Saturday, July 27, 2013


CAIR
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CAIR Asks Feds to Probe Threats to NJ Mosque
(SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ, 7/23/13) -- The New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NJ) today called on federal law enforcement authorities to investigate phone threats targeting a mosque in that state.
The bomb squad was called to the Mehfil-e-Shah-e-Khorasan Charitable Trust Mosque in Englewood, N.J., on Sunday after the facility received a series of threatening calls. The squad searched the mosque for explosives but turned up nothing suspicious.
This is the second recent bias incident targeting a New Jersey mosque. In June, CAIR-NJ sought a hate crime investigation of vandalism at the Islamic Center of Morris County.
"Because we are witnessing a growing number of incidents targeting mosques nationwide, we urge federal law enforcement authorities to assist in the investigation and to speak out against the rising anti-Muslim bigotry in our society that leads to such attacks," saidCAIR-NJ Civil Rights Director Khurrum Ali.
Ali noted that CAIR's San Diego chapter urged prosecutors to bring hate crime charges against a man who allegedly walked into a local mosque last week during early-morning prayers, called worshippers "terrorist rats" and shouted, "I'm going to kill all of you."
The alleged perpetrator in that case may have been behind a series of bomb threats in May of this year targeting the Islamic School of San Diego, which is located next to the mosque. One threat left on the school's answering machine said, "I'm going to throw a bomb at your (expletive) school."
CAIR's Texas chapter recently called on local and national law enforcement authorities to investigate a possible bias motive for acts of vandalism targeting mosques in that state.
In May, CAIR began distributing new safety and security guidelines to mosques and other Islamic institutions nationwide.
The new CAIR publication, "Best Practices for Mosque and Community Safety," was produced in response to recent bias attacks, including a series of incidents last year targeting American Muslim institutions.

Community leaders may request a free copy of CAIR's "Best Practices for Mosque and Community Safety," by going to: http://www.cair.com/mosque-safety-guide.html

SEE: CAIR Distributes New Mosque Safety Guidelines 

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. 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.
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CAIR
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CAIR Submits Written Testimony for Senate Gitmo Hearing 
Anti-Muslim extremist Frank Gaffney to testify as Republican witness
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 7/24/2013) -- The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights organization, today submittedwritten testimony for a Senate hearing on the implications of closing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Today's hearing by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights, chaired by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), will focus on the national security, fiscal, and human rights implications of closing the detention center.
Hearing witnesses include:
  • Reps. Adam Smith (D-WA) and Mike Pompeo (R-KS)
  • Major General Paul D. Eaton, United States Army (Ret.)
  • Brigadier General Stephen N. Xenakis, M.D., United States Army (Ret.)
  • Lieutenant Joshua M. Fryday, Judge Advocate General's Corps
  • Elisa Massimino, President and Chief Executive Officer of Human Rights First
  • Frank Gaffney, Center for Security Policy.
CAIR's testimony reiterates the organization's longstanding opposition to indefinite detention of Guantanamo detainees without charge or trial and outlines why lack of due process is a clear violation of the U.S. Constitution and damages American moral authority and international relations.
Some of CAIR's recommendations include:
  1. the immediate release or civilian trial of all remaining detainees at Guantanamo;
  2. the immediate release and resettlement of the 86 prisoners already cleared for release; and,
  3. the immediate stop to the force-feeding of Guantanamo prisoners on hunger-strike, in conjunction with an independent medical professional review and monitor of all hunger-striking prisoners.
"The indefinite detention of prisoners at Guantanamo bay without trial or charge violates the Constitution and disregards long-standing American traditions of respect for due process and the rule of law," said CAIR Government Affairs Manager Robert McCaw. "In the president's own words, Guantanamo has become a 'symbol around the world for an America that flouts the rule of law.'"

McCaw added: "We are grateful for Chairman Durbin's sober and objective chairing of the hearing. The chair's balanced choice of witnesses, including decorated Army and Navy personal with years of military service and first-hand experience at Guantanamo, is in stark contrast to Ranking Member Ted Cruz's choice of anti-Muslim conspiracy theorist Frank Gaffney as the Republican minority witness."

