A poster announcing that Congressman Keith Ellison would lead the Muslim Day Parade in New York City has quietly disappeared from the Muslim Foundation of America web site: Organizers of Muslim Day Parade Remove Keith Ellison Flyer from Website, Fueling Speculation.

(Coral Springs, FL) The Muslim Foundation of America.(MFA) has removed from its website a flyer containing a picture of Congressman Keith Ellison, advertising him as the Grand Marshal of its upcoming 22nd annual Muslim Day Parade taking place in New York City. The flyer was posted to the homepage of the group’s site, last week. A photo of a mosque has taken its place.

According to one blog written by Ellison supporter Abdi Aynte, the Congressman’s office claims that he “declined the offer to be the grand marshal a long time ago because he has other obligations in the district.” Yet a flyer announcing Ellison as Grand Marshal of this year’s parade was placed on MFA’s website just last week. The flyer contains a picture of Ellison and reads, “22nd American Muslim Day Parade… Grand Marshall Congressman Keith Ellison and other National Muslim Leaders.”

The change of content on the MFA site has fueled speculation that the Congressman had cancelled his appearance due to recent reports about the extremism of individuals and groups that are or have been associated with the parade. Past Marshals of the parade have been found to be Islamist radicals. They include unindicted co-conspirator of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Siraj Wahhaj, and accused death squad leader of the 1971 Bangladesh genocide, Ashrafuzzaman Khan. As well, many of the organizations co-sponsoring the parade have various ties to militant Islamic groups.

Joe Kaufman, the Chairman of Americans Against Hate (AAH), stated, “It seems odd that the organizers of the parade would advertise Congressman Ellison’s participation in the parade for nearly a week, if he had no intention of being involved in the event. Regardless, though, we will not be changing our plans to protest both the parade and Ellison.”

UPDATE at 8/31/07 10:00:05 am:

Here’s the poster: