CAIR-LA WINS JUDGMENT AGAINST THEATER THAT CANCELED SCREENING - TOP
(ANAHEIM, CA, 10/27/08) The Greater Los Angeles Area Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) announced today that it won a judgment against Starplex Cinemas, which cancelled a contract with the Muslim civil rights group after caving in to right-wing pressure three days before a scheduled screening of the documentary “USA vs. Al-Arian” in April of this year. Right-wing groups demanded that the theater not screen the documentary, which highlights the injustices faced by former Florida professor Dr. Sami Al-Arian. CAIR-LA took the theater to court after efforts to work out a resolution failed because of a lack of cooperation from the company. As a last resort, CAIR-LA brought its breach of contract case against Starplex Operating, L.P. to court.SEE: Calif. Theater Cancels Al-Arian Doc After Pressure from ‘Anti-Muslim Bigots’ “This case was a classic example of how a few narrow-minded people can harm the right to freedom of speech that we all cherish,” said CAIR-LA staff attorney Ameena Qazi. CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 35 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.CONTACT: CAIR-LA Communications Coordinator Munira Syeda, 714-776-1847, 714-851-4851; E-mail: info@losangeles.cair.com
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CAIR-LA REP PARTICIPATES IN PANEL ON MUSLIM/ARAB IMAGES IN MEDIA - TOP(ANAHEIM, CA, 10/27/08) -- On Thursday, a representative of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Greater Los Angeles Area (CAIR-LA) participated in a panel discussion on images of Muslims and Arabs in the media.Munira Syeda, communications coordinator for CAIR-LA, was joined by panelists Robert Greenwald, founder of Brave New Films; Steve Padilla, religion editor for the Los Angeles Times; Lena Khan, filmmaker; Ahmed Ahmed, actor and comedian; and Siamak Kalhor, Radio Iran host. The panel was moderated by Jon Beaupre, award-winning guest host on KPCC Radio's "Air Talk" and "Talk of the City."The panel, held at the Los Angeles Press Club, attracted some 120 people. During her address, Syeda said even though there has been a recent trend of incorporating three-dimensional Muslim characters on film and television, Muslims must play a more central role in reframing their own story. "American Muslims must take the initiative in engaging the media and sharing our story with the American public," Syeda said.Other panelists such as Greenwald noted existing bias and hate-mongering against Muslims in the media and emphasized getting organized and working with other coalitions to counter hate messages. Brave New Films late last year began a campaign against syndicated radio host Michael Savage for his offensive remarks against Muslims, in which he called the Quran a “book of hate.” Greenwald will be presented with the Courage in Media Award at CAIR-LA's 12th Annual Fundraising Banquet on Nov. 1. The panel was organized by the Media Image Coalition, the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations, and the Los Angeles Press Club. CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 35 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.CONTACT: CAIR-LA Communications Coordinator Munira Syeda, 714-776-1847, 714-851-4851; E-mail: info@losangeles.cair.com
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THE JEWISH EXTREMISTS BEHIND "OBSESSION" - TOPJeffrey Goldber, The Atlantic, 10/27/08
I've only watched the 12-minute version of "Obsession," the film sent to more than 28 million people in various swing states, apparently by associates and partisans of the Jewish movement known as Aish HaTorah, or "Fire of the Torah," but it was enough for to understand that it is the work of hysterics. One of my favorite hysterics, the Jerusalem Post's Caroline Glick, is featured prominently, pieces of the sky falling about her head as she rants about the End of Days.
Aish HaTorah denies any direct connection to the film, which is designed to make naive Americans believe that B-52s filled with radical jihadists are about to carpet-bomb their churches, and are only awaiting Barack Obama's ascension to launch the attack. But the manifold connections, as laid out in this article, among others, make it clear that high-level officials of Aish are up to their chins in this project. The most disreputable flack in New York, Ronn Torossian, who represents Aish, makes an appearance in this story, which was to be expected: Torossian last made the news when he employed sock-puppetry in defense of one of his many indefensible clients, Agriprocessors, Inc., the Luvavitch-owned kosher slaughterhouse that treats its employees nearly as badly as it treats its animals, which is saying something, because Agriprocessor slaughterers have been filmed ripping out the tracheas of living cattle.
