Nathan Lean reports that one of the oldest and most influential US conservative think tanks, the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI), has announced that its resident scholar Michael Rubin will join Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch on a 10-day tour of Turkey, which has been organised by the David Horowitz Freedom Center.
Category Archives: USA
New York: homeless man who slashed Muslim victims claimed he was ‘fighting terrorism’
A homeless man slashed three Mott Haven workers with glass shards in 9/11-fueled hate crimes against Muslims, police sources said yesterday. Alejandro Gonzalez, 19, claimed he was “fighting terrorism” when he attacked three Middle Eastern men in two stores, sources said.
The first assault took place at 9:30 p.m. on June 6, when Gonzalez confronted Adam Zandan in a bodega on Courtlandt Avenue and cut the victim’s face, court documents allege. A day later, the attacker walked into a pizza parlor on East 158th Street and sliced Salem Salim across the forehead, then slashed Bilal Alsayedi on the right arm as Alsayedi came to Salim’s aid, the documents state.
The victims were treated for non-life-threatening wounds. Gonzalez was arrested on June 8.
Feds: Texas man threatened Murfreesboro mosque
A federal grand jury on Thursday charged 24-year-old Texas resident Javier Alan Correa with violating the civil rights of members of a mosque in Murfreesboro, Tenn. mosque that has been the target of previous anti-Muslim attacks.
Correa is charged with “intentionally obstructing by threat of force the free exercise of religious beliefs and one count of using an instrument of interstate commerce to communicate a threat to destroy a building by means of an explosive device,” the feds said in a press release.
Correa allegedly used a cell phone to call the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro and left a message saying there was going to be a bomb in the building on the 10th anniversay of the September 11 terrorist attacks. “Listen up you fucking Muslim bitches, go back to your fucking dirty fucking country, fucking Muslim fascists, get the fuck out of here,” he allegedly stated.
Pentagon probe finds teaching of anti-Islam material at military school showed poor judgment … but was only meant to ‘stimulate discussion’
One of the slides from a presentation that was merely intended to ‘stimulate discussion’
Poor judgment and poor oversight led to the teaching of anti-Islamic material at a military school for officers, the Pentagon said Wednesday
Though an Army lieutenant colonel who taught the class has been relieved of his teaching duties, investigators recommended reviewing the actions of two civilian officials at the school to see if they also should face discipline, the Defense Department said in a statement. A second military officer will receive counseling.
Materials in a course for military officers at Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Va., portrayed the U.S. as at war with Islam. That’s an idea counter to repeated assertions by U.S. officials that the war being fought by America is one against terrorists.
CAIR asks FBI to investigate Geller’s call to destroy Florida mosque
The South Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SFL) today called on the FBI to investigate a call by Pamela Geller, the leader of an anti-Muslim hate group, to demolish a mosque in that state.
Geller, who appears as a regular guest on FOX News, posted an article on her blog, titled “Obama’s DOJ secretly drops terrorism charges in Taliban Case,” calling for a Florida Mosque to be demolished. This comes after the Department of Justice dropped charges against Irfan Khan, one of the defendants that was recently arrested and indicted on terrorism support charges.
“Calling for the destruction of a mosque may incite people to commit acts of violence against ordinary Muslims,” says CAIR-SFL Executive Director Nezar Hamze. “We are taking this call for the destruction of an American house of worship very seriously and have reported it to the FBI for review.”
One Direction’s Zayn Malik branded a ‘pimp’ for Islam
One Direction: don’t be fooled by the cute puppies – it’s all an Islamist plot
One Direction star Zayn Malik has been accused of “enticing jihad” and “pimping Islam” to young female fans in an outrageous online attack. Right wing blogger Debbie Schlussel warned parents to “keep their daughters away” from the British boyband, currently on a sell-out US tour.
The American claimed Zayn, 19, had posted tweets for fans about Ramadan and Allah. She ranted: “The scary thing is that millions of girls in America and around the world are infatuated with the members of One Direction, including Malik. He knows the power he has over these mindless girls and is using that influence to preach the Islamic faith. It’s dangerous.”
She even blasted Zayn for wearing a keffiyeh – a cotton scarf – which she called “official garb of Islamic terrorism”.
Schlussel ended the blog with: “Keep your daughters away from Zayn Malik’s enticing jihad. With the boy band One Direction, it’s all about pimping Islam amid the deceptive visage of angelic, effeminate boys in a band. Yup, for them there is definitely One Direction: facing Mecca.”
See also Sheila Musaji, “Debbie Schlussel discovers ‘boy band jihad’?”, The American Muslim, 12 June 2012
Is anti-Muslim bias an issue in rejection of Minnesota Islamic center plan?
Eight months ago, the St. Anthony City Council denied a Christian congregation’s proposal to move to a building in an area zoned for light-industrial use. Last week, the council struck down an attempt to locate an Islamic center in a similarly zoned area. City leaders say their actions were consistent, based on land-use issues and not religious discrimination.
But supporters of the center wonder whether discrimination was a factor in the council’s rejection, and they point to the hateful comments directed at the Muslims by a few residents at a recent council meeting.
In addition, both religious groups are made up primarily of dark-skinned, native Africans. Census data show that only about 400 of St. Anthony’s 8,000 residents are black, and none sits on the City Council. Would a white Lutheran congregation’s petition have been approved?
The answers aren’t clear-cut, which was why it was prudent for the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations to ask the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate.
Editorial in Star Tribune, 19 June 2012
‘My testimony to Peter King’s hearing on American Muslim radicalization’ – an astroturf Muslim writes
Asra Nomani explains why she decided to testify at the latest in Republican Congressman Peter King’s series of hearings on the supposed radicalisation of American Muslims: “To me, the hearings do not represent a witchhunt and Congressman King is no Joe McCarthy.”
IKEA-sponsored masjid causes outrage among Islamophobes
The Islamophobic blogosphere continues to set new standards in craziness. This poses some problems for those of us dedicated to combating it. The traditional reference to Melanie Phillips as “Mad Mel” now seems outdated since, compared with Pamela Geller, Phillips appears almost balanced and rational. And Geller, in turn, is outbid in the competition for sheer lunacy by Bonni Benstock-Intall of Bare Naked Islam. As quick scroll through her blog will confirm, “Bonkers Bonni” doesn’t even begin to cover it.
Anti-Islam protest at Arab International Festival
For a brief moment Friday, the song “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” blared over the speakers of a ride at the Arab International Festival in Dearborn; but nearby, an anti-Islamic protest made its way down Warren Avenue, drowning out the lyrics’ message of friendship with the angry shouts of attendees.
While the majority of the festival remained unscathed, the Bible Believers – a small contigent with an anti-Islam message – protested at the fair on Warren Avenue.
Near them, separated by Wayne County police, a crowd of 50-100 counter-protesters contested the group’s presence with words and actions. Most were teenagers, while several adult festival-goers urged the youth to break up their groups and ignore the protest.
The group, armed with signs preaching messages against Islam, stayed for about an hour and a half. Bottles were thrown, swear words were shouted and obscene gestures were made while the police routinely stepped in to separate the groups. Midway through the affair, four mounted police officers were brought in to quell the crowd.