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CAIR Bulletin – March 14, 2006
U.S. leaders asked to repudiate
Pat Rebertson’s anti-Islam remarks
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group, today called on mainstream American political and religious leaders to repudiate the most recent Islamophibic remarks by televangelist Pat Robertson, who claimed yesterday that the goal of Islam "is world domination."
The Washington-based CAIR said Robertson made that claim and other anti-Muslim remarks on his Christian Broadcasting Network "700 Club" program. He told his audience: "Islam is not a religion of peace," and "The goal of Islam, ladies and gentlemen whether you like it or not, is world domination." He also referred to some Muslims as being motivated by "demonic power." SEE: Top US Evangelist Targets Islam (BBC)
In the past, Robertson has repeatedly defamed Islam and Muslims on the "700 Club" program. He called Islam the "religion of the slavers" and said Americans who converted to Islam exhibited "insanity." Robertson once said he would be wary of appointing Muslims to positions in the U.S. government, including judgeships.
During a 2002 appearance on Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes" program, Robertson smeared both Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. About Muhammad, Robertson said: "This man was an absolute wild-eyed fanatic. He was a robber and a brigand. And to say that these terrorists distort Islam, they're carrying out Islam. . .I mean, this man (Muhammad) was a killer. And to think that this is a peaceful religion is fraudulent." Robertson also called Islam "a monumental scam."
"The failure by mainstream religious and political leaders to challenge Mr. Robertson's Islamophobic remarks will send the false message to Muslims worldwide that the majority of Americans agree with his hate-filled views," said CAIR executive Director Nihad Awad. "The constant, and largely unchallenged, drumbeat of anti-Muslim rhetoric is poisoning the public's attitude toward ordinary American Muslims."
He cited two recent polls showing that almost half of Americans have a negative perception of Islam and that one in four of those surveyed have "extreme" anti-Muslim views. The Washington Post's report on the poll findings quoted experts who say negative attitudes about Islam are "fueled in part by political statements and media reports that focus almost solely on the actions of Muslim extremists." Read: Two New Polls Show Negative Image of Islam in U.S.
Awad noted that just today, a commentator regarded by many Muslims as one of the nation's leading Islamophobes published a syndicated column stating that all Muslims should be considered "potential killers." Daniel Pipes wrote in today's New York Sun newspaper that "normal-appearing Muslims" may become violent at any time, leading to the "legitimate consequence of casting suspicion on all Muslims."
Those claims promoted readers of a virulent anti-Muslim Internet hate site to write comments such as: "Until the leadership of the West accepts 'reality' that Islam is a totalitarian regime that must be exterminated (if we are to live free) then we will continue to get the atrocity of the day. . .Is genocide in the name of freedom wrong or just the law of nature red in tooth and claw."
"Islamophobic rhetoric inevitably translates into acts of bias, discrimination and even violence against Muslims," said Awad. He cited recent bombings at an Ohio mosque, the sentencing of a New York man for e-mailed death threats targeting Michigan Muslims and hate attacks on Muslim students at a Canadian University.
Associated Press – March 15, 2006
Franklin Graham reaffirms scorn for Islam
Richard N. Ostling
The Rev. Franklin Graham, who outraged Muslims in 2001 when he said that Islam "is a very evil and wicked religion," told an interviewer for Wednesday's edition of ABC News "Nightline" that he hasn't changed his mind about the faith.
Asked by ABC correspondent John Donvan whether Muslim groups had succeeded in altering his outlook about Islam, Graham said "No."
"Do they want to indoctrinate me? Yes. I know about Islam. I don't need an education from Islam," he said. "If people think Islam is such a wonderful religion, just go to Saudi Arabia and make it your home. Just live there. If you think Islam is such a wonderful religion, I mean, go and live under the Taliban somewhere. I mean, you're free to do that."
Franklin Graham is the successor to his father as head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, based in Charlotte, N.C. He was interviewed Sunday in New Orleans, where Franklin and Billy were leading an evangelistic festival.
The younger Graham angered Muslims following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks when he told NBC News: "We're not attacking Islam but Islam has attacked us. The God of Islam is not the same God. He's not the son of God of the Christian or Judeo-Christian faith. It's a different God, and I believe it is a very evil and wicked religion."
In a subsequent Wall Street Journal piece, Graham wrote that he doesn't think Muslim believers "are evil people because of their faith. But I decry the evil that has been done in the name of Islam, or any other faith - including Christianity."
That article said "the persecution or elimination of non-Muslims has been a cornerstone of Islamic conquests and rule for centuries." Graham said the Quran "provides ample evidence that Islam encourages violence in order to win converts and to reach the ultimate goal of an Islamic world."
Some of Graham's fellow evangelicals subsequently expressed concern that his comments might endanger Christian missionaries working in Muslim countries, strain interfaith relations and make America's war on terrorism seem to be a Christian crusade against Islam.
Billy Graham has avoided such comments about Islam and President Bush has consistently depicted mainstream Islam as a religion of peace…..
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/3726150.html
The Detroit News - March 13, 2006
N.Y. man sentenced for e-mail threats against
members of Islamic Center of America in Detroit
DETROIT -- A New York man was sentenced to three years probation in U.S. District Court Monday for violating the civil rights of members of the Islamic Center of America in Detroit through email death threats from his home computer, U.S. Attorney Stephen J. Murphy announced Monday.