But I digress. It's said of Ronn Torossian that he represents "right-wing" Israeli politicians, but this description does not do his clients justice. "Right-wing" is Bibi Netanyahu. Torossian represents the lunatic fringe. Several years ago, in one of my only encounters with him, he introduced me to Benny Elon, a rabbi and settler leader who was then Israel's tourism minister, and who, at various points in his career, has more or less advocated the ethnic cleansing of Israel of its Arab citizens. At one point, when Elon had gone to take a telephone call, Torossian and I started talking about Israel's right to reprisal for terrorist attacks. I was arguing in favor of some sort of proportionality (this was after Jenin, in which the Israeli army chose to root out terrorism block by block rather than bomb the city from the air) but Torossian interrupted: "I think we should kill a hundred Arabs or a thousand Arabs for every one Jew they kill." I was somewhat taken aback, of course, because this is a Nazi idea, rather than a Jewish idea. I asked him to explicate: "If someone from a town blows himself up and kills Jews, we should wipe out the town he's from, kill them all. The Israelis are suckers. They should have destroyed Jenin." (MORE)
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SPEAKER TARGETS MUSLIM STUDENT ASSOCIATIONS - TOPKatelyn Hanna-Wortley, Brown and White, 10/28/08The Muslim Student Association, a national student group that has chapters at many colleges, including Lehigh, is linked to Islamic terrorist groups, a speaker said Thursday evening in Packard Auditorium.
"My concern is that organizations like the MSA pretend to be religious and cultural organizations that are really political organizations," said David Horowitz, a conservative writer and activist…
During his lecture, Horowitz also spoke about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"The Palestinian cause is a genocidal campaign against the Jews," said Horowitz, who is Jewish. "The Israelis are civil, democratic people and the Arab people are not. They are barbaric," he said. (MORE)
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POOR TIMING FOR RADICAL LECTURE - TOPBrown and White, 10/28/08
Sponsoring author David Horowitz to give a lecture about radical Islam and its connection to the Muslim Student Association was a bad move by The Patriot who sponsored the talk and the College Republicans who promoted it. Less than two weeks before the presidential election, it's a thinly-veiled attempt to create Islamophobia in potential voters.
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SMEARCASTING.COM: DAVID HOROWITZ - TOP
The original link is here.
David Horowitz is the Islamophobia movement's premier promoter. Through his "Islamofascism Awareness Week" (see Islamofascism Case Study), which brought leading Muslim-bashers to more than a hundred college campuses in October 2007, and via his website, FrontPage Magazine, which features the movement's leading writers and links to other anti-Muslim sites, Horowitz has made himself the chief publicist of the Islamophobic movement. (Anti-Muslim and anti-Arab writings at Horowitz's FrontPage Magazine have been exposed for inaccuracy by, among other outlets, the New Yorker magazine--4/14/08.)
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CAIR: GROUP SWAMPS SWING STATES WITH MOVIE ON RADICAL ISLAM - TOPKimberly Kindy, Washington Post, 10/26/08
A New York-based organization has sent copies of a movie about Islamist extremism to more than 28 million houses and religious institutions in presidential election battleground states over the past several weeks.
The 60-minute documentary-style production, "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West," includes images of terrorist attacks from around the world, historic footage of Nazi rallies and modern-day scenes of Muslim children reciting poetry that celebrates suicide bombings. The costs of producing and distributing the film, through mass mailings and newspaper inserts -- an effort that one Muslim advocacy group estimates at $50 million -- were paid by the Clarion Fund, a nonprofit group that says it is seeking "to educate Americans about issues of national security to influence voters."
Members of several Muslim groups have condemned the film, saying that it is inflammatory and that it could incite violence against them.
"It's a mind-boggling massive campaign. When you send material like this almost exclusively to presidential swing states that sends a message that you are trying to influence the election," said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations. "It's inappropriate as a nonprofit for the Clarion Fund to do."
The council filed complaints with the Federal Election Commission and the Internal Revenue Service last month, accusing the group of promoting the candidacy of Sen. John McCain over Sen. Barack Obama's. Federal election and tax laws prohibit nonprofit organizations from promoting specific candidates. (MORE)
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CAIR-OH: OBAMA'S NOT A MUSLIM, BUT LOTS OF GOOD PEOPLE ARE - TOPSusan Campbell, Hartford Courant, 10/26/08
The retired general and former secretary of state appeared on "Meet the Press" last Sunday to endorse Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, and then he had this to say about Obama's religion:
"The correct answer is: 'He is not a Muslim. He's a Christian. He's always been a Christian.' But the really right answer is: 'What if he is?'" Powell said. "Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no. That's not America. Is there something wrong with some 7-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president?"
