Category Archives: USA

Muslims feel targeted after Philadelphia school kidnapping

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Muslim community in Philadelphia held a meeting venting frustrations over people committing crimes dressed in traditional Muslim garb.

“We have a right to wear a face veil if we choose to, that’s our right, our God-given right,” said Alia Walker.

Muslim women in West Philadelphia are becoming increasingly fearful.

This as the pressure mounts for the capture of the woman dressed in Muslim garb and her accomplice, who kidnapped a 5-year-old girl from her classroom and brutally assaulted her.

“Right now, a lot of the Muslim sisters are saying, ‘People are walking around looking at them cross-eyed.’ They haven’t done anything wrong,” said Rep. Ron Waters.

At a standing room only meeting to discuss the matter, Muslims expressed outrage that it’s happening again and again.

Criminals have been committing crimes disguised as Muslim women – robbing banks, stores and now kidnapping. Violent crimes they fear put Muslim women in danger.

“We consider anyone dressing up like a Muslim woman perpetrating a hate crime,” said Iman Asim Abdul Rashid.

WPVI Philadelphia, 2 February 2013

US radio show host: ‘The Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated our government – it’s called Barack Obama’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Mark LevinOn his radio show last night, Mark Levin went offon President Obama’s decision to send F-16 planes and tanks to assist President Mohamed Morsi’s Egyptian government, calling the president a Muslim Brotherhood “sympathizer.”

“What the hell’s happening? Now we back the Muslim Brotherhood?” Levin said of the administration’s decision to aid Morsi.

The conservative radio host defended his “dear friends” Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Louie Gohmert (R-TX) over their concerns that the administration has been “infiltrated” by the Muslim Brotherhood.

“[They] ask questions about the Muslim Brotherhood’s infiltration of our own government, and they’re treated like pariahs,” an agitated Levin shouted. “Well, the Muslim Brotherhood has infiltrated our government – it’s called Barack Obama! No, he’s not a formal member; he’s a sympathizer. There, I said it! Prove otherwise.”

Mediaite, 1 February 2013

Threats against Muslims prompt extra security at Texas capitol

Posted on by Bob Pitt

AUSTIN — A string of threats is prompting a boost in security at the State Capitol.

The threats are directed at hundreds of Muslims who are in Austin for ‘Muslim Day at the Capitol.’ They represent Islamic organizations and mosques from across the state of Texas.

According to the Texas Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), threats were posted online and also came in over the phone. Law enforcement stepped up protection, making additional Department of Public Safety troopers visible along the south steps of the building.

The Texas Muslims are visiting the Capitol to meet with lawmakers and ignite positive interactions. There have been similar rallies at the start of a new legislative session for a few years now. However this year, threats against the group escalated.

According to CAIR people started posting messages on a blog site called Bare Naked Islam a few weeks ago. Some people threatened gun violence. Others wrote about killing and capturing participants.

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Catholic event cancels talk by anti-Islam hatemonger

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Spencer, Carroll, Geller and Lennon in StockholmThe Roman Catholic Diocese of Worcester rescinded an invitation Wednesday to Robert Spencer, a Catholic whose work depicts Islam as an inherently violent religion, to speak at its annual Catholic Men’s Conference in March.

The invitation was withdrawn after Muslims in Massachusetts expressed concerns to the diocese about the appearance of Spencer, scheduled to be a featured speaker at the DCU Center on March 16.

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The demographics of Islamophobia

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Just three days into 2013, Annika Rydh, a Swedish government official from the town of Almhult, issued a shrill call to both her colleagues and neighbors. Worried about the perceived growth of the Muslim population in her homeland and beyond, she urged the European Union “to act by having some kind of restriction, like the one-child policy in China.” If Muslims don’t like the proposed rule, she continued, they can go back where they came from.

Rydh’s appeal comes on the heels of a decade-long campaign to curtail Muslim immigration into western countries and reduce the number of babies born to Muslim families. International in scope, the anti-Islam movement relies on scare tactics that, more often than not, imply that the Judeo-Christian traditions are in danger of being trampled by Sharia law.

Eleanor J. Bader examines the demographic myths promoted by Islamophobes. She notes:

Surprising as it seems, a host of anti-choicers have demonstrated a clear tilt toward population control when it comes to Muslims. Indeed, it seems apparent that, for them, racism and Islamophobia trump unbridled procreation for Mohammed’s adherents.

