John Esposito talks to Media Matters.
Category Archives: Right wing
Orange County Republicans urged to act against Councilwoman who called for Muslims to be killed
The longtime leaders of Orange County’s Republican Party were given a rude awakening in January when Villa Park Councilwoman, and self described “blended” Tea Partier, Deborah Pauly, bested establishment candidate Jon Fleischman in the election for first vice chair of the GOP Central Committee.
Just how rude this awakening could end up being for the party’s establishment became apparent in mid February when Pauly stood outside of a Muslim charity event in Yorba Linda and said to cheering protestors: “Make no mistake my friends, these who are assembling are enemies of America.” She added: “I know quite a few Marines who would be very happy to help these terrorists to an early meeting in paradise.”
Such vitriolic comments made by Pauly can be heard in a video put together by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), that, in a matter of days, went viral.
David Horowitz says Islam is a religion of ‘hate, violence and racism’
David Horowitz of FrontPage Magazine gave a speech last week at Brooklyn College under the title “Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Myths and Facts”. Horowitz informed his audience that “no people have shown themselves as so morally sick as the Palestinians”, that Islam is a religion possessed by “hate, violence and racism”, and that “Muslims are treated with kid gloves in America and are a protected species”.
Protest against Sheepshead Bay mosque faces counter-demonstration
About 120 demonstrators gathered in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, to protest a proposed mosque that opponents argue will dramatically alter the quality of life in the neighborhood. The protest was within shouting distance of a counter-protest, organized by about 80 supporters of the mosque, and drew locals and nationally prominent critics of Islam.
“These people are entitled to their neighborhood!” thundered Pamela Geller, founder of Stop the Islamization of America and the leading organizer against the Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero known as Park 51. “Why put it here? There are hundreds of mosques in this city, there are thousands of mosques in this country. Why here?”
The competing, often raucous protests, were closely monitored by police. Geller was joined by her partner, JihadWatch.org blogger Robert Spencer, who responded to the mosque supporters’ cries of “Shame on you!” from across the street by raising doubts about the project’s backers. “Yes, shame on you! You are carrying water for the most repressive ideology on earth,” said Spencer.
The demonstration was organized by a local group, Bay People, which argues that a mosque would create traffic congestion in the neighborhood. The group also worries that the mosque would broadcast the call to prayer outside.
But Allowey Ahmed, who is developing the mosque, said that the call would not be broadcast outside, out of sensitivity to neighbors, most of whom are non-Muslim. And he has argued that the congregation of about 150 families will not generate much traffic, in part because most worshipers would arrive on foot.
The counter-protest, attended by dozens of young Muslim children and sign-toting teenagers, was organized by the NYC Coalition to Stop Islamophobia, a group that formed last summer in response to the controversy over Park 51. In promoting the demonstration online, organizers argued that opposition to the mosque “comes at a time when the Peter King hearings have caused more fear-mongering throughout the country!”
Indicating that mosque opponents weren’t the only ones with prominent allies, Imam Shamsi Ali, one of the city’s most well-known Muslim leaders, spoke up for the Muslim American Society, saying it encourages its youth to integrate into the mainstream and avoid going down the extremist path.
“Their activities are very much American,” said Ali. “Culturally, it’s very much American. Probably the girls are covering their head, but they’re Americans. They want to lead their lives as Americans, and this is what Americans should understand.”
Although Bay People has sued to stop construction of the mosque, supporters are confident the project will go forward.
Jewish Council ‘alarmed’ by anti-Muslim hearings
The Jewish Council on Urban Affairs (JCUA) has expressed concern over the hearings on so-called radicalization of Muslims in the United States spearheaded by Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. JCUA says the anti-Muslim hearings “go against American values of religious freedom, diversity and equality”.
“We are disturbed by the narrow scope of the hearings, which are singling out and stereotyping an entire community. We oppose using a discriminatory lens of religion and race to investigate threats to national security,” JCUA said in a statement posted on its website.
The group said that the Muslim community in the United States is the victim of “injustices being perpetrated on a daily basis which is not just a threat to that community, but a threat to all people striving for equality in our diverse society.” JCUA described the hearings as “troubling” adding that they could further fan the flame of anti-Muslim sentiments in the United States.
Peter King finds the right sort of Muslim
Standing before a throng of cameras after his high-profile hearing on Muslim radicalization, Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.) once again attacked major Muslim American organizations and their leaders, whom King described as soft on extremism.
Asked to identify better leaders, the Long Island Republican pointed to the wavy-haired man beside him, Arizona physician Zuhdi Jasser. Jasser, the head of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, had just been his star witness at Thursday’s hearing. “To me, a group like Dr. Jasser’s would be ideal,” King said, calling the forum “the most compatible” with American values.