Some of us — me, included — have been so quick to remind people that Obama is not a Muslim that we forgot to finish the sentence: So what if he is? The result of distancing Obama from Islam makes it appear that the religion is a bad thing. John McCain made the same mistake when a woman at a town hall meeting falsely said Obama is an Arab, and the Republican presidential candidate responded that no, he's a decent family man. Arabs can be that, too, and Muslims can be president…
The Cincinnati chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Ohio has been working with the mosque, said council executive director Karen Dabdoub. Roughly 30,000 Muslims live in the Cincinnati area, she said, and the community picked up on the Obama Muslim denial months ago.
"No, he's not a Muslim, but there's nothing wrong with being a Muslim," said Dabdoub, who converted to Islam from Christianity. "That's the way it always is. Unless it's directed at you, it doesn't appear on your radar usually. And I have to say, I'm guilty of it as well." (MORE)
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CAIR-IL JOINS ‘GET OUT THE VOTE’ RALLY - TOP
(CHICAGO, 10/27/08) - On Monday, October 27, 2008, the Chicago office of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) will join elected representatives, state legislators, immigrant advocate partners, new voters, and volunteers to celebrate the success of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights’ (ICIRR) voter registration drive and launch the Get out the Vote Campaign.
CAIR-Chicago partnered with ICIRR and the Mosque Foundation this year to promote voter participation in the upcoming election through a fellowship program called the New American Democracy Project (NADP). The program registered almost 1,200 Muslim and Arab voters in the southwest suburbs alone.
For several months, NADP has been conducting voter registration drives, canvassing door-to-door, training volunteers, holding phone banking sessions, distributing voter education guides, and setting up workshops for first-time voters to help them understand the process.
In total, the NADP campaign has registered over 25,000 voters in 19 different immigrant communities throughout the Chicago-land area.
The campaign will now focus on getting registered voters out to the voting booths on November 4th or in early voting.
WHAT: Get Out the Vote Campaign Rally WHEN: Monday, October 27, 2008. 6:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
WHO: U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, City of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, IL. Attorney General Lisa Madigan, U.S. Representative Luis V. Gutierrez (IL-4), U.S. Representative Danny Davis (IL-7), Chicago City Clerk Miguel del Valle, Commissioner Joe Berrios, Mayor of Berwyn Michael O’Connor, Aldermen Ricardo Munoz, Joe More, Danny Solis and state legislators including: Iris Martinez, Antonio, Munoz, William Delgado, Mattie Hunter, Donne Trotter, Esther Golar, Eddie Acevedo, Deborah Graham, Elizabeth Hernandez, Susana Mendoza, Harry Osterman, Kevin Joyce, Tony Berrios, Linda Chapa La Via. As well as immigrant advocates from CAIR-Chicago, ICIRR, the Mosque Foundation, and hundreds of new voters and volunteers from the Asian, Latino, Muslim/Arab, African and Polish communities of Chicago and suburbs.
WHERE: Teamsters City Auditorium Local 705; 300 S. Ashland Ave., Chicago, IL
CAIR-Chicago, a chapter of America's largest Muslim civil rights group, has 35 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
CONTACT: Ahmed Rehab, Executive Director, CAIR-Chicago, 312.212.1520 or 202-870-0166, E-Mail: arehab@cair.com; Reem Rahman, Communications Coordinator, CAIR-Chicago, E-Mail: communications@cairchicago.org 312.212.1520 or 217.493.0912
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LI MUSLIMS SAY SMEARS AGAINST OBAMA HURT THEM, TOO - TOPDave Marcus, Newsday, 10/27/08
Hearing people wrongly say that Sen. Barack Obama is a Muslim, Dr. Hafiz Ur Rehman cringes.
He cringes, too, when he hears people expressing relief that Obama is not a Muslim. "Either way, they're implying that there's something wrong with being a Muslim," said Rehman, a Bay Shore pediatrician.
