(CNN) -- Police in Israel are investigating the burning of hundreds of New Testaments in a city near Tel Aviv, an incident that has alarmed advocates of religious freedom.
Investigators plan to review photographs and footage showing "a fairly large" number of New Testaments being torched this month in the city of Or-Yehuda, a police spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld, said Wednesday.
News accounts in Israel have quoted Uzi Aharon, the deputy mayor of Or-Yehuda, as saying he organized students who burned several hundred copies of the New Testament. The deputy mayor gave interviews to Israeli radio and television stations after word of the incident surfaced about two weeks ago.
Soon he was talking with Russian, Italian and French television stations, "explaining to their highly offended audiences back home how he had not meant for the Bibles to be burned, and trying to undo the damage caused by the news (and photographs) of Jews burning New Testaments," The Jerusalem Post reported.
Aharon told CNN on Wednesday that he collected New Testaments and other "Messianic propaganda" that had been handed out in the city but that he did not plan or organize a burning. Instead, he said, three teenagers set fire to a pile of New Testaments while he was not present. Once he learned what was going on, he said, he stopped the burning.
The episode has worried defenders of Israel's minority population of Messianic Jews, who consider themselves Jewish but believe in the divinity of Jesus, as do Christians. It also has concerned evangelical Christians in North America, Europe and Asia, who visit Israel by the hundreds of thousands.
Calev Myers, an attorney for Messianic Jews in Israel, told CNN he plans to file a formal complaint Thursday with the national police at the request of the United Christian Council in Israel, an umbrella organization for a few dozen Christian organizations outside Israel.
"I hope the people who are responsible for breaking the law will be indicted and prosecuted," he said.
About 200 New Testaments were burned, Aharon said, but he saved another 200.
His goal was to stop attempts to distribute Christian literature in the city, he said.
Myers, however, said he doubts that Messianic Jewish missionaries distributed the New Testaments. He said it's not clear how the volumes found their way into homes in Or-Yehuda.
The deputy mayor told CNN he respects the New Testament and would not do what has been done to the Jews in the past -- a reference to Nazi burning of Jewish and other books in the 1930s, and other occasions when Jewish texts, including sacred ones, were burned.
Myers said his complaint will ask the authorities to investigate possible violations of two Israeli laws. One forbids the destruction or desecration of any religious icon or item that a group holds sacred. Another bans people from speaking publicly in a way that offends or humiliates a certain religion.
Both laws are meant to prevent people from inciting religious violence, he said.
The burning controversy has unfolded against the backdrop of other instances that Myers cited as examples of discrimination against Messianic Jews in Israel.
About two months ago, the teenage son of a Messianic pastor was severely injured when a package delivered to his home exploded, Myers said. In addition, several rabbis urged students to boycott further participation in a Bible competition after they learned that one winner -- a high-school student in Israel -- was a Messianic Jew, he said.
Groups such as the Anti-Defamation League have sharply criticized the burning of New Testaments.
"We condemn this heinous act as a violation of the basic Jewish principles and values," said Rabbi Eric J. Greenburg, director of interfaith policy for the Anti-Defamation League. "It is essential that we respect the sacred texts of other faiths. The Jewish people can never forget the tragic burning of sacred Jewish volumes at many points in history."
"While there may be legitimate concerns of proselytizing, these matters must be addressed through the proper legal channels," Greenburg said in a statement. "It is unacceptable and not legitimate to burn someone else's sacred texts."
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
my comments on MSNBC photo
Justjerod, I hope that my comments find you in good health. I also pray that you find peace and happiness especially when going through divorce.
Back to our debate, I had hoped that you would have shared your own sincere thoughts when it came to your understanding of Islam and of the Arabic language, instead of choosing to copy and paste from a site that is ran by bunch of Orientalists, Think-tank Zionist organizations heavily funded to twist the truth and to get people confused thus they give up. I will give you the benefit of doubt and think that you’re a nice guy who’s a true devout believer looking for the truth, your style was all about scoring points, to be triumphant towards the end to deliver your final blow, inviting me to learn about the true God and become an Evangelist. I will not hide my feelings regarding the jurisprudence you follow, The Evangelists. They have gone against everything Jesus thought us. You see my brother, and I call you my brother in humanity and I wish no harm to you, yet you don’t look at me the same, so long I don’t follow your faith and beliefs, Judgment has been passed on me, I am the doomed one! Evangelists are the extremist Christian sect equivalent to the Wahabi’s we have in Islam, the Jurisprudence Bin Laden practices.
To begin, try to use text by someone who can at least translate Arabic! Arabic happens to be one of the most intricate languages known to man, the language the Holy Quran was delivered in through the Angel Gabriel, and was preserved by God. For over 1400 years not one word has been changed, regardless what sect of Islam you are we all have one Book.
The name Gabriel in Arabic it becomes Jibreel, Jesus is referred to as Yassuu’ Issa Ibnu Mariam, which translates to Jesus the son of Mary, Same name Christian Arabs refer to Jesus in Arabic, just if you don’t know, Aramic and Arabic are very close, same with Hebrew, you will find many shared words between the two. How do you explain the indiscriminate killing of Arab Christians by Israelis, or when the Crusades invaded Palestine and barbarically killed everyone, Jews Christians and Muslims! Ignorance of the Arabic Language goes much further than biblical texts; it even affects me in the way I write my own name. You see, my name is written only in one precise way, but when it comes to English, my name is written in many ways, Hussein, Hossein, Hussain, Hassin, and to make the matters worse, Even our Media here brings those supposedly experts in the Arabic language and use terminologies such as Jihad, Jihadists as examples, and people here get scared of those words… Jihad to you means terrorism, to a Muslim, true meaning of Jihad is anytime a human does good deeds to help humanity, anytime a man goes out and work hard to support his family, and Jihad also applies to self defense, not when the Wahabi’s decide to blow themselves up in between innocent people they call it Jihad, A distorted understanding of the word. I bet you didn’t know this?
More to try to divert the readers from finding the truth, the author states lies over and over that there’s no evidence that the bible has been tampered with, could you tell me who wrote the bible? Did you know that there are over 70 bibles that are completely different from one another, from contradicting stories to false accusations all written by men never met Jesus? Let’s look at King James Version; did you know that the 1980’s version is different from the version printed in 1990? Christian scholars decided to get together in 1990 and take out two chapters from the bible, claiming that it no longer applies to today’s lifestyle. As if God only applies to one period of time. I ask, what has changed in the human race since Jesus’ time and now, besides technology absolutely nothing, we still plot, lie, cheat, kill and yes you still have lots of goodness in us. This is clear evidence that the bible has been changed by man, it’s been tampered with.
I ask again, how can a child be born a sinner? Where is the justice of God? My understanding of a religion is by how its people conduct their affairs. Let’s talk about God’s justice. Prior to Islam, when they were worshipping idols in Arabia, women had no rights, many times little girls were buried alive after birth, they considered women as shameful, Islam changed all that, 1400 years ago women could vote, have equal rights, and they could own land and transfer titles in their names, did you know that women here in the US didn’t get such right until the early 1900’s? Let’s talk about justice some more, wasn’t Slavery committed in the name of religion? The KKK exists based on a religious Christian doctrine; Hitler killed Jews with the pure blessings of the Catholic Pope.
Another illogical point you tried to make. Did Jesus call himself Christian? The word Christian came from Christ, Jesus couldn’t possible call himself Christian, the follower of himself? Or Jews, the followers of the tribe Judah, or Buddhists, the followers of Buddha? Perhaps if we were following the same standards, Muslims then be called Mohammadains? Prophet Mohammad is the final prophet sent by God, he worshiped God just like we do, followed his commandments just like we do. We Muslims do not worship Prophet Mohammad, he is dead, Jesus is not dead, Jesus will be the Messiah as ordered by God.
What is the meaning of Islam? Islam means that who submits to one and only creator, the one who believes in the oneness of one God. That applies to all prophets, From Adam, Noah, Abraham, in Arabic Ibrahim, trust me they are the same just don’t get caught up in the trickery of translation, Moses or Mussa in Arabic, Jesus or Issa in Arabic, just to add quicly, English is not the standard language of Christianity, bible was written in Arabic way before it was introduced to English. So yes, All prophets of God are Muslim. You claiming that Islam is trying to discredit Jesus and make Mohammad the only relevant one is totally false, Jesus was mentioned over 70 times in the Quran, were as Prophet Mohammad was only mentioned 4 times. There’s a Whole verse in the Quran that is named Surat Marriam, or the verse of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
NO ONE IS GREATER THAN GOD AND NO ONE CAN DIRECT HIM.... BUT JESUS
ACKNOWLEDGED SOMEONE GREATER THAN HIMSELF WHO’S WILL WAS DISTINCT FROM HIS OWN
Perhaps the clearest indication we have that Jesus and God are not equal, and therefore not one and the same, come again from the mouth of Jesus himself who said in John 14:28: "My Father is greater than I." When someone referred to him as good master in Luke 18:19, Jesus responded: "Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God..." furthermore, Jesus drew clear distinctions between himself and God when he said, "I proceeded forth and came from God, neither came I of myself but He sent me." (John 8:42) Jesus gave clear evidence of his subordination to God, rather than his equality with God, when he said in Luke 22:42, "not my will but Thine be done" and in John 5:30, "I
Seek not mine own will but the will of the Father which has sent me." That Jesus would admit that he did not come into the world on his own initiative but was directed to do so, that he would acknowledge another being as greater than himself, and that he would negate his own will in deference to affirming the will of another, give clear proof that Jesus is not the Supreme One and therefore Jesus is not God.
Then you mention irrelevant people such as Yasser Arafat and what he had to say about Jesus, he’s a politician and not a scholar, he was a secular one nonetheless.
My final question to you, what happens if you bought a car or a new piece of machinery, or new software without an owner’s instructional manual? Do you think God would ever create this entire universe without an instructional manual, a manual that came directly from him unaltered?
Logic, Reason my brother… I don’t ask to score points against you here, I don’t ask that you revert and become Muslim, I just hope that you regard me as another human being created by our magnificent creator, who deserves the same human rights, dignity and the right to live in peace and tranquility just like you do, and If I succeeded in accomplishing that goal in only you, that will mean that you too will plant the seeds of goodness in your children, they will plant it in theirs, so one and so forth, this way we create a world full of Love, respect, and let the language of reason be louder than that of the language of gun.