Gaffney has in the past testified against construction of a mosque in Murfreesboro, Tenn., and has been banned from a national conservative conference because of his bizarre claim that it had been infiltrated by Muslim extremists. He compares Islamic principles (sharia) to a "lethal virus" (Washington Times, 9/29/09) and is allegedly the source of the discredited claim by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) that Muslim radicals have infiltrated the highest levels of government.
CAIR also expressed concern about the Islamophobic views of another witness, Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.), who has falsely alleged that American Muslim leaders have failed to speak out against terror attacks.

SEE: CAIR Asks Kansas Rep. Pompeo to Correct 'False and Irresponsible' Attack on Muslims
CAIR encourages those who are unable to attend the hearing to watch it online and join the conversation on Twitter by using the hashtags #Senate #CloseGitmo and the Twitter handles for Senate subcommittee Democrats: @SenatorDurbin, @alfranken, @ChrisCoons, @SenBlumenthal, @maziehirono, and Republicans: @tedcruz, @LindseyGrahamSC, @JohnCornyn, @OrrinHatch.

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. 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.
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UPDATE:
CAIR-MN Asks School District to Clarify Assurances on Anti-Muslim Speaker
(MINNEAPOLIS, MN, 7/25/13) - The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN) today said it will seek clarification from Independent School District #482 in Little Falls, Minn., after a district official said a Tea Party group has "signed off in writing" that a scheduled appearance by the head of an anti-Muslim hate group will not violate policies prohibiting harassment or disparagement of any religion.
CAIR-MN Action Alert: Oppose Hate Speech in MN High School
CAIR-MN Asks Schools to Cancel Anti-Muslim Speaker(Brainerd Dispatch)
Yesterday, CAIR-MN issued an alert calling on district officials to consider the negative impact the July 29 speech by "Brigitte Gabriel," head of the hate group ACT! for America, will have on district students and to rescind approval to hold the event in a school facility.
"We welcome the assurance that this extremist anti-Muslim speaker will adhere to district policies prohibiting harassment and religious disparagement, but we need to know what actions will be taken if the policies are violated," said CAIR-MN Executive Director Lori Saroya.
Saroya said CAIR-MN will monitor the event and will consider filing a federal complaint against the school district if the policies are violated.
ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE and respectful.)
Contact: Independent School District # 482 Superintendent Stephen Jones: 320-632-2001, sjones@lfalls.k12.mn.us; Little Falls Community High School Principal Tim Bjorge: 320-616-2201, tbjorge@lfalls.k12.mn.us
COPY TO: info@mn.cair.com
ACT! for America leader Hanah Kahwagi Tudor, who goes by the pseudonym "Brigitte Gabriel," claims an American Muslim "cannot be a loyal citizen" and that Islam is the "real enemy." She once told the Australian Jewish News: "Every practicing Muslim is a radical Muslim." She also claimed that "Islamo-fascism is a politically-correct word ... it's the vehicle for Islam ... Islam is the problem."
According to an exposé of the group by the Tennessean newspaper, "ACT members see themselves as warriors in a clash between Western civilization and Islam."
The Southern Poverty Law Center lists Gabriel as one of the "Anti-Muslim Inner Circle" and says, "She is prone to sweeping generalizations and exaggerations as she describes a grand, sophisticated Muslim conspiracy bent on world domination."
When asked whether Americans should "resist Muslims who want to seek political office in this nation," Gabriel said: "Absolutely. If a Muslim who has -- who is -- a practicing Muslim who believes the word of the Koran to be the word of Allah, who abides by Islam, who goes to mosque and prays every Friday, who prays five times a day -- this practicing Muslim, who believes in the teachings of the Koran, cannot be a loyal citizen to the United States of America."
Gabriel stated: "America and the West are doomed to failure in this war unless they stand up and identify the real enemy: Islam."
Along with her stated desire to have Muslims barred from public office, Gabriel has also claimed that Arabs "have no soul" and that Muslims worship "something they call 'Allah,' which is very different from the God we believe [in]."
A person staffing an ACT! for America information table in Florida was caught on videobragging that he desecrated the Quran, Islam's revealed text, and urinates in the washing stations Muslims use to perform their ritual ablutions (wudu) for prayer.
That person states: "Their foot baths, I love pissing in them ... The Quran makes worthless toilet paper. It just kind of scratches my a** a little bit ... To me, I like desecrating their [Muslims'] holy stuff."
According to an exposé of Gabriel and her group published in the New York Times:
"Through her books, media appearances and speeches, and her organization, ACT! for America, Ms. Gabriel has become one of the most visible personalities on a circuit of self-appointed terrorism detectors who warn that Muslims pose an enormous danger within United States borders."
The New York Times also stated: "[Gabriel] presents a portrait of Islam so thoroughly bent on destruction and domination that it is unrecognizable to those who study or practice the religion."
Another exposé of Gabriel's hate group published on Politico.com quoted an Arab-American activist who said: "The idea that congressional staffers would agree to meet an organization led by a woman whose agenda is pure unadulterated hatred and whose purported life story is a laughable fiction -- it's sad."
CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. 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.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CAIR: Obama Must Condemn 'Massacre' of Pro-Democracy Protesters in Egypt
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 7/27/13) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization, today called on the Obama administration to forcefully condemn the killing of dozens of pro-democracy demonstrators by Egyptian security forces.
CAIR also urged the president use the leverage of taxpayer funds being sent to that nation's military to push for a return to democracy.

