Ismail Quran

Congratulations to Arab American and Palestinian officer Ismail Quran on being awarded the high honor of Officer of the Year. We are proud of you. Ish Ismail Cleveland Police

Nov 5, 2021 [1]

"I could have killed all Jews, but I left some of them alive in order to show..." Hitler never once said these words, but I remember the made-up quote circulating on Facebook since the site gained popularity among Syrians around 2009. It was usually paired with a black background and a photo of Hitler himself.

In a section devoted to comments on current affairs, the independent Sudanese daily Al-Sahafa published a short report containing a quote by Hitler. The report said: "The media is re-publishing [the following] quote by Adolf Hitler: 'I could have killed all the Jews in the world, but I spared some of them so that ..." Al-Sahafa (Sudan), January 11, 2009.

A translation of the relevant passages of the speech by MEMRI shows that Abbas named Husseini – widely known as "Hitler’s Mufti" – as one of Palestine’s "pioneers." Given that Abbas has faced much criticism for his Ph.D. thesis that questioned the Holocaust and claimed collaboration between the Nazis and the Zionist movement, he surely knew what he was doing. (And presumably Germany’s Social Democrats know what they are doing when they declare that they have “common values” with Fatah.)

The second example illustrates how this kind of nonchalant embrace of prominent Nazi-collaborators is reflected and amplified on popular social media sites: the Facebook page of "Palestine News" boasts more than 425,000 “Likes,” and when I checked it out just now, it registered “86,142 talking about this.”

A few days ago, this image with a supposed quote from Hitler was posted on the page:  

This posting garnered 1853 "Likes;" the accompanying text is basically the same as a purported Hitler quote provided in a popular "Hitler quotes" app:  "I could have killed all the Jews in the world, but I spared some of them so you ..."

[... Zudem war dieser Umgang einer sinnvollen Datenerhebung wenig förderlich, da ich in den entsprechenden Situationen ebensowenig in der Lage war, ruhig nachzufragen, um weiter zu eruieren, was etwa die Figur Hitler für meine Gesprächspartner genauer bedeutete, von welcher Relevanz ihre positive Bezugnahme zum Nationalsozialismus in ihrem Alltag war und über wie viel Wissen über die Shoah sie verfügten. 

Dieses Interaktionsmuster zeigte sich auch in der Begegnung mit Samir und Hassan. Als sie mir bei unserer das erste Begegnung Fotos auf Hassans Computer zeigten, präsentierten sie mir auch ein zugangsbeschränktes Internet-Forum, auf dem sie mit ihren Freunden kommunizierten. Als Samir zum Ende der Seite runterscrollte, bemerkte ich, dass neben zahlreichen Bildern von Arafat dort auch ein Bild von Hitler zu sehen war. Ich bat ihn, mir dieses Bild noch einmal zu zeigen. Das Foto zeigte Hitler, in einem Cabrio stehend, umringt von einer begeisterten Menschenmenge (anscheinend alle SS-Männer), die ihm die Hand zum Hitlergruß entgegenstrecken, wobei diejenigen in nächster Nähe des Autos auch versuchen, ihm die Hand zu schütteln oder ihn an den Schultern zu berühren. Hitler lächelt auf dem Foto, steht leicht vorgebeugt und erwidert den Handschlag auf beiden Seiten des Autos. Über dieses Foto war ein Text auf Arabisch gelegt (auf Brusthöhe Hitlers), den Samir und Hassan mir so übersetzten: „Hitler sagte in seinem Buch (Mein Kampf): Es stand in meiner Macht alle Juden der Welt zu töten, doch ich habe einige...

Das Bild scheint relativ verbreitet zu sein, ich fand es später nach kurzer Internetrecherche auf anderen Seiten als dem geschlossenen Forum von Samir; wenn man „Hitler“ in arabischen Buchstaben bei der Google-Bildersuche eingab, war es 2009 unter den ersten 120 Treffern zu finden.]

... In addition, this way of dealing with a meaningful collection of data was not very conducive, since I was just as incapable of calmly asking questions in the relevant situations in order to find out what the figure of Hitler meant to my interlocutors, the relevance of their positive reference to National Socialism in their everyday life and how much knowledge they had about the Shoah.

