Monthly Archives: May 2011

Maine rabbis deplore mosque desecration

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The following statement has been released in response to the anti-Islam graffiti sprayed onto the Maine Muslim Community Center:

We, the undersigned rabbis of Maine, would like to register our collective anger, disappointment and disgust at the desecration of a mosque in Portland by unknown persons in the wake of the death of Osama bin Laden.

We are committed to establishing peaceful relations among all faith groups in Maine and to end the kind of racial, religious and ethnic stereotyping from which we as Jews have suffered in many lands and in many time periods.

In all our synagogues recently, we read the following from the book of Leviticus 19:32-34 “When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not wrong him. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

As we hold this teaching, we stand in solidarity with our Muslim neighbors.

We hope that the 10th anniversary of the events of Sept. 11, 2001, will usher in a new era of interaction, dialogue and understanding among Jews, Christians, Muslims and all other religious groups in Maine.

Rabbis Carolyn Braun, Susan Bulba Carvutto, David Freidenreich, Alice Goldfinger, Akiva Herzfeld, Hillel Katzir, Darah Lerner, William Leffler, Simeon Maslin, Larry Rubinstein and Steven Schwarzman

Islam a threat to Western freedom, Wilders tells Toronto audience

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Wilders TorontoThe presence of Muslims in Canada threatens the country’s freedoms and democracy, and only if immigration from Islamic countries is suspended can the cultural deterioration of the country be stopped, controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders told a packed house Monday night in Toronto.

“Our Western culture is far superior to Islamic culture,” Mr. Wilders said. “And only once we are convinced of this will we be able to defend our civilization.”

The event, held at the Canadian Christian College in north Toronto, marked Mr. Wilders’ second stop on a three-city tour. The visit, his first to Canada, is sponsored by the International Free Press Society. He spoke in London on Sunday, and he will be in Ottawa on Tuesday.

Charles McVety, president of the Christian College, introduced Mr. Wilders to an ebullient crowd as a man with “a prophetic message.”

In his speech on Monday night, he said Muslim immigrants to Europe have changed the social and political landscape there. An increasingly vociferous Islamic lobby has led to the harassment of Christians, female genital mutilation and polygamy, he said, adding that with its own growing Muslim community, Canada faces the same fate.

His career has been driven by a belief that the Koran encourages violence, that moderate Islam is an impossibility and that in allowing Muslims to immigrate to Western nations, these countries open themselves up to inevitable Islamization. “We need the spirit of resistance to this evil,” he said. “That is our moral duty.”

Farooq Khan, executive director of the North American Muslim Foundation, expressed shock at Mr. Wilders’ being allowed into the country, and is dismayed by what he sees as a lack of nuance in the views of many Westerners about Islam.

“It is the political agenda of the far right, which is hell-bent on on creating an environment in which Muslims must get out of the West,” Mr. Khan said in an interview before Monday’s speech. “The Wilders event is nothing more than creating hatred.”

National Post, 10 May 2011

See also “Keep Islamic ideology out of Canada: Wilders”, 24 Hours Vancouver, 10 May 2011

Anti-Wilders protestors in Toronto
Anti-Wilders protestors in Toronto

Call to reinstate academic suspended for criticising university’s treatment of Muslim students

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A letter published in today’s Guardian, signed by 67 academics, calls for the reinstatement of Rod Thornton:

We write as academics deeply concerned by the suspension of Dr Rod Thornton, a lecturer in counter-terrorism in the school of politics and international relations at the University of Nottingham (Report, 4 May). We understand that Dr Thornton’s suspension is the result of a whistle-blowing investigative research paper that was presented at the annual British International Studies Association conference and subsequently published on its website. In his research, Dr Thornton carefully details what appear to be examples of serious misconduct from senior university management over the arrest of two university members (The “Nottingham Two”) under the Terrorism Act 2000 in May 2008.

The two men were never charged with a terrorism-related offence, and their arrests were perceived as being indicative of a growing tide of Islamophobia. Dr Thornton’s research paper provides apparent confirmation, notably through internal communications obtained via the Freedom of Information and Data Protection Acts, that university management and senior academics colluded to paint the two men in a negative light despite no evidence of wrongdoing. The claims he makes are very serious and should be subjected to a full and proper inquiry: they cannot be ignored.