The man, 46-year-old Michael Bratisax, a Pleasantville, N.Y. resident, threatened to kill Muslims in November 2004 in response to the beheading of hostages killed in Iraq in May 2004.
Bratisax also was ordered to undergo and complete anger management and diversity classes; refrain from e-mailing strangers; create a web site devoted to anger management diversity and submit to random drug and alcohol tests.
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060313/UPDATE/603130413
The Varsity – March 13, 2006
Hate attacks rock Toronto University campus
Muslim student assaulted at Hart House;
SAC says admin is ignoring Islamophobia
Sarah Barmak
The conflict between Muslim and anti-Islamic factions on campus escalated to physical violence last week, when what appears to be a series of anti-Islamic attacks took place on campus, including the assault on Tuesday of a female Muslim student at Hart House (University of Toronto, Canada).
The student, who did not wish to be named, was followed into a washroom by a female assailant. The woman shoved a flyer into the student's chest, pushing her back, while saying, "You need this, you're a Muslim." The flyer advertised a rally supporting Denmark over last month's controversial Danish cartoon of Mohammad.
After the student threw the flyer away, the assailant asked her why she had discarded it, and began yelling at her and her friend to "go back to [their] fucking country and bomb it."
"She just kept yelling, 'Fucking Muslim terrorists,'" said the student, who is in her fourth year at UTM. The woman, as well as a friend who was with her, looked to be in their thirties.
The two assailants disappeared when the student and her friend ran to the porter's desk. A joint investigation by campus police, the Office of Community Safety, and the Office of Anti-Racism is ongoing.
The attack was only the most serious in a recent string of incidents contributing to what SAC VP Equity Shaila Kibria calls the "volatile atmosphere on campus against Muslims." On Wednesday morning, a group of Muslim women led by Kibria had eggs thrown at them by a group of people as they attempted to tell other students about Tuesday's attack, while passing out flyers for International Women's Day.
"When I heard what happened [to the student on Tuesday], it enraged me," said Kibria yesterday, who explained that she had wanted to inform other students. Although the motive for the egging attack is still not clear, two of the women pelted, including Kibria, were wearing hijabs, or Islamic religious headgear.
Further upsetting students was a photocopied article that was found posted on a wall outside Sid Smith's front doors on Thursday. It contained one of the infamous Danish cartoons as well as the statement that it is "an accurate view of the religion of Islam," along with a scrawled-on phone number and the name "Ted."
A website, whose address was printed on the article, contained instructions to university students on how to print out the flyer and distribute it on campus. When reached at the number provided, Ted, who would not give his full name, said he was not affiliated with the website, but thought its message was "really super positive." He said he had posted a thousand flyers on U of T's and York's campuses. The flyers were different than the one that was shoved into the Muslim student's hands on Tuesday.
Kibria is angry that administrators have not done enough, in her estimation, to send a message that Islamophobia on campus is not acceptable.
"What is the university doing? Every time I talk to the Dean's Office or [other administrators], they send me a copy of their official policy protecting freedom of expression. Like they're saying, 'Oh, shut up, shut up.'" Kibria says administrators did not respond adequately to The Strand cartoon, nor have they helped with other concerns.
"This has to be addressed by administration," said the victim of Tuesday's attack. "I just don't understand. There's this fear of Muslims and I'm not sure why."
http://www.thevarsity.ca/user/index.cfm?event=displayRegistrationPrompt&thereferer=http%3A//www.thevarsity.ca/media/paper285/news/2006/03/13/News/Hate-Attacks.Rock.Campus-1685079.shtml%3Fnorewrite%26sourcedomain%3Dwww.thevarsity.ca
CAIR Bulletin - March 19, 2006
CAIR-CAN calls for hate crime charge
in University of Toronto attack
OTTAWA, CANADA- March 19, 2006: The Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) today called on law enforcement authorities to treat an attack on Muslim students at the University of Toronto (UT) as a hate crime and to bring the strongest possible criminal charges. CAIR-CAN is also calling on the university to take concrete steps to address racial hate and Islamophobia on campus.
Several witnesses told CAIR-CAN that a man attempted to run down four Muslim students with his car on the university campus on Sunday after yelling racial slurs at them. One of the students was reportedly hit by the car and taken to a nearby hospital by paramedics. The alleged attacker sped away.
"The University of Toronto has been known for its tolerance and accommodation of religious needs. Now the university must take a strong stand to show that all forms of hate and racism, including Islamophobia, will not be tolerated on its campus," said Riad Saloojee, CAIR-CAN's executive director. He added that the university must take action to ensure the safety of its Muslim students.
In a prior complaint, a female Muslim student at the university told CAIR-CAN she was pushed and called a terrorist on March 7. Earlier complaints received by CAIR-CAN concerned at least two different flyers promoting Islamophobia that were distributed at both York University and the University of Toronto.
The victim of the March 7 incident told CAIR-CAN that she believed a "Know Radical Islam" weeklong event organized by a student group at the university in February may have also contributed to the recent rise of Islamophobia on campus.
Last week, CAIR-CAN sent a letter to David Naylor, president of the University of Toronto, asking that the university take a strong stand against hate. CAIR-CAN reiterated that request this weekend.
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