Salam, Peace, Shalom :)
I wrote my email before.
mustbtold@gmail.com
http://gottobetold.blogspot.com/
Back to our debate, I had hoped that you would have shared your own sincere thoughts when it came to your understanding of Islam and of the Arabic language, instead of choosing to copy and paste from a site that is ran by bunch of Orientalists, Think-tank Zionist organizations heavily funded to twist the truth and to get people confused thus they give up. I will give you the benefit of doubt and think that you’re a nice guy who’s a true devout believer looking for the truth, your style was all about scoring points, to be triumphant towards the end to deliver your final blow, inviting me to learn about the true God and become an Evangelist. I will not hide my feelings regarding the jurisprudence you follow, The Evangelists. They have gone against everything Jesus thought us. You see my brother, and I call you my brother in humanity and I wish no harm to you, yet you don’t look at me the same, so long I don’t follow your faith and beliefs, Judgment has been passed on me, I am the doomed one! Evangelists are the extremist Christian sect equivalent to the Wahabi’s we have in Islam, the Jurisprudence Bin Laden practices.
To begin, try to use text by someone who can at least translate Arabic! Arabic happens to be one of the most intricate languages known to man, the language the Holy Quran was delivered in through the Angel Gabriel, and was preserved by God. For over 1400 years not one word has been changed, regardless what sect of Islam you are we all have one Book.
The name Gabriel in Arabic it becomes Jibreel, Jesus is referred to as Yassuu’ Issa Ibnu Mariam, which translates to Jesus the son of Mary, Same name Christian Arabs refer to Jesus in Arabic, just if you don’t know, Aramic and Arabic are very close, same with Hebrew, you will find many shared words between the two. How do you explain the indiscriminate killing of Arab Christians by Israelis, or when the Crusades invaded Palestine and barbarically killed everyone, Jews Christians and Muslims! Ignorance of the Arabic Language goes much further than biblical texts; it even affects me in the way I write my own name. You see, my name is written only in one precise way, but when it comes to English, my name is written in many ways, Hussein, Hossein, Hussain, Hassin, and to make the matters worse, Even our Media here brings those supposedly experts in the Arabic language and use terminologies such as Jihad, Jihadists as examples, and people here get scared of those words… Jihad to you means terrorism, to a Muslim, true meaning of Jihad is anytime a human does good deeds to help humanity, anytime a man goes out and work hard to support his family, and Jihad also applies to self defense, not when the Wahabi’s decide to blow themselves up in between innocent people they call it Jihad, A distorted understanding of the word. I bet you didn’t know this?
More to try to divert the readers from finding the truth, the author states lies over and over that there’s no evidence that the bible has been tampered with, could you tell me who wrote the bible? Did you know that there are over 70 bibles that are completely different from one another, from contradicting stories to false accusations all written by men never met Jesus? Let’s look at King James Version; did you know that the 1980’s version is different from the version printed in 1990? Christian scholars decided to get together in 1990 and take out two chapters from the bible, claiming that it no longer applies to today’s lifestyle. As if God only applies to one period of time. I ask, what has changed in the human race since Jesus’ time and now, besides technology absolutely nothing, we still plot, lie, cheat, kill and yes you still have lots of goodness in us. This is clear evidence that the bible has been changed by man, it’s been tampered with.
I ask again, how can a child be born a sinner? Where is the justice of God? My understanding of a religion is by how its people conduct their affairs. Let’s talk about God’s justice. Prior to Islam, when they were worshipping idols in Arabia, women had no rights, many times little girls were buried alive after birth, they considered women as shameful, Islam changed all that, 1400 years ago women could vote, have equal rights, and they could own land and transfer titles in their names, did you know that women here in the US didn’t get such right until the early 1900’s? Let’s talk about justice some more, wasn’t Slavery committed in the name of religion? The KKK exists based on a religious Christian doctrine; Hitler killed Jews with the pure blessings of the Catholic Pope.
Another illogical point you tried to make. Did Jesus call himself Christian? The word Christian came from Christ, Jesus couldn’t possible call himself Christian, the follower of himself? Or Jews, the followers of the tribe Judah, or Buddhists, the followers of Buddha? Perhaps if we were following the same standards, Muslims then be called Mohammadains? Prophet Mohammad is the final prophet sent by God, he worshiped God just like we do, followed his commandments just like we do. We Muslims do not worship Prophet Mohammad, he is dead, Jesus is not dead, Jesus will be the Messiah as ordered by God.
What is the meaning of Islam? Islam means that who submits to one and only creator, the one who believes in the oneness of one God. That applies to all prophets, From Adam, Noah, Abraham, in Arabic Ibrahim, trust me they are the same just don’t get caught up in the trickery of translation, Moses or Mussa in Arabic, Jesus or Issa in Arabic, just to add quicly, English is not the standard language of Christianity, bible was written in Arabic way before it was introduced to English. So yes, All prophets of God are Muslim. You claiming that Islam is trying to discredit Jesus and make Mohammad the only relevant one is totally false, Jesus was mentioned over 70 times in the Quran, were as Prophet Mohammad was only mentioned 4 times. There’s a Whole verse in the Quran that is named Surat Marriam, or the verse of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
NO ONE IS GREATER THAN GOD AND NO ONE CAN DIRECT HIM.... BUT JESUS
ACKNOWLEDGED SOMEONE GREATER THAN HIMSELF WHO’S WILL WAS DISTINCT FROM HIS OWN
Perhaps the clearest indication we have that Jesus and God are not equal, and therefore not one and the same, come again from the mouth of Jesus himself who said in John 14:28: "My Father is greater than I." When someone referred to him as good master in Luke 18:19, Jesus responded: "Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God..." furthermore, Jesus drew clear distinctions between himself and God when he said, "I proceeded forth and came from God, neither came I of myself but He sent me." (John 8:42) Jesus gave clear evidence of his subordination to God, rather than his equality with God, when he said in Luke 22:42, "not my will but Thine be done" and in John 5:30, "I
Seek not mine own will but the will of the Father which has sent me." That Jesus would admit that he did not come into the world on his own initiative but was directed to do so, that he would acknowledge another being as greater than himself, and that he would negate his own will in deference to affirming the will of another, give clear proof that Jesus is not the Supreme One and therefore Jesus is not God.
Then you mention irrelevant people such as Yasser Arafat and what he had to say about Jesus, he’s a politician and not a scholar, he was a secular one nonetheless.
My final question to you, what happens if you bought a car or a new piece of machinery, or new software without an owner’s instructional manual? Do you think God would ever create this entire universe without an instructional manual, a manual that came directly from him unaltered?
Logic, Reason my brother… I don’t ask to score points against you here, I don’t ask that you revert and become Muslim, I just hope that you regard me as another human being created by our magnificent creator, who deserves the same human rights, dignity and the right to live in peace and tranquility just like you do, and If I succeeded in accomplishing that goal in only you, that will mean that you too will plant the seeds of goodness in your children, they will plant it in theirs, so one and so forth, this way we create a world full of Love, respect, and let the language of reason be louder than that of the language of gun.
Salam, Peace, Shalom :)
I wrote my email before.
mustbtold@gmail.com
http://gottobetold.blogspot.com/
Monday, May 26, 2008
CAIR: Muslims Urge Balance in Seattle Police Training on Islam
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 5/22/08
* Hadith: Do Not Help Your Own People in Wrongdoing* Video: CAIR Rep Comments on McCain's Pastor Endorsements (CNN) - CAIR-OH: Critics Tie McCain, Too, to Extremist Pastors (Dispatch) - McCain Repudiates His Anti-Islam 'Moral Compass' (Mother Jones)* CAIR-Seattle: Muslims Urge Balance in Police Training on Islam - CAIR-WA: Police Training on Islam Give Wrong Idea (Seattle Times) - CAIR-WA: Police Training on 'Jihad Threat' Raises Concerns (AP)* Video: CAIR Rep Discusses Accommodation at MN Charter School (FOX)* CAIR-FL: Muslims Sworn In after Law Suit to Speed Process (Orlando Sent)* CAIR: Government Given New Guidelines for War Vocabulary - CAIR: Muslims Campaign to Reclaim 'Jihad' from Extremists* IL: Underlying Prejudices Against Muslims (Daily Herald) - CA: Muslims Shouldn't Have to Condemn Everything - MN: Teens Sentenced for Harassing Muslims* IL: Campaign Seeks Arabic Classes in High School* Savage Plays Dead Kennedys Song 'in Some Respect for' Sen. Kennedy* Letters: Israel's Friends and the Path to Peace (NY Times)* U.S. Helicopter Strike Kills 8 Iraqi Civilians (Reuters)
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HADITH OF THE DAY: DO NOT HELP YOUR OWN PEOPLE IN WRONGDOING - TOP
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was once asked: "Does a man's love of his people indicate partisanship (asabiyyah)?" The Prophet replied: "No, but when a man helps his people in wrongdoing, it is an indication of partisanship."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1267
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CAIR REP COMMENTS ON MCCAIN'S PASTOR ENDORSEMENTS ON CNN - TOP
CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper comments on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" on the anti-Islam comments of two pastors who have endorsed Sen. John McCain. The presidential candidate has since rejected the support of both pastors.
Click here to watch the video.http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=aWJGvciZq6RWizwdRxcCig..
SEE ALSO:
CAIR-OH: CRITICS TIE MCCAIN, TOO, TO EXTREMIST PASTORS - TOPMeredith Heagney, Columbus Dispatch, 5/22/08http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=Gnnj5D8LamMMPUh-80QcUw..
fter Sen. Barack Obama's pastor made some controversial comments in church, critics flooded the Web with videos and demands for answers.
Now, YouTube viewers are getting a look at two pastors close to McCain who have their own extreme viewpoints. McCain hasn't received a fraction of the criticism for the pastors' views, and some people say that's a double standard.
Critics have posted videos on YouTube showing the Rev. Rod Parsley, pastor of the 12,000-member World Harvest Church of Columbus, calling Islam a "false religion" that America was founded, in part, to destroy.
Parsley also says, "Mohammed received revelations from demon spirits, not from the living God."
Texas televangelist John Hagee has suggested that anti-Semitism within the Roman Catholic Church shaped Adolf Hitler's view of Jews and said Hurricane Katrina was God's answer to the sinful culture of New Orleans. Hagee was criticized for his comments and has since apologized to Catholics. Still, critics say there hasn't been nearly as much focus on McCain's supporters as the comments of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
McCain's supporters say it's not a fair comparison, because Wright was Obama's longtime pastor and Hagee and Parsley are simply endorsing McCain, like lots of other people.