We call for the immediate reinstatement of Dr Rod Thornton and call on the University of Nottingham to openly and thoroughly examine the claims made in his research. We also request that an independent inquiry be conducted into the university’s actions on this matter.

Brooklyn mosque row reflects wider tensions

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sheepshead Bay mosque opponents
Sheepshead Bay mosque critics say it will lead to problems with traffic, parking and noise

Protesters who want to stop the construction of a mosque in Brooklyn’s Sheepshead Bay are bringing their case to court on Tuesday, the latest in a series of such disputes across America.

The nation founded on the principle of freedom of religious worship is seeing disputes from Tennessee to New York’s Staten Island, as Muslims wishing to build places of worship run into opposition – almost 10 years after the 9/11 attacks. The most high profile case was the Islamic centre to be built close to Ground Zero in Manhattan – now it’s the turn of what critics call the Brooklyn “mega-mosque”.

Opponents of the Sheepshead Bay development – who include blogger Pamela Geller, an influential critic of Islam – say it will dramatically alter the quality of life in a quiet, residential neighbourhood. Traffic, parking difficulties and the noise of the call to prayer will be disruptive, says the group suing to stop the construction, called Bay People. “The neighbourhood residents are mostly of Italian/Russian/Jewish/Irish descent and will not benefit from having a mosque and a Muslim community centre,” the Bay People website states.

But others accuse the group of a thinly-veiled anti-Muslim agenda.”They are using traffic and noise as this smokescreen for their bigoted agenda against the Muslim community establishing a mosque in Sheepshead Bay,” says Debbie Almontaser of the Muslim Consultative Network, a group advising Sheepshead Bay Muslims.

Ill-feeling has been further stirred by the death of Osama Bin Laden. While the Obama administration has taken pains to assert that Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader and that America’s war is “not against Islam”, a number of public expressions of anti-Muslim sentiment have since occurred around the US.

Almontaser says that since Bin Laden’s killing, the walls of the Sheepshead Bay property have been vandalised with graffiti that says “He is dead”.

BBC News, 10 May 2011

CAIR, ACLU urge court to uphold ruling blocking Oklahoma sharia ban

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) last night filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit urging the court to uphold a ruling that blocked implementation of a discriminatory and unnecessary Oklahoma state constitutional amendment that prohibits courts from applying – or even considering – what is broadly described as Islamic “Sharia law” and “international law.”

To read the CAIR-ACLU brief, go to: http://www.cair.com/9865207-Appellee-Respondent.pdf

The measure, officially titled the “Save Our State Amendment,” was temporarily enjoined last year by a lower court for blatantly disfavoring an entire faith and denying Oklahoma’s Muslims access to the judicial system on the same terms as every other citizen. The ACLU and CAIR are seeking to have the amendment permanently struck down.

“This amendment is nothing more than a blatant attempt to subvert the Constitution by enshrining anti-Muslim bigotry into state law,” said Daniel Mach, Director of the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. “The idea that followers of an entire faith should be treated like second-class citizens is ugly, discriminatory and profoundly un-American.”

“This brief and the court’s previous ruling make clear that our Constitution does not tolerate using state laws to target religious minorities,” said CAIR Staff Attorney Gadeir Abbas.

CAIR press release, 10 May 2011

See also Muneer Awad, “Stopping anti-Sharia bans”, ACLU Blog of Rights, 10 May 2011

Republicans promote paranoia over sharia threat

Posted on by Bob Pitt

'Ground Zero mosque' opponents3
‘Ground Zero mosque’ opponents demonstrate in August 2010

As potential GOP candidates jockey to distinguish themselves heading into primary season, there seems to be at least one issue on which they widely agree: Sharia law is a continuing threat to the United States.

Invoking Sharia and casting it as a growing danger at odds with American principles has become a rallying cry for conservatives. It’s also quickly becoming an unlikely pet issue among 2012 presidential contenders: Potential candidates have almost unilaterally assailed the Islamic code, making it as much a staple of the campaign stump speech as economic reform, job creation and rising gas prices.

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann responded to Osama bin Laden’s death not just by praising the U.S. military. She used the news to remind her followers about a threat she considers alive and well.