In a statement following the mass killing of protesters, CAIR said:
"We urge an end to the silence over the ongoing massacres of peaceful pro-democracy activists in Egypt by forces that receive billions of American taxpayer dollars.

"We join with those in Egypt and in the international community who are condemning the violence, including Sheikh of Al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayyeb, who said he 'deplores and condemns the deaths of a number of martyrs who were victims of today's events.'

"Condemnations came from across the political spectrum, including from Mohamed ElBaradei, who strongly condemned the 'excessive use of force.' British Foreign Secretary William Hague said: 'I call on the Egyptian authorities to respect the right of peaceful protest, to cease the use of violence against protesters, including live fire, and to hold to account those responsible.'

"Without a clear condemnation of the killings, we send the message that even more repressive measures may be taken against the demonstrators.

"The clearest indicator of our nation's revulsion at the killings would be to suspend all American military aid until the violence stops and democratic freedoms are restored."
CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. 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.
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  • Potential DHS Nominee Ray Kelly's Dalliance with the Islamophobic Fringes (Daily Beast)
    The top NYPD official's last decade of policing New York's streets had coincided with the use of profiling on two fronts: the so-called stop-and-frisk program, which in overwhelming disproportion targeted young black and Latino men for questioning on the streets, and the many purported transgressions of the police department's Intelligence squad, which targeted Muslims, sometimes on basis solely of their religion, for scrutiny.
  • CAIR‬-MI: Detroit Rallies for Trayvon Martin (MSNBC)
  • Right-Wing Threats in US Far Outweigh Muslim Extremism (Arab News)
    Why have Muslims not condemned terrorism?" This question is a seemingly permanent fixture in the question-and-answer sessions I address after public forums. After responding to this query for more than a decade, I am torn between bewilderment and grief.
    • Where Is Islamophobia Heading in the U.S.? (Huffington Post)
      I am not sure if we can really relate the Wisconsin attack to Islamophobia, but I am quite sure that Islamophobia is a serious, rising problem in the U.S. and something has to be done soon to prevent more violence in the future. 
  • CAIR-CT: Ramadan Program at Conn College About Faith, Fast, Fellowship (The Day)
    "It's hard, but we're used to it," said Anyssa Dhaouadi, a freshman at American International College, president of the Islamic Center youth group, CAIR-CT youth director and one of the organizers of the event. "You're supposed to keep your mind busy with good things. The last five minutes before breaking the fast are the hardest, because you're smelling all the good food."
    • CAIR: New Haven Mosque Invites Neighbors to Break Ramadan Fast (NH Register)
      [CAIR Board Member] Jimmy Jones, one of the founders of Masjid Al-Islam, said the celebration is an opportunity for families to extend a neighborly hand in the community. "Something people don't understand about Islam is neighbors' rights," Jones said. "A Muslim should not go to bed when his neighbor is hungry. It doesn't matter what religious perspective that neighbor is from. Our neighbors here know that we help stabilize our community."

