brighter judges on the federal bench, especially in Detroit. And today reinforced my view on that.
I also was impressed that the judge did not fall for the antics and tactics of Mr. Abdallah, who came to court with an oxygen tank and mask, stating that he needed it to breathe because of diabetes and claimed–through his sleazy attorney–that he needed to stay out of prison because of his health. I asked FBI Special Agent Mike Fitzgerald–a great, hard-working agent who worked on my case–if Abdallah had an oxygen tank when agents raided his home in 2006, after he sent me the e-mails. He said no. Clearly this was a prop.
Abdallah also talked about how he has a 9-year-old daughter and is ashamed of what he did and needs to be with her. The Judge threw that right back in his face saying that she’s worried what the nine-year-old will learn from her father’s e-mailing of death threats. And that she needs to see a lesson, as does the Islamic community, that this kind of threatening behavior cannot be tolerated. Right on and Bravo.
There was also the usual, “I am so remorseful” BS and “I’m sorry, I never felt that way and wouldn’t do anything to her [me]” baloney. “It was totally out of character.” Yeah, right. The guy, Abdallah, went to the University of Michigan-Dearborn computer center to send me these e-mails. It was planned, and he told the Federal Probation Officers he did it because he didn’t like that I was exposing prominent imams and other figures in the Dearborn Muslim community regarding their illicit statements and actions during the Hezbollah-Israel war. Great justification for rape and death threats, habibi [buddy].
The only thing he was remorseful and sorry for was that he got caught and prosecuted. As for his threats to rape and kill me, he relishes the chance. And so do all those in the Dearborn Islamic community who’ve made Mohamad Fouad Abdallah a folk hero for his violent threats to me.
About his sleazy lawyer, Arthur Weiss. As I noted before, I’ve had my dealings with this scummy criminal defense attorney. But today took the cake. In his defense of his client and his attempt to get a lenient sentence, Weiss said that he’s a Jew and that his religion has never been an issue with his client, and that he’s always been nice. He also said that because he’s Jewish, he doesn’t have a problem with Mr. Abdallah, thinks he’s a good guy, and doesn’t think he’s anti-Semitic (despite the fact that Abdallah’s rape and murder threats pointed to me being a Jew).
As I noted to the Judge, Mr. Weiss doesn’t care about whether his many Muslim terror-related criminal clients are anti-Semitic. He only cares if their checks clear.
And speaking of pimps, Mr. Weiss’ ugly, clown-like tie looked suited for one. Very fitting.
Bottom line, there is justice in America, when you holler and scream like I did, and when you have a voice in the media, like I do. If you’re just an average citizen, well then these Muslims get to prevail. And then there’s Lola Elzein-Merhi, another Dearbornistan-area Muslim who sent me violent, anti-Semitic, Holocaust-denying rape, torture, and death threats. The feds still won’t prosecute her, even though her e-mails were as bad as Mr. Abdallah’s and even though she tried to get me to meet her for a secluded lunch . . . er, funeral.
Thanks to reasonable and bright Judge Marianne O. Battani for justice meted out, and thanks, again, to the many of you readers who sent notes to the Judge urging a tough sentence.
One other thing: Mohamad Fouad Abdallah was allowed to “self-surrender” to federal authorities to begin his prison sentence. Let’s hope he doesn’t take a one-way trip to Lebanon, first.
After exposing these things–the fraudulent oxygen tank and that attorney Arthur Weiss cares about cha-ching to his bank account, not whether the paying criminal defense client is anti-Semitic, here’s the rest of my statement to the Judge in Court today:

Victim Impact Statement of Deborah K. Schlussel
September 26, 2008
The Honorable Marianne O. Battani
United States District Court
for the Eastern District of Michigan
Theodore Levin U.S. Courthouse
231 W. Lafayette Blvd, Room 277
Detroit, MI 48226
RE: Victim Impact Statement
United States of America v. Mohamad Fouad Abdallah
Case Number 2:08-cr-20223
Your Honor:
I am writing this in the hope that you will take this into account when you sentence Mohamad Fouad Abdallah for sending me death and rape threats to my e-mail address. I would like you to know how I have been negatively impacted and affected by Mr. Abadallah’s actions. I am his victim and the object of his hate, Debbie Schlussel.