“A time to express our deepest gratitude to the U.S. military for taking out Osama bin Laden,” Bachmann tweeted. Expanding on her tweet on Facebook, she wrote, “Osama bin Laden dead! May this be the beginning of the end of Sharia-compliant terrorism.”

While the Al Qaeda leader’s death provides a fresh opportunity to target the Islamic code, Republican presidential candidates have had Sharia in their cross hairs for months.

“Creeping Sharia is a huge issue here in the United States,” former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum told POLITICO. Sharia represents an “existential threat to America,” Santorum said during a foreign policy speech several weeks ago. “The enemy is motivated by an interpretation of Islam, Sharia, that is antithetical to American civilization.”

“Even immediately after Sept. 11, we didn’t see this kind of hatred mainstream in our society,” said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “There seems to be a coordinated effort to both marginalize American Muslims and demonize Islam.”

Politico, 10 May 2011

See also Adam Serwer, “Creeping sharia law becomes an issue in 2012 GOP primary”, The Plum Line, 10 May 2011

California: criminals called gas station clerk a ‘jihadist’ and punched him

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office is searching for two Eureka men suspected of committing a hate crime on Sunday along with assault and other charges.

Suspects Jamie Sean Hunt, 32, and Jeremy Lee Schweizer, 30, allegedly attempted to pay for gasoline with a counterfeit $100 bill at about 9 p.m. According to the press release, the station clerk refused to accept the bill and an argument ensued.

The two suspects allegedly used racial epithets at the clerk, who is of East Indian descent, including statements that the clerk was a “jihadist” and that he was angry Osama bin Laden was dead.

One of the suspects then allegedly punched the clerk in the side of the head. As they left, the men pushed to the ground one of the clerk’s relatives, who was standing outside, before stealing his cell phone. The clerk’s relative received gashes on his forehead, nose and right knee.

The two men left in a gray Dodge 2500 pickup truck. While doing so, they struck a passing motorist with the truck and continued fleeing.

Times-Standard, 10 May 2011

See also KRCRTV, 9 May 2011

Arson attack on Athens mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Kallithea mosque graffitiUnknown arsonists set fire to a makeshift mosque in Athens early on Sunday, causing damage but no injuries, police said.

The arsonists broke a window of the ground-floor flat used for religious practices in the district of Kallithea around 2:00 am SA time and threw incendiaries inside, a police source told AFP. Greek news reports said a Nazi swastika was painted on the flat’s windows.

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EDL thugs target trade union and labour movement bookshop

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Members of the English Defence League invaded Merseyside’s main trade union and labour movement bookshop on Saturday.

The EDL is an organisation of racist thugs with fascists in its midst. It primarily targets Muslims with its vicious racism. But it is increasingly turning its sights on other traditional fascist targets, such as trade unionists and socialists as well as ethnic minorities.

The News From Nowhere bookshop is a central part of the trade union and labour movement in Liverpool, selling tickets for antiracist events and coaches to anticuts protests, as well as books on everything from feminism and activism to the local area and children’s literature.

On Saturday 7 May, around 15 EDL supporters, arrived at the bookshop with flags. A group then came into the shop and attempted to intimidate staff – including making comments to female staff about pornography – before they were eventually moved on by police.

UAF news report, 9 May 2011

French court acquits blogger who was ‘only having some fun’ when burning and urinating on Qur’an

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A French court on Monday acquitted a blogger of a charge of provoking discrimination related to burning a copy of the Qur’an in an internet broadcast and urinating on the book.

The court in the north-eastern city of Strasbourg found that Ernesto Rojas Abbate had been acting within the boundaries of freedom of expression when he used the Qur’an as a prop in a simulation of the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks on New York.

Filming himself with a webcam on October 2, Abbate made a paper aircraft with pages from the Qur’an and launched it at two glasses representing the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre. He then burnt the aircraft and the book and urinated on them, to “quench the flames”.

The Mosque of Strasbourg and a local anti-racism organisation had pressed charges against the 30-year-old from the town of Bischheim close to Strasbourg. But the court ruled the video was aimed at terrorist acts and not the wider Muslim community, which “could not be assimilated with the terrorist acts”.

The man told the court he had only been having some fun and that he had nothing against Islam. He said he had been responding to a dare following the burning by US pastor Terry Jones of a copy of the Qur’an.

News 24, 9 May 2011

See also Saphir News, 9 May 2011