American Airlines has honored for his "leadership in diversity and inclusion" an employee who served as chairman of the Arizona chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an unindicted co-conspirator in a terror-funding case and a documented front group for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, the worldwide movement that has stated its intent to transform the U.S. into a Saudi-style Islamic state.
Mohamed El-Sharkawy, an Airbus maintenance training specialist at American, was one of four employees recognized for the 2015 Earl G. Graves Award for Leadership in Diversity and Inclusion.
El Sharkawy also serves as the chairman of the Arizona Muslim Police Advisory Board.
The airline said the award was "for their work in making a lasting impression in the workplace, in the community and as role models in diversity."
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The award was issued in June but was reported recently by the Understanding the Threat blog, which said American Airlines refused to comment on El-Sharkawy’s employment. The airline encouraged the blog to contact the FBI if it had any threat information.
"These employees have made extraordinary efforts to reach out to groups of people within the company and in their surrounding communities, promoting a culture respectful of all genders, races, creeds and abilities," the airline said in a statement.
But while CAIR touts itself as a Muslim civil rights group, federal prosecutors in 2007 named the group an unindicted co-conspirator in a plot to fund Hamas, and more than a dozen CAIR leaders have been charged or convicted of terrorism-related crimes.
American's profile of El-Sharkawy said that as chairman of the Arizona chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations he "encouraged dialogue, protected civil liberties, empowered American Muslims and built coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding."
"He was instrumental in starting the interfaith, intercultural Bridges Employee Business Resource Group and played an integral role educating crew members on Muslim etiquette in preparation for the airline's route launch to Tel Aviv, Israel."
American Airlines explained that since 2008, it has been "honoring recipients with a diversity award for leadership in honor of Earl G. Graves, a successful African-American businessman, entrepreneur and former board member of previous American Airlines parent company AMR Corp., who showed us that respecting and appreciating each other's differences is the right thing to do and is key to our continued success."
"American Airlines is extremely proud to recognize these employees for exceptional leadership in diversity," said Loral Blinde, American's vice president of human resources in a statement. "This year's recipients are an integral part of the community and they bring their compassion and desire for inclusion to work every day."
FBI wiretap evidence from the terror-funding Holy Land Foundation case showed CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad was at an October 1993 meeting of Hamas leaders and activists in Philadelphia. CAIR, according to the evidence, was born out of a need to give a "media twinkle" to the Muslim leaders' agenda of supporting violent jihad abroad while slowly institutionalizing Islamic law in the U.S.
As WND reported in 2010, a federal judge later determined that the Justice Department provided “ample evidence” to designate CAIR as an unindicted terrorist co-conspirator, affirming the Muslim group has been involved in “a conspiracy to support Hamas."
A WND author who probed the Washington, D.C.-based group's connection to global jihad is the target of a lawsuit by CAIR that is heading for trial. CAIR filed suit in 2009 against former federal investigator Dave Gaubatz and his son, Chris Gaubatz, after the two published their findings in the WND Books expose’ "Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That's Conspiring to Islamize America."