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CAIR Seeks Hate Crime Charges for Threats to S. Calif. Mosque Worshippers
(SAN DIEGO, CA, 7/18/2013) -- The San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-San Diego) today urged prosecutors to bring hate crime charges against a man who allegedly walked into a local mosque during early-morning prayers, called worshippers "terrorist rats" and shouted, "I'm going to kill all of you."
Larry Michael Rodgers, 52, was arrested on suspicion of making terrorist threats after allegedly threatening the congregation of the Islamic Center of San Diego in Clairemont Monday morning. Rodgers remained in jail Wednesday night on $50,000 bail.
Investigators say they are concerned that Rodgers may have been behind a series of bomb threats in May of this year targeting the Islamic School of San Diego, which is located next to the mosque. One threat left on the school's answering machine said, "I'm going to throw a bomb at your (expletive) school."
"Based on the apparent bias motive in this case, we urge local, state and federal prosecutors to consider appropriate hate crime enhancements to any charges brought against the alleged perpetrator," said CAIR-San Diego Executive Director Hanif Mohebi.
Mohebi added that CAIR has an outreach initiative to invite people of other faiths to visit a state mosque during Ramadan. Those interested in visiting a mosque may contact thenearest CAIR chapter for information.
He also noted that CAIR's Texas chapter recently called on local and national law enforcement authorities to investigate a possible bias motive for acts of vandalism targeting mosques in that state.
In June, CAIR's New Jersey chapter sought a hate crime investigation of vandalism targeting a mosque in that state.
Vandals recently targeted other mosques in Minnesota and Georgia.
In May, CAIR began distributing new safety and security guidelines to mosques and other Islamic institutions nationwide.
The new CAIR publication, "Best Practices for Mosque and Community Safety," was produced in response to recent bias attacks, including a series of incidents last year targeting American Muslim institutions.
Community leaders may request a free copy of CAIR's "Best Practices for Mosque and Community Safety," by going to: http://www.cair.com/mosque-safety-guide.html
CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. 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.
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CAIR ACTION ALERT #707:
Action: Urge North Carolina Governor Not to Sign Anti-Islam Legislation
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 7/19/13) - The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on Muslims and all those in North Carolina who value religious liberty to contact Governor Pat McCrory and urge him to veto an anti-Islam bill, HB 522, which may be adopted by the state's assembly by the end of the month.
Framed as banning the "application of foreign law" in family law cases in state courts, HB 522 is similar in language to the dozens of other anti-Islam bills introduced in state legislatures nationwide. The bill itself is intended to marginalize and stigmatize North Carolina Muslims and will have a negative impact on the rights of people of all faiths and backgrounds.
Over the past legislative session the state's House and Senate each passed similar anti-Islam bills, however these bills were never formally adopted due to controversy surrounding amendments that placed restrictions on abortion services. 
During the bill's consideration, State Senator Thom Goolsby (R-New Hanover) equated foreign law to Muslim contracts, citing a 2012 case in which the North Carolina Supreme Court was petitioned to rule on the "legitimacy of an Islamic marriage and divorce."
In 2011, the American Bar Association (ABA) passed a resolution opposing legislation like HB 522, noting that it is "duplicative of safeguards that are already enshrined in federal and state law," and saying, "Initiatives that target an entire religion or stigmatize an entire religious community, such as those explicitly aimed at 'Sharia law,' are inconsistent with some of the core principles and ideals of American jurisprudence."
Last year, CAIR released a community toolkit designed to assist those seeking to preserve America's ideal of religious pluralism in the face of the unconstitutional anti-Sharia campaign.

CAIR's toolkit includes background on David Yerushalmi, the anti-Islam extremist who authored the template for the anti-Sharia bills.
Yerushalmi is head of the anti-Islam hate group Society of Americans for National Existence (SANE), which once offered a policy proposal that would make "adherence to Islam" punishable by 20 years in prison, called for the immediate deportation of all non-citizen Muslims and urged Congress to declare war on the "Muslim Nation," which SANE defined as "all Muslims." The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) named Yerushalmi a member of the "anti-Muslim inner circle."
Links to Background Information on David Yerushalmi:
CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. 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.
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