David Corn, Washington bureau chief for Mother Jones magazine and Web site, started writing stories online about McCain and Parsley soon after reading the pastor's book Silent No More.
He produced a YouTube video splicing Parsley's words with McCain's praise of him at a Cincinnati rally in February. The video has racked up more than 296,000 hits.
"Imagine if Barack Obama had campaigned with an imam from a mosque who had called for eradicating Christianity," Corn said. "It would be on the front page of every paper."
"John McCain has done exactly the same thing, except he campaigned with a fundamentalist preacher who calls for eradicating Islam," he said. . .
Asma Mobin-Uddin, president of the Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said she's all too aware that Americans have different levels of tolerance depending on which faith is maligned.
McCain needs to distance himself from all people "whose words are hurtful and designed to marginalize," she said. (MORE)
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FINALLY, MCCAIN REPUDIATES REV. PARSLEY, HIS ANTI-ISLAM 'MORAL COMPASS' - TOPMother Jones, 5/23/08http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=3Z1T0GwELRaDNdHrpZfTwg..
Finally.
Once John McCain had resolved on Thursday to repudiate fundamentalist preacher John Hagee (who had called the Catholic Church "the great whore" and who had said Hitler was doing God's work during the Holocaust), the presumptive Republican presidential nominee went on a roll, and in the same news cycle he also rejected the endorsement of Reverend Rod Parsley, the megachurch pastor who had said it was the United States' historic mission to see the "false religion" of Islam "destroyed."
After issuing a statement dumping Hagee, McCain told the Associated Press that he also was now refusing Parsley's support: "I believe there is no place for that kind of dialogue in America, and I believe that even though he endorsed me, and I didn't endorse him, the fact is that I repudiate such talk, and I reject his endorsement." McCain and Parsley had campaigned together in February in Ohio, and at a rally McCain had hailed Parsley as "one of the truly great leaders in America, a moral compass, a spiritual guide."
Two weeks after that rally, on March 12, Mother Jones first reported that Parsley in a 2005 book, Silent No More had essentially called upon Christians to wage a "war" against Islam with the aim of eradicating it. For that article and subsequent pieces, I called the McCain campaign for comment multiple times to ask if the Arizona senator would repudiate Parsley, who is a powerful political player in the critical state of Ohio. McCain's press office ducked each call.
On May 8, Mother Jones and Brave New Films posted a video showing Parsley railing against Islam "as an anti-Christ religion that intends, through violence, to conquer the world" and basically calling for its destruction. The video juxtaposed Parsley's extreme anti-Islam rhetoric with footage of McCain praising Parsley. And still McCain held on to his endorsement from Parsley.
But as the Hagee story expanded (with the disclosure of his Holocaust remark) and the Parsley story was picked up by mainstream media (MSNBC aired a chunk of the Mother Jones/Brave New Film video; Good Morning America aired an "exclusive" piece on Parsley that much resembled the Mother Jones' articles and video), McCain decided to throw both pastors overboard on the same day.
It's clear that McCain was hoping to avoid having to talk straight about Parsley. But as he was trying to extricate himself from the Hagee mess, the last thing McCain needed was another pastor problem. So he was quite efficient: he conducted one excommunication that covered two pastors. But it's worth remembering that McCain held on to Parsley for as long as he could and that he renounced him not because of his extreme anti-Islam rhetoric--which McCain was well aware of months ago--but only because Parsley had become extremely politically inconvenient.
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SEATTLE MUSLIMS URGE BALANCE IN POLICE TRAINING ON ISLAM - TOP'Former Muslim' will 'contextualize' Israeli experience for Port of Seattle Police
(SEATTLE, WA, 5/22/2008) - The Washington state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-WA) is calling on Port of Seattle Police to ensure that a two-day training course that begins today, titled "The Threat of Islamic Jihadists to the World," will offer a balanced perspective on Islam and Muslims.
SEE: "The Threat of Islamic Jihadists to the World"http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=r0-G6xnHyqwQgqyad_9U_A..
CAIR-WA said local Muslims leaders recently met with Chief of Port of Seattle Police Colleen Wilson to express their concerns that the course, which is being taught by a "former Muslim" and claims to be "based on Israeli experience," will promote stereotypes and religious and ethnic profiling.
Among the course's advertised contents are non-terror-related topics such as: Arab naming conventions, the five pillars of Islam, the "formative phases of the Islamic religion," and the fast of Ramadan. The course is being taught by a "former Muslim." Representatives from a number of law enforcement agencies will attend the training.
SEE: Security Solutions Internationalhttp://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=FogKEBhjJIwXglhIOtXn4w..SEE ALSO: Suicide Terror Fire Fighters Response http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=lNVLaF6fY_K1uQPMC4A-Pw..
Chief Wilson agreed to have Muslim officers attend the training and evaluate the course for objectivity and balance.
"Linking any faith to violence and criminal activity creates the potential for stereotyping and could lead to an increase in religious and ethnic profiling," said CAIR-WA President Arsalan Bukhari. "We urge Port of Seattle Police to ensure that the course offers accurate and balanced information on Islam and Muslims."
Bukhari said an incident in which apparently innocent travelers in the state were profiled for their "Middle Eastern" appearance points to the need for police training that deals with issues of profiling and bias.
SEE: FBI Says Men in Ferry Photo were Innocent Sightseers http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=aqQ_P_Z3tWO6GgrjgM2Kmg..
He added that Muslims nationwide are concerned about the information law enforcement authorities are receiving on the subject of Islam.
Last month, CAIR's chapter in Pennsylvania (CAIR-PA) called on police training officials in that state to offer a Muslim perspective in a mandatory police training class because of concerns that the class would present stereotypical views of Islam and Muslims.
SEE: Penn. Muslims Seek 'Balance' in Police Training on Islamhttp://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=fQllEEo8UXdbggtC75H-PA..
Earlier this month, a spokesman for CAIR's Chicago office said an emergency preparedness drill in Illinois, in which a fake "mosque" was stormed by law enforcement authorities, sent the "wrong message" that all Islamic houses of worship may be potential security threats. An official later apologized for using the "mosque" in the drill.
SEE: IL Official Apologizes for Using Fake 'Mosque' in Drillhttp://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=_d0H0KkvqKtNeaYLLXHkzA..
CAIR-WA representatives say they will continue to dialogue with the local law enforcement community and to provide accurate information on Islam and Muslims through on-going monthly Muslim-Sikh-Arab Advisory Council meetings.
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 35 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR-WA President Arsalan Bukhari, 206-931-3655, E-Mail: abukhari@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com; CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, E-Mail: arubin@cair.com
SEE ALSO:
CAIR-WA: DOES COURSE ON ISLAM GIVE LAW ENFORCERS WRONG IDEA? - TOPJanet I. Tu, Seattle Times, 5/23/08http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=GgGzdTg3EeRI6n4z4rbyAg..
Some local Muslim community members are upset about a training course for local law enforcement, saying it could promote stereotypes and ethnic and religious profiling.
The program, called "The Threat of Islamic Jihadists to the World" and conducted by a Miami-based company, began Thursday and continues today at the Port of Seattle.
It is billed as providing insight into the formative phases of Islam, the religion's different branches, radical Islam and how to respond to terrorist acts.
But Arsalan Bukhari, president of the Washington state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said the program appears to be linking an entire religion to terrorism.
"Most police officers don't have a basic grounding in Islam, so before you teach them about Islam, how can you teach them about radical Islam?" he asked. "It just makes you nervous because when a law-enforcement person pulls someone over, when they see a Muslim person or someone who appears Muslim to them -- all this information they just learned kicks in."
Bukhari believes the need for police training on issues of profiling and bias was highlighted by an incident last summer in which the FBI launched an international search for two men who took photos below deck on a Washington state ferry. The FBI announced earlier this month that the men were tourists, not terrorists.
Bukhari said law-enforcement agencies need to learn about Islam, but not just in the context of terrorism. (MORE)
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CAIR-WA: POLICE TRAINING ON JIHAD THREAT RAISES CONCERNS IN SEATTLE - TOPAssociated Press, 5/23/08http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=DRplncBLGHUip-Mr9fihdQ..
The Council on American-Islamic relations is concerned about religious profiling in a police training course under way today at the Port of Seattle.
The state council president, Arsalan Bukhari, says the program on the threat of Islamic jihadists appears to link an entire religion to terrorism. (MORE)
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VIDEO: CAIR REP DISCUSSES ACCOMMODATION AT MN CHARTER SCHOOL - TOP
CAIR Strategic Communications Director Ahmed Rehab discusses a Minnesota charter school that has a high percentage of Muslim students on FOX News' "The O'Reilly Factor."
The State Education Department recently ruled that the curriculum at Tarik ibn Zayed Academy complies with federal and state laws with two minor violations, and the school is in full cooperation to comply with the findings immediately.
Click here to watch the video.http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=L587R6TyzOTFXtxF4XV2Cw..
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-I HAVE BEEN WAITING SO LONG' - TOPFlorida Muslims sue feds over citizenship delaysMuslims are sworn in after legal action to speed processBabita Persaud, Orlando Sentinel, 5/23/08http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=rM_sBKt_SZ8-pJS4Vs8Kiw..
For three years and three months, Ali Hussain has waited to become a U.S. citizen.
On Thursday, his wait was over -- but not before he sued the federal government.
In February, Hussain and 24 other Muslims joined a statewide lawsuit against Citizenship and Immigration Services and the FBI for what they called unusually lengthy delays in processing their citizenship applications. Some waited as long as five years.
"The lawsuit helped my application. I have been waiting so long," said Hussain, an Orlando machinist who hails from Iraq.
In a post-9-11 era of fingerprinting and thorough background checks, legal action is also becoming part of the naturalization process, some area attorneys say. . .
For Muslims, the FBI name check often holds up the application. Nearly 200 databases and offices are checked before a name is cleared. . .
While lawsuits are becoming more common, some applicants are reluctant to sue the federal government because it would mean, in essence, issuing a legal threat while asking their adoptive country to embrace them.
"They don't want to bring a suit against the government," Khan said. "They fear they might be red-flagged."
When Hussain, 34, approached the Orlando office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which is helping the plaintiffs, he was unsure whether he wanted to add his name.
"He said, 'Am I going to go against the government?'" said Danette Zaghari-Mask, Orlando CAIR executive director.