This interaction pattern was also evident in the encounter with Samir and Hassan. When she met me for the first time showing photos on Hassan's computer, they also presented me with a restricted internet forum where they communicated with their friends.

When Samir scrolled down to the bottom of the page, I noticed that there was a picture of Hitler in addition to numerous pictures of Arafat. I asked him to show me this picture again. The photo showed Hitler standing in a convertible, surrounded by an enthusiastic crowd (apparently all SS men) extending their hands to him in a Nazi salute, with those closest to the car also attempting to shake his hand or touch his shoulders.

Hitler smiles in the photo, leans slightly forward and returns the handshake on both sides of the car. Over this photo was a text in Arabic (at Hitler's chest level), which Samir and Hassan translated for me as follows: "Hitler said in his book (Mein Kampf): It was in my power to kill all the Jews in the world, but I have..."

The picture seems to be relatively common, I found it later after a short internet search on other sites than Samir's closed forum; if you entered "Hitler" in Arabic letters in the Google image search, it was among the first 120 hits in 2009.

Overview Ismail Quran [Ismail Ish Quran] has promoted Hitler and spread anti-Semitism and anti-Jewish conspiracy theories on Twitter. He has also equated Israel with Nazi Germany and spread hatred of Israel. In November 2017 Quran was a member of a closed Facebook group honoring Osama Bin Laden. On April 22, 2012, Quran shared a photo on Instagram showing a "Certificate of Completion" for "successfully passed the Police Officer Physical Agility Exam." The certificate was issued by the Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) Public Safety Institute Law Enforcement Training Division. In 2012, Quran also indicated on Twitter that he "passed Cleveland police & firefighter tests." On May 18, 2016, Quran tweeted that he was "headed to the NYPD police training for agility test." On March 8, 2018, Quran wrote on Facebook: "I went back to pursue my education" C and shared a March 6, 2018 letter addressed to him by Tri-C from the "Western Campus President, Dr. Donna Imhoff" congratulating Quran on having "qualified for the Dean’s List." Quran’s tweets from August and October 2018 indicated that he was still a student at the time. As of October 2018, Quran used the name "Ismail Ish Quran" on Facebook.

Promoting Hitler On July 14, 2014, Quran tweeted: "F**k that J.w. Say something!" The tweet featured an image of Hitler with a caption that read: "LET ME SALUTE TO HITLER THE GREAT. He said ‘i would have killed all the jews of the world, but i kept some to show the world why i killed them." On July 15, 2014, the following day, Quran tweeted the same Hitler image and wrote: "@Hayden_Sahl @ctpreston I don't salute this man, but what is happening to us, is what happened to the Jews by Hitler." On July 14, 2014, Quran tweeted: "Actually received a lot of support on that Hitler pic I posted on IG! Lol again it's for the Zionists, not Jews. There is a difference."

On the same day, Quran also tweeted: “‘I didn't kill all the Jews so later you can see why I killed them’ (#Hitler#Palestine#FreePalestine).

Cleveland Patrol Officer Ismail Quran could be the poster child for the Defund the Police movement, but it wasn’t all that long ago that he was a rising star: in 2019, the city of Cleveland’s Division of Police named him its “Police Officer of the Year” and gave him its Distinguished Service Medal, hailing him in fulsome terms: “Officer Ismail Quran has truly embodied the community policing philosophy for the Cleveland Division of Police.” Yet Quran was hired, and given this award, despite a social media record of praising Hitler and Hamas. He even joined a Facebook group honoring Osama bin Laden. Did the Cleveland police not know about this or not care? Either way, not a good look.

