Category Archives: USA

Protestors hang Bin Laden effigy outside US mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Bin Laden effigy hangedActivists hanged an effigy of Osama Bin Laden across the street from a Southern California mosque Sunday to protest radical Islam on the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

With a crowd of about 100 people shouting “Remember 9-11!” and “No more Jihad!” two men on the back of a pickup truck slipped a noose around the neck of a dummy wearing a Bin Laden mask and strung it up, while the crowd pelted the effigy with shoes.

The protest was organized by the United American Committee, a group that says it promotes awareness of internal threats facing America.

About 70 counter-protesters described the King Fahd Mosque as a peaceful center for area Muslims and yelled “racists go home!” during the ritual. A group of clergy joined hands with some of the mosque’s worshippers and stood in a circle in front of the mosque.

“I think it’s crazy,” said mosque spokesman Usman Madha. “We have never encouraged extremism. We were the first mosque that condemned the Sept.11 atrocities and we kicked out a few people that protested that condemnation.”

In 2003, Jewish Defense League activist Earl Krugel pleaded guilty to conspiring to bomb the mosque along with the office of San Diego congressman Darrell Issa.

Associated Press, 10 September 2006

Robert Spencer can’t understand why supporters of the mosque should object: “… why is it that when the United American Committee hanged Osama in effigy, the members of the King Fahd mosque didn’t eagerly join in, happy for the chance to show that they’re patriotic Americans who are outraged at what bin Laden and his ilk have done to their faith? Why instead did they mount counter-protests crying racism?”

Jihad Watch, 11 September 2006

For photos of the protest and counter-protest, see LA Indymedia, 10 September 2006

Culver City anti-racists

Radical Islam’s War With the West? Or Radical Judaism’s War With Islam?

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sheila Musaji reports on the showing of an Islamophobic “documentary”, Obsession: Radical Islam’s War With the West , by the Orthodox Jewish outreach and educational organisation Aish HaTorah in St Louis.

“Over 1,000 people (including children) attended the screening, among them was our little group of 6 Muslims. Fortunately, we sat together because as the evening progressed we drew comfort from each others presence. The audience seemed to be primarily Jewish, but with a large Christian contingent also. The film was a classic propaganda piece – in its 1 hour and 17 minutes, except for a disclaimer that this was not meant to be about all Muslims, the balance of the film was relentless in its depiction of issues, political movements, individuals, and positions as connected to the religion of Islam….

“Bigotry and hatred can be found in all communities – for every photograph or speech in this film another could be shown just as virulent from another community, e.g. American protestors burning the American flag, Jewish Israeli children signing missiles with love, photos of Christian clergy with Hitler, Hitler’s statements about Christianity, Nazi insignia with Christian symbols, statements by Meir Kahane or other Jewish Defense League members, or by Christian white supremacist clergy, Jewish Israelis having a party to celebrate the Hebron massacre. Statements by extremist rabbis that during time of war the enemy has no innocents, or that call for the extermination of the enemy. Signs in a U.S. shop window calling Palestinians pigs and cockroaches. The list is long, and the effort to demonize each other pointless….

“Two weeks after the event we are still experiencing physical and emotional distress primarily due to the positive reaction of the audience – including applause and standing ovations, and to some of the hateful comments we overheard from individuals sitting around us. The fact that some of us saw people we knew, who saw us and said nothing and avoided eye contact was very disturbing….

“Aish HaTorah, the producers of this film say that their objective as an organization is to revitalize the Jewish people by providing opportunities for Jews of all backgrounds to discover their Jewish heritage in an atmosphere of open inquiry and mutual respect…. Can one people be ‘revitalized’ by the demonization of another?”

The American Muslim, 11 September 2006

Californians asked to repudiate mayor’s anti-Muslim remarks

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SV) has called on Californians to repudiate remarks insulting to Muslims made by a mayor in the northern part of that state.

CAIR-SV said that Redding, Calif., Mayor Ken Murray claimed Shia Muslims “believe it’s acceptable to lie, cheat, steal and kill as long as it ultimately glorifies Allah.”

“Folks, they’re not like us,” said Murray.

When asked about his offensive remarks, Murray drew a distinction between “mainstream” and Shia Muslims, who he called “wing nuts.”

“Either the Judeo-Christian philosophy will survive or the Islamic philosophy will survive,” said Murray.