But he had tried every avenue to speed up his citizenship application, including calling and visiting immigration offices in Orlando. The sticking point, he was eventually told, was his name.
Originally from Kurdistan in northern Iraq, Hussain worked for an American aid organization in his native land. Under Saddam Hussein's regime, he was accused of being a spy for the U.S. Seeking political asylum, he and his family fled Iraq 12 years ago with the help of an American relief organization.
That's why the long wait for his citizenship weighed heavily on his mind.
"America brought me here," he said. (MORE)
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CAIR: THE WAR ON (EUPHEMISM) - TOPKhody Akhavi, Inter Press Service, 5/19/08http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=t4ath3cMhA63r8uzu_EL3w..
- From the people who brought you the "war on terror" and the "axis of evil" comes a new verbal tonic for combating that amorphous emotion.
Out with pejoratives like "Islamo-fascists", "jihadis" and "mujahadeen", and in with "words that work", that is according to a George W. Bush administration memo that was leaked last month to the Associated Press.
The non-binding 14-point guide on counterterrorism communication, prepared by the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), urges U.S. officials to drop language and terminology that may offend Arab and Muslim communities, to use terms such as "violent extremist" or "terrorist" instead of "jihadi", and to shift the discussion away from the dualistic "Clash of Civilizations" or battle between "Islam and the West", a paradigm that casts Islam as inherently violent.
"A mujahed, a holy warrior, is a positive characterisation in the context of a just war. In Arabic, jihad means 'striving in the path of God' and is used in many contexts beyond warfare. Calling our enemies jihadis and their movement a global jihad unintentionally legitimises their actions," according to the report. "We need to emphasise that terrorists misuse religion as a political tool to harm innocent civilians across the globe."
Others points suggest using the word "totalitarian to describe our enemy" because, according to the report, the term is widely understood in the Muslim world. Keep the focus on the terrorist, not us, it says, and don't ascribe "al Qaeda and its affiliates motives or goals they have not articulated. Our audiences have more familiarity with the terrorist messages than we do and will immediately spot U.S. government embellishment."
Lastly, "Try to limit the number of non-English terms you use if you are speaking in English," because "it's not what you say, but what they hear." In other words, mispronunciation could make a statement incomprehensible, such as in the example of "Qutbism", which refers to author Sayyid Qutb, a Muslim Brotherhood member during the mid-1950s who penned the controversial book, "Milestones", and whose ideas would inspire al Qaeda.
The word Qutb in English is often mispronounced to mean "books". . .
For U.S.-based Muslim advocacy groups, de-linking religious identity from the slippery slope of terror talk is a welcome change.
"It is a good step that they at least take these terms into consideration," Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on Islamic American Relations, told IPS. "What terms are used and what not are a matter of debate. At least, we should all be thinking about this."
SEE ALSO:
CAIR: MUSLIMS CAMPAIGN TO RECLAIM 'JIHAD' FROM EXTREMISTS - TOPOmar Sacirbey, Religion News Service, 5/13/08http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=CKDTBCzFzV0Cusc4EvKHFA..
The end to Ani Zonneveld's "jihad" on "jihad" came during an episode of "Desperate Housewives," when Lynette (Felicity Huffman) discovers she has cancer and throws a stone at a possum.
"Look at yourself," replies her husband, Tom. "You've declared jihad on a possum."
"At that point," said Zonneveld, the co-director of the advocacy group Muslims for Progressive Values, "I think it is too late to redefine the true meaning of jihad."
Strictly speaking, "jihad" is supposed to mean an inner struggle toward holiness. But for many Americans, the term connotes holy war, especially when militant groups like al-Qaida vow to wage jihad against the United States.
Zonneveld's frustration with how "jihad" has come to be associated with violence reflects a broader concern among many Muslim Americans who believe various Islamic terms are being misused by the media and politicians, and co-opted by Muslim extremists and anti-Muslim critics.
Not only does such misuse disparage the faith and undercut moderate followers, they say, it also unwittingly gives legitimacy to Muslim extremists.
"The real key is not to afford (terrorists) the name of Islam and not legitimize them that way," said Ahmed Rehab, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, stressing that terrorists represented only a tiny fraction of the Muslim world.
"By calling terrorists Islamic, we're saying that this tiny contingency is the one whose interpretation of Islam is Islam, and everyone else doesn't matter."
While Muslim Americans have made this argument for years, U.S. government officials have only recently adopted it. In March, the National Counterterrorism Center drafted a memo for the State Department urging diplomats to drop words like "jihadists" or "mujahedeen" (those engaged in jihad) when describing terrorists because it "unintentionally legitimizes their actions." The Department of Homeland Security issued similar recommendations in January.
"We should not concede the terrorists' claim that they are legitimate adherents of Islam," said the report, which has not been made public but was obtained by the Associated Press.
Rehab suggested an alternative: "neo-Kharajite," an Arabic term that means "outlaw." It was used to describe an uprising against (and ultimate assasination of) the Fourth Caliph Ali in the seventh century. Like al-Qaida and other modern terrorist groups, Rehab said, the Kharajites held rigid, literalist interpretations of Islam and reserved the right of "takfir" -- judging someone as having abandoned the faith and deserving of death.
Many Muslim Americans worry that critics of Islam have purposefully misused Islamic terms in a way that incites suspicion and hostility. The word "madrassa," for example, simply means school. But to many Americans, madrassa denotes a religious school, and one that produces extremists bent on martyrdom. Critics have used madrassa to attack the school that Sen. Barack Obama attended as a child in Indonesia. (MORE)
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IL: UNDERLYING PREJUDICES AGAINST MUSLIMS - TOPDaily Herald Editorial Board, 5/22/2008http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=GM2t7ytfQ5BvCZ_qugt1_g..
In the days immediately following the horrific 9/11 attack on the United States almost seven years ago, President Bush showed true statesmanship in many ways.
Even those of us who sharply disagree with his war policy in Iraq can agree with that if we stop to remember. He inspired, he reassured, he rallied the international community.
Significantly, in those first days, he also called on our better angels. He went out of his way to caution Americans not to judge Muslims by the acts of extremists.
In a major address that September, Bush emphasized the point: "The terrorists practice a fringe form of Islamic extremism that has been rejected by Muslim scholars and the vast majority of Muslim clerics, a fringe movement that perverts the peaceful teachings of Islam."
He called Muslim teachings "good and peaceful" and said, "The enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends."
That message was repeated often in many ways in those dark days, a great credit to our leaders and, frankly, to our society. No one wanted a repeat of the shameful Japanese internment camps of World War II.
But in the years since, the message has faded. Our leaders don't repeat it, and the language of our national discourse tends to undermine it. The distinction between Muslims and Islamist fanatics gets lost.
The degree of open prejudice is frightening.
Web sites and the radical right at times are almost hysterical in the conspiracy theories they concoct around the presidential race and specifically around Barack Obama.
But it isn't just the bigotry of the fringe groups that is disturbing. It's also the way prejudicial assumptions have slipped into the mainstream.
Alarmists fantasize that Obama is a Muslim, and in discussing the outlandish rumor, we all refer to it more or less as a charge: Obama denied the charge that he is a Muslim.
That choice of words suggests there would be something wrong with it if he was. (MORE)
SEE ALSO:
CA: MUSLIMS SHOULD NOT HAVE TO CONDEMN EVERYTHING - TOPChristian Bolton, Daily Nexus, 5/20/08http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=VaXh6-LNoRLMzzJWQZGEBw..
When author and lecturer David Horowitz appeared at UCSB, he mentioned that our Muslim students had not condemned Hamas and Hezbollah, implying that this told us something about our Muslim students. His local intellectual soul mate, the like-minded UCSB student Ross Nolan, wrote a few days ago, "The final thing that struck me is how the members of the Muslim Student Association refused to denounce the terrorist organizations Hezbollah and Hamas.
This really surprised me, and I was quite frankly disappointed by that organization. ... It is the obligation of members of a religion to strongly denounce those factions of their faith who do horrible things in the name of said faith" ("Horowitz Haters Keep Parading Selective Moral Outrage," Daily Nexus, May 14).
I think that's completely false. I've never felt any obligation or pressure to denounce anyone or anything related to my religious affiliation. What I do condemn are two practices: the now widespread practice of expecting Muslims to condemn other Muslims, their actions or groups containing them; and making insinuations about Muslims when they don't condemn things, or don't volunteer to become a spokesman for your views.
I have just a brief sampling of the reasons why this game is so infuriating. First, it is feeding cultural double standards. It is not common for non-Muslims to be expected to condemn anything, especially if the group whose condemnation is sought pertains to Palestine/Israel, then the demand can exacerbate a one-sidedness. I don't think it's common to expect Zionists to condemn what is done "in the name of" Zionism or Judaism, or to condemn any related groups or individuals.
Second, these practices expect a potentially intelligent person to quickly adopt a simplistic, all-or-nothing assessment. Hezbollah, one group that was mentioned, is only classified as a terrorist group by the governments of four countries, and only a part of it is so classified by two other governments. Two of those four governments are Israel and the U.S. The "terrorist" label is far from universally applied. Hezbollah has done lots of nonviolent things, including extensive charity work. Is the Muslim expected to condemn all of its charity work, lumped together with everything else it has done, in a single, all-or-nothing condemnation? The Muslims I've known were far too sophisticated for that.
Third, the Muslim is expected to condemn things he might not know much about that occur thousands of miles away. How many books do you think the average American Muslim has read about Hezbollah? The Muslims are expected to comment about something they may not want to get involved with. The Palestinian/Israel conflict is explosive and complicated, and I think it's very reasonable for anyone - Muslim or not - to decline to comment, especially if they have not read very much about it. I haven't, and I suspect that some who expect Muslims to condemn Hezbollah haven't either.
Fourth, depending on how it's presented, a demand that a Muslim condemn what other Muslims have done "in the name of" Islam can imply that a version of Islam is the primary reason why these violent things happen. If violent people say they are following Islam, it does not mean a supposed version of Islam is the reason they were violent. All the violence that I've ever seen appeared to have a lot to do with situations, history and personality.
My advice for Muslims is to reject all expectations that you condemn anything, and reject pressure to classify yourself. Some wish to see our 1.2 billion Muslims break up into the "moderate" Muslims, "radical" Muslims, "fundamentalist" Muslims and other categories that, like these, lack a clear definition. The more you are fighting with other Muslims and condemning and refuting each other, the more the opposition likes it. This whole endeavor is supported by those who are busy teaching that Islam - or some supposed version of it - is the cause of violence and other bad things that happen in this world. My advice is to not be of assistance to any of this.
