Category Archives: USA

EDL-supporting rabbi deludes himself that Jonathan Sacks would be interested in debating him on Islam

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Nachum Shifren with Carroll and LennonThe rabbi who spoke at an English Defence League rally two months ago has apparently challenged Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks to a televised BBC debate on “Is Islam a religion of peace?”

Californian Nachum Shifren was the speaker at the far-right group’s October rally outside the Israeli Embassy. He called Muslims “dogs” and criticised British community leaders and rabbis for speaking out against him, saying: “To all my Jewish brothers who have called me a Nazi… I say to them they don’t have the guts to stand up here and take care of business.”

Now Rabbi Shifren, who lost a bid for a Californian state senate seat, claims he is planning a TV debate with the Chief Rabbi on “the Islamification of Britain, cultural Marxism in western liberalism, multiculturalism and its effect on the host society”.

In an email seen by the JC, Rabbi Shifren says he has set rules for the debate structure, to be followed by the Chief Rabbi and the BBC – despite no known interest in such a programme from either party.

He demands that the debate should not be moderated or edited, with no “extraneous commentary.” He adds: “The programme should not be advertised or announced using such inflammatory labelling as ‘far-right ‘extremist.’ i.e. not served up in terms that suit the Marxist-Islamist agenda of the BBC. This is strictly a bout between two combatants from which the listener and viewer may draw their own conclusions.” He also requests that no audience be present at the debate to avoid “Trotskyist structures.”

No-one from the Chief Rabbi’s office was available for comment.

Jewish Chronicle, 31 December 2010

Illinois: Muslim family claims bias at public pool

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations filed two complaints Wednesday in Cook County Circuit Court claiming employees at a public pool discriminated against a Muslim family from Lyons based on their attire.

The family was barred from entering the Cermak Family Aquatic Center in Lyons, owned by the Cook County Forest Preserve District, in 2009 because of their clothing, said attorney Christina Abraham, the organization’s civil rights director.

A manager stopped the mother because she was wearing a long dress and head scarf, Abraham said. After she agreed to leave, the manager denied entry to the father and children, saying their swimming trunks were made of the wrong material. “They were wearing T-shirts and would have taken the T-shirts off once they were inside,” Abraham said.

In October, CAIR-Chicago filed a discrimination claim and received a favorable ruling from the Illinois Department of Human Rights. “People go into the aquatic center all the time in plain clothes,” Abraham said. One complaint asks the court to force the county to take action. The other seeks monetary compensation.

Chicago Sun-Times, 30 December 2010

Legal challenge to Murfreesboro Islamic Center costing taxpayers thousands

Posted on by Bob Pitt

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee taxpayers are footing the bill for $75,000-plus in legal fees as four residents continue their challenge of a mosque set to be built outside of Murfreesboro. An attorney for the four confirmed to The Tennessean their plans to fight the mosque through a final hearing on the matter, which is expected to happen sometime next year, keeping the tab open.

“I do think it is unfortunate that the county is having to bear this expense, but, that’s the way the legal system is,” said Rutherford County Attorney Jim Cope, whose law office contracts with the county to perform legal services.

Cope’s office billed the county almost $30,000 on Nov. 30 just for the first few days of an eight-day hearing on the May approval of the 52,000-square-foot mosque. Cope estimated the full cost for the entire eight days could top $75,000. The County Commission even added an extra $50,000 to its legal budget in October in anticipation of the legal costs.

Attorney Joe Brandon Jr. represented Rutherford County residents Kevin Fisher, Jim Estes, Lisa Moore and Henry Golcznski, who sued to challenge the county’s approval of the mosque. Brandon said in a statement that they plan to continue their fight to a final hearing on the matter, which is expected to happen sometime next year.

Associated Press, 26 December 2010

For details of the funding behind the lawsuit, see TPM.

Emails show Mayor Bloomberg’s office’s help and desire to get Ground Zero mosque built

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Daily Mail picks up on a story that has already done the rounds in the right-wing media in the US (the paper has in fact lifted it directly from the New York Post). It concerns the release of emails between Nazli Parvizi, commissioner of New York’s Community Affairs Unit, and Feisal Abdul Rauf and Daisy Khan, which reveal the assistance given by Parvizi with the planning application for the Park51 development – the so-called Ground Zero Mosque.

You have to read right to the end of the report before you find the information that counters the main thrust of the article. A spokesperson for Mayor Bloomberg is quoted as pointing out that Parvizi’s job is “to help groups navigate city government, and from helping prepare for a Papal visit to extending approval of a Sukkah in a midtown Manhattan park, this kind of assistance is typical of its regular work”.

But this is of course the Mail‘s usual procedure. It is able to claim that its reporting is balanced because it has quoted an opposing view, while relying on the fact that most readers won’t get beyond the scaremongering headline and the opening paragraphs.

Stand by for the usual outpouring of anti-Muslim vitriol in the comments section to the Mail‘s report.

Feisal Abdul Rauf will tour US to ‘inspire interfaith understanding’ of Park51 project

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Muslim cleric who hopes to build an Islamic center near the World Trade Center site said Friday that he’ll tour the country in an effort “to inspire interfaith understanding” for a project that has ignited explosive faceoffs between supporters and opponents.

“The major purpose is to make people aware of what America means as a country that protects the right to freedom of religion,” Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf told The Associated Press. American Muslims like himself, he said, “can play an important role as interlocutors between the United States and the Muslim world.”

Rauf’s first appearance is scheduled for Detroit on Jan. 15. The city has North America’s largest Muslim population. The imam said he’ll continue on to Chicago, Washington, San Antonio and college campuses including Harvard, Georgetown, Yale and the University of North Carolina. He did not release specific dates for his speeches.

Associated Press, 24 December 2010