When I first opened the e-mail from Mr. Abdallah, I was shocked, outraged, and very afraid for my personal safety and that of my family members. That has not changed, to date. Mr. Abdallah’s e-mail, in addition to featuring obscenities and vile language, threatened to rape me and blow me up and that I would soon die. He said he was doing this on behalf of Hezbollah, the terrorist group that murdered over 300 U.S. Marines and civilians in Beirut in 1983 and a hundred at the Jewish Community Center and Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina in the mid-1990s. It is also the group that is part of the Al-Qaeda network and partnered with Al-Qaeda in the Khobar Towers bombing. As you may know, Your Honor, Hezbollah has a huge cheerleading squad in the Detroit area, centered in Dearborn’s and Dearborn Heights’ Shi’ite Community. They need to be sent a message that this kind of behavior–the death and rape threats sent to me on behalf of the terrorist group by Mr. Abdallah–is completely unacceptable in the United States of America.
For over two years since I received his two e-mails, I have had horrible nightmares of having my residence broken into by the likes of Mr. Abdallah. I have woken up just as my mind was dreaming of masked men pulling out swords and getting ready to behead me–just like on the Al-Qaeda video of Daniel Pearl’s murder– or blow me up, and just like in the threats Mr. Abdallah sent me. That is a dream that haunts me now, constantly, since I’ve received Mohamad Fouad Abdallah’s e-mails.
I have never met with nor have I ever had any contact with Mr. Abdallah, other than being the victim and recipient of his anti-Semitic, bigoted death and rape threats and hate. I never asked him to contact me, and I most certainly wish he had not. It would have saved me almost two years–so far–of nightmares and distress. Two years of headaches and anguish.
I am in a constant state of fear. My residence, which has several windows, has the shades drawn, day and night. I never get to see the sun shine in because I am afraid of snipers shooting at me. I constantly leave through back and side doors and time-consuming alternate routes and am constantly looking all around me on the rare occasions that I travel in and out of my residence. It is, as I said, a constant state of fear and hyper-awareness. And I have to limit my trips outside because I never know when someone like Mr. Abdallah or one of his associates will be looking for me. Any noise, any slight abnormal sound in the middle of the night keeps me up indefinitely because I never know if it is Mr. Abdallah or one of his friends, relatives, or allies. This will never change. Mr. Abdallah changed my life forever, for the worst.
I have had to tell my parents, including my elderly father who had a heart condition about these threats, for their personal safety as they were frequently in my presence. My father has since died of cancer, which he developed within a year of Mr. Abdallah’s e-mail threats. He was not in such a condition before I told him of Mr. Abdallah’s threats to my life and limb. Although there are many causes of deadly illnesses like cancer, stress like that which Mr. Abdallah has caused my family certainly contributed to the health condition of my father.
My grandparents, survived the Holocaust and Nazi-occupied Europe. My mother is an immigrant from that life, who was born in Bergen Belsen Camp in Germany. My family thought they left that life of hatred and violence against Jews behind. But now, with Mr. Abdallah uninvitedly entering our lives, we see that Nazism didn’t die. It just took a new form and a new geographic location.
My experience with this whole disturbing episode that never ends has been extremely negative on the so-called “Justice” side, as well.
It is bad enough that I was a victim of Mr. Abdallah, but I was also victimized by the Justice Department. After I received Mr. Abdallah’s rape and death threats, I immediately called the Detroit office of the FBI. Although agents did a swift investigation over two years ago, I was stonewalled by the Justice Department Office of Civil Rights, who took almost two years to “investigate” further, what was plain as day.