Christian Bolton is a second-year economics/mathematics major.
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MN: TEENS SENTENCED FOR HARASSING MUSLIMS - TOPJanice Gregorson, Post-Bulletin, 5/21/08http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=W2C21n4jx1qPrtjLMycwtQ..
Three teenage boys who were allegedly part of a group calling themselves the Minnesota Mafia have been sentenced in juvenile court for bias crimes that include spitting on a person and yelling racial slurs at people outside Rochester's downtown Islamic Center.
Court files say they call themselves the "Minnesota Mafia," and their focus is on violence and hate.
On Monday, a 16-year-old Rochester teen identified as the leader was sentenced on a bias-motivated harassment charge stemming from incidents at the Rochester Islamic Center last September.
The teen pleaded guilty May 13 to a gross misdemeanor harassment charge. Three weeks earlier, another 16-year-old Rochester boy was found delinquent on a similar gross misdemeanor charge from the same incident. Both teens were sentenced to probation and community service work, and ordered to follow a number of conditions.
A third teen, a 15-year-old, was charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct, according to Olmsted County Attorney Mark Ostrem. That is not public.
According to the petition filed against the teen, police identified teens who allegedly were involved in going to the Islamic Center and harassing members, and even entering the mosque and causing damage.
"The group discusses violence all the time and often the discussions focus on doing violent things to Somali persons,'' the petition said police were told by one teen. (MORE)
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IL: CAMPAIGN SEEKS ARABIC CLASSES IN HIGH SCHOOL - TOPAngela Caputo, Southtown Star, 5/21/08http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=7kjMH-btVCnRsvWVI6oWHg..
When Stagg High School senior Neda Safadi enrolled in Spanish class as a sophomore, she learned a striking lesson about Hispanic people.
"I thought, for some reason, that because everyone spoke the same language, the culture was the same," she said. "Each country is different."
The Bridgeview teen thinks that a similar lesson could be taught through Arabic language courses in the local schools. That's why she and her younger sister Lema Safadi, 14, have joined a local campaign to get Arabic on the course roster in Consolidated High School District 230 and Oak Lawn Community High School District 229.
The proposal to add classes in the Arabic language -- which the federal government has deemed as an academic area where growth is critical to national security and commerce -- is being mulled over by administrators in the two districts.
"Do we have a feeling one way or another? Not yet," said Brenda Reynolds, who oversees curriculum in District 230.
Surveys to gauge interest in expanding foreign language offerings already have gone out to Oak Lawn parents. District 230 plans to follow suit beginning late in the summer. If there's an adequate response in favor of adding the language, classes could be available to students in both districts by fall 2009.
But the slow pace of deciding whether the high schools will take the leap has left Mohammed Sahloul, president of the Bridgeview-based Mosque Foundation, feeling frustrated.
"They are dragging their feet unnecessarily," said Sahloul, who has pledged to secure financial support to get the new classes going since first pitching the idea about a year ago.
"We told the school districts we want this for our community and we are behind you, we will help you find the resources," he said. (MORE)
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MICHAEL SAVAGE PLAYS DEAD KENNEDYS SONG "IN SOME RESPECT FOR" SEN. KENNEDY - TOPMedia Matters for America, 5/21/08http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=ns4rMxtbIkIzVFvZ1VmFSw..
Summary: On the day it was announced that Sen. Ted Kennedy had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, nationally syndicated radio host Michael Savage opened his show by interspersing audio of Kennedy singing "Ay Jalisco No Te Rajes" with clips of news reporters discussing Kennedy's diagnosis and audio from Kindergarten Cop in which Arnold Schwarzenegger's character says, "It's not a tumor." Later, Savage played the Dead Kennedys song "California Über Alles" after stating: "The poor guy's been suffering for years, you know? Unfairly he's been accused of alcoholism, but we see now that it was something much more deep-seated. And so, to cut this out in some respect for Ted Kennedy, here's a tune coming at you from the Dead Kennedys. Go ahead and play it, please."
Following the announcement that Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, nationally syndicated radio host Michael Savage opened his May 20 show by interspersing audio of Kennedy singing "Ay Jalisco No Te Rajes" with clips of news reporters discussing Kennedy's diagnosis and audio from the 1990 film Kindergarten Cop in which Arnold Schwarzenegger's character says, "It's not a tumor." Later, Savage played the Dead Kennedys song "California Über Alles" after stating: "The poor guy's been suffering for years, you know? Unfairly he's been accused of alcoholism, but we see now that it was something much more deep-seated. And so, to cut this out in some respect for Ted Kennedy, here's a tune coming at you from the Dead Kennedys. Go ahead and play it, please."
After reading from the lyrics of "California Über Alles," Savage said, "No gloating today, no laughter, all serious. You don't joke about a man's cancer. I do it, but I won't do it today; it's something I will not do." At one point in the program, he told a caller, "You know I'm playing the Dead Kennedys not to mock Ted Kennedy. It's just appropriate, that's all."
Later in the program, Savage aired a clip of Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) offering a tribute to Kennedy on the Senate floor before describing Byrd as "a senile senator" and "a walking psycho." Savage went on to assert, "For years now, Byrd has been blubbering on the floor of the Senate. For years, I mean, to be honest, Kennedy didn't seem sane to me." He continued, "Forget about the drunk stories and all that -- anybody can drink. The guy sounded like he was off for years, I'm sorry." (MORE)
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LETTERS: ISRAEL'S FRIENDS AND THE PATH TO PEACE - TOPNew York Times, 5/20/08http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=Jw_HeUZUJtMcqHUQY4eBtA..
Re "Israel's 'American Problem' " (Op-Ed, May 18):
Jeffrey Goldberg attacks our book, "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy," while openly embracing one of our main arguments.
He writes that we "argue, unpersuasively, that American support for Israel hurts America. It doesn't. But unthinking American support does hurt Israel."
Our book contains detailed case studies showing that unconditional support for Israel is not in America's national interest. Readers can judge for themselves whether we are "persuasive."
But we also emphasized that "the lobby's impact has been unintentionally harmful to Israel," that its actions "may even be jeopardizing the long-term prospects of the Jewish state" and that its "influence has been bad for both countries."
The lobby's harmful impact on Israel was also a central theme of an op-ed article, "Israel's False Friends," we wrote in The Los Angeles Times on Jan. 6. Mr. Goldberg clearly agrees with this part of our argument. John J. Mearsheimer
Stephen M. WaltChicago, May 18, 2008
To the Editor:
Sixty years after Israeli independence, it is time for Jews to acknowledge the painful truth: the Jewish state was born on the forced expulsion and dispossession of the Palestinian people.
As an American Jew who lived in Israel for many years, and who has worked with Muslim organizations for the last decade, I believe that our recognition of this agonizing history would help open doors to peace between Israel and Palestine, and could lay the foundation for Jewish-Muslim reconciliation.
In the third century, Rabbi Hama bar Hanina wrote, "Great is repentance: it brings healing to the world." This ancient Jewish teaching can guide us as we seek to bring peace to what Martin Buber rightly described as "a land of two peoples."
Jacob BenderNew York, May 18, 2008
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U.S. HELICOPTER STRIKE KILLS 8 IRAQI CIVILIANS - TOPSabah al-Bazee, Reuters, 5/22/08http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=dzZ6ESUmFV9PzXd9D18tQQ..
A U.S. helicopter airstrike on Wednesday night killed eight civilians, including two children, north of Baghdad, police officials said on Thursday.
Colonel Mudhher al-Qaisi, police chief in the town of Baiji, said the attack was on a group of shepherds in a vehicle in a farming area. Relatives said some of those killed were fleeing on foot after the U.S. military arrived in the area.
"This is a criminal act. It will make the relations between Iraqi citizens and the U.S. forces tense. This will negatively affect security improvements," Qaisi told Reuters.
A U.S. military spokeswoman, Lieutenant-Colonel Maura Gillen, said the helicopter fired after observing "suspicious activity." She said the driver had ignored warnings to stop.
The incident is the latest in a string of U.S. airstrikes in which civilians have been killed.
The U.S. military has been trying to soothe tensions with Baghdad over a U.S. soldier using a copy of the Koran, the Muslim holy book, for target practice.
United Nations officials have expressed concern at the number of civilians killed in airstrikes in Iraq and said more care must be taken in military operations to protect them.
The U.S. military said the Baiji attack was under investigation.
"Coalition forces regret the loss of innocent civilian lives," said Navy Captain Gordon Delcambre in a press statement. "Terrorists continue to show their disregard for human life by endangering children with their illegal and violent activities." (MORE)
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AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 5/22/08
* Hadith: Do Not Help Your Own People in Wrongdoing* Video: CAIR Rep Comments on McCain's Pastor Endorsements (CNN) - CAIR-OH: Critics Tie McCain, Too, to Extremist Pastors (Dispatch) - McCain Repudiates His Anti-Islam 'Moral Compass' (Mother Jones)* CAIR-Seattle: Muslims Urge Balance in Police Training on Islam - CAIR-WA: Police Training on Islam Give Wrong Idea (Seattle Times) - CAIR-WA: Police Training on 'Jihad Threat' Raises Concerns (AP)* Video: CAIR Rep Discusses Accommodation at MN Charter School (FOX)* CAIR-FL: Muslims Sworn In after Law Suit to Speed Process (Orlando Sent)* CAIR: Government Given New Guidelines for War Vocabulary - CAIR: Muslims Campaign to Reclaim 'Jihad' from Extremists* IL: Underlying Prejudices Against Muslims (Daily Herald) - CA: Muslims Shouldn't Have to Condemn Everything - MN: Teens Sentenced for Harassing Muslims* IL: Campaign Seeks Arabic Classes in High School* Savage Plays Dead Kennedys Song 'in Some Respect for' Sen. Kennedy* Letters: Israel's Friends and the Path to Peace (NY Times)* U.S. Helicopter Strike Kills 8 Iraqi Civilians (Reuters)
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HADITH OF THE DAY: DO NOT HELP YOUR OWN PEOPLE IN WRONGDOING - TOP
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was once asked: "Does a man's love of his people indicate partisanship (asabiyyah)?" The Prophet replied: "No, but when a man helps his people in wrongdoing, it is an indication of partisanship."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1267
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CAIR REP COMMENTS ON MCCAIN'S PASTOR ENDORSEMENTS ON CNN - TOP
CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper comments on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" on the anti-Islam comments of two pastors who have endorsed Sen. John McCain. The presidential candidate has since rejected the support of both pastors.