Quran’s troubles began last Thursday, when Canary Mission, which monitors online anti-Semitism, tweeted a video about Quran with the heading: “SERIOUSLY SCARY! Despite horrifying antisemitic hate speech, Cleveland Police Officer Ismail Quran was rewarded by @CLEpolice with an ‘Officer of the Year’ Award! Do you trust this officer to keep Jews safe? A MUST WATCH VIDEO!” Canary Mission’s dossier on Quran is loaded with harrowing material. In September 2012, Quran, who has since deleted his Twitter account, tweeted: “I’ll beat the hell out of you like I do Nadiah the Jew lol.” On July 14, 2014, he tweeted: “F**k that Jew.” His tweet included an image of Hitler with this caption: “LET ME SALUTE TO HITLER THE GREAT. He said ‘i would have killed all the jews of the world, but i kept some to show the world why i killed them.’” He also apparently posted this Hitler image on Instagram, as later that day, Quran tweeted: “Actually received a lot of support on that Hitler pic I posted on IG! Lol again it’s for the Zionists, not Jews. There is a difference.” The following day, however, Quran walked back his Hitler support as he accused Israel of genocide, tweeting the same image again and writing: “I don’t salute this man, but what is happening to us, is what happened to the Jews by Hitler.” In July 2014 and on numerous occasions thereafter, Quran tweeted still more viciously anti-Semitic statements, including: “Lol bum a** Jew tried to intimidate me…don’t try that s**t with me.” “I HOPE THEY TAKE THE JEWS OUT OF PALESTINE.” “F**K THE ZIONIST JEWS!!!!!!!!!!!! B**ch A** MOTHER F**KERS.” “That scumbag Jew.” “F**k the @ Jews #FreePalestine.” “Scumbag Yahoodi [Jew].” “Jews run the world lol Facts! Our owner is Jew! KNICKS!” “ISIS = Israeli Secret Intelligence Unit. Who does Israel get support from? The U.S. #Aliens lol #InsideJob #OpenYourEyes.” “Im like the Jews who think Its okay 4 Hammas 2 fight back the Jews who invaded our country. Those Jews are educated.”

In May 2014, Quran tweeted to Lara Kollab, a medical student who boasted about giving Jews “the wrong meds”: “who bothering ya!!!! Let me at em! Lol if it’s a Jew give me their @ and I’ll do it.” In August 2014, Quran expressed a dim view of Barack Obama: “it’s actually crazy out President really has no power & is Israel’s puppet.”

All this and much more were publicly available, yet the Cleveland police hired Quran on July 2, 2018. Did they not look at his social media or not care about what they saw there? It’s hard to escape the impression that Cleveland police officials just didn’t care, especially since they named Quran Police Officer of the Year after Canary Mission drew attention to his posts. Canary Mission said in a statement: “We initially released Ismail Quran’s profile in January 2019. His large number of anti-Semitic posts were severe and all posted after Quran had completed his first Police Officer Physical Agility Exam. We were already concerned that the Cleveland Police Department employed an officer with a record of anti-Semitic hate speech. However, we are shocked and dismayed that the Cleveland Police Department honored Quran later that same year.” However, Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association president Jeff Follmer was dismissive: “These Tweets are from over a decade ago. It doesn’t represent the amazing police officer that he is.” Actually, Quran joined the pro-bin Laden Facebook group five years ago, in 2017. Would Follmer have been so cavalier if Quran in 2017 had joined a Facebook group praising Donald Trump? In that case, Quran might not have been removed from the force, but he almost certainly would never have copped the Officer of the Year award.

But now that Quran’s posts are getting unwelcome attention, Cleveland officials are finally acting. Cleveland police spokesperson Sgt. Jennifer Ciaccia stated that “the City of Cleveland, Division of Police was made aware of a matter involving a Cleveland Police Officer and inappropriate social media content. The matter has been referred to the Cleveland Division of Police Internal Affairs Unit and the City of Cleveland’s Ethics Officer for thorough investigation.” While this alleged investigation is going on, Quran has been “assigned to administrative duties.”

Well, great. But what if the ADL had succeeded in its efforts to defame and destroy Canary Mission and it never profiled Quran? Was the city of Cleveland so anxious to feature and honor a Muslim police officer and thereby earn a few wokeness points that it was willing to endanger Jews in the area? The worst part of all this may be that the current investigation of Ismail Quran will almost certainly ignore the most important questions his case raises.

In various other tweets he attempts to defends his antisemitism by falsely proclaiming to be Jewish.