And the reason the Justice Department in Washington had to send lawyers here today, at taxpayer expense, is because a politically correct U.S. Attorney, Stephen Murphy–now one of your colleagues–did not want to upset the Islamic community. Is this what our “Justice” Department has become–an instrument of political correctness at the hands of the religion of the hijackers, the religion of the murderous beheaders of Daniel Pearl, the religion of Hezbollah mass murderers? My case would have died in the great American abyss, but for the fact that I spoke out about it on my website and in media forums. If I did not have a voice, Mr. Abdallah would remain without a criminal indictment, without a criminal record. During the over two years that I have waited for justice against Mr. Abdallah, I’ve watched an extremist imam, Hassan Qazwini, who is an open supporter of terrorism and proud friend of Hezbollah spiritual leader Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, get swift justice against two non-Muslim e-mailers who sent far more benign e-mails to him than that which Mr. Abdallah sent me. I read articles about how Mr. Qazwini’s e-mailers had their homes raided by the FBI–one of them was a quadriplegic veteran–while Mr. Abdallah has been treated with kid gloves.
I watched and waited as the men who e-mailed extremist Imam Qazwini were swiftly indicted within weeks and pled guilty within months, while I had to whine and cajole and complain to deaf ears, finally getting justice years.
Mr. Abdallah, I am told, is Lebanese and I do not know of his citizenship or alien status. But I do know that he is Exhibit A that the so-called “Religion of Peace” is not so peaceful. We were told after the 9/11 attacks that those who committed them were “hijacking their religion,” that this is not Islam. But, in my experience, based on Mr. Abdallah’s actions, it seems that the religion is certainly populated by a disproportionate share of so-called “hijackers of a religion”–and far too many of them have one thing in common: their hatred for Jews and their desire to see them murdered–and first raped–by Hezbollah, as Mr. Abdallah quite expressly said he wants to see happen to me. He sent me that e-mail specifically because he is a Muslim and specifically because I am a Jew, as evidenced by his words in the e-mail, the reference to Hezbollah during the Israel-Hezbollah war of 2006 in its subject line, and the content of the e-mail.
Mr. Abdallah got my e-mail address from my well-read website. It was my public address. He wrote me to silence me, to get me to stop writing about Islamic terrorists and thugs like himself, who want to take away our First Amendment rights. It will not work. But since he has certainly instilled fear in me for the safety of myself and my friends and family, he has achieved part of his goal. He may have never contributed to funds for terrorism or planned a bombing–though he says he will blow me up and that I will die, after first being raped–but his e-mails to me are a different kind of terrorism. And we cannot tolerate it here in the United States of America.
Your Honor, Mr. Abdallah is not the type of citizen we want or need in the United States. He needs to be sent a message, as do all Muslims in our country and around the world: Third World bigotry and anti-Semitism is not acceptable on American soil. Islamic barbarism, like Hezbollah’s wholesale murder of Americans and Jews–human beings–is not something to be cheered on and celebrated in our country. It is something to be condemned and punished to the fullest extent of the law. The same goes for Mr. Abdallah’s threats to rape and blow me up and kill me. It is bad enough that he was allowed to plead to only a Misdemeanor, while the benign e-mailers to the Detroit Muslim extremist leader I cited earlier are now convicted felons. I guess when you are a Jew–as I am–and the perpetrator is a Muslim–as Mr. Abdallah is, equal punishment does not exist for the same crime. Now that he has pleaded to a Misdemeanor, please don’t let Mr. Abdallah get off completely without a harsh punishment to fit his crime and the harm it has caused me and my family.
Today, I hope you send a message to Mohamad Fouad Abdallah, to his co-religionists, to the murderers of Americans and Jews in Hezbollah, to all who will learn of this case, that you strongly condemn his actions by sending him to prison and, if he is not a U.S. citizen, doing whatever is necessary so that our authorities at Citizenship and Immigration Services, at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and at the Executive Office of Immigration Review will all know that Mr. Abdallah is not the type of potential citizen who should be welcomed and remain free on American soil. Mr. Abdallah’s continued freedom makes the rest of America–especially his expressed target of rape, explosions, and murder–extremely unsafe. With me, it was two e-mails he sent, with someone else–and apparently me–he may carry out his threats.
Thank you for your time in reading this statement and considering my plight. I hope you will sentence Mohamad Fouad Abdallah to at least a year in prison per the minimum mandatory sentence under the federal sentencing guidelines, if not a much harsher punishment.
Sincerely,
Deborah K. Schlussel