Click here to watch the video.http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=aWJGvciZq6RWizwdRxcCig..
SEE ALSO:
CAIR-OH: CRITICS TIE MCCAIN, TOO, TO EXTREMIST PASTORS - TOPMeredith Heagney, Columbus Dispatch, 5/22/08http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=Gnnj5D8LamMMPUh-80QcUw..
fter Sen. Barack Obama's pastor made some controversial comments in church, critics flooded the Web with videos and demands for answers.
Now, YouTube viewers are getting a look at two pastors close to McCain who have their own extreme viewpoints. McCain hasn't received a fraction of the criticism for the pastors' views, and some people say that's a double standard.
Critics have posted videos on YouTube showing the Rev. Rod Parsley, pastor of the 12,000-member World Harvest Church of Columbus, calling Islam a "false religion" that America was founded, in part, to destroy.
Parsley also says, "Mohammed received revelations from demon spirits, not from the living God."
Texas televangelist John Hagee has suggested that anti-Semitism within the Roman Catholic Church shaped Adolf Hitler's view of Jews and said Hurricane Katrina was God's answer to the sinful culture of New Orleans. Hagee was criticized for his comments and has since apologized to Catholics. Still, critics say there hasn't been nearly as much focus on McCain's supporters as the comments of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
McCain's supporters say it's not a fair comparison, because Wright was Obama's longtime pastor and Hagee and Parsley are simply endorsing McCain, like lots of other people.
David Corn, Washington bureau chief for Mother Jones magazine and Web site, started writing stories online about McCain and Parsley soon after reading the pastor's book Silent No More.
He produced a YouTube video splicing Parsley's words with McCain's praise of him at a Cincinnati rally in February. The video has racked up more than 296,000 hits.
"Imagine if Barack Obama had campaigned with an imam from a mosque who had called for eradicating Christianity," Corn said. "It would be on the front page of every paper."
"John McCain has done exactly the same thing, except he campaigned with a fundamentalist preacher who calls for eradicating Islam," he said. . .
Asma Mobin-Uddin, president of the Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said she's all too aware that Americans have different levels of tolerance depending on which faith is maligned.
McCain needs to distance himself from all people "whose words are hurtful and designed to marginalize," she said. (MORE)
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FINALLY, MCCAIN REPUDIATES REV. PARSLEY, HIS ANTI-ISLAM 'MORAL COMPASS' - TOPMother Jones, 5/23/08http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=3Z1T0GwELRaDNdHrpZfTwg..
Finally.
Once John McCain had resolved on Thursday to repudiate fundamentalist preacher John Hagee (who had called the Catholic Church "the great whore" and who had said Hitler was doing God's work during the Holocaust), the presumptive Republican presidential nominee went on a roll, and in the same news cycle he also rejected the endorsement of Reverend Rod Parsley, the megachurch pastor who had said it was the United States' historic mission to see the "false religion" of Islam "destroyed."
After issuing a statement dumping Hagee, McCain told the Associated Press that he also was now refusing Parsley's support: "I believe there is no place for that kind of dialogue in America, and I believe that even though he endorsed me, and I didn't endorse him, the fact is that I repudiate such talk, and I reject his endorsement." McCain and Parsley had campaigned together in February in Ohio, and at a rally McCain had hailed Parsley as "one of the truly great leaders in America, a moral compass, a spiritual guide."
Two weeks after that rally, on March 12, Mother Jones first reported that Parsley in a 2005 book, Silent No More had essentially called upon Christians to wage a "war" against Islam with the aim of eradicating it. For that article and subsequent pieces, I called the McCain campaign for comment multiple times to ask if the Arizona senator would repudiate Parsley, who is a powerful political player in the critical state of Ohio. McCain's press office ducked each call.
On May 8, Mother Jones and Brave New Films posted a video showing Parsley railing against Islam "as an anti-Christ religion that intends, through violence, to conquer the world" and basically calling for its destruction. The video juxtaposed Parsley's extreme anti-Islam rhetoric with footage of McCain praising Parsley. And still McCain held on to his endorsement from Parsley.
But as the Hagee story expanded (with the disclosure of his Holocaust remark) and the Parsley story was picked up by mainstream media (MSNBC aired a chunk of the Mother Jones/Brave New Film video; Good Morning America aired an "exclusive" piece on Parsley that much resembled the Mother Jones' articles and video), McCain decided to throw both pastors overboard on the same day.
It's clear that McCain was hoping to avoid having to talk straight about Parsley. But as he was trying to extricate himself from the Hagee mess, the last thing McCain needed was another pastor problem. So he was quite efficient: he conducted one excommunication that covered two pastors. But it's worth remembering that McCain held on to Parsley for as long as he could and that he renounced him not because of his extreme anti-Islam rhetoric--which McCain was well aware of months ago--but only because Parsley had become extremely politically inconvenient.
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SEATTLE MUSLIMS URGE BALANCE IN POLICE TRAINING ON ISLAM - TOP'Former Muslim' will 'contextualize' Israeli experience for Port of Seattle Police
(SEATTLE, WA, 5/22/2008) - The Washington state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-WA) is calling on Port of Seattle Police to ensure that a two-day training course that begins today, titled "The Threat of Islamic Jihadists to the World," will offer a balanced perspective on Islam and Muslims.
SEE: "The Threat of Islamic Jihadists to the World"http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=r0-G6xnHyqwQgqyad_9U_A..
CAIR-WA said local Muslims leaders recently met with Chief of Port of Seattle Police Colleen Wilson to express their concerns that the course, which is being taught by a "former Muslim" and claims to be "based on Israeli experience," will promote stereotypes and religious and ethnic profiling.
Among the course's advertised contents are non-terror-related topics such as: Arab naming conventions, the five pillars of Islam, the "formative phases of the Islamic religion," and the fast of Ramadan. The course is being taught by a "former Muslim." Representatives from a number of law enforcement agencies will attend the training.
SEE: Security Solutions Internationalhttp://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=FogKEBhjJIwXglhIOtXn4w..SEE ALSO: Suicide Terror Fire Fighters Response http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=lNVLaF6fY_K1uQPMC4A-Pw..
Chief Wilson agreed to have Muslim officers attend the training and evaluate the course for objectivity and balance.
"Linking any faith to violence and criminal activity creates the potential for stereotyping and could lead to an increase in religious and ethnic profiling," said CAIR-WA President Arsalan Bukhari. "We urge Port of Seattle Police to ensure that the course offers accurate and balanced information on Islam and Muslims."
Bukhari said an incident in which apparently innocent travelers in the state were profiled for their "Middle Eastern" appearance points to the need for police training that deals with issues of profiling and bias.
SEE: FBI Says Men in Ferry Photo were Innocent Sightseers http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=aqQ_P_Z3tWO6GgrjgM2Kmg..
He added that Muslims nationwide are concerned about the information law enforcement authorities are receiving on the subject of Islam.
Last month, CAIR's chapter in Pennsylvania (CAIR-PA) called on police training officials in that state to offer a Muslim perspective in a mandatory police training class because of concerns that the class would present stereotypical views of Islam and Muslims.
SEE: Penn. Muslims Seek 'Balance' in Police Training on Islamhttp://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=fQllEEo8UXdbggtC75H-PA..
Earlier this month, a spokesman for CAIR's Chicago office said an emergency preparedness drill in Illinois, in which a fake "mosque" was stormed by law enforcement authorities, sent the "wrong message" that all Islamic houses of worship may be potential security threats. An official later apologized for using the "mosque" in the drill.
SEE: IL Official Apologizes for Using Fake 'Mosque' in Drillhttp://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=_d0H0KkvqKtNeaYLLXHkzA..
CAIR-WA representatives say they will continue to dialogue with the local law enforcement community and to provide accurate information on Islam and Muslims through on-going monthly Muslim-Sikh-Arab Advisory Council meetings.
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 35 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR-WA President Arsalan Bukhari, 206-931-3655, E-Mail: abukhari@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com; CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, E-Mail: arubin@cair.com
SEE ALSO:
CAIR-WA: DOES COURSE ON ISLAM GIVE LAW ENFORCERS WRONG IDEA? - TOPJanet I. Tu, Seattle Times, 5/23/08http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=GgGzdTg3EeRI6n4z4rbyAg..
Some local Muslim community members are upset about a training course for local law enforcement, saying it could promote stereotypes and ethnic and religious profiling.
The program, called "The Threat of Islamic Jihadists to the World" and conducted by a Miami-based company, began Thursday and continues today at the Port of Seattle.
It is billed as providing insight into the formative phases of Islam, the religion's different branches, radical Islam and how to respond to terrorist acts.
But Arsalan Bukhari, president of the Washington state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said the program appears to be linking an entire religion to terrorism.
"Most police officers don't have a basic grounding in Islam, so before you teach them about Islam, how can you teach them about radical Islam?" he asked. "It just makes you nervous because when a law-enforcement person pulls someone over, when they see a Muslim person or someone who appears Muslim to them -- all this information they just learned kicks in."
Bukhari believes the need for police training on issues of profiling and bias was highlighted by an incident last summer in which the FBI launched an international search for two men who took photos below deck on a Washington state ferry. The FBI announced earlier this month that the men were tourists, not terrorists.
Bukhari said law-enforcement agencies need to learn about Islam, but not just in the context of terrorism. (MORE)
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CAIR-WA: POLICE TRAINING ON JIHAD THREAT RAISES CONCERNS IN SEATTLE - TOPAssociated Press, 5/23/08http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=DRplncBLGHUip-Mr9fihdQ..
The Council on American-Islamic relations is concerned about religious profiling in a police training course under way today at the Port of Seattle.
The state council president, Arsalan Bukhari, says the program on the threat of Islamic jihadists appears to link an entire religion to terrorism. (MORE)
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VIDEO: CAIR REP DISCUSSES ACCOMMODATION AT MN CHARTER SCHOOL - TOP
CAIR Strategic Communications Director Ahmed Rehab discusses a Minnesota charter school that has a high percentage of Muslim students on FOX News' "The O'Reilly Factor."