[3]

Jun 17, 2022

Cleveland Division of Police officer Ismail Quran was moved to administrative duties pending the outcome of an internal affairs investigation. The alleged social media posts were dug up by Canary Mission, which documents people and organizations that spread hatred against Jewish people... According to Canary Mission, Quran's tweet included a picture of Hilter with the caption: "LET ME SALUTE TO HITLER THE GREAT. He said ‘i would have killed all the jews of the world, but i kept some to show the world why i killed them.'" In another post from 2015, he allegedly tweeted: "Lol bum a-- Jew tried to intimidate me…don’t try that s--- with me." In others, he is accused of referring to Jewish people as "scumbag" and "bums," according to the screenshots.

"[Hitler] said 'I would have killed all the Jews of the world, but I kept some to show the world why I killed them,'" read a meme allegedly posted by a Cleveland police officer.

Cleveland's 2019 "Officer of the Year" has reportedly fallen under scrutiny by the Cleveland Police Department after it was revealed on Thursday that a Twitter account allegedly connected to him posted a series of racist and antisemitic tweets.

Officer Ismail Quran had allegedly tweeted praise of Hitler, antisemitic tirades, and pro-Hamas statements.

Ismail Quran made several antisemitic comments on social media site Twitter, including claiming that "Jews run the world", which is a popular antisemitic conspiracy theory.

In 2014, posting under the username iSH NYC, @ish_1988, Quran wrote:"F*** that Jew". And he also posted a picture of Adolf Hitler with the words: "Let me salute to Hitler the Great. "He said ‘I would have killed all the Jews in the world, but I kept some around to show why I killed them."...

He also tweeted, in 2015, that "Jews run the world", which is a popular conspiracy theory among antisemitic groups...

... She said Quran has a history of tweeting anti-Semitic, homophobic, racist and anti-American rhetoric. Quran’s alleged posts were made public by Canary Mission, an anti-Semitism watchdog organization. Many of the posts contained anti-Semitic hate speech and profanity. ... Quran is accused of allegedly making anti-Semitic posts on his social media accounts in 2014. He is continuing to work while an internal investigation is taking place....

The I-Team asked a city spokesperson if anyone looked into Quran’s background before he was hired. We were told it does not appear anyone doing his background investigation knew about the posts but that will be part of the current internal investigation.

... The Cleveland police department hired Quran in 2018, several years after most of the public tweets were issued. Quran was presented with a belated 2019 officer of the year award in November 2021, more than a year after Canary Mission first exposed many of Quran’s anti-Semitic posts. At the award ceremony, the department said "Officer Ismail Quran has truly embodied the community policing philosophy for the Cleveland Division of Police." The Cleveland police department is facing allegations it tried to sweep the controversy under the rug and ignore Quran’s bigotry. The officer is "assigned to administrative duties" while the investigation is underway...

Quran’s tweets promote violence against Jewish people, praise Hitler, and traffic in anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. In October 2015, he stated, "Lol bum ass Jew tried to intimidate me. … Don't try that shit with me."

"The Jewish lobby," he wrote in August 2014, runs "the USA." Quran claimed in an August 2014 tweet that the Hamas terror group, which routinely kills Jewish civilians in terror attacks, is merely "defending their land."

In a July 2014 tweet, Quran wrote, "F#ck that Jew" in response to a message wishing an Israeli basketball player good luck. Quran's tweet included a picture captioned, "LET ME SALUTE TO HITLER THE GREAT [sic. Quran]. He said ‘I would have killed all the Jews of the world, but I kept some to show the world [sic., Quran] why I killed them.' "

After reading the June 21 article, “Former ‘officer of the year’ under investigation,“ I was immediately struck by the callous minimization by Cleveland Police Patrolmen’s Association President Jeff Follmer of Cleveland Police Officer Ismail Quran’s recently revealed, repulsive social media posts. It is one thing to afford members of an organization their due procedural defense. It is entirely another to minimize the anti-Semitic conduct of an individual -- a police officer -- who praises Adolf Hitler and calls for the death of the Jewish people.

CPPA President Follmer suggests that the heinous posts are “over a decade” old, as if to suggest that this in some way mitigates the gravity of Officer Quran’s vile expressions. Follmer goes on to say that this type of rhetoric should not be a reflection on the type of officer that Quran is. If Follmer can’t see the harm in his statements and is unable to offer an unequivocal apology to the broad community, he should not remain in this position of trust.