RH Reality Check, 29 January 2013

CAIR, ACLU praise Oklahoma Bankers Association’s headscarf clarification

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-OK) on Thursday expressed appreciation to the Oklahoma Bankers Association for clarifying a security policy commonly referred to “no hats, no hoods, no sunglasses” used by many of the state’s banks.

The two groups along with the Oklahoma Conference of Churches recently requested a meeting with the OBA following an incident in which a Muslim woman was initially denied access to a branch of Valley National Bank in Tulsa and asked to remove her religious head scarf, or hijab, before entering. The bank cited the “no hats, no hoods, no sunglasses” policy to justify its actions.

“Our goal in meeting with the OBA was to use this unfortunate incident as a teaching moment about the different types of head coverings worn by Muslim women and by individuals of other faiths,” said CAIR-OK Executive Director Adam Soltani, in a written statement.

Roger Beverage, president and CEO of the OBA, said: “There was an effort on the part of the association to clearly understand what had happened and why that was such a big issue…. Once we understood that, it was easy to go the next step, which is to make reasonable choices when you’re in those kinds of situations.”

Tulsa World, 25 January 2013

Terrorism suspect treatment of Mahdi Hashi is ‘a national disgrace’, claims Camden solicitor who fought for release of Guildford Four

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The state-sponsored blackmail and harassment of a former Haverstock schoolboy and other Somalis living in Camden by MI5 is a “national disgrace”, according to one of the country’s leading miscarriage-of-justice campaigners.

Solicitor Gareth Peirce – who has represented the Guildford Four, Birmingham Six, the family of Jean Charles de Menezes and Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg – spoke in support of Mahdi Hashi at a packed public meeting inside the Town Hall on Friday night.

The 23-year-old was stripped of his British citizenship after refusing to spy on young Muslims in Camden, according to his family.

Mr Hashi, who lived in Gilbey’s Yard, Chalk Farm, was later arrested in east Africa and taken to New York where he has been charged with being part of an international terrorist network. He has told his legal team how he was threatened with outlawed torture by US officials shortly after his capture in Djibouti last September.

Ms Peirce, whose law firm is based in Camden Town, said:

“Blackmail is unlawful. Threats, harassment and rendition are unlawful. These are crimes. If hundreds of Somalis under suspicion for travelling to east Africa get in touch with us and say they have been blackmailed and harassed, how many thousands of police and security officers are being deployed for this purpose? It’s a disgrace, a national disgrace, a badge of shame.”

Camden New Journal, 24 January 2013

Right-wing Zionist group announces awards to Geller and Spencer

Posted on by Bob Pitt

CZC banner

An outfit calling itself the Creative Zionist Coalition has announced that it is awarding Pamela Geller with the “Queen Esther Award for Jewish Heroism” and Robert Spencer with the “Shushan Award for Righteous Gentile”.

Loonwatch reports on the background of the CZC’s founders, Jessica Felber and Orit Arfa, and their links to the Zionist Organization of America.

The CZC’s stated aim is to “vigorously support and defend Israel without apology, taking principled positions based on reason, logic, ethics and history”. Quite what Geller and Spencer have to do with reason, logic and ethics, or indeed with any honest approach to history, is unclear.

So-called former terrorist Kamal Saleem to discuss ‘real threat of Islam’ at 3 West Michigan stops

Posted on by Bob Pitt

American Decency

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — Kamal Saleem, the self-proclaimed former terrorist whose multiple appearances in West Michigan have been marked by controversy, will talk at three West Michigan events next month.

Saleem is scheduled to speak about the “threat of Islam” at separate events Feb. 7-9 for the Fremont-based American Decency Association, according to the ADA’s website.

A Christian, Saleem has made waves for claiming he is a former member of Islamic militant groups in the Middle East, including the Palestinian Liberation Organization and the Muslim Brotherhood.

A number of academics and groups, including a Calvin College professor and the Southfield-based Council on American-Islamic Relations of Michigan, have called Saleem’s claims dubious.

The American Decency Association, which did not return requests for comment this week, said on its website that Saleem was invited to talk about “a threat that is very real.”

“We at ADA are committed to stand against evil and we’re giving you an opportunity to become informed about a threat that is very real – radical Islam, Sharia Law, and the attack upon the American Constitution – so that you, too, can prepare yourself to oppose it,” the ADA wrote on its website.

MLive, 24 January 2013