King hearings provide platform for witch-hunt of CAIR
At Thursday’s contentious Congressional hearing on radicalization in the American Islamic community, one Muslim advocacy group became a repeated target for damning accusations from Republicans: the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR.
Representative Peter T. King of New York, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, led off the critics, calling CAIR “discredited” and congratulating the Federal Bureau of Investigation for cutting off high-level cooperation with the group. Representative Frank R. Wolf of Virginia accused CAIR of “an attempt to stifle debate and obstruct cooperation with law enforcement.” Representative Chip Cravaack of Minnesota went further, telling a witness, Leroy D. Baca, the Los Angeles County sheriff, “Basically, you’re dealing with a terrorist organization.”
Sheriff Baca, the only law enforcement official invited to testify, said he worked regularly with the CAIR chapter in his area and pushed back. “I have not experienced anything that suggests that CAIR supports terrorism,” he said. He suggested that such accusations should not be cast about recklessly in the absence of solid evidence.
For the casual observer, it may have been a puzzling set of comments. But it is an old argument for CAIR, an aggressive civil rights organization that has long been pilloried by conservatives as the American Civil Liberties Union with a Muslim spin. A representative of the group was not invited to testify at the hearing on Thursday but submitted 30 pages of written testimony – including a list of dozens of CAIR statements dating back to 1997 condemning terrorist attacks around the world, among them attacks in the United States and Israel.
“We are the answer to violent extremism,” said Nihad Awad, a Palestinian-American who is the executive director of CAIR, noting the group’s longstanding campaign against religious violence, called “Not in the Name of Islam.”
Quilliam supporters demand more taxpayers’ money to keep Maajid Nawaz in sharp suits
When the news that the Quilliam Foundation was about to lose most of its state funding broke last December, some of us felt this was the best Christmas present we could have wished for. But ENGAGE reports that Quilliam does have its admirers, and they have been trying to persuade the government to lavish more public money on this disruptive and divisive gang of witch-hunters. Who are these deluded individuals? Denis MacShane, Robert Halfon, Nick Cohen and Martin Bright, since you ask. Says it all, really.
Sarkozy sacks diversity adviser for calling on Muslims to reject UMP
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has sacked his diversity adviser after he called on Muslims not to support the governing UMP party, reports say.
Abderrahmane Dahmane, a Muslim and former UMP official appointed to his post only in January, was protesting against a planned debate on Islam.
He said Muslim members of the UMP should not renew their party membership unless the debate was cancelled. He condemned UMP leader Jean-Francois Cope as a “plague for Muslims”.
The UMP (Union for a Popular Movement) is planning to hold a public debate on 5 April on “Islam and secularism”. The debate will explore firstly how “the practice of religions may be compatible with the rules of the secular republic”, and secondly “the question of Islam in France”.
Speaking on Thursday, Mr Dahmane compared the situation of French Muslims to that of Jews during World War II and said the debate had been planned by a “handful of neo-Nazis”.
See also France 24, 11 March 2011
Florida congressman stokes Islamophobia
Tea party-backed freshman congressman Allen West, R-Fla., became unhinged at a recent town hall meeting in South Florida when he told a Muslim questioner who defended Islam, “Don’t try to blow sunshine up my butt!”
The questioner was Nezar Hamze, Executive Director of the South Florida chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, America’s largest Islamic civil liberties group.
When Mr. Hamze responded that he was ashamed to hear a U.S. congressman launching such crude attacks against Islam, West, an Iraq War veteran, shouted back above a storm of whooping and hollering from the largely pro-Rep. West audience, “You attacked us! You attacked us! I went to Muslim countries to defend the freedom of Muslim people. Don’t come up here and try to criticize me. Put the microphone down and go home!”
The exchange began when Hamze asked West if he could cite any passages from the Quran that instruct Muslims to kill innocent people, attack America or kill Americans. West claimed that there is a “verse of the sword” that incites Muslims to violence against “infidels” but he did not elaborate, and neither West nor the noisy and indignant crowd allowed Hamze to comment further.
Hamze’s question was in reference to a statement West had made in January at the “Reclaim American Liberty Conference” that Islam “is not a religion … it’s a theo-political belief system that’s been doing this [promoting terrorism] since 622 AD.” West claims that Muslim terrorists are not following a warped version of Islam; they are following genuine Islamic teachings and the instructions of the Quran to promote world domination through terrorist acts.
“You need to get into the Qur’an,” West advises, “then you can really understand this [terrorism] is not a perversion. . . . They are doing exactly what this book says.”