Many Long Island Muslims say that a campaign of whispers, e-mails and videos intended to smear Obama's image has had a much wider effect: It has smeared the image of Muslims in America. (MORE)
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VIDEO: CAIR REP COMMENTS ON ISLAMOPHOBIA IN PRESIDENTIALRACE - TOPSan Diego 6, 10/25/08
Click here to view the video.
Edgar Hopida, public relations director of the San Diego Council on American-Islamic Relations, said McCain's response wasn't good enough. "The mistake McCain made is that he said he is not an Arab, he is a decent family man, like those two things are mutually exclusive."
He wishes both candidates would do more to spread a simple message, "We are not a slur. We are not terrorists. We are trying to live the American dream like everybody else."
Hopida, who is non-partisan, said that before 2000 most Muslims were Republicans who backed Bush because they are "conservative in nature. But after 9/11 and the increase in anti-Muslim rhetoric, those numbers started to change.
"Some Muslims, not all, but some Muslims felt disillusioned and betrayed by some of the promises President Bush had made so a lot of them have shifted to the Democratic Party," said Hopida.
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CAIR-TX: POWELL'S REMARKS SOLACE FOR MANY - TOPLINDSAY WISE, Houston Chronicle, 10/25/08
Shariq Abdul Ghani was watching Meet the Press at his Richmond home Sunday morning when he suddenly froze with a cup of Nescafe halfway to his lips.
On the TV screen, former Secretary of State Colin Powell was telling host Tom Brokaw he was disturbed that some Republicans have been spreading rumors that Barack Obama is a Muslim.
"Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim," Powell said. "He's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no. That's not America."…
Longtime Republican Tarek Hussein, 48, said he will be voting for Obama this year because of the Democrat's positions on the economy, health care, energy and the war in Iraq.
"It is very sad situation to see the country divided this way based on ethnicity and religion, because what makes America unique and a great country is that based on constitutional rights we are all equal," said Hussein, who serves as president of the Houston chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations.
As a nonprofit, CAIR will not endorse any candidates, but the organization has encouraged Muslim Americans to become politically informed and exercise the right to vote, he said.
"If you connect all these dots it will bring you to one conclusion and that's that there's a strong voice in America these days against anything related to Islam or Muslims," Hussein said. "It's going to take a strong effort from Muslims to educate the community about who we are." (MORE)
-----COLIN POWELL AND MY AMERICAN FAITH - TOPSuhail A. Khan, Washington Post, 10/22.08
During the great immigration waves of 1900, a rabbi said of our melting pot, "All names are American names." How wonderfully true. So too, all faiths are American faiths. America is made up of men and women of all faiths, and all are protected by the Constitution.
Colin Powell reminded us of this important fact Sunday morning asking, "Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president?"
The answer again is no, but there have been some who've suggested otherwise. In recent years, and especially since the horrifying events of 9/11, some have demonized Muslim Americans as a threat to our national security and indeed our American way of life. Some have questioned the loyalty of American Muslims calling for the barring of all American Muslims from public service and the military. And others have even proposed that, unless Muslims take a special loyalty oath, that we criminalize the practice of Islam with 20 years in prison. (MORE)
-----JUDGE'S E-MAIL RAISES QUESTIONS - TOPCandidate wrote in reply to lawn-sign vendor's skeptical message about MuslimsEmily Gurnon, Pioneer Press, 10/21/08
Hennepin County District Judge and Minnesota Supreme Court candidate Deborah Hedlund received an e-mail Monday with the subject line, "Can Muslims Be Good Americans?"
The e-mail came to Hedlund and several other people from Matt Look, owner of Ramsey-based Look Signs, with whom Hedlund was negotiating for some lawn signs.
It includes claims that allegiance to Islam forbids a Muslim "to make friends with Christians or Jews," that a Muslim "must submit to the mullahs, who teach annihilation of Israel and destruction of America" and that "Barack Hussein Obama, a Muslim ... refuses to pledge allegiance to the United States or put his hand over his heart when the national anthem is played. ..."
In her reply message to Look — which she inadvertently sent to all original recipients — Hedlund wrote: "Matt, We speak the same language. And I still need to let voters know they have a choice to 'Seek Justice, Vote For Experience' for the Minnesota Supreme Court." (MORE)