The State Education Department recently ruled that the curriculum at Tarik ibn Zayed Academy complies with federal and state laws with two minor violations, and the school is in full cooperation to comply with the findings immediately.
Click here to watch the video.http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=L587R6TyzOTFXtxF4XV2Cw..
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-I HAVE BEEN WAITING SO LONG' - TOPFlorida Muslims sue feds over citizenship delaysMuslims are sworn in after legal action to speed processBabita Persaud, Orlando Sentinel, 5/23/08http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=rM_sBKt_SZ8-pJS4Vs8Kiw..
For three years and three months, Ali Hussain has waited to become a U.S. citizen.
On Thursday, his wait was over -- but not before he sued the federal government.
In February, Hussain and 24 other Muslims joined a statewide lawsuit against Citizenship and Immigration Services and the FBI for what they called unusually lengthy delays in processing their citizenship applications. Some waited as long as five years.
"The lawsuit helped my application. I have been waiting so long," said Hussain, an Orlando machinist who hails from Iraq.
In a post-9-11 era of fingerprinting and thorough background checks, legal action is also becoming part of the naturalization process, some area attorneys say. . .
For Muslims, the FBI name check often holds up the application. Nearly 200 databases and offices are checked before a name is cleared. . .
While lawsuits are becoming more common, some applicants are reluctant to sue the federal government because it would mean, in essence, issuing a legal threat while asking their adoptive country to embrace them.
"They don't want to bring a suit against the government," Khan said. "They fear they might be red-flagged."
When Hussain, 34, approached the Orlando office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which is helping the plaintiffs, he was unsure whether he wanted to add his name.
"He said, 'Am I going to go against the government?'" said Danette Zaghari-Mask, Orlando CAIR executive director.
But he had tried every avenue to speed up his citizenship application, including calling and visiting immigration offices in Orlando. The sticking point, he was eventually told, was his name.
Originally from Kurdistan in northern Iraq, Hussain worked for an American aid organization in his native land. Under Saddam Hussein's regime, he was accused of being a spy for the U.S. Seeking political asylum, he and his family fled Iraq 12 years ago with the help of an American relief organization.
That's why the long wait for his citizenship weighed heavily on his mind.
"America brought me here," he said. (MORE)
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CAIR: THE WAR ON (EUPHEMISM) - TOPKhody Akhavi, Inter Press Service, 5/19/08http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=t4ath3cMhA63r8uzu_EL3w..
- From the people who brought you the "war on terror" and the "axis of evil" comes a new verbal tonic for combating that amorphous emotion.
Out with pejoratives like "Islamo-fascists", "jihadis" and "mujahadeen", and in with "words that work", that is according to a George W. Bush administration memo that was leaked last month to the Associated Press.
The non-binding 14-point guide on counterterrorism communication, prepared by the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), urges U.S. officials to drop language and terminology that may offend Arab and Muslim communities, to use terms such as "violent extremist" or "terrorist" instead of "jihadi", and to shift the discussion away from the dualistic "Clash of Civilizations" or battle between "Islam and the West", a paradigm that casts Islam as inherently violent.
"A mujahed, a holy warrior, is a positive characterisation in the context of a just war. In Arabic, jihad means 'striving in the path of God' and is used in many contexts beyond warfare. Calling our enemies jihadis and their movement a global jihad unintentionally legitimises their actions," according to the report. "We need to emphasise that terrorists misuse religion as a political tool to harm innocent civilians across the globe."
Others points suggest using the word "totalitarian to describe our enemy" because, according to the report, the term is widely understood in the Muslim world. Keep the focus on the terrorist, not us, it says, and don't ascribe "al Qaeda and its affiliates motives or goals they have not articulated. Our audiences have more familiarity with the terrorist messages than we do and will immediately spot U.S. government embellishment."
Lastly, "Try to limit the number of non-English terms you use if you are speaking in English," because "it's not what you say, but what they hear." In other words, mispronunciation could make a statement incomprehensible, such as in the example of "Qutbism", which refers to author Sayyid Qutb, a Muslim Brotherhood member during the mid-1950s who penned the controversial book, "Milestones", and whose ideas would inspire al Qaeda.
The word Qutb in English is often mispronounced to mean "books". . .
For U.S.-based Muslim advocacy groups, de-linking religious identity from the slippery slope of terror talk is a welcome change.
"It is a good step that they at least take these terms into consideration," Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on Islamic American Relations, told IPS. "What terms are used and what not are a matter of debate. At least, we should all be thinking about this."
SEE ALSO:
CAIR: MUSLIMS CAMPAIGN TO RECLAIM 'JIHAD' FROM EXTREMISTS - TOPOmar Sacirbey, Religion News Service, 5/13/08http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=CKDTBCzFzV0Cusc4EvKHFA..
The end to Ani Zonneveld's "jihad" on "jihad" came during an episode of "Desperate Housewives," when Lynette (Felicity Huffman) discovers she has cancer and throws a stone at a possum.
"Look at yourself," replies her husband, Tom. "You've declared jihad on a possum."
"At that point," said Zonneveld, the co-director of the advocacy group Muslims for Progressive Values, "I think it is too late to redefine the true meaning of jihad."
Strictly speaking, "jihad" is supposed to mean an inner struggle toward holiness. But for many Americans, the term connotes holy war, especially when militant groups like al-Qaida vow to wage jihad against the United States.
Zonneveld's frustration with how "jihad" has come to be associated with violence reflects a broader concern among many Muslim Americans who believe various Islamic terms are being misused by the media and politicians, and co-opted by Muslim extremists and anti-Muslim critics.
Not only does such misuse disparage the faith and undercut moderate followers, they say, it also unwittingly gives legitimacy to Muslim extremists.
"The real key is not to afford (terrorists) the name of Islam and not legitimize them that way," said Ahmed Rehab, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, stressing that terrorists represented only a tiny fraction of the Muslim world.
"By calling terrorists Islamic, we're saying that this tiny contingency is the one whose interpretation of Islam is Islam, and everyone else doesn't matter."
While Muslim Americans have made this argument for years, U.S. government officials have only recently adopted it. In March, the National Counterterrorism Center drafted a memo for the State Department urging diplomats to drop words like "jihadists" or "mujahedeen" (those engaged in jihad) when describing terrorists because it "unintentionally legitimizes their actions." The Department of Homeland Security issued similar recommendations in January.
"We should not concede the terrorists' claim that they are legitimate adherents of Islam," said the report, which has not been made public but was obtained by the Associated Press.
Rehab suggested an alternative: "neo-Kharajite," an Arabic term that means "outlaw." It was used to describe an uprising against (and ultimate assasination of) the Fourth Caliph Ali in the seventh century. Like al-Qaida and other modern terrorist groups, Rehab said, the Kharajites held rigid, literalist interpretations of Islam and reserved the right of "takfir" -- judging someone as having abandoned the faith and deserving of death.
Many Muslim Americans worry that critics of Islam have purposefully misused Islamic terms in a way that incites suspicion and hostility. The word "madrassa," for example, simply means school. But to many Americans, madrassa denotes a religious school, and one that produces extremists bent on martyrdom. Critics have used madrassa to attack the school that Sen. Barack Obama attended as a child in Indonesia. (MORE)
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IL: UNDERLYING PREJUDICES AGAINST MUSLIMS - TOPDaily Herald Editorial Board, 5/22/2008http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=GM2t7ytfQ5BvCZ_qugt1_g..
In the days immediately following the horrific 9/11 attack on the United States almost seven years ago, President Bush showed true statesmanship in many ways.
Even those of us who sharply disagree with his war policy in Iraq can agree with that if we stop to remember. He inspired, he reassured, he rallied the international community.
Significantly, in those first days, he also called on our better angels. He went out of his way to caution Americans not to judge Muslims by the acts of extremists.
In a major address that September, Bush emphasized the point: "The terrorists practice a fringe form of Islamic extremism that has been rejected by Muslim scholars and the vast majority of Muslim clerics, a fringe movement that perverts the peaceful teachings of Islam."
He called Muslim teachings "good and peaceful" and said, "The enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends."
That message was repeated often in many ways in those dark days, a great credit to our leaders and, frankly, to our society. No one wanted a repeat of the shameful Japanese internment camps of World War II.
But in the years since, the message has faded. Our leaders don't repeat it, and the language of our national discourse tends to undermine it. The distinction between Muslims and Islamist fanatics gets lost.
The degree of open prejudice is frightening.
Web sites and the radical right at times are almost hysterical in the conspiracy theories they concoct around the presidential race and specifically around Barack Obama.
But it isn't just the bigotry of the fringe groups that is disturbing. It's also the way prejudicial assumptions have slipped into the mainstream.
Alarmists fantasize that Obama is a Muslim, and in discussing the outlandish rumor, we all refer to it more or less as a charge: Obama denied the charge that he is a Muslim.
That choice of words suggests there would be something wrong with it if he was. (MORE)
SEE ALSO:
CA: MUSLIMS SHOULD NOT HAVE TO CONDEMN EVERYTHING - TOPChristian Bolton, Daily Nexus, 5/20/08http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=VaXh6-LNoRLMzzJWQZGEBw..
When author and lecturer David Horowitz appeared at UCSB, he mentioned that our Muslim students had not condemned Hamas and Hezbollah, implying that this told us something about our Muslim students. His local intellectual soul mate, the like-minded UCSB student Ross Nolan, wrote a few days ago, "The final thing that struck me is how the members of the Muslim Student Association refused to denounce the terrorist organizations Hezbollah and Hamas.
This really surprised me, and I was quite frankly disappointed by that organization. ... It is the obligation of members of a religion to strongly denounce those factions of their faith who do horrible things in the name of said faith" ("Horowitz Haters Keep Parading Selective Moral Outrage," Daily Nexus, May 14).
I think that's completely false. I've never felt any obligation or pressure to denounce anyone or anything related to my religious affiliation. What I do condemn are two practices: the now widespread practice of expecting Muslims to condemn other Muslims, their actions or groups containing them; and making insinuations about Muslims when they don't condemn things, or don't volunteer to become a spokesman for your views.
I have just a brief sampling of the reasons why this game is so infuriating. First, it is feeding cultural double standards. It is not common for non-Muslims to be expected to condemn anything, especially if the group whose condemnation is sought pertains to Palestine/Israel, then the demand can exacerbate a one-sidedness. I don't think it's common to expect Zionists to condemn what is done "in the name of" Zionism or Judaism, or to condemn any related groups or individuals.