“The unthinking bigotry and ignorance of such remarks are unworthy of an American public official and should be repudiated by all those who seek tolerance and mutual understanding,” said CAIR-SV Executive Director Basim Elkarra.

CAIR news release, 11 September 2006

Shutting down Muslim charities

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Last year, workers at a small Muslim social service agency in Virginia received a disturbing letter from their bank. After six years, Wachovia Corp. was closing the account of the five-person agency that specializes in domestic violence services and other types of immediate assistance to families of all religious backgrounds.

“We were totally shocked,” said Margaret Farchtchi, board treasurer of the Foundation for Appropriate and Immediate Temporary Help, also known as FAITH. “We always kept our accounts in good shape.”

But the agency also had other reasons to think that they would not be targeted. “We felt very secure because we are a local charity,” explained Farchtchi. “We don’t have donors from overseas. We thought we were out of what you might call the danger zone.”

Many people thought the same. As such, the story of FAITH illustrates the challenge now facing the Muslim community. Since 9/11, the government has frozen the assets of six large Muslim organizations and shut them down – although no one has been convicted of any crime.

People, in turn, have begun donating in larger numbers to local charities, assuming these organizations to be free of international ties and safe from government interference. But the experience of FAITH suggests that there are no guarantees.

ColorLines, September-October 2006

Posted in USA

Former Iranian president urges US Muslims to fight Islamophobia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

KhatamiIran’s former president decried a wave of “Islamophobia” that he said is being spread in the United States by fear and hatred of Islam in response to terror perpetrated by Muslims. “In the crime of 9/11, two crimes were committed,” Mohammad Khatami said. “One was killing innocent people. The second crime was masking this crime in the name of Islam.”

Under smothering security, with dozens of uniformed police and plainclothes American security personnel provided by the State Department, Khatami spoke Friday night at an event sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations called “The Dialogue of Civilizations: Five Years After 9/11.”

Associated Press, 8 September 2006

See also interview with Mohammad Khatami, Washington Post 5 September 2006

For Canadian Muslims, guilt by association

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“When Ahmed Farooq crosses the Canada-U.S. border, he isn’t surprised when he is singled out for questioning. He is, after all, a young, single, Muslim man born in Saudi Arabia who fits the racial profile of would-be terrorists. But the fourth-year medical resident at the University of Winnipeg never expected to be hauled off a United Airlines flight for praying. That’s what happened last month, after a fellow passenger complained that Dr. Farooq was trying to ‘control the aisles’ when he exchanged seats to pray next to a window.”

Globe & Mail, 8 September 2006

US conservative says right-wing Islamophobes discredit conservatism

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“The most repugnant trend in the American shouting match that passes for a debate on the struggle with Islamist terrorism isn’t the irresponsible nonsense on the left – destructive though that is. The really ugly ‘domestic insurgency’ is among right-wing extremists bent on discrediting honorable conservatism. How? By insisting that Islam can never reform, that the violent conquest and subjugation of unbelievers is the faith’s primary agenda – and, when you read between the lines, that all Muslims are evil and subhuman.

“I’ve received no end of e-mails and letters seeking to ‘enlighten’ me about the insidious nature of Islam. Convinced that I’m naive because I defend American Muslims and refuse to ‘see’ that Islam is 100 percent evil, the writers warn that I’m a foolish ‘dhimmi’, blind to the conspiratorial nature of Islam. Web sites list no end of extracts from historical documents and Islamic jurisprudence ‘proving’ that holy war against Christians and Jews is the alpha and omega of the Muslim faith. The message between the lines: Muslims are Untermenschen.”

California Republic, 8 September 2006

‘A post-9/11 vocabulary test’ from Michelle Malkin

Posted on by Bob Pitt

“What have you learned since the Sept. 11 attacks five years ago? The mass murder of 2,996 innocent people on American soil forced open my eyes to the Islamic holy war against the West, freedom and modernity. The battle has raged not for years or decades, but for centuries – well before the Crusades began.

“The indelible sight of workers plunging from the Twin Towers – head first, feet first, solo, hand-in-hand – roused me from slumber. The photos of children who were incinerated on United Airlines Flight 175 and American Airlines Flight 77 compelled me to start paying attention to the beliefs, goals, language and lies of those who would gladly kill my children the same way. The United Airlines Flight 93 hijackers’ final exclamation as they drove the plane into the ground is a Muslim warrior leitmotif I will never again ignore: ‘Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!'”

Michelle Malkin at Townhall.com, 6 September 2006