Follmer’s position mandates that he condemn this hate speech out of respect to history, the citizens and the fine officers of the Cleveland Police Department.

According to Canary Mission, Ismail Quran was awarded the 2019 Officer of the Year Award and the distinguished service medal last November at the Cleveland Division of Police Awards.

In 2019, a year after Quran joined the department, Canary Mission exposed his tweets that glorify Hitler, spread anti-Semitism and conspiracy theories, and express his disdain for Israel and Zionists. According to their investigation, in 2017, Quran was also a member of a closed Facebook group that honored Osama Bin Laden. In a tweet from July 2014, Quran shared an image of Hitler with the text, “Let me salute to Hitler the great” and he said “i would have killed all the jews [sic] of the world, but I kept some to show the world why I killed them.’”...

In July 2014, Quran also tweeted a photo of a man wrapped in an Israeli flag, writing "Scumbag [sic] Yahoodi.” In February 2015, he pushed anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, claiming "ISIS = [sic] Israeli Secret Intelligence Unit," adding, "[w]ho does Israel get support from? The U.S. #Aliens lol #InsideJob #OpenYourEyes.” A few weeks later, he tweeted that “Jews run the world.” Canary Mission claims that all tweets came after he completed his first Police Officer Physical Agility Exam. "It was already a cause for concern that the Cleveland Police Department continued to employ an officer with a record of anti-Semitic hate speech," Canary Mission said in a statement. "However, we are shocked and dismayed to discover that the Cleveland Police Department honored Quran." "We urge swift action by Mayor Justin Bibb, Interim Chief of Police Dornat Drummond and the Cleveland Community Police Commission to remove such a dangerous anti-Semite from his duty," added the statement.

‘Extreme nature of the posts’ In a video of the award ceremony on the department’s Facebook page, the presenter described Quran as a "gifted communicator bringing calm understanding to situations when he responds" and "has truly embodied the community policing philosophy for the Cleveland division of police." They claimed his bilingual abilities made him an "invaluable resource for other members of the division."

His tweets were posted under the Twitter handle @ish_1988, which has since been deleted. Canary Mission says it was able to identify Quran’s account on Twitter because his display photo on Twitter was the same as his Facebook and Instagram accounts, which used his real name.

Sarah Johnson, a spokesperson for the city, acknowledged the tweet in a statement to JNS, calling them inappropriate and adding that the "matter has been referred to the Cleveland Division of Police Internal Affairs Unit for thorough investigation."

"The Cleveland Division of Police insists that officers provide the highest levels of professionalism and respect to all citizens. Discrimination of any kind will not be tolerated," she said. Cleveland Police Union president Jeff Follmer brushed off the comments, claiming that some of the tweets are "from over a decade ago." "He is an amazing police officer. Ismail was policeman of the year in 2019 and assisted in many investigations. He is an asset to the Cleveland community that he serves," Follmer said to Fox 8.

In response, Canary Mission said that despite the age of the tweets, they are still relevant because of the "extreme nature of the posts and his extreme hatred of Jews." "Quran tweeted many of these hateful posts after he had already begun his police training," Canary Mission said. "And the fact he is an active police officer is very alarming." They added that the posts were still live until they were exposed two weeks ago, when they resurfaced.

James Pasch, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League in Cleveland, told the Cleveland Jewish News that if "the allegations are accurate, we would expect the Cleveland Police Department to handle those allegations appropriately. And at ADL, we’ll also look into the online statements."

Quran, who is still employed by the department while undergoing the investigation, has been assigned to administrative duties.

The ADL has attacked Canary Mission because the pro-Israel site actually fights antisemitism by exposing Islamist, alt-left and alt-right bigots. A few years ago, the ADL was forced to apologize for falsely accusing Canary Mission of "Islamophobic & racist rhetoric." The anti-Israel Forward has repeatedly attacked Canary Mission and tried to cut off its funding. JVP, an antisemitic hate group, smeared Canary Mission as a "a malicious website that seeks to vilify principled activists"....

Canary Mission also pointed out that Quran was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood's MSA, a subject that the ADL will no longer touch.