Second, these practices expect a potentially intelligent person to quickly adopt a simplistic, all-or-nothing assessment. Hezbollah, one group that was mentioned, is only classified as a terrorist group by the governments of four countries, and only a part of it is so classified by two other governments. Two of those four governments are Israel and the U.S. The "terrorist" label is far from universally applied. Hezbollah has done lots of nonviolent things, including extensive charity work. Is the Muslim expected to condemn all of its charity work, lumped together with everything else it has done, in a single, all-or-nothing condemnation? The Muslims I've known were far too sophisticated for that.
Third, the Muslim is expected to condemn things he might not know much about that occur thousands of miles away. How many books do you think the average American Muslim has read about Hezbollah? The Muslims are expected to comment about something they may not want to get involved with. The Palestinian/Israel conflict is explosive and complicated, and I think it's very reasonable for anyone - Muslim or not - to decline to comment, especially if they have not read very much about it. I haven't, and I suspect that some who expect Muslims to condemn Hezbollah haven't either.
Fourth, depending on how it's presented, a demand that a Muslim condemn what other Muslims have done "in the name of" Islam can imply that a version of Islam is the primary reason why these violent things happen. If violent people say they are following Islam, it does not mean a supposed version of Islam is the reason they were violent. All the violence that I've ever seen appeared to have a lot to do with situations, history and personality.
My advice for Muslims is to reject all expectations that you condemn anything, and reject pressure to classify yourself. Some wish to see our 1.2 billion Muslims break up into the "moderate" Muslims, "radical" Muslims, "fundamentalist" Muslims and other categories that, like these, lack a clear definition. The more you are fighting with other Muslims and condemning and refuting each other, the more the opposition likes it. This whole endeavor is supported by those who are busy teaching that Islam - or some supposed version of it - is the cause of violence and other bad things that happen in this world. My advice is to not be of assistance to any of this.
Christian Bolton is a second-year economics/mathematics major.
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MN: TEENS SENTENCED FOR HARASSING MUSLIMS - TOPJanice Gregorson, Post-Bulletin, 5/21/08http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=W2C21n4jx1qPrtjLMycwtQ..
Three teenage boys who were allegedly part of a group calling themselves the Minnesota Mafia have been sentenced in juvenile court for bias crimes that include spitting on a person and yelling racial slurs at people outside Rochester's downtown Islamic Center.
Court files say they call themselves the "Minnesota Mafia," and their focus is on violence and hate.
On Monday, a 16-year-old Rochester teen identified as the leader was sentenced on a bias-motivated harassment charge stemming from incidents at the Rochester Islamic Center last September.
The teen pleaded guilty May 13 to a gross misdemeanor harassment charge. Three weeks earlier, another 16-year-old Rochester boy was found delinquent on a similar gross misdemeanor charge from the same incident. Both teens were sentenced to probation and community service work, and ordered to follow a number of conditions.
A third teen, a 15-year-old, was charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct, according to Olmsted County Attorney Mark Ostrem. That is not public.
According to the petition filed against the teen, police identified teens who allegedly were involved in going to the Islamic Center and harassing members, and even entering the mosque and causing damage.
"The group discusses violence all the time and often the discussions focus on doing violent things to Somali persons,'' the petition said police were told by one teen. (MORE)
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IL: CAMPAIGN SEEKS ARABIC CLASSES IN HIGH SCHOOL - TOPAngela Caputo, Southtown Star, 5/21/08http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=7kjMH-btVCnRsvWVI6oWHg..
When Stagg High School senior Neda Safadi enrolled in Spanish class as a sophomore, she learned a striking lesson about Hispanic people.
"I thought, for some reason, that because everyone spoke the same language, the culture was the same," she said. "Each country is different."
The Bridgeview teen thinks that a similar lesson could be taught through Arabic language courses in the local schools. That's why she and her younger sister Lema Safadi, 14, have joined a local campaign to get Arabic on the course roster in Consolidated High School District 230 and Oak Lawn Community High School District 229.
The proposal to add classes in the Arabic language -- which the federal government has deemed as an academic area where growth is critical to national security and commerce -- is being mulled over by administrators in the two districts.
"Do we have a feeling one way or another? Not yet," said Brenda Reynolds, who oversees curriculum in District 230.
Surveys to gauge interest in expanding foreign language offerings already have gone out to Oak Lawn parents. District 230 plans to follow suit beginning late in the summer. If there's an adequate response in favor of adding the language, classes could be available to students in both districts by fall 2009.
But the slow pace of deciding whether the high schools will take the leap has left Mohammed Sahloul, president of the Bridgeview-based Mosque Foundation, feeling frustrated.
"They are dragging their feet unnecessarily," said Sahloul, who has pledged to secure financial support to get the new classes going since first pitching the idea about a year ago.
"We told the school districts we want this for our community and we are behind you, we will help you find the resources," he said. (MORE)
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MICHAEL SAVAGE PLAYS DEAD KENNEDYS SONG "IN SOME RESPECT FOR" SEN. KENNEDY - TOPMedia Matters for America, 5/21/08http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=ns4rMxtbIkIzVFvZ1VmFSw..
Summary: On the day it was announced that Sen. Ted Kennedy had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, nationally syndicated radio host Michael Savage opened his show by interspersing audio of Kennedy singing "Ay Jalisco No Te Rajes" with clips of news reporters discussing Kennedy's diagnosis and audio from Kindergarten Cop in which Arnold Schwarzenegger's character says, "It's not a tumor." Later, Savage played the Dead Kennedys song "California Über Alles" after stating: "The poor guy's been suffering for years, you know? Unfairly he's been accused of alcoholism, but we see now that it was something much more deep-seated. And so, to cut this out in some respect for Ted Kennedy, here's a tune coming at you from the Dead Kennedys. Go ahead and play it, please."
Following the announcement that Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, nationally syndicated radio host Michael Savage opened his May 20 show by interspersing audio of Kennedy singing "Ay Jalisco No Te Rajes" with clips of news reporters discussing Kennedy's diagnosis and audio from the 1990 film Kindergarten Cop in which Arnold Schwarzenegger's character says, "It's not a tumor." Later, Savage played the Dead Kennedys song "California Über Alles" after stating: "The poor guy's been suffering for years, you know? Unfairly he's been accused of alcoholism, but we see now that it was something much more deep-seated. And so, to cut this out in some respect for Ted Kennedy, here's a tune coming at you from the Dead Kennedys. Go ahead and play it, please."
After reading from the lyrics of "California Über Alles," Savage said, "No gloating today, no laughter, all serious. You don't joke about a man's cancer. I do it, but I won't do it today; it's something I will not do." At one point in the program, he told a caller, "You know I'm playing the Dead Kennedys not to mock Ted Kennedy. It's just appropriate, that's all."
Later in the program, Savage aired a clip of Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV) offering a tribute to Kennedy on the Senate floor before describing Byrd as "a senile senator" and "a walking psycho." Savage went on to assert, "For years now, Byrd has been blubbering on the floor of the Senate. For years, I mean, to be honest, Kennedy didn't seem sane to me." He continued, "Forget about the drunk stories and all that -- anybody can drink. The guy sounded like he was off for years, I'm sorry." (MORE)
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LETTERS: ISRAEL'S FRIENDS AND THE PATH TO PEACE - TOPNew York Times, 5/20/08http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=Jw_HeUZUJtMcqHUQY4eBtA..
Re "Israel's 'American Problem' " (Op-Ed, May 18):
Jeffrey Goldberg attacks our book, "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy," while openly embracing one of our main arguments.
He writes that we "argue, unpersuasively, that American support for Israel hurts America. It doesn't. But unthinking American support does hurt Israel."
Our book contains detailed case studies showing that unconditional support for Israel is not in America's national interest. Readers can judge for themselves whether we are "persuasive."
But we also emphasized that "the lobby's impact has been unintentionally harmful to Israel," that its actions "may even be jeopardizing the long-term prospects of the Jewish state" and that its "influence has been bad for both countries."
The lobby's harmful impact on Israel was also a central theme of an op-ed article, "Israel's False Friends," we wrote in The Los Angeles Times on Jan. 6. Mr. Goldberg clearly agrees with this part of our argument. John J. Mearsheimer
Stephen M. WaltChicago, May 18, 2008
To the Editor:
Sixty years after Israeli independence, it is time for Jews to acknowledge the painful truth: the Jewish state was born on the forced expulsion and dispossession of the Palestinian people.
As an American Jew who lived in Israel for many years, and who has worked with Muslim organizations for the last decade, I believe that our recognition of this agonizing history would help open doors to peace between Israel and Palestine, and could lay the foundation for Jewish-Muslim reconciliation.
In the third century, Rabbi Hama bar Hanina wrote, "Great is repentance: it brings healing to the world." This ancient Jewish teaching can guide us as we seek to bring peace to what Martin Buber rightly described as "a land of two peoples."
Jacob BenderNew York, May 18, 2008
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U.S. HELICOPTER STRIKE KILLS 8 IRAQI CIVILIANS - TOPSabah al-Bazee, Reuters, 5/22/08http://crm.cair.com/site/R?i=dzZ6ESUmFV9PzXd9D18tQQ..
A U.S. helicopter airstrike on Wednesday night killed eight civilians, including two children, north of Baghdad, police officials said on Thursday.
Colonel Mudhher al-Qaisi, police chief in the town of Baiji, said the attack was on a group of shepherds in a vehicle in a farming area. Relatives said some of those killed were fleeing on foot after the U.S. military arrived in the area.
"This is a criminal act. It will make the relations between Iraqi citizens and the U.S. forces tense. This will negatively affect security improvements," Qaisi told Reuters.
A U.S. military spokeswoman, Lieutenant-Colonel Maura Gillen, said the helicopter fired after observing "suspicious activity." She said the driver had ignored warnings to stop.
The incident is the latest in a string of U.S. airstrikes in which civilians have been killed.
The U.S. military has been trying to soothe tensions with Baghdad over a U.S. soldier using a copy of the Koran, the Muslim holy book, for target practice.
United Nations officials have expressed concern at the number of civilians killed in airstrikes in Iraq and said more care must be taken in military operations to protect them.
The U.S. military said the Baiji attack was under investigation.
"Coalition forces regret the loss of innocent civilian lives," said Navy Captain Gordon Delcambre in a press statement. "Terrorists continue to show their disregard for human life by endangering children with their illegal and violent activities." (MORE)
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Saturday